Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
It’s 11.52 am, on a cold autumn day and the nights were only getting colder. Kei finds himself trembling on the pavement hugging himself and tightly shutting his eyes. He doesn’t have any power left to stand, not to mention walking home. He cursed Kuroo and Bokuto’s bad idea of dragging him to a random party and his own stupidity which allowed him to take too much alcohol to kill his boredom. After successfully running away from the party, he tried to get home, only to realise that his wallet was left on Kuroo’s car. He cursed both of his roommates again and again while trying to stumble home like the drunken dumbness he is. His knees suddenly give out, and he finds that he lost all of his strength to walk further. He shivered in his not-so-warm clothes.
Shit! I am going to kill both of them once I reach the apartment!
He tried to push himself to stand but ends up stumbling and falling again.
“Uhm... Sir, are you okay?” Kei looked up, vision blurred. His fogged glasses aren't helping with that at all. He can see someone walking closer to him, trying to pull him up.
He takes in a glimpse of black spot which reminds him of the scattered stars he used to see twinkle across his hometown's sky. He tried to reach for it until his vision began to grow increasingly blurry, like he was spinning or looking through fogged glass. All at once, he was attacked by the sudden urge to fall into a deep sleep.
Kei stretches awake with a pounding headache. Trying to find his glasses on his usual drawer on the right side, his hands hit a hard material.
“What the... since when did I build a wall over there..?” he mumbled to himself. “A wall? What...?” He forced himself to open his eyes, trying to focus while his head hurt like hell.
Who cares something like that when he knows he is somewhere completely alien to him?
He tries to inspect his environment and finds that it still looks blurry without his glasses on, but he is sure he is not on his room. He tries to calm his mind and understand what the hell is going on. “Argh... that shitty party!!! I am so going to kill those two later!!!” He mumbled sharply while massaging his pounding forehead.
“Ah! You woke up! Do you feel any better? Are you hungry? I made breakfast!” said a voice suddenly. Kei flinched. It wasn't bad, in fact it was a soft (yet cheerful) voice, and he found he kind of liked it. A fact he would never willingly admit. He glanced to his left side to find a silhouette of a man standing in a place shaped like a doorway.
"Uhm, I'm practically blind without my glasses, so can you help me find them first?” Kei tried to respond politely. The man on the doorway chirped a sound of understanding before moving closer and take something from a flat surface in front of him.
“Sorry, here you go!”he says earnestly, holding out Kei’s glasses. Kei takes his glasses from those man hands and jams them on his face in one swift motion. “Feel better?” the man asked him.
“Sure.. except my throbbing head and my confusing location." he replies sarcastically, but realizing he spoke ill to a complete stranger, tones down his hostility. "Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?” Kei looks at the man before him, and inspects him while waiting for the man to pull together an answer. The man had deep green hair, a lot of freckles on his (shy yet glowing) face. He had skin a couple shades shy from tan, and a cowlick on his head.
He looks a little bit nervous after being attacked by Kei's questions. Kei felt a little bit guilty, realizing that he is the intruder in his house, but he swallows the feeling down.
“Er... I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi, and you are in my flat, and I found you lying in front of the café I work at.” he finally answers nervously. They lapsed into an awkward silence. Yamaguchi rubbed his neck after his not-so-friendly guest began throwing questions at him. “Are you feeling better now?” He repeats, seemingly trying to erase some of the tension. Kei feels the guilt hit him once again.
“Yes...I feel much better. Thank you. Sorry, I'm being impolite. My name is Tsukishima Kei. Sorry for troubling you,...I'll...take my leave.” Awkwardness still casted over them like a spell, Kei tries to get out of the bed, ignoring his throbbing headache.
“Actually, I prepared breakfast before.. if you don’t mind, I’d like you to join me, Tsukkishima- san” Yamaguchi smiles towards him, awkwardness be damned. Kei glanced towards him, taking a moment before answering, not wanting to be impolite yet again to the very person who willingly took him home casting aside the fact that he was indeed, literally a total stranger.
“Sure! If it’s okay with you...," Kei trails off, "and it’s Tsukishima.” Kei peered into Yamaguchi´s face, trying to decipher his expression. Yamaguchi's face brightened considerably. He beams and smiles happily.
“Of course it’s okay! Come with me. But I must warn you, I'm not all that great at cooking, but trust me, it’s edible!” Yamaguchi explained, steping out of the room and gesturing Kei to follow him. They exited the room and stopped in front of a couch with a wooden coffee table in front of it, where some foods are delicately arranged in an orderly fashion. It consists of simple the Japanese foods rice, miso soup, and fried-eggs.
“Please have a seat! Are you fine with coffee?” Yamaguchi chirped to him. He could hear the clatter of two mugs as they landed on the kitchen counter, and the beep of a coffee machine starting up.
“Sure.” Kei grunted, and plopped himself onto the couch, sinking nicely. After a while, Yamaguchi walked into the room with two cups of coffee, and put them on the coffee table. He walks back into the kitchen and grabs a glass of mineral water. “Sorry, I'm being stupid. You must be terribly hangover, and I should have offered mineral water instead of coffee. Please, have a drink and eat some food.” Yamaguchi sat down besides him, all smiles, sipping his coffee. Tsukishima follows his example and takes a sip of his mineral water. He lets the water run through his dry throat, feeling better almost instantaneously. He takes his bowl, reciting, “Itadakimasu!” before holding his chopsticks and beginning to gobble up his food. Once in a while, Kei can feel Yamaguchi gaze on him. He tries to ignore it, but he feels itchy under his eyes, so he asks, “What is it?” nonchalantly, and puts a fried egg into his mouth without a spare glance towards his host.
“Eh?! Ah... no.. Sorry, it’s just.. uhm..” Yamaguchi looks nervous again and rubs his neck before continuing, “I usually eat by myself. So, it feels kind of good to have a company.”
Kei watches Yamaguchi try to hide his face from Kei. But Kei can see a pink shade starting to appear on Yamaguchi’s ears. He snorts and smirks at Yamaguchi. “Well, I guess it doesn't feel all that bad for me either. Actually it....feels pretty good. And you were true about your foods being edible. So, yeah.” He says carefully watching Yamaguchi who suddenly whips his head towards Kei and forms an ear-to-ear smile.