"So we're you just messing with me or did you really get bothered that much just cause you wore my shirt?" Tsukki asks genuinely.
"Oh my god yes! You really have no idea. I'm not mad or anything it was just a tad annoying with how often it happened. Like nobody has anything better to do than gossip." You sigh.
"Okay, I believe you, if it was as bad as you say it was then I'm sorry I put you through that. I mean I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Sure I get asked out but... I don't know" Tsukki huffs rubbing the back of his neck.
You look over at him as you continue walking. "It's fine Kei, really you don't have to apologize. Although I have to say, you would think it was some miracle that a girl actually managed to have a shot with you. Have you really never accepted a confession from someone?" Trying to delicately extract info from him without being too obvious of your growing feelings.
Tsukki looks like you've asked him a million dollar question with how hard he's thinking. "Honestly I can't even remember the last actual relationship I was in." He pauses to think more. "Maybe the summer before I entered college? And even that didn't really last that long... a month maybe... I don't know."
Focused so intently on what he was saying you kinda stumble over your feet a little, almost falling before Tsukki's arm swings out to catch you. "Whoa there, you sure you can handle walking, Pipsqueak?" Tsukki teases with his usual smirk.
You let out a nervous laugh "uh yeah I'm okay, just caught my foot on the pavement weird."
Tsukki sighs stepping away a bit before crouching down in front of you. "Come on." Gesturing for you to hop on his back.
"What? Nooo no I'm okay really." You wave your hands back and forth wildly. "I can walk, really"
Tsukki glances back at you, "I'm not asking, come on."
"Kei, I can walk I promise." Thoroughly embarrassed now.
"Don't make me throw you over my shoulder Pipsqueak. I may be thin but I am by no means weak." Tsukki says, you can't see his face but you can hear the smirk in his voice.
"Oh my god, fine. Fine. Have it your way Bossy-Shima." You wrap your arms around his neck as he lifts your legs one at a time before standing. Once he stands he gives you a quick bounce up cradling his hands under your butt so his hold on you is a little more stable.
"You good?" Tsukki asks with a little chuckle.
"Yes, was this really necessary?" You ask pretending to be annoyed but thankful that he can't see the small smile on your face.
Tsukki begins walking "Sure was, what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't carry you home after three rounds in less than 24 hours." Continuing to tease you, taking your words and twisting them around on you.
You smack his shoulder with your fingertips, huffing a little before laying your head against his shoulder. Mumbling a quiet 'Thanks'.
"You're welcome."
Tsukki walks in silence with you laying against his back for a short while before you finally speak up in response to what he said earlier.
"Seems like they couldn't have made that much of an impression on you if you can't even remember the details."
"Huh?" Tsukki responds confused.
You turn your head resting your chin on his shoulder as Tsukki looks over at you. "Your last relationship, you said you don't really remember your last relationship or even how long it lasted. I was just thinking that they must not have made a very memorable impression on you."
"I'd say that's a fair assessment on things. What about you Pipsqueak?"
"Me??" Your voice has a slight squeak to it. "Um it's been a bit for me too. There was a guy I dated from high school but once I started college we started to drift apart. He got mad and accused me of never making enough time for him. He kept trying to get me to switch careers to something 'easier', that didn't require so much time and dedication to schooling"
Tsukki picks up on the clear irritation in your voice, commenting honestly. "Sounds like he was an idiot that couldn't handle his woman being smarter than him."
You smile laughing a little, "I really have no clue, his ability to have an intelligent conversation was severely stunted." Laying your head against his shoulder again. "Honestly, I didn't realize how bored in the relationship I was until I ended it. Looking back I can objectively say I was settling. It was easier to stick with what I had than consider starting over but I wouldn't say I was genuinely 'in love'."
"Relationships are just mentally exhausting, too many games with very little in the risk to reward ratio. I've just never seen the point, you put in all this effort and work with possibly nothing to show for it in the end." Tsukki says speaking candidly.
'I wonder how he sees what we have been doing then... he doesn't seem like he's incapable of being a good boyfriend...quite the opposite actually... he's been more considerate than most...'
"I suppose I can see where you're coming from. Especially if you've never had a relationship that made you feel like it was worth it." Tsukki is coming up to where he needs to turn to get to your place. "You're going to turn here, my place is just a little ways down from here."
"Will you do me a favor? Take my phone out of pocket and set up an Uber to pick me up from your place?" Tsukki asks.
"Yeah sure" you pull out his phone, holding it out in front of his face with your arms around his neck to unlock it. Following his instructions to pull up the app on his phone before putting in your address for his pickup location and using the preset info for his drop off. Showing it to him to make sure it's all correct before submitting it. "Looks like it should be able to pick you up pretty quickly."
"Thanks"
"So you said you have an interview tomorrow? What's it for?" You ask as you point over his shoulder to your place that is about eight houses down from where you're at.
"It's for an internship at Osaka's Museum of Natural History, if I get it I'll start once this semester is over."
"So History stuff is really your jam huh?" Resting your chin on his shoulder once again, wanting to get a look at his face while he answers.
"Yeah, it's always been really fascinating to me how things from the past, while gone and forgotten by many, the earth manages to preserve for us to discover and learn about 100's and even 1000's of years later. I know some people think it's boring but it's always been a very interesting subject for me."
The expression on Tsukki's face as he explains this shows how much he loves it. "I don't think it's boring, I can see why it can be fascinating. I've always thought Egyptian history was really cool, organs in jars, salting and wrapping up the bodies to preserve them, booby trapped pyramids to protect the remains, definitely cool and very fascinating." You say with a giggle. Tsukki genuinely laughs enjoying the fact that you can understand his passion for history.
"You probably love those mummy movies don't you?"
"Well yeah, duh, have you seen them? They're great. Well maybe not the one with Tom Cruise. I'm talking about the originals with Brendan Fraser. Please tell me you've seen them." You ask excitedly.
"I saw the first one but not the second one."
"What??? But that one is really good too, aside from the lame-ass cgi at the end but it's still a really good movie. You need to see it!" You plead with him. "You should come over and we can watch it together sometime."
"Alright I'll take your word for it Pipsqueak. I'll give it a shot."
"Good!" You smile giving him a hug around his neck.
"I don't think history would be a good career choice for me though, ya know. I like caring for and helping the living."
"Yeah I applaud you in that aspect, I could never do what you're doing. Patients constantly complaining... Ugh god no." Tsukki gives a fake shudder at the thought.
You laugh at his dramatics. "I'm right here." Pointing at your place. Tsukki glances in the direction you're pointing, then heading that way. Once he gets to the walk way he lets you down pulling out his phone to check the location of his Uber as he follows you to your door. "Car will probably be here any minute."
"Okay, well thank you for walking me home Kei." You laugh as you realize. "Literally walking me home, you know, since you wouldn't let me walk."
"You're welcome, Shortstuff." Tsukki says with a smile. You can see a car close by driving slowly as if looking for the correct address.
"That's probably your Uber there." You point at it.
"Probably" Tsukki looks like he wants to say something more but decides against it opting to step closer to you tipping your chin up for him to lean down, placing a soft kiss against your lips.
"Talk to ya later Pipsqueak." He says against your lips before kissing you once more before pulling away and heading towards the car. "Wish me luck!"
"Good Luck Kei! You'll do great I know it!" Waving goodbye before he gets in the car, pulling away. Unlocking your door, you head inside closing the door behind you leaning against it. The smile that graces your face is so big your cheeks hurt. You place your hands on your cheeks rubbing them as you slide to floor, squatting against the door.
'What am I gonna do.... God I need a girls night ASAP... I need help to process all this new info....'
***
Meanwhile in the Uber with Tsukki...
Tsukki leans back resting his head against the seat as the car pulls away from your place.
'Real fucking smart Tsukki... "oh I've never seen the point it relationships" ... are you dumb?... idiot idiot idiot...'
"You got a cute girlfriend there buddy." The driver comments meeting Tsukki's eyes in the rear view mirror.
"Uh well thanks but she's not my girlfriend."
"Huh, well last time I checked that's not how most people say goodbye to their friends." The driver's eyebrows are raised up in curiosity.
'Maybe I didn't completely fuck things up...'
"I suppose you're right..." Tsukki trails off in thought as the driver continues on to his house. A short while later they pull up, Tsukki pulls some cash out of his wallet tipping the driver before hopping out of the car.
"Hey buddy, good luck with the girl." Tsukki turns back seeing the driver had rolled down his window raising his hand goodbye before pulling away.
Tsukki heads in finding Bokuto and Kuroo sprawled across the couches, watching some cheesy slasher flick.
"Hey hey Tsukki! You're out late." Bokuto comments.
"Yeah" Kuroo glances at the clock. "Didn't practice end a while ago?"
"I was with y/n, I was walking her home." Tsukki says while heading for the kitchen. Kuroo and Bokuto's eyes silently meet each others intrigued at the development in their salty roommates love life. Kuroo gestures to Bokuto that they need to play it cool.
"Oh? How is the little Chibi-Chan doing? There's some stir fry on the stove if you want some, I made extra." Kuroo offers. Bokuto discreetly gives him the thumbs up.
"Thanks, she's doing fine. She thinks she aced the pop quiz I helped her study for." Tsukki says while making himself a plate before coming into the living room to sit. Kuroo having moved to make room for him to sit down.
Kuroo turns down the volume of their movie a little. "Well that's good that you helped her then, right?"
"Hmm, yeah." Tsukki seems deep in thought while Bokuto and Kuroo try to discreetly communicate how they should try and get more details out of him.
"It was lucky for me that she happened to be here yesterday too." Bokuto says rotating his sore arm around, "she's really good, my shoulder is already feeling a lot better."
Tsukki looks up at Bokuto, chewing thoughtfully, "speaking of that, thanks for being willing to introduce her to your team's PT. I could tell how much it meant to her. She really wants to be able to work with a sports team one day."
"Y-yeah no problem at all there Tsukki-poo it's the least I could do for her, she's a really nice girl." Bokuto stumbles over his words a little not used to his long time friend showing appreciation. "Hinata actually texted me earlier saying she was going to ride with us to the try-outs. Do you have plans that day?"
"Yeah I promised my mom I'd come home that weekend, months ago. She wants to have family dinner." He says finishing up his food then taking his plate to the kitchen to rinse off then place in the dishwasher.
"I'mma head to bed, I got that internship interview tomorrow morning, night." Tsukki's says as he heads for the stairs.
"Yep! Goodnight!" Kuroo and Bokuto say before turning to each other.
"Dude, he's acting soooo different. What did she do to him?" Bokuto whispers quickly.
"I have no clue, with normal people I'd joke that he was broken but I swear it's more like she fixed him. Sooo weird." Kuroo tries keeping his voice low.
"Right? That's what I'm saying, well I for one hope she sticks around." Bokuto lays back down getting comfortable.
"Tell me about it, let's just hope our emotionally stunted kouhai doesn't push her away when things start getting 'real', ya know." Kuroo muses hopefully.
"Yeah, I know. Fingers crossed Kuroo, fingers crossed." Bokuto holds up his hand showing his wish for good luck before laying it back down on his stomach. "Alright turn the movie back up."
***
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