we are the blood

 ─ the mirrors surrounding you did as they were meant to, reflecting back a spitting image of KONDOU SHOURI - but it’s clear something is wrong from the moment that a vision of LOSING TO KARASUNO AT NATIONALS strikes you. perhaps it was a passing daydream in the frenzy of the funhouse. you reassure yourself - you’re KUROO TETSUROU, a TWENTY-SEVEN YEAR OLD  TEACHER whose virtue lies in your + INTELLIGENCE & + PERCEPTION, although you’ve been told that you tend to be quite - PURPOSELY PROVOCATIVE & - CHILDISH, and you’re associated with CHEMISTRY PUNS, BLACK CATS KNOCKING EVERYTHING OFF YOUR DESK BEFORE RUNNING AWAY NEVER TO BE FOUND AGAIN, & A CACKLING LAUGH by those around you. suddenly, however, you’ve found THE NEKOMA CAPTAIN’S JERSEY on your person - was that always there? from the moment you leave the funhouse, memories from your life in HAIKYUU have begun to return - leaving whoever you had been before in the mirror’s reflection behind you. you can almost hear BAIL ME OUT by ALL TIME LOW following in your wake. ( he/him & cis male )

SEBASTIAN’S SMILE DOESN’T REACH HIS EYES.  it never really did,  only has vague memories of the last times he’s smiled and actually meant it.  smiles born from actual,  genuine  –  innocent – joy.  but he hasn’t been innocent in what feels like years.  he knows that he’s had happy moments,  sure.  but they were fleeting.  just echoes of an emotion that didn’t stay long enough for him to memorise the feeling.  he’s done a great job at fooling himself to be happy,  though.  can play the role well,  enough to convince himself at least.  that he’s happy with the way things are.  that he’s satisfied with the way things are.

BUT HAS HE EVER ACTUALLY QUESTIONED if any of this has been worth it  ?  if he’s wasted years of his life and still isn’t happy,  still isn’t satisfied,  then fuck  –  doesn’t that mean he’ll never be satisfied  ?  he’s spent so much of his life on getting good grades,  working hard to get further,  but is anything really ever gonna be enough for him  ?  when he’s not even enough for himself  ?

HE HATES BEING WEAK AROUND ANYONE.  just another reason why he and tetsurou hadn’t worked out.  and even if he understands that their break up was amicable,  could it actually have been fixed  ?  was there anything about their relationship that had been redeemable  ?  maybe that’s why he’s found himself here,  having texted tetsurou if they could meet up.  

he left the school after a quick shower in the office, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and headed to the coffee shop closest to the school. and he realized, as he pushed the door open and spotted sebastian standing by the window, that he could have said no. he could have ignored the message. he could have said yes but not shown up. but he also realized that for him, for sebastian, that was never an option. 

as he walks out from the café he’d gone to, he catches his reflection in a mirror on the way out. when there’s glowing eyes looking back at him he stops, and then the headache overpowers everything in his body. do not worry… a whispered voice says beside him. or is it in his own head? everything around him disappears as the white noise full envelopes his body, a cold hand pressed to his forehead as he wills the noise away. soon the girl will become part of the planet’s energy… 

a gasp leaves cloud’s mouth as soon as the headache fades. it fades rather quickly compared to the length it had come. eyes to the floor, he realizes he’s been hunched over, his own hand pressed to his forehead. there’s someone standing next to him and he’s vaguely aware they’ve said something. “i’m fine,” he tells them as he backs away from them, “i’m not a sideshow, ya know.”

with being on the main walkway of the uptown shopping strip, he was being passed by quite a few people. but one passerby in particular had caught his attention - a familiar face, or an unfortunate soul about to get caught up in his enthusiasm and possibly helping, a friend was a friend, in his eyes. “ well hello there ! ” was his warm greeting as he finished tying a white string. “ they’re pretty cute, aren’t they ? perfect for fall. ” there were all ready a handful of the ghosts in the tree, up high enough where they wouldn’t accidentally get caught in someone’s hair or knock them in the forehead. “ would you actually mind passing me up one more from the box ? i think there’s only one spot left up here, then i gotta move down lower. ” the trees lining the walk were all speckled with little white tissues-ghosts, all his own proud handiwork.

hands shoved into the pockets of a denim jacket and a shopping bag caught on his wrist, he made his way up the main strip, staring at the new decorations that had been put up. merry little ghosts strung up in the trees, swaying in the breeze; kuroo wasn’t the biggest celebrant of halloween but he smiled anyway. 

“ i’d go in for a customary hug, but you might not want to touch me, ” he began with a laugh, it a pleasant, warm sound, fitting the atmosphere. “ i’m covered in spun sugar. ” he hadn’t gotten to stop and actually do much in the way of games or rides; most of his time had been spent working at different booths for fun, to help out, to get his face out there. he was showing that the town cared about its volunteers and small businesses as much as he was doing it for his own version of fun. him and the other had found each other just after his forty minutes at the cotton candy stall; now he smelled of warm sugar and vanilla. “ hello. ” his greeting ended with a little huff and a smile that showed he wasn’t really all that upset about being covered in candyfloss - maybe upset he couldn’t hug the other, then. “ how’s your night going ? are you having fun ? ” there was almost a tinge of something like concern in his voice, like he really didn’t want to hear about them not having a good time. ( not because he didn’t want to hear it, of course, jack was not a mean mean, but rather he always hoped he was doing a good job. that, and knew if the other wasn’t having a good time, he’d do everything in his power to try and make it better, and some found that… overbearing to say the least. )