Haunting (fic)
“You threw a rock. At his dick.”
His glasses slip, so he adjusts them with his fingers, releasing them from where they clench around the strap of his tote. “Lucky shot, I wasn’t wearing my glasses.”
It’s an insane casual conversation he’s having, two meters away from his door with a half-naked stranger.
KRTSKI/ T/ 1.5Kw
murder college au + meet cute
Read on AO3
“Why are you naked?”
Kei’s flat tone carries through the silence of the hallway. By the bend, crouched with a mop of something for hair, is a figure.
In front of Kei's room.
In the dark.
Naked.
Kei sighs, walking until he is right at his door. On closer look, the person is not entirely naked. There is a towel wrapped around his waist, slit opening dangerously close to his upper thigh.
Naked-dude-in-the-dark opens his mouth to answer and Kei holds up a hand to stop him.
“Don’t bother. I’m sure whatever is about to come out of your mouth is riveting.”
Kei thought moving into the off-campus dorms would make his life easier. They were older, so rent was cheaper than moving into his own apartment. It was close by enough to most of the buildings he had to attend, so easier transportation. It had several floors and it was backed up by the college, so it was reputable.
He thought. Thought.
Reality is different.
Yes, rent is cheaper, but that had more to do with the random far-off wailings and middle of the night noises that crept up and made sure almost all residents kept a no later than midnight self-imposed curfew.
Transport was cheaper, he would give it that.
The thing is impossibly big, and every student who actually came to visit instead of simply settling on a room while they were still away because they overslept and didn’t feel like making a day trip to Tokyo realized that a more costly apartment outweighed the possibility of having a run-in with Sadako herself had moved on to better places, leaving behind a group of late-comers and misfits.
The only silver lining is that he and Yamaguchi were within walking distance from each other.
The man straightened, standing at full height across from Kei. “I’m not naked. See, a towel is covering my bits.”
“Fine. Great. Just don’t jerk off in the hallway, if I call the RA about that again he’s going to egg my door.”
Towel dude blinked at him. “Someone’s been jerking off in your hallway?”
“Sometimes. The last dude stopped a while back.”
The stranger's head tilts to the side, questioning. “There’s been more than one? Wait, what happened to the last one?”
“He came on my door.” Kei shrugged, looking unimpressed at the disbelief. “I threw a rock at him and it hit his dick, so he left.”
“You threw a rock. At his dick.”
His glasses slip, so he adjusts them with his fingers, releasing them from where they clench around the strap of his tote. “Lucky shot, I wasn’t wearing my glasses.”
It’s an insane casual conversation he’s having, two meters away from his door with a half-naked stranger.
The stranger comes closer, and Kei finds himself stepping back. “Where did you get the rock?”
“From my terrarium.”
There’s a genuine curiosity in this tone. “You have a terrarium? What for?”
“Snake.”
“Snake,” he repeats. “I didn’t know we were allowed pets.”
“We’re not,” Kei stared through him, daring him to fight on this, “but three different people have ejaculated on my door this year.”
The stranger laughs, and gets closer still, as far from the door as Kei is opposite of him. “Fair enough.”
It’s a hideous laugh, terrible, and Kei wants no part of it. No sir. “Uhm. I’d like to go inside now.”
The stranger stops in his tracks, confused. “Go—Go ahead?”
“You see, I can’t just—” Kei drops his tote by his door, keycard on hand—” unlock my door when there’s a weirdo in the hallway.”
“Who?” The weirdo looks behind Kei, and himself, searching. When he’s confirmed it’s just the two of them, he brings his hand to his chest. “Me? I’m the weirdo?”
Kei almost laughs at his scandalized expression. Almost. “Dude. You’re naked.”
“There’s a towel—”
A bang! Resounds through the hallway, similar to the internal door that separates buildings three and four, followed by loud, screeching noises and wails. It’s more than the usual creepy noises here and there, more intentional and far more alarming.
The stranger jumps looking terrified, and runs to Kei’s side, putting his back to the other side of the noise. “ Fuck! Help me!” His eyes, desperate, bore into Kei’s. “I’m getting murdered.”
Of course. The naked weirdo is going to kill him. Kei rubs his temples, shoulders slumped.“I can’t take this anymore. I’m moving out.”
The stranger shakes him harder than he needs to to get Kei’s attention. “No, that’s not—The murder game?”
“Back off, will you.” Kei maneuvers himself away from his death grip. “What murder game?”
“Did you not get a knife? A plastic knife with a name on it?”
He did get something like that last week. Didn’t understand what the hell it was about. “I threw that out.”
“You threw—” He’s interrupted, the door wailing again, bloody murder in every screech. Loud thumps follow, getting closer. “Will you please keep me from getting fake murdered tonight?”
“Why are they trying to murder you while you’re naked?
“No killing while naked. Y’know, so they can’t get you while you shower.”
Kei is probably going to regret this. Another noise rings out and he’s sure he’ll regret it, but he’d rather be regretful inside his room. “Fine.”
He grabs his tote from the floor and grips his keycard tight. Before he opens the door, he looks the idiot in the eye. “If you kill me, I will haunt you,” Kei warns, “and If you drop the towel, I’ll kill you.”
He nods, and trods along with Kei when his door opens.“No nakedness. Got it, glasses.” He winces, realizing that insulting the person getting you away from pursuers is probably not a good idea. “Sorry. I’m Kuroo.”
Kei decides being a dick about it is too much of a bother. He nods, setting his tote down on his chair.“Tsukishima.”
Kuroo takes a look around. His room is tidy, with minimal laundry piled in a corner. When he reaches his dresser, there’s a hint of approval. “Nice terrarium, “Tsukishima-kun.”
Kei grunts in return. He’s not the best with people, much less in these kinds of circumstances.
“I’m very grateful you’ve given me a haven in these trying times.”
Kei points at the hoodie hanging from the back of his chair on his way to the terrarium. “Please wear something. Hi, Udon.”
Udon crawls towards the glass, used to being greeted when Kei comes back. He had to downsize his other possessions to make room for her, but it was definitely worth it. Her pink eyes blink at him and the tension he's built during the day slowly slides from his shoulders. He sticks his hand in the terrarium to give her a head boop, her white scales coming to meet his skin under her lamp.
“Udon?”
Kei shrugs. “She’s a noodle.”
Kuroo comes up behind him, still in his towel. He stares at Udon, following how she curves herself around Kei’s hand.“Cute noodle.”
Kei doesn’t know how to handle Kuroo's bare chest. This was a bad idea. “Indeed.”
Kuroo clears his throat and steps a little closer. “As I was saying, thank you for keeping me alive.”
He frowns. This is entirely too dramatic. “I didn’t—”
He gasps at the touch. Something sharp and cold is pressed against the back of his neck. It doesn’t hurt, and Kei doesn’t feel the sting of it. It lays against his skin gently. He’s of a mind to be enraged but it’s funny enough that he just sighs and drops his shoulders. Figures.
“I’m going to have to haunt you now.”
“Fine by me. Sorry, glasses-kun. You’re dead.”
Kei is reluctant to turn. The plastic knife Kuroo is holding to his neck has not moved other than to gently scrape against his skin. A caress, almost, if he lets himself think it. “I don’t have mine for you to collect.”
Kuroo laughs by his ear and Kei is sure they turn red. “Do you remember the name on it at least?”
He’s not going to acknowledge it, trying to remember what was written in the plastic knife someone slid under his door. The name did not sound familiar. “Miya something. Osamu?”
“I’ll just say I lost it. Take his instead.”
“And the noises?”
“I have very committed friends, you see.” Finally, Kuroo steps back. “I appreciate it, you letting me in. Got to see something really cute.”
Kei feels the absence immediately, and turns to him, Udon in hand.
Kuroo is putting the hoodie on, the plastic knife stuck between the towel and the pulled-up edge of boxers that were invisible until now.
“Hey.” It’s a weak protest. Kei likes that hoodie but he’s wary of getting too close to the cute half-naked stranger who so smoothly played him.
“It’s cold as tits out there.” As soon as the hoodie is over his head, he shakes like a dog, finger combing the awfulness that is his bangs. “I’m building two, floor three, room 7. For the hoodie. And the haunting.”
He opens the door and shoots Kei a smile. “Bye, Udon.”
Ends it with a wink and shuts his door carefully.
Kei sighs and holds Udon up to his face. “I really need to move out.”
