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It starts when Tobio wakes up that morning and finds out his mother is gone and has left no money for him that day. This means skipping breakfast and running to school, instead of taking his usual bus. He arrives late and gets scolded for it. There's a pop quiz in his first period which he is pretty sure he flunked. He accidentally left his project at home and had to beg off the teacher for an extension.
In short, Kageyama Tobio is not having a good day.
When he arrives at the rooftop for lunch his bad mood is palpable that it only takes Kei one glance at him to deduce it. Kei gets that frown on his face, that same frown he gets when Hinata or Yamaguchi is getting picked on by rival teams.
Tobio slumps down next to him, not saying a word. He places his head on Kei's shoulder and feels long fingers start running through his hair. The gesture relaxes him and he closes his eye, sighing softly in relief.
This thing, them meeting up in the secluded rooftop for lunch, started when Tobio went to school with dark circles under his eyes, exhaustion visible on his face. Kei took one look at him before proceeding to drag him up to the quiet rooftop where he made Tobio take a nap while he eats lunch.
Sometimes the other first years would join him, but right now it's just the two of them, reveling in each other's presence and absorbing each other's warmth. A gentle breeze blows over them, December already in the air. Tobio curls up tighter around him, shivering and for the first time since he came up, Kei notices that he is empty-handed.
"King." Kei nudges him awake. Tobio's eyes open halfway, looking at him. "Where's your lunch?"
His eyes close again and Tobio answers with a voice slurred with sleep. "Don't have money. Mom forgot again."
Kei knows about Tobio's family situation. His Dad works abroad ans sends them money every week, but his Mom uses it more for her own needs instead of her son's. It's not an ideal life for a high school student and it's one of those moments Kei wishes they were in college already so they can finally move in together and he can look after him.
(Kei is uncharacteristically optimistic when it comes to his relationship with Tobio. It's not like him to dream of the future, but whenever he holds Tobio's hand or feels the slide of his lips against his, he thinks there's no one else in the world he'd rather spend the rest of his life with.)
Tsukishima Kei is a fucking sap. Who knew?
Kei reaches for his side and picks up his bento. His mother always makes too much food for him, trying to fill up Kei's lean frame. Today is one of those days where it comes in handy. He opens it up and it contains a large helping of rice, potato salad, egg rolls, sweet and sour pork and a handful of strawberries.
He nudges Tobio awake again. His eyes blink open just as Kei picks up one of the egg rolls with his chopsticks and offers it to him.
Tobio frowns at him. "I can feed myse-ack!"
Kei shoves the roll in his mouth before he can finish his sentence. Tobio glares at him as he chews and swallows.
"You're lucky I like your mom's cooking."
"Good thing you like it because you're helping me finish this. I don't like potatoes." Kei picks up another egg roll but Tobio stares at it quizically.
"Are we sharing chopsticks?"
Kei rolls his eyes. "I think we've covered enough bases not to be bothered by indirect kisses."
To prove his point, he eats the egg roll on his chopsticks, mouth humming over it. He picks up a piece of pork to feed Tobio, who really can't argue with Kei's logic and leans forward to eat it.
Kei splits the rice and pork evenly between them. He has Tobio eat all the potato salad, which leads Kei to promising he'll ask his mom for the recipe since Tobio liked it so much. They eat quietly until some of Tobio's energy comes back and theres only the strawberries left in the bento.
Kei looks at Tobio's hands where he is currently wiping off some of the salad that got into it. "Are your hands clean?"
"Why? Are you going to feed me if they aren't?" Tobio teases. He expects a scowl or a retort, but all Kei does is smirk. He simply plucks a strawberry from the box and places it on Tobio's open mouth. With his fingers, he closes Tobio's mouth over it. Then, he grabs him by the chin, tilts his head up and kisses him.
It's weird. Tobio has a whole strawberry in his mouth and Kei has an empty bento box on his lap. Tobio's lips tasted like potatoes, but Kei doesn't mind the taste for once. The skies are gray and the air is cold, not exactly picture perfect weather. The setting isn't that of a fairytale but Tobio feels a sort of magic in the air anyway.
For all the things that happened to him this morning, this day doesn't look that bad anymore. Or maybe it's just Kei.
When they pull away, Kei smiles softly at him and Tobio can feel the exact moment his heart stutters to stop.
Yeah, it's definitely Kei.
-
Kei insists on paying for his fare home, despite all of Tobio's protests, and walks him to the bus stop. As they wait for the bus, Kei takes a look at him. Tobio looks better than he did this morning, content with just holding Kei's hand in his. It occurs to him that he really loves this boy, though he won't voice it any time soon. The words are too new, but Kei is good at waiting so until he can comfortably say his love, he'll show it instead.
The bus rolls to a stop and Tobio lets go of his hand to climb aboard. Tobio stops at the first step and turns around to face him, a few inches taller than Kei.
Without warning, he wraps his arms around Kei's shoulder and tucks his head into his shoulder.
"Thank you," he whispers, kissing Kei on the cheek.
Kei doesn't know how long he stood there--Tobio waves at him, the bus doors closes, the bus drives away and disappears around the corner.
A pleased little smile appears on Kei's lips and he thanks God for the day he met Kageyama Tobio.