ukai 🥰

— Ukai would do absolutely anything for you. he’d kick anyones ass if they looked at you in the wrong way. He’s not particularly confrontational or even that intimate in but if someone messed with you, he would make sure that they never did something like that again.

— He would always pull you really close to him when the two of you are out in public, he wants to make sure he doesn’t look you in a crowd and he also just likes to ALMOST be touching you at all times. Grazing your hands against one another’s, shoulders brushing against one another’s.

— He complains about you getting free things from the shop. He’ll never stop you from taking things for free, but he’ll always make the joke of like “You gonna pay for that?”

— Occasionally when you are hanging around the store, waiting for him to get off or whatever, you’ll run into some of the team. and they are so confused as to why you hang around the store so much, but don’t seem to work there. Until word gets out that you and Keishin are dating of course.

— When people hit on him, you always seem to sense it. You just pop up and make yourself an inconvenience. Throw your arms around him, or tell him you both have to leave, never doing the simple thing of just telling the person that he’s taken, but it does always seem to work anyway.

— Cuddling with him is heaven. He’ll let you lay on his chest and play with your hair. of course cuddles are few and far between considering you can hardly get him to take a break and lay down, but it is always worth it when you do.

it looks a lot like him, to be sure.

the same gentle slope of his nose, the same sharp brown eyes that light up when he spots you stepping through the door, the same little smile that you've seen curl up an identical set of lips countless times.

"what the hell did you do?"

the man who looks like (but is definitely not) ukai keishin's smile falters.

"hello to you too, sweetheart," he half-says, half-laughs. "what a terrible way to greet someone."

alright, this might be keishin.

"your hair," you finally take a step into the store, towards the counter, eyes still fixed on the head of hair that looks a lot like your boyfriend's but definitely isn't, because it isn't the same shade of peroxide yellow that Keishin had been dying it since the two of you were in high school.

the hand not fiddling with the cigarette reaches up to touch the brunette locks atop his head, though he's careful not to tousle them too much.

"you don't like it?" he asks, an uncharacteristic lilt of insecurity in his voice.

you pause.

"I... I just... give me a second," you say, pinching the bridge of your nose. you draw a few deep breaths in, eyes closed, before looking at him again.

"so?" he says, an eyebrow (that for the first time in over ten years matches the shade of hair on his head) cocked. "what's the verdict?"

you step up to the counter, reaching out across it to run your fingers through the strands. they're softer than they'd ever been, and a little shorter too -- having clearly been freshly trimmed.

"you look..." you grapple for the right words. "really hot."

and you know without a shadow of a doubt that the man on the other side of the counter couldn't be anyone other than ukai keishin when you see the smile -- wide and toothy -- that stretches across his handsome face.

"you think so?" he asks, dropping his unlit cigarette in the ashtray in front of him, circling the counter to wrap you in his arms. there's no one around, so you let him -- though you're not sure an audience would have stopped you, anyway.

you can only nod as he holds you tight against him, smiling down at you with that same grin.

"why the sudden change?" you ask him, hands pressed against the front of his apron as your eyes search his face.

"well..." keishin looks away, his cheeks puffing out a little as he mulls over his response. "we're getting older you know -- can't have you walking around looking like you're dating a delinquent forever."

"but you were a cute delinquent," you laugh, pressing a kiss to the corner of his pursed lips.

"and I had something important to do today, too. wanted to clean myself up a bit for it," Keishin adds, his eyes scanning your face. the playful look from a moment prior has melted away, and as you stare up at him, you're reminded just how very handsome of a man that boy from your high school volleyball team has grown up to be.

your brows knit together in confusion. "oh yeah?" you ask, pulling away slightly. "and what was that?"