How We Began

Kuroo had already walked pretty far when he finally stopped to look around. He’d walked straight down the road from the hotel, somehow keeping in mind that he didn’t know his way around Kyoto enough to just walk aimlessly. He breathed deeply, and moved to the side so he wasn’t in the way. Tilting his head back, he looked up at the dark sky, wishing he could see the stars.

‘Has your heart ever really healed?’

Damn. Now that he’d had time to think about it, Tsuki was right. His heart was still healing from his broken engagement from five years ago. It wasn’t whole, and he hadn’t let it heal completely, if he was honest about it. His ex and he had known each other all their lives, and it only felt natural to fall in love, begin a relationship, and then decide to get married.

He had been so stupidly in love that he never noticed when everything started going sideways. Not until it was way too late to try and fix it. His fiance had reconnected with an old friend from high school, and old feelings had resurfaced. Kuroo had been none the wiser. Not until his fiance had suddenly called everything off, telling him that while he’d always love him, it wasn’t anything more than just a best friend. Strictly platonic. He told Kuroo he tried to give more, to love him more, but it wouldn’t happen. He was happier with his old friend, who he’d fallen in love with years ago, and then all over again.

Kuroo, blindsided, and not sure what else he could do, had given his ring to his ex, and wished him a happy life. Sure, he could have fought it, but what good would it have really done? Later, once he’d really thought about it, he realized he felt the same way. Platonic love, nothing more. It still hurt, though, and his heart did break. How could it not? Somehow, he even started blaming himself for not noticing, for not seeing the signs. And he’d been holding on to that heartache for far too long.

His aunt had noticed it.
His aunt’s friends had noticed it.
And now… Tsuki had noticed it, too.

“Fuck!” he swore out loud, disturbing some of the people passing by. “Pardon me,” he muttered, holding a hand up in apology. He turned around and slowly made his way back.

He’d lashed out at Tsuki, who had done nothing wrong, except tell him what he wanted and how much. That he was interested in more; that he wanted more. And Kuroo had let him get close, only to push him away. Tsuki, who was opening up to him, even as he tried to close himself off.

If Tsuki wanted to go back home now, he wouldn’t be surprised. He’d royally fucked up. This, after he’d been the one to express interest in the first place.

Kuroo wasn’t paying too much attention to his surroundings - at least not much beyond staying out of the road and putting one foot in front of the other - retracing his steps back to the hotel. But a flash off to the side caught his attention; possibly someone taking a picture. Yet, when he looked in the direction of the flash, he noticed a little path that he could swear hadn’t been there before. Again, not that he’d have noticed. Still, he was curious to see where it led.

The path was on the grounds of the Inari shrine, and it looked like others had found it before; the ground well-worn and defined. Yet, the further he walked, the quieter it became. Light from the shrine filtered through the trees, so he knew he wasn’t isolated, yet the only noise he heard was his own footsteps and the usual night sounds of insects and nocturnal creatures.

Eventually, he came to a stop at a charming, smaller shrine, surrounded by little kitsune statues. Someone had lit incense, which had a calming fragrance that he couldn’t quite identify. There were little pieces of paper tied to strings tied between trees: wishes and prayers to the god Inari. Kuroo had to admit it was a very cute little shrine, and since he was here, he might as well pay his respects. But instead, he found himself praying.

Praying he hadn’t fucked up so much that things between himself and Tsuki were unsalvagable.
Praying that Tsuki would forgive him.
Praying that Tsuki would give him another chance.

Kuroo had never prayed so hard in his life. He wasn’t even sure what else he had to do, or if simply praying was acceptable. Either way, he stayed there, praying, until he felt a little better. At least someone heard him. He hoped.

Turning back the way he came, he walked the short distance back to the hotel. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been gone, but he hoped Tsuki might be still waiting for him. He was passing through the lobby when he noticed a familiar blonde head. Changing direction, he walked over to where Tsuki was, and found him fast asleep.

He’d changed into an oversized sweater, where his hands were half hidden by the ends of the arms: Tsuki had sweater paws, and it was adorable. Kuroo chuckled softly. Tsuki’s sweater paws were tucked up under his head, and the rest of him was curled up into a ball. His heart did a little flip and flutter, and Kuroo knew he was a goner.

How had he not realized that he’d already fallen in love with this bookshop owner from Sendai?

Quietly, he sat down on the floor close to Tsuki’s head. He reached over and lightly ran his fingers through those soft, golden blonde locks he adored, and then gently traced the lines of his face.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to lash out at you like that. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn’t. Even so, I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“Nothing to forgive,” came the sleepy reply. “If anything, I’m sorry for pushing you too hard.”

Kuroo hadn’t noticed when Tsuki had opened his eyes, but now he looked at those golden brown eyes hazy with sleep.

“I did a bit of thinking while I was out. I can tell you what happened, if you really want to know, but what it boils down to is: I shouldn’t have held on to my heartache as long as I did. I should have let it go a long time ago.”
“I can’t say I’m not curious, but I’m not going to push you.”
“Auntie wouldn’t be happy with you about that.”
“She’ll have to deal with it.”
Kuroo chuckled. “Think you can make it back to the room on your own?”
“Maybe,” Tsuki replied, his eyes glinting with mischief. “Maybe not.”
“I guess I could help you, then. But give me a sec, will ya?”

Kuroo slowly got to his feet as Tsuki sat up on the sofa. He strode over to the reception desk and quietly spoke to the attendant for a few minutes. When he came back, he held out his hand to Tsuki, who took it, sweater paw and all, and Kuroo pulled him up and into his arms. They stayed like that for a little while, savoring the feel of being this close.

“Should I carry you over the threshold as the bridal suite suggests?”
Tsuki snorted. “Not a chance. Let me go a sec,” he said and when Kuroo let him go, he moved behind his back and draped his arms over Kuroo’s shoulders. “Hyah, mule!”
“Really?”
“Ummm… mush?”
“Unlikely to make me move, either.”
“I could slap your…”
“That idea is not without merit.”
“Kinky.”
“Not in the lobby, dear. At least, not the first time. We might scare the other guests.”

Tsuki snorted again, but then broke out into laughter. Kuroo rolled his eyes, and laughed too as he started back to their room, towing Tsuki along. When they arrived, Kuroo unlocked the door and they almost fell in, weak from laughing so hard. He dumped Tsuki on the bed, and went to the chabudai and opened up his laptop.

“Anything you want to watch?”
“Nothing in particular. You pick.”
“In that case, we’ll just do this,” and he bent to tap one of his playlists. He then set it up so that it was cast to the tv, and the music started playing. “Dance with me, Tsuki.”
“Oh, no. I’m not very good at it. But I’ll gladly watch you.”
“No fun,” Kuroo said, coming over to where Tsuki was. “Come on.”
“Okay, but don’t blame me if I murder your toes.”
“I won’t. I might still tease you mercilessly about it at random moments, though.”
“Of course you will.”

After a few minutes, it was clear who was better at dancing between them, but Kuroo didn’t care about that. Tsuki could at least keep the beat, so he wasn’t a total lost cause. They danced around the room until room service arrived, and Kuroo went to answer the door. He brought back a box and handed it to Tsuki.

“What’s this?”
“Open it.”

Tsuki narrowed his eyes at Kuroo, but opened the box. Inside, there were two huge slices of strawberry cream cake from one of the hotel restaurants. Kuroo’s heart fluttered when Tsuki’s eyes lit up and he smiled.

“These look delicious!”
“I’ll go get us a couple plates and forks.”
“Just the forks. We can eat these out of the box.”
“We… or just you? Because, to be honest, it looks like you’re about to dive in head first and not save me any.”
Tsuki looked at him with a wicked glint in his eyes.
“Keep talkin’ that way, and I just might.”
“Stingyshima.”
“Strawberry. Cream. Cake.”

Kuroo laughed his way to the kitchenette to retrieve a pair of forks, started the electric kettle for something hot to drink, and returned to sit with Tsuki at the table. He gave a fork to Tsuki, and Tsuki put the box between them. They each ate both pieces, mumbling and moaning around bites, about just how good the cake was.

After making their coffee, he sat down and groaned.

“You ate the rest?”
“In my defense, I was left unsupervised.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Unfair assessment,” Tsuki said, smiling. “I saved you the last bite.” He picked up his fork and held it in front of his face.

Kuroo waggled his eyebrows. He opened his mouth and took the entire bite, grinning like a cheshire cat the entire time. Tsuki reared back, looking at the empty fork with a scowl.
Kuroo nearly choked, he laughed so hard.
Tsuki’s scowl melted into something gentle and tender.
Kuroo’s laugh faded until he was just smiling, the same expression on his face.
They reached for each other at the same time, clasping hands and weaving fingers, both of them thinking that maybe… just maybe… they had finally found the one person in the world meant for them. That anyone before had been wrong, and they just didn’t know it. Until now. And now that they had found each other, there’d be no one else after.

They stared at each other until Kuroo realized his playlist had stopped. Blinking free of the spell around them, he turned to his laptop, and picked another playlist, this one playing slower music. Or rather, traditional Japanese koto music. He bit his lip, and brought up the tab with their plans for tomorrow. Then, he looked back at Tsuki, whose expression now radiated happiness.

“When did you…?”
“A few days after I started showing up at your bookshop.”
“I didn’t think you liked koto music.”
“Yeah, well, someone else does, and it’s nice music to calm down with.”
“Did you make it for me?”
Kuroo nodded. “Yeah. For me, too, though.”
“Why?”
“I played it when I couldn’t make it to the shop. It reminded me of you.”
Tsuki chuckled. “Ya big sap.”
“Only where you’re concerned.”
“Stop, I’m blushing.”
“Tsuki in rare form, ladies and gentlemen.”
Tsuki laughed. “So what’s that?” and he pointed at the page Kuroo had brought up.
“I played around with our itinerary for tomorrow. There are a few smaller places I thought we could visit, to balance out the ones that are more crowded.”
“Still looking out for me.”
“Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” He winked, leaned over and kissed Tsuki’s cheek. The younger man looked so surprised that Kuroo laughed. “Anyway, if we get an early start tomorrow, we can beat the crowds at the Golden Pavilion.”
“Ugh. Early. Again?”
“This time for real, too. Want me to help wake you up?”
“All depends on how you do it.”
“Hmmm…”
“This’ll be interesting.”
“We’ll need to use cabs to get to some of these places,” Kuroo continued. “We’ll start at Kinkaku-ji first thing, then go to Tenryu-ji, the Bamboo Grove, and Okochi-Sanso Villa.”
“Quite the mission you’re on, there.”
Kuroo shrugged. “Not really. If I were truly on a mission, we’d have done lots more yesterday, too.” He thought for a few minutes, playing with Tsuki’s fingers. “We can always come back another time.”
“I’d like that.”
“Me too.”
“So, do we break for lunch after the villa?”
“Yeah. From there, we’ll get a cab to Chion-in and Shoren-in temples. Then, another cab back here. We can order dinner in, and rest a bit. We’ll save the Inari shrine for later at night.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Tsuki said around a yawn.

Kuroo smiled and let Tsuki’s hand go for the few minutes it took to shut down his laptop. He glanced at his phone for the time. It was still early, roughly 10pm, but they’d been awake pretty much all day. Plus, they had an even earlier start for tomorrow.

“What time do we need to be awake in the morning,” Tsuki asked, already sounding sleepy.
“The Golden Pavilion opens at 9am. It’s about a 30 minute ride from here to there.”
“Sooo… 8am?” He sounded so hopeful.
“Sure. If you want to roll out of bed, throw on some clothes, and hit the ground running.”
“You had breakfast ready this morning.”
“I was awake and out of bed with your first alarm.” Point to Kuroo.
“Whatever.”
“Optimal time to be awake and out of bed would be 6:30am.”
“Oh god…”
“That gives us time to shower, eat breakfast, and drink tons of sugar and cream laden coffee. Well, that last one would be you. I drink coffee like a normal human,” Kuroo teased.
“Fuck off,” Tsuki said with no heat.
Kuroo tsked. “All bark and no bite.”
Tsuki’s eyes flashed. “Oh, I bite.” Point to Tsuki, who was grinning wickedly.
“Oh god…” Kuroo felt his face heat, and his heart began racing. “Retribution will be swift and inevitable.”
“Bring it.”
Kuroo retaliated quickly, and without warning. He kissed Tsuki wildly, and in the process, they fell over on the floor. Hands grabbed at clothing so that they could touch skin. At first contact, they both gasped, breaking the kiss. And then, they were at it again, kissing hungrily, hands roaming as far as they could before meeting clothing barriers.

Frustrated, Kuroo moved first, releasing Tsuki and practically ripping off his own shirt. Tsuki immediately put his hands on him, gliding over his bare chest and then his back. Kuroo damn near purred.

“You too,” he panted, teasing Tsuki by just barely touching his lips with his own.

When Tsuki sat up, Kuroo helped him out of his shirt, and then returned the favor, caressing Tsuki’s lightly tanned skin. He paid particular attention to the raven tattoo, tracing the wingspan from front to back. As he was doing this, Tsuki moved in to imprint an open-mouthed kiss on his neck. Kuroo’s eyes nearly rolled back in his head, until he felt a sharp sting, followed by the heat of Tsuki’s tongue.

“Told you. I bite.”
“That you did. But, you know what?”
“What?”
“So do I.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Oh ho! Challenging me?”
“I would never.”
“Smartass.”
“Still accurate.”

Kuroo quickly grabbed his phone and set his alarms. Tsuki did the same. They helped each other up off the floor, out of the rest of their clothes, and ended up in bed to pick up where they left off.