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“I’m going to have to ask you to repeat that because I’m almost 94.35% sure I didn’t hear you correctly.”
Tsukishima huffed and rolled his eyes, but he could acknowledge that Kuroo’s confusion wasn’t wholly unjustified. “No, you heard me just fine.”
Kuroo’s eyes widened in surprise, and the amused smile that upturned his lips forced Tsukishima to fight off the grin that threatened to grace his own. Damn Kuroo and his infectious smile.
“Lemme get this straight,” Kuroo started, stepping aside and allowing Tsukishima to enter the apartment he shared with Kenma, “you want us to pretend like we’re fiancés, act all lovey-dovey and stuff, all so we can get free cake?”
“Ok first of all, the words lovey-dovey never left my mouth,” Tsukishima countered before plopping down on the overly comfortably couch and directing his gaze towards Kuroo, “and second, you don’t understand. This isn’t just cake Kuroo-san, this is cake that’s good enough for me to ask you to pretend to be my goddamn fiancé. Don’t belittle the cake.”
Kuroo’s laugh was warm and deep, shaking his entire frame pleasantly. “Strawberry shortcake, I assume?”
“You assume correctly. So will you do it? I mean you still owe me.”
“Owe you?” Kuroo cocked his head to the side, and Tsukushima finally allowed himself to smile; smirk more like, but there wasn’t a hint of malice in it.
“Yes, well, I put up with you and I have been putting up with you for about 3 years now. Doesn’t that automatically entitle me to some kind of reward?”
“Rude,” Kuroo laughed before plopping down next to him, not too close yet not very far either. “But you maybe onto something. I have to ask though- is this cake really worth it?”
“Yes.” The answer was instantaneous, and Kuroo almost chocked when he noticed the blissed out expression on Tsukishima’s face. As far as he knew, Tsukki’s happy faces were rare to none. It took Kuroo a lot of effort, and a touch of alcohol sometimes, to make the blonde smile genuinely, and here he was, looking more content than Kuroo had ever seen him, over a piece of cake. Kuroo felt oddly cheated.
“And you cant just buy it because-?”
“Well for one, these guys mainly specialize in wedding cakes, and it costs a fortune to buy even a tiny slice. I’ve done my research; there’s no hope for a college student to just buy cake from them.” His voice sounded mournful.
“Well, I have nothing to do, so I guess I don’t mind. Don’t we look too young though?” Kuroo was a fourth year in college, and Tsukishima had just become a first year in the same institution.
“Yes, well, with that stubble you’ve got going, you look like an old geezer, you know, one of those perverts in those weird-ass hentais? Plus, don’t you keep trying to convince me that I was born middle-aged or something? So there, we’re both covered.” Kuroo was gwaffing long before Tsukki finished speaking, and the blonde’s shoulders were shaking quite a bit as well.
“Is this your not-so-subtle way of telling me to shave?”
“Yes, you caveman, how long has it even been?”
“You don’t wanna know,” Kuroo murmured with a smirk.
Tsukki wrinkled his nose. “Gross.”
Kuroo slowly rose from the couch and stretched. “Ok sure, why not? I mean, if I actually allowed Bokuto to convince me to go skinny dipping in the college fountain in the dead of winter, I’m sure pretending to be your fiance for cake will be a piece of cake. Pun intended.”
“I hate you,” Tsukki groaned, but the tell tale smile on his face said otherwise.
“Sure, sure. Now, what am I wearing?”
“Semi-formals.” Tsukishima reached forward and grabbed the remote. “I’ve already made reservations for 5:15, so we have an hour and ten minutes till we have to be there.”
Kuroo quirked his eyebrows, looking impressed. “You knew I was going to say yes, didn’t you?”
“Definitely counting on it.” Tsukishima started flipping through the channels. “Now go away. I wanna get there as soon as possible, and its like 13 stops away from this place. The cake awaits our arrival.”
“Yessir.” Kuroo mock-saluted before walking away. Just as he reached his bedroom door, he turned around and yelled, “The dinosaur documentaries are on channels 81 and 96. You’re welcome.”
It took Kuroo about 15 minutes to decide on a suitable outfit that didn’t smell terrible and looked remotely presentable. He tried for about 3 minutes to tame his unruly hair and promptly gave up. It never listened, what miracle would change it now?
He had decided on dark blue jeans and a blue shirt, paired with a brown blazer that flattered his muscular yet slender frame. Kuroo didn’t really shop for clothes all that often, but when he did, he made sure to buy clothes that actually fit him. He glanced at himself in the mirror and approved. His bedhead added an edge to the whole outfit, and screw whoever thought he was doing it on purpose.
As he walked out the door and back into the living room, he smiled at the sight of Tsukishima watching some fossil documentary, his complete attention focused on the flat screen.
“Ready to go?”
Tsukishima’s head whipped around and caught sight of him, and after giving him a quick look-over, he nodded once. “You clean up pretty well.”
Kuroo shrugged, aiming for nonchalance. “Well, you know, I try.” He had kept the stubble because he needed to look older than his college self, and because he secretly liked it.
Tsukishima slowly got up and walked towards him, giving Kuroo the opportunity to observe his own outfit. He was wearing fitting black jeans that made his long legs look even longer, a white collared shirt topped with a navy blue sweater that hugged his lithe frame, the sleeves rolled till the elbows. His hair was artfully messy and his eyes shone behind those black frames. He looked nice.
“What are you doing?,” Kuroo deadpanned when Tsukishima reached forward and hooked one of his fingers between the buttons of Kuroo’s shirt and stretched the material out a bit. Tsukishima simply pulled his glasses off with the other and brought it down, using Kuroo’s shirt to wipe it clean as an answer. Kuroo didn’t know whether to feel amused, insulted or both.
“What?,” Tsukki asked innocently, though his eyes continued to twinkle with mischief, “its that satin material ok? And my glasses were dirty.”
“That was so unnecessary oh my god, you could’ve literally as-”
“Can we leave yet or are you going to keep complaining?”
Kuroo sighed in exasperation, but he couldn’t help his strange fascination regarding the blonde as he never failed to amuse him. “Fine, whatever, let’s leave.”
As they slipped their shoes on, Kuroo couldn’t help feel like they were missing one very important detail, though he couldn’t pinpoint what exactly. He knew it mattered a lot, especially if they wanted this ridiculous charade to work, but for the life of him he couldn’t seem to remember it.
Just as he placed the key inside the lock, his brain clicked into place and his eyes widened.
“Tsukki!” Tsukishima startled as they went from silence to sudden yelling. “Dont shout, Kuroo-san. What is it?”
Kuroo raised his hand in front of Tsukki’s face, his left hand to be precise. “Where are the rings?”
“Rings? Wha- Oh, right. Rings.” Tsukishima scratched his head and looked sheepish. Never in his short life span had Kuroo ever seen Tsukishima look sheepish. “I completely forgot about that. Do you have any in the house that we could use?”
Kuroo shook his head. “I don’t use rings cause I keep misplacing them, and all of Kenma’s would be too small for us.” Tsukishima pursed his lips as he tried thinking of an alternative when a rather odd idea struck Kuroo. It was stupid and silly, but it would work. Maybe.
“I think I got it.” Pushing his door open, Kuroo barrelled in and headed straight for his room. He picked up his guitar and walked back to where Tsukishima was waiting for him, a skeptical look already in place. He knew Kuroo a little too well at this point.
“Why do you have your gu- No. Kuroo-san, no.”
“Oh come on,” Kuroo grinned, pulling his old acoustic out. He hadn’t played the thing in years but had insisted on bringing it to the apartment after highschool in hopes of picking it up again. He never found the time and lacked the inspiration. but the instrument was finally going to be useful for something, no matter how unconventional the use.
“Kuroo-san, you have a lot of stupid ideas, we both know you do, but this is down right ridiculous-”
“Tsukki you have known me for three years now, do you really think this is the most ridiculous idea I have ever had?”
“Ok I’m not counting that one time you got piss drunk and ended up doing salsa with Bokuto-san in the middle of an old-age home and then the video went viral on tumblr. I’m also not counting the time you and Bokuto-san thought it was a good idea to brush your teeth with wasabi because you were dared. And I refus-”
“You’ve made your point,” Kuroo interrupted him, cheeks flaming, trying his best to ignore Tsukki’s rather smug expression. “Look, I know this may not work, but we have to improvise ok? You know I can bullshit my way through, you know, most things.”
Tsukishima simply huffed and Kuroo continued working meticulously, unwinding the B string because he thought it had the perfect thickness. He quickly walked into the kitchen and hunted down a pair of cutting pliers and made two relatively equal pieces before asking Tsukishima to hold onto them. He ran into Kenma’s room and looked for some sand paper in his crafts box and came back victorious.
“What are you doing?,” Tsukishima sighed, both amused and wary.
“This might be stupid, but I don’t want it to be unsanitary.” Kuroo quickly began rubbing one of the strings against the sandpaper, before repeating the process with the other, removing as much of the rust as he could.
“There we go,” he muttered before starting to make a loop out of one of them. He made it with his own finger as a model, and once it was ready, Tsukishima put his hand out, silently asking for it.
“Nope,” Kuroo sang out before slowly grabbing Tsukki’s left hand. He held it tenderly and batted his eyelashes at Tsukishima.
“Kei-chan my darling, will you do me the honour of being my fake fiance?” Tsukki’s eyebrow twitched.
“Kuroo-san, can’t you wait ten minutes before making me regret this?”
“You wound me.” He slipped the ring on Tsukishima’s third finger. It was just the slightest bit loose, but it didn’t seem like it was on the verge of falling off. “You should consider practising saying my first name though,” Kuroo mused as he repeated the process to make his own ring, “make this whole charade more believable that way.”
“Fine… Tetsurou.”
They both would definitely deny blushing at that.
“Here.” Kuroo handed the finished product to Tsukki.
“What?”
“Well, I’m waiting,” Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows as he raised his left hand, making his third finger as conspicuous as possible.
“If you honestly believe,” Tsukishima gritted out, his rage barely concealed, “that I will do whatever bullshit you just pulled off, you should stop considering me a friend because apparently you don’t know me at all.”
“First of all, indulge me a little, will you? I am pretending to be your beloved. And second, you’re one of my best friends and I definitely know you better than you think I do.”
Tsukishima stared at Kuroo with an indescribable expression. There was only one person in the world he called a best friend- Yamaguchi, and this was because he knew the freckled boy felt the same way. His Karasuno teammates were good friends, and Yachi was this close to being a best friend too, but he never used that label on anyone. He could practically count the number of times he’d used it on Yamaguchi himself.
It surprised him when he realised that Kuroo actually was one of his best friends. He was closer to him than most, and it felt good, real good, to hear that he felt the same. Sighing, and knowing he was going to regret this later, he plucked the ring out of Kuroo’s hand, relished the moment immediately after when the former nekoma captain’s eyes widened before he slipped the ring on his third finger.
It took Kuroo a few moments to function properly again. “You didn-”
“Shut up.”
“Yeah ok.”
“If I get tetanus and die,” Tsukishima hummed as he walked out the door and waited beside Kuroo while he locked up, “ I’m haunting you for the rest of your life.”
“I look forward to it,” Kuroo retorted pleasantly before tugging on the blonde’s elbows, directing him towards the elevator. Tsukishima rolled his eyes and sighed.
He really was going to regret this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“….. and then, I saw him. His blonde hair shone in the sun so beautifully, his glasses were just the slightest bit tilted and his headphones were in place. If you looked real close, you could see him sway to whatever music he was listening to.” Kuroo paused and swayed for effect, and Tsukishima wanted to laugh, smack him and blush at the same time. He couldn’t believe how into this bullshit story the three couples in front of them were, and he realized Kuroo’s statement held some truth- he really could bullshit his way through anything.
“I was but a poor musician. My guitar was in my hands, but the strings were broken, and I had not a single penny to spare for food, for a roof over my head, nothing. And suddenly, there was a shadow.” Everyone held their breath. Tsukki cursed himself for doing the same.
“He was there, looking at me, but not looking down on me. He wasn’t smiling- I mean, I’m sure you can tell that smiling is not his cup of tea, but his eyes looked kind and soft. He offered me a hand and I didn’t hesitate at all before taking it and the rest is history. These rings,” he whispered, offering them his left hand, “are made from the strings of that same guitar. Maybe it isn’t fancy, but it holds so many memories that money simply cannot replace. I believe it was my destiny to meet Tsukki. Dont you agree, darling?”
The inclination to smack Kuroo had suddenly increased exponentially, but Tsukishima had to commend Kuroo’s literary and talking skills in general. He had everyone’s attention, including some of the staff, and he sounded so genuine, Tsukki almost believed the tale.
“It certainly was my destiny to be stuck with you,” Tsukishima groaned, but apparently it passed off as second hand embarrassment as the couples in front of them laughed and muttered encouraging words.
“That’s beautiful,” one of the women sniffed while her girlfriend handed her a tissue. The old couple in the corner reached out for each other and held hands over the table, while the last couple pecked each other on the lips.
The cake samples were yet to arrive, so the couples had all decided on small talk. Tsukishima wasn’t really keen on small talk, especially with strangers, but that’s exactly where Kuroo came in. He managed to fabricate an entire story about their meeting and how they ended up where they apparently were today. According to Kuroo’s rather absurd story, they’d been together for 4 years now, and Bokuto was going to be Kuroo’s best man while Yamaguchi had been honored to accept the role as Tsukishima’s. It was annoying how the story sounded so perfect.
Tsukishima startled when he felt calloused, long fingers intertwine with his own, and he almost turned to glare at Kuroo and push the hand away when the man leaned in and whispered, “There’s so much gross PDA here, if we sit like rocks and not touch each other at all, its gonna look suspicious.”
Tsukishima made a small sound of protest but said nothing back. Kuroo simply squeezed his fingers, and his look conveyed the message of You told me the cake was worth it, so deal with it.
Tsukki sighed before giving Kuroo’s hand a squeeze of acknowledgement. He hoped he wouldn’t sweat grossly, and he hoped the burn in his cheeks were his imagination alone. Apparently not, because a few moments later, Kuroo leaned in and kissed said cheeks before muttering right into his ear, “Red is a really nice colour on you.”
Tsukishima tightened his grip painfully, and smirked when Kuroo’s face contorted, his look of constipation highly amusing. He leaned in and stopped just short of Kuroo’s ear. “You’re going to pay for this.”
Kuroo’s sharp intake of breath didn’t go unnoticed by the other patrons of the shop, but instead of assuming Tsukishima had just signed Kuroo’s death certificate, they were somehow lead to believe that he had whispered something rather naughty instead. Tsukki felt nauseated, and the annoying heat in his cheeks refused to go away.
“Ahh the cake is here!,” their server sang as a waiter waltzed in with a tray of various samples that all looked heavenly. Kuroo watched Tsukishima closely, watched as the blonde’s eyes sparkled with interest, his lips upturned naturally, without a hint of venom, his grip on Kuroo’s hand tightening but pleasantly so. It was… nice.
Various samples were placed in front of them, mostly strawberry on Tsukki’s request and Tsukshima dug in almost immediately after the last plate was gently laid out in front of them. Huffing out an amused laugh, Kuroo picked up a spoon of his own and dug in.
Life changing was probably the only appropriate way to describe it.
The cake was good enough to make him reevaluate his life decisions and choices, and it made him grateful for every incident that ever took place in his life that had led him to this very moment. He could not be more thankful.
It was Tsukishima’s turn to watch Kuroo this time, and he could make out the twinkle in Tsukki’s eyes, the affection clear as day. He wasn’t sure when they had stopped pretending, but it didn’t bother him one bit. Tsukki’s smile was beautiful.
“Worth it, right?,” Tsukki breathed against Kuroo’s ear, and Kuroo tried his best to contain the shiver that ran down his spine.
“Definitely,” he agreed, polishing off the rest of his slice in record time. They finished the rest of the dishes quickly, and Kuroo managed to feed Tsukki a few pieces, though it didn’t really take much convincing. It just meant more cake for Tsukki, and Kuroo hoped the man’s smile was worth the cake that tasted like ambrosia of the gods.
They were easily the first couple that finished all their sample cake pieces, and the servers came by to pick up the used dishes, flashing both Kuroo and Tsuki flirty smiles. Kuroo’s answering smile was tight, Tsukishima simply grimaced.
Their hands were still linked.
“Ok, now, last part of the tasting,” the manager announced, clapping her hands, “I want you to kiss.”
“Wh-”
“I’m sorry,” Tsukihsima interrupted, looking confused, disgruntled and slightly panicked, “this wasn’t on the brochure?”
“Yes well, our patrons are lovers, fiances, people who wish to spend their lives together. We just fed some of them free cake, I think asking for a kiss isn’t much?”
There was a glint in her eyes and they both simultaneously realized- she knew. She knew they weren’t who they claimed to be, and the offer was an ultimatum. Turning to look at each other, Kuroo shrugged his consent. Tsukki looked skeptical as usual, but not wholly put off. They didn’t really have a choice- there was no way they could pay for the cakes.
“Fine,” Tsukishima whispered softly, inching towards Kuroo’s face. Kuroo couldn’t really explain the pounding of his heart, but now that Tsukishima had invaded his personal space, he was finally given the chance to note how soft his lips looked, that he had really long lashes, that his nose had the tiniest dent marks from his glasses and that his eyes were a honey colour that was almost unreal.
His brain didn’t register Tsukki’s lips against his own for a whole 3 seconds before it imploded and he responded with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, which apparently, was quite a bit.
The kiss never deepened, there was no tongue action, no exchange of saliva. It remained chaste, sweet, a mere press of lips. It was by far the most innocent kiss either of them had given or received, yet it was probably the most eye-opening and important kiss they had ever experienced. Kuroo couldn’t really explain it, but the sheer love and adoration he felt through the kiss threatened to knock him over, and he hoped that his kiss conveyed an equally strong message. It kinda made sense now- the unresolved tension, the occasional twist in his gut, sometimes his heart, the stares that were too long, everything. He mostly assumed he was having a heart attack or something and never gave it much thought, but the more he thought about it -and his brain was working surprisingly fast for something that had imploded moments ago- the more sense it made.
He liked Tsukishima. Probably loved him, but certainly liked. And as far as he could tell, the blonde felt the same way.
They parted too soon in Kuroo’s opinion, but his brain had the privilege of short circuiting almost immediately because Tsukki had decided to lean back in and give him a tiny kiss on the corner of his mouth. Tsukishima pulled back slowly, and he licked his lips, his cheeks flaming much like Kuroo’s.
“You taste like strawberries.”
Kuroo laughed, feeling all light hearted and free, like an invisible weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“You don’t taste bad yourself.”
They ignored the cries of aww and so cute in the background, opting to gaze at each other and smile tentatively instead.
“Ahem,” the manager cleared her throat, a not so secret smile gracing her beautiful face, “you can leave now. I hope you enjoyed the tasting, and we hope to hear from you when you’ve made a decision.”
“Will do.” Kuroo smiled, standing up gracefully and Tsukishima followed. “Thank you for your wonderful patronage, your cakes were amazing.”
They bowed politely before Kuroo and Tsukishima walked towards the exit and onto the main road. It was quite late now, maybe around 7 o'clock. The sky was dark, but the streetlights illuminated the city beautifully, giving it a warm, hazy glow. The noises of the people and the vehicles were a comforting sort of background sound, and Kuroo hummed softly before looking over at Tsukishima.
“Should we go grab a bite to eat?”
“We just had so much cake,” Tsukishima scoffed.
“How does pizza sound?”
“….. fine.”
Kuroo’s victory smile was broad, his shiny perfect teeth on full display as he slowly turned and lead the way, the two of them easily keeping up with the other’s pace. The conversation flowed smoothly, like water, and they jumped from topic to topic, balancing each other out perfectly.
They were still holding hands.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yamaguchi Tadashi was Tsukishima Kei’s best friend. He knew almost everything there was to know about the blonde- his favourite dinosaur, his favourite foods, his first crush, his music tastes.
He was also the only person who knew that Tsukishima had a tiny, old metal box beneath his bed that contained small trinkets that he had collected over the years, things that were precious to him because of the memories they represented, and the box had just gotten a new addition.