Work Text:
There’s something magical about the way Kuroo fiddles with Tsukishima’s fingers, both lying across the expansive bed in Kuroo’s apartment, soft and freshly laundered sheets supporting the weight of their intimacy. It makes Tsukishima feel blissful, though temporary. The feelings he has for Kuroo are strong...but Tsukishima worries for the moment it becomes fleeting, until Kuroo grows tired of their relationship and leaves him like everyone else.
“What are you thinking about?” Kuroo’s voice breaks through Tsukishima’s train of thought, golden eyes open wide in shock. Kuroo feels lost in the sunshine of his lover’s eyes. “Nothing bad I hope?” He asked, shaky and nervous that he would be right. He squeezed Tsukishima’s hand a little tighter and pressed his legs closer to Tsukishima.
“Mn, nothing much. Just..that I like the feeling of our hands together…” Tsukishima admitted sheepishly, trying to hide behind a pillow. But Kuroo finds him easily, tossing the pillow away with a free hand before inching even closer. Tsukishima backs away on instinct.
For a while, they gazed in each other’s eyes, Kuroo’s ever-growing confident smile, Tsukishima’s nervousness and shyness melting into something akin to sweetness...sweet to Kuroo, at least. Lost in the moment, Tsukishima doesn’t try to hide his smile. But, it fades at Kuroo’s words.
“Kiss me.”
Tsukishima doesn’t register the words until Kuroo repeats them. He wonders if he heard right...and Kuroo says it again.
“Kiss me.”
A strangled laugh bubbles to Tsukishima’s lips. “Are you joking? If you are, this isn’t funny. Did you not pay attention when I said—”
“Kiss me.” Kuroo speaks with such genuine honesty and such...charm that Tsukishima wants to obey his words for just a second.
Tsukishima feels anger well up inside of him. “Kuroo.” It’s a tone of voice that Tsukishia uses when he’s upset...and uses his family name. “I said it’s not funny. Are you really trying to piss me off right now?”
Kuroo’s smile fades, but doesn’t disappear. He doesn’t answer him for a while, leaning against his side and admiring the way Tsukishima’s thin body mirrors him...the comfortable feeling that he belongs there despite how offended Tsukishima felt in that moment. The smile resurfaces on Kuroo’s lips. “Do you remember the night we first met?”
Still upset, Tsukishima frowns but answers. “Yes. At the library.”
“Ah ah ah, nope. That was our second meeting.” Kuroo smiles, teasing.
Tsukishima furrows his brow. “What are you talking about?”
Kuroo reaches out a hand to press his fingers gently against pale, soft skin. “We actually met a few nights before then. At a noodle stand right outside of campus.” Kuroo smiles at the memory. “You’re really cute when you’re drunk, you know?” Tsukishima goes completely pale at the point. “You had just been dumped...and you were crying so much. He sounded like an asshole, honestly, so I felt bad for you. And...you were really cute. So I listened to you.”
“What…” Tsukishima feels scared. “What did I...say?”
“Well, a lot of things. You basically spilled your life story.” Kuroo smiles and cups Tsukishima’s cheek with his hand. “But...what I remember the most...was your wish.” Tsukishima stiffens at Kuroo’s words. “You were looking for someone to grant your wish...to find someone who could kiss you, without restraint, and not wither in your arms. For someone to kiss you with no fear that they wouldn’t disappear if you opened your eyes. Just...one single kiss would satisfy you for the rest of your life.”
It’s not a lie, but it’s not what Tsukishima wants to hear. He vaguely remembers that night; he had been dating someone who he found cheating on him with someone else, making out against the chalkboard in an empty classroom. He remembers watching them for a while, feeling his body grow warm as his heart aches to be able to do something like that too...but...Tsukishima can’t. Not with the curse that everyone he kissed would die.
“I fell for you right there. I wanted to get to know you, to know what you liked, to see your smile, to hear you laugh...to feel your hand in mine.” Kuroo drops his hand from Tsukishima’s face and reaches for long fingers to entangle in his own. “I like it. A lot. And...when the time was right...I wanted to kiss you. Not on the cheek...your forehead...but your lips.”
Tsukishima feels conflicted. “So you want me to kill you? What the hell are you going on about? Do you really hate me that much that you want me to kill you and hold your dying body in your arms because of a kiss? Are you crazy?”
Kuroo laughs. “Mhm. I’m crazy.” He squeezes Tsukishima’s hand tight. “Do you trust me?”
The entire situation is still ludicrous to Tsukishima; Kuroo spoke with such soft sincerity that for just a second, Tsukishima had wanted to kiss him. But he held back. “I don’t trust my lips. I really did kill someone before! Do you not believe me?”
“I believe you.” Kuroo scoots forward, and it catches Tsukishima off guard. “Please trust me, Kei.”
Kuroo’s voice is unfair; the way he talks like that, uses Tsukishima’s name like that , it’s hard for Tsukishima to let his logical side control his movements. Time moves slowly for him, the gentle caress of Kuroo’s hands on his cheeks, the sweet smile that’s slightly crooked, the way his face seems to be getting closer and closer and Tsukishima wonders briefly if he’s dreaming.
Tsukishima hears a soft “I love you” before he can feel lips upon his own. Since it had been so long since he had felt the touch of his lips against someone else’s, since he feels really lucid and dazed, it takes him a moment before it registers in his mind as his eyes find Kuroo’s face, eyelids closed. Tsukishima fears that the deed has been done, and that he’s now kissing a corpse.
But the hand intertwined with his own is still squeezing so tight, and Kuroo feels so warm against him. Tsukishima pulls his lips away, covering a hand over them as he watches Kuroo, fearful of the worst, that he had just allowed himself to kill Kuroo, a boy he is trying to love.
Slowly, Kuroo opens his eyes, like awaking from a good dream. He smiles. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Tsukishima’s mouth is agape, his brain fumbling for some kind of rational answer as to why Kuroo was still...alive and well. Kuroo’s teasing smile doesn’t fade. “Want to kiss again?”
“Are...you immortal?” Tsukishima asks, the first option coming to his lips.
Kuroo shakes his head, and uses a hand to keep his chin up. “No, I’m a healthy twenty year-old boy. I can die pretty easily.” Tsukishima stares at him deeply, brows furrowed. Kuroo leans in again, without warning, and kisses Tsukishima again, quick enough to startle him. And it does, the look of bewilderment deepening more than before.
Reaching down, he takes both of Tsukishima’s hands into his own, smiling. “Remember when I told you my ability was nothing flashy?” Kuroo laughs a little, running his thumbs over Tsukishima’s pale skin. He locks eyes with Tsukishima again, who looks terrified, confused, and relieved at the same time. “Here, kiss my hand.”
Kuroo offers his palm, to which Tsukishima merely stares at.
“Come on, we just kissed twice, and I’m still here.” Kuroo wiggles his hand, trying to coax Tsukishima. And in the blonde’s mind, two things could have been happening right then and there: either he was dreaming, or something magical was at work, the same kind of power that made him into a monster. For just the briefest moment, Tsukishima took Kuroo’s tanned hand to his lips, watching in anticipated fear that it would kill Kuroo in an instant. The same greying effect that he had seen before on a girl he has kissed in grade school flakes on Kuroo’s hand, but then a purple, bluish light sparks over it, returning Kuroo’s skin back to normal.
“H-how…” There are tears in Tsukishima’s eyes.
Kuroo smiles, happy now that Tsukishima sees that his ability to kill with a kiss is absolutely useless. “Cancellation.” Just a single word makes Tsukishima gasp softly, the realization coming to him like a brick wall. “Your ability is completely rendered invalid in my presence.” Kuroo triumphs with a proud smile, scooping a timid Tsukishima in his arms until he was lying comfortable atop Kuroo.
Tsukishima finds it hard to speak, and Kuroo gives him as much time as it takes for him to completely understand their situation. “You…” Tsukishima’s voice is hoarse, shaky, unsure. “You...how can you be real?” His tears fall more now, silently rolling down his cheeks, creating wet lines on his soft skin. “You...can’t die...because of me.” Kuroo agrees with a silent nod, a knowing smile.
“Hearing about your wish on that night, I thought that some fairy had granted it by placing me there. To be honest, I don’t even know why I wandered there.” Kuroo’s arms encircle around Tsukishima’s middle, holding him close. “I thought to myself that if I would just kiss you right then and there, you’d be happy. But...you were drunk. If I kissed you that night, you might not remember the next day. And I thought...how sad it would be if you kept going about your life, never being able to fulfill your dream...and...I wanted to give you that dream. And” Kuroo’s voice becomes hushed, “...you also became mine.”
Tsukishima frowns slightly, watching Kuroo’s face with a bittersweet curiosity. He pouts, which Kuroo finds absolutely adorable. “Kiss me.” Tsukishima demands, eyes steady but hands shaking.
“Sure thing.” Kuroo does as he’s told, like it’s the easiest thing in the world, pulling Tsukishima’s face in closer and softly pressing his lips against the other’s. A small moan of surprise caught in the back of Tsukishima’s throat, brain finally processing that he was kissing Kuroo and nothing else was happening. His heart was fluttering and his palms felt sweaty and his chest ached deliciously, but Kuroo was still there, kissing him right back.
“Kiss me.” Tsukishima demands again, shaking and nearly on the verge of sobs. “Please…”
This is what Kuroo wanted...for Tsukishima to be so open him, to be so relaxed with him, and for Tsukishima to feel completely comfortable, now that Kuroo was someone he could never destroy.
Not even with a single kiss.
“Of course, Kei. I’ll kiss you as many times as you’d like.”