Chapter Text
Space. The final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship - oh, forget it.
Kei taps a pen against his notepad. The sound is muffled against the paper and fills the mostly quiet room with a thump-thump-thump-thumping sound. He’s hanging upside down in the anti-gravity chair and trying not to think himself into circles again (the thumping doesn’t help). The chair took some time to get used to - and Yamaguchi had a good laugh over Kei’s attempts to learn how it works the first time he arrived in this universe. But there’s something about the way Kei can hang upside down and not feel blood rushing to his head. It’s a strange and light feeling as he floats, and his hair blows gently in the artificial breeze from where it’s hanging from his roots.
Arriving in outer space was a shock at first. Kei had dreamed of visiting as a child, several times in fact. He and Yamaguchi would build spaceships out of cardboard boxes and use markers and crayons to color windows and details on the sides of the boxes. Sometimes they’d even add crudely drawn grey creatures with big heads and black eyes as deep as the abyss, also known as the flattened tip of the smallest crayon in the box. Every once and a while, Akiteru would find the two of them hiding away in a box and whispering to each other about the grand mysteries of the universe and start shaking their rocket. Kei had always acted affronted - snapping at his brother for ruining their fun but failing to hide his smile.
Real space stations aren’t that exciting. In fact, they’re pretty similar to regular life on Earth. There are gardens and schools and nosy friends and failing economies - the works. Whenever Kei found himself in this universe, he usually chose to find one of the empty garden rooms in the blue sector. He could hide away from his family and avoid the job that he knew nothing about. Yamaguchi told him he’d become super zen someday and learn how to move objects with his mind or control the plants. ‘ A real Jedi vibe. Right, Tsukki?’ Sure - because that’s what he’s going for.
Kei shakes his head and draws another line on his page. There’s a circle in the middle labeled ‘EGO’ and several lines protruding from its circumference towards a triangle, square, or diamond shape. Kei has labelled some of them with letters or names based on how much information he has for each of the dimensions he’s experienced thus far. Several of them are left blank as he tries to remember if the experiences he’s remembering are simply a dream or if they actually happened. By this point in time - anything is possible, and he’s not sure how long he’s been stuck in this hell.
The door at the end of the green room slides open with a swooshing sound and Kei continues writing. He hears two voices in conversation as they draw closer, but he can’t make out what they’re discussing. The only other sounds in the room are a fountain cycling man-made water in the corner and paper flipping as he turns a few pages in the notebook to check his comments on Triangle D.
“Weird and giant plants,” Kei mutters to himself as he writes a few notes. “Purple was a dominant color. Not sure if poisonous, but KT was there again.”
“What are you muttering about now?” Kei tilts his head further back so he can see the ground. Yamaguchi and Yachi are standing there, the latter waving towards him and lifting a basket.
“I don’t mutter,” Kei lies. He flips his notebook shut and hooks the pen to the cover before pressing a green button on the armrest of the chair. The chair makes a beeping sound as it slowly rotates and rights itself, giving Kei the opportunity to re-orient himself to sit in the other direction. After pressing a yellow button, the chair descends and connects to a charging port against the back wall of the room. Kei unclicks the harness and stands.
Yamaguchi and Yachi have started unpacking the basket at one of the chrome picnic tables next to the fountain. It’s a peculiar fountain - well, at least peculiar for Kei who isn’t part of this universe. The water forms different shapes as it shoots from its spouts; sometimes, parts of the water create ring-like shapes for another droplet to float through. The fountain and water spectacle are interesting, but it lacks the white-noise he’s come to expect from the same type of mechanism back on Earth.
Kei stops next to the table and takes in the large array of snacks and treats that his friends must have smuggled from the communal mess hall. “How did you distract Chiyo-san long enough to escape with all of this?” he asks, picking up a small tart and popping it into his mouth. It’s sweet, but has a spicy aftertaste to it.
“Us? Distract her?” Yamaguchi isn’t fooling anyone with that tone of voice. Yachi laughs softly and offers him a glass full of a bright purple-colored juice. Plums maybe? Or is this one of those weird new space plant teas that Kei hasn’t been able to pinpoint the health benefits for yet. Whatever. He takes the seat next to her and tastes the tea - yeah, definitely some weird and slimy space plant. He clears his throat and takes another sip.
“You looked really serious up there, Kei,” Yachi said. He’s not sure he’ll ever get used to hearing Yachi call him ‘Kei’ so clearly. Even in his universe, it took a lot of convincing and a little too much soju to get her to even consider calling him ‘Tsukki.’
“Had a few notes to write down,” Kei responds. He picks up a different type of pastry and takes a small bite. Ew. He puts it back. Yamaguchi picks it up and eats it.
“About your ‘special travels?’” Yamaguchi holds up his hands with his thumbs up and bends them to indicate quotation marks.
“Yes, my special travels,” Kei responds. He sips at his drink and lays his notebook on the table so he can flip it open. Yamaguchi and Yachi move closer so they can read it, too.
“Where did you go last time?” Yachi asks.
Kei sighs and flips back to the page about Triangle D. “Flowers, lots of them.”
Yachi offers up an excited ‘ooooh’ and Yamaguchi takes the notebook from Kei before he can be stopped. In every universe, Yamaguchi is a gremlin.
“KT? Who was KT again?”
“He won’t tell us who KT is. It’s his deepest secret.” Yachi is a gremlin in this one.
Kei takes back his notebook and flips through the pages. The letters ‘KT’ jump out at him on every page. “You don’t need to know. You two know too much already. I could be committing some multi-dimensional travelling faux pas.”
Yamaguchi laughs but doesn’t push for too much more information. Kei is sure he isn’t out of this conversation scot-free, but for all he knows he’ll walk through a door and end up somewhere else anyway. Despite his extensive notes on the different universes, he still hasn’t figured out if there’s any rhyme or reason to which one he travels to next, only that there are a few he seems to frequent and the people within those places remember him. He’s visited this space station at least 13 times - considering he didn’t start recording his observations until they never seemed to end. He’s lucky that the notebook seems attached to his person and follows him through the door, even if his attire tends to change.
The people in each universe are usually a similar group - not that his acquaintances and friends in his universe are present in all of them. He usually finds a connection with Yamaguchi. Sometimes with both the gremlins sitting next to him now. In one universe he’s apparently best friends with Hinata - that was a real shocker. Someone who is in every universe, though, is KT.
“And then he just flips his bot over and does this whole 360 thing!” Yamaguchi throws his arms up in the air. “I swear, if I hadn’t been there to follow up on the asteroid Kageyama’d be lost in space at this point.”
“You mean he isn’t always already?” Kei sips his weird space tea, glad his friends decided to change the subject when he didn’t take their bait. Thinking about Kuroo Tetsurou in the name might make him appear. KT is easier to think about and safer to write down. Kei looks over his shoulder discreetly at the door to the room to make sure the man hasn’t appeared.
“I mean literally…..not, whatever is going on in his brain.”
Kei snorts and resists the urge to say ‘volleyball,’ considering the sport doesn’t exist in this universe. Of course, even without it, they can fly. Kei doesn’t - apparently he gets motion sickness when spinning around in space in the little flight bots they use to clear debris. But he still works from the control room, according to Yamaguchi, and he gets to boss people around. Kei has avoided trying to go to work. He’d likely end up causing more trouble than it’s worth.
“You say that like he’s actually a functioning human beinggg - hey!”
Yachi reaches over and smacks Kei’s shoulder with the back of her hand. Regardless of how tiny she is - she still manages to pack a punch when she needs to. He playfully rubs at the spot, letting a small and rare smile grace his features. This universe is his favorite so far, at least regarding his relations with the people he knows. If it wouldn’t be completely out of character, Kei might consider inviting Yachi out for coffee or lunch if he ever gets back to his own universe. He’s not sure that Yachi would handle the concept of ‘I know you, but a different you’ as well as this one does.
Perhaps it’s because this one is his favorite that he’s let the duo in on his secret; his travelling. The first few universes threw him for a loop. He didn’t understand what was happening. Hell, he still doesn’t know entirely what’s happening, but at least he’s met his captor by now - though not their true face or name. A tricky sort of creature that seems to be thriving off of Kei’s inability to escape whatever the hell this is. At least with a few friends on his side, he can discuss his theories and ideas even if he doesn’t give them all the details they want.
“Whoa! Home electronics?!” Yamaguchi exclaimed. His eyes were open wide and he couldn’t seem to stop his mouth from gaping at Kei.
“Yes, you’re basically a regular office worker,” Kei scooted further away from Yamaguchi on the bench they shared and started drawing the first few sections of his interdimensional map.
“Basic? That’s amazing! Working in an office. I never would have considered something so cool - do you know that administrative and operational work is one of the most important jobs of all? How else would we keep the space station’s gravity on track without people typing away all day on their holo-pads!?”
Kei shook his head. The Yamaguchi he grew up with would have the exact opposite opinion. “Shut up, Yamaguchi.”
“Hah! Sorry.”
Almost as if the king himself heard them talking about him (though he stared at Kei for at least 30 minutes before responding to the nickname with confusion when they first met), a hologram of Kageyama’s pouting and angry-looking head pops out of Yamaguchi’s phone from where it’s resting on the table. Yamaguchi presses a button and the head speaks.
“We need you back at the docks.”
“What? Already?” Yamaguchi glances outside at the stars and debris surrounding the station. He squints his eyes like he’s trying to decide if he actually has to leave or not. Kageyama's head rotates and stops to stare at Kei with that annoyingly judgemental and dictator-y look he likes to sport.
“Skipping again?”
Kei scoffs and eats another tart before standing up. “Not everyone is as perfect as you are when it comes to your tasks, Kageyama.”
He doesn’t bother listening to the man’s response and leaves Yamaguchi to deal with it. Yachi helps Kei clean up their mess on the table, carefully packing away the leftover treats and vacuum-sealed thermos back into her carrier. Yamaguchi sighs as he ends the call and makes eye contact with Kei, shrugging.
“Can’t really do anything about surprises from the dead planet below. You heading to control?”
Kei barks out a laugh and follows his friends to the door. “As if. I’d probably end up murdering Kageyama out there and you know it.”
“At least he wouldn’t be lost in space then?”
“Yachi!”
Kei chuckles lightly and opens the door. He holds it as the other two step inside and glances again towards the garden, thinking about the newest flower dimension he left a day or two ago. Purple. The color purple represents wisdom and power. But it can also mean a deeper spirituality. Kei opens his notebook as he steps through the door and writes another note for Triangle D. He flips the pages to the back of the notebook and adds a line to a small bullet point list.
Space between life and death
“Kei!”
Kei blinks in surprise, looking up into the hazel eyes of Kuroo Tetsurou. His breath catches in his throat.
“What are you doing standing there? We’ve gotta move!”
Kei turns around to find the door he just walked through is missing and the endlessness of the desert stretches further than his eye can see. A hand wraps around his wrist and pulls him, throwing off his balance enough that he stumbles for a few steps before adjusting to the uneven sand beneath his boot-covered feet.
“What happened?” He finally chokes out, coughing as the sand tries to fill his lungs.
“Storm - you’re lucky I found you!” Kuroo pulls a hood over his head and pulls a drawstring firmly to cover most of his face. His hand is still firmly gripping Kei’s wrist and pulling him to safety. Well, as safe as they’ll likely be able to between two large and jagged-looking rock bluffs.
Kuroo pulls one final time until both he and Kei are securely between the narrow lane. Kei presses his back against the rock, trying to put some distance between them. Kuroo follows him, reaching his hand forward, now equipped with a clean cloth, and wiping some of the sand from Kei’s brow. There’s concern in his eyes.
“I can’t believe you left the shelter when you knew a storm was brewing,” Kuroo admonishes him fondly, almost like this is a common occurrence. “You aren’t even equipped to fight them.”
Kei opens his mouth, not sure what the man is talking about. A rumbling sound echoes through the sand blowing dangerously in the wind. It shakes the rocks and ground beneath their feet and Kei can feel the vibrations run through his entire body. Kuroo leans closer, silencing him with a shushing sound and pressing his hand over Kei’s mouth as he glances to their right.
A leg - talon? Something scaly looking. Whatever it is, it’s huge! And Kei can’t help but let his thoughts travel back to some of the amazing dinosaur bones he had a chance to research while attending university. They’d always been a passion of his but to see something like this so up close? Resembling the terrific creatures that are extinct from his own world? No wonder he found himself in the middle of the desert, probably out searching for this!
“Don’t do it, Kei,” Kuroo is way closer than Kei realizes. His breath is hot against Kei’s cheek and Kei can feel the graininess of the sand that must be covering the glove he’s wearing. He takes a moment to breathe deeply through his nose, relaxing his body as much as he can while the creature walks past them through the raging storm.
Kei closes his eyes and listens. He listens to the whooshing sound of the wind as it echoes against the walls of their secluded and narrow hiding spot. He listens to the dragging of the creature’s tail against the sand, feeling small grains fall from the rocks above them onto his head when the tail bumps against the opening. Kuroo Tetsurou’s breath is raspy. His hand is trembling. And his body is warm. Kei opens his eyes.
“I almost lost you,” Kuroo whispers, his voice nearly inaudible. He slowly removes his hand from Kei’s mouth and uses it to brush grains of sand from Kei’s hair. “You’re brilliant. We know you are. But you can’t go searching for something that you can’t fight alone.”
“I don’t - “ Kei opens his mouth. What does he mean to say? He doesn’t search for those creatures? Clearly the Kei in this place does. But to fight them? Would he really do something like destroy the creature that just walked past them?
Kuroo sighs. He loosens his hood and removes it from his head. He uses his free hand to ruffle his messy hair and shake the sand out.
“Research, I know,” Kuroo says, a teasing smile settling on his lips. “At least go with a team next time.” He leans forward and presses his lips softly against Kei’s and the world stops spinning for the first time since Kei woke up in this hell.
Kuroo’s lips are rough and chapped. The fabric from his gloved hand is scratchy and he can feel small tears in the material where it’s been worn down from use. Kuroo presses closer and Kei is trapped against the rock. If he’s going to find himself trapped anywhere then it might as well be here, he thinks - with Kuroo Tetsurou. He sighs as Kuroo releases his lips and scatters kisses along his cheek and down to his jaw and neck. Kei turns his head, feeling his heartbeat quicken as Kuroo continues his attention.
Far in the distance of the narrow passageway, Kei sees a figure standing and watching. He doesn’t need to see who it is to know who they are. It’s his captor; the trickster who’s enjoying watching Kei suffer through his travels. The one who taunts him whenever they meet and gives him just enough information for the bone on the end of a stick to keep him begging for more.