How We Began

If you were to ask them, years later, what that first full day in Kyoto was like, they’d have told you it was almost like any first date. And they’d stress the ‘almost’ because how many first dates start out sharing the same hotel room, and the same bed? Sure, they could still be a little nervous around each other, but that first full day was the first time they were constantly in each other’s presence. Somehow, when all was said and done, they found that just being together was so much better than whatever shrine, park, or restaurant they were visiting.

Tsuki’s first alarm went off at 8am. He grumbled, hit the snooze, and immediately went back to sleep. He didn’t hear the soft chuckle from beside him, nor did he notice when Kuroo left the bed.
The second alarm went off at 8:30am. Tsuki hit the snooze again, but tried to stay awake. He rolled over and flung one arm to the side, the other over his eyes.
First thing he noticed was that Kuroo wasn’t beside him. His side of the bed was ice cold. Tsuki groggily thought he must’ve risen after that first alarm.
Second thing he noticed; the scent of coffee. And was that… bacon?

“I had room service bring us breakfast. If you’re up for it,” he heard Kuroo say softly.
“Not even 9am, yet,” Tsuki grumbled.
“Well, no,” Kuroo agreed. “But there’s bacon, and a strawberry danish. Plus, coffee with plenty of cream and sugar for you to mix in.”

Muttering to himself something about early birds and mornings being the bane of his existence, Tsuki dismissed the rest of his alarms and struggled to sit up. Bracing his arms behind him, he squinted against the sunlight coming in from the window. Once his eyes acclimated, he looked around the room, and found Kuroo sitting at the chabudai. His laptop was open, and he was reading, and occasionally typing. He was still dressed in what he slept in: a black tank top and a pair of red shorts. His dark hair was a glorious riot of a mess, too, tempting Tsuki to run his fingers through to tame it.

Also, as he had said, breakfast was waiting. So was the coffee.

“Morning, sunshine,” Kuroo said. He had a coffee mug halfway to his mouth, and he was smiling wickedly.
“Too early,” Tsuki grumbled, maneuvering so that his legs were over the side of the bed and his feet hit the floor. “What are you doing?”
“Just checking out some of the places we want to go,” Kuroo explained. “Weather, maps, that sort of thing.”
“Drinking all the coffee and eating all the food…” Tsuki groused as he pushed off the bed. He smirked at Kuroo as he came over to join him. He sat down and grabbed a plate, loading it up with bacon and his first strawberry danish.
“You snooze, you lose,” Kuroo quipped back, pouring coffee into a mug and pushing it toward Tsuki. “I don’t know the correct sugar and cream to coffee ratio.”
“Easy,” Tsuki replied, through a bite of bacon. “Watch closely.” He snatched five sugar packets and four little cup things of creamer, dumped it all in and stirred vigorously. He brought the mug to his lips, and took a healthy sip. “Perfection,” he sighed happily.
“If you say so,” Kuroo grimaced. “If the caffeine doesn’t help wake you up, then the sugar rush will. I just hope the crash isn’t for a long while.”
“Years of practice.”
“If you say so,” Kuroo repeated. “Here. This is what I was doing before you woke up.” He turned his laptop so Tsuki could see while he ate. “Depending on how long it takes us to visit each of these, we could end up at the Imperial Palace and there’s a little place not too far from there where we could eat lunch.”
“Sounds good. We can come back here for a rest and decide what to do for dinner,” Tsuki suggested.
“Yeah,” Kuroo agreed, smiling. “There’s a spot at Nanzen-ji that I’m really interested in.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“You’ll see.”
“Another surprise?”
Kuroo shrugged. “Maybe. Though you could probably find out if you wanted to,” he said, his eyes dipping to the laptop and then slowly back up, pausing for a moment at his right shoulder. “A tattoo?”
“You saw it last night.”
“Didn’t think to ask about it then.”
Tsuki grinned. “It’s a raven, but it’s supposed to be a crow.”
“A crow? For your school?”
“Yeah,” Tsuki nodded. “Us third years’ made a… pact… you could say. We’d all get a tattoo if we won Nationals.”
“If I recall correctly, you didn’t.”
“No. But because we made it to the semi-finals, we went ahead and got the tattoos anyway.”
“Does everyone have it in the same place? The same size?”
“No,” Tsuki smirked. “Yamaguchi, the team captain, has a small one on his left calf. Hinata had his drawn just above his right hip. Kageyama bears his on his left shoulder blade. You can see where mine is. And Yachi’s…” he finished off his coffee, danish, and the rest of his bacon. Kuroo took his mug and refilled his coffee, mixing in the sugar and cream, too.
“Yachi?”
“Our team manager. Never actually thought she’d go through with it, but she did.” His smile was nostalgic.
“Did she? Where is her tattoo?”
Tsuki put his right hand over his heart. “Here.”
“Nice.”
“Mine is the only one that’s this big. Everyone else’s is smaller by comparison.”
“How come?”
“The original design was smaller. I expanded the pic online and… it looked better bigger. I printed it out, and the artist took it literally. I didn’t stop him, either.”

He watched as Kuroo tried not to laugh, his face contorting between trying to stay serious and smiling brilliantly. Within minutes, he was practically rolling on the floor, laughing. Tsuki knew his story was rather silly, but not that much. Even so, he couldn’t help laughing along with Kuroo.

Kuroo’s phone pinged, and he reached to turn off the alarm he’d set. It was 9:30am. Because Tsuki had served himself another danish and plate of bacon (someone had to finish the food, and Kuroo had already had his fair share), Kuroo went to take a quick shower and get ready to go. While he was doing that, Tsuki borrowed his laptop and also looked at the weather and their itinerary. He’d need his headphones for the Silver Pavilion and Imperial Palace, otherwise, he should be okay.

He was finished with his second breakfast by the time Kuroo was done. Standing up, he grabbed his towel, toiletries, and his outfit for the day and headed for the bathroom. He’d just got to the door when it opened and Kuroo came out. They ran into each other, and reached out to steady each other.

“I’m sorry…”
“Be careful…”

Time seemed to stop altogether. Neither of them moved. Hands lightly grasped arms in effort to keep either from falling, but the touch… It was electrifying. Tsuki shivered, and he felt Kuroo tremble. He hadn’t noticed it the first time they touched, not while he was in the midst of a panic attack. He’d just needed the contact. Even now, they’d touched out of necessity. What would it feel like if it wasn’t? What would it feel like if they…

“You dropped your stuff,” Kuroo said, abruptly letting go.
“Right.”

They both bent to pick up his things, and their heads were closer than ever. It wouldn’t take much; just a little closer, a little tilt, and they could…

“Tsuki?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to be honest with you.”
“I should hope so.”
Kuroo chuckled, and then took a deep breath. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“Yeah. Same.”
“Really?”
Tsuki nodded.
“But, I… it’s going to sound crazy, but I want to wait.”
“Not crazy. May I ask why?”
They both slowly rose to their feet, and Kuroo handed him his stuff.
“I don’t want to mess this up. I don’t want to just rush right in.”
“I see.”
And in many ways, Tsuki understood what Kuroo meant. Whatever happened before they met, Kuroo was blaming himself for the outcome. Tsuki knew that all too well, himself. Even so…
“Kuroo?”
“Yeah?”
He almost lost his nerve. He almost said ‘nevermind,’ and almost took a step past Kuroo. Almost. But he didn’t. Without another thought, he leaned in and kissed Kuroo on the cheek, smiled shyly at his startled expression, and then went into the bathroom, softly closing the door behind him.

Since they hadn’t made it out as early as Kuroo would’ve liked, they went to Ginkaku-ji first, as it was the most crowded place on their tour. Before they paid admission, Tsuki put his headphones on, and nodded that he was ready. Kuroo offered his hand, and Tsuki took it, both of them reacting to that jolt of sensation like before. He wasn’t going to lie: he was doing this for himself as well as for Tsuki. He was still riding high on that kiss Tsuki gave him; still felt it where Tsuki’s lips had touched his cheek. It had taken nearly everything in him not to turn and kiss Tsuki right back. And not on the cheek.

Even after they left the Silver Pavilion, they held hands. Neither of them wanted to let go, to lose that contact. If they did have to let go, the second they were able, they reached for each other again.

They toured Konchi-in, and from there, they went to Nanzen-ji. This was where Kuroo had wanted to go, his “surprise” for Tsuki. He’d read about a waterfall grotto called Nanzon Oku-no-in. They rested here for a little bit, enjoying the view and looking at the buddhist drawings inside the grotto. As they looked out over the waterfall, Kuroo desperately wanted to kiss Tsuki.

At Murin-an Villa, they toured both main buildings, comparing what they liked between the traditionally constructed Japanese building, and the western style one. But their favorite part was the secret garden. It was blessedly quiet here, and they were practically the only ones inside. Kuroo found himself thinking of Tsuki’s kiss; this would be another perfect place to steal a kiss.

He couldn’t stop thinking about kissing Tsuki.

They made it to the Imperial Palace before closing, and managed to wander around at leisure. The crowds had thinned enough that Tsuki was comfortable without his headphones, but he never let go of Kuroo’s hand. After they left, Kuroo took out his phone and let the gps guide them to the little falafel place he’d read about. They ordered what they wanted, and made it to go, taking it back with them to their hotel.

“I’m beat,” Tsuki said as they sat at the table, dividing the food between them. “We didn’t do a whole lot, but I feel like I could sleep for days.”
“Yeah, well, we still have tomorrow and Sunday to explore,” Kuroo reminded him. He passed over two mini baklava.
Tsuki was quiet for a few minutes, staring down at his food.
“How about we just stay here on Sunday?” Tsuki asked quietly.
“And do what?”
Tsuki shrugged. “Watch movies, or binge watch anime? Take it easy and explore the hotel, or, if we really want to go out, see whatever’s close by? Whatever we want to do.”
“Whatever we want to do,” Kuroo repeated.
“I mean, if you really want to do more sight-seeing, we could but…”

Kuroo reached over and took Tsuki’s hand, tugging on it a little. Tsuki took the hint and moved closer. With a hesitant hand, he reached up and traced a shaky finger along the curve of Tsuki’s face.

“Whatever we want to do,” he said again.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know what I want to do?”
“I can guess.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. But I want you to tell me anyway.”
“Demanding.”
“Yeah.”
“I want to kiss you.”
“Thank god. Finally.”
“Been wanting to all day.”
“Same. But why didn’t you?”
“I’ll explain. But first…”

Kuroo slowly started kissing Tsuki, like he’d been dying to since this morning. He started with a kiss to the cheek, payback for the one Tsuki gave him. Then, a flurry of small, teasing kisses at the corners of his mouth, leading to longer sips more directly. Tsuki’s hands had started at his waist, but had slowly glided up to his neck, and then his fingers were tangling in his hair. Those long, cool fingers he’d dreamed about since they’d met. The feeling was enough to make him stop, to pull away, to breathe for a minute.

“Why’d you stop?”
“Too much.”
“Not enough.”
“We could get carried away.”
“Like that’s a bad thing.”

Kuroo moved back a bit to really look at Tsuki. His face flushed; his eyes were glazed with desire. Oh god… He was beautiful. Instead of saying anything else, Kuroo leaned in and kissed Tsuki properly. Open mouths, tongues tangling. Long, slow, deep. Who even cared about their food anymore? He had Tsuki.

Eventually, they came back up for air, panting as if they’d just run a marathon. Kuroo rested his forehead against Tsuki’s until they were breathing regularly again. Then, they slowly parted.

“You taste sweet,” Kuroo whispered. “Like I knew you would.”
Tsuki flushed again. “You’re spicy.” His hand went to the nape of his neck.
Kuroo couldn’t help smiling. “Maybe we should eat. Can’t let this food go to waste.”
“Sure. I’m super hungry. Now.”
“Really? I’ll have to remember that.”

They spent the next hour eating, or rather, feeding each other. The food had gone cold, but that was okay. It was somewhat refreshing and helped cool them down. Enough so that, after they cleaned up and threw away the trash, they could talk. Kuroo brought out his laptop, so they could discuss what they wanted to do for Saturday.

“I’d like to visit the Fushimi Inari shrine before we go,” Kuroo said. “Walk the whole path up the mountain.”
“And we can do that any time,” Tsuki added. “It’s open 24/7, so we could go at like 3am and it’d be completely empty.”
“3am? Good grief.”
“Less people.”
“I know. How about we save it for the last thing we do tomorrow?”
“Okay. Besides, I also think it would look prettier at night.”
“You may be right,” Kuroo smiled. “Since we went to the Silver Pavilion today, why not go to the Golden Pavilion tomorrow?”
“Sure. Could we go back to the Palace? Somewhere quiet for a bit.”
“Done.” Kuroo reached out to take Tsuki’s hand, weaving their fingers together. “We could grab a bite to eat, too.”
“Would we have a chance to go to the Bamboo Grove?”
“Oh, yeah! Been wanting to go there, too.”

Kuroo had to let go of Tsuki’s hand for a few minutes, so he could type up their itinerary, and also look up the weather and maps. He could feel Tsuki watching him; could just see a little smile curling his lips.

“Keep staring at me, and I might just kiss you again.”
“Might?” Tsuki asked sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. Yet, he never looked away.
“Tease.”
“Not even a little bit.”

They fell silent again, with Tsuki waiting for Kuroo to finish what he was doing. It didn’t take long. As soon as he closed the laptop, he turned his full attention to Tsuki.

“Bet I can guess what you’re thinking.”
“Other than wanting you to kiss me again?”
“Not subtle, are ya?”
“Not about that.” He lowered his head just a bit, but kept his eyes on Kuroo. “I know I want you.”
“God, Tsuki…”
“You can’t tell me you don’t.”
“No, I can’t. I want you, too.”
“Then, why…?”
“I’m pretty sure I told you why this morning.”
“You don’t want to mess this up, or rush in,” Tsuki recounted the reasons. “But… Maybe I’m not quite connecting the dots, here. I’m not trying to be deliberately stupid, but if we both want each other, then why not…?”
“We’ve only known each other for two weeks.”
“I’ve been in shorter relationships. Well, maybe not relationships, but still…”

That surprised Kuroo. And then he was annoyed.

“Did I read too much into what’s between us?”
“What do you mean?”
“Am I the only one thinking this could be more than just a fling?”
“Of course not, but Kuroo…”
“Believe me when I tell you I could easily kiss you and fuck us both senseless right now, and then when we get home, you could call it quits, and I’d go nurse my broken heart.”

He rose up to his feet, and grabbed the trash bag. He didn’t say anything while he put on his shoes and grabbed a jacket. He was about to leave when Tsuki called his name.

“Kuroo?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“Has your heart ever really healed?”

Kuroo watched as Tsuki stood up to face him.

“I don’t know what happened before, and I’m not going to ask. But it feels like you’re still hurting from it, and it’s carrying over onto us. Onto me.”

Kuroo didn’t know what to say. He turned and opened the door.

“I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back later.”
He heard Tsuki sigh. “I’ll be waiting for you.”