Chapter Text
It was convenient for everyone. That's probably what does him in, to be honest, the ease with which he's able to accept it.
Rather than risk a repeat of the Oikawa situation, since Shigeru has been classified as both his successor as team captain and resident pretty boy, the volleyball club takes the preventative measure of making Shigeru unavailable and unattainable. Can't distract someone from practice if there's nobody there to distract them in the first place.
Date someone, the team says. A person you can get along with would be good so they'll actually agree to this. Someone who will discourage anyone from trying to date you now- even better if it continues after you guys split. Someone hard to mess with. Someone nobody would begrudge you dating.
Now, they didn't name anyone specifically. Yet with everything they'd said to him, it was almost embarrassing how easily a certain someone came to mind.
In hindsight, there really wasn't anyone he could choose but Kyoutani.
It takes promises of a free meal everyday after practice and study sessions to help keep his grades up to get him to agree.
And it works.
Girls don't flock to the gym anymore. They're polite when they see him, sometimes still bashful, but they're not following him or screaming after him anymore.
Kyoutani's life isn't affected at all. Nobody messed with him before due to his bitchy face and matching attitude, so he's fine. More approachable to some- girls aren't afraid to be in his direct vicinity now, at least- but overall he's the same. A loner before, a loner now.
Their relationship doesn't change much in public. They argue the same, they complain about each other, they defend each other from unreasonable assertions.
The only change Shigeru notices, abruptly, is the way they hold hands now.
Which is a strange thing to realize after this whole fake dating thing has been going on for seven months. It's literally January.
But it'd never crossed his mind before, because it wasn't something to think about. Walking home with Kyoutani has become routine, and so has the hand holding, the warmth and the closeness of being pressed against each other's shoulders. He only notices today when they have to let each other go on the sidewalk when it's crowded and a little kid unwittingly gets pushed between them. Kyoutani doesn't say anything, pats the kid on the head once and grabs Shigeru's hand again, lacing their fingers together so it doesn't happen again.
It was so simple. And that shouldn't be normal, right? Faking like this isn't supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be harder, isn't it, acting everyday just to give off the appearance of romance?
Right?
He thinks about it for a while. A long while. So long that he's thinking about it here, in his room, with Kentarou sitting on the floor with his back against Shigeru's bed, legs stretched out on the floor as he thumbs through Shigeru's cd collection to make tiny little huffs of approval.
And if he's honest, he doesn't know what makes him ask. Maybe it's the way Kyoutani is wearing spare sweatpants he'd left here, getting comfortable like he lives in this apartment with Shigeru and his parents. Maybe it's the way Marshmallow is curled up next to Kyoutani’s feet, purring softly, lazily.
Or maybe, just maybe, it's the way Shigeru can't stop looking at him as he sits next to him on the floor, eyes inexplicably drawn to every move he makes.
"Is this weird?" He muses, not quite sure if the words leave his mouth.
When Kyoutani pauses, he knows they have, and he turns to him, "What?"
"You know," Shigeru gestures between them, "Us. The fact that we're still doing this pretend dating thing."
Kyoutani scrunches up his face, "Kind of, I think."
"What do you mean it's weird?" He asks, and he doesn't know why he's offended when he's the one who asked.
Kyoutani shrugs, "I'm pretty sure people don't pretend to date for an entire school year just to keep girls off their back."
Shigeru has to mentally beat the ever loving shit out of his heart to keep it from hopping out of his mouth when he asks, "According to who?"
"My big sister," Kyoutani says, lips curved into a smirk so smug Shigeru wants to absolutely smack him, but also maybe not.
What a dork. Who takes the words of their older sibling at face value like that? The fact that she's right in this case is irrelevant. What if she was just trying to embarrass him? Kyoutani is so dumb.
He so badly wants to say something snarky, but the words won't come. His mouth has gone dry. Shigeru swallows, licks his lips, and conjures up the tiny, miniscule amount of brattiness left in him, "What are you saying?"
That wipes the smirk right off of Kyoutani’s face. Kyoutani shifts, folds his legs under himself as he leans further back again the side of Shigeru's bed as he sets the cd sleeve down, "I don't fucking know. You're the one who brought it up."
He's at a loss. He didn't expect this to go anywhere, didn't expect this conversation to actually mean anything for them. So even though it hurts for some reason, he pitches, weakly, "We could fake break up?"
"No," Kyoutani says, firmly.
Irritation sparks within Shigeru for the briefest of moments, "Well why not? We can't be in a fake relationship forever! We're graduating in a couple months!"
It goes quiet then, and any irritability in Shigeru fizzles to nothing as his own words sink in.
Graduation. No more lighthearted bickering at the volleyball club to make the first years lighten up. No more udon restaurants after practice. No more studying on the weekends and going to the movies and the mall when they get bored. No more sneaking away from home at night to go fishing in the creek, or to catch fireflies at midnight.
Which should be fine, because this is what they signed up for. One of the major aspects of a fake relationship is its temporary nature.
Except it isn't, and it hasn't been. It's all way too comfortable and too nice and too much everything all at once now that it's probably going to end right now.
Shigeru looks at Kyoutani, expecting to see him mad, curious as to what he says. He wasn't anticipating a refusal for a fake breakup, but maybe he wants it to be quiet and drama-free? Who knows.
He turns to Kyoutani, taking notice of the tightness in his own throat-
And the nape of Kyoutani's neck is a deep, deep crimson. His brows are furrowed, the fists in his lap clenching and unclenching as he mumbles aggressively, "It's not fake if we- if we date for real. So we don't have to do anything. If we. You know."
Well. That's something.
Kyoutani won't meet his eyes when he tries to crawl around in front of him. No. Instead, he pulls Shigeru's cat towards him, burying his face into her fur, despite the contrast of the pearly white making his flush that much more prominent. Marshmallow doesn't seem upset, but she meows in surprise when Kyoutani lays on his side, face still hidden in the fluff of her back.
Oh shit, Shigeru thinks, I really am in love with him. An actual idiot, and I wanna spend the rest of my life with him.
It makes him warm.