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To all who knew Taketora they knew he wasn’t a very book person. He was smart yes but he preferred athletics seeing as he was a professional volleyball player. He wasn’t huge yet but he was rising in the ranks and one day would hopefully play for the national team.
That’s why when Taketora started spending an abnormal amount of time at libraries his friends grew slightly suspicious and concerned.
The reason why Taketora was going to the library lot was a guessing game amongst them all until they visited the place. Tanaka immediately assumed it was because of the cats that lived there and the pretty girls.
However he was wrong. Which he would find out many months from then.
The real reason Tora went there was for a certain guy with cat like eyes.
His name was Kozume Kenma and he co ran the library with his close friend Akaashi Keiji. The library offered snacks and tea along with an abundance of cat friends to keep you company as you read or worked on the computers. The atmosphere was always calm and quite quiet. Yet they didn’t push the quietness. It was like you entered and suddenly a serene sense of calm would wash over you. Then you didn’t want to break the peace.
Even when Taketora’s fans had seen him they had been very respectful and asked nicely for autographs or pictures then left him to ‘read’ in his usual spot.
His usual spot was a chair in the corner of the library with a perfect view of the desk behind which Kenma sat. Kenma would sit there either working or reading and would occasionally get people approach him for help. He always had at least four cats surrounding him and a cup of tea (coffee was to bitter he had explained to Tora when he asked) in a cup that said: you are kittylicious! And had a cute cat winking on it.
The only other mug Tora had seen him use had a picture of him with Akaashi and two other people who Tora never managed to get a good look at.
The back of Kenma’s laptop had an abundance of cat stickers on it and sometimes he would wear this jacket that Taketora swore seemed familiar. His hair was normally up in a bun or falling down to hide his face. (Tora preferred it in a bun so then he could see Kenma properly.) Sometimes it would have hair clips in which were rather cutesy with cats on...
It was pretty obvious that Kenma loved cats. Thankfully Taketora loved them too and had struck up a conversation with the man multiple times about them. They had formed a sort of friendship and Taketora swore his heart beat picked up everytime he heard kenma’s sweet voice call out “Tora.”
There was so much Tora knew about Kenma and yet so much he had yet to learn. He wanted to learn it too. He wanted to know why Kenma wore the same necklace everyday and he wanted to know who the guys on the cup were and he wanted to know why just one strand of kenma’s hair was black whilst the rest of it was blonde. He wanted to know why Kenma had a small K tattooed on his wrist and he wanted to know what the little sunflower on the nape of his neck meant too. He wanted to know it all. Most of all he just wanted to know... If Kenma felt anything for him. If he felt the way that Taketora did about him...
***
Taketora sat on his feelings for a few weeks. He worked through them and he thought about what he could do next... He decided to ask Kenma out on a date. To his surprise and delight Kenma had said yes.
Kenma had hesitated at first. Taketora didn’t know why and the look on Kenma’s face made him not ask. He had this sort of bitter and sad smile on his lips whilst staring down at the tattoo on his wrist. Then he looked up at Tora who was smiling at him with these puppy eyes and had smiled softly back. Then he gave the answer yes.
Taketora immediately went to his best friends girlfriend for help because whilst Tanaka was romantic... Kiyoko was more so. Kiyoko had told him about this very cute and quiet cat café they could go to. She recommended the apple pie and strawberry pancakes they served there. She also told Tora to bring flowers and dress nicely but not overly nicely.
Taketora had followed all her advice. He even held Kenma’s hand when it was free making the other man blush. They had had a really wonderful date even if Taketora kept trailing off mid sentence to stare at how cute Kenma was playing with the cats or how cute he looked whilst drinking boba...
That one date that went so perfectly (even if Taketora spilt his milk tea all over Kenma who laughed at him.) led to many more dates.
After awhile of dating Taketora decided to ask Kenma to officially be his boyfriend... And Kenma told him he was hesitant. Naturally Tora asked him why because he thought everything was going okay and that they were happy together, so he didn’t understand why Kenma was hesitating.
Kenma had took a deep breath and rugged at the sleeves of the overly sized jacket he wore before explaining.
He had previously been in a relationship. One he had been in for years and years until about two years ago. His boyfriend Kuroo had been in an accident and he had passed away. Since then Kenma felt like a big part of his life was missing and the person who had always been there ever since he was a child was suddenly gone. He struggled to deal with it. He still struggled but he was healing. He was healing and he was trying to move on yet he was hesitant to because he felt like he was betraying kuroo.
That’s when it all clicked into place for Taketora. Kuroo had been a friend of his. That’s where he had seen the jacket before and that’s why Kenma seemed slightly familiar too.
“You knew him?”
“Yeah he was-“
“An idiot.”
“Yeah.”
Kenma and Taketora had shared memories of Kuroo and laughed about it before Taketora told him he was patient. That he would wait for Kenma. That he would help him heal and that he’d be there for him as whatever he needed even if it was just as a friend...
And looking back.
Taketora was glad he had offered that.
For as he sat there holding Kenma’s hand he realised there’s no other place he’d rather be...
And maybe.
“Tora?”
“Yes?”
“Do you want to be my boyfriend still?”
Maybe his patience would pay off.