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“Get in!” Tsukishima shouts, leaning from the driver seat to Kageyama out of the passenger side window.
“Mfine,” Kageyama shouts back, continuing to walk his normal path home.
“It’s pouring, you wanna get sick?” Tsukishima shouts again, slowly rolling along the curb to match Kageyama’s pace.
Halting to stop, Kageyama huffs a sigh, opens the car door and gets in.
“Was that so hard?” Tsukishima smirks at the sight of a drenched Kageyama. “Walking in the rain without an umbrella, you really are a dumbass,” he shakes his head as he pulls back into the lane.
Kageyama sits in the passenger seat, uncomfortably wet and silent, mentally scolding himself for forgetting his umbrella at the gym.
It’s a silent car ride, one Tsukishima doesn’t mind. Until Tsukishima makes a turn into a neighborhood Kageyama doesn’t recognize.
“This is not the way to my place,” Kageyama states.
“Very observant,” Tsukishima teases, looking over at him out of the corner of his eye. He notices Kageyama stiffen a little, his hands slightly grasping the hem of his coat, eyes darting back and forth as he looks out the windscreen at the building he does not recognize.
“My place is closer, and you need to get out of those wet clothes before you get sick,” Tsukishima says, hoping to offer a little comfort to his passenger. Usually he would let Kageyama squirm, but right now, the wide eyed look on his face at deviating from his normal routine pulls at Tsukishima’s heart strings.
It’s been six years since they met in high school and over those six years, his fixation on Kageyama became more and more unbearable. His eyes would always drift to the back of the setter’s head while he watched from the sidelines. Notice the tapping of his fingertips on the pad of his thumb Kageyama would do before a match in the locker room, almost subconsciously, calming himself. The small frown Kageyama would have when the milk in the vending machine was sold out, settling for a power water instead. These subtle gestures everyone else on the team missed, not paying close enough attention, were Tsukishima’s favorite secret.
Parking at his apartment, he looks over at Kageyama who sits biting the inside of his cheek.
“Coming?” He asks, pulling the raven haired boy’s attention to him. He blinks over at Tsukishima and stiffly nods once, turning to open his door.
Opening the door to his small studio apartment, Tsukishima leads Kageyama to the restroom.
“You can dry off in there,” he says, handing him a clean towel. Kageyama stands for a moment, tapping his fingers with his free hand, staring down at the floor.
“May I borrow a shirt?” He asks, his eyes quickly flicking up to Tsukishima’s. Staring down at his icy blue eyes, Tsukishima can feel the warmth of his blush prickle at his cheeks.
“Sure,” Tsukishima manages to squeak out, walking over to his dresser and pulling out a plain white tee, placing it on top of the towel Kageyama is holding.
As Kageyama walks into the restroom, Tsukishima stands there, his hands in a loose fist at his sides. His heart flutters slightly at the thought of Kageyama wearing his shirt.
Gulping down his nerves, he waits for Kageyama, sitting down on his small futon, which is usually his bed, that’s folded up into a couch, scrolling on his phone to pass the time.
He hears a clatter come from behind the closed door, mentally picturing Kageyama’s wide eyed face as he accidentally bumps, what sounded like his deodorant, into the sink.
“Please don’t destroy my home,” Tsukishima says loudly, smirking to himself.
The bathroom door opens, presenting a shy looking Kageyama.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, padding over to Tsukishima, standing in front of him.
Tsukishima quietly gasps at the sight before him as Kageyama’s fingers play with the hem of the slightly too long tee, his cheeks pink, staring down at the floor. It’s a beautiful sight.
“Ready?” Tsukishima clears his throat, standing from the futon.
“Um, I usually have my post workout snack around this time,” he says, uneasily. Tsukishima has to bite his lip to keep from smiling at the adorable statement.
“Aw, does Kageyama need his yum yum?” Tsukishima teases, poking Kageyama’s stomach as he walks over to the small kitchenette.
“Shut up!” Kageyama flinches at the poking. “It’s my routine!” He states.
“I know,” Tsukishima rolls his eyes, handing him a wrapped milk bread and water bottle. “That’s all I have, if that’s good enough for you.”
Kageyama accepts the snack and sits on Tsukishima’s futon since there is no other seating in his apartment. Tsukishima sits next to him, sans snack.
“You’re not gonna eat anything?” He asks, noticing Tsukishima’s empty hands.
“Not hungry,” he shrugs, pretending to scroll on his phone, when really he’s watching Kageyama nibble on the bread out of the corner of his eye.
“You need to keep up your energy,” Kageyama says, ripping the bread in half and holding it out to Tsukishima.
Tsukishima looks up at Kageyama, his stomach fluttering at the unfamiliar feeling of Kageyama being nice. His long fingers brush over the tips of Kageyama’s as he accepts the offer, his heart rate steadily increasing.
“Thanks,” he says, slowly. Watching the corner of Kageyama’s lip twitch upward in a small half smile.
Eating their snack in, what has become a comfortable, silence, Tsukishima peers over at Kageyama, following his adams apple as he lifts the water bottle up to his lips, taking a drink.
“Ok, ready,” Kageyama states, crinkling up the wrapping from the bread and standing.
Tsukishima stands, clearing his throat. He walks over to the cabinet under the small sink and opens it to show Kageyama where the trash is located. Kageyama nods, tossing his trash in the bin.
“I didn’t expect your place to be so tidy,” he teases as he looks up at Tsukishima with a small smile. Tsukishima almost loses his breath at the sight of it.
“I’m not a slob like Hinata, if that’s what you mean,” Tsukishima says, rolling his eyes, turning away to hide his blushing cheeks.
Kageyama hums in agreement, zipping up his jacket and pulling on his coat, following Tsukishima down to his car.
As they drive, Kageyama checks his watch, mentally listing off the things he needs to do when he gets home.
“Busy day?” Tsukishima notices.
“Just going through my list,” he says, pointing to his head to show that he is thinking. Tsukishima smiles over at him as Kageyama watches the light turn red above them.
“You’re kinda weird, you know that?” He teases, huffing a laugh. Kageyama frowns a little, slightly sinking back in his seat at the insult. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Tsukishima tries to recover, immediately regretting saying it.
“You mean everything in a bad way,” Kageyama scoffs, crossing his arms, turning his head to look out of his passenger window.
Before he knows it, Tsukishima is reaching his hand out, placing it on his navy blue sleeve. Kageyama feels the light pressure before Tsukishima pulls away quickly, coming back to his senses.
Kageyama slowly turns his head to look over at Tsukishima’s pink cheeks, eyes staring intensely at the road ahead as the light turns green. He has both hands on the wheel now, to keep from temptation.
Kageyama, narrowing his eyes, noticing as Tsukishima’s chest moves up and down heavily, trying to calm his breathing. His face softens when he sees Tsukishima’s bottom lip caught between his teeth, his glasses low on the bridge of his nose.
Reaching over, Kageyama pushes his glasses up for him, making Tsukishima swerve a bit at the action.
“Can you not try to kill us,” Tsukishima pants, straightening the car, huffing a laugh at the near death experience over Kageyama’s hand brushing his cheek.
“Sorry,” Kageyama whispers, sinking back into his seat, red faced and embarrassed.
“It’s ok, you just startled me,” Tsukishima smiles over at him, in hopes to comfort him.“Thanks though.”
Kageyama nods, relaxing into his chair, easing out of his embarrassment. His eyes wonder around the familiar streets surrounding his neighborhood, sitting in comfortable silence again.
When Tsukishima comes to another red light, Kageyama sits up abruptly, staring out of the window.
“What is it?” Tsukishima asks, wondering what caught his attention so quickly.
“That cat,” he points, his slim finger pressing against the glass pointing to a wet kitten at the corner of a building. “It’s probably cold, and hungry.”
Tsukishima smiles fondly at the back of Kageyama’s head. He sees his sad eyes in the reflection of the glass and decides to pull over.
“What are you doing?” Kageyama whips his head over to Tsukishima who puts the car in park and grabs his umbrella from the back.
“You want to go check on it, don’t you?” Tsukishima rolls his eyes at Kageyama, who smiles wide and nods stiffly.
They get out of the car and walk over to the crying kitten. Holding the umbrella above their heads, Tsukishima watches as Kageyama squats down to inspect the cat. He looks around the building searching for something, then tries to scoop up the kitten, but it backs away from him. From where Tsukishima is standing he can just barely see the frown on the raven haired boy’s face. His heart tightening at the sight.
“Maybe it’s mother is around, we should just leave it,” he says, nudging Kageyama with his knee to stand.
“I haven’t seen a mother cat around here when I walk home, it’s probably alone,” he says, reaching for the cat again. This time, he’s able to grab it. As he stands, smiling wide at the tiny crying ball in his hands, he unzips his coat and gently cradles it in his jacket, warming it up.
“You’re not bringing that thing in my car,” Tsukishima states, staring down at a happy Kageyama and his new cat.
“Let’s go,” Kageyama says, completely ignoring Tsukishima protests.
The car ride is not silent. The cat is screaming out, crying and shivering in Kageyama’s jacket, clawing at the fabric.
“Do you even know how to take care of a cat?” Tsukishima asks, almost disgusted at the thought of touching the wet fur.
“No, but I can figure it out,” Kageyama smiles over at him. Tsukishima rolls his eyes again, laughing as the cat claws its way up Kageyama’s jacket.
Coming up to Kageyama’s apartment, he awkwardly holds the cat in his jacket, trying to gather his bag, not disturbing the cat. He’s making it more difficult by trying to use two hands as the cat clutches onto him.
“Oh my god, you’re helpless,” Tsukishima sighs, coming around the car and grabbing Kageyama’s bags as he holds the cat.
Kageyama smiles up at him and nods for him to follow him up to his apartment.
Entering his fairly spacious apartment, Tsukishima holds up the bag, silently asking where Kageyama wants it.
“Just set it by the door,” he says, trying to remove his coat without dropping the cat. The zipper is stuck and won’t budge as he fumbles at it.
Tsukishima pushes his hand away, standing in front of him, pulling the zipper back up and getting it back on the track, then pulling it down, unzipping it completely. Tsukishima doesn’t know what came over him. He looks down at Kageyama’s soft face, as he stands, letting Tsukishima undress him.
“Thanks,” he mumbles, shrugging off the coat as Tsukishima pulls it off his shoulders.
Padding over to a closet off the entryway, Kageyama grabs a towel and wraps the kitten in it, holding it close to him as he wipes its face. He walks over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and grabbing the milk, completely forgetting about offering his guest anything.
“Where’s my milk and towel?” He jokes, leaning on the wall that faces into the kitchen, crossing his arms, looking over fondly at Kageyama with the cat.
“Oh, sorry, did you want some?” Kageyama looks up from pouring the white liquid into a bowl.
“I’m good,” Tsukishima chuckles, shaking his head. “So what are you gonna do with it,” he nods down at the cat.
“My sister is stopping by soon, she’ll probably take it,” he shrugs, holding the cat as it licks from the bowl.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it then,” Tsukishima says, feeling a tightening in his heart at the thought of going back to his lonesome apartment.
“Actually,” Kageyama says, setting the bowl down and looking up at at Tsukishima with big eyes. “Can you stay until she gets here?”
Tsukishima swallows at the thought of being alone with Kageyama in his apartment, that smells like him, where he sleeps and spends his free time.
“Sure,” he manages.
Kageyama smiles and nods as he leads Tsukishima his living room, sitting down on the large couch with the kitten still in his arms. Tsukishima does the same, not sure what he meant to do while they wait.
“Can you hold it for a second? I need to grab my phone out of my bag,” Kageyama asks, holding the cat out for Tsukishima to grab.
“Um, I’d rather not,” he waves his hands, shooing the cat away from him. Kageyama laughs, taking Tsukishima off guard. He very rarely hears Kageyama laugh, but it’s one of his favorite sounds.
“It’s just a cat,” he smiles at Tsukishima, who subconsciously grabs the bundle of fur, distracted by his heart fluttering.
Holding the wet cat at arms length, Tsukishima grimaces, realizing he’s been tricked. The cat cries loudly at the way it’s being held and Kageyama runs back from grabbing his phone.
“You gotta cradle it like baby,” he says, lifting the cat’s hindquarters up into his palm so it’s not hanging from Tsukishima’s hands.
“Please, take it away,” Tsukishima says, wiping his hands on the front of his shirt after Kageyama grabs the kitten from him, making him laugh again. Tsukishima smiles at Kageyama, watching as he cuddles the cat to his chest.
He sits back down next to Tsukishima, a little closer than last time, bringing his knee up, creating a small pocket between his thighs for the cat to crawl into. Tsukishima has never been so jealous of a stupid cat before.
As Kageyama watches the cat snuggle into his legs, Tsukishima sees his face soften. Their eyes meet as Kageyama smiles up at Tsukishima.
“Thanks, for pulling over,” he shrugs, shyly.
“It won’t happen again,” Tsukishima jokes. Kageyama laughs as he pokes at his phone.
“My sister will be here in an hour. Is that okay?” He asks, looking up from his phone.
“Sure,” Tsukishima says, not having anything else planned for the rest of the day anyways.
“Cool,” Kageyama nods.
“So, do we just stare at the cat?” He says waving his wrist to gesture at the asleep kitten between his legs.
“I guess we could, talk?” Kageyama shrugs. He’s not very good at holding conversations, but he also doesn’t have a TV or any games they could play.
“About?” Tsukishima raises his eyebrows, wondering what they can talk about for an hour.
“Volleyball?” Kageyama can talk for hours about volleyball.
“Um, there isn’t much to say about it, is there?” Tsukishima tilts his head, as he looks around Kageyama’s plain apartment. “Not much for decoration, are you?”
Kageyama looks around his apartment, there isn’t much, just a table in front of them, a practically empty bookshelf and bare walls.
“I don’t really care about that kind of stuff. If it doesn’t have a purpose, I don’t need it,” he states.
“You really are weird,” Tsukishima laughs. Hoping this time Kageyama will not take it too personally. But he sees him shrink into himself a little and turn his attention to the cat. Tsukishima frowns.
“You know I don’t mean anything by it when I tease you, right? I’m just being an asshole,” he says, nudging Kageyama’s knees with his. It hurts him to think his teasing makes Kageyama feel bad. He really just doesn’t know how to show his affection other than making fun of him.
“Well, you’re a big one,” Kageyama teases back, nudging his knee again. Tsukishima can’t help but smile at him.
The cat stirs at the movement of their knees, getting up and walking over Kageyama’s leg, curling up into the corner of the couch on the other side of him. Kageyama gently shifts himself, moving closer to Tsukishima as not to disturb the cat’s new position.
Mentally thanking the stupid cat, Tsukishima takes a deep breath, savoring the warmth that radiates from Kageyama’s body, so close to his own.
Kageyama holds up his phone and takes a picture of the sleeping cat, smiling down at the photo, he leans in a little closer to Tsukishima to show him.
Tsukishima leans in more, pressing their shoulders together as he pretends to care about the cat on the screen.
“What are you going to name it?” Tsukishima asks, his face turned to Kageyama’s, inches away from his, still feeling the toned muscles of Kageyama’s shoulder on his. He must be starting to get the hint because Tsukishima sees him blush a little.
“I-I don’t know, what do you think?” His eyes, almost cross eyed at how close Tsukishima’s face is to his as he gazes up at him.
“Well, I guess we need to know the sex first,” he says, his eyes flicking down to Kageyama’s mouth as he says the word ‘sex.’
“T-true,” Kageyama stutters, blinking slowly.
Tsukishima notices that Kageyama doesn’t pull away from him. How he stays, pressed against Tsukishima’s shoulder, his face only an inch or so away from his own.
His hand brushes the back of Kageyama’s, as their eyes stare into each other, testing how close he will let him get. Kageyama gasps quietly, his eyes fluttering closed and quickly opening again, narrowing in on Tsukishima’s mouth.
Tsukishima swallows, his heart is pounding in his ears. He’s wanted this for so long now that he doesn’t believe that it’s about to happen, that Kageyama might want it, too. He licks his lips, ready to give into temptation.
He slowly, cranes his neck to close the gap between their lips, hovering over Kageyama’s mouth, watching as his eyes flutter closed. His body stiffens, waiting for Tsukishima’s lips to press against his, when suddenly, Kageyama pulls away. Pressing his eyes closed, shaking his head to himself, and biting his lip.
Tsukishima sits up on the couch, scolding himself for even thinking this could happen. Balling his hands into fists at how stupid he was.
“I-I’m sorry,” he mumbles, standing from the couch in embarrassment. “I should go.”
He makes his way over to the front door, gathering his things quickly and walking out without looking back.
“Stupid, fucking idiot,” he scolds himself as he gets into his car.
Laying out on his flat futon, alone in the dark, he keeps replaying what happened in his mind. Searching for clues as to why Kageyama pulled away at the very last second. Sighing, he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, trying to forget the last two hours.
Padding over to the bathroom, he sees Kageyama’s still damp gym shirt hanging over the shower curtain. He pulls it down, bringing it up to his face, breathing in Kageyama’s scent.
Exhaling a trembling breath, he folds the shirt neatly, and tosses it into the laundry hamper. Out of sight, out of mind. Removing his glasses and turning on the shower, he strips his own clothes off.
Stepping into the water, he washes away all of the memories today. He scrubs until his skin is red and lets the water run over his face, hiding the tears he refuses to cry.
Six years of his life circle the drain, washed away. All because of a stupid cat.