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”What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t remember you on your birthday?”
“Fairly normal, according to dramas my mother watches,” Kei deadpanned as he swatted Tetsurou’s face away from his, shoulders tense as Tetsurou’s nose pushed against the crook of his neck. “Seriously, it’s no big deal.”
It was hard to focus on the book Akiteru had gotten him when Tetsurou was so… him. Handsy and loving and eager to make Kei’s day delightful. Everything that made Kei’s head hurt with the knowledge that he didn’t quite deserve any of it.
But those were thoughts he was better not having with Tetsurou so close to him. He was always so good at reading Kei, once he actually got to know him.
“Mmm, but you know, the September day almost two decades ago was magical,” Tetsurou murmured, smile audible in his warm voice as he pulled Kei into one-armed hug. “A special little firefly was born, probably as quiet and calm as he is at the moment, too—“
“Kuroo-san,” Kei cleared his throat, embarrassed. “You promised me to not give any embarrassing speeches of your ‘undying love’ for me.” Shifting on his bed with the intention of shaking Tetsurou away, Kei tried to focus on the lines on the page he had been reading – trying to – for the past ten minutes. Small font, that was Kei’s excuse. Squinting didn’t speed up the reading process.
“I crossed my fingers,” Tetsurou laughed, his hold over Kei’s waist unrelenting and his words tickling Kei’s warm cheek. “You deserve to know every bit of what I feel for you, Tsukki.” Tetsurou’s voice was impossibly gentle, contradicting the first impressions Kei had gotten of him two years prior. Who would have thought?
Kei swallowed. He certainly couldn’t ignore Tetsurou now. “Kuroo…”
“Kei,” Tetsurou whispered.
It was unfair how easily Tetsurou managed to flip Kei’s entire world upside down with just a breath of his name. And then later he would flip it again with an annoying meme. Kei would pretend he didn’t find any of it amusing, of course.
Tetsurou let go of his waist at the same time Kei put the book down, and Tetsurou’s fingers found Kei’s face with ease. The touch was overwhelming with the kindness Kei had never expected from Tetsurou when they had first met. But Tetsurou was so very kind. And Kei always wondered how he deserved any of it.
“I love you,” Tetsurou said solemnly. A smile hung on his lips, the same playful one that usually decorated the tanned face, but the gold-flecked eyes shone with seriousness, like it was important for Kei to get the message. “Tsukishima Kei, I am very much in love with you, and if I could, I would prove it in a thousand ways right now right here, but alas, I left my ideas home.”
“’Alas’,” Kei mocked despite the shaky feeling around his mouth. “You sound so pretentious.”
“University,” Tetsurou grinned, and his crooked fang glinted under the light from the setting sun that lit up the room. “It does things to people. You’ll see next year.”
“I’m already pretentious, just ask Hinata,” Kei snorted, breath stuttering when Tetsurou’s fingers caressed at his cheek.
Tetsurou had been watching dramas, he was sure of it.
“Nah,” Tetsurou said, “you’re just like the lovely Tsukishima Kei I remember from my last visit. The moon to my dark nights, the shine that keeps me up because of its gorgeousness—“
“Kuroo-san.” Kei cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably when Tetsurou smiled patiently at him. “Er—Tetsurou.”
“There are sappier things I could say,” Tetsurou said, mocking offense. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day—“
“Don’t go there.” Kei pinched Tetsurou’s arm, satisfied with the soft ‘ow’ he heard. “I’m just – I’m happy you came to visit, even though your budget is what it is,” he said quietly, meeting Tetsurou’s eyes halfway through the sentence. “Thanks, Tetsurou.”
“It’s a special weekend, like I said,” Tetsurou leaned in to peck the tip of Kei’s nose, snickering when Kei made a face. “I just… Tsukki. You know the feeling when just seeing someone makes you dizzy and light-hearted and all the other nice stuff? That’s me around you. Every time you pick me up from the station, it’s like falling in love over and over again.”
Kei opted to take a pillow and shove it to Tetsurou’s face so that he could hide his own embarrassment caused by Tetsurou’s long, rambly confession. This was damaging to his young heart. How could Tetsurou give him a way premature heart attack with words alone?
“Are you trying to kill me on my birthday?” he asked, when Tetsurou managed to pull the pillow away from his face. “You’re succeeding,” he added flatly, but the strawberry red on his cheeks said enough.
Tetsurou kissed his cheek this time, the touch as fleeting as before. “I’m just loving you,” he said simply, and there went Kei’s insides, turning into a puddle of gross, sappy feelings. “I’d be more than happy to do this every day, but you know. Distance. School.” Tetsurou sighed theatrically.
“I.” Kei bit on his lip. He was more honest about his feelings than he had been before, but outright admitting them was still hard, no matter how many times he had said the words already in the heat of the moment, usually to Tetsurou’s blurry picture on laptop’s screen. “I love you, too,” he mumbled, glaring at the windowpane like it was at fault for the thick lump in his throat.
Tetsurou’s reaction (clinging to Kei and blubbering something incomprehensible) was the same as it always was (though less clinging during most other times), but Kei understood that. He was the same way, always getting surprised by Tetsurou’s little shows of affection and especially the grander ones, which tended to be… well… enough for Akiteru to tease Kei about it for weeks.
“Tetsurou,” Kei muttered, running a hand through Tetsurou’s black hair. “Stop crying.”
“But you l-love me, Tsukki, how c-could I—“
“You knew that already,” Kei reminded him gently, smiling a little as Tetsurou’s eyes found his. “I love you, Kuroo Tetsurou.”
“H-happy birthday, Tsukki,” Tetsurou stammered before he pulled Kei into a kiss, this time on the mouth, and Kei relaxed into the familiar touch, heart swelling as it always did when Tetsurou kissed him.
It was a good birthday this year, Kei decided as Tetsurou deepened the kiss like he was starving for Kei’s lips.
He could only hope he would manage to make Tetsurou’s birthday as good for him as Tetsurou had made Kei’s for him.