Chapter Text
Oikawa stood at the door of the new apartment he’d managed to bag after months of gruelling paperwork and formalities. He quietly pushed the key into the keyhole and turned, hyper-aware of the silence in the long, monotonous hallway. The blinking fluorescent lights imposed a watchful gaze on him when he finally opened the door to the small living space.
After spending a year of searching for a company that would take him under its wing, Oikawa was more than excited to start his position at a start-up editing company. Though small, its promising plans for the future and stable income drew him in with ease. The opportunity became even more enticing when it provided him with a permanent residence in Tokyo, far from his humble Sendai residence. It was also the only company willing to hire him.
Oikawa carefully toed off his shoes at the genkan and ventured into his new home. The cold of the tiled flooring seeped through his socks when he trod down the short hallway. His eyes wandered on the eggshell walls admiring the subtle beauty in its blankness until they dropped on a shōji door. He slid the door open to find a living room with nothing but a few stary cardboard boxes and a large suitcase at the centre, a stark contrast to the rest of its barren nature. The natural light from the balcony attached to the space gave it a warm, welcoming glow, much to Oikawa’s appreciation. He stepped into the room, appreciating the owner’s decision to provide tatami flooring for the room, and took an exasperated breath.
It was well past noon and Oikawa knew that he’d need to refresh before unpacking his belongings. He’d spent the better part of the morning burning away under the scrutiny of the landlord answering all types of questions when they finalized the paperwork required for his lease on apartment 3 on the 10th floor and he was tired.
Upon deciding to celebrate with some hefty take-out and placing the order, Oikawa’s mind wandered to the other parts of the apartment that were lying hidden behind the remaining doors. He took note of a small kitchen with more cold tiling and a gas stove. Probably abandoned by the previous tenants, Oikawa thought, maybe it’s worth saving it until I can get myself a new one.
He then made his way to a door that he guessed belonged to the bedroom, hoping another surprise would be left for him from the previous tenants. He opened the door to find a sizable bedroom completely bare of human touch and contact. Ignoring the tiny amount of disappointment, his imaginative mind already coming up with ways to personalise his space in the future. With that thought, he left the room to indulge in the last door yet to be explored.
He swung the door open with enthusiasm and was presented with the sight of a bathroom, clean and pristine. Clinical, almost. Oikawa’s eyes washed across the white and teal tiles of the bathroom walls to the bathtub as an inexplicable shudder expanded on his shoulders. The clinging smell of disinfectant potent in the air. A faint taste of blood not so far behind.
A loud ring of the intercom returned Oikawa to the present. He swallowed dryly as he made his way to receive the delivery, trying his best to maintain appearance. Oikawa then headed to the balcony with food in hand, feeling the need for some fresh air. The high sun beamed down at him as he slid the glass door open and took a seat on the floor, legs freely dangling from between the railings.
He sat there for a minute with his eyes closed and senses heightened, feeling the light wind wash right through him, as though he wasn’t even there. Opening his eyes, he dug in, basking in the wear washing off of his body with each bite. He had a long day of unpacking ahead of him so he needed to gather as much energy the food would let him.
Lost in thoughts of the plans for the day, didn’t notice the drag and shut of another door. Oikawa’s head swung up when a presence made itself known to his right, a sharp clear of throat distinguishing itself from the rest of the chatter of the city below. His eyes were met with curious, golden ones.
“Is that place any good?” the Neighbour questioned, tilting his head to gesture at the take-out Oikawa was holding. Oikawa looked down at the food in his hands and replied with a simple shrug, not knowing how else to answer. It had been a while since he got the chance to converse with people outside formalities and he felt a bit rusty.
“It’s the first time I’ve tried it so I’m not fully sure, the Pho is pretty good though,” he replied, hoping it was enough to end the exchange right there. Unfortunately, the stranger had other ideas. He perked up at Oikawa’s response and gave a thoughtful hum.
“Oh, that place just opened so I was just curious. By the way, your accent,” the man said with a vague hand movement directed at Oikawa, “that’s from Sendai, isn’t it?”
Oikawa’s eyes widened a bit, searching the man’s face to catch any sense of recognition. The man had an easy grin stretched on his face, further accentuating the rest of his sharp features. Something unreadable rested behind the man’s demeanor. Oikawa’s guard was on.
Without noticing the silence had stretched a bit too long and Oikawa was wracking his mind for responses. He slowly nodded his head, suddenly aware of every movement his body was making as he felt the man’s gaze linger on him from where he was standing on his own balcony, body leaning on the elbow that rested on the railing.
“Yeah, I moved here just today so I’m looking forward to seeing what Tokyo has to offer,” Oikawa said with a practised smile growing on his face, hoping the man would take the bait.
He looked at Oikawa for a while, his smile disappearing before returning with more amusement. Shit, Oikawa thought, he caught on. He’s way sharper than he looks. Before Oikawa could salvage the situation, “Kuroo Tetsurō,” the man said, “I’m Kuroo Tetsurō from apartment 4. Pleasure to meet you.”
Oikawa, struck by confusion, realized that the man wasn’t ready to back down and was, in fact, enticed by the challenge. Under other circumstances, people would usually end the conversation, as to not land the responsibility of showing a new person around town given how bothersome it can be. Especially occupied with his busy life in Tokyo, Oikawa expected
his neighbour, Kuroo, to wish him luck and head back into his apartment. Mentally hitting himself for the misstep, Oikawa prepared for the next round.
“I’m Oikawa Tooru. Pleasure is mine,” he said with a shining smile, fully knowing Kuroo would see right through it. But he wouldn’t mention it though. Because acknowledging such minuscule changes in a person’s expressions would mean Kuroo was paying extra attention to Oikawa’s body language and he didn’t want to have that conversation yet. Kuroo personally didn’t feel the need to anyway.
Kuroo looked at Oikawa’s eyes, round and coloured with a coffee brown hue and shade of pretence he had yet to peer through. His wavy hair matched the shade of his eyes and framed his face in a stylish mess. His lean body was at show from where he leaned on his hands behind him, clad in cargo shorts and a blue tank top. Clearly, he was looking after it. The lady-killer type, huh?He thought to himself, this is going to be interesting.
“So, what’s the sudden move for? Oikawa-san,” Kuroo couldn’t help the little tone in his voice when he said the name. The slightly annoyed look on Oikawa’s face made it even more worth it.
“Just for a new job. Nothing too flashy,” Oikawa said, trying to be as humble as possible. Before Kuroo could question what kind of employers were looking for hires all the way in Sendai, Oikawa continued, “It’s boring really, nothing to talk about. I would love to chat more but I have to unpack all my things. It’ll probably take weeks given how much stuff I packed,” Oikawa ended with a chuckle.
“Oh, of course. Don’t let me keep you. See you around, Oikawa-san,” Kuroo said.
“See you, Kuroo-san,” Oikawa replied, before gathering himself and heading back inside. Kuroo watched as the sliding door shut at Oikawa balcony, cutting him off from the view of the man. He decided now was the perfect time to head back into his apartment to escape the blistering heat of the summer sun.
A yawn tore out of him as he made his way to the low table in the centre of his living room. Not particularly in the mood for beginning work on his new assignments, Kuroo pushed the textbooks aside to make room for his laptop. He put an anime on to settle the room with a comfortable noise, as he made his way to the kitchen to heat up lunch. He decided the leftover curry from last night and a bowl of rice would do perfectly.
After preparing the food he returned to the table and settled on a cushion, focused on the characters on the screen to catch at least some of the plot. Kuroo kept his eyes trained on the screen, as he scuffled the food down, intent on memorising the plot and keeping his mind occupied. However, that felt nearly impossible when his mind was insistent on trailing to a particular set of coffee brown eyes.
Kuroo couldn’t help himself from replaying the encounter with the neighbour, his mind returning to the dark eyes that swirled with mystery. Kuroo knew his demanding curiosity was getting to him when a passing thought of uncovering those secrets crossed his mind. He
halted that train of thought before it could venture any further though. Nothing good will come from this, Kuroo thought to himself as he tried to focus on the anime ahead of him for the last time.
A few episodes later, he picked up the empty dishes and placed them in the kitchen sink. He then shrugged a towel on his shoulder before walking to his bathroom. He stripped his clothes into the hamper next to the door before stepping into the warm shower. The steam blanketed the room and fogged up the porcelain surfaces. The water rained on him with an unrelenting pace as he tilted his head up, letting the warm drops rinse his hair back and run down his back and the rest of his body.
Kuroo stepped out of the shower half an hour later and dried himself clean before tying the towel around his hip. He exited the bathroom with thoughts of finally working on assignments roaming in his head. He had procrastinated enough for a day and it was time he got started or he’d have to deal with angry professors and even angrier parents. And that would be counterproductive since he wanted to avoid catching their attention much as possible.
Kuroo sat down back at the table in the living room, pulled his textbooks in front of him and got to work. The economics half of his double major isn’t entirely unmanageable but the pharmaceutical science part proved to be more challenging than he previously considered. He always had a natural understanding of the study of atoms in high school, when he’d taken advanced classes for chemistry, but university required a whole new level of brainpower. Especially since he was one year from graduating and professors have started requesting students to prepare for their final thesis lest they drown in the unrelenting workload during their final year and self-destruct.
The sight of his colleagues experiencing the same turmoil from all the mental pressure, definitely posed as comfort. Specifically, a particular friend he’d made as a first-year.
Entirely emersed in the endless spirals of references, published scientific papers and lab reports, Kuroo accomplished nearly three hours of uninterrupted work before the tension built upon his shoulders became too painful to ignore. A loud groan of relief escaped his chest when he stretched his arms above his head in an attempt to relax his muscles. He got up from the cushion on the floor to stretch his body on the grey corner sofa behind him. The late afternoon sun draped itself across the room in a warm hue as Kuroo laid there, unmoving. He felt suffocated.
Before realised, he grabbed his phone from the table and sent a text to his friend for drinks later that day, hoping she would take him up for the unplanned meeting. It was a Saturday night, after all, and Kuroo knew her schedule well enough to know that she most definitely would be free. Kuroo stared up at the ceiling with a blank expression. The unyielding restlessness at the bottom of his chest would only demur after some level of intoxication and he was determined.
While waiting for a reply, he grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen and returned to the couch, checking his phone once more. He put the cup down on the table before opening the new notification.
To:KK.uroo
From:Tetsuko.aoyama
Heyy!! AND YES! i would love to get some drinks
Some stress relief is much needed after the week I just had
15:32 read
To:Tetsuko.aoyama
From:KK.uroo
Please,, tell me about it
the professors have been on my ass all week
and idk things have been hard
15:35 read
To:KK.uroo
From:Tetsuko.aoyama
is everything ok? You’ve been a little off lately. We can just talk today if you want
we don’t need to do anything you don’t wanna
15:35 readTo:Tetsuko.aoyama
From:KK.uroo
I just need you
15:42 read
Putting the phone down, Kuroo pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. He needed this.