Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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it’s for our future, tetsurou told himself as the clock on his laptop ticked past 11pm even though he promised he’d be home by 8 for dinner. the office was empty, void of any presence or noise except for the condescending drone of the air-condition and the steady tap-tap-tap of his keyboard. guilt seeped into his heart, diffusing into his atriums and ventricles through the blood vessels. if he let his eyes flutter shut, even for a moment, he would see a figure, hunched over the dining table all alone, steam having long left the lovingly homemade food.

he glanced at his phone, where he had 8 missed calls and god knows how many messages.

i’m sorry, i don’t think i can make it for dinner tonight, his last message read in response to your ‘when will you get home, tetsu?’. i’ll make it up to you next week.

how many times had he promised to make it up to you the following week?

kuroo bit his lip, hands hovering over the laptop, hesitating as he tried to remember the last time he took you on a date. was it… a month ago? no… he promised to, but there was a last minute issue and he had to rush back to the office to fix up the project before it was due… then two months ago, perhaps? the longer he dwelled on it, the more he realised— the last time he took you on a date was probably more than a year ago.

a sudden horror stroke him as he fumbled to remember if he’d taken you out for your anniversary dinner— did he? god, did he miss it? what… was the date of your anniversary, again?

the calendar app on his laptop popped open, his eyes searching wildly for the record of your wedding anniversary.

[ wedding anniversary — today ]

he cursed loudly, a clatter of papers cascading onto the ground as he haphazardly packed up as fast as he could. he collected his belongings, shoving his laptop into his bag without checking if he’d saved the document— it didn’t matter at the moment. the icon he’d assigned to your phone number stared back at him as his outgoing phone call to you went unanswered, a steady drone in the empty parking lot of his work building.

“damn it, pick up…” he whispered under his breath, running at least five red lights. luckily for him, there weren’t any police cars to stop him— all the policemen are probably back at home, he thought, back at home, eating dinner with their families.

tetsurou had never driven that fast in his entire life.

but it still wasn’t fast enough.

the car pulled into the apartment lot, and the lift couldn’t go fast enough to outrun tetsurou’s patience. loud footsteps clattered down the corridor as he dashed down, skidding to a stop in front of the shared apartment that he had bought to celebrate his marriage. the lights were off, so he was cautious, sock-clad feet soft against the wooden floor.

the kitchen light was on, though.

a few dishes of his favourite food— one of which was mackerel, he realised bitterly— sat in the centre of the table, each one of them covered by the netting. the dishes were accompanied by a note, written in a delicate handwriting, signed with a familiar name.

「 tetsurou,

i’m spending the night at my parents’.

heat the dinner before you eat it, okay? at least eat the mackerel.

happy anniversary, tetsurou.

love,

your spouse. 」

he knew there was no use in getting into his car to chase you— by the sound of it, you’d left some time ago, taking a night train back to your parents’ place in the countryside.

the mackerel has never tasted that dry. it was salty, in the way that he liked best, but it just didn’t taste as nice when he was eating it alone. when was the last time he returned home on time to eat dinner? how many nights did you have to eat dinner alone, just like he was?

tetsurou stepped into the bedroom, fingers finding the familiar position of the light switch. the bed was neatly made, the pillows fluffed up and the sheets un-crumpled. when was the last time he got into bed without having to creep around quietly because of how late it was?

as he stared up into the ceiling of the empty bedroom, with only the soft whirl of the fan to break the silence, he wondered if you could hear him.

happy anniversary, y/n.

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you sighed, plopping down onto the bed of your parents’ guest bedroom. it had been a while since you’d last seen them, you thought to yourself with a tired smile, so you thought you’d give them a much-needed visit. 

originally, you wanted to visit them with tetsurou, but he had to work late again— in preparation for the upcoming v.league games, you supposed. he had always been a hardworking person, never stopping until he reached his dreams, and then after that— he would pursue another dream. that was one of the things you admired most about him— but now it was coming back to bite you in the back.

you couldn’t help but wonder if it’d ever be enough for him. the two of you lived pretty luxuriously, with both you and tetsurou’s jobs being on the better-paying side of the job spectrum. things had always been smooth ever since your marriage, and bills had hardly been a problem, as long as you kept an eye on spendings. neither of you bought much— and when the two of you made purchases, they weren’t anything like luxury goods, as the two of you had pretty much what you needed to get by.

running a hand through your hair, you shook your head, deciding to let go of the thought. tetsurou was working hard for the both of you— And you should appreciate all the effort he’s putting in— But a tiny part of you wished he’d realise that the two of you had more than enough, that what you wanted wasn’t to be rich but to have your husband by your side.

“honey, you’re still awake?” came the voice of your mother, preceded by a knock on the door.

“ah, I’m going to sleep soon! I’ll just give tetsurou a call and then I’ll go to bed.” you replied, brushing your thoughts out of the way. luckily for you, neither of you parents had remembered that it was your wedding anniversary— or else your father might’ve driven to tokyo to murder your husband, and you’d like to have tetsurou in one piece and alive, thank you very much.

when you turned on your phone, which you hadn’t touched since you’d arrived at your parents’ place, too swept up in your parents (who had missed you very much), you realised with a wince just how many calls tetsurou had left you.

tetsu<3: y/n I’m so sorry…

tetsu<3: I know you’re probably mad at me right now, and it probably means nothing to you right now but I’ll definitely make it up to you this time

tetsu<3: it’s stupid of me, I know… and I don’t think any apology can fix this… but please let me prove to you that I love you more than anything in this world, okay?

tetsu<3: have a nice night at your parents, kitten

tetsu<3: happy anniversary, y/n.

tetsu<3: I love you

“ah…” you whispered to yourself, scrolling through each of his messages. even through text, you could hear how anxious and apologetic he was— tetsurou must’ve panicked after realising it was your anniversary and that you’d left for your parents. a smile traced your lips while you went through his messages again— tetsurou, during university, was known for being a ‘ladies’ charmer’, and most of the time when other boys asked him how he did it, he would let out that weird (but adorable) hyena laugh of his, cackling and saying that it was because of his looks. in reality, it was his kind and sincere personality that drew many of the women on campus in— including you. even now, he was still the sincere, (kind of) romantic, awkward nerd you fell in love with in university.

y/n: tetsu, I’m not mad

just as you pressed ‘send’, a deafening crash outside your bedroom window made you jump. with a loud clatter, something big— and metallic— crashed onto the ground, waking up half the neighbourhood in the process. the lights and electrical appliances around the house all shut down simultaneously, leaving you shocked, clueless and in the dark. you hurried to your window, phone forgotten on the bed, pulling the blinds aside in a flurry to find out what was happening.

a truck— a rather large one, at that— had crashed into a power post across the street, bringing down the wires with it. you groaned quietly, realising that the truck driver had single-handedly ridden the whole neighbourhood of its’ electricity. jerking the blinds back shut, you plopped onto the bed, the only source of light being your phone screen. thankfully, it still had a pretty high percentage of battery, so you could still reply tetsurou.

[error: message cannot be sent]

or not.

with a groan, you remembered that your parents’ router needed electricity to run, of course— and since your mobile data wasn’t running, you were going to assume that the nearby data provider was deprived of electricity, too.

well, tetsurou was going to have to wait, then.

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after having been reassured by your parents for the thousandth time that they would be alright— (“we used to live in mountains, we can survive a day or two without electricity,” your mother chirped, your father nodding in agreement. “go home to your husband! he must be worried.”) you reluctantly gathered your belongings and walked to the train station (your parents couldn’t open the electric gate, so the cars were practically useless).

the truck must’ve hit one of the most important power posts in the whole area, because the train station was shrouded in chaos, too. the management had people standing on the platforms, using megaphones to announce the incoming trains as the speakers were down. it was all very hectic, but thankfully, you were familiar with which train you needed to get home.

by the time you got home, it was about 11 in the afternoon, so you got takeout then cleaned the house, since you had taken the day off work. hours flitted by like butterfly wings, fast and captivating, over in less than a heartbeat. initially, you had wanted to text tetsurou, but you didn’t want to bother him while he was at work, plus you reasoned that you could just talk to him after he got back from work (although it would might be near midnight at that time).

at 5pm, you pulled yourself away from the tv show you were engrossed in to prepare dinner. upon opening the fridge, you were pleased to find out that there were no leftovers from the previous night— tetsurou had finished the dinner you made for him. the pot of curry bubbled, gurgling happily as you slid in a plate of chopped potatoes. you hummed, dancing around the kitchen to the radio, satisfaction draining into your system at the whiff of your heavenly-smelling dinner.

too caught up in your dancing, you never heard the front door open, never heard the surprised noise, never heard the excited footsteps of your husband.

“y/n?” tetsurou burst into the kitchen, still dressed in his work attire, his suit still looking pristine and tie straight. you yelped as he dropped his bag, grabbing you and swinging you around, a foolish grin on his face. “oh my god, i’m so sorry.” he put you down after remembering that you might still be upset at him, looking rather sheepish. “i know there are no excuses, i’ve been an idiot—”

“i’m not mad at you.” you interrupted him, smiling softly. “i wanted to text you back last night but some idiot crashed into a power pole in my parents’ neighbourhood, so electricity was down for the whole night and i had no signal to text you back with.”

he was frozen in place, like your words hadn’t quite reached his brain yet. “you’re… not… mad?” he bit each word carefully, golden eyes watching your amused expression.

“not really.” you laughed at his surprised reaction, taking in the owlish blink of his golden irises. “i know you’re working hard because you want us to have something better— and i admire you for that. you have your dreams, and you chase them with everything you have. that’s a really admirable trait.” your voice and gaze softened as you reached out to him, cupping his face in your palm. “i just want you to know that when you’re done chasing your dreams, i’ll be right here, at home, waiting for you.”

much to your surprise, he started tearing up right in front of you, his eyes becoming glassy as he choked a sob. 

“tetsu! i’m not— i’m not mad, why are you crying?” 

“you’re too good for me, that’s why!” 

“... is it because of the onions?” 

“no! but the curry smells really good!” 

after you subdued your emotional husband, the two of you settled down around the dining table, your pot of heavenly-smelling curry plopped in the middle. 

“you’re home really early today,” you commented while dishing out ladles of curry. “it’s only...” squinting at the clock, you made out the time to be... “6.34pm.” 

“ah.” tetsurou laughed nervously. “i... um. i passed the project onto another manager.” 

at his confession, you nearly dropped the ladle, jaw dropping onto the floor, surprise colouring every inch of your face. “you passed on the project? doesn’t that cut away from your yearly bonus?” 

“well, um, yes, it does.” he squirmed uncomfortably. “but i... told my boss i didn’t want to work overtime as much, so he agreed to let me pass on the project. i’ll still be overlooking it, of course, because its’ my subordinates handling majority of the matter now— but i’ll still be supervising them through it.” 

you stared at him, ladle still frozen midair like you were from some kind of comedic cartoon. 

“is... is that okay?” he asked timidly, still rather alert due to your reaction. 

“does that mean you’ll be home earlier?” you asked quietly, eyes never glancing away from his. 

“oh, definitely.” a smile broke out across his face, and like an infection, it passed from him to you until you jumped into his arms with a shaky laugh, his arms catching you easily, holding you against his chest tightly. “i told you i’d make it up to you.” 

you laughed tearily, sniffing as you wiped your eyes with your shirt, slightly embarrassed now. “you didn’t have to.” 

“i want to.” he replied softly, arms still laced around your waist. “something you said earlier really resonated in me. you said i chase my dreams with everything i have... remember?” 

“yeah...” 

“y/n, love, you are my greatest dream. and i’ll give everything i have to chase you, and make you happy for the rest of our lives.” 

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