Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Aah…" Washio sighed as he sat on the bench.

He had been in the middle of a run through the local park, when he stopped to tie his shoelaces and noticed how serene the central lake felt, so early in the morning. It made him want to pause his run to stare at it, so there he was.

While he looked at the grayish water, he nonchalantly took a cereal bar out of his windbreaker's pocket and gave it a bite.

It wasn't bad, you know. To have these moments of solitude, when there really was no one around, and it was just him, the scenery, and his cereal bar. It was… peaceful.

But he did feel a bit lonely having that as his everyday life, always coming home to an empty apartment.

"Hmh…" Washio sighed again.

Not too many years ago, he had actually been eager to live on his own, but young him didn't imagine he would mind the loneliness. He didn't even think he would be alone, to start off, because he probably would have to share an apartment with a roommate, or, who knows, maybe he would even find a significant other with whom to live.

But as we could see with the man staring at an empty lake at 6 in the morning, sighing in loneliness, neither of those happened.

He just got a place for himself and stayed like that, since no need to share a place arose, and, well… none of his relationships had lasted much...

It wasn't for a lack of trying, Washio thinks. He did do his best, studying how to be a good boyfriend and all. Things just didn’t work.

"I'm sorry. This is not going how I expected…" was basically what his exes had told him on the break-ups.

Or, more bluntly, "You're kinda boring."

Poor Washio went through a dejected mode after that one…

Staring at a mirror, it didn't take long for him to conclude they had probably been looking for a badass lone wolf, and got disappointed when they found out he was more like a quiet good boy instead.

Washio considered that maybe he should stop going around looking like a spiky-haired T-800, even though the owl-head in black was already his trademark by that point; and he liked how practical and durable his leather jacket was.

So he tried combining some less pointy hairstyles and trendier clothes one day. 

But when he stared at the guy in the mirror, all he could think was, " Who the hell is this ?" And concluded that changing his style would actually do the opposite of helping people see his true self, because that was his true self.

Thinking better, it probably was a lack of trying. Not to try being a good boyfriend, but to try becoming a boyfriend. His three attempts in over 20 years of existence didn't seem to be much, when compared to some of his friends. So maybe he should try more often to raise the chances of finding a dear half.

But, ah… how would Washio even do that? If striking up conversations with strangers was already not his forte, imagine flirting with them… The reserved man had only gotten the dates he got because they approached him first.

So, perhaps he should use one of those dating apps, but —ah, putting his profile out there on display, advertising his search for romance to everyone— he didn't like that kind of exposition. One just had to take a look at his social media accounts, it was clear he only had them because he was supposed to in that day and age.

...which reminded him of the other struggle of his life that was fanservice.

Ugh…

Washio scrunched his eyebrows.

Yeah, perhaps that was more of a pressing matter. Getting to show his gratitude to their supporters aside, he also needed to work on his popularity for his own good. Since Washio wasn't a superstar player, and an injury could send him into early retirement at any moment, fetching some ads and sponsorships was a good way to guarantee financial security while he still could.

About companionship, well, he didn't really need to worry about it yet. He was young, there was going to be plenty of time to look for it. And it wasn’t like romance was mandatory in life, anyway; many people went without it just fine. Washio himself had been doing rather fine up until that point.

Indeed, he really was. Overall, his life had been quite good, he couldn't complain. 

But…

Aah…

It would be nice if he had someone to share it with him, right?

Washio looked up at the greyish sky, and thought he wouldn't mind some help with finding company…

…

He closed his eyes and sighed.

Yeah... as if fate would be so kind as to listen to requests , he thought to himself.

Then he opened his eyes, and found a big duck staring at him, just a few meters away.

Oh, never mind, it worked…

The serious man smiled to himself and let out an amused huff. "You're not the kind of company I was hoping for, though. But thanks anyway, duckie."

The bird continued to stare at him.

Washio wondered what could be catching the duck's interest, and remembered he still had the cereal bar with him.

"Oh, is this what you want?" He held the treat out. "I'm sorry, but I don't think this would be any good for you."

The big duck just continued to stare.

Unblinking.

Washio started to feel some uneasiness. The duck's beady eyes, which he would say were like cute black buttons just a few seconds ago, instead slowly looked to him more and more like emotionless domes of void.

The tall man gulped, and began to stand up.

"Uh… You know what? I should get going—"

But before he could even finish his sentence—

*HONK!!

—the duck yelled and charged towards him!

"Gah!" Washio yelped, instinctively releasing his cereal bar to the bird.

The duck ignored the food item, though, and continued to charge forward, using its wings to propel itself up to pounce at the sitting man.

Washio in turn sprung out of the bench before the hit, and rolled on the ground, promptly shifting back as to not lose sight of his attacker.

The duck had crashed on the same spot he had been just a second before and was still recomposing itself, facing the bench.

In those couple of seconds, an old memory resurged on Washio's mind.

"Hey, hey, look, guys! There are ducks over there!"

"No, Bokuto-san, those are not ducks. They're geese! Don't get near them! They are very territorial!"

"Aw, Akaashi. What these adorable duckies could possibly do—AAAAAAAAH!!"

As feathers floated on the air to the sound of angry honks and Bokuto's dying screams, Washio saw the present bird—no, the goose, slowly turn its head towards him, and look at him with its empty eyes. It then opened its beak and hissed like a snake. 

Only two words came into Washio's head at that moment. 

Oh, fuck.

And as the goose jumped out of the bench to pursue him, he bolted away.

Being the professional athlete he was, Washio's legs quickly carried him through the distance.

But it wasn't enough to escape the airborne menace of a goose, and when he turned to look back at the sudden sound of flapping behind him, all he saw was a big mass already zooming at his face.

"Aaagh!" Washio shielded himself and immediately ducked, avoiding the hit by a hair.

The bird tried to maneuver in the air to get to him, but it ultimately crashed on the ground. It turned its beak to Washio and hissed again.

As he had a better look at the goose's mouth, Washio’s face further twisted in horror at how its tongue and mouth were full of teeth-like small barbs. Which came snapping at his feet, as the goose used its long neck to lunge its head forward, like a viper on a chicken body.

Moved by sheer terror, the tall man fumbled with his legs before going back to running at full speed.

The goose went right behind him, honking furiously. It tried to dive at him a couple more times, but Washio successfully dodged them, thanks to his trained sharp reflexes. And luckily, the small building of a public bathroom came into his sight.

It was the shelter he needed.

But right when Washio was getting close to it, the beast got a landing on him and started to gnaw on his hair, while launching a flurry of wing attacks to his head.

Yelling, Washio desperately tried to shake the goose off—although he also couldn't push it away too hard if he wanted to keep all of his hair. The man miserably struggled under the bird's assault, but he did his best to keep moving, keep stumbling towards the sanitary fortress.

Washio finally got his window when the goose briefly opened its mouth to reposition, and he was able to push the bird away, throwing it in the air.

As soon as it hit the ground, it lunged its head to bite Washio's ankles, but the man was already back in the run.

And thankfully, before the goose could reach him again, Washio arrived at the public bathroom and closed the door behind him.

*dum!

He felt the goose slamming on the door right after.

Washio heard the demon bird release a few honks, sounding probably frustrated. But it went silent a little after.

He continued to press his back against the door, though, his heart still racing, not fully sure if the hellish fiend had given up.

As the quietness continued for the next few minutes, however, he decided that maybe it was ok to take a peek outside.

So he opened the door as quietly as he could… and found no goose in sight.

Still, Washio felt like he couldn't drop his guard yet. So he very carefully took some steps outside.

But as he stood in front of the bathroom, and no bird appeared, he felt he could finally relax.

Phew . The man let out a breath he had been holding for a little too long.

He smiled to himself, amused at how scared he had gotten because of a simple silly goose. Although it had been persistent, it looked like the bird just wanted to chase him away from the lake, after all. 

But right as he thought that, a honk came from above and behind him.

Washio then turned back and saw a shadow coming at him from the bathroom's roof.

"Aaaaaah!!!"

He screamed as the goose landed on his head. Luckily, it failed to get a good grip on his hair that time, so Washio quickly pushed the bird away and jumped back in the bathroom, slamming the door behind him again.

The disheveled man panted while holding his back against the door.

Holy shit. Did that goose really set him in a trap? He thought.

A shadow then slowly passed along the door's bottom gap at his feet, accompanied by an evil hiss.

It definitely did.

Ok, that bird didn’t want to just chase him away from the lake. It was hunting. Washio didn't know what he did to piss it off so much, but that goose wanted his head (or at least his hair, it seemed), and it was smart enough to plan for it.

Waiting for it to go away was not going to happen, nor simply running for his life. So if Washio wanted to live (and keep his hair), he would need to outsmart that bird.

He knew that wasn't going to be easy.  On top of being cunning, that goose had the advantage of being on its home turf and being able to fly. And while Washio knew nothing about geese, that bird had probably been dealing with people for its entire life.

Fortunately, Washio was a human. And as a human, he had what it took to overcome that.

For he had his brain.

And internet.

Washio pulled his smartphone up and dove deep into geese research. A few articles and some youtube videos later, he had his battle plan: Go out there, and stand his ground. 

It sounded simple, but that was it. No matter how smart it may had been, a goose was still limited by its goose flesh. Although it was good at intimidation, its actual attacks were rather weak. So if Washio was able to shrug them off, there was nothing else the goose could do. As the defense specialist he was, being a professional middle blocker and all, and having the aid of a garbage can lid to use as a small but still protective shield, he should be able to pull it off.

He could also try to get a hold of the bird's neck and hold its wings down to secure his win: because that rendered the whole animal powerless. So it would have to surrender and acknowledge Washio as something it couldn’t just bully.

But if he somehow failed at that, thanks to the help of maps, he saw that there was a wooded area nearby he could run to as plan B. The goose should have a harder time flying through the trees, so Washio should be able to outrun it there.

And finally, if it all failed though, there was his last resort: fight for his life. In the end of the day, as cunning as that bird might have been, it was just a less-than-5kg hollow-boned weakling while Washio was a 85kg bundle of muscles and solid bones. There was no way he would lose in a serious man-to-bird fight. He didn’t want to hurt the animal, but it couldn’t be helped if there was no choice left.

He was confident it would end on plan A, though.

As long as he didn't cower, he wouldn't lose.

Washio fixed his disheveled hair, pushed it back into his signature sharp spikes, and stared at the mirror.

Hell yeah.

-

He opened the door with a confident push and stepped outside.

The goose was already there, waiting for him some steps away. It let out a venomous hiss.

Washio raised his shield, and pointed at his opponent, announcing, "I won't lose to you, bird!"

The goose honked, answering his challenge. And then, spreading its wings, it charged forward.

Washio braced himself, ready to either deflect a high pounce or block the pecks at his legs.

Following his predictions, the goose flapped its wings to jump at him, so Washio raised his shield. But instead of propelling itself further in the air, the bird returned to the ground and quickly launched its head towards the man's feet.

A feint?? Washio thought, surprised to see an animal use such a move.

But then— 

*tuk

The not-really-powerful clash of beak on polypropylene echoed through the air, as Washio swiftly brought the garbage can lid down to block the goose’s attack. 

The bird took a step back and looked up at him, apparently baffled.

Washio smirked.

"Good feint, bird. But I deal with better ones all the time." He said, maybe feeling a little too proud for having stopped a goose's peck.

His opponent glared at him, nonetheless, honking in probable annoyance.

Washio answered it by just raising his guard again, feeling fully confident he could win. 

And the goose then charged once more, deciding that time to trade its ploys for sheer speed, as it unleashed a barrage of lightning-fast pecks at Washio’s feet.

The middle blocker, however, masterfully blocked each of them, not moving a single step out of his strategic position at the bathroom’s door.

And the goose, not being able to keep such a blazing pace for long, soon stopped. It panted and stumbled a little, visibly tired out.

Seeing it in that state, a few possibilities came to Washio's mind: did it really tire out? Or was it just faking it? What should he do? Keep his guard up? Run away while it was out of breath? Try to catch it by the neck?

It was a quick stream of thoughts, lasting less than a second.

In a volleyball match, that may have been fast enough to decide how he would do a block, as the ball reached the opponent setter.

But against the goose's instincts, which had been sharpened by the wild, that was long enough for it to seize the man’s indecision and pounce on him again.

Washio was quick to react, raising his shield to protect his head. But as no weight fell on him, he realized a little too late that the goose had not jumped on him, but over him and was now behind him, inside the bathroom.

On a desperate turn to protect his back, Washio accidentally gave an opening for the goose. Not losing a beat, the waterfowl went through it and delivered a precision bite on his hand, making him drop the garbage can lid on the floor.

Washio tried to retrieve it a few times, but the goose was faster at stopping him with more bites.

"Ouch!-ouch!-ouch!"

The man recoiled his poor hand, now covered in small, but stingy red marks. While holding it to his chest, Washio took a step back and looked at the goose.

Its previous tiredness, a facade, now all gone, as it stood before him inside his fortress, and in possession of his shield.

The goose spread its wings and hissed, asserting its dominance.

It was right. Washio had been utterly defeated. That really was no ordinary bird.

The man quickly turned and ran away, with his tail between his legs.

Having lost both his fort and shield to the Demon bird, his situation was way worse than he predicted it could be. But he could still save himself if he managed to reach the trees, so he bolted to them like a wild animal.

From a distance, it did look like he would find protection under those canopies. But as he got closer and closer, he realized the trees were way more spaced than he expected. Nonetheless, he rushed into there and tried to use them to his advantage, making many sharp turns around them in hope of getting the goose to hit some bark.

But the goose didn't bother to try keeping glued to Washio, it just followed him around, always a few wing beats behind.

It didn't take much longer for Washio to realize the clever bird must have known he would sooner or later inevitably need to resurface in the open, so all the goose needed to do was to know at which point he would do so.

So, when Washio saw he was close to an edge of the wooded area, he already started to mentally prepare for his final stand. He would have to fight for his life, so it was better to do it on his own terms.

Washio jumped outside and swiftly turned back to face his opponent.

But the goose was already a wingbeat away, coming at full speed.

They were about to clash.

Judging by the stats, a goose shouldn't be able to beat a fully grown human, especially of Washio’s size. Being a bird, it's just too lightweight, its bones too fragile.

At first sight a fellow bird, the golden eagle, also shouldn't be able to beat a fully grown mountain goat; a hit from its mighty big horns and a broken wing meant the end for a bird of prey. Yet the golden eagle did hunt mountain goats. It was just that instead of trying to fight the goat into submission, the golden eagle dragged it away from the rocks so it would fall down the mountain.

Likewise, so did the goose. But instead of forcibly making a goat fall down a cliff, the goose wrestled with Washio's hair to make him lose balance, trip, and roll down the slope behind him.

“Agh!” He went, tumbling like a log.

To his luck, it was a rather smooth and grassy slope, so he didn't get hurt on the way down.

But to his unluck, someone happened to be passing by right then, and he was on a collision course with them with no way to stop. All he could do was scream, "GAAAAH!"

Fortunately, his yell managed to pass through the person’s earphones, allowing them to notice Washio just in time to somehow catch him instead of being sent flying away like a bowling pin.

The two people rolled on the ground a little, as Washio's momentum dissipated. And then our hero found himself being cradled in the stranger's arms.

Washio looked at them. The stranger looked at him.

And for the briefest second, as Washio took in their neatly parted short hair, slanted thin eyes and razor-sharp cheekbones, his troubles disappeared from his mind and he thought, " Oh, he's pretty. "

But before anyone could do anything the demon goose came soaring at them, honking. It made poor Washio instinctively hold tight onto the stranger and scream like a child. The stranger in turn reacted by pulling him closer, and trying to swat the bird away with an arm.

"Shoo, shoo!"

Under the goose's furious honks, Washio was so desperate he started to beg for forgiveness. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know what I did  but please don't kill us!!"

Anyone knew that would do nothing to stop an animal attack. 

But the goose stopped, and landed in front of them. It stared at the two humans tightly hugging each other.

It bobbed its head a little.

And flew away.

The two men stayed glued together as they quietly watched the goose disappear in the distance.

The stranger was the first one to speak after it had been gone, while still staring at that empty spot in the horizon. His voice was very very deep.

"Did… did that goose just nod to itself?" he asked. 

"I think it did." Washio replied while also staring at that empty spot.

"Did… did it just acknowledge your apology?" The stranger asked again.

"I think it did."

"Oh…" The man furrowed his eyebrows at the strangeness. "I didn't know geese could understand human speech." 

"I didn't know either." Washio said, with a blank expression. A mix of relief that it was all apparently over, disbelief that a simple apology could have avoided all that trouble, and shock that the goose was so smart it might have been able to actually understand human speech.

Then the stranger looked down at him and asked.  "Are you alright?" 

Washio looked up at those pretty features and all his troubles disappeared again.

"Yeah." He said, feeling as if he was wrapped in a blanket of warmth and safety and that beautiful stranger was all that existed at that moment.

The stranger smiled. "That’s good."

It felt like a sun for Washio.

Then, he felt a pat on his arm. And he remembered where that feeling of warmth and safety was actually coming from. He quickly, but cooly, unstuck himself from the stranger's embrace, stood up, and offered a hand to the other man. "Are you alright?"

"I am." The stranger took his hand, accepting the help to stand up. 

Washio was surprised to have to tilt his eyes up to look at the other man, as it wasn't every day he met people taller than him off the court.

Actually, the stranger felt familiar. Washio couldn’t pinpoint from where, but judging by that height, it must have been related to volleyball. But he could figure it out later. First,

"Sorry for… hm, falling on you." Washio said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. “And thank you for helping me…”

The stranger gave him a half-smile. "No problem. It looks like that goose gave you a lot of trouble."

"Oh, it did." Washio nodded, "I've been running from that thing this entire morning."

The stranger's eyebrows rose. "Wow. What did you do to anger it so much?"

"No idea. I was just sitting on a bench when it appeared and attacked me."

"Hm…” The stranger looked thoughtful. “Didn't you say anything that could've offended it?"

"Well, I did say it couldn't have my cereal bar and called it duckie, but… oh." Washio deadpanned the ground. "That must be it."

Earlier, he didn't think it could have been that, because as far as he was concerned animals were not supposed to actually understand human speech. But it made sense now.

The stranger chuckled. "Being called duckie must be a big no-no for geese."

"Hm." Washio nodded regretfully.

The stranger half-smiled again. "Well, you're ok now." He gave Washio a nice tap on the shoulder, and  started to turn away, preparing to leave. 

But Washio didn’t want that yet.

"Take care, sir—"

 "No, wait!" He outstretched his arm.

The stranger stopped. "Yes?" 

"Uh… Did you… did you use to play volleyball?"

The stranger's expression lightened up at the mention of the sport. "I did! Up until college. Why, did you use to play as well?"

"Yes. And I still do, for the Raijins."

“Raijins?” The stranger said, looking puzzled at him.

A little disappointed, Washio thought he probably didn’t know them.

But the stranger suddenly smiled and pointed at him. “Ah! You’re their middle blocker!”

"I am." Washio nodded, now even feeling low-key happy inside for being recognized, as that wasn't something that happened every day.

"Washio Tatsuki-san, right?"

"Yeah." Washio looked at the man, feeling higher-key happy he'd even remember his full name. "You like the Raijins?"

The man beamed up. "Of course! My former junior is on the team. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. I guess I'm just not used to seeing you without your usual hairstyle," he merrily said.

Washio's eyes shot wide. He had totally forgotten what a terrible mess his hair probably was after being chewed by an angry goose and rolling down a grassy slope. 

"Ah!" He blushed and quickly tried to reshape his poor hair back into his signature look. "Better?"

The stranger squinted at him. "Hm, not quite. May I?" He asked, bringing a hand close to Washio's head.

Washio's pulse went up a notch there, but he kept a straight face. "Uh, sure."

He then stood still as the stranger carefully patted his stray hairs back in place, pulled some grass blades off, and retouched a few of the pointy ends; fighting hard to not get too red in the meantime.

The stranger then stopped, and squinted at him again, using his hands to check the alignments. He smiled.

"There you go. Looking sharp again."

"Thanks." Washio smiled back. "Looks like you're good with hair."

The stranger shook a hand. "Ah, no, it's just a habit I got. I like to keep things neat, and my younger siblings were always playing around, so there was always work to do. Haha." The man had a fond look on his face.

Washio thought it was cute. "I see."

They both then just kept smiling at each other. Until Washio remembered what they were talking about before.

"So, you said you had a former junior playing with me?"

The stranger got excited again. "Ah, yes, Suna-kun! I played with him back in high school. " 

"Oh, wait, you're from Inarizaki?"

"Yes!"

"Ah, that was it! I remember you." Washio looked up while trying to fish out the details. "Uh, you were their… number 2 on the 2012-2013 tournaments?"

"Yes! The name is Oomimi. I'm surprised you'd remember me."

Washio shook his head. "No, that was simple. You guys were the Inter-High runners-up, and we were both n°2 third-year middle blockers, of course I paid you some attention in case we met at Spring High." he explained.

He had also thought the tall boy looked pretty back then as well, but there was no need to reveal that. 

"Aah, that Spring high… it was… not the best for us…" Oomimi furrowed his eyebrows.

Only then did Washio remember he had just reminded the fellow middle blocker of how his team got eliminated on their first game in that tourney.

"Oh… sorry..." 

"No, no. That was just a school tournament." Oomimi quickly dismissed it with a hand wave and a smile. "Congratulations for getting to the finals, though. It was quite a match. I don't remember the details anymore, but I remember that when Suna told me he was joining the raijins and I noticed that cool middle blocker from Fukuroudani was there, I thought 'Oh, no wonder he went pro'."

It always felt good to receive nice comments. But that one hit Washio a little differently. It felt… heartwarming. He gave a little smile. "Thanks."

They both then just kept smiling at each other. Until Washio decided to talk again.

"So… you’re from Kansai, right? What brings you to Shizuoka?" he asked.

"I moved in because of work, this Friday, actually."

"Ah. Did someone already introduce you to the city?"

"Not yet."

"Well, then, would you like a welcome tour?" Washio calmly offered, without thinking too much, as it was customary. He knew well how useful was the welcome kit of getting to know the local attractions, nice places to eat, and what is cheaper at which supermarket.

"Oh, sure, I would." Oomimi happily accepted his offer. "I mean, if it doesn't bother you."

"Not at all." Washio dismissed it with a head shake, and went already picking his phone up. "I'll see with Suna when it's a good day."

"Ah, we're not going now?" The tall man said, almost sounding a little disappointed.

"Hm?" Washio raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't you want to have your junior as a guide?"

"Oh, I do," he nodded, "It’s just that, my next days are going to be full, and I'm sure Suna wouldn't wake up early on a Sunday." He said, with a little chuckle.

The cute way the corner of his eyes crinkled when he smiled made Washio take a few too many seconds to react. 

"Ah, right, it's still early." Washio looked at his phone and was surprised to know it wasn't even 7 yet. (He could swear he had run from that goose for longer…) "Hm, I'll try anyway."

He then dialed his teammate, but as expected, no one answered. A quick check on Suna's social media then taught him the younger man had been at a party until at least a couple of hours ago. So Washio typed a short message and put his phone away.

"Any luck?" Oomimi asked.

"No. I sent him a text, but I doubt he'll see it before noon"

Oomimi let out an amused huff. "Was he partying until late?"

"Yep."

"That boy sure likes that, doesn't he?"

Washio raised an eyebrow. "You don't?"

"Not really.” Oomimi shook his head. “I'm a boring grandpa, as they say."

"Oh, I get you, people say I'm a boring old man as well.” Washio nodded. “I think I’m still in my 40s though."

Oomimi brought a hand to his mouth and chuckled. "Oh, you’re still young."

Washio huffed a smile. "Well then, wanna go eat breakfast while we wait for Suna's response? There's a nice place a couple of blocks from here."

Oomimi nodded, contently. "Sure."

The two tall men then calmly went, continuing to chat as they walked, almost forgetting they were still in goose territory. 

The encounter with the goose did leave Washio scarred for life, though. He would never treat one so lightly as he did in that gray morning ever again. But he did look fondly at that day. And would even come to feel grateful towards the goose. Because, as his beloved husband pointed out while hugging him on the couch one day, it did chase Washio right into his arms.