Chapter Text
Tsukishima Kei was one of those people who got annoyed easily. He got annoyed when someone kept clicking the end of their pen during a lecture, when it was raining and his glasses got covered in droplets, when he had to stand in a train during the peak hours and people kept bumping on him, when his brother called just to ask had he found a girlfriend yet, when the wire of his headphones got tangled... the list was pretty much endless, and on that sunny Thursday morning Tsukishima was annoyed by the fact that his small apartment couldn't fit a washing machine.
Tsukishima was lucky he had a part-time job which meant he could rent a proper apartment only for himself instead of living in the dorms, sharing a room with someone he definitely wouldn't get along with. His apartment was small and the building was located near busy train stations, meaning it was never really quiet with the residents coming and going all the time. On the other hand he didn't have to share his bathroom with anyone and the chances of finding someone passed out in the hallway after a wild night out were minimal.
But, in the end, the biggest downside was definitely the lack of a washing machine.
In theory he did have a washing machine – multiple of them, even. In the basement of the apartment building. In a shared laundry room where you had to book a time for yourself by writing your name in a huge notebook. And since the building was big and the apartments were small, all of the three washing machines were usually reserved weeks in advance. Want to do your laundry in the evening or during the weekend? So does everybody else, so better know beforehand the exact moment you run out of clean clothes. On top of that you absolutely had to be in the room on the second the machine was ready with the washing or the person next in the booking list would unceremoniously get your freshly washed clothes out of the machine and pile them on the dirty floor to get their laundry in.
Tsukishima thanked the heavens he happened to have a day off on that Thursday. He had consciously avoided the laundry room for weeks for two reasons: firstly, when he had the time to come and book himself one of the machines it was already quite late which meant there was a high chance of running into someone he definitely did'nt want to run into, and secondly, the whole laundry situation he was in annoyed him. It annoyed him a lot. So when there was only a few reservations made on that Thursday (one for 10am and three after 4pm) Tsukishima had taken his chance and made a booking for 9am.
And there he was. The machine in front of him was slightly shaking, telling him it would be done with the program in ten minutes. Tsukishima was sitting on a long bench situated in the middle of the room, reading a thick book. He had a couple of big exams coming up and since getting up to his apartment just to get down in the basement again after some time seemed too big of a hassle, he had decided to study in the laundry room while the washing machine did its magic. The noise of the machine wasn't that loud and in the end Tsukishima was too into reading to even get distracted.
A sound of door opening broke Tsukishima's deep concentration and he glanced up from his book. A boy with headphones on walked past him and set a huge basket full of clothes on the other end of the bench. Tsukishima came to the conclusion that this boy was the one with the 10am reservation and checked how long until his machine would be ready. Five minutes.
He moved his eyes back to the book, forcing himself to read a couple more lines. The boy had measured some detergent in the machine and a faint smell of lavender filled the room. The machine in front of Tsukishima was saying two minutes and he realised he had read the same line at least five times without understanding a single word. The boy was now in the middle of finding the correct washing programme, the machine giving a loud beep every time he pressed the buttons.
Tsukishima sighed in annoyance, closed his book and stood up. He got his own basket from the floor, placed it on the bench and somehow found himself glancing at the boy again. His brown, messy hair was long enough to slightly touch his shoulders, he was wearing a silver ring on his right index finger and he was smiling.
To Tsukishima.
It took a couple of seconds from the blond to realize he had been caught staring and the washing machine's loud beeping telling him it was safe to open the door couldn't have been timed more perfectly. Tsukishima hurried to the machine and somehow managed to hide his embarrassed face from the other boy. He quickly threw his damp clothes in the basket on the bench, slammed the machine's door shut and hurried out of the room before he could somehow make even a bigger fool out of himself.
When he closed the laundry room's door, Tsukishima could have sworn the other boy was silently humming along the song that was playing in his headphones.
-~-
Tsukishima Kei was never late – except on his first day of universty. When he finally found the auditorium the new students of the science department were supposed to gather in there were barely any vacant seats where he wouldn't be surrounded by people he didn't know (and wasn't really planning on knowing). Luckily, at the end of row 11 there was an empty seat meaning that at least no one would be sitting on his left side. Tsukishima sat down, took a deep breath and, following the example of people around him, got out a pen and a notebook.
The auditorium was filled with nervous babble that slowly grew louder and louder as more students found seats and someone to talk to. Tsukishima scribbled his name on the corner of his notebook and fiddled with his pen, trying his best to ignore the uneasy feeling of nervousness burning his insides.
”So... science, huh?” Tsukishima got snapped right out of his bubble when the guy next to him tried to start a conversation. He moved his eyes from the notebook in front of him and met two curious gazes.
”Physics,” he said and put the pen on the table. From the corner of his eye he saw how the two boys shared a look and leaned a little closer.
”So... Tsukishima.” The guy right next to him squinted his eyes so he could make something out of Tsukishima's small handwriting and absent-mindedly ran his hand through the black mess on his head. ”Hotaru?”
”Ooh, like in that song! This is the secret place in town where the fireflies' glow is the prettiest...,” the boy next to the black haired guy sang.
”The reading's Kei,” Tsukishima sighed, his nervousness being slowly replaced by annoyance. It wasn't the first time he was having this kind of conversation regarding his name.
”Huh?”
”Kei. My name's Kei. But Tsukishima is just fine,” the blond said, trying his best to keep his tone friendly. He wasn't very good at socializing or making new friends and most of the time people were too intimidated to start a conversation with him anyway. A small silence fell between the three of them, broken by the singing boy after a couple of seconds.
”Maaaan! Why can't every kanji have just one reading?” The boy's hair was even wilder than the one's sitting right next to Tsukishima, dyed in two colors and styled to peak in different directions. The black haired guy laughed to the irritated face the other boy was pulling, turned back to Tsukishima and offered his hand.
”Kuroo Tetsurou. Nice to meet you, Tsukishima.”
Since that day Kuroo Tetsurou and Bokuto Koutarou had been a big part of Tsukishima's daily life, wanted he it or not. On most days it was more like a curse than a blessing – the duo tended to get stupid ideas, they were the masters of procrastination when it came to doing assignments or other school related things and they were loud. But Tsukishima just couldn't find himself hating them or being constantly annoyed by them, in the end they had came to him and managed to befriend him even though he had been the unfriendliest person in the auditorium that day. To Tsukishima, who had always had slight problems with making and keeping friendships, that meant a lot. Even though they were all majoring in different subjects they studied a lot with each other, shared some lectures and had lunch together almost every day.
The campus had many places to have lunch in and somehow, to Tsukishima's annoyance, the three of them always found themselves in the noisiest cafeteria with their lunches. The spacious room was filled with long tables and students with too dark circles under their eyes. The atmosphere definitely wasn't fitting for a peaceful hour between lectures but still the three of them had been having their lunches there for over a year now.
”I heard someone lost it already,” Kuroo announced. Bokuto's head snapped up from the book he had balanced on top of the table, his brows raised.
”The semester started like, a month ago?”
”Apparently a medical student,” Kuroo said, resting his chin on his hand, ”so I'm not sure if it counts.”
No one really knew why the hottest topic among the students was who would lose the battle against stress first. It was like a campus-wide game no one wanted to lose, and when someone finally did lose somehow everybody knew about it within an hour. Nothing traveled faster through the campus than news like that and Tsukishima thought it was stupid.
”I'm not surprised. Akaashi probably hasn't slept in two weeks or something, he's up studying when I go to bed and he's already out of the house when I wake up. Give it a month and he'll snap, let me tell you,” Bokuto said. He rolled his eyes but his tone was more worried than amused.
”Have you talked about it with him?”
”Of course I have! He just says he can sleep when he graduates which is bullshit because we all know that doctors work long hours,” Bokuto huffed, his eyes once again scanning the book before him.
Akaashi was Bokuto's childhood friend, an extremely smart medical student who Bokuto shared an apartment with. They seemed to be the exact opposites but actually they more than anything completed each other, being the missing piece to the other's puzzle.
”Akaashi's not stupid though. He'll be fine,” Tsukishima butted in the conversation, already putting his things away in his bag.
”Yeah right, I'll try to tell myself that when I'm forced to tie him in his bed so he actually gets some sleep.”
”Oh, but wouldn't that be something you'd love to do?” Kuroo smirked and managed to escape just in time from the book Bokuto sent flying towards him.
-~-
Tsukishima Kei was annoyed that he once again let his two best friends fool him into thinking it would be an amazing idea to have a movie night with a couple of drinks at his place. True, his apartment was the only place they could throw these kind of movie nights at because Akaashi was still neck-deep in projects and exams and Kuroo lived in the dorms with seven other people.
But sitting in the laundry room on a Sunday morning waiting for the washing machine to wash bed sheets and multiple pieces of clothing soaked in alcohol made Tsukishima reconsider his choice in friends.
Tsukishima's silent planning on revenge was interrupted by someone coming to the laundry room. It took a moment from the blond to identify the intruder to be the same boy who had smiled to him the last time he had been down there in the laundry room: his brown hair was now on a small ponytail revealing multiple piercings on his left ear. His right ear was covered by a phone the boy was barely holding up while carrying a basket of laundry and trying to get the door shut.
”-but Shouyou, I can't even turn around in my apartment without knocking into boxes of your stuff. Listen, I'm currently in the laundry room washing your clothes,” the boy sighed in the phone and placed his basket on the bench.
Tsukishima saw from the corner of his eye how the boy glanced at him but the blond tried to keep his face expressionless. His machine would be ready in three minutes and this time Tsukishima didn't plan on making a fool out of himself. The sudden appearance of the other boy was making him unpleasantly nervous and he couldn't really tell why.
”No, no, what I'm saying is that you should maybe go and kick Kageyama's lazy ass because I'm getting impatient,” the boy said while throwing clothes inside the machine, his brows furrowed. Tsukishima could hear someone talking animatedly on the other end of the line but he couldn't make out any words. One more minute and he could make his grand escape back to his apartment.
”Shouyou, don't apologize. I'm just a bit worried, that's all.” The boy's tone had changed from sharp to soft and calm, tinted with concern. He was leaning against the white washing machine, his back to Tsukishima and the blond thanked every possible God the machine washing his laundry finished its job on that exact moment. He quickly unloaded the bed sheets and clothes – now smelling like detergent instead of alcohol – in his laundry basket and exited the room fast before the other boy would turn around.
-~-
Tsukishima had hung his freshly washed laundry up in his bedroom to dry, he had managed to clean up his whole apartment from the mess he and his friends had caused the night before and he was exhausted. He had tons of homework to do and his books were staring at him from the kitchen table. The blond took a deep breath and was ready to start studying when the doorbell rang.
Tsukishima glanced at the clock and frowned. It was Sunday and he definitely wasn't waiting for anyone. Sure, Kuroo and Bokuto often invited themselves over but neither of them had been feeling too well just a couple of hours ago, so Tsukishima doubted the person behind his door would be someone he knew. For a moment Tsukishima hesitated but when the doorbell rang again he let out a sigh, marched to the door and opened it.
Behind the door was standing the boy from the laundry room. He looked nervous, holding a plain white box on his hands and they were standing so close to each other Tsukishima could see the small freckles dusted across the boy's face.
”Um, hi? You don't know me and I don't know you but you were in the laundry room earlier today and I'm pretty sure I pissed you off by talking on the phone and being loud and I accidentally made too many cupcakes for my friend's boyfriend's team's–, well that's not important, anyway, here, I'm sorry if I annoyed you earlier,” the boy rambled, gave a shy smile to Tsukishima and handed the box to him. The blond was too confused by the boy on his doorstep to even understand half of what he was saying and he accepted the box without a hesitation.
”How did you know where I live?”
”Oh! Well, you're supposed to write your name on the notebook in the laundry room, right? When you want to use it, I mean. So I checked the notebook for your name and all the residents' names and their apartment numbers are listed downstairs and I sound like a stalker right now but I can promise you I don't have any bad intentions,” the boy said, a blush making its way on his cheeks. He scratched the back of his head embarrassed, trying his best to keep smiling. Tsukishima blinked a couple of times, trying to take everything in. The box in his hand was slowly turning heavy and the blond couldn't help but wonder how many accidental cupcakes can one even make.
”You didn't really piss me off but... thank you anyway,” he managed to get out of his mouth, earning another smile from the boy in front of him. Tsukishima found it hard to look at his eyes and his gaze was wandering from the boy's pierced ears to the overgrown bangs and the black T-shirt with an American rock band's logo on it.
”No problem! Well then, I'm glad if I didn't annoy you,” the boy said, already turning away to go back to his own apartment. He seemed cheerful but cautious, a look people usually wore on their faces around Tsukishima.
”My name's Kei. Tsukishima Kei,” the blond said quickly, not sure if the other had even heard him. A happy smile erased every trace of uneasiness from the boy's face as he turned to face the blond again.
”I'm Yamaguchi Tadashi! It's nice to meet you. I'll see you around, right?”