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February 12, 2021 1:04 AM
“Uwi na tayo, Tetsu”
The plush stench of a mixture of different kinds of alcohol and perfume clung onto both Oikawa’s and Kuroo’s garments. It is yet again one of those nights where they fully harness the weekend before facing the gruesome (and sometimes quite depressing) workload of a graduating college student.
Uwi na tayo, Tetsu
The statement’s probably been said more than a hundred times in a hundred different combinations of words before.
But somehow, the way those words rolled out of his mouth this time stood out from the past ones, as if it rang a bell about something that Oikawa can’t quite point out.
One thing’s for sure about it though, he felt warmth embrace his chest and slowly spread all throughout his entirety.
Only Kuroo Tetsuro can make him feel like that. Really.
To Tooru’s relief, his boyfriend was almost never a burden (read: almost) when it comes to after inuman sessions . Compared to the brunette who is an indecipherable mute when drunk, Kuroo is just an assemblage of inaudible mumbles stuffed in a 6 foot 1 man who would unquestionably comply with anything his boyfriend tells him.
This probably explains why Oikawa never wishes to let Kuroo be the person to take care of the other. The latter insists most of the time though because he wanted Oikawa to have fun too—the brunette is the social butterfly among them after all. But Tooru has a monstrous tolerance for alcohol and no one can go up against him other than his cousin, Miwa.
“Pahirapan mo pa si Tooru,” Akaashi quips as he takes another sip from his bottle.
“‘Pag ‘yang si Boks nalasing mamaya, ikaw talaga tatawanan ko,” Oikawa darts his look at Bokuto who seems to enjoy the drinks and Akaashi just stipples a smile, used to bantering with the brunette and receiving a sassy response.
“‘Wag mo batiin, he’s twice my size pero Kuroo’s just a few pounds heavier than you. ‘Di patas ang laban natin.”
Oikawa just rolls his eyes at the man. It wasn’t something people expected but he and Akaashi got along really well despite having a bitter start.
It’s been a year after all.
And as if a bulb lights up above tooru’s head, every puzzle piece starts to fit each other until he realizes what it is.
It’s been a year, probably a few days more, since that night.
February 5, 2020 1:29 AM
Never has Tooru experienced waiting for a ride this long.
Well, actually he did, for many instances, even. But waiting with a squiffy Kuroo beside him, with their fingers knitted together as the other brushes his thumb at the back of tooru’s hand while keeping a gawking silence? It was a first for him. Thrilling? Yes. In a good way? God, no.
It was a painfully awkward scene to watch and far worse when you yourself have to endure it. But still, Oikawa ends up feeling fluttering butterflies inhabit his stomach and he has nothing to do about it. The feeling, it wasn’t something makeshift nor foreign to him, and verily, Tooru’s been in a climax of feelings for a moderately long time. To say the least, this is just a fraction of what he’s witnessed.
“Di-” Kuroo tries to say something until he gags. The vodka really hit him hard tonight, huh? He mentally curses at the person he was thirty minutes ago for chugging that much grog, bobo amputa .
“‘Di?” the brunette asks, trying his fucking best to not laugh. One second they were in a suffocating mess of discomfiture and as soon as one of them tries to utter a single word—which he fails miserably but thank God he did, Oikawa thinks—the other ends up tomato red, practically enunciating litanies in his head in hopes that he won’t let out a chuckle.
“‘Di ano?” Tooru asks with a weak shaking voice. Now is truly not the time for taunting and he knows it, but kuroo is just… well, drunk—a bit too much for him to act decorously.
Slowly, their fingers unweave each other when Kuroo initiates it. Then Oikawa feels something warm crawl onto his waist that it sent electricity coursing through his veins, even more so when he felt the hand gently and elusively squeeze his side.
“You don’t have to say anything,” Kuroo says, now collected enough to not convulse. Then his fingers, still glued to Oikawa’s waist, drums in a wave-like rhythm. “I could go on just by basking in your warmth right now,” he continues without making any eye contact at all. And truthfully, even Kuroo himself got surprised, losing a small percentage of his daze at how much bravado he exuded from that line. “ Swabe ko ata dun?” He thinks a bit loftily.
On the other hand, Tooru’s mind goes “there‘s that feeling again.” In fact he wasn’t just feeling butterflies in his stomach. It felt like he was bloated from it as if he just finished a full course meal. Weird, but exhilarating, slightly addicting, even.
February 12, 2021 1:37 AM
A tenuous smile grows on his face when the scene plays in his head. All the other small things, moments, and whatever tangible and intangible element their relationship is built upon, then fast-tracks to his musing, like a mental film show where he skips, pauses, plays, and replays.
A lot can really happen in a single year, yet it’s also merely a small junction of what they still plan to unfold— a little just like an opening act. But despite change being a known constant to anything and everything, Oikawa realizes that some things seem immortal to it and he’s glad that they are.
Like how he would end up playing with Kuroo’s fingers as the guy slumbers beside him on their way home—seemingly identical to how they are right now in the car. It’s a thing Kuroo does as a calming mechanism even since they were just roommates. Tooru always offers his hand, then the other fiddles. Along the way, Tooru picked it up and now it’s the other way around. Not that Kuroo minds because he’d grown soft towards the habit that he got used to being the one offering the hand instead of the one playing with it.
It could also be the route they take after Kuroo’s training, stopping by the same street food stall, eating the same set of tusok tusok . Albeit being a rare thing since Kuroo was by the narrowest of margins benignant to his own food program as an athlete, it was still something Tooru endearingly recalls. One hand holding the plastic cup of manang Ernie’s palamig , the other hand holding hands with the other.
Even grocery trips were something Tooru grew attached to. He thinks that maybe it’s the way they love to haphazardly fish something new for their pantry every now and then. Or maybe how they take turns on being the one who pushes the cart and the one who holds the grocery list and throws in the cart what’s written.
Oikawa could honestly go on, intellectually rambling about every memory he could remind himself of. Probably even drifting to what changed about them instead of what stayed the same, completely losing track of what he was supposed to remember, and possibly losing track of where they’re supposed to drop off as well.
Even when everything seemed so familiar—from the route they take almost every week, to the man cuddled up beside him—Tooru felt like he was still at the beginning.
The whole way home was a ragbag of nostalgia and déjà vu where they were placed at the interstice of those two, hoping, praying, manifesting that things would always be like this.
Oikawa recovers from his trance when Kuroo shakes their interwoven fingers, prompting that they’re nearing their place.
Kuroo sees the giddiness painted in Tooru’s eyes and the defined cheekbones, giving away the supposedly unnoticeable smile on his lips. With a voice lower than usual, probably from the short nap, he nudges Tooru
“Oh, nakangiti ka, something up?” He asks the brunette
“Wala, it’s just cool how we lasted a year.”
A laugh escapes from Kuroo. Furrowed eyebrows from shock, then softening as he shifts his reaction to faking a hurt one, “tingin mo ba ‘di tayo tatagal?”
Frankly, Oikawa never really thought of the future with regards to their relationship. He never thought of and he will probably never think of Kuroo as his past, nor his future, because being with him makes it feel like only the present exists. Kuroo was Tooru’s spectacular now, with him, time doesn’t feel so inevitable.
“I didn’t say that. Hindi ko ba pwedeng i-appreciate ‘yung tinagal natin?”
Wordless, Kuroo just smiles before he plants a soft kiss on the brunette’s forehead
February 5, 2020 1:59 AM
Kuroo believes that he’s about 85% sober now.
His rational thinking seems to be finally back but he can’t totally believe this, not when he feels circles being drawn on his left palm. He refuses to accept that the Tooru snuggled on top of him, eyes glued to the phone screen as he lets his sheet mask sit in, is the real Tooru.
“Hey,” Oikawa starts when he notices Kuroo awake. Hadn’t it been for him, Kuroo would’ve probably continued to be lost in reverie. He blinks a few more times before fully sinking into the fact that the Oikawa right now isn’t just part of his 15% insobriety.
Callous but gentle fingers find their way to Oikawa’s brown locks, effortlessly combing through the strands.
“hi,” he greets back with a dozy but fond look.
As cliche as it sounds, Kuroo thinks that if this was a dream, then he doesn’t want to wake up—and Oikawa feels the same way.
Tooru removes the mask and discards it to the bin beside the bed before scooting a bit closer to the other. Gradually, Kuroo allows himself to melt into the other’s body and cave in the fervour in his chest.
They’ve been home for presumably an hour or so now (He isn’t really sure since he fell asleep for some time) but only now could he tell that he’s genuinely home. When he succumbs to Tooru’s warmth.
“Alam mo, I’ve never been with someone na naging kaibigan ko muna,”
Tooru darts his eyes to Kuroo who was already looking at him. It’s the same fond look every time he listens to him, he should feel at least somewhat immune to it. But no. Right now, Oikawa feels that he could mollify if he looks back for more than five seconds.
Nakakatunaw ng buong pagkatao, nakakakaba, pero ang sarap pa rin sa pakiramdam
The sides of Kuroo’s lips curl up as he breathes, “Me neither,”
It probably isn’t a sensible thing to ask on the first night of (unofficially) being together, but Tooru thinks si Kuroo naman ‘to, sa kan’ya pa ba ako mahihiya?
“D’you think tatagal tayo?”
Tooru was just initially curious about the other’s answer, but after finally asking it, worry starts to pervade him. Because truthfully, this is something new but at the same time not, which scares him. And he knows it’ll hurt because it already did when he was still trying to accept his feelings for Kuroo.
Kuroo never wishes to give false hopes, but he surely wants to reassure Oikawa. The future wasn’t something he could and would predict, it’s just a product of what we do in the present.
“I honestly have no idea, Tooru. Samahan mo na lang akong alamin?”
February 12, 2021 1:40 AM
“I didn’t say that. Hindi ko ba pwedeng i-appreciate ‘yung tinagal natin?”
Wordless, Kuroo just smiles before he plants a soft kiss on the brunette’s forehead
“Pwede”
Oikawa lays down both of his hands then opens them and Kuroo follows by placing a hand on top. As Oikawa fiddles, lacing and unlacing the fingers, he looks up to Kuroo.
Curiosity irks him again, but fear doesn’t take over him anymore.
“Ako naman samahan mong alamin kung lalo pa tayong tatagal?”
“As long as it’s you, Tooru, ‘di mo na kailangan pang tanungin.”