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kkyaka · 4 months

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Summary: Raising a kid is never easy, but confessing to his next door neighbor seems even harder

Pairing: Terushima Yuuji x black!fem!reader

Word Count: 31,222 (🧍🏽‍♀️)

Warnings: neighbor!au, single dad!terushima, a lot of fluffy moments, kind of a slow burn, mostly in terushima's POV, terushima is really whipped for you, terushima's friends are really annoying to him lol, oikawa makes an appearance, terushima gets a little jealous, angst sprinkled throughout but a lot towards the end, terushima and satomi's mother don't get along, terushima's a girl dad, smut: breeding kink, unprotected sex, creampie, multiple orgasms, fingering (f), brief handjob, terushima's a bit possessive, fluffy moments under the influence of alcohol (everyone is of age), kinda canon divergent, kinda not, I think I covered most of it lol

A/N: I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS FIC, I HAVE READ IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IM OBSSESSED. EVEN IF NO ONE LOVES, I DO AND THATS ALL THAT MATTERS. also this fic is so long and I am so sorry for that LMFAO 💀 but if you read all of it, I really appreciate it and love you. Also ik the end is kinda rushed, I'm so bad at closing out fics 😭😭😭

You always have those initial thoughts when you move into your first apartment. You’re finally on your own now, you don’t have to worry about anyone else, and you can sing as loud as you want and wear whatever you want. Something that most people forget about though is their neighbors. When you toured the place, your hallway was pretty quiet, so you went in with the expectation that you wouldn’t be disturbed by loud neighbors.

But you’re only a week into your new place and two seconds from filing a noise complaint against the neighbor to your right. You totally understand that babies aren’t going to stop crying on command, you’ve dealt with them before. But this baby in particular has been crying all week, and your room seems to be in the right place to hear them screaming throughout the night.

You’re about to move to the couch to sleep, looking at the clock to see that it’s two in the morning. You wouldn’t be worried about being up at two in the morning, but you’re trying to get your sleep schedule back on track since you start your new job next week. Right as you sit up, you notice that you don’t really hear the crying anymore.

You frown, now realizing how silent it is, but then you hear a knock at your door. That makes you uneasy, and you grab the baseball bat by your bed that your dad got for you, and you slowly tiptoe to the door. You carefully look through the peephole, and that’s when you notice that the crying is right in front of your door. You think the worse; that the person just left the baby on your doorstep, but as your eyes focus through the image in the peephole, you see a guy standing on the other side of the door with a baby in his hands.

You set the bat against the wall before you unlock and pull the door open, and those familiar cries are clear in your eyes. The blond man looks even more tired than you do, and you’re pretty sure that the bags under his eyes could hold something.

“I’m sorry to bother you so late,” he starts. “But I’ve tried everything, and she won’t stop crying.” You pity him a bit because you've been in the situation when babysitting in the past, and you step to the side to let him in. He walks into your apartment slowly, cooing at the baby to try to get her to stop crying. “I’m Terushima, by the way. Terushima Yuuji,” he groggily introduces, and you give him a soft introduction of your name before you ask to hold her.

“She won’t take a bottle?” you ask as you bounce her in your arms, and her cries settle just a bit. He shakes his head, setting the baby bag he had on his shoulder on your island. He pulls out one of the bottles, handing it to you.

You try to give it to her, but she refuses, so you don’t try to force it. You notice that she doesn’t have any tears running down her face, and her cries start to pick up volume. “What’s wrong, mama? Why’re you giving your daddy such a hard time, hm?” you whisper as you start to walk around your apartment, continuing to bounce her in your arms.

You rest your cheek against her head, and that’s when you feel how warm she is. “Has she always been this warm?” you ask, taking one of your hands and putting the back of it against her neck. “She’s burning up,” you say, feeling that her skin is sticky with sweat. You put your hand against her little feet, and they’re really warm too.

“I-I think so,” he murmurs, and you walk to your bathroom, grabbing a thermometer. You come back out, running it under some warm water from your sink. You get her arm out of the sleeve of her onesie before you put the thermometer under her armpit. You wait until it beeps, and your heart drops when you see the numbers.

“She’s got a fever, Terushima,” you tell him, and his tired eyes go as wide as they can.

“What?” he whispers.

“Do you have any medicine?” you ask, walking towards him, and he shakes his head.

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know,” he sighs in frustration. “What do I do?”

“Okay, okay. Calm down,” you say. “My aunt’s a doctor, and she’s usually on call around this time. Lemme give her a call.” He’s on the brink of becoming frantic, but your words seem to calm him a little. You call your aunt, and since you don’t have any medicine, and there are no convenience stores open, she tells you just to bring her in.

You offer to drive since he’s definitely not in a good state to drive right now. He quickly grabs his car keys, and you drive over to where your aunt works. You have to wait for her when you get there since she’s currently working with a patient, so you sit down in the chairs, holding her in your arms while Terushima paces in front of you.

“Terushima, I promise she’s fine,” you tell him, but you don’t think he hears you. You stand up, softly putting a hand on his arm. He stops walking, turning to look at you, and you swear he’s going to cry. “You should sit.” You make it sound like an offer, but you guide him to sit down next to you. “Just breathe. She’ll be fine.” You rub over his back, and he puts his elbows on his knees, resting his hands on his face, and you see that his legs are bouncing.

He’s looking ahead, and you can’t imagine what he’s going through, but you try to be as supportive as you can. Your aunt comes out a few minutes later, and Terushima’s in his own world, so you grab his hand. He jumps when you do, and you pull him to his feet. You notice how tight his grip on your hand is, so you don’t let go.

She brings you into a room, and you sit down on the hospital bed while he continues to stand, but his hand doesn’t leave yours. You explain to her what’s going on, and you hold her while she does a quick exam. “How old is she?” your aunt asks.

“She’ll be a year in a couple of months,” he answers softly, his gaze going from his daughter to the floor.

“And her name?”

“Satomi,” he answers quickly, and you smile softly when you look down at her. When you look at Terushima, he still looks anxious, so you get his attention by gently shaking his hand.

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay,” you tell him. “C’mere.” You pull him to sit next to you, and you rub over his back again, but when you stop, his hand is holding yours instantly.

“She just has a small fever. It’s nothing major,” your aunt tells you, and you can see Terushima relax a bit. She gives Satomi some medicine, which she fights just a little bit, but it’s not too long before her cries start to subside.

Your aunt hands Terushima the medicine since both of your hands are occupied. “You can give this to her twice a day, and she’ll start feeling better. If she doesn’t, bring her back in.” You nod, thanking your aunt. “Does she have a doctor?” she asks, and you look at Terushima, and it takes him a while to answer, but he eventually shakes his head.

“No. I, uh, I just got her. It’s a long story,” he says, and neither of you asks for an explanation.

“I have a friend that has her own practice. I can give you her information,” she offers, but Terushima spaces out again, so you answer for him.

“That’ll be great, Auntie. Thank you.” She walks out of the room, and you try to follow, but he doesn’t move. You call his name softly, pulling gently on his arm, and he finally stands. Once you get everything checked out, she gives you the information for the pediatrician. You thank her again for seeing you on such short notice, and she gives you a hug before leaving.

Terushima’s quiet on the ride home, and so is Satomi, so you figure the medicine is starting to kick in. He’s had this look in his eyes since your aunt gave him the medicine, and he doesn’t let go of your hand when you try to go back to your apartment.

“Terushima.” You call his name, your voice firm, and he looks up at you. “Satomi is fine. This isn’t uncommon.”

“I just feel like I failed her,” he whispers, and you feel your heart crack. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, and I thought that I could be mature enough for this–”

“Yuuji.” You stop his rant by putting your hand on his shoulder. “No one is prepared for this. So, please don’t beat yourself up. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help.” It doesn’t really look like your words reached him, but he nods anyway. “I can stay and watch her while you sleep,” you say, and he quickly shakes his head.

“You’ve done enough already, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re exhausted. I’ve stayed up later than this anyway, so I don’t mind.” He doesn’t put up much of a fight, and it looks like the fatigue starts to hit him. He unlocks his door, and both of you take your shoes off. You carefully take Satomi out of her car seat since she’s sleeping, and he stops you when you try to sit on the couch.

“Do you mind if you lay on the bed?” he asks. “Sorry. I just don’t wanna be in a different room than her.”

“Don’t apologize. That’s totally okay.” You follow him to his room, careful to avoid all of the baby toys that are on the floor, and his room looks even worse than the living room.

“Sorry for the mess,” he mumbles, and you stop him when he tries to clean up. You push him to the side of the bed that isn’t covered with baby stuff, and you clean off the other side. He’s nearly asleep when you finally get in, setting yourself up against the headboard. He lays on his side to keep his eye on her, and you rub your hand over his forehead.

“Go to sleep, Yuuji. We’ll be here when you wake up.” His eyes are already closing when you rub over his forehead, and when you try to pull your hand away, he softly grabs your wrist. You don’t need anything more from him to know what he wants, so you move your hand to his hair, running your fingers through it.

You listen to their breathing as you get comfortable, and you can’t help but laugh quietly as you look between them. So much for getting your sleep schedule back on track.

When Yuuji wakes up, he can tell that he’s alone. He blinks the sleep out of his eyes and sees that you or Satomi are not in bed with him, and his room looks spotless. He takes a deep breath in and something that smells really good fills his nose. He groans softly as he gets out of bed, walking out of his room as he opens his eyes.

He walks into the living room slash dining room to see that it’s also spotless, and he spots you in the kitchen, and now he knows the source of the smell. He sees Satomi on a couple of blankets within your line of sight, and he clears his throat. You jump, turning around as you take the last pancake out of the pan.

“Morning!” you say softly. “I hope you don’t mind that I ran to my place really quick since you didn’t really have any food. With Satomi, of course.”

“Don’t worry about it. It smells amazing,” he says, walking over to pick up his daughter. “What time is it?”

“Three o’clock.”

He winces. “I was asleep for that long?”

You laugh a bit as you hand him a plate. “Yeah, but you didn’t snore once. Satomi is one lucky girl,” you tease, and he can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, I’ve been told that it’s a plus.”

“Oh, it sure is. My dad snores so loud that I can hear it through the wall,” you groan, shaking your head at the thought. He sits down at the island, and you eat your pancakes while standing on the other side of him. Satomi is definitely feeling better, seeing that she reaches for Terushima’s fork every time he brings the fork to his mouth.

“I can’t thank you enough for all of this and this morning,” he says after he finishes eating. “I’m kinda embarrassed about how I acted.”

“That’s totally okay. You were tired. I’ve done plenty of things while I’m running on little sleep.” You offer him some more pancakes, and he easily accepts. You wash your plate before taking Satomi out of his arm so he can eat without his food being stolen from him. You grab one of her toys to keep her entertained, and you sit next to him.

“Also, you didn’t have to clean the place,” he adds, feeling his face warm in embarrassment.

“Terushima, it’s okay. I just wanted to help you out.” You move the toy around, making noises, and it makes her giggle, yours following right after.

“You seem like a miracle worker with kids,” he says after he watches you for way too long, turning to his food so that you don’t see.

“Well, I was a babysitter in my neighborhood in high school and college. But I’ve always been told I have a way with kids,” you muse.

“Well, they are definitely not wrong.” He can’t help but watch you, and he feels like he has to apologize again. “I seriously owe you one.”

“I said don’t worry about it. Being a first-time parent isn’t easy, like I said, no one is ready for it,” you emphasize. “Next thing you know, you’ll have a hard time saying goodbye to her when you have a date.”

“Yeah,” he blurts out. “That won’t be happening any time soon.”

“Struck a nerve?” you ask, grimacing a bit, and he shakes his head as he stands, taking his plate and fork to the sink.

“Satomi’s mother and I fell off, and the next thing I know, she’s at my doorstep,” he says, gesturing towards her. “She never told me that she was pregnant, and then suddenly I’m being thrust into fatherhood.”

“You’re doing a really great job,” you say when he goes silent.

“I didn’t know my own daughter had a fever,” he laughs bitterly.

“You were tired, Yuuji. Cut yourself some slack,” you remind. “Being worried about her health tells me that you’re doing just fine. And you asked someone for help when you didn’t know what to do. That sounds pretty good to me.”

You grab the toy again, putting it on her body before pulling it away suddenly, gasping when you do before moving it back towards her again, and Satomi laughs loudly, which makes you laugh. The only thing Terushima can do is watch you, and things start playing in his head, but he quickly shakes them off.

“You have to let me pay you back,” he tries again.

“I already said that it was no big deal.”

“Let me buy you dinner,” he blurts, and he quickly realizes that it sounds like he’s asking you out on a date, and he feels himself blush, but you start talking before he can backtrack.

“Well, I never say no to food,” you respond, and it doesn’t sound like you thought he was asking you out, so he sighs internally.

“Wherever you want to eat tonight, it’s on me,” he says, and you pretend to think about it.

“Alright. That sounds good to me.”

Things have kind of fallen off since that day. With you starting work, you haven’t been able to spend as much time with him as usual. It seems like, after that day, he got himself together. Terushima hadn’t told anyone that he had a kid, not even his parents. Satomi’s mother left the adoption papers with her, and right before he knocked on your door he thought about signing them. But then you came to his rescue, and he felt much better about being able to do this.

Your reassurance helped him a ton, and he made some calls. He leaves the backstory a little bit blurry, not ready to go into the details yet, but his friends and family were more than supportive, and he couldn’t ask for more. Since he has a support system now, he didn’t really need to ask you for help unless it was an emergency.

He also knew that you were starting your new job, so he didn’t want to turn your life upside down even more than he already had. Although, he will admit that it bothered him that he wasn’t keeping in touch with you as much as he wanted to. That morning, you were the light in his swirling darkness, and for a while, he just called it that. He was in a vulnerable position, so of course, he would have some feelings for you.

But when he would strike up a quick conversation with you at the mailbox or while you were on your way to work, he would think about asking you to stay and talk with him just a little longer. You actually came by when he was celebrating Satomi’s first birthday, but you couldn’t stay long since you had to run back to work. The fact that you had run home just to show your face meant more to him than you could ever know.

He never really expected his life to fly by as fast as it did, and now his daughter is going on six years old. Staying in an apartment this long with a child probably didn’t look the best, but he was having trouble getting a job while trying to find a good schedule for someone to watch Satomi, and he definitely couldn’t afford a babysitter.

His friends and family weren’t always available, and the only time you could watch her was on the weekends, but that’s definitely not going to be enough money for him and Satomi to stay afloat. He has some money saved up, but that’s about to run dry, and he feels like he’s leeching off of his parents even though they swear it’s fine.

It’s not fine with him, but since Satomi has a schedule now, he might be able to make it work. She’s taken up dance, and she has practice for that twice a week. Once that’s set in stone, he decides to apply for some jobs, hoping that he can finally take a step in some direction.

Satomi knows you, of course. You’ve been in her life since she’s been here, and he can’t help how his heart flutters every time she screams your name whenever she sees you. He hasn’t told you about everything because he doesn’t want you to step in and help like he knows you will. There’s still a part of his ego that’s bruised ever since he knocked on your door.

His job hunting isn’t going so great, but he tries not to let his frustration show in front of his daughter. Pursuing something in cosmetology was something he wanted to do once he got out of college, but a lot of things have put that on hold, and with no experience, it’s only making things harder. He sighs heavily as he sits on the couch, wondering what he’s going to do.

“What’s wrong, Daddy?” He quickly turns to his daughter, hosting her up into his lap.

“Nothing, sweetie. I’m just feeling a little tired,” he lies, and she frowns a bit.

“Did you not get enough sleep last night?” she asks, and he can’t help but laugh, shrugging.

“Maybe.” She gasps before she wiggles out of his hold, and she runs to her room. He follows her when she runs back, climbing back into his lap.

“My class is selling cookies, and whoever sells the most gets a prize!” she tells him excitedly, handing him the multiple forms that she’s brought home.

“Really? What’s the prize?” he asks as he looks through them.

“There’s multiple, but one of them—there! I want this one!” she says, pointing to the prize when Terushima flips to it. He feels something form in his throat when it’s a dollhouse set that she’s been asking for, it’s been going on about a year now, but he hasn’t been able to make it work. “It’s got a whole bunch of stuff that comes with it too!”

She starts talking about it, but it all starts to blur together as he falls victim to his thoughts. “Daddy?” He blinks quickly, looking from the papers to her.

“Sorry, what were you saying?” He tries to listen to her as she repeats herself, and it doesn’t seem like she minds, but those ugly thoughts won’t leave his head.

You sigh as you get comfortable on the floor in front of your couch. You turn on a show that you’ve seen before, and you chuckle a bit when you set your coloring book on the coffee table. Your friends just don’t understand the peace it brings you. You’ve finished three so far, so this is a new one, and you’re ecstatic to start it.

You’re picking out your color scheme when you hear a knock at your door. You groan, letting your head fall to the side before you get up. When you open the door, you realize you have to look down, and your eyes meet a familiar five-year-old who’s missing one of her front teeth.

“Hi y/n!” she beams, holding the handle of a wagon in her hand. You look behind her to see she has boxes, but you can’t really see what they contain.

“Satomi? Does your dad know you’re here?” you ask, and the look that appears on her face is enough of an answer. “You know you can’t leave without telling your dad.”

“I know, I know, but I can trust you, right?” she asks, and you sigh as you crouch down.

“Of course, you can, Satomi, but you have to let your dad know where you’re going. He’d be worried sick if something happened to you,” you tell her, and she pouts a bit. “Just promise me that you won’t come over here without telling him first.”

You hold your pinkie up, and she smiles widely, bouncing on her toes as she hooks her pinkie around yours. “I promise!”

“Good,” you laugh. “Now, what’s in the wagon?” you ask, and she steps to the side so you can see.

“My class is selling cookies, and whoever sells the most gets a dollhouse!” She all but shoves the paper in your face, and you have to push her hand back a bit to see it.

“That’s a pretty big dollhouse. How many pieces are in it?” you ask in a bit of disbelief.

“A bunch! There’s different clothes for the dolls, and there’s a bunch of, um…um…”

“Furniture?” you try, and she nods her head quickly.

“Yeah! That!” You laugh, and she puts the paper down. “Would you like to buy some?”

“Sure! How much is it gonna cost me?”

“Ten dollars.”

“For a box?!” you ask suddenly, and she nods happily. “They’re already setting you poor children up in a scam,” you whisper. “I’ll buy the whole cart.”

Her eyes widen, and she jumps into you, almost knocking you over as she hugs you. You can’t help but laugh, barely having a chance to hug her back before she’s pulling away.

“I’m definitely gonna win!” she shouts, and you have to remind her that she has to keep her voice down in the hallway. She lowers her voice, but her excitement doesn’t. You have her bring the wagon inside your apartment, and you grab your phone to text Terushima.

“What was your dad doing before he left?” you ask as you text him.

“He was in the shower,” she hums, not really paying attention as she sits on the floor where you were before she knocked. “Were you coloring?” she asks, and you set your phone down, sitting next to her.

“Yup. It’s my favorite thing to do when I have time off from work,” you tell her, and you have the other ones with you, so you show them to her, and she takes the colored images in with wide eyes.

“Wow! They’re so pretty!” she gasps.

“Well, thank you. I try my best,” you say, and she stops flipping the pages, pointing at something on the back of one of the pages.

“Did you draw this?” You look down, and you smile a little when you see what she’s pointing at.

“Yeah, I did,” you answer with a nod.

“You’re so good! Can you draw me something?”

“Sure, whaddya want?”

“A tiger!” You chuckle as you grab some colored pencils and get to drawing.

“A tiger, huh? That’s your favorite animal?”

“Yeah! They’re so pretty, and they have stripes!” she highlights. “I love stripes.”

“I can tell!” you say back, noticing that her outfit is nothing but stripes, and she hovers over you while you draw which you don’t mind. The cookies are momentarily forgotten as you draw her a tiger, and she tells you a whole bunch of facts about them while you work. When you’re done, she looks at it like you’ve drawn the best thing in the world. “You like it?”

“It’s awesome! Can I keep it?”

“Of course, you can!” She takes the book, getting up to put it in the wagon, and she brings it over to you.

“Are you really gonna buy all of them?”

“Yeah! My co-workers love these cookies, so they’ll be very much appreciated.” You help her count all of the boxes, and then you help her count up the money.

“Thank you so much, y/n!” she says, hugging you again.

“Of course! Anything for my favorite munchkin.” There’s a series of quick knocks on your door, and you instantly know who it is. “It’s open!” you yell, but Satomi is too busy to notice, and Terushima comes bursting in. “Did you get my text?” you ask, and he sighs heavily as nods.

“Daddy! y/n said she’d buy all of my cookies!” she tells him, and you don’t blame him for sighing in relief again before he responds.

“That’s great, sweetie. But what did Daddy tell you about leaving without telling him?”

“I know. I already promised her that I wouldn’t do it again,” she explains. “And I pinkie promised, so I definitely won’t break it!”

He laughs a little, pushing his hair back, and you notice that it’s still wet. “Thank you.”

“And look, she drew me a tiger too!” She opens the page and holds it up to him. He takes it, and his eyebrows raise when he looks at it.

“You drew this?”

“Yeah, I draw in my free time a lot, it’s nothing,” you dismiss, suddenly feeling nervous.

“You’re amazing,” he comments, and you wave him off as you stand.

“I wouldn’t say that. But thank you.” He hands the book back to her, and she admires it again while you go get the money. You hand it to him, and he hesitates to take it.

“You really don’t have to buy all of them,” he says, and you push it into his hand.

“It’s all good. My co-workers eat them up. Literally,” you laugh. Thankfully, he takes the money without much of a fight, and he turns to his daughter.

“Alright, you little gremlin, you’ve bothered her enough. Let’s go,” he says lightly.

“But she said this was her day off!” she argues.

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t want a break.”

“She’s fine, Terushima. I was just gonna sit and color for a while anyway. She’s not bothering me at all.” He doesn’t respond when you finish, and you give him a look.

“I hate to ask, but do you think you could watch her for a while? Something came up, and I don’t have anyone to watch her. That’s why I was in the shower.”

“Of course, I’d love to have her over.”

“I get to spend more time with you?!” she asks, and you nod your head eagerly.

“Sounds like it!”

“Can you draw me more tigers? Wait, I have to get my stuff!” She starts making her way toward the door, and Terushima rushes out after her, and you shake your head as you laugh. They come back after about ten minutes, Satomi now with a backpack on. She sits down at the coffee table, and you turn to Terushima.

“Is everything okay?” you ask quietly.

“Yeah. I just have to help my parents move some stuff, and Satomi won’t be much help,” he laughs, and you do the same as you agree. “Thank you again. Sorry to have you babysitting while you’re off.”

“It’s okay,” you press, putting your hand on his shoulders. “I love spending time with her, so it’s totally fine.” You turn your attention to Satomi when she calls your name, and you walk over and sit down next to her. Terushima catches himself looking at the two of you, and thankfully his daughter breaks him out of it.

“Bye, Daddy! See you later!” He laughs as he walks towards her, leaning down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“I’ll be back, okay?” he says, rubbing over her head, but she’s already engrossed in the coloring books.

“Be safe, okay?” you tell him, and he’s overcome with a strong urge to kiss you too.

“Right. Thanks again.” And he hightails it out of there before he does something stupid.

“So, Satomi’s been telling me something lately on our rides home.”

“About what?” Terushima asks, and he’s not fully focused on the conversation because he’s focused on what he’s doing.

He’s met Oikawa before through some friends of friends, and he really wants to start working soon, so he just decided to start doing hair in his own apartment. Right now, Satomi’s with her grandparents so he can put all of his focus into his work.

Oikawa visits him frequently ever since he said he had an interest in it, and they’ve gotten pretty close, sometimes he even picks her up from school.

“About a certain someone named y/n?” he inquires, and Terushima’s movements falter a bit. “You wanna explain?”

“There’s nothing to explain,” he tries, but there’s no way Oikawa is just going to drop it.

“Really?” he hums. “Well, she seems to talk about her non-stop. She told me that she’s your neighbor.”

“Where are you going with this, Oikawa?” Terushima sighs.

“I’m just asking some innocent questions.”

“Well, your voice doesn’t sound like it.”

“I’m just saying with the way she talks about her, it seems like she’s a big part of her life,” he continues, and Terushima can’t deny that. You have just as enough presence in her life as his friends and family.

“Okay, and?”

“You’re really bad at diverting the conversation,” he laughs.

“You know I have scissors in my hand, right?” And Oikawa jumps away, leaning forward as he looks at him over his shoulder.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Terushima just glares at him, pulling him back against the seat before he continues what he was doing. “So, is she a potential love interest?” You’re something. Terushima just doesn’t know what. Or rather, he doesn’t want to try and sway things between the two of you. Your relationship is just fine where it is, but of course, there’s a part of him that wishes it was more. “I’ll take your silence as a yes.”

Oikawa glances over his shoulder just to be on the safe side, but he’s always been known to pry. It’s in his personality. “She helps out with Satomi sometimes, yeah.”

“That’s not what I asked.” There’s a knock on the door, and Terushima’s grateful because he’d rather be anywhere else than in this conversation. He sets his stuff down, wiping his hands before making his way to the door. A smile appears on his face the moment his eyes land on you when he opens the door.

“Sorry to bother you,” you start.

“It’s okay. What do you need?”

“Is that the infamous y/n?” You frown playfully at Terushima when you hear your name, and he sighs deeply as he closes his eyes. You peek over his shoulder, and the guy behind him waves at you. You scoff a little as you smile, waving back at him.

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were in the middle of something.”

“You’re fine. I was just–"

“It’s rude to not invite people in!” Oikawa yells, and Terushima groans before he steps back, turning to glare at his friend. He doesn’t have a choice now, and he lets you in, giving the man a look as he closes the door behind you. “Nice to meet you, I’m Oikawa.”

“Nice to meet you. I would introduce myself, but it sounds like you already know me,” you laugh, and Terushima grabs a chair for you, putting it perpendicular to Oikawa.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Satomi,” he supplies.

“That makes sense. She could talk for hours,” you say. “I didn’t know you knew how to do hair, Yuuji.”

“Oh, well, I’m just starting out. I’m not that good yet,” he replies, his words coming out choppy.

“He’s just saying that. I’d trust him with my life. He’s the only one that can get my hair right,” Oikawa boasts, and Terushima kicks his chair just a bit. “He’s pretty mean to his regulars, though,” he throws in.

“Only the ones that annoy me,” he mutters under his breath.

“So, what do you do if you don’t mind me asking?” Oikawa asks, turning back to you.

“Oh, it’s just a boring office job. My mom got it for me, but I don’t really like it,” you admit sheepishly. “I’d rather be doing something with kids to be honest.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, I never really figured it out. I kinda just gave up on it when I got to college. I guess I’m just waiting for something to stick out to me.” Terushima listens intently, realizing that he never really asked you any questions like that, and in his head, he kicks himself. “Wait, Oikawa? You wouldn’t happen to be the same Oikawa that plays for Argentina.”

“The one and only.”

“Wow, that’s so cool! How come you never told me you know professional volleyball players, Terushima?” you question and his answer is a bit delayed because of your reaction. Oikawa’s always been getting girls, and for a moment, he feels like he’s lost. “I watch it all the time.”

“Do you play also?”

“I did in high school and in college. I wish I could still play it now,” you reminisce.

“That’s funny because Terushima played as well. If I can recall, he was a pretty good ace.” Terushima would tell him to stop, but his pride’s been hit, so he doesn’t call him out on it.

“He’s exaggerating just a little bit.” He buds in anyway, but he doesn’t deny his words too much.

“That’s so crazy! I would’ve never guessed. It sounds like he was better than me,” you say.

“You played the same position?” Oikawa asks, and you wave him off.

“Not really. I mean, I guess you could say that. I wasn’t that good,” you stutter. “We made it to like, the third round of nationals one year, though.”

“Well, it sounds like you’re better than you’re letting on,” he teases.

“Maybe,” you reply softly, diverting your gaze, and Terushima can’t help when jealousy courses through his veins. You and Oikawa talk for a while, but Terushima barely buds in. He’s in his head too much to really think about tuning into the conversation. He does pay attention when you say that you’re leaving.

“What did you need?” he asks when you stand.

“Oh, I was gonna ask about Satomi, but she’s not here, so I’ll just come back,” you explain, and for some reason, that makes his heart sink a little. “Oh! Before I go, do you think I can get your autograph?” you ask Oikawa, and Terushima’s heart falls. “I have a friend that is a huge fan.” He hates how easily that makes him feel better, and he gives you the autograph.

“If I can get your number,” Oikawa starts, and he jumps when Terushima closes the scissors loudly. “Then I can let you know when I’m in town, and all of us can go play sometime.”

“Cool, that sounds great!” you easily agree, and Terushima is staring daggers into his friend's head as he watches. “It was really nice to meet you. And I’ll see you later, Terushima.” You wave when you get to the door, and Oikawa waits until it closes to speak.

“I just wanna clarify that I was not making a move on her. And please tell me you didn’t cut off my hair,” he whines. “So, I guess, you really like her then.” Terushima doesn’t say a word, but his silence is more than enough of an answer.

“I’m done,” he eventually says, ignoring the question, and he rolls his eyes at how long Oikawa looks at his hair in the mirror.

“You do great work as always,” he jests.

“You don’t have to pay,” he tells him, and fuck, that whole interaction still has him in a mood.

“I’m going to because you’re really good at what you do, and you know what you’re doing,” he says. “I think you should stop being so scared, and go after what you want.” Terushima begrudgingly takes the money as he thinks about the double meaning of his friend’s words.

Terushima takes Oikawa’s advice, but not before threatening to cut all of his hair off in his sleep after he noticed his phone blowing up. He didn’t even have to look to know that Oikawa opened his big mouth, and he doesn’t even have time to look at it when Satomi gets back home.

He applied for a couple of jobs and he instantly closed his laptop and walked out of his room, but now he has that hanging over his head also. He hesitantly checks his laptop that night to find that one of them responded, but the job interview is right when Satomi gets out of school. He thinks about trying to find an alternate time, but he thinks about the dollhouse that she wants, so he confirms it.

He comes back home after dropping Satomi off at school, and he knocks on your door, hoping he didn’t catch you in the middle of getting ready for work. “Terushima? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, um, I have a job interview right when I have to pick up Satomi–”

“Say no more! I gotcha covered. Congrats by the way,” you add, pushing him in the shoulder a bit, and that alone has made him feel so much better about the interview.

“Thanks,” he whispers, rubbing the back of his neck. “You might have to watch her after too, I don’t know how long it’ll be.”

“That’s totally fine with me. Good luck! I know you’ll do great!” you praise, and he wonders why he was ever worried about it in the first place. “Where did you apply?”

“A hair salon down the street,” he answers, and you look more excited about it than him.

“I’m so excited for you! You have to tell me how it goes.”

“I definitely will.”

“Okay, I have to go, but I will be there to pick up Satomi, so you just focus on that interview.”

“Thank you,” he says, and you scoff a little.

“You don’t have to keep saying that. I’m always willing to help you out with her.”

“No, I mean–I was really nervous, so thank you for the encouragement.”

“Hey,” you start, stepping closer to him and resting your hands in between his neck and shoulders. “You have nothing to be nervous about. You know what you’re doing, now you just gotta show them.” It feels like everything around him disappears as he takes in your words, and he can’t stop himself from pulling you into a hug.

He feels your arms wrap around him, and he sighs into your hair. It takes him too long to realize that he’s been holding you for too long and too tight. He pulls away, and he feels his face warm. “Sorry, I know you have to go.”

“It’s okay.” Your voice is softer this time. “I’m always here if you need a hug.”

You leave work early to pick up Satomi, and you notice that she’s not as perky as she usually is. She doesn’t tell you anything about what happened at school, and you notice that she’s walking kind of behind you. She wordlessly follows you into your apartment, and she drops her backpack by the door. You toy your shoes off, and when you look at her, there’s tears in her eyes.

“Oh, no, baby, what’s wrong?” you immediately ask. You pick her up in your arms, and she wraps her limbs around you. She mumbles something into your neck as you sway back and forth, but you can’t hear her. “What’d you say?”

“I didn’t win the dollhouse,” she whispers, and you feel your heart break.

“Oh, Satomi, I’m so sorry.” You rub her head, and she sniffles heavily. “It’s okay, baby. Let it out.” She cries a bit harder, and you feel so bad. You don’t know what to do other than to just hold her while she lets it out since you don’t know how long she’s been holding it in. Her arms tighten around you, and you close your eyes as you continue to rub her head, your hand moving to her back.

You move to sit down on the couch, grabbing a box of tissues before you sit. She moves so that her legs are over your lap, and she rests her head on your shoulder. She’s hiccuping, but she’s not crying anymore, and you hand her some tissue. She blows her nose after wiping the tears away, and she takes a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to cry.”

“Sweetie, it’s okay to cry. I know how much you wanted it.”

“I’ve been asking Daddy for it, but he never got it.” And you somehow put two and two together, figuring out why he was so nervous about the job.

“Well, your Dad is trying really hard. I promise he’s not ignoring you,” you tell her, and you push her hair out of her face when you look down at her. “He’s working on it, I promise. Okay?” She nods slowly, sniffling again. “Did you get any of the other prizes?”

“I wasn’t gonna play with them, so I gave them to my friends.”

“That was really nice of you.” It looks like she might break again, so you hold her close, kissing the top of her head. She seems to calm down again because she goes quiet, and you notice that she’s playing with the string on your jacket. You sit there with her in silence, resting your cheek on her head.

You notice that her hand isn’t moving anymore, and you’re pretty sure she’s asleep. You’re at a crossroads because you don’t want Terushima to come in with good news and see Satomi like this. You know it’ll break his heart. You carefully get up, walking her to your room, and she barely stirs when you lay her in your bed.

You brush the hair out of her face again, wondering if there’s anything you could do to try and make her feel better. An idea comes to mind as walk back into the living room, but then you hear some familiar footsteps. You open the door before he can knock, and you put a finger to your lips. He frowns at you, but he walks in when you open the door wider.

“How’d it go?” you whisper.

“I got it!” he cheers softly, matching your voice even though he doesn’t know why.

“Congratulations, Terushima. I knew you could do it.”

“What’s wrong? Where’s Satomi?” You hesitate to tell him, but you’re not sure if Satomi will tell him.

“She didn’t win the dollhouse. She started crying the moment she walked in the door. She’s sleeping now.” You put a hand over your mouth when you physically see the happiness fall out of his body. He goes silent, and you don’t know what to say, opting to rub over his arm.

“If I had gotten it sooner–”

“Hey, don’t start.” You guide him to look at you, keeping your hand on his face. “Do not blame yourself for this, Yuuji. You’re doing everything you can. She will not hate you for this.” You bring your other hand up to his face, and his head falls. “I know why you got the job, Yuuji, and I guarantee you that is enough.”

“She’s not happy,” he responds, lifting his head to look at you, and he looks absolutely crushed. You pull him into a hug, moving his head to your neck, and he wraps his arms around you. You rub over his back, and you don’t know if there’s anything you could say to make him feel better.

“You’re doing everything you can despite the walls you’re facing,” you whisper. “You’re already making her happy, Yuuji. You don’t need a toy to tell you that. She loves you all the same.” He lifts his head from your shoulder, and you put your hands on his face, wiping his tears. “Don’t cry on me. I can’t have my two favorite people crying today.”

He lets out a soft chuckle. “I’m one of your favorite people?” he asks, letting his hand rest on yours.

“Of course, you are.”

Something shifts in his expression and his grip on your hand tightens. “y/n, I–”

“Daddy?” You both turn around, and you see Satomi rubbing her eyes as she walks into the room. She runs towards him, and he’s already on one knee, ready to hold her in his arms.

“I heard what happened. I’m so sorry,” he says, and she hugs him tight before pulling away.

“I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, princess.”

“I’m sorry I made you feel like the dollhouse was all I cared about,” she says, and her words shock you both, and Terushima releases a shaky breath.

“It’s okay, baby. I’m not mad. I just wanted to make you happy.” You slowly take a couple of steps back giving them some space, and you sneak into your room.

“You’re already making me happy. You let me wear stripes every day.” A laugh bubbles out of his chest. “And you read me stories every night. I don’t need the dollhouse. I have you.” She hugs him again, and he can’t stop himself from crying again. He looks up when you walk back in, and Satomi hasn’t noticed you yet.

You pull out something from behind your back, and he smiles when he sees what it is. “I think y/n has something to give you,” he says to her, and shake your head, wanting him to give it to her, but she’s already turning around to look at you.

You walk up to her, getting down on one knee also. You move your hands in front of you, and she gasps when she sees what it is. “I got you this a couple of days ago.” She takes the tiger puzzle in her hands, smiling widely. “I was thinking you could put it together with your Dad.”

“I wanna put it together with the both of you,” she tells you suddenly. “Can we do it now?” she asks, and you glance at Terushima, and you already know his answer.

“Of course, we can.” You clear your coffee table, and all of you sit down while she dumps out all of the pieces. You start helping her out, telling her to start with the corner pieces first, and Terushima doesn’t join in right away, he just sits back and watches. This image is something he’s been seeing in his dream a lot lately, but he knows that in those dreams, your relationship is different.

He hopes he gets the courage to say something to you, but for now, he grabs your hand to get your attention. “Thank you,” he whispers.

“Of course,” you whisper back, and you both help her put the puzzle together.

“So, you weren’t going to tell us that you live next door to a hot woman who looks after your kid?”

“Why are either of you here?” Terushima grits.

It’s Terushima’s first week working at the salon, and it’s going great. The place is small, with only a few people working here, and he gets to make his own hours. Of course, the moment he breaks the news, his friends make find their way over here.

“We’re here to know what kind of review we should leave.” Kazuma jokes and Terushima rolls his eyes.

“You both are wasting my time,” he says even though his former teammate is sitting in his chair.

“But why did we have to hear about this from Oikawa of all people?” Takeharu asks.

“Because he doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, and he’s also stalking me. I never gave him my address, so he showed up unannounced,” he says. “I bet that was Kazuma’s doing,” he sighs, cutting his eyes towards the man who’s currently sitting in the other chair across from Takeharu.

“How do you even know him anyway?” Kazuma asks.

“You know how tight the volleyball community was. I met him through some friends.”

“Okay, so spill. You still haven’t told us anything.”

“There’s obviously a reason for that,” he whispers. “There’s nothing to tell. She’s my neighbor.”

“According to Oikawa, you almost cut his hair off, so she’s definitely not just your neighbor,” Kazuma mocks. “You have a picture?”

Of course, he does. Whenever his appointments run over, you offer to pick up Satomi, and he’s always catching the two of you doing something when he walks into your apartment to come to get her. His phone is usually filled with pictures of just Satomi, but recently, that hasn’t been the case.

“If I show you, will you leave me alone?” he questions as he pulls out his phone. He already has one saved as his screensaver, and it’s the picture he took after you all finished the tiger puzzle.

“Oh, yeah. He’s definitely far gone,” Kazuma laughs. Terushima’s smile drops for a second, and he pulls up the picture he was looking at. Kazuma stands, walking over to him when he hands the phone to Takeharu. “Shit, dude,” he whistles. “And she’s single?”

Terushima turns on the hair dryer and blows it in his face. “Satomi seems to really like her,” Takeharu comments as he scrolls through some of the pictures before he hands him the phone back.

“She won’t stop talking about her,” Terushima laughs.

“So, let me get this straight,” Kazuma starts. “You’ve known her for like, five years. She’s been with Satomi since she was a baby, and she trusts her enough to go to her apartment without telling you,” he lists off. “And you still haven’t asked her out? Are you waiting for someone to swoop in and take her?”

He jumps back just in case Terushima is trigger-happy, and he relaxes when all he gets is a glare. “She has such a good relationship with Satomi, and I don’t wanna mess that up,” he admits.

“You don’t think she has feelings for you?” Takeharu asks.

“I don’t know,” he says slowly, but he thinks about what you said to him after you told him about Satomi not winning the dollhouse. You’re one of my favorite people.

“The look on your face is so gross.”

“I don’t think she’ll stop helping you with Satomi if you ask her out,” Takeharu offers.

“But then things will be awkward. I don’t know if I can handle it.”

“The awkwardness or her not returning your feelings?” Kazuma presses and Terushima sighs again.

“Has she even said anything to make you think she doesn’t feel the same way?”

“No, but isn’t it wrong to assume that there might be something there?”

“If you would just ask her out, you wouldn’t have to assume,” the brunet deadpans. “Let us meet her. We’ll tell you if she has a thing for you.”

“Absolutely not,” Terushima states.

“Why not? We were your wingmen at one point, so I don’t see the problem.”

“There’s a lot wrong with letting that happen.” He finishes up Takeharu’s hair, and he takes the cape off of him. “Now, get out. I have a client coming in ten.”

“So rude,” Kazuma frowns. “I’m giving you one star.” Terushima all but chases him out of the salon.

Satomi told you about one of the dance recitals she was having, and she had to make sure you were going to be there. You knock on his door, and to your surprise, Satomi answers the door. “You know you’re not supposed to answer the door without asking who it is first,” you tell her, closing the door behind you.

“But I knew it was you!” she tells you. “I stood on the stool and looked through the peephole.” You scoff as you shake your head, and she runs towards Terushima’s room, knocking on the door quickly. “Daddy, hurry up! We’re gonna be late!”

He sighs as he pulls the door open, and you have a hard time taking your eyes off of him. You haven’t really seen in him anything other than shorts and a t-shirt most of the time, but he actually dressed up a bit. The slacks he’s wearing emphasize how big his thighs are, and your eyes trail up his torso, and you see that his shirt does the same thing his pants are doing.

You look at his face when he turns to you, and you look down at your outfit. “Should I change?” You’re wearing everyday clothes, and you did put a decent amount of thought into it, but if you need to wear something a little nicer, you can.

“No. You look great,” he compliments, stopping in front of you, and he doesn’t say anything after that, and for a while, it’s just the two of you looking at each other.

“Hurry, you guys!” Satomi yells, making the both of you jump, and Terushima makes sure he has everything while Satomi pulls you towards the door. You wait for him to lock the door, and she runs ahead of the both of you, but once she gets to the doors of the apartment building, she waits for you.

She grabs both you and Terushima's hands, and you all walk to Terushima’s car. You buckle her in before you get into the car, and she’s more than ready to get there. The car is mostly filled with her conversation along with some music playing lowly from the radio. She practically pulls the both of you to the building when you get there, and she has to have the both of you with her when she goes backstage.

“Are you nervous?” Terushima asks, and she gives him a look.

“Of course, I’m not nervous, Daddy. I’ve been practicing for this!” He smiles at her, giving her a hug.

“I can’t wait to see you dance!” you tell her, and you crouch down.

“You have to make sure you get good seats,” she tells you matter-of-factly, and you laugh but nod your head intently.

“Yes, ma’am,” you say, saluting to her, and she gives you a hug as well. She hands Terushima her coat right as the dance teacher tells all the parents to exit backstage. You walk toward the row of chairs, and Terushima grabs your hand as he walks to a row towards the front.

“Sorry,” he says. “Didn’t want you to get lost,” he lamely adds as he drops your hand, and he groans in his head.

“Well, thank you,” you laugh. The seats start to fill up, and Terushima feels like he should make conversation, but he doesn’t even know where to start. “How long has she been dancing?” Thankfully, you start talking to him first, and he’s relieved.

“She just started a few months ago. She’d do it all the time at home to the Disney movies she watched, and when I asked her if she wanted to do this, she said yes.”

“That’s so cute,” you coo, and he notices someone sitting next to him, but they bump into him, and he turns to see who it is, and his face drops when he sees his former teammates occupying the seats next to him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he hisses.

“You really thought I was gonna miss my niece’s first recital? Who do you take me for?” Kazuma says dramatically. He leans forward, getting your attention, and if looks could kill, he would be instantly dead. “Hey, I’m Kazuma. This is Takeharu. We played volleyball with this guy in high school.”

“Nice to meet you,” you say warmly, shaking his hand. “I’m his neighbor. Nothing really spectacular about that,” you chuckle.

“I’ve heard so much about you from Satomi,” he tells you and you nod as you laugh.

“That seems to be a common theme whenever I meet one of his friends.” The lights start to dim, signaling that the show is about to start, and everyone starts to go quiet while Terushima elbows his friend in the side.

When the curtains open, Satomi is front and center, and you can instantly tell that she’s looking for you guys. You wave your hand a bit, and when she sees you, her smile widens. There’s a few moments of silence, and then the music starts. You can’t keep the smile off your face as you watch her, seeing that she looks absolutely ecstatic to be up there.

You notice Terushima filming in your peripheral like most of the parents are, and you decide to do it as well since your aunt is always asking about her. He films the whole thing, and when it’s over, everyone is standing on their feet, clapping. You yell out Satomi’s name, and she waves wildly at you, and you wave back. When his Kazuma starts getting a little too loud, Terushima smacks him in the back.

When all of the kids start to find their parents, they leave, and Satomi runs right into her dad’s legs. “You did so great, princess!” he praises, and the look on her face is something you’ll never forget. He, of course, has to get pictures, and you all take some. Terushima hands you his phone to take a picture of them together, but as you hold the phone up, she stops you.

“I want you to be in it, too!”

“Oh, okay,” you say suddenly, passing the phone to Kazuma before you stand on the other side of her. He’s only able to take about five good ones before her attention turns to you.

“Did you see me dancing, y/n?!” she asks, and you pick her up.

“Yes, I did! You were amazing! I wish I could dance like you,” you tell her, and you laugh when she does. You start to walk towards the car, the men in tow and Kazuma clears his throat, but only Terushima hears it. He glares at his friend, who speaks up suddenly.

“We should eat out tonight! To celebrate Satomi’s first recital,” he offers, and with the way Satomi gasps, Terushima knows he won’t be able to say no.

“Yes! We have to show her the restaurant we always go to, Daddy!”

“That sounds like a great idea!” Takeharu buds in, and Terushima wonders if he really needs friends at all. You’re pretty sure all of her energy is due to the adrenaline that’s still running through her body, and the excitement of where you’re going next.

“You’re paying,” Terushima orders when he meets his friends in front of the restaurant, and you all walk in together with Satomi holding your hand.

There aren’t many people here, and you follow them in, but Satomi soon takes the lead, pulling you to a certain table. “We sit here every time we come here,” she tells you, and you move to sit down while Terushima sits on the other side of her.

Kazuma and Takeharu sit across from you, and Terushima tries to figure out what they’re up to. Satomi talks to them, catching them up on what’s been going on, and you can’t help but notice how much she mentions your name. Someone comes to take your orders, and she’s talking their ears off.

Terushima taps you on the shoulder, and you turn your attention from Satomi to him. “You’re okay with this, right?” he asks cautiously.

“Yes, I am. I’ve never been here before, so I’m excited to try the food,” you answer, and he smiles at you. The waiter gives Satomi some paper, which she immediately pushes your way. You laugh, already knowing what she wants you to do. You busy yourself with her, talking to her while you draw, and Kazuma gives Terushima a look that has him kicking him under the table.

When Terushima looks back at you, you’re helping Satomi draw what you just drew, your hand over hers. She looks so focused, and he smiles at the image as you guide her through what you’re doing. She cheers when you finish even though it doesn’t look exactly like yours, but she’s happy regardless.

She starts talking to Terushima, and Kazuma takes the opportunity to talk to you. “So, are you seeing anyone right now?” he asks, and Terushima goes rigid for a split second.

“Oh, no. I’m not,” you laugh.

“Really? Well, I know–” Terushima all but celebrates when your food arrives, and Kazuma acts innocent when Terushima looks his way. As far as the dinner goes, neither of them seems to ask you any more forward questions, but Terushima keeps a close eye on the conversation regardless.

Satomi goes quiet after she eats, and you look down at her when she leans into you. “Looks like someone’s getting sleepy,” you comment, moving some of her hair back from her face.

“No, I’m not,” she slowly replies, but she snuggles into you further, and you smile as you wrap your arm around her. You all continue the conversation quietly, and when the bill comes, Terushima is the first to speak up.

“Kazuma offered to pay for all of us,” he says quickly.

“Really? Well, thanks,” you say, and Kazuma gives you a friendly smile while Takeharu laughs into his hand. Terushima carries Satomi when you guys get ready to leave, and you all stop by Terushima’s car. “It was nice meeting you guys, too,” you reply once the conversation starts to die down.

“Hopefully, we’ll see you again,” Takeharu says.

“If he gets his shit together,” Kazuma mutters, and Terushima is quick to shoo them off. He straps her into her car seat before he drives off.

“Thank you for coming,” he tells you on the way home. “She was really looking forward to it.”

“Of course. She looked like she was having a lot of fun. And the food was really good.” You both make small talk on the way home, and his arm rests on the console even though he wants to desperately reach over and grab your hand.

You offer to carry Satomi to his apartment, seeing that she’s still asleep when you get home. You lay her down in her bed, and neither of you wants to wake her to get her to change into her pajamas, so you just tuck her in. “Thanks for coming, y/n,” she whispers, and you kiss her forehead softly.

“No problem, Satomi.” She falls back asleep right after, and you both carefully step out of her room. Terushima pulls the door closed, and he follows you when you walk to the front door.

“I can walk you back,” he jokes, and you have to stifle your laughter.

“Thank you so much,” you jest, and you both make the short walk next door.

“Thank you again for coming,” he repeats.

“Thank you for letting me tag along,” you reply, and he has that one question on his tongue, but he can’t bring himself to ask you. “Goodnight, Yuuji.” You move in to hug him, and he gladly accepts it, holding you close.

“Goodnight,” he echoes, and he watches you walk into your apartment, the door closing softly when you disappear. The next opportunity he gets, he’ll take it. He tells himself that now, but doesn’t even know if future him will take the chance.

Terushima rolls over onto his back, looking at the ceiling. He’s lost count of how many times he’s done this. He doesn’t work tomorrow, so he’s not sweating the amount of sleep that he’s losing. It’s another night that he’s having trouble sleeping, and he has a pretty good idea of why that is. Satomi’s mother contacted him out of the blue, and he hasn’t responded.

He doesn’t think he wants to. He doesn’t know what would happen if he tried to let her back in his life, and he figures it would be good for Satomi to meet her mother, but there’s something about that that he doesn’t like. He hasn’t told anyone about it mostly because he would like to just ignore it, but he knows he can’t do that.

He jumps a little when his door is softly pushed open, and he sits up to see Satomi walking into his room. “What’s wrong, princess?” he asks, pulling the blankets off of him and setting his feet on the floor. She stands in between his legs, and he pulls her hand away when she starts rubbing at her eyes too much.

“I don’t feel good,” she murmurs, and he presses the back of his hand against her forehead. She’s really warm, and he moves to her neck to see that she’s really warm there also. She climbs into his lap, and curls into him as much as she can.

He took her to the doctor yesterday, so she must be feeling the after-effects of the shot she got. He lays back down, holding her in his arms. “Does anything hurt?” he asks her softly, and he can feel her nod.

“My head,” she tells him, and when he tries to get up to get her some medicine, she doesn’t let him go. He sighs quietly, getting up with her in his arms before he walks to the bathroom. They both squint suddenly when he turns the light on, and as he’s getting the medicine, he thinks about the first time he met you.

He thinks about how he’s not even scared like he was back then. Although, he’s relieved that she can actually tell him when she’s not feeling good. She fights it a bit, but she eventually takes it, and he goes back into his room. “What’d you say?” he asks, hearing her mumble something when he sits back down on the bed.

“I want y/n,” she whines, and he sighs a bit, but he doesn’t lay back down.

“She’s sleeping right now, Satomi. You can see her tomorrow,” he tries, but that doesn’t make her happy at all. He can hear her start crying, and he feels his resolve breaking. He reaches for his phone anyway, pulling up your contact. “If she doesn’t answer, then you can see her tomorrow, okay?” he offers, and that seems to be enough because she nods.

The phone rings for a while, and he sort of hopes that you don’t answer because he would hate to wake you up so late. He feels so bad when you answer especially because you sound like you’ve been woken up.

“Terushima? Is Satomi okay?” you ask as soon as you pick up the phone, and the fact that you instantly asked about her makes his heart flip.

“Yeah, she’s just feeling a little under the weather because she got a shot yesterday,” he explains.

“Daddy, I wanna see her,” Satomi presses.

“Do you mind if we come over for a bit? She won’t stop asking about you. I’m sorry.”

You huff a bit, and it sounds like you’re sitting up. “That’s okay. The door will be unlocked.”

“Thanks,” he says before hanging up the phone, and he stands, sliding on some shoes. He carries Satomi over to your apartment, and when he opens the door, you’re standing on the other side. She immediately reaches for you, and you step forward to take her in your arms.

“Aww, you poor baby,” you whisper, kissing her forehead as you rub over her back.

“I’m really sorry to wake you,” Terushima says, and you wave him off.

“It’s okay,” you say with a yawn. You look at him, frowning a bit before you put your hand on his face. “Have you been to sleep tonight?”

“No,” he admits with a shake of his head. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately,” he tells you.

“I got some melatonin if you want,” you offer, but he shakes his head, putting his hand on yours when he feels like you might pull it away.

“I’ll be fine. Thank you though.”

“y/n, can you sing me something?” Satomi asks, and you turn your attention to her, and your hand falls from his face, and Terushima never thought that he would be jealous of his daughter.

“Of course, whaddya wanna hear?”

“Anything.” You feel her forehead as you start singing a Disney song, and you walk into the bathroom. You grab a washcloth, turn on the water, and get it wet. You ring out the excess water before walking out of the bathroom, and you press the cold washcloth to her head as you keep singing.

Terushima blinks sleepily as he listens to you sing, and suddenly he’s not worried about anything anymore. You glance at him, grabbing his hand a split second later, and he easily follows you to your room. Satomi’s asleep by the time you sit on your bed, and you make yourself comfortable against the headboard.

Terushima just stands next to your bed, but you’re still holding his hand. “We weren’t gonna stay long,” he tries, but you pull him towards your bed anyway.

“I promise you, I will be fine. My boss is really chill anyway.” He crawls into bed, sitting next to you in the same position, his shoulder bumping against yours, but as soon as he settles down, he can feel sleep catching up to him.

He tries to stay awake, but it’s no use, and when he feels you gently guide his head to your shoulder, he doesn’t fight it. As he starts to fall asleep, he wonders why he ever wanted to leave in the first place. He’s not very comfortable in this position, so he shifts until he is.

“Goodnight, Yuuji,” you whisper, and he hears you, but all he can manage is a soft hum. He totally blames it on the fact that he’s so close to going to sleep, but he snuggles into you, and he’s pretty sure he can feel you laugh.

When you wake up, you notice that you feel very hot, but you can’t move away from it. You open your eyes, remembering how you got into the position you’re in now. Your phone rings suddenly, and you try your hardest not to wake either of them when you reach for it. Both of them stir just a bit before they settle down, and you take a deep breath.

You see that your mom is calling, and you already know what she’s calling for, so you answer, turning down the volume just a bit. “Happy Birthday!” It’s from multiple voices, and you can’t help but laugh a little bit.

“Thanks, you guys. But do you really have to call so early in the morning?” you question, and you can hear your mom scoff.

“You’re supposed to be up anyway, aren’t you?”

“I called out today, so no, I wouldn’t be up.”

“We sent you a gift, and it should arrive today,” you hear your dad say in the background.

“I’ll look out for it, thanks.”

“Well, I hope your day goes really well,” your mom tells you, and you look down at the two sleeping faces on you.

“Yeah, it’ll be great.”

Terushima wonders why you didn’t tell him about your birthday. He heard your phone ring while he was pretending to be asleep, and he couldn’t find the right time to say something. He heard the phone call with your parents, and his heart dropped when he heard them tell you happy birthday on the phone.

He doesn’t even know where to start with getting you a present. He’d ask his friends for help since he doesn’t really know that much about you, but they’d just tell him that it’s his fault for that since he hasn’t asked you out yet. He’s totally aware of that, but he’s just got a lot going on, okay? And yeah, maybe he’s still scared that you won’t return his feelings if he asks, but who wouldnt be in this situation?

He stops by the store on his way home from picking up Satomi from school, and he’s been racking his brain all day, but he still doesn’t know what to get you. He doesn’t want to get you just anything. You’ve helped him out in so many ways more times than he can count, so he wants your gift to be special.

“What are we doing here, Daddy?” Satomi asks while he walks through the aisles, hoping he sees something that’ll catch his eye.

“Today is y/n’s birthday, so I wanted to get her something,” he tells her, and she gasps loudly.

“It’s her birthday?! I wanna get something for her, too!”

“What do you wanna get her?” he asks, feeling the frustration rise when he can’t find anything.

“Some pants with stripes!” she says. “She said she loves stripes like I do, and that she needed some more pants for work.” He’s not sure if they’ll be able to find that, but they walk over there anyway. He lets her do most of the looking while he continues to think, and he looks at her when she finds what she’s looking for. “These! She’ll love them!”

He’s looking at what she’s found, and he’s not too sure about them, but there’s no way he can tell her that. He tells himself in the back of his head to keep the receipt so you can take them back, but then he realizes that he doesn’t even know your size. He picks her up, and she looks through the hangers before she finds the right ones.

“Are you sure that’s the right size?” he asks, and she nods quickly.

“Yes! She let me dress up in her clothes, and she told me!” Terushima takes her word for it, even though he’s not sure how trustworthy it can be. “And we should get her oatmeal cookies! She said those were her favorite!”

And how does she know more about you than he does? They’ll have to make them themselves since they don’t have any without the raisins, so he grabs a couple of the bags that have the batter already in them. He’s about to give up, his head metaphorically in his hands until he passes by the art section.

He backtracks, walking through it, and hoping he can find something as this might be his last chance. He stops when he finds a set of colored pencils that he’s pretty sure you’ll love. He takes one look at the price though, and he feels like he might have a heart attack. He looks up the brand, seeing how well the reviews are, and he thinks about your reaction when he gives them to you, and that ultimately seals the deal.

He picks them up without a second thought, and he grabs some tissue paper and bags for your presents to go in. “Can we get her a balloon?!” Satomi gasps, and he thinks it might be overkill, but he lets her grab one anyway. His heart nearly falls again when he hears the final total of his purchases, but he pushes it aside.

Satomi holds onto the balloon like her life depends on it, and she’s talking about giving you your present the entire ride home. He reminds her to keep her voice down in the hallway just in case her voice carries, and he lets her wrap the presents while he starts on the cookies. When she’s done with that, Satomi helps him stir the batter, and makes sure she stands back when he puts them in the oven.

She’s talking nonstop while they wait for the cookies to bake, and Terushima admits to himself that he’s excited too. She makes you a card while they wait, and he totally forgot about one while he was in the store, so he makes one with her also.

He checks the cookies to make sure they’re baked through, and he places them in a baking dish that he’s never used. Satomi uses one of her ribbons that she wears to tie it around it, and they collect all of their things and make the short walk to your door.

Satomi knocks, and it’s not long until you’re answering the door. “What are you guys doing here?” you ask in surprise, a happy birthday headband adorning your head.

“Happy birthday!!!” Satomi shouts, running to your legs to give you a hug. You let them in, and that’s when Terushima realizes that you’re not alone.

“Wow, you guys didn’t have to do this,” you say before you introduce them to your friends. Some of them you’ve known since high school while others are work friends.

“We made you oatmeal cookies!” Satomi says, her little arms shaking as she hands you the pan. “And we got you a balloon!” She hands that to you next, and Terushima could see the look on your face for the rest of his life.

“Oh, my God! This is so sweet! I was wondering why I was smelling something good,” you say, setting the pan down on the counter before you tie the balloon to the chair you were sitting at.

“Here, I got you a present!” Satomi says, handing you a bag, and you sit down to open it. There are different reactions when you pull the pants out of the bag, and you gasp as you let them fall down so you can see them fully.

“Oh, my God. These are amazing.” Your reaction surprises Terushima, and you quickly get up. “I’m gonna go try them on.” You run to your room, closing the door behind you, and Terushima notices that all of your friends are looking at him.

“I’m Satomi!” she introduces, going up to each one of them and shaking their hands.

“We’ve heard so much about you,” one of your friends says. “She has a picture of your recital framed on her desk,” she tells her, and that gets her talking even more. Terushima feels his heart warm at what your friend said, and he’s never felt more for you than at this moment.

You walk out, doing a dramatic spin as you show off the pants. The pattern is absolutely ridiculous, but you pull it off so well. “You make those pants work so well,” your co-worker says.

“I know, right?” Terushima is silent as he looks at you. The pants flare out at the bottom, but they hug the rest of your body, and he can’t say anything. “I love them, Satomi. I’m gonna wear these forever.” You pick her up, giving her a hug.

“I got them for you so you can wear them to work!”

“Well, I’m definitely going to do just that,” you tell her as everyone laughs.

“Daddy got you a present, too!” she says, and you sit down with her in your chair as he hands it to you. You quickly pull the wrapping paper out of the bag, and your movements slow when you pull the present out of the bag.

“Oh, wow,” one of your friends says, and Terushima hates how his breathing stops for a bit.

“Yuuji, are you serious?” you ask, turning to him. “How did you know I’ve always wanted these?” You look over them, and your mouth is still open in disbelief. You let Satomi down before you get up, giving him a hug. He’s quick to wrap his arms around you, and it’s too short for his liking. “Thank you so much. I love them,” you tell him when you pull away, and you look back at them again, but he doesn’t take his eyes off of you.

“Of course. You do so much for Satomi, so I wanted to show you how much I appreciate it.”

You smile doesn’t waver, and you hug him again. “Oh, my God, I can’t wait to try them!” you beam. “You guys should stay. We have cake!”

“I love cake!” Satomi shouts, and you pick her up again while you pull up a chair for Terushima. You cut Satomi a small piece, and she doesn’t really care for the icing, so you scrap it off. Terushima doesn’t mind that at all because that means she won’t have as much sugar, so there are no complaints from him.

He makes conversation with your friends, but his eyes always drift back to you. He’s never seen you laugh so hard, and he could hear it for the rest of his life. Satomi starts to settle down as soon as the party starts to settle, and he helps with the cleanup.

“You know, I was wondering why she hadn’t mentioned a guy in a while,” Terushima hears, and he looks to see one of your friends that he was talking to earlier standing next to him. “But she showed me the recital pictures, and it fell into place.

He doesn’t really know how to respond, and he looks at you again, seeing you holding a sleepy Satomi as you talk with your friend. “So, what are you waiting on?” she asks, and he looks at her again.

“What do you mean?” he questions even though he has a pretty good idea about what she means.

“If you’re worried about asking her out because she doesn’t feel the same way, then I’m gonna tell you right now that you shouldn’t be.” Hearing that makes him so relieved she doesn’t even know it. “Sure, she talks about Satomi most of the time, but I can hear how her voice changes when she talks about you without even looking at her. So, don’t be scared, okay?”

He gives her a small smile, nodding his head. “Alright.”

“So, I better hear her telling me about a date soon. The look in your eyes is very obvious by the way, but she’s always been really dense,” she sighs, and Terushima feels his face grow warm as he laughs.

“Are you embarrassing me over here?” you ask her quietly when you walk over since Satomi is on her way to sleep.

“I’m helping you out,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

“With what?” you question with a frown, and she gives Terushima a look.

“As I said,” she comments, and Terushima laughs again. “Happy Birthday,” she tells you, giving you a side hug. Your brows are furrowed as you watch her walk away before you turn to Terushima.

“Thank you both for coming. I loved my gifts,” you tell him.

“We both made you cards,” Satomi whispers, and you go over to your island and pick them up. “Read mine first,” she says, and you chuckle as you open hers. Your smile starts to fade as you read it, and Terushima frowns when you sniffle.

“Thank you, Satomi. I love it.” She hugs you when you hug her, and he notices that you’re crying.

“Are you okay?” he asks, and you nod quickly, wiping your face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. This was the best birthday ever.”

“I’m glad,” he says warmly. You hand him her card while you read his, and he never got a chance to read hers before he came over here because he was so focused on what he wanted to say in his.

Happy Birthday, y/n! Thank you for always drawing me tigers! I hang them up on the wall in my room! Thank you for always watching me and for buying all of my cookies! I know I don’t have a mommy, but you feel like mine! I love you so much!

Terushima reads the second to last sentence over and over again, and those words echo in his head. He looks up at you at the same time you do, and you hold his card up. “This was really sweet,” you tell him. “Thank you, Yuuji.” You step closer to him, kissing him on the cheek, and he feels a spark fly all over his body.

“You’re welcome.”

Terushima coincidentally booked himself full on the day that Satomi was out of school, so you offer to take her to work with you when he tells you. You reassure him that it’s totally fine, and that your co-workers bring their kids to work all the time. Satomi is more than ecstatic when she finds out, and she has everything packed the night before.

She’s even already up when Terushima walks into her room to wake her. He drops her off at your place when he’s sure that she has everything, and he thanks you again before he leaves. You strap her car seat into your seat when you’re ready to head to work, and you don’t listen to the radio on the way to work like you usually do since you have Satomi.

She holds your hand as she walks with you to your building, and when she sees some of your co-workers that she met at your party, she instantly runs over to them to give them a hug. “You have your own office?” she asks when you open the door.

“Yeah, I do,” you chuckle as you set her bag on one of the chairs you have. She spends about the next hour asking you questions about what you do, and you answer every last one of them. She occupies herself with the stuff she brought, and you’re lowkey grateful for the distraction because you actually have work that you need to do today.

You start writing on the whiteboard in your office, and suddenly her coloring is forgotten. “Can I draw on it, too?” she asks, and you draw a square in the corner of it to give her some boundaries before you let her have at it. That seems to occupy her for even longer especially since she can erase everything and start over again.

When lunchtime rolls around, you brought your own lunch because you didn’t feel like going out today, and you make sure to pack extra for her as well. After lunch, you decide to give her a tour of the building you work in since you can see her starting to get antsy from not moving enough. She meets your boss, who absolutely loves her, which you’re not surprised about since she has a daughter her age.

That seems to settle her down because she sits in your lap without moving too much, and Terushima calls you. “I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t causing you too much trouble.”

“She’s totally fine. We just took a tour around the building,” you tell him.

“I got to draw on her whiteboard!” she says into the phone, and you can hear his laugh come through.

“That sounds like fun, princess.”

“Can I get one, too?” she asks, and you both laugh at her question.

“We’ll see.” He tells you both that he has to get back to work, and you both tell him goodbye before you hang up the phone. She starts to get a little tired after that, and you can tell because she starts to curl into you.

You wrap your arms around her as you finish up your work for the day, and you check in with your co-workers before you head out. She sleeps on the way home, and you carry her to your apartment. You change out of your clothes after you put her down in your bed, and you think about what you might want for dinner as you turn on the TV.

Satomi comes out of your room about an hour later, sitting next to you on the couch, and you change the channel to something she wants to watch. While she’s entertained with that, you hear your phone ringing in your room, so you check to make sure she’s alright before you get up an answer it.

“Hey, Yuuji. It’s everything okay?” you say as soon as you pick up.

“I’m running a bit late, and we just had a couple of walk-ins come in. You might have to watch her for a couple more hours,” he tells you.

“That’s okay! Don’t rush. We’ll be waiting for you,” you say.

“Thank you so much. I gotta go, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“It’s no problem. I’ll see you when you get home.” You hang up the phone, taking it with you as you walk out of your room. “Your dad’s running a little behind at work,” you tell her when you walk in. “You hungry yet?”

“Do you have chicken nuggets?” she asks instead of giving you an answer, and she follows you when you walk to the fridge. You open the freezer, and she gasps when you pull out a big bag.

“Dinosaur chicken nuggets.” She jumps happily while you set some out on a pan for the both of you. You get her some fruit that you have, and she sits at the dining table you have, her feet swinging as she eats. You give them time to cool after you pull them out of the oven, and you get her some juice while you wait.

“Someone has a birthday coming up,” you start as she finishes eating her nuggets.

“I do!” she cheers loudly, pointing to herself. “I’m gonna be six years old!”

“Wow! You’re getting so big!” you say with just as much enthusiasm. “What do you want for your birthday this year?”

“A tiger!”

“That might be kinda hard to do,” you chuckle.

“It doesn’t have to be real. I just want one to have on my bed,” she offers and you nod.

“I think that can be arranged,” you tell her, and you laugh when she does.

“There’s something else that I want,” she adds, and you raise your eyebrows in curiosity.

“Oh? What’s that?” She gets out of her chair, and you pick her up, plopping her in your lap.

“Can I tell you a secret?” she whispers, and you lower your voice as you nod.

“Of course, you can. I won’t tell a soul.”

You lean down so that she can whisper in your ear. “I think my Daddy really likes you.” You can’t help but laugh as you pull away.

“Really? What makes you say that?” you question.

“Because he smiles whenever he’s on the phone with you. And he talks about you all the time!” You can’t help it when your face heats up, and you try to focus on the conversation instead of how warm you’re getting.

“What does that have to do with what else you want for your birthday?”

“I want my Daddy to be happy.” You frown a little at her words.

“But he is happy, Satomi. You make him happy every day,” you say, smiling when you boop her softly on the nose and she giggles.

“Yeah, but I’m not always around. Someone has to make him happy while I’m at school and at dance practice.”

“Well, that makes sense,” you point out.

“So, if you’re here while I’m not, then he’ll always be happy!” she puts together.

“You’re a very thoughtful person, Satomi,” you say earnestly. “I’ll do my best to make your Dad happy while you’re gone.”

“Thank you.” You laugh again, and you start to tickle her softly, and her giggles fill your apartment.

You migrate back to the couch, and you can feel the day starting to catch up to you. It’s starting to get pretty late, and you check your phone to see that Terushima texted you to say that he’s almost done. You send him a thumbs up, and you go to tell Satomi, but you see that she’s sound asleep.

You adjust her in your arms, and your blinking starts to get heavy. You let your head fall back onto the back of the couch, and it’s not long until you’re asleep like Satomi. You don’t know how long you’ve slept, but you wake up when you hear knocking at your door. You stand carefully, making sure not to wake her up, and you open the door.

“Sorry, I dozed off,” you tell him as soon as you open it.

“That’s okay. I’m sorry I finished so late,” he says, and you wave him off.

“Terushima, it’s alright. She already ate, so she’ll probably be asleep through the night.” He tries to take her from you, but you both frown when he can’t get her off of you. “Satomi, sweetie, your dad’s here to get you.

“I want you to tuck me in,” she murmurs, and he sighs heavily. He grabs her stuff before walking to his door. You walk to her room, waking her up for just a little bit so that you can change her into her pajamas, and then you’re putting her into bed. “Goodnight, Mommy.”

You rub over her forehead, smiling softly. “Goodnight, Satomi.”

Terushima looks over the room, making sure everything is just where it needs to be. He looks over everything, checking off things in his head as he surveys the room. He sighs when he thinks he has everything, and then he wonders where you are.

“Yuuji!” you call, and he walks down the hall to the room where you’re peeking your head out. “I need some help. You mind zipping me up?” He walks into the room, and he wants to laugh at the image in front of him, but there’s no way he can.

You’re wearing a bodysuit that covers your whole body, one of your hands holding the back together, and he runs his eyes up and down your body countlessly. You turn around, but his eyes trail down again, and he swallows heavily. He takes a step forward, and he’s not really thinking about his actions because his hands have a mind of their own.

They start at your hips before they ghost a trail up your body, and it takes him too long to realize what he’s doing. He clears his throat, grabbing the zipper at the bottom. He places his other hand on your hip as he slowly starts to zip the suit up. You move your hair to the side once he starts to get closer to the top, and he lets his hands linger on you just a little bit longer.

You sigh heavily when he finishes, throwing your hair back as you turn around. “Thank you so much,” you breathe. “This thing is tighter than I thought it would be,” you laugh, but Terushima’s brain is taking a while to catch up. “Do you think Satomi will like it?”

“She’ll love it,” he answers absentmindedly, and his phone pings with a text, which thankfully, breaks him out of it. “She’s walking up now,” he says when he reads the text, and you push him out of the door so that he can greet her. The door opens, and Satomi frowns when she sees her dad standing in the middle of the room.

“Why’s it so dark?” she asks, and Takeharu turns the lights on. She gasps as she takes in the room, which is decorated with a jungle theme and tigers everywhere.

“Happy birthday, princess!” Terushima yells, holding his arms out. She spins around in a slow circle as she takes it all in. “You like it?”

“I love it! Thank you, Daddy!” She runs to give him a hug, and soon after the reveal, her friends and their parents start piling in. He puts a crown on her head as she sits at the table, and chatter fills the room. “Where’s y/n?” she asks, looking around, and you jump up behind her.

“Surprise!” She gasps, taking in the tiger bodysuit you’re wearing, ears adorning your head as well.

“You look awesome!” she says, giving you a tight hug.

“Happy birthday, Satomi,” you say warmly.

“Did you paint your face yourself?” she asks, poking at the whiskers on your cheeks, and you nod fervently.

“Yes, I did. You want your face painted?” You already know the answer, and you bring her over to a table so you can paint her face. You constantly have to hold her so that she’ll stay still, but when you’re done, she smiles widely in the mirror.

“I look like a real tiger!” she comments as you put tiger ears on her head.

“Yeah, you do!” You suddenly have a line of children behind her, and you spend the next fifteen minutes painting a nose and whiskers on their faces.

Terushima’s standing off to the side, glad that Satomi looks absolutely overjoyed, and his friends walk over to stand next to him. “A bodysuit, huh?” Kazuma says first. “Was that your decision?”

“Of course, not,” he retorts quickly. “She thought Satomi would like it.”

“Well, she’s definitely not the only one who does,” Takeharu adds, and Terushima knows that better than anyone, balling his fists every time one of the dads stares at you for just a little too long as you walk around.

You finished painting, and the kids are back to eating at the table, but Satomi is talking to you the whole time. Your attention is soon diverted from her when one of the dads starts talking to you, and Terushima knows his track record from some of the other mothers.

The moment he takes a step forward, Kazuma grabs his arm. “Easy, tiger. You don’t wanna make a scene at your daughter’s party.”

Thankfully, the conversation doesn’t last long, and you’re walking over to him, standing on the other side of him. “This thing is a lot hotter than it looks,” you breathe as you fan yourself, but it’s loud enough that only Terushima picks it up, but that sentence alone starts to do things to him. “I’m glad I’m not wearing anything underneath,” you comment more to yourself, noting how your bra and underwear stick to you uncomfortably. Terushima hears it, and he starts to feel warm all over before he tries to think about anything but him getting a chance to take it off of you.

“Thank you so much for the help,” he tries, diverting the conversation.

“Of course! I’m glad she’s so happy,” you say, looking toward her. Takeharu offered to have the party at his house since there were going to be a lot of people coming, and after Terushima shared the idea with you, you helped him set everything up while Takeharu and Kazuma kept Satomi entertained until the party.

“Yeah, me too.” Satomi’s happily talking with her friends as they finish eating, and he feels a breath of relief run through him. He jumps when he feels a hand on his back.

“Relax, Yuuji. You did really good,” you tell him, and he smiles at you. “So, have some fun today, okay?” Satomi runs up to you, and you bend down to her level, turning to her immediately.

“Is there cake?”

“Of course, there’s cake!” you reply, and you have her go sit down before you and Terushima go to get the cake. He makes sure to block anyone’s view of you as you walk, and he can’t help but slide his hand on your waist as he does so.

You have her close her eyes while you put the “six” candle on it, and you light it. “It’s a tiger!” she screams when you tell her to open her eyes.

Everyone sings happy birthday, and she leans forward in her seat so she can blow out the candle. She’s very insistent that no one cut the cake, which is what both of you expected, so you bring out a bigger one to give to all of the kids. Satomi’s the only one who eats her tiger cake, and Terushima tells her to slow down when he notices that she’s eating too fast.

You know she’s just excited about the presents, so you all migrate to the other side of the room where the presents are. Terushima films while she opens her presents, leaving the big ones for last. The presents she opens first came from some of the parents, and she’s just as happy when she reveals each one.

You have her open yours after she finishes with those, and she laughs loudly when she sees what it’s inside. “It’s a big tiger!” she yells, hugging the stuffed animal to her body. She gives you a hug with the tiger still in her arms. “Thank you!”

“Of course!”

She runs back over to open the last one, and she looks at the sticker on the wrapping paper. “This one’s from you, Daddy?” He nods, not wanting to say another word, and you help her open it. “It’s the dollhouse I wanted!!” she shouts at the top of her lungs, and you think she might explode when she sees all the extra stuff that Terushima bought her. He took up the extra work just to get it for her, and he thinks it was so worth it as he watches her.

She runs over to him, nearly taking him down, and he crouches down so she can hug him. “Thank you so much, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Satomi. You’re welcome.” He kisses her on the forehead, and she runs back over, looking at everything that he got, and the tiger you got her doesn’t leave her arm.

The party stays in full swing after she opens them for about an hour or so, and the kids are starting to get tired, so everyone starts to make their way out, giving Satomi a final happy birthday before they leave. You stay to help clean up, and you groan once you finish, wiping over your forehead.

“God, I cannot wait to get out of this thing,” you groan.

“Are you gonna need help with the zipper again?” Terushima can’t help but ask, and you nod with a tired look on your face.

“Yeah, definitely.” He checks on Satomi before you leave, seeing that she’s asleep on the couch with the tiger in her arms, and he shoves Kazuma when he catches him laughing as he follows you down the hallway.

You move your hair to the side, and Terushima can’t help thinking about how warm you feel as he pulls the zipper down. Once it’s all the way down, you sigh loudly, quickly pulling your arms out of it and pulling it down so that it’s at your waist.

“Thank you so much. I feel so much better.” You turn around, slumping a little as the cool air hits your skin, and Terushima really wishes he could look away from you. You take the hair tie off your wrist and put your hair up to get it off your neck, and you sigh in relief again. “I’m glad Satomi liked it, but I don’t know if I could do this again,” you laugh, and Terushima looks into your eyes just in time.

“That’s okay. I don’t know how I’m gonna top this party,” he says.

“I’m pretty sure she’ll have a new obsession next year anyway,” you dismiss, and he steps closer to you.

“Thank you for helping set all this up.”

“Well, you did most of the work,” you say, wiping your face. “You made her really happy today, Yuuji. You’re the best dad in the world in my book.” He laughs when you do, and even with the paint still on your face, he desperately wants to kiss you.

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he says after he’s silent for a bit.

“How so?” you question as you frown.

“Because you were always there encouraging me when I felt like I wasn’t doing the best,” he admits, and you let your head fall to the side as you rest your hands on his neck.

“Yuuji, you are always doing your best. You’re not going to be perfect a hundred percent of the time, but when you try, that’s more than enough.”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” he chuckles.

“Well, you definitely don’t give yourself enough credit when you should. You do everything you can to make Satomi happy, and that’s what matters.” Fuck, he’s about two seconds from pulling you into him and planting his lips on yours, and right now, there’s nothing about to stop him. But you let your hands fall, and you turn away from him to grab your clothes. “Now, I need to get out of this before I burn up.”

“Of course. I’ll be out here,” he says, and he hates how he feels like he missed his chance. He walks towards the door, and when he turns to close it, you’ve already shoved it to your ankles. He falters when he sees you bent at the waist, and he quickly swings to door closed, but it’s too late, the image is already burned into his brain.

He clears his throat as he pinches himself as a punishment for regretting not looking any longer, and he takes a deep breath before he walks down the hallway. “That took longer than it should have.” Terushima jumps at the sound of Kazuma’s voice, and he nearly throws him out of the door.

“Go home,” he orders, pushing him forward, and the guy laughs as he walks to the front door. “Thanks for offering up your house, Takeharu. I hope we didn’t do too much damage.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was worth seeing the biggest smile on my niece’s face.” Terushima smiles before he turns his attention to his daughter, and he sighs in relief when he’s able to pull the tiger from her arms without her waking up.

You come into the room with no paint on your face and the bodysuit in your hand as he picks her up. You grab the tiger as you say goodbye to Takeharu, and you all make your way to Terushima’s car. The dollhouse is already packed up in the trunk, and he straps her into her car seat.

You both yawn at the same time when he pulls into the parking lot of your apartment, and you both laugh. He decides to tackle the dollhouse when he’s not tired, and you walk into his apartment to put her to bed. You set the tiger next to her, and you smile at how peaceful she looks.

You yawn again as he walks you to your door, and you turn to him before you open it. “Goodnight, Yuuji,” you say softly.

“Goodnight.” You’re about to turn around, and he stops you, carefully pulling the tiger ears from your hair.

“Oh, I totally forgot. I definitely would’ve fallen asleep with them off,” you laugh tiredly. Instead of kissing you like he wants to, he pulls you into a hug, and you don’t seem to mind how long he does.

“Thank you,” he repeats.

“Any time, Yuuji.”

I want to see her.

Terushima doesn’t know how long he stares at the text, but he can’t bring himself to reply. The amount and range of emotions he feels makes him feel so overwhelmed, he throws his phone to the side. The texts have been getting more frequent despite his responses being pretty dry. He knows that he shouldn’t keep Satomi away from her mother, but after all this time, why now?

She never once made any effort to contact him, and he’s had to raise her without her. He has half a mind to tell her to just leave him alone, but there’s no way he can actually say it. He sighs again, letting his head fall into his hands. He wants to ask somebody about it, but he’s being stubborn and he’s trying to push the problem away until it disappears. But that’s easier said than done. Way easier.

“Daddy?” He quickly lifts his head up, looking over his shoulder to see Satomi walking towards him.

“What’s up, sweetie?” he asks, putting on a smile that he hopes she can’t see through.

“Can I go over to y/n’s?”

“What for?”

“I wanna ask her something,” she says, and she doesn’t give him an explanation, turning her attention to a string on his shirt. “It won’t take long, I promise.”

He laughs softly, but he stands up anyway. “Alright. Let’s go see if she’s busy.”

“Wait! I wanna go by myself,” she says suddenly, stopping him from walking.

“Why?” She doesn’t answer, looking down at the floor, and he lowers himself to her level. “What’s wrong, Satomi?”

“Nothing! I promise. I just wanna talk to her.” He knows that he won’t get much out of her, and when she knows he won’t ask any more questions, she runs to the door. He’s quick to follow after her, and he stands in front of his door in the hallway, watching her knock on your door.

Satomi bounces on her toes as she waits, and her face lights up when you open the door. “Satomi? Does your dad know you’re here?” you ask as soon as you see, and he chuckles as she points to her left.

“Yeah! He’s right there!” You step out, looking in the direction she’s pointing, and you laugh when your eyes meet his. You wave at him, and he barely gets a chance to return it because Satomi pulls you into your apartment. He smiles as he watches, but the moment your door closes, the smile falls.

“So, what brings you over here?” you ask her after she pulls you to sit on the couch.

“I wanna talk about something, but every time I bring it up, it makes Daddy sad,” she tells you, and you frown as you rub your hand over her head.

“What’s wrong, Satomi?”

“Daddy’s been sad lately, but every time I come in the room, he smiles like there’s nothing wrong.” After hearing that, you can’t say that you’re not concerned.

“What were you trying to tell your dad?”

“I wanted to ask you if you would come to school with me next week.”

“What for?”

“We’re having a bunch of activities going on, and some of the stuff I’ve never been able to before, so I wanted to ask if you could come.”

“Of course, I can, Satomi. I would love to come,” you tell her softly, and she smiles a little at your answer but it doesn’t last long.

“I just don’t know why Daddy isn’t happy about it.”

“I don’t think he’s upset about you asking me. He might have something else going on,” you try, and she picks at her pants.

“When I ask him if you can be my mommy, he never gives me an answer.” You sigh as you listen to her talk, and you have a feeling that Satomi’s mother might be playing a part in why he’s acting the way he is. You’re not going to ask about it, obviously, but you hate that you can’t give her a straightforward answer. “But you would like to be my mommy, right?”

You think about what to say before you answer her honestly. “I would love that, Satomi, but I don’t know how your dad feels,” you huff, and she’s quick to sit herself up on her knees.

“But my Daddy really likes you! He’d be okay with it!” You can’t help but laugh, and she keeps going. “I know he likes you. He even says your name while he’s in the shower.”

You choke suddenly, feeling your face go hot at her words. You try to cover it up with a laugh, and you can see that she’s confused at your reaction, so try to gloss over it and continue the conversation. “I think your dad is just dealing with a lot of things right now. I can try and ask him about it if you want me to.”

“I don’t mean to make him more upset,” she whispers, and you’re quick to reassure her.

“No, no, sweetie. I can tell you right now that it’s not your fault. You’re not making him any more upset, I promise. Okay?” She nods, giving you a hug. “Did you wanna talk to me about anything else?”

She shakes her head, but she doesn’t pull away from you. “Thanks, y/n.”

“Of course, Satomi. I’ll always be here if you need to talk, okay?” She nods, and after a while, she’s ready to go back next door, so you walk over there with her. The door’s unlocked, so you both walk in, and Terushima’s sitting on the couch.

“y/n wants to talk to you about something!” Satomi announces the moment she steps inside and before either of you can respond, she’s running to her room. You close the door behind you as you step further inside the apartment, and both of you laugh as he stands and walks toward you.

“I told her I’d go to school with her next week if that’s okay with you,” you tell him, and you notice that he doesn’t look as happy as he usually does, and now you understand what Satomi was talking about.

“Yeah. I know she’s excited about it. She’s happy that she can bring someone this year.” His smile doesn’t even last his entire sentence, and you grab his hands.

“Yuuji, you don’t have to tell me what’s going on, but Satomi notices. I don’t wanna tell you this, but she’s worried about you.” He sighs, letting his head fall forward for a second before he looks back at you.

“I know. I’m just kinda stuck right now,” is all he tells you, and you lace your fingers with his.

“That’s okay, but don’t be afraid to reach out and ask somebody. It’s not good for you to keep it in.” You let go of one of his hands to rub at the lines between his eyebrows. “You’re too young to get wrinkles.” He smiles when you laugh, and he pulls you into a hug.

“Thank you,” he whispers into your hair, but he doesn’t let you go, and you wrap your arms around his neck.

“Of course, Yuuji.” You don’t question how long he’s holding you, and you guess he’s been needing his for a while. “She also said that she wants me to be her mom,” you chuckle, and he hums at your words, holding you a little tighter. He doesn’t respond to you, and you move one of your hands to run through his hair. “You okay?” you whisper when he doesn’t let you go, and he’s been quiet for a while.

“Yeah, I am now.” He smiles when he feels you laugh, and he pulls away when he feels your head move, but he keeps his arms around you. “I don’t know how you do it, but you always manage to make me feel better.”

“But I didn’t even do anything,” you muse, and he kisses your forehead before putting his against yours.

“You don’t have to.” He takes a deep breath out through his nose, and he feels his whole body relax. He doesn’t want to let you go, and he knows that he has to face reality, but now, he feels like he can.

“I’m always here if you need anything,” you whisper, and you always are, he hasn’t doubted that for a second.

I’ll think about it.

That’s all he can really manage, but he doesn’t want to give her the impression that he’s going to let her waltz right back into his life after all this time. He told his friends about her contacting him, and their reactions were just like he expected. Kazuma was a lot more passionate than he thought when he was telling him to just block her.

He doesn’t really have any bad feelings toward her with regard to their relationship. People fall out all of the time, it happens. But that doesn’t mean that he was okay with her just leaving his kid on his doorstep without a word. In the back of his mind, he admits that he’s scared thinking about potentially seeing her after these few years.

He’s just uncertain about what this would mean for Satomi, and there are a lot of people who are afraid of the unknown. He pushes all of that to the side though when he hears Satomi talking loudly in the living room. He can hear your voice as well, and he must’ve been so into his thoughts that he didn’t hear your knock.

He shoves his phone in his pocket with that one conversation specifically muted, and he walks out of his room to an image that he sees all the time, but he still feels his heart flutter when he sees it. You’re holding Satomi in your arms as you talk to her, and he lets his feet guide him toward you.

Satomi’s excitement is practically radiating off of her as he drives to the school. He barely gets a chance to talk to you because as soon as he gets her out of the car, she’s pulling you towards the building. Recently, Satomi’s been adamant about skipping school whenever this day rolls around. He knows why this day always had her down, but he didn’t think there was anything he could say to make her feel better. He always offered to go and spend the day with her, but it wasn’t enough.

She pulls you into her classroom, and she has you sit at a table with three other girls. “These are my friends!” she tells you, and they all give you a shy wave before Satomi leans toward your ear. “They don’t have a mommy either,” she whispers to you, and you feel your heart sink.

“Can you draw any animal?” one of her friends ask you.

“I can. What do you want me to draw?” you respond instantly.

“A panda,” she says softly, and all of her friends crowd around you as you start drawing while the rest of them ask you to draw them something as well.

Every year they have a day where the kids can bring their parents, and there’s a bunch of activities they can do. It falls between Mother's and Father’s Day, so some of the games that are played usually involve either both or one parent. Satomi hasn’t been in the past two years, and it always hurts Terushima in a way that he’s never hurt before, but now, he’s seen her happier today than she’s ever been on this day in the past.

He knows that he’s been kicked to the curb today, and he can’t help but laugh about it, so he just focuses on helping out where he’s needed whether that’s for the activities or the games. He’ll catch you being pulled around by Satomi, and he notices that her friends are with you as well. They all stay glued to your side as they walk you around to do all of the different things, and as you migrate outside, your hands are full of all of the things they made.

Satomi grabs the things out of your hand and runs them over to Terushima. “Daddy, you have to hold this so y/n can race with me!” He barely has time to catch it all before she runs away. You have to do a three-leg race first, and Terushima finds somewhere to stand so he can watch.

He knows you’ll probably kill him later, but he can’t help but pull his phone out. The race starts, and it takes a while for the two of you to get going, but you start pulling ahead soon after. You have to slow your steps so that Satomi can keep up, but your leg that’s with hers is almost in perfect sync. You both finish first, and Satomi almost falls from how hard she’s celebrating.

Terushima looks down at his phone, looking at the video again, and there’s no way he’s going to be able to lose his smile. He looks back up after a while when he hears cheering again, and he frowns for a moment when he sees you racing again. One of Satomi’s friends is with you this time, and Satomi’s at the finish line cheering you on.

You’re actually really good at the race, winning twice in a row. You’re not celebrating as much when you win, and Terushima’s eyebrows raise when Satomi pulls you to the starting line again. Another one of her friends is racing with you, and Satomi and her friend race to the end to cheer you both on again.

You have to do the race again, and you just barely make it. Satomi and her friends are cheering loudly following you while you find the closest seat. You nearly collapse, and you barely get a chance to catch your breath before Satomi pulls you to your feet. Terushima follows, almost losing you in the crowd, and he sees that she’s pulled you to a potato sack race.

He doesn’t get there in time to save you, and he feels so bad for laughing, but by the time you cross the finish line, you look two steps away from falling out. You ditch the sack, finding a blanket to lie on. Satomi and her friends’ attention is quickly diverted by something else to do, and Terushima walks over to you.

“You were amazing,” he laughs, and you groan as you place her hand on your chest, your breathing still heavy.

“I cannot feel my legs,” you rasp. “Oh, my God. I’ve never done that much cardio in my life.” He sits down next to you, and you open your eyes when you feel something cold touch your hand. You gasp, taking the water bottle from him. You only get through about half before you have to take a break. “My legs are shaking,” you groan. “Holy crap.”

Satomi and her friends run back over to you, but they don’t seem to notice how out of breath you are. “They’re doing face painting! You have to come!” She grabs your hand, but this time, she can’t get you to move.

“Satomi give her a chance to catch her breath,” Terushima tries. “You guys wore her out.”

“But she was amazing! She won all of them!” one of her friends says, and you lay back down on the blanket.

“Thank you. I tried,” you breathe. “Give me five minutes.” That seems to tide them over, but you realize that you probably should’ve told them more time because you know Satomi will take it literally.

You hold out your hand, and Terushima carefully pulls you up. You take another swig of water, a deep breath following after. “I think it’s your turn,” you jests, and he shrugs as he shakes his head.

“I tried to give you a break, but Satomi has officially kicked me to the curb.”

“Lucky me,” you laugh, wiping the sweat from your forehead. “I didn’t know I was gonna have to do four races. I would’ve mentally prepared myself.”

Satomi comes back over when your five minutes are up just like you knew she would. Terushima helps you up, and you shakily walk over to where the face painting booth is. They insists that you paint on their faces, so you pull up a chair and paint what they want.

A kid notices the face paint on Satomi’s face, and they run over to you asking if you can paint as well. Their mom apologizes for the sudden ask, but you don’t mind at all. You paint what they want, and they thank you loudly before running off. Before you know it, you have a line of kids in front of you, and it definitely doesn’t help when you catch Satomi boasting about your skills.

You lose track of how many kids come through, but by the time you’re done, your hand is starting to cramp. Terushima manages to pull you away in an attempt to save you after he diverts Satomi’s attention again.

“I’m sorry. You definitely signed up for more than you thought,” Terushima says when you find a park table to sit at.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m having fun. The running was a bit much, but this is way better than being stuck at work.” You sigh a little when you notice that Satomi and her friends manage to find you, and you’re relieved when they ask Terushima to play with them this time. “My hero,” you muse, and he laughs before being pulled away by his daughter.

You smile as you watch them disappear into the crowd, and you turn when you hear a voice next to you. “I’m Satomi’s teacher,” she introduces herself, and you shake her hand. “Do you mind if I sit?”

“No, of course. Go ahead.”

“y/n, right?” she asks and you nod.

“I’m guessing you heard about me from Satomi?” you surmise, and the both of you laugh as she nods her head.

“She won’t stop talking about you, but I see why now. You’re amazing with children. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her friends smile so wide.”

“She told me about their situation when I first met them, and they never left my side after we did the crafts.”

“Have you ever considered working with kids before?”

“In college, yes. I actually majored in education, but I wasn’t sure if I would be cut out for it.”

“Well, if you ask me, you are more than qualified for it.” You don’t respond, giving her a small smile. “We actually have a teacher that’s leaving at the end of the year. She teaches the same grade I do.”

“Are you asking me what I think you’re asking me?”

“Here’s my number,” she says, handing you a card. “You don’t have to make your decision now, of course. But I think you would be amazing at it.” You look down at the card, feeling a wave of emotions running through you. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, same,” you whisper, and she gives you a friendly smile before she gets up. You pick at the corner of the card as you chew on your lip. Who knew you would have something like this come up all of a sudden?

“Hey, you okay?” You jump at Terushima’s voice, looking up as you cover the card with your hand.

“Yeah, I was just talking to Satomi’s teacher,” you smile, and you quickly try to change to subject. “Where are the girls?”

“Oh, they’ll be here in a second,” he says, and he steps to the side when they come running up to you.

“Happy Mother’s Day, y/n!” Satomi yells, and they all hand you pink and red pieces of paper. You sort them and you realize that they’re in the shape of hearts. Their names are on all of them, and each of them has something written on the back. You read through all of them, and you bite your lip to try and keep your tears at bay.

“You guys didn’t have to do this,” you tell them, and you’re really fighting the tears when they all hug you. “I’m gonna put these on my wall, they’re so beautiful.” As your hand runs over them, in the back of your mind, the conversation with Satomi’s teacher runs through your head.

You all go get food as the day starts to unwind, and you all eat at the table together. While the girls are talking, Terushima nudges you softly with his shoulder. “What’s up? You keep spacing out.”

“You noticed?” you chuckle. You don’t bother to hide it from him, and you pull out the card. “Satomi’s teacher told me that they’re going to have an open position at the end of the school year.”

“Are you gonna take it?” he asks honestly, and you look up at him.

“I dunno,” you admit. “I guess I’m just still trying to process the fact that I’m getting an opportunity.”

“Then you should take it,” he tells you softly. “I don’t think there’d be anyone better for it than you.” You look at him softly, and he grabs your hand, lacing his fingers with yours. “And Satomi would be thrilled to see you more,” he adds, and that makes you laugh. “But seriously, you shouldn’t be afraid to take a chance at it. It’s clear you know what you’re doing. So, now you just gotta show them.”

You laugh again when you notice that you said those words to him once. “Thank you, Yuuji,” you whisper, squeezing his hand.

“You’re welcome,” he whispers back, kissing your forehead before he wraps his arm around you.

You and Terushima help with the cleanup after you finish eating, and he holds your hand while you both walk to the car, Satomi way ahead of you. “Excuse me, are you Satomi’s mother?” You stop suddenly when a man walks up to you, and since you’re so off guard, you just let words flow out of your mouth.

“Oh, I–yes.”

“I’m Aneko and Emiko’s father. I just wanted to thank you.” You frown at his words, turning to fully face him. “They’re friends of Satomi’s, and they told me all the things you did for them today. I–” He stops himself, taking a deep breath before he continues. “I couldn’t make it today because of work, and they lost their mother a year ago. I’ve never seen them so happy.”

The tears make it to your waterline when you see his, and you pull him into a hug. “Thank you so much,” he whispers, and you rub your hands over his back.

“Of course. I’m so glad they were able to have fun.” He gives your hands a squeeze when he pulls away, and he gives you both a quiet goodbye before he heads to his car. Terushima wipes the tears from your face when they finally fall, and he keeps his arm around you as you walk to the car.

Satomi is asleep before he barely makes it away from the school, and he holds your hand on the console as you look out the window. He doesn’t try to press you when you’re quiet on the ride home and when you walk to your apartment. You help him tuck Satomi in, and she gives you a tired hug before you lay her down.

“Thank you for coming.”

“Of course, Satomi. Did you have fun?” You smile when she gives you a sleepy nod. “I’m glad,” you say, rubbing over her head. You lean forward to kiss her forehead, and she quickly leans up to do the same. “Goodnight, Satomi.”

“Night.” Terushima gives her a kiss on the forehead too, and he walks you to your door after walking out of Satomi’s room.

“I don’t know how I can thank you for today,” he says once you stop at your door.

“Maybe with a hot bath,” you joke. “My legs are gonna be feeling it tomorrow.” You both laugh softly in the quiet hallway. “I’m just glad I got to see Satomi happy.”

“I’d say she was even happier than her birthday party,” he responds.

“Then I’d say I did pretty well today,” you chuckle. “The soreness is definitely worth it.” He pulls you into a hug, and he memorizes the feeling of you in his arms. When you pull away, his face is right in front of yours, and he lets his hand rest on your neck.

“Don’t be afraid of the offer,” he whispers, rubbing his thumb over your cheek. You nod, and he kisses your forehead, letting his lips linger on your skin just a little longer.

“Thanks, Yuuji.”

“How did we get here?” Terushima whispers to you as you both look at your friends sitting and talking in front of you.

“I have no idea,” you whisper back.

You and your friend were out when you ran into Kazuma. You all struck up a conversation, but while you weren’t paying attention they must’ve had a conversation on their own because you find yourself on a Friday night with your friends and Terushima’s friends in his apartment. Satomi wanted to spend the weekend with her grandparents, and Kazuma jumped at the opportunity to help his friend out.

You’ve obviously played a couple of drinking games, but you notice that you and Yuuji are a little bit drunker than everyone else in the room. “Okay, I think we have to up our game,” your friend whispers to Kazuma. “They’ll never get together if we don’t do something.”

“You’re telling me,” Kazuma groans, rolling his eyes at how long it’s taken for Terushima to even think about asking you out. The friend that Kazuma met while you were out was the same friend that talked with Terushima at your birthday party. She mentioned him when you introduce Kazuma, and that’s how the plan was formed.

“Okay, so let’s play Never Have I Ever,” your friend offers to the crowd, and you and Terushima are both a bit suspicious when everyone easily agrees.

“And why would we do that?” you ask, squinting your eyes at your friend.

“Why not?” she shrugs before she pulls out some shot glasses. You don’t disagree, but you make sure to keep an eye on her.

The questions start out pretty generic, but you and Yuuji start to find that the questions are oddly specific to the two of you. You really start to feel the alcohol after about the fourth shot, and you’ve always been a bit of a lightweight. Your friend knows that, and oh what a coincidence, so is Terushima.

“Okay, these questions are ridiculous,” you say, but you fall back into Terushima’s side, and he easily throws an arm around you.

“Yeah,” he lamely adds. “We’ve been the only ones to drink in a row. I haven’t seen you drink in a while,” he accuses, pointing a finger at Kazuma. “What are you up to?”

“Okay, how about this?” Kazuma starts, completely ignoring his friend’s question. “Never have I ever had a job.”

Terushima rolls his eyes, but everyone drinks anyway, and you know that your words are going to start slurring a bit. They ask a few more questions just to make sure their plan will work, and they know they’ve done it when you and Terushima start talking amongst yourselves.

They both know your mannerisms, and you’re practically on top of one another. “Let’s change the game,” your friend offers, but she doesn’t say it loud enough, and if you do hear her, neither of you is paying attention. “We’re playing seven minutes in heaven!” She raises her voice just a little, but when you guys finally catch on, she’s quick to continue talking. “Nose goes!”

Everyone almost in unison puts their finger on their nose, and you and Terushima are the only ones who haven’t. They’re quick to push you into Terushima’s room despite your protests, and the door closes behind you. “The timer starts now!” you hear Takeharu yell, and Terushima tries to open the door, but it’s no use.

He groans, sitting on his bed. “They definitely did this on purpose,” he says, and you walk over to him.

“They definitely did.” Your words are slow, and neither of you has been this drunk since college. You try to sit next to him, but your balance is off, so he grabs your hand to stop you from falling. “Thank you,” you say with a giggle. “I’m probably gonna fall if I move anymore.”

“That’s okay,” he laughs.

“But I wanna sit down,” you whine, and he grabs your hips, pulling you towards him. It takes you too long for his liking to understand what he’s doing, but when his hand drifts to your leg, your brain finally catches up. You straddle his lap, your legs on the bed, and he keeps his hands on your hips.

“Is this okay?” he whispers, and you nod as fast as you can as your hands slide over his shoulders. You lean into him, inches from his face, and you both laugh as you stare at each other. “I haven’t been this drunk in a long time.”

“Me neither. I hope I don’t wake up with a hangover,” you complain, and he fully wraps his arms around you. “Do you think this was their plan?” you ask quietly.

“What? Getting us drunk and locking us in a room together? Oh, definitely.” You laugh, leaning more of your weight forward, and he falls backward.

“Sorry,” you giggle, letting your forehead rests on his, and he copies it, letting his hands run up and down your back.

“It’s okay. I’m more comfortable this way anyway.” Your hands run through his hair, and even though neither of you is saying anything, you’re looking at each other. It’s like you’re in your own world.

“You’re so pretty,” he mumbles, and he smiles when you do, your head momentarily falling from his before you put it back where it was before.

“Really?”

He nods slowly. “Yeah. I’ve thought that since I first met you.”

“Well, I think you’re pretty cute,” you respond, bumping your nose against his.

“There’s so much I wanna say to you but definitely not while I’m drunk.”

“That’s fair,” you laugh. You move your head away to yawn, but you're quick to rest it on his again, and both of you feel sparks run through your body when your lips brush yours. “I think I’m gonna fall asleep.”

“Me too,” he whispers, and you shift so that you can rest your face on his neck. His hands don’t stop rubbing over your back, and your eyes start to feel heavy. “Goodnight, baby.”

“Goodnight, Teru.”

“They’re so hopeless,” your friend groans as she peeks her head into the room. “They’re sleeping.”

“Are you serious?” Takeharu says, and Kazuma sighs with a shake of his head.

“What else can we do?” Kazuma asks. “I’m just gonna drink out of annoyance.”

You wake up first, and the first thing your brain tells you is that you have to pee. You carefully but swiftly peel Terushima’s arms from you before you make a beeline for the bathroom. You sigh in relief as you pee, and when you walk out after washing your hands, you see your friends sleeping in the living room. You laugh as you wobble a bit, and you’re definitely still drunk.

Terushima comes out of his room right as you walk into the living room, following the same path as you while he tries to keep his balance. You stretch, waiting for him to come out of the bathroom, and you turn when you hear the door open. “Do you have an extra toothbrush?” you ask because you don’t want to deal with fumbling with your keys.

He nods, letting you in the bathroom, and he finds one under the sink. He hands it to you, putting some toothpaste on it before he does the same to his. You both laugh softly to yourself as you brush your teeth, both of you having a hand on the counter to steady yourself.

“I’m definitely still a little drunk,” you tell him after you brush your teeth, and he sighs as he nods.

“So, am I.” You walk back out, following him to the kitchen and he grabs you some water. You lean back against the island, and he stands in front of you, nearly as close to you as he was last night. “What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t care. Whatever you have,” you answer, sitting your cup on the counter next to you.

“Are you using your second bedroom?” he asks, setting his cup on the counter behind him.

“I’m using it as an office, kinda. It’s mostly storage, though. Why do you ask?”

“Because Satomi wants to have a sleepover with her friends, but there’s not a lot of room in her room.”

“That’s so cute. Yeah, you can use mine. You’ll just have to help me clean it out.” He steps closer to you, resting his hands on your hips.

“It’s okay if it’s too much of a hassle, I can find–”

“Yuuji,” you start, resting your hands on his face. “I just told you it was okay.”

“I just feel like you do so much, and I don’t know how I’m ever going to repay you fully.”

“Well, I do love food,” you tease, and he smiles when you laugh.

“You want me to buy you food?” he asks as he thinks of his first interaction with you, and maybe it’s still the alcohol running through his veins, but he steps even closer to you. “How about I make it a date? Is that okay?” He leans towards you, and he stares at your lips as he waits for your answer.

“Yeah, that’s more than okay.” He smiles when you nod, and he’s thought about kissing you for so long that there’s nothing going to stop him now. You don’t pull away when he finally meets your lips, and he sighs heavily, wondering why he deprived himself for so long.

Your arms wrap around his neck as you kiss him back, and his hands move to your neck as he deepens the kiss. When you both pull away, your heavy breathing is barely audible over his heart pounding. “Wow,” he mumbles, and you giggle softly.

“You usually save that for end the of the date,” you jest, and he rubs his thumb over your lip, his eyes only focusing on that.

“Is it okay that I did it before? Sorry, I just couldn’t wait any longer,” he says, and he barely waits for you to nod before he goes back in. You follow him when he leans forward, and he grabs your hips to help you sit on the counter. He doesn’t break the kiss, and your back arches when you feel the coldness of the counter against it. You moan when he slides his tongue in your mouth, and he doesn’t think there’s going to be anything that can stop him from taking you right here.

“It worked!” You both jump when you hear a voice, quickly remembering that you’re definitely not alone. Terushima pulls away, looking up to see your friend slowly getting off the floor, your head turns to look up as well.

“It only took him five years,” Takeharu says before he puts his head back down. “And I might need a trashcan.” Everyone splits as last night’s events start to catch up to them. Terushima feels his face flame as you look back at him and both of you laugh.

“Looks like we’re gonna be taking care of people,” you note, lifting yourself up, but he’s still in your space. He puts his hands back on your waist, and he thought he would be satisfied after kissing you, but the urge now is only fueled. He kisses you again in lieu of answering, and he can hear Kazuma groan, but he doesn’t give a shit.

“Okay, enough with the PDA, I’m already sick,” Kazuma groans before his head falls into the trashcan.

Kazuma is more than willing to watch Satomi the next weekend, and Terushima spends the whole week a nervous wreck. He’s been out of the game for so long, and he doesn’t even remember the last time he went on a date. The day comes, and Kazuma swings by to pick her up. She’s ecstatic about it, of course, and while she’s getting ready, Kazume notices how his friend is pacing.

“Please don’t tell me you’re stressing about this,” he says, and Terushima wipes his hands on his shorts, his hands sweating just thinking about it.

“Do you remember the last time I’ve been on a date?”

“Dude, the only thing you need is for the other person to like you back, and she does. Stop worrying so much. You’ve been around her for this long, so you have nothing to be scared of. You’ve done worse around her anyway, and it hasn’t scared her off, so I’d say you’re good.”

Terushima quickly glares at his friend’s back-handed encouragement, but he does have a point. He takes a deep breath to try and calm himself before he changes the subject. “And why were you so eager to watch Satomi this weekend?”

“Because I’m trying to get a date myself,” he admits easily.

“Are you really using my daughter to pick up women?”

“You did it,” he counters quickly. “But I’ll actually do something about it rather than wait five years.” Terushima rolls his eyes, and Satomi comes out of her room with just her backpack. Terushima laughs to himself before he goes into her room to pack her some clothes, and she gives him a hug before bouncing towards the door. “Don’t stress, have fun. And don’t have another kid,” Kazuma tells him before he can say anything back, and he quickly closes the door. Some friends he has.

Terushima has spent the last couple of hours figuring out what to wear, and he internally admits how stupid this all is. You’ve seen him in worse, but he wants to make a good impression. You were kinda vague about the details, and he wishes you weren’t so he could have some guidance. He jumps when he hears a knock at the door, and he mildly panics. He just throws on the first outfit he tried on, and he races to the door.

He opens it, and the moment his eyes land on you, he wondered why he was ever stressed in the first place. “Hi! Sorry, I’m a little early, but I already ordered the food.”

“No, that’s okay,” he says, letting you in, and he can’t take his eyes off of you. The dress you’re wearing seems to hug your body tighter than the bodysuit you wore for Satomi’s party, and he almost wants to say it’s too short.

He takes a deep breath as he closes the door, rubbing his hands on his pants again. He sits down next to you on the couch, and he feels warmth spreading through his body when his knee brushes your leg. He’s glad that you don’t seem as nervous as him, and the small talk you make gives him time to calm his racing heart. Although, that’s kind of difficult when it races at the mere sight of you.

“You’re paying for the food, remember?” you tease when there’s a knock at the door, and he can’t help but laugh as he goes to answer the door. You offer to drink something non-alcoholic as he sets out the food, and he doesn’t think about opposing, as he’s still recovering from last weekend.

As you eat, he asks you all the questions he’s been dying to ask you. You already know so much about him, so he doesn’t mind that you’re doing most of the talking. He mentally kicks himself when he thinks about why he waited so long to do this, but he’s just glad that he’s finally doing this with you now.

He’s all in your space when you finish eating, but it doesn’t look like you mind. He rests his arm on the couch as you talk, and you laugh softly as you finish your sentence. “Sorry, I’ve been talking your ear off,” you say as you fold your legs. You both decided just to sit at the coffee table to eat, and he shakes his head.

“Don’t worry about it. I love hearing you talk.” You rest your arm on the couch as well, letting your head fall into your palm. He can’t help but lean in, and he kisses you softly. “I really like this dress,” he mumbles, his fingers playing with the hem of it.

“Thank you. I save it for special occasions,” you joke, and he smiles before kissing you again. He cups your face with his hand as he kisses you with a bit more zeal, and his fingers sneak under the fabric as he starts to lean forward. You start to fall backward and to keep his lips on yours, he quickly moves with you until your back hits the floor.

He rests his weight on his knees as your legs spread to give him room, and he feels the dress inch higher up your thigh when you do. He laces his fingers with yours, moving his hands so that they rest above your head as he deepens the kiss. He can feel himself starting to go crazy as he kisses down your neck, and the moan that comes from you vibrates against his lips.

He lets your hands go in favor of rubbing them over your legs as he continues to kiss your neck, and he breathes deeply as he smells how good you smell. Your hands pull at the top of his shirt, and he has a quick moment of insecurity runs through him, but he pushes past it, lifting off of you for only a second to shed his shirt. He slows his movements as he tries to gauge your reaction, and you’re chest rises and falls quickly before your hands reach out to rub over his body.

He hasn’t been able to work out like he wants, but by the look on your face, he doesn’t think you mind. Your hands rise up his skin as you lift yourself up, and he stays silent as he watches you, breathing in and out through his mouth quietly. He shudders when you kiss over his chest, and he’s practically frozen in place as he looks down at you. “I didn’t think you could get any hotter,” you mumble against his skin, and he can’t help when his face starts to turn a little pink.

“You think I’m hot?” he asks pathetically, having a hard time figuring out what to say, and you smile as you continue to kiss down his stomach, which caves a little as you do so.

“You’re a dad, of course, I do.” You smile when he snorts, moving onto your knees as you hook your fingers in his belt loops.

“That’s all I’ve got going for me?” he muses, and you wrap your arms around his neck.

“Of course not,” you answer, kissing him on his nose. “You’re really sweet,” you start, kissing his cheek. “You’re really thoughtful,” you continue, kissing his other cheek. “And you’re really great kisser.” You plant your lips on his, and he rests his hands on your hips.

“I guess that’s pretty good,” he breathes, his face feeling like it’s been set on fire, and you can’t but giggle at his reaction. He doesn’t stop you when you start to unbutton his pants, pulling the zipper down so frustratingly slow. He frowns a bit when you stop, resting your hands on his shoulders to help you stand. His eyes follow your hands as they run over your curves, and he holds his breath when your hands grip the hem of your dress.

You pull the fabric over up your body and over your head, and he swallows heavily as you stand in front of him in nothing but your underwear. His mind goes blank as he looks over you, and he tries to reach for you, but you just move out of his reach. He can’t help but follow you, and he frowns again when you move back. He has to get to his feet to reach you, but the moment he moves forward, you move back.

He catches on pretty quickly, and he ends up chasing you to his room. You laugh loudly when he catches you right as you get to his bed, wrapping his arms around you. “Gotcha,” he whispers in your ear before his hands start to wander. Your laugh dies in your throat when he squeezes your tits softly. Your nipples are in between his fingers, and you moan softly when he applies the slightest pressure to them.

His dick is digging into your ass as he pulls you into him, and your body goes warm all over. His lips find your neck again as his hands run down your body, and he sticks his hands under the thin sides of your panties, squeezing at your thighs before they quickly move to your ass, repeating the same motion. “Fuck, I’ve thought about this for so long.”

“And what are you gonna do about it?” you whisper back, turning to look at him over your shoulder. He doesn’t respond, moving one of his hands into your underwear, and you jump when he runs his fingers through your folds. He moans at how wet you are, but he keeps his eyes on you so that he can watch your reactions.

He’s thought about doing this with you for so long, and there’s still some part of him that can’t believe he’s doing this. He rubs over your clit, and your nails dig into his wrist, your hips moving as a silent plea for more. He bites his lip as you rub against his hard-on, and he doesn’t think he’s ever been this hard before. He doesn’t know if he’s feeling light-headed from watching you, desire, or the blood rushing from his brain.

“Yuuji,” you moan, a hint of desperation in it, and he almost doesn’t let you go when you start to move away from him. You shed the last of your clothing before you climb onto the bed, rolling over onto your back, holding yourself up with your elbows.

He can’t even think to speak as he looks over you fully naked, and this is better than any wet dream he’s ever had. He wants to taste you first more than anything, and you follow him when he moves onto the bed. He doesn’t bother kissing over your body again, deciding to plant himself right in between your legs, his face merely inches from your sex.

You rest your legs over his shoulders, and he gladly accepts the warmth, licking his lips as his hands rub over your thighs. Once he gets a taste of you, he doesn’t stop. You’re pretty sure his moans are louder than yours as he eats you like it’s his last day on Earth. He pushes one of your legs out of his way as he licks at your clit, and he uses his other hand to slide his finger inside of you.

He rubs over your walls, making you even wetter so he can slide in another. He continues to suck at your clit while he curls his fingers, pressing on that sensitive spot of your walls that has you arching your back off the bed. He follows you when you move as you feel your orgasm approach, working a third finger into you. “Fuck, Yuuji,” you moan, digging your fingers into his hair, and he moans loudly when you pull at it.

You start to move too much as you feel your pleasure mounting, but stays with you, his head moving wherever you go, never letting you escape the toe-curling ecstasy. He nearly cums himself when you cum all over his face, and he gets every drop he can. His mouth doesn’t leave you, and you try to inch away from him weakly, but it’s no use.

“Y-Yuuji!” you whine, pushing at his head, and he finally takes his mouth off of you, but his eyes don’t leave your soaked core. He slides his fingers out, sliding them into his mouth instantly to taste you as much as he can. Your heavy breathing is the loudest thing in the room, and before he can try and let his mouth touch you again, you make a feeble attempt at pulling him up to you. He easily goes, sliding his tongue into your mouth to let you taste yourself as he gets rid of the last of his clothes.

You both moan when he pushes his weight onto you, and he ruts his hips against you frantically. He hasn’t gotten stimulation that feels so good in who knows how long, and he’s practically drooling into your mouth as he feels like he might go insane. He groans softly when you reach down to touch him, and it takes everything in him to not cum right then and there. You stroke him quickly, using your cum to make it easier, and his eyes slip closed against his will.

“S-Shit, baby, y-you gotta…fuck–stop,” he whines. “You’re g-gonna waste it,” he rushes out as he feels the pleasure rising up his spine. He’s quick to push your hand away, feeling dizzy as he lines himself up. You rub at your clit as he pushes himself in, and he doesn’t know if he’ll make it all the way before he busts, his head falling on yours as he feels you pulse around him.

He pushes the rest of the way in, nearly slamming his hips into yours, and you cry out loudly, a broken moan leaving your lips as your body gets used to the intrusion. He doesn’t wait much longer to start moving, and he groans, feeling like his heart is beating too fast. “Oh, God,” he moans, and you wrap your legs around him, your ankles digging into his back.

“Cum in me, Yuuji. I want it,” you whimper, and that’s what does him in. A deep shudder runs through his body as he cums, his dick twitching as he empties inside of you. He’s definitely seeing starts as he comes down, and he surprises you when he pulls out, quickly flipping you over.

He gets you on your knees, his eyes zeroing in on his cum sliding out of you, and he pushes it back in with his fingers. The image alone is enough to get him going again, and he lets a glob of spit fall onto your pussy just to make it even messier. He slides back in again, digging his fingers into your hips. His hips slamming against your ass mingle with the sounds of your moans, and he leans forward so his chest is flush against your back.

He hooks his chin over your shoulder as he rams into you, putting his hands on top of yours and weaving his fingers with yours. “Fuck, your pussy’s so good,” he slurs. “Wanna put a baby in you.” You suck him back in every time he leaves, and he can’t get his mouth shut. “I’m gonna make you a mommy again, baby–fu-uck.” You can only express your agreement with your own sounds, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to understand you anyway.

“P-Please, please, please,” he begs. “Lemme put a baby in you,” he moans, and he only fucks you harder when he feels you clench around him at his words. “I’ll make you feel so good,” he adds despite the fact that he’s already, very much, doing that.

“Want it so bad, Yuuji,” you eventually respond. “Make me a mommy.”

“Fuck, fuck. I’m gonna give it to you, you’re gonna make such a pretty momma,” he babbles. “Gonna look so pretty carrying my kids around. You’re gonna be so round and full of me,” he grunts. “Everyone’s gonna know you’re mine.” His thoughts come out against his will, but he doesn’t care. He’s so lost in the pleasure, his eyes rolling as he feels that knot building up in his stomach again.

“I’m ready, Yuuji. S-Show them who I belong t-to,” you moan, and he bites down on your shoulder as he kisses your cervix, making sure you’re taking all of him with every thrust.

“You’re mine,” he repeats again. “Gonna fill you up so good.” He moans weakly in your ear, but it only heightens how good you’re feeling, pushing back to meet his hips.

“This pussy’s a-all yours. Fill me up, baby. Wanna have your babies.” His mouth falls open, but nothing comes out as his orgasm hits him, and his eyes roll deep into his head as he shoots into you. He fucks his cum into you as you cum right behind him, your walls clamping down on him so hard, he can barely move back out.

He fucks you through your orgasm, his hips stuttering to a stop. His chest is heaving as he starts to relax, feeling fatigue catching up to him. He doesn’t pull out of you, turning his head when you do to kiss you, his tongue moving into your mouth the moment he does. His heart feels like it might pound right out of his ribcage, pulling away to roll the both of you over.

You whine softly as he presses into your cervix at the impact of hitting the bed, and he rubs over your body as he kisses you soundly. Your bodies are covered in sweat, his chest peeling away from your back briefly before he moves back into you.

“Holy shit,” he breathes, making the both of you laugh. He doesn’t know what came over him, and he blames the heat coming from his face on the amazing orgasm he just had.

“That was amazing,” you whisper as you shiver slightly, goosebumps rising over your skin as your body starts to cool down. He manages to pull the blanket over both of you, and he snuggles into your neck, pressing soft kisses to your skin.

“Yeah, it was,” he hums, feeling like the happiest man in the world. “I think I love you,” he mumbles, and it slips out before he can stop himself, and he suddenly feels his world stop. His heart does something weird as he waits for your reaction, and he almost doesn’t look at you when you slightly turn your head to look at him.

“Yeah?” you smile. “You think you love me?” you tease, and he smiles as he pushes away the negative thoughts. “Well, when you know that you love me?”

“I know I love you. I have for a while,” he admits quickly. “From day one, I knew you were the one for me.”

“Day one, huh? When you walked over to my apartment at three in the morning?” you question, and he doesn’t hesitate to nod.

“Getting Satomi all of a sudden, I wasn’t in a good place, but you helped me turn everything around. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

“That’s a pretty big honor,” you laugh, but your face softens, and you lift your hand to rest on his cheek. “Thank you for letting me be a part of you and Satomi’s life,” you say softly.

“You don’t think this is too fast?” he asks, and you huff a little.

“My friend told me that we’ve been pining over each other for years. According to her, it’s like, three years too late.” He chuckles a bit, thinking that his friends would say the exact same thing. “I think I love you, too,” you whisper.

“And when will you know?” he counters playfully, and you turn your head to yawn, curling back into him.

“Mm, I’ll get back to you in the morning,” you joke softly, and his heart feels so happy that he doesn’t even try to press you about it, feeling tired himself. His eyelids start to feel heavy, and he tightens his arm around you.

“Goodnight, baby,” he whispers into your hair. “I love you.”

You rest your hand on his, your breathing starting to even, and he thinks you’ve fallen asleep until he hears you speak. “I love you, too, Yuuji.”

Terushima helps you clear out your second room, which takes a lot longer than he would like since Satomi keeps asking about everything you own in the room. She’s more than excited to have the sleepover, and that’s the only thing she talks about until her friends arrive.

You let them in, and the girls start talking amongst themselves, and they’re so engrossed in their conversation that they barely notice their parents walking out the door. You’re about to go finish setting up the room when Aneko stops you.

“I made these for you,” she says quietly, holding up some paper flowers, and your heart swells as you take them. “Thank you for being with me at school,” she adds, and you crouch down to give her a hug.

“Of course, Aneko. These are beautiful, I love them.” She gives you a small smile before she goes back over to her friends. Yuuji helps you with the finishing touches, and you call all of them so that they can see it. Their eyes widen as they take in the changes you made, and they look around the room as they walk in.

You’ve hung thin curtains from the ceiling, decorating them with fairy lights that you never got around to hanging up in your room. It’s draped over their sleeping bags which you’ve already set up, and Terushima moved her dollhouse into the room for them to play with. Satomi gives you a hug before running over to her sleeping bag, and you also decided to add some pillows in there as well.

“This is awesome!” You notice that her friends aren’t as loud as her, but they’re excited about it nonetheless, agreeing with her quietly. You and Terushima try to make a quiet exit, but Satomi stops you right as you take a step back, asking if you would color with them.

You can’t refuse, and Terushima huffs just a little bit. You had bought some coloring books for her since she’s been staying at your place when Terushima’s at work most of the time, so you give them one before you take one of your own.

They sit around you, and you don’t know how long it’s been until you realize that Terushima’s not in here with you. You tell them that you’ll be back, getting up to go find him. He’s not in the living room when you walk out, so you try your room, and you see him sitting against the headboard, scrolling through his phone.

“What’re you doing?” you ask, crawling into bed on the other side. “Are you pouting?” You’re smiling at him, but he doesn’t respond, locking his phone before turning to you.

“I thought I would be able to spend time with you,” he says, and you can’t help but laugh, sitting next to him, and he wraps an arm around you.

“Are you seriously jealous because I’m with them and not with you?”

“I’m the one dating you, and Satomi’s spent more time with you than I have,” he responds, annoyed, and if his arm wasn’t wrapped around you, you’re sure that he’d be crossing his arms right now.

“Well, we have some time before Satomi comes to get me,” you offer, and he just pulls you into him, wrapping his other arm around you.

“I’m not gonna let you go,” he mumbles, and you huff, shaking your head. The angle you’re resting at becomes too much of a strain on your back, so you lay down, Terushima doing the same thing. “I’m gonna fight for you.”

“I’d love to see that,” you laugh, rubbing your hands through his hair. “Oh, I forgot to put Aneko’s flowers in a vase.” You go to move, but he stops you, and his grip is so tight that you can barely move.

“No. You’re not going anywhere,” he says, shifting so that he’s fully on top of you. You laugh, and the comment that’s on your tongue is cut off when his lips meet yours. His kisses stay soft, and he rolls over onto his side, keeping his hand on your waist to guide you to do the same.

You’re interrupted soon after by a knock on the door, and Terushima groans loudly. “Are you guys awake?” You can recognize that it’s Satomi’s voice, and you smile at Yuuji’s reaction.

“We’re sleeping! Go away!” he responds.

“But you just said something!” Satomi counters quickly, and he groans again, putting his face in your neck, and you laugh before telling her she can come in. You roll over and sit up, but Terushima stays in the same position, his arm resting over your legs.

“What’s up?” you ask, and Terushima looks up at her over you.

“You said you would come back.”

“Why can’t I spend time with her?” Yuuji questions with a pout on his face. “You spend more time with her than I do.”

“No, I don’t,” she giggles. “You see her all the time.”

“So, do you! You’re supposed to be having a sleepover with your friends!”

“But, we were having fun,” she tries, and you start to move, but he tries to stop you.

“Yuuji, I’ll be back. I promise,” you say, and the pout on his face deepens as you slide out of the bed. Satomi runs off, and you lean down to kiss him. Even though he’s not happy, there’s no way he would ignore you, so he plants his lips on yours, and then the pout immediately returns. You shake your head as you laugh before you walk into the girls’ room.

Turns out, you don’t really have to stay long because you can tell the girls are getting tired. Satomi tries to put on a face, but you know that she’s just as tired. You slowly start to get them into their sleeping bags, and they all lay down, but you notice that Miwa is still sitting up.

“You okay?” you ask softly, and she nods, her fingers curled around her blanket softly.

“Can you read to me?” she asks quietly.

“Of course, I can.” She smiles softly before reaching over into her bag and pulling out the book she wants you to read. You sit next to her, getting comfortable before you start reading. You keep your voice soft, looking up and every now and then to see her blinking getting slower.

One by one, the girls start to fall asleep, and you read a little longer just in case. When you’re sure they’re fully asleep, you carefully close the book, setting it down, and you quietly make your way out of the room. You close the door softly behind you before you walk back to your room, and part of you expected Terushima to be asleep, but as you get closer to the door, you hear his voice.

By the time you walk in, he’s hanging up his phone. He’s sitting on the other side of the bed, so his back is to you, and he sighs heavily before tossing his phone onto the nightstand. He jumps a bit when he turns around, his eyes landing on you, and you close the door, turning off the lights. He’s silent as you get into the bed, and you can tell something’s wrong, but you don’t try to pry it out of him.

“Is everything okay?” you ask quietly, and he gets under the blanket. You roll over onto your side, and he does the same thing, wrapping his arm around your waist tighter than you expect.

“Satomi’s mother keeps contacting me,” he says softly before sighing again. You stay silent, not really sure how to feel. “I don’t know what to do. What should I do?” he asks, letting his face rest in your neck.

“I don’t know if it’s my place to say anything, Yuuji. But just know that I’ll be here for you,” you answer, moving your hand so that it’s resting on his head.

“Thank you,” he whispers, his arm tightening around you just a little bit more.

He’s at such a loss, and he feels like the right thing would be for Satomi to meet her mother, but he doesn’t want to make her upset. He doesn’t know how she’ll react, and he hasn’t even begun to tell Satomi who she really is. He hasn’t found the right time, but then you came into the picture, and there was a part of him that felt like he was never going to have that conversation with her.

It takes him a long time to go to sleep, but even when he finally does, his dreams just make him face reality all over again.

After the conversation with Satomi’s mother, Terushima’s been in a slump. His mind’s been running, and he knows that he’s worrying you and Satomi, but he doesn’t know what to do. He can’t remember the last time he’s felt so helpless. It’s been a week since then, and it just looks like she’s getting more and more eager to meet her. There’s a strong part of him that just wants to get it over with.

He’s thinking that he’d rather be spending time with you, and right as he decides he’ll just go over your place, there’s a knock on the door. He frowns, wondering who it could be, but he walks over to it, hoping that it’s you.

His hopes are horribly diminished when he sees who’s on the other side of the door. “You’ve been ignoring me for too long, Terushima.”

He’s frozen on the spot. There’s nothing in his head to tell him to move or say anything. He was nowhere near ready for this, and now he’s going to have to face it head-on. “What are you doing here?” he finally manages, but he doesn’t let her in.

“I want to see my daughter.”

“Why? It’s not like you wanted her in the first place,” he says quickly, but he immediately regrets it, the words leaving a sour taste in his mouth.

“Terushima, please.” He’s trying to prepare himself for this, but to his dismay, Satomi walks into the living room.

“Daddy? Who’s at the door?” He can’t look at her, and he watches her mother’s reaction. He moves when she walks in, but he’s quick to stand behind Satomi as if he’s trying to guard her.

“Oh, my God. You’re so big,” she says, and Satomi has a questioning look on her face as she backs into Terushima. He chews on his lip before he brings himself to speak again.

“Satomi,” he starts, having a hard time saying the words. “This is your mom.” She’s smiling at her, but for a couple of seconds that seem to last forever, Satomi doesn’t say anything.

“I’ve been wanting to see you for so long.” She tries to reach for her, but she moves out of her reach and she laughs. “Come on, Satomi. I’m your mother.”

“No, you’re not! y/n is my mommy, I don’t know who you are!” Before Terushima can move, she’s running out of the apartment, and he watches her disappear, but he’s not worried about where she’s going. Terushima feels his heart breaking at Satomi’s reaction, but he can only blame himself.

“Who’s y/n?” she questions, but he doesn’t answer. “So, you’ve already gone and replaced me?”

“Don’t give me that bullshit! There was nothing to replace because you weren’t here!” he yells, feeling nothing but anger rising in his veins. “This is your fault! You could’ve easily been in her life, but you left me in the fucking dust!”

“I was scared, Terushima!”

“You don’t think I was too?! You left a fucking baby on my doorstep with a fucking note! I was scared out of my fucking mind, and where were you in all of this?! I had to take care of her on my fucking own!” Everything he’s ever been thinking comes out, and he doesn’t know if there’s any way to stop it. The fact that she’s looking at him like the bad guy doesn’t help his emotions either.

“I thought you would leave me if I told you,” she tries, and he can’t help but scoff.

“Why would I do that?! When have I ever made you feel that way?! I’m not a fucking asshole!” He knows he should lower his voice since his front door is wide open, but he takes a couple of seconds to take a deep breath. “Where have you been all this time, huh?”

“I just needed some time,” she responds hesitantly, and he scoffs bitterly, shaking his head. “I just wanted to find myself–”

“No, you wanted to live your life without a kid! Don’t lie to me! You wanted to have the time of your life while I’ve been here picking up your fucking slack!” he yells, and she has the audacity to look ashamed. “Why did you come back here?”

“I wanted to see her,” she tries. “I told you that.”

“Is that all? You sure there isn’t another reason?” Now, he knows why they always had falling outs, and why he always took her back every time. Whenever things were going good, she would leave out of the blue, saying she needed space. It always left him confused and gutted, it would take him so long to get over it, and when he thought he would be at his lowest, she’d come back out of nowhere.

He doesn’t know how he never put it together after so long, and he wishes that he would’ve listen to Kazuma a long time ago. “You can try and build a relationship with Satomi, but you can’t blame her for how she’s responded.”

“You could’ve told her about me,” she replies. “You didn’t have to leave me out.”

“Don’t do this. Don’t shift the blame to me because you feel like shit since I’m doing just fine without you,” he counters quickly. “I told her that you weren’t coming back, and at the time, I thought it was the truth. I didn’t wanna keep bringing it up because seeing the look on her face broke me more than you could ever know.”

He can feel himself tearing up just thinking about it. She dropped the subject a couple of years ago especially when she started to see you more, but he’ll never get over the dejected look on her face. “You only have yourself to blame for all of this.”

The yelling seems to have died down, but Satomi hasn’t let go of you since she ran over here. You tried to ask her what she’s was doing at your door, but she ran into your legs as soon as you opened it. You could barely pry her off of you, and when you finally did, you were met with her teary face. You picked her up immediately, holding her in your arms as you sit on the couch.

“There’s a lady saying that she’s my mommy,” she whispers, and it all falls into place. You try to choose your next words carefully, sighing heavily as you think.

“I’m pretty sure she is, Satomi.”

“No, she’s not. You’re my mommy,” she argues, and you hate how this situation has turned out, and considering her reaction, you’re pretty sure she came to Terushima’s door unexpectedly.

“Well, technically, she is. You grew inside of her,” you try, and she sniffles heavily, wiping her face before she looks at you. “I kinda just stepped into the picture to help your dad.”

“I wish you were my real mom,” she says, and you feel your shoulders fall just a bit.

“But, Satomi, if I were, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be a completely different person that probably wouldn’t even like tigers.” You try to joke with her, but it seems to fall flat, although, it seems like she’s calmed down for now. “I know that this is really upsetting, but it’s the truth.”

“Does that mean she and Daddy will get back together?”

“I don’t think so. Just because they’re your parents doesn’t mean that they have to be together,” you answer, but of course, there’s a part of you that doesn’t have a confident answer. You try not to think about it too much, focusing as hard as you can on making Satomi feel better.

“I’m sorry I ran over here.”

“Satomi, you don’t have to apologize for that. Your dad probably knows that you’re over here anyway.” You brush her hair back, kissing her on the forehead softly. “You know I’ll always be here for you.”

“I love you,” she whispers as she gives you a hug.

“I love you, too, Satomi.” You both sit in silence, and you decide to get her to watch something on your tablet in your second room, giving her headphones just in case they start yelling again. You sit next to her, your phone in your hand as you wait for something from Terushima.

“You know this won’t work,” Terushima sighs. “You don’t care about her at all, you’re just trying to get to me. And I will not let you treat my daughter that way,” he declares. “If that’s all you came for, then you can leave. If you want to see Satomi, I’ll arrange it.”

“Don’t bother,” she spits, and Terushima tries to keep himself calm at her reaction.

“Get out.” He wants to add that he doesn’t want her to contact him again, but there’s still a voice in his head telling him that he can’t keep Satomi from her mother. “I never said anything bad about you because I didn’t want to ruin her image of you.” Although, he’s pretty sure that you’ve changed that, but there’s isn’t a bone in his body that’s upset about that. “But, just know that this outcome could’ve been changed.” He really hopes it hits home as he reminds her again, and she doesn’t leave with another word, a scoff leaving her lips before she walks out of the door. He doesn’t jump when the door slams, but his ears ring with finality.

That could’ve gone so many ways, but he feels like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders, and he sighs as he runs his hand through his hair. He checks his phone when it dings, seeing a text from you, but he’s not ready to talk to you yet. He asks if you can watch Satomi for a bit while he gets himself together, and he sits on the couch as he texts his friends.

Some time has passed, and he feels like he’s in a good place to go over to yours, hoping that the speech he has won’t fail him. He knocks on the door before he opens it, and you’re sitting on the couch, watching TV. You stand as he closes the door, pointing over your shoulder as you walk toward him.

“Satomi’s watching a show with headphones on,” you tell him, and he pulls you into a hug that takes you by surprise.

“I love you,” he whispers, and he tries not to hold onto you so tight to the point that that he might hurt you, but he can’t help it. His head has been spinning for so long, and hugging you makes it stop in an instant. He’s not too shaken up about the conversation with Satomi’s mother, knowing in the back of his head that it wasn’t going to work out anyway.

“I love you, too, Yuuji,” you reply. “Is everything okay?”

“She probably won’t be back. Our relationship was doomed from the start.” He doesn’t add many details, and he doesn’t feel like he needs to, but if you ask, he’ll tell you. “Thank you for being here all this time, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.” He pulls away to kiss you softly, and for the first time in a long time, he feels like he’s floating, like his body is running over with happiness.

“It was no problem,” you respond softly. “I love you and Satomi both so much. Thank you for letting me be with you and her.” He feels like he has to kiss you again, and there’s so much he wants to talk with you about, but he knows it’s not the time for it right now. But he’ll tell you eventually.

How he wants to really be a family with you, how he wants to spend the rest of his life with you, and how he wants to make you happy for the rest of your life. He’s been thinking about it for a while now, and when the time is right, he’ll tell you. He doesn’t hate Satomi’s mother. He can’t. She gave him one of the best things of his life, but he can’t hate her for causing him to cross paths with you.

From day one, he knew you were the one for him, and you constantly fueled that voice in his head. He couldn’t ask for a better outcome when his life was suddenly turned upside down, and now, he knows that he’ll be able to live this life with you until the end.

#terushima yuuji #yuuji terushima #terushima yuuji x reader #yuuji terushima x reader #terushima yuuji x black!reader #yuuji terushima x black!reader #terushima yuuji smut #yuuji terushima smut #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu x reader #hq!! x reader #hq x reader #haikyuu!! x black!reader #haikyuu!! smut #haikyuu smut #hq!! smut #hq smut

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chaxiu · 1 year

Text

growing sideways

pairing: kuroo tetsurou x fem! reader

summary: kuroo tetsurou is all grown up. you think you might have to learn to let him go. or: an exploration of love, and loving things.

note: sorry that it's been so long!! college has been so silly funny goofy (derogatory) but i'm on break now and pretending that i dno't have to go back in a week.

sort of spoilers for occupations (kuroo, kenma, yaku) post-timeskip! (but also doesn’t really follow canonical futures… sort of a mess, to be honest.) my attempt at reconciling what i’d hoped for him and what he becomes. title taken from a noah kahan song of the same name that has next to nothing to do with the actual fic.

cw: mention of throwing up (doesn’t actually happen, though)

___

When Kuroo Tetsurou gets scouted to a professional team in Russia, you’re the last person he tells. Technically, he doesn’t tell you at all – it’s Kenma who does, blinking up at you from behind a curtain of his hair.

“I thought he’d told you already,” he says, voice as apologetic as you’ve ever heard it, which is to say apathetic, as always, but with a dash of sympathy mixed in.

“No,” you say, because there’s nothing else left you can say. “He didn’t.”

Kenma doesn’t say anything, shifting his focus back to his game. You take the moment he offers you to exhale, quietly. To resituate yourself around this new hurt in your chest.

“Does everyone else know?” you ask. Kenma lifts one of his shoulders up, a half-shrug.

“Maybe not his mom,” he offers. This is poor consolation, and both of you know it – Kuroo hasn’t talked to his mother beyond stilted platitudes in years, not since she uprooted her life and his sister and half his chest and taken it with her, leaving a husband, a son, and a house with too many rooms.

“So he’s gonna take it, then,” you say. Kuroo is a lot of things – mercurial, bright, a pain in the ass when he puts his mind to it – but everyone knows that first and foremost, he’s a volleyball player. You’d realized it for yourself, back in your first year of university, when one of your friends had dragged you to a match and you’d spotted him, arms outstretched, fingers splayed and braced as if he thought he could hold a sun in his hands. When he’d landed, you’d caught sight of his grin, almost too large for his face.

Ah, you’d thought. So this is what it means to love something.

The next morning, at your eight-thirty introductory economics lecture, you’d shuffled in and put your head down on the desk, drifting closer and closer to sleep every second.

Then the person behind you had poked you, hard, and you’d let out a half-scream, jolting up in your seat in a way that made every single person in your lecture hall, including your professor, look at you.

The person behind you had started laughing – an ugly laugh, cackling like a hyena, the kind of laugh that made you want to join in, despite your burning embarrassment. You’d swiveled around to face him as the professor resumed his lecturing.

“What is wrong with you,” you’d hissed. It was the boy from yesterday– the middle blocker with the awful hair.

He’d raised his hands up in surrender, although there was still a crooked grin on his face. “Sorry, sorry,” he’d said. “Just was wondering if you had a pencil.”

“You know,” you’d said, fishing one from your bag. “There are easier ways to ask people for a pencil than giving them heart attacks.”

You’d passed the pencil to him, and he’d given you a jaunty little salute with it, one that made your lips curl up despite yourself. “I’ll keep it in mind,” he’d said, and you’d turned back around again, and that was that.

Except the next lecture, you’d arrived at your usual seat to find a disposable cup of coffee there, likely from the little cafe downstairs. You’d turned to the boy behind you, raising your eyebrows.

“As a thank you,” he’d shrugged, leaning back in his chair in a way you’d suspected was meant to be cool and casual. “And also so that you don’t keep falling asleep in lecture.”

“How do you know I’ve been falling asleep in lecture,” you’d said, a little grumpily, pulling the cup towards you and taking a sip nonetheless. It wasn’t your usual order, but it was drinkable, and if you were being honest, you’d need all the caffeine you could get.

He’d watched you take a sip of the drink, a pleased smile playing on his face. “I sit right behind you. I’ve seen you take a nap at your desk every single week.”

“I’ll have you know that that’s just the posture I learn best in,” you’d sniffed.

“What, drooling?”

“I do not drool,” you’d said, haughty. “And even if I did, how would you even know? You’re such a stalker.”

“Harsh,” he’d whistled, although the smile didn’t leave his face. “I’m just observant.”

You’d rolled your eyes at him, swiveling around to face the front of the room as the professor began his lecture. And if you’d managed – for the first time this entire semester – to make it all the way through without falling asleep, well, that was nobody’s business but your own.

The next week, another cup was waiting for you.

“You know,” you’d said, “I think you’ve repaid your debt from the pencil in full.”

“Oh, this isn’t about the pencil,” he’d replied. “I didn’t get the right order for you last week, did I? I wanted to try again this time.”

You’d blinked at him. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Kuroo,” he’d said. “Kuroo Tetsurou.”

“Well, Kuroo Tetsurou,” you’d said, “did you ever think about just asking me for my order?”

“What’s the fun in that?” he’d asked.

The drinks kept coming, every week, without fail, ranging from plain to ridiculously extravagant. He still hadn’t gotten your order, although at some point during the semester, he’d migrated from sitting behind you to sitting right next to you, passing you stupid notes and doodling all over your notebooks.

The last lecture’s drink was wrong, again, although you kept drinking it anyways. “You should come hang out with me and my friends sometime,” he’d said, sudden, and you’d nearly choked.

“What brought this on?”

“I dunno,” he’d said, uncharacteristically shy, looking away from you. “You know when you meet some people and it’s just like, they’re meant to be in my life, so you have to try really hard to not let them go?”

“So making a girl scream during lecture is your idea of an ideal introduction,” you’d said, and he’d rolled his eyes, leaning over to lightly push at your shoulder.

“You know what I mean.”

“I saw one of your volleyball matches,” you’d told him. Suddenly you’d wanted him to know. “At the beginning of the semester. Before we’d met.”

He seemed to understand what you were trying to say. “What’d you think?”

“You must really love it,” you’d said. “Playing volleyball.”

“I do.”

“Well, then, Kuroo-kun. I’ll come meet your friends, under one condition.” He’d raised his eyebrows at you, expectantly.

“I get to tell you my coffee order,” you’d said. “Some of these drinks are becoming downright disgusting.”

“You drink them anyway,” he’d replied. “But I suppose that’s a fair trade.”

You’d grinned at him, and he’d grinned back, and it’d all gone from there.

You’ve known since you started talking to him that Kuroo is a natural at getting people to orbit around him. He draws people near – crooked grin, warm eyes, quick wit – and then holds them there, at arm’s length, never quite letting them get any closer. You’d thought, perhaps, that you could be an exception to this. That he’d seen something in you that was enough for him to want to let you in. To pull you close. The thing is this: in your heart of hearts you are a romantic, and to you Kuroo has always been a little like the sun, like tilting your face towards the golden wash of afternoon and remembering, soft and gentle like falling into something, So this is what it is to love.

“I don’t know,” Kenma says, and you look at him looking at his game. He is, out of anyone, the most likely to understand how you feel: the air knocked out of you, leaving you gasping and breathless . But he has the reassurance of more than a decade of friendship behind him, built on neighboring houses and the squeak of shoes on a gymnasium floor. Some days you feel like what you have with Kuroo is fragile and insubstantial, playing-card houses on a precarious surface. Like if he left he’d take it all with him.

“Of course he’s going to take it,” you say past the lump in your throat. “He’d be an idiot not to.”

Kenma doesn’t say anything, but the little sound effects from his game pause. He blinks up at you through his bangs.

“We should throw him a party,” you say. “Or something. To celebrate.”

“If you think that’s a good idea,” he says, noncommittal.

There is an ache in your chest and you think that once you leave Kenma’s apartment you won’t be able to stop yourself from crying. “Of course it’s a good idea. You know how much Kuroo loves having everyone he loves in one place.”

“That’s exactly the thing,” Kenma murmurs, but you don’t hear him, already pulling out your phone to make a list.

“Invites, decorations, food… Oh! Kenma, do you think Kuroo would like it if we made him saba? Or went out to a restaurant that specializes?”

“Probably,” he says. The game resumes. “He’s always going on about doca-something acid.”

“Docosahexaenoic acid,” you correct absently, scrolling through a list of nearby restaurants. Kuroo’s talked about it enough – and despite your better judgment, you’ve listened to his rants enough times – for you to remember the name in full.

You miss the look that Kenma gives you, exasperatedly fond.

It turns out that Kuroo knows a lot of people. Even more than you’d thought. There are the guys that he plays with on the volleyball team, of course, but then there’s also his other business major friends and the other undergraduates who work in the same lab that he does in his free time (because of course he’d be the type of person to do that.) Then there’s the neighbors he’d had freshman year and still miraculously keeps in touch with, and the ones from sophomore year. Then Kenma casually mentions that Kuroo still frequently talks to everyone from his volleyball team his third year of high school, and you have to beg him to let you use his phone and ensure that everyone from there will be able to attend.

Then there’s the issue of getting enough food: you know from prior experience that volleyball players can eat, and there’s a part of you that worries that the budget you’ve scraped together from whatever your friends managed to donate won’t be enough for one of them, let alone the stampede you’re about to invite into your apartment. And besides, there’s decorations to think about, and maybe a present for Kuroo, and maybe it would be cute if you could get one of those places that rents out cats to send over a couple – do those places actually exist or was the whole thing just a stress-induced hallucination? Either way, the stress of budgeting is enough to make you understand why Kuroo had succumbed to his base capitalistic tendencies and become a business major. You’ll never be able to make fun of him for it again.

Kenma solves this problem readily enough, extending a credit card towards you with barely any hesitation when you mention it in passing.

“Stop stressing out,” he mutters. “It’ll be okay. Kuro’s not the kind who’d care about things like that.”

You blink at him. He determinedly avoids your eyes. “Kenma,” you say. “You know what I have to do, don’t you.”

He sighs, setting down his game. “If you must.”

You launch yourself at him in a bone-crushing hug, and although you hear him click his tongue at you, you can also feel the way his hands come up to rest on your back, soft and steady.

“He asked me if I’d seen you around recently,” Kenma mentions when you separate.

“What did you say?”

“Said you seemed busy. He said he hadn’t seen you and was worried he’d done something.”

There isn’t much to say back to that. You busy yourself by picking at one of the threads in your shirtsleeves.

Kenma says your name.

“I know,” you say. “I know. I just – I don’t know.”

Kuroo has many smiles, you know. There’s the one when he’s trying to get a rise out of someone, lazy and lean. There’s the one when he sees a cute animal or a small child or the old lady you always run into the market, the one that reminds him of his obaa-chan. There’s the one he gets when he sees you, sometimes, and doesn’t realize that you’re seeing him back, small and fond in a way that makes you a little afraid, sometimes. At the enormity of it. At how fragile it seems, some days. At what it could become, if given the chance.

And there’s the one he has when he’s playing volleyball, the one that makes his eyes go all squinty; the one that’s a little too large, just on this side of feral, because he’s so happy that he doesn’t remember to think about things like presentability and not scaring the people around him, both on his side and the other side of the net. The one he has when he hits a kill block, or a no-touch ace.

You don’t think you could stand to take that from him.

“I’ve just been busy. With the party planning, and all,” you finish, meekly. You know he knows you’re lying. Still, Kenma doesn’t push.

“If you say so,” he hums, turning back to his computer. “It seemed like he missed you, though.”

You hate yourself for the small spark of want that blooms in your chest.

Kuroo Tetsurou, in another life, could probably be yours. You’ve seen the way his ears turn red sometimes when you press a little too close, thighs close enough to be touching at one of the tables of your favorite izakaya. You know he knows your favorites the same way that he knows his own, know that in his head there’s a file of nothing but his knowledge about you, filled to bursting. You know that there are days, hours, moments where his touch lingers on your wrist, your cheek, the back of your arm – never long enough to presume, just long enough for you to notice.

In this life, you’ve seen the way he plays volleyball clearly enough to know that he loves it. That in terms of paths, this is probably the most natural one for him, as easy as breathing. That the world is so big and he deserves to go out and see it, that he’s growing up and some days you feel in your bones that he’s leaving you behind, in the same way that you’d left behind the yellow rubber rainboots you’d adored as a child, outgrown and overworn.

You busy yourself with party planning, so that at least everyone except Kuroo knows that you have a valid reason for ignoring him. Once the budgeting crisis is averted, things go surprisingly smoothly: money really does make the world go round, you think, in a rare moment of reflection between arguing with the caterer and double-checking that you have enough chairs in your apartment.

It’s good, to keep busy. Drowns out your heartbeat in your ears. He’s leaving, he’s leaving, he’s leaving. He’s leaving and you’re not gonna even ask him to stay.

The day of the party is bright and clear, because the universe loves Kuroo in the same way that you do. Bokuto – one of Kuroo’s teammates, and one of your favorites out of all of Kuroo’s teammates (although you’ve long maintained that it would be difficult for Bokuto not to be anyone’s favorite) – is tasked with distracting Kuroo for the day, then leading him to your apartment. This is a good plan because Bokuto is, himself, easily distractible, and Kuroo is, more often than not, perfectly willing to go along with Bokuto’s distractions. However, this is also a bad plan because Bokuto is, out of everyone you’ve invited, perhaps the second-most likely person to spoil the plans for the party. (The first being Lev Haiba, naturally.) To counterbalance that, you’ve asked Akaashi Keiji, one of your juniors, to go along – he has a natural talent for keeping Bokuto in check, more so than anyone you’ve ever met. But you’d feel bad, leaving Akaashi alone to deal with the two of them like that, so to ensure your plan had the greatest chance of success possible, you convince (read: bribed) Kenma to go along with the three of them. Odds are good that he won’t do much to curb Kuroo and Bokuto, but you’re willing to hope that his presence will keep Kuroo from doing something completely insane.

Back in your apartment, you’re adding the last finishing touches to the streamers hanging in the doorway. Yaku, next to you, squints at the streamers. “They’re a little crooked,” he says.

You bite back your immediate response, which is to tell him that if you had a stepladder tall enough that he could reach you’d gladly go get it for him so he could fix them himself. Instead, you ask, “How is it, over there, Yakkun?”

“In Russia?” he asks, and you nod. He pauses, considering. “It was rough, at first.”

“But you got through it,” you say, voice coming out a little more desperately than you’d like. “You like it there now.”

“Yeah,” he says. “It won’t ever be Japan, but I think I can make it home. And Kuroo’s always been able to land on his feet, wherever it goes. I don’t think you need to worry about him, even if he does decide to take the offer.”

“Of course he’s going to take the offer,” you say. “Why wouldn’t he –”

Your phone buzzes in your pocket. You take it out to read a text from Akaashi. Heading back, it says. Be there in three.

Hurriedly, you jam your phone back into your pocket. “Okay, everyone, places!” you call, watching with a critical eye as everyone tucks themselves away.

“Lev, that’s not gonna work. Hiding behind the lamp’s not gonna do much.”

“Idiot,” you hear someone – Yaku? – mutter, and you laugh a little despite yourself. Your phone buzzes again. In the elevator, you read, and hastily you dive underneath a table with one of Kuroo’s kouhai from high school – Fukunaga, you think – to hide yourself, just as you hear the sound of a key in a lock.

“I just don’t understand why she’d ask you to take care of her plants,” Kuroo says as he steps through the door, sounding a little bemused. “I mean, I love you, bro, but I still haven’t forgotten what happened that one time –”

Three, two, one, you mouth silently, holding your fingers out where everyone can see them, then –

“Surprise!” you call out, stepping out of your hiding place. The others all scramble to follow, adding their own voices to the chorus.

It is, to your delight, one of the few times you’ve seen Kuroo properly surprised, enough that he actually staggers back a step, eyes wide.

“What – how – when – what is this for?” he asks, directing his question to you, standing right in front of him.

“To say congratulations, Kuroo,” you reply. Suddenly your throat is a little dry. “On getting the offer.”

This time his eyes widen with realization – and maybe a little flash of guilt. He covers it quickly, though, and you’re left a little uncertain, like stepping on uneven ground.

“So you didn’t actually ask Bokuto to take care of your plants,” he says instead, and you laugh. The sound is a little brittle in your ears.

“Of course not,” you say. “I haven’t forgotten that one time when he –”

“Did I mention we have cake?” Bokuto swoops in. “I picked out the flavor myself and everything. You gotta come see it. The lady at the store was so nice, though I don’t think she understand exactly what I was asking her to put on it at first –”

With a wry eye roll to you, Kuroo lets himself be dragged away. The rest of the partygoers take it as their sign to start mingling, and you let yourself fade into the chatter, becoming nothing more than background noise. It fits uncomfortably, now, where before it might have been a little more natural. Kuroo has always been good at creating space intentionally, whether it be for you or anyone else: a sly smirk for your eyes only, a joke directed towards you and you alone. It’s one of the reasons why you think everyone feels like they can fall into his orbit more effortlessly.

Kenma appears by your side, unobtrusive as usual. “You should talk to him.”

“And say what?”

“Whatever you want.”

There is a want in your throat and it chokes you. I want you to stay. I know you should go. I’m terrified that I’ll never see you again, either way – if I made you stay and you resented it, if I let you leave and you loved it.

“I’m worried that he’s getting bored here,” you say instead. “Like it’s not challenging him enough. Like he wants more.”

There are things that you’re willing to admit you can be slightly paranoid about: like putting too much of your heart on the table, like finding someone who loves all of you but the worst parts. Like loving someone and watching them start to resent you, like wanting to learn how to love in the right way but really only learning how to suffocate. And you know it’s possible that in this could be a combination of all those things, that rationally Kuroo knows better than anyone what’s his to keep and what’s his to give away. But you’ve known him for so long now, and there’s a part of you that likes to think you know him better than almost anyone in the world. It’s that part of you that insists you can see Kuroo Tetsurou getting tired, a little bit. He walks off the court with his head tilted back, eyes closed against the glaring lights on the gymnasium, far above. When he looms over the net, you think of it as less a state of being and more of a conscious action: a weary sigh. Another day at work.

Kuroo Tetsurou, you think, is learning to want new things. To love new things. And that’s okay – that’s more than okay. There’s just a selfish part of you that wishes you could be there to see him through it.

Kenma hasn’t said anything, staring at you patiently. You think you might throw up.

“I have to go,” you say, limp, and spin on your heel to slip out the back door. Somewhere behind you, Bokuto’s cheers rise above the din, followed by Kuroo’s cackling laugh. It makes your chest ache a little, but at the very least it provides you with some cover.

Your little apartment building stands at an intersection between two streets. Turn right and you’ll get to the park with the stray cats, the ones who’ve started coming around more frequently now that Kuroo has started showing up (now that Kuroo has started bringing them treats, although he denies it every time you bring it up.) Turn left and walk far enough and there’s a little embankment that slopes down to a river. Sometimes in the mornings joggers will pass through the area, but in the dead of the night like it is now the grassy slope is deserted. You sink down onto it, ignoring the way the cold sinks into your skin.

Part of you wants to cry. Most of you is glad you aren’t: can’t, maybe, or won’t.

You tell yourself the grand lesson in this is that you have to be better at letting go. That there is a lot that your hands could hold – a lot that your hands could want to hold, given the time. Given the opportunity – but not all of it is meant to be held by you. That there is a whole world out there and tonight it feels like it’s slipping through your fingers.

Perhaps the grand lesson is just this: that loss exists. That wanting perseveres.

“Hey,” a voice says from behind you. You know without turning who it is, fingers tightening in the grass.

“Hey,” you say back.

“Can I sit?”

You wave a hand listlessly at the space beside you. “There’s space available.”

He settles in next to you, close enough that your thighs could brush if you were a little more careless, if you hadn’t been holding yourself strung tight and stiff.

“Why aren’t you in there?” you ask finally, when it becomes clear that he has no intention of saying anything, that he’s planning on waiting until you start first. “It’s your party.”

“Why aren’t you in there?” he counters. “You planned it.”

“It was a little loud,” you offer. “Was getting a little sleepy.”

“You weren’t there anymore,” he says. “Kenma said he saw you heading out.”

The words stick in the hollow of your throat, between your collarbones. You can feel them lodged there. “Kuroo,” you say, careful to not let your voice shake, “you can’t say things like that.”

There’s a hand on your knee, long fingers and broad palms spreading over your skin easily. His hand is warm. You direct your gaze down to it. His hand is big enough that it nearly covers your knee.

“Why not?”

“It’s not fair,” you say. “I know you’re not that stupid, Kuroo. You can’t go saying things like that when you’re about to leave.”

He says your name, sharp and soft.

“And of course I’m happy you’re going. I know you’re not happy – not as happy here as you could be. I know it’s an incredible opportunity. I know you deserve it, and you deserve every incredible thing that comes your way. Or at least – I want to be happy for you, Kuroo. I want to be able to give you that much, at least.”

He says your name again. It sounds fond enough that you gain the courage to look up at him. He’s looking right at you. The hand on your knee reaches for your jaw, instead, cradling it tenderly.

“I think I’m gonna stay,” he says. “And I’m sorry for not telling you about the offer earlier. I just – I didn’t want you to think I was leaving. I wasn’t even sure if I was, at first. But then I kept coming back to it – the fact that I didn’t want you to think I was leaving. Not at all, not even a possibility. It made me realize that – well. Russia would be incredible. But I think – I know – I would rather stay.”

The words take a moment to sort themselves out in your brain. Then:

“Kuroo, you can’t,” you choke out. “This is your dream.”

“It was,” he says. “For the longest time, it was. And I thought it was something I had to keep loving. Something that I had to pursue. Like I would be doing a disservice to the me I was when I was little, if I decided I didn’t want to follow the path I’ve wanted since I first started playing volleyball.”

You say nothing. There is a sun rising in your throat. You are afraid to let it go.

“But you know,” he says, thoughtful, “I think there is a difference between loving something and being in love with something.”

“Yeah?” you say. He reaches for your hand, flipping it over from where it rests in the grass so that your palm is facing upward. Slots his fingers through the gaps between your own.

“Yeah,” he says, squeezing once, twice, three times. “Like – I love volleyball, you know.”

“I know,” you say, because you do.

“But I’m in love with it here. With Japan. With the connections I’ve made, with the people who keep me here.”

“I’m glad,” you say, because you are, selfishly so.

“And,” he says, hesitant in a way that you’ve only ever seen once before, back when he was just the boy with the awful laugh and the ugly hair and who kept getting you coffee and getting it wrong, “I’m in love with you.”

And the sun, blooming over the horizon.

#hi also thank you so much for all the love on my last one #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyu!! x reader #haikyu x reader #hq!! x reader #hq x reader #kuroo x reader #kuro x reader #kuroo tetsurou x reader #kuroo tetsuro x reader #tetsurou kuroo x reader #tetsuro kuroo x reader #hq imagine #hq!! imagine #hq!!! x reader

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