Chapter Text
“You alright, babe?”
Tetsurou’s grin was, decidedly, brighter than the street lamps that hovered above them as they strolled through the park on their way back to the campus of their university. Hinata and Yamaguchi had already separated from them as they headed off to their respective dormitories, which left Tetsurou and Kei alone with each other in the dark Tokyo evening.
Kei’s lips curled into a scowl as he adjusted the scarf on his neck, pointedly ignoring the hand Tetsurou held out for him to hold. “Cut it out. We’re not on a date anymore.”
“Dude,” Tetsurou pouted, “you’re ruining the moment.”
Kei shook his head, giving his supposed boyfriend a Look.
“Fine.” Tetsurou shoved his hand into the pocket of his thick winter jacket, but the easy smile that was so like him never faded from the edge of his lips. Kei’s own mouth curled down in mild annoyance as he hurried his steps the moment the first snowflakes hit their red noses.
“Do you think they bought it?” Kei asked, thinking back on the double date and Yamaguchi’s particularly stunned expression at the beginning. Tsukki, you never told me it was Kuroo-san! The next second he had seemed to get over this, however, and enthusiastically chatted with Kuroo (Tetsurou, Kei forcibly reminded himself) about embarrassing shit Kei would rather not think about.
“Hm,” Tetsurou hummed thoughtfully, “I believe so, if your friend’s plea for another double date in the future is anything to go by." Besides, you ask this every time, Tetsurou's bored undertone implied.
“When did—” Kei’s hands fiddled with the headphones around his neck, irritation showing through each movement. “Never mind him.”
“Rude,” Tetsurou poked at the side of Kei’s headphones, “you still took these with you on our date.” But the smirk that adorned his face betrayed the words, and Kei huffed something incomprehensible in return, shoulders relaxing despite himself.
To be honest, Kuroo wasn’t the worst pretend boyfriend Kei could have picked — hell, this had been Tetsurou’s idea in the first place, and Kei had reluctantly agreed to it for the benefits the deal had for him. Like getting everyone to shut up about his love life, and getting someone to suffer with him through Hinata and Yamaguchi’s stupidly romantic dates that sometimes seemed to include Tsukishima Kei’s dorm room and video games.
And fake dating removed the issue of actually trying to get an actual date, which Kei really couldn’t care less to put an effort into.
Strengthening his friendship with Kuroo-san through this was an added bonus, as well, though Kei was fine either way.
“Whatever,” Kei mumbled, “thank you for the company tonight.”
“It’s too early for that,” Tetsurou hummed, and from his side Kei saw the wind ruffle at Tetsurou’s long black bags. In the luminescent lights, the sight could have been rather beautiful — coupled with the smell uptilt of Tetsurou’s lips, and the flush of cold that tinted cheeks. “Let me take you back to your dorm first before goodbyes.”
Kuroo Tetsurou was, decidedly, either the best partner for fake dating schemes or the absolute worst due to his persistence.
Either way, if Kei was objective for a moment, he was in luck.
.
.
.
Next morning, Kei woke up to not his mobile alarm but to a text message — which itself was peculiar, since no one really texted him asides from Akiteru, and Tetsurou on occasion when he was being a pain. And Yamaguchi, naturally, now that they didn’t hang out in real life as much as in middle school.
Today the honor went to none of them, surprisingly, and Kei had to squint his eyes a little to disperse the disbelief when he saw the sender’s name.
Sugawara-san had always struck him as someone polite enough not to send message at 8 am, but it had been more than a couple years since Kei’s first year in high school and things notoriously tended to change. Even though they apparently shared a major in medicine, he hadn’t bumped into the older student — no shit, the medical program was pretty popular after all — after a coincidence in his first year of university, but after that it was just as though the older student had disappeared.
People changed, Kei knew.
Apparently Sugawara-san had changed into someone who woke people up with text messages at 8 am.
Suppressing a groan, fuck mornings let me sleep, he clicked the message open as he forced himself onto his stomach, chin resting on the back of his arm. Glassless as his eyes were, he still had to squint to decipher the kanji on his smartphone screen.
The message was simple enough, but with morning-fuddled brain it took Kei a few moments to realize the meaning of it.
Cafeteria, medical department, 2pm.
No explanation whatsoever, and Kei threw the phone back down as his head fell to the dinosaur-patterned pillow.
Monday mornings were foul, but Tuesday mornings after a double date with the most exhausting pair of dorks in the universe were just as bad when woken up three hours before he had to get up and rush out without breakfast.
University life was, go figure, a fucking hassle.
.
.
.
Sugawara-san — or Suga for short, as most tended to call him due to that sugary smile and just as sweet nature that, to a point, made Kei feel like he had gained another mother without asking for it — had grown considerably even after the incident on Kei’s first year, and soft facial lines had turned harder, more pronounced, teenage chubby cheeks no flatter.
But for most part, Sugawara-san hadn’t changed.
“Ah, I’m sorry for texting so early,” he grinned sheepishly at the blond, hands pressed together in an apologizing gesture as Kei sat himself down on the chair across from Suga. “I just got the idea to meet up with my old underclassmen, so…”
“I thought Sawamura-san was the devious one,” Kei interrupted with a semi-polite but dismissive wave of hand. “You’re plotting something.”
“Plotting? Not at all.” Sugawara’s smile was much less convincing, especially when Kei heard the familiar voices of Hinata and Yamaguchi from his behind, undoubtedly approaching the table Sugawara had been occupying for what seemed to be a while.
“Oh, Tsukki! Sugawara-san!”
“Suga-san!”
Kei turned his head, giving an imperceptible nod towards Yamaguchi’s direction, before pinning a firm look at Sugawara’s sheepish face.
“Okay, so I did have something in mind… Hinata, Yamaguchi, have some crackers.” Sugawara gingerly pushed a box of crackers towards the others, and Hinata all but leaped at the chance for some crackers.
“Thanks, Suga-san!”
Kei could feel his future headache approaching. “What’s this about?” Luckily the lunchtime rush had dissipated, and the cafeteria was much more empty than a couple hours prior, but there were still too many people for Kei’s taste lingering about.
“So, um,” Sugawara scratched at his cheek, one arm lying on the table as he leaned forward, “Daichi and I are moving out from our apartment in a few months, and we figured we should hole at least one party for our kouhai from the high school times, since, you know, that was the height of our youth.”
“Height of your youth,” Kei repeated flatly, and it was sarcastic enough to make Yamaguchi nudge him with his elbow in reproach. Kei curled his lips in annoyance, still skeptical of the phrase.
“Shush,” Sugawara sighed, ruffling his short, pale silver hair, fingers getting stuck in knots here and there. Kei felt odd pang of satisfaction at the wince that spread to the older student’s face. “Since so many of our kouhai came to this university after high school, why not? It gives us time to catch up, and all.”
Kei called bullshit on this explanation, but he supposed Sugawara-san couldn’t help being sentimental, since this was his last year of master’s program if everything went well. And, well, it wasn’t impossible that he actually did care; there was a reason he bore that mother hen reputation throughout his third year in Karasuno.
“That sounds like fun!” Hinata, being the dumb child he was, proclaimed, his expression wavering between thoughtful and excitement. “It’s too bad Kageyama didn’t get into university… He could’ve joined in.”
“Too dumb,” Kei’s instinct to antagonize Kageyama Tobio even when he wasn’t nearby had not died out in the past years of not meeting the King.
“Isn’t he a professional player these days?” Sugawara wondered out loud, his expression softening at Hinata’s pouty face. “Don’t worry, Hinata, others at least are coming. Ryou… I mean, Tanaka’s coming, too, and he’s not at the university either. Noya and Asahi are in a different one, but they said they’ll try to make it in time, since they want to meet up too.”
Yamaguchi leaned over the table to touch Hinata’s arm for comfort. “At least the rest of us old first years will be there, Shouyou, yeah?” And the way Hinata’s face expression lit up at the simple touch was so gross that Kei had to look away, lips curling uncomfortably as Kuroo’s equally gross but fake behavior last night came to his mind.
“Mm, that’s right!” Hinata agreed, but the smile on his more adult-like face (compared to high school, anyway) was wistful. “Tsukishima’s coming too, right? Right?”
At least Hinata didn’t assume straight on that his coming was obvious — Yamaguchi, on the other hand…
“Of course Tsukki will come!” Yamaguchi’s freckled face melted into a smile that was all too sweet for Kei to have any options left. Shit. “Tsukki can bring Kuroo-san with him, too!”
“Kuroo?” Sugawara’s eyes flickered with curiosity, and Kei glared at Yamaguchi. That big-mouthed little shit happened to be his best friend. How unfortunate.
“Kuroo-san and Tsukki are dating,” Yamaguchi informed Sugawara with a satisfied nod, looking very proud of his friend snatching a hot boyfriend. A disarmingly hot, even.
Tch.
“Oh, wow,” Sugawara whistled lowly, eyebrows rising on his brow. “Congratulations, Tsukishima.”
“Whatever.” Kei’s answer could be to either of the statements or the question or the party itself — and so he left it at that, shoulders slumped as he resigned himself to a shitty Friday night. “It’s on Friday?”
“Yup; evening, of course, but there’s no fixed time, really…” Sugawara’s lips curled into a delighted smile just as he checked his phone for something. “Mm, Daichi’s classes end at four that day, and I just have a morning class, so whatever works for you guys. Dates—” Sugawara’s eyes twinkled at Kei, who suppressed a sigh just as Yamaguchi giggled something to Hinata. “—are, of course, acceptable. Tanaka’s probably bringing his girlfriend with him, anyway…”
“Wait, he has a girlfriend? How?”
“You’ll hear all about it on Friday, I’m sure,” Sugawara’s smile turned crooked. “You’re going to have to tell us the story behind you and Kuroo-san, too, of course.”
Ugh.
Friday sounded like it had better stay the fuck away from Tsukishima Kei.
.
.
.
“A party?” Tetsurou’s face, as expected, split into a shit-eating grin that made Kei roll his eyes and sigh for the umpteenth time that day… and evening. “That sounds like something we do need. Desperately,” Tetsurou continued in a low hum as he wiggled his toes at Kei beneath the small table, succeeding in tickling at the side of the blond’s leg.
“How do you figure?” Kei muttered, mouth half-full with bread he pushed Tetsurou’s foot away with his knee. Or tried to, since Tetsurou only lowered the foot until their ankles bumped awkwardly under the table.
“Hmm, well,” Tetsurou pretended to think, “maybe because that’s where we can show off our fake thing? Parties are what start the rumors, man, even more so than hand-holding in public. Which you object to, by the way.” Was it just Kei or did Tetsurou sound too bitter over that fact for a man that pretended to date him?
Nah, Tetsurou just loved messing with him — and everyone else, for that matter, which was why this deal had been struck in the first place.
Kei swallowed the pieces of bread in his mouth and wiped his mouth with a thumb. “Why would I want rumors about us?” he asked bluntly, pale brown eyes narrow behind his glasses.
“Because you like messing with people and their expectations?” Tetsurou suggested with a careless shrug of his shoulders. “And besides, it keeps the ladies away if they know you’re taken.”
Kei mulled over the words for a moment before nodding half-heartedly. If anything, Tetsurou did know him well enough to realize that much… “Yeah, I suppo—” A pair of fingers brushed against Kei’s lips and the corners of mouth. “…What.”
“Crumbs,” Tetsurou said smugly as he withdrew his fingers, pointedly licking them clean of bread crumbs.
“Stop that,” Kei struggled with coherency for a moment too long, but he regained it soon. Ish. “Stop being stupid.” He’d say stop acting stupid, but, well, Tetsurou wasn’t acting necessarily.
So, who was messing with whom, exactly?
“Hahaha, just humor me, Tsukki,” Tetsurou laughed and put gentle emphasis on the nickname that would haunt Kei for the rest of his life, probably. Not that he cared or had much of a choice anymore after all these years already passed. At least it wasn’t Kei-chan — something Tetsurou had tried to dish out on their first fake date together.
God, that was a horrible memory.
“Stop abusing that nickname already,” Kei muttered, but he knew it went ignored as Tetsurou — Kuroo-san, Kei still mentally insisted — continued.
“But yeah, that party’s a good chance, if Hinata hasn’t already gossiped with half the campus. You said some old Karasuno students are coming too? That libero and your ace?”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s make other prefectures talk about us, too, while we’re at it, then.”
“…Nishinoya-san and Asahi-san aren’t from that far away, goddammit,” Kei nearly choked on his noodles and nudged at Tetsurou’s foot — still connected with his — rather hard. “And what do you mean ‘let’s make them talk about us’ — please stop, Kuroo-san.”
“What, nothing wrong with making this love story a nationally famous one… even if it’s a fake one.”
“I’m not taking you anywhere on Friday if this is how you behave.”
Sometimes he wondered if it was not better to just succumb to the loner lifestyle he had led before these past weeks and several double dates. Now was one of those times, and would not be the last occasion he’d ponder on such questions.
“Stop crashing my place whenever you’re hungry, moron,” Kei added, sighing as he wiped Tetsurou’s mouth clean from the sauce, ignoring the smirk that played on the other’s face immediately afterward. No, Kei was not getting soft, just— he was just doing shit Tetsurou himself should be doing. Ugh. Gross.
“Nah, you’ll take me out, ‘coz Sawamura wants to hear how the hell we happened.”
“…Sugawara-san told him already. Of course,” Kei muttered to himself and resisted the urge to slam his head down onto the edge of the table.
“No secrets from the boyfriend, remember?” Tetsurou cooed, insistently continuing their game of footsie under the table by lifting his foot to brush against Kei’s calf. “It will be fine, Tsukki, really. Relax and let me handle the talking on Friday.”
“That’s just what I’m afraid of doing…”