His mother had never said it aloud, but Tooru was sure she thought his tattoo was a mistake—a slip-up, an oddity, a modern tragedy of sorts. When people asked him to show them his tattooed words, he obliged without hesitation, knowing the looks of pity he would receive and almost relishing in them. If he were never going to find his soulmate, he could at least gain some satisfaction from milking the emotions of other people with his own story. Tooru usually pretended that his tattoo didn’t bother him much, but some sort of relief flooded into his chest each time someone told him that he had the right to be more upset.
Nonetheless, it was still annoying, it still bothered him, and sometimes Tooru went as far as to call it infuriating. He became the butt end of a circulating tale in his hometown not long after he started school, something stupid about “the boy cursed with words as vague as a shadow”. As Tooru grew older, other kids would taunt his god forsaken words back at him, and all he could do was smile and try to keep faith that he’d meet his soulmate someday and prove everyone wrong. But trying to keep faith was hard and Tooru was tired.
Oikawa Tooru hated his soulmate. Whoever the person was, they had cursed Tooru with this ugly tattoo sprawled across his bicep, and Tooru would probably never be able to find them to beat them up for it. Tragic!
“Can I help you, dear?” An old woman stood behind Tooru in an aisle at the supermarket. Tooru had grabbed ahold of a carton of milk and started subconsciously squeezing it as he thought of his utterly terrible soulmate situation, which he found himself thinking about quite a lot. (In his defense, it was hard not to think about some stupid words emblazoned onto your arm.) At her question, however, Tooru popped the carton, causing milk to spurt onto the floor.
“No, I’m fine. Thanks,” Tooru said, despite the mess he’d just made beneath himself. He gave the woman a charming grin, and she raised an eyebrow and shook her head before walking away hesitantly.
After she’d turned out of the aisle, Tooru looked down at the crushed milk carton in his hand and at the milk that dripped pathetically from it and onto the floor. The situation reminded him of an old kouhai of his, so he blamed the entire thing on him. Curse you, Tobio-chan! Without much thinking, Tooru pressed the squashed carton back onto the rack with the other untouched ones. He fleetingly glanced to the puddle on the floor before side-stepping away from the mess and pretending to browse the packets of cheese a few sections over.
Stupid soulmates, stupid tattoos, and stupid flimsy milk cartons.
Everyone and their mother knew that people were born with the first words their soulmate were to say to them inked someplace on their body, and Kuroo Tetsurou was no exception. Though, if he did have a say in it, his tattoo was a bit strange.
Testurou’s relatives always reassured him that with such a unique tattoo, he’d never miss his soulmate. Plus, he could have a fun time proving them wrong, whoever they were. But as time passed and he still had no inkling of his soulmate, Tetsurou was beginning to feel impatient.
Before, he wouldn’t have really minded never finding his soulmate, because he had Kozume. Kozume and Tetsurou had made a pact when they were kids that for as long as they hadn’t met their soulmates, they’d stay together. Tetsurou thoroughly enjoyed Kozume’s company, and some parts of him wished that his tattoo said “My mom made me talk to you.”—Kozume’s first words to him. (Which, he could admit, were not quite romantic, but Kozume wasn’t really a romantic, anyway. Tetsurou didn’t mind.) But then he didn’t have Kozume anymore, because Kozume had gone along and met someone who spoke their inked words to them.
With no choice but to be happy for them, Tetsurou plastered a smile on his face and forced as genuine of a “Congratulations, Kenma!” as he could muster. He tried to tell himself that sometimes soulmates were just destined to be friends, and maybe that was the case with Kozume. Though the thought itself made Tetsurou feel selfish, he couldn’t help himself from thinking it.
As the months passed and Kozume moved in with their soulmate (disproving Tetsurou’s hopes and twisting his heart in his chest), Tetsurou still hadn’t yet ran into his own. He became more and more hopeless; his friends were continuously pairing off, leaving him behind. He pretended not to care, and he bought Kozume a housewarming gift.
Tetsurou’s words always seemed to burn into his ankle, almost taunting him. The letters wrapped around his ankle, swirling and looping in fancy script. The first time he tried to read the tattoo in its entirety when he was a kid, it’d taken a bit of awkward bending, but once he’d finally read it, his younger self had hoped his soulmate, wherever they were, wasn’t sad. The words etched into Tetsurou’s skin kind of made that seem so.
As Tetsurou got older, though, he started caring less and less about his soulmate. He couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for them, because he was too busy feeling bad for himself. He could recall the words of someone he knew back in high school named Tsukishima calling him “pathetic” or something for his attitude, but that kid had found his soulmate when he was, like, eleven or twelve—which, if Tetsurou had a say, was totally not fair, and gave him no right to be condescending.
Nonetheless, Tetsurou was lonely without his soulmate and without Kozume.
Four times. That was how many times Tooru had already heard his words spoken to him, that day. Four times! Four potential soulmates, all to no avail. And, well, being honest, he was somewhat glad that his soulmate wasn’t the old balding guy at the supermarket checkout; he did, however, have some hope for the quiet person with the feline-esque eyes at the retail shop, but they’d had no big reaction when Tooru had replied to them. Tooru imagined a big red buzzer going off, signifying failure. Once again.
Tooru was practically fuming as he pulled into a drive-through to order himself some dinner, too tired and too heated to even think about cooking.
“Hello, how can I help you?” Out of the speaker came the fifth time Tooru heard his tattooed words that day.
Tooru couldn’t help himself from exploding to the poor soul on the other side of the speaker before they could even start their sales pitch. “Listen. Do you knowhow many times I’ve heard that? Even just today? I’m never going to find them. I’ll never know who my soulmate is, ever!”
He took a few breaths to calm himself down as he stared at the speaker, waiting for something to come out. Pity me, dammit!
“Drive up to the first window, please,” the speaker said after a long silence.
“But… I haven’t ordered yet.” Tooru quirked an eyebrow, not entirely happy with the response he’d received.
“I’m aware. Pull ahead to the first window, please.”
At the command, Tooru slowly took his foot off of the brake and inched forward in a confused daze. He sort of hoped that whoever was behind the speaker would let him order when he got there, because his stomach was growling. Maybe he was getting his food free! The worker felt so bad for him that he was giving Tooru a free meal. He could only hope.
Tooru reached the first window after what seemed like ages, since the cars in front of him must’ve ordered enough food to feed a family of hyenas—a cackle of hyenas? It didn’t matter, Tooru decided as the first window opened and he was greeted by a man with ridiculous black hair and golden eyes. Tooru’s first thought was that he looked shady. And cute. But, no free food? Tooru had been so hopeful.
“I’m Kuroo Tetsurou. Nice to meet you, soulmate,” the man—Kuroo—introduced himself with a wicked grin, sticking his arm out of the window and down towards Tooru.
Tooru stared at him for a few seconds with his jaw slack before he managed to take a deep breath and compose himself, shaking Kuroo’s hand and welcoming his natural charm. “Oikawa Tooru, and it’s my pleasure.” As Tooru made eye-contact with his soulmate, he kind of wanted to take back all the talk about hating him from the past years. And the shady thing from just now. Tooru offered Kuroo a genuine smile, one he’d been unknowingly saving for the occasion.
“It’s great to finally see you,” Kuroo said with a glance back towards one of his co-workers. “but I’m still on the clock until nine.”
“Oh, right.” Oikawa Tooru was nothing if not prepared, so he reached into the glove box of his car and pulled out a slip of paper, his phone number already scrawled on it—for emergencies! “Sorry for holding up the line.” Tooru’s tone was unapologetic, contradicting his words.
Kuroo raised an eyebrow at the sight before him, but he took the paper with a smile. He began to wave Tooru away, but Tooru stayed in place.
“I did come here for food,” Tooru deadpanned, looking to Kuroo expectantly.
“Oh. Yeah, right. Of course. Um, how can I help you?” Kuroo scratched the back of his neck, waiting for a response to plug into the computer.
“First off, never say that to me again.”
Oikawa Tooru, Tetsurou tested the name on his tongue; somehow it was fitting. He kind of felt bad for the guy, though, having the tattoo ‘Hello, how can I help you?’ inscribed somewhere on his body. Tetsurou couldn’t even imagine how many times Oikawa might’ve thought he’d met his soulmate, to only be disappointed time after time. Then again, at least Oikawa’s tattoo was short and sweet. Tetsurou’s tattoo circled around his ankle several times and took foreverto read or show to others. But either way, Tetsurou thought, it’d worked out and they’d found each other after waiting so long.
As soon as Tetsurou got off shift, he pulled out his phone to tell Kozume the news.
To: Kenma!!
Met my soulmate today :p
After he’d hit the send button, it occurred to Tetsurou that he hadn’t even entered Oikawa’s number yet. He pulled the now crumbled piece of paper that Oikawa had handed him earlier out of his back pocket, transcribing the numbers over to his phone while absentmindedly wondering why Oikawa had had the paper in his glove box in the first place. Just when Tetsurou finished adding Oikawa’s contact details, his phone buzzed with a message from Kozume.
From: Kenma!!
that’s great, kuro. was it everything you thought it’d be?
Tetsurou scratched at his hairline for a second as he thought of how to respond.Was it everything he’d thought it’d be? He supposed he wasn’t sure what he’d thought it would even be in the first place.
To: Kenma!!
Unfortunately there was a complete lack of cheering from any bystanders
From: Kenma!!
a tragedy, really. now don’t forget to text them
Tetsurou was suddenly reminded that shit, yeah, he’d met his soulmate today. And Oikawa was probably waiting for a text, seeing as it was about quarter after nine already. Tetsurou sent a quick ‘thanks’ to Kozume, not pondering how they’d known that Tetsurou hadn’t already texted his soulmate (Kozume always just knew things like that, Tetsurou had learned from all the time spent with them), before typing a message out to Oikawa.
To: Oikawa Tooru
Hey, it’s Kuroo. Just got off shift
He wondered for a second if the message was too casual, but decided not to worry about it. He guessed that he would have to mess up pretty bad for Oikawa not to reply, with their whole Soulmate Status and all. ‘Soulmate’ suddenly seemed like a bigger, more important word, now that Tetsurou had one of his own.
Oikawa replied with one word that sent a bit of blood rushing up to Tetsurou’s cheeks as it appeared on his screen.
From: Oikawa Tooru
Tetsu-chan!!!
Right. Okay. This was a thing, now, Tetsurou had to remind himself. This was a thing, this would continue to be a thing, and for the first time he allowed himself to think that Oikawa was really cute. And he was! Really cute, with his -chan and his swoopy hair and pretty eyes and… Tetsurou was just really thankful. He’d spent some time assuming the worst, and from what he’d seen so far, Oikawa was far from his constructed nightmare soulmates.
To: Oikawa Tooru
Up for lunch tomorrow?
From: Oikawa Tooru
I’m up for anything! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و
Anything, in Oikawa’s book, apparently did not include going to the movies.
“Aw, Tetsu-chan,” Oikawa had pouted as they pulled up to the theater. “You really shouldn’t go to the movies as a first date; there’s no talking! And talking is key to success, you know. Besides, there aren’t any good movies out. None about space or aliens or anything. There aren’t even any periodicals!”
“Those are very different things,” Tetsurou commented as he squinted his eyes in confusion; he could vividly remember his friend Bokuto saying that movies were the best dates, and that’s where he would take his soulmate whenever he met them. It had now become clear to Tetsurou that maybe he shouldn’t have taken relationship advice from a guy that had never once been on a date himself. Bokuto’s time will come, he thought to himself, distracted.
“Can’t we go somewhere fun, like…” Oikawa paused, tapping his index finger on his temple. “Oh! How about the park? We could get ice cream or something and I’m sure there will be a lot of dogs around. Do you like dogs, Tetsu-chan?”
“Dogs are okay,” Tetsurou responded, a light smile gracing his lips. Oikawa sure did dominate the conversation, but Tetsurou didn’t mind. It was a nice change-up from his conversations with Kozume.
“The park it is,” Oikawa confirmed, watching as Tetsurou put the car back into drive.
Fortunately, the park wasn’t far from the theater. Only a few minutes passed before the two were walking along a path in the park, each holding a popsicle.
“So,” Oikawa began, “tell me about yourself.”
“Hm,” Tetsurou hummed as he stuck his popsicle in his mouth, thinking. “Vague question,” he finally responded.
“Oh, you know. What you like, what you enjoy. That kind of basic stuff. I, personally, really enjoy milk bread and cute people.” Oikawa gave his examples with a smile and a wink. Cheeky. Definitely different from Kozume.
“Is that so?” Tetsurou returned the cheery expression before pursing his lips as he thought. “I enjoy… poetry. And going to the beach.”
“Are you the romantic type, Tetsu-chan?” Oikawa quirked an eyebrow, biting the end of his popsicle before grimacing at the cold.
“Haven’t thought about it,” he replied, looking down and realizing that he and Oikawa were in step. “Guess so.”
Tetsurou was expecting some kind of response from Oikawa, but as he looked back up, his partner was pointing over to somewhere else with his mouth hung open. Tetsurou looked to where he was pointing to see a rather large dog rolling playfully in a grass clearing nearby.
“Dog!” Oikawa exclaimed, his mouth turning to a grin. “I told you we’d see some.”
Before Tetsurou had time to speak, Oikawa had grabbed his wrist and started dragging him towards the dog. As the pair got closer to the dog, however, it noticed their presence and stopped rolling, quickly moving to its feet.
“Oh, it’s okay!” Oikawa assured in vain as the dog bolted. “Damn it,” he sighed, watching as the dog looked back over to them from across the clearing. “It wasn’t meant to be.” Oikawa pouted, letting go of Tetsurou’s wrist and walking over to sit on a nearby bench.
A small tree grew behind the bench, but only casted shade on half of it. Tetsurou gestured for Oikawa to take the shade.
“A gentleman,” Oikawa teased, but took the spot anyway.
They finished their popsicles not long thereafter, and Tetsurou eyed a garbage can about ten meters away. He held his now bare popsicle stick between his index finger and thumb, closing one eye to aim the stick at the garbage can. He flung the stick and it ricocheted off the back side of the bin before falling into it. Tetsurou looked back to Oikawa with a grin only to see the latter looking to attempt the same thing he just had. Oikawa squinted his eyes at the garbage can for a second before tossing his popsicle stick, missing by a few inches.
Oikawa groaned as he stood up to retrieve the wooden stick and shove it shamefully into the bin. Tetsurou wore a shit-eating grin when Oikawa returned, which caused him to stick out his tongue.
“Are you in college?” Tooru inquired, after he and Kuroo had begun to walk around again. (They’d seen three dogs while sitting on that bench! Tooru had managed to pet two of them, and thus he declared the bench blessed.)
“Mm, yeah. I’m not sure what I’m going for yet, though. Something with people.” Kuroo nodded to himself, looking at Tooru afterwards and prompting him to speak about himself.
“Fair enough,” Tooru smiled, though he thought that was a bit reckless. “I’m in school, too. I’m aiming for professional volleyball but I’m not sure how realistic it is,” he spoke honestly, with a slight frown.
“Yeah?” Kuroo tilted his head, “I played volleyball back in highschool, but couldn’t continue it. Fun while it lasted, I guess.” He shrugged before sticking his hands in his pants pockets.
“Ooh,” Tooru blinked at Kuroo a few times before continuing. “I dunno. I’d really like to be professional.”
Kuroo nodded, “I don’t think it’s unrealistic. Granted, I haven’t seen you play, but… with the right team, I’m sure you’ll make it.”
Tooru raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Ah, I just,” Kuroo paused, as if not entirely certain how to say it. “I just think teamwork is really… crucial, you know? No one is good enough on their own.”
“I’m not sure I agree,” Tooru responded, his eyebrows furrowed, then. “I think, to get anywhere in life… someone needs to be outstanding at what they do. On their own.”
Kuroo pursed his lips, and Tooru continued.
“Of course, teamwork is important in volleyball. But a team is strongest when all the people on it are truly extraordinary.” Tooru stopped for a moment, tapping a finger on his temple. “I think that applies to a lot of other things, as well.”
With a contemplating look, Kuroo replied: “I see what you mean, but I still think teamwork is more important. If a bunch of really talented people don’t get along, then they’re never going to go anywhere.”
Tooru frowned, scrunching up his face in thought. “Sure, but if you have a few talented people and then a bunch of mediocre people, that’s not quite… ideal, is it?”
They were working in hypotheticals, and Tooru didn’t really notice how Kuroo’s expression continued to sour as he spoke.
“But is a mediocre person really mediocre if they’re on a strong team?” Kuroo inquired, “A team is a team for a reason.”
“Of course they’re still mediocre! No team can make someone more talentedthan they are.” Tooru noted, with his index finger pointing up in the air. “No one should have to rely on others to make themselves better.”
“I don’t—”
“Oh!” Tooru exclaimed suddenly, “I get it, Tetsu-chan. You were a mediocre player, weren’t you? That kind of explains why you quit volleyball and why you’re… working at a drive-through. And why you don’t know what to do—”
“Excuse me?” Kuroo’s eyes widened.
“Sorry, did I offend you? I didn’t mean—”
Kuroo shook his head, cutting Tooru off. “I’m fairly certain you meant what you said.”
“I…” Tooru began to justify himself, but couldn’t think of a way to.
Sighing, Kuroo’s frown deepened. “I had high hopes,” he let out a sort of pathetic laugh, turning on his heel to head back in the direction of his car. “See you later, Oikawa.”
Tooru tried to make himself say something like “Wait, Tetsu-chan! I’m sorry! Let me make it up to you! I’ll buy you a poetry book and take you to the beach!” but he couldn’t muster up the energy for it. “Fuck,” he mumbled instead. “Fuck!” He kicked at the ground.
Maybe Tooru’s mother was right; his tattoo was a mistake. Or rather, he’d just made it one.
Tetsurou knew he shouldn’t have shown up at Kozume’s house in his current state of mind, but he didn’t have an idea of where else to go. He couldn’t be alone, not after that, and so Kozume’s it was… but he really should’ve stopped himself, he knew.
And yet, he pounded on the door after ringing the doorbell—redundant, but Tetsurou was too heated to care.
“Kenma!” he shouted at the door, pounding on it again.
The door creaked open and Kozume stood behind it, with their hair tied up at the top and a sweater much too big for them enveloping their body. Just the sight of Kozume almost made Tetsurou forget why he’d come. His heart imploded, probably.
“Kenma,” he said again, much more softly this time around.
“Hi, Kuroo.” Kenma looked up expectantly at their friend.
“I—uh, could I come in?” Tetsurou scratched at the back of his neck, pursing his lips.
“Is something wrong?” Kozume asked as they invited Tetsurou inside, even though Tetsurou was certain they had already figured it out.
“A-Are you alone?” Tetsurou choked out, though scolded himself afterwards.Not the right time to exclaim your doomed love for your childhood best friend, Tetsurou! Though he couldn’t quite think of any time that would be right.
“You’re here,” Kozume deadpanned. “Otherwise, we’re alone. Did something happen with your soulmate?”
“Yes,” Tetsurou breathed, and Kozume frowned at him before offering him a seat.
“You obviously came to talk about it, then?” Kozume sat on a chair about a meter away from the couch that Tetsurou ended up on, and leaned forward, their elbows resting on their knees and their chin resting in their hands.
“Ehh, yeah,” Tetsurou responded, ruffling his hand through his hair. He’d lost some of the intensity he’d had on the way over to Kozume’s house. “Oikawa—my soulmate—was an asshole. I mean,” he took a breath, meeting eyes with an attentive Kozume. “He… was good at first. Talkative, cheerful. But we—uh, we clashed while talking about teamwork. And he said something really uncalled for—”
“About you having to quit volleyball?” Kozume interrupted, causing Tetsurou to nod. “Did you tell him why?”
“I didn’t really get the chance…”
“Then he had no way to know,” Kozume’s eyes didn’t leave Tetsurou’s face even after Tetsurou looked away.
Kozume was right—they were always right—Oikawa had no way to know that Tetsurou had gotten injured the month before he was supposed to start college. Even then, Tetsurou didn’t feel like that excused Oikawa from saying what he did.
“Still!” Tetsurou clenched his jaw. “I don’t agree with—with what he said. I’m not sure I want to see him again.”
“You’re talking about this as if it were just an ordinary date with anyone, Kuroo. That’s your soulmate, and you aren’t going to get another one.” Kozume sighed, finally looking down and away from Tetsurou. “Soulmates won’t automatically get along on everything. You’re supposed to make each other better.”
“But—!” Tetsurou interjected, his heart beating furiously in his chest. Now or never, he thought as he took a deep breath. “What if I don’t want—”
“Kuroo,” Kozume cut him off. “Don’t do this to yourself.”
Tetsurou swallowed thickly, looking at Kozume with wide eyes. “But, I’m in love—” with you.
“No,” Kozume held their ground. “No, you’re not.”
“Who are you to know!” Tetsurou barked, causing Kozume to raise an eyebrow. “Sorry.”
A tense silence fell over the pair, Tetsurou staring down at his laced fingers in his lap.
“We’re not soulmates,” Kozume stated the obvious, but there was no hint of condescendence in their voice.
Tetsurou let out a laugh of pity for himself. “I know.”
“We’re suited better to be friends.” Kozume was staring at Tetsurou with their big golden eyes and Tetsurou knew he couldn’t meet the gaze or he’d break further.
He didn’t respond at first, but Tetsurou decided that the best way to deal with this was to pretend it was alright. He was okay! It would be… okay.
“Not exactly what I wanted to hear.” He forced a chuckle and scratched at the back of his neck.
“You need to give Oikawa another chance,” Kozume ignored Tetsurou’s sentiment. “okay?”
“Okay,” he replied, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking like his hands were. “I’m—I’m sorry, Kenma.”
Kozume blinked at him, their mouth pulled into a small line.
“I’m sorry, too.”
Three days came and went, and Tooru was sure he’d spend a total of more than twenty-four of those seventy-two hours just staring at the name Tetsu-chan! in his contacts.
And here he was again, his fingers hovering above the keyboard, but no words coming to his mind. ‘I’m sorry’ seemed like too much of a cop-out, but there wasn’t much else to say. Tooru had figured he’d hit a nerve; he had been too straightforward, probably a little rude, and he’d jumped to conclusions. But if Kuroo never told him what bothered him, Tooru couldn’t quite apologize for it. And he wanted to—apologize for it, whatever it was.
But after three days and a third of that time of staring at his phone, Tooru decided he had to take a leap. Kuroo was his soulmate, after all. He couldn’t be mad forever.
To: Tetsu-chan!
What’s your address?
As much as Tooru wanted to hide behind a screen, he couldn’t very well talk out problems with Kuroo over text. Plus, he’d received some milk bread from a friend the day prior, and he supposed he could share (because if he liked it then Kuroo must’ve like it, too, right?).
Since Tooru wasn’t sure how Kuroo would take randomly receiving such a text, he awaited a response with bated breath. He kept clicking his phone screen off and then turning it back on again to look and see if there were any messages back.
After an agonizing whole five minutes, Tooru’s phone vibrated in his hand. The message held Kuroo’s address and nothing else, but Tooru took that as an invitation. Surely, had Kuroo not wanted Tooru to come over, he wouldn’t have told him the address.
The trip over to Kuroo’s was nerve-wracking, and it kind of reminded Tooru of the moment before he threw up a serve-toss; this was either going to go very well and earn the point, or it’d be out-of-bounds. There wasn’t much room for anything in between.
Tooru knocked on Kuroo’s apartment door, and if the ride over was the toss, this was the serve itself.
As soon as Kuroo opened the door, Tooru thrusted the milk bread in his hands forward. Kuroo took the offering with a slightly confused look splayed across his face, and he spoke a cautious greeting before gesturing for Tooru to come inside. After Kuroo set the bread down on his table, the pair stood about two meters away from each other, each avoiding eye-contact and waiting for the other to speak.
Tension was high, and Tooru could feel it in the hanging thickly in the air, almost tangible enough to bite. He cleared his throat to slice through it.
“Tetsu-chan,” Tooru started, and he swore that Kuroo’s face softened, at least a little bit. “I’m—sorry about what I said.”
Kuroo blinked. And he blinked again. And he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it before any words came out.
Tooru took this as his cue to continue, so he looked down at his fingers which fiddled with each other, before making eye-contact with Kuroo once again. “I’m not sure exactly how to apologize, ehh, the drive-through part was pretty rude, so I’m sorry for that.”
Kuroo pursed his lips. “I don’t care about that,” he said, and Tooru felt small under his gaze.
“The mediocre thing?” Tooru saw Kuroo’s eyebrows furrow at the mention of it, so he figured himself right. “I still don’t understand why you’d quit if you were good… oh, uh—”
Kuroo sighed, before mumbling out one word that Tooru just barely caught: “Injury.”
“What’s that?” Tooru found himself asking subconsciously, even though he’d heard it the first time.
“I got injured,” Kuroo frowned, “before I started college. I, uh, busted my knee. I got surgery, but I still can’t—”
“Oh. Oh, god. I’m so sorry, Tetsurou.” Tooru clamped his bottom lip between his teeth after he finished talking, internally scolding himself for being a dick.
“It’s—that’s fine. I’m over it, I think. But either way,” Kuroo paused, taking a breath, “I do think what you said was uncalled for, even if I had been a mediocre player.”
Tooru went to apologize again, but Kuroo began to speak before he had the chance.
“And there was another thing that bothered me,” he said as he casted his gaze down to the floor.
Kuroo didn’t look like he was about to elaborate, so Tooru raised an eyebrow and took a step closer to him. He reached out a hand, about to set it on Kuroo’s shoulder, when Kuroo lifted his head and looked at Tooru, causing him to freeze in place with his arm outstretched towards Kuroo. He awkwardly lowered it back to his side, Kuroo’s eyes following the movement.
“You said something about not relying on others to make yourself better,” Kuroo spoke, tentatively. “but isn’t that what soulmates are for?”
Tooru gaped at him, before closing his mouth and swallowing thickly. He then let out a sheepish chuckle, his hand finding its way to rest on the back of his neck. “I guess I haven’t really given it much thought.”
Kuroo cocked his head, prompting Tooru to continue. The tension in the room ebbed and flowed.
“I mean, up until a few days ago, I didn’t think there was even the slightest chance I’d ever really… meet my soulmate,” Tooru shrugged, not particularly caring to explain any further. Surely, Kuroo was smart enough to put the pieces together and realize Tooru had grown accustomed to being on his own.
“Oh,” Kuroo breathed, “oh.”
“I’m glad I met you, though!” Tooru suddenly spoke louder, but his volume lowered again immediately after, “Even if it’s not going so smoothly.”
Kuroo smiled softly, before speaking: “My friend told me that soulmates won’t get along on everything, which is kind of obvious, but I guess I needed to be reminded.”
“Do you want to try again?” Tooru offered, sticking out his hand for Kuroo to shake. “We won’t forget what happened, but we’ll try again.”
Kuroo took Tooru’s hand and gave it a firm shake, before a smirk crawled onto his lips. “So, do you want to go to the movies?”
From: tooru-chan!!~
Coming over tonight?
Tetsurou smiled a bit at his phone, before he heard the click of a tongue from behind him. He set his head on the top of the couch he was sitting on, looking back up at Kozume who stood behind the couch.
“Things are going well with Oikawa?” Kozume blinked at Tetsurou, walking around to the front of the couch so Tetsurou didn’t have to strain his neck, and handing him a mug of coffee.
“I think so,” Tetsurou said, nodding. “I mean, he’s kind of an asshole, but in an endearing way.”
“And you call him ‘Tooru-chan’?” Kozume inquired, their eyebrow raised, and if Tetsurou didn’t know them better, he’d say they were teasing him. (They were.)
“What?”
“Contact name.”
“Oh,” Tetsurou let out a laugh. “No, that was him. He did that, not me.”
“Hm,” Kozume hummed, “Cute.”
“He’s cute, yeah,” Tetsurou tried to ignore the blood rising to his cheeks, clearing his throat before speaking again, “Hey, Kenma?”
“Yes?” Kozume looked up at Tetsurou, their eyes as big and as golden as ever. And yet, they didn’t melt his heart this time around.
“About before…” Tetsurou spoke into his mug, shying away slightly at the memory of the day last week when he’d tried to confess to Kozume but was sharply shut down before he could even get it all out.
“Don’t be sorry,” Kozume said, a light smile on their lips. “Liking me was easy for you, because I’ve always been here. You really like constants, Kuroo. But what you needed was change. Oikawa’s good for you.”
“Don’t go philosophical on me,” Tetsurou said, as if he didn’t appreciate it. Kozume knew he did, so they rolled their eyes and took a drink out of their own mug.
To: tooru-chan!!~
Yeah, see you tonight
Tonight came, and while wrapped up in a couple of blankets with their legs intertwined on the couch, Oikawa showed Tetsurou some movie about a portal to another planet with a culture like Ancient Egypt. Tetsurou hated the movie, but he didn’t hate Oikawa, and he decided that was what really counted. Plus, even he could admit that the terrible movie was better than watching Kozume play on their handheld for hours.
And at the end of the day, Tetsurou didn’t know what to expect for the future. He didn’t expect it to be easy; he didn’t want it to be easy. But, he was sure he wanted Oikawa around, and he wanted Kozume around, and he was sure he’d sort himself out and everything would fall into place. The universe wasn’t one to make a whole lot of mistakes.