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“He picked you up at the station again this time round?”
“Ah, yes, he did. I told him not to though.”
“He’ll still do that anyway.”
“…I know.”
--
Tsukishima had been coming to Tokyo once in a while shortly after entering his third year in high school. At first, it was for a campus tour. Akaashi was enrolled in the faculty he was interested in, and since they had gotten reasonably close over the past years, one day they just decided to regularly meet for study sessions. Tsukishima had been reasonably close to Bokuto and Kuroo too ever since the training camp, and now that the two were sharing an apartment with Akaashi, it was inevitable. He’d expect the seniors to bother their study sessions to no end, of course. What he had not expected was that after the second or third time Tsukishima had come to Tokyo, Kuroo still waited for him at the train station every time.
For the first one or two visits, the whole gang was there because Bokuto said he might get lost in the train station. Kozume was even there, which must have been a feat of its own for whoever managed to convince him to come. It was not even his first time in Tokyo. It’s just his first time visiting this bunch since they had gotten into university.
Akaashi had been very helpful in getting Tsukishima acquainted with the campus he had been eyeing, explaining the audio engineering program he was planning to apply for, and of course, as always, Akaashi was most helpful when dealing with Kuroo and Bokuto. Kuroo was studying psychology at the same university and Bokuto had gotten scouted upon high school graduation. His training grounds wasn’t exactly close to their shared apartment, but he had insisted on staying together. He had asked Kozume to stay together too although he had refused, adamantly so. Bokuto had only relented after Kuroo explained Kozume’s circumstances to him. For reasons, Tsukishima wasn’t surprised when he had been told about this on one of his visits. The three visited Kozume in his studio apartment from time to time, mostly Kuroo, but lately, Tsukishima too would visit when he’s around.
On his visits, Tsukishima usually started the day with a quick morning snack with Kuroo on their way from the train station to the shared apartment. When they get to the apartment, Akaashi was usually already waiting for him with a stack of material to go through together. He would have changed his part time shift to another day to accommodate Tsukishima’s visits, something that Tsukishima had told him not to do if he really couldn’t make it. He could always make it though, because if he managed to make living with two of the most unruly people he had even known work, he’d manage virtually anything. When lunchtime came, they would take a break and sometimes Akaashi would cook or reheat leftovers from the previous night. Afterwards they either resumed their session or took walks to get Tsukishima used to the neighbourhood. Bokuto was usually still training and Kuroo would be in the laboratory at this time. They’d have the whole afternoon to spend quietly and Tsukishima liked it a lot.
Tsukishima usually went home before sunset so he could be in time for dinner at home, except that one time he had accidentally fallen asleep on the couch. Akaashi had refused to wake him up for reasons he had not figured out until now. He had woken up eventually though, because the place had been very loud once Kuroo and Bokuto had been home. That night, they had argued about how to fit one more person in the cramped apartment. Tsukishima had wanted to offer to sleep on the couch but Kuroo had beaten him to it. That night, he had slept on Kuroo’s bed, wearing his lame set of pyjamas because he was too tall to fit in anyone else’s clothes. When he had woken up the next morning, Tsukishima had thought of how he was going to return the pyjamas after washing them. Kuroo had said that he could keep it but that was gross.
Just as how Kuroo picked him up every time he visited, Kuroo also walked with him to the train station and waited until his train departed after very visits. For some reason, Kuroo always had things to talk about during these short walks that he had missed the chance to ask about why Kuroo was doing this. When he finally managed to ask him, the man just shrugged and told him that he was just spending his free time doing what he wanted to do.
It had taken Tsukishima a few more visits to realise that Kuroo had wanted to spend time with him all this while without disturbing his schedule with Akaashi.