Terushima Week 2017 - 7 - Free Prompt.
79 - I hope I’m never stuck on a deserted island with you.
Kuroo glared at Terushima.
“Well, I hope I’m never stuck with you on a deserted island”, he snarled, flopping down. “Oh, wait, I am.”
Terushima rose his hands to the sky.
“You were the one dumb enough to let yourself float away on a buoy duck”, Kuroo said.
“And you were the one stupid enough to follow me!” Terushima countered.
“I should have let you drown”, Kuroo said, turning his back to him.
He wasn’t really angry, to be fair, but he was worried. They had washed up on a small deserted island and Terushima’s buoy had deflated. Daichi, Bokuto, Ushijima and the others were probably searching for them everywhere by now. Or perhaps not, they hadn’t been gone for that long yet. Time went by.
“Do you think we will die?” Terushima suddenly asked in the silence, and his voice was small and frightened, unlike his usual loud and boisterous one.
“What?” Kuroo asked, sitting up vividly. “Of course we won’t”, he said, “people will find us eventually.”
He heard a sniffle and realized Terushima was curled up on himself, hugging his knees and trembling. Sighing, he got up and sat down by his side, pulling him in his arms. They were both sweaty and covered in sand, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
“It will be okay”, he said.
But that didn’t seem to calm Terushima’s anxiety down. He gently ruffled his hair, making sand rain down on them, and said:
“How about we visit the island to see if we can find some food, and a shelter? We can even build one if needed.”
Terushima nodded, wiping his eyes.
It was not the best idea, Kuroo realized when they tried to enter the forest in their swimsuit and without shoes. But Terushima wasn’t crying anymore, so it had to be a good thing. His eyes brightened when they stumbled at the top of a hill and saw a pond filled with clear water, a small stream cascading into it from the other side of the island. Now Kuroo was wondering how big this island actually was – there were tons of small islands in Japan, after all. Terushima barrelled downhill and plunged his head into the clear water, drinking greedily, and Kuroo was quick to imitate him, though he preferred to drink directly from the stream. Smiling, he pushed Terushima into the pond. The boy resurfaced quickly, gasping and laughing, splashing water around until Kuroo was dripping too and joined him. The pond was way deeper than it seemed, and they spent some time playing before Kuroo stated it was actually time they got out, or else they would never dry.
Terushima followed him and, as the night would soon set, they made beds out of leaves. Thankfully, the nights were quite warm, and they gathered fruits for their dinner. Terushima finally laid under the starry sky, far from civilization, in a complete new world with only nature and, who knew, probably wild animals. He started to shiver in fear and instinctively curled against Kuroo, who wrapped his arms around him.
“Don’t worry”, the older boy promised, “I will never let anything bad happen to you.”
“You swear?” Terushima whispered, his head tucked against Kuroo’s hip.
“Cross my heart and hope to die”, Kuroo replied. “I’ve got your back.”
Terushima smiled and soon, he was sleeping tightly against Kuroo.
“You are too cute for your own good”, Kuroo whispered. “Still, I’m not happy that I’m stuck on a desert island with you. You deserve so much more…”
He rose his head when he heard voices calling for them. At first he thought it was an hallucination, but it wasn’t, and he lifted Terushima instinctively, trudging through the vegetation to get back to the beach, where he could see flashlights and hear voices calling for them.
“We’re here!” he yelled, “we’re saved, Teru”, he murmured for the sleeping boy.
“You know”, Terushima hummed, “that was actually the day I fell in love with you.”
“What, really?” Kuroo laughed, hugging him tightly. “You have weird tastes, but I already knew that.”
“Yeah”, Terushima went on. “Because you were so strong and you seemed to know exactly how to calm me down. You didn’t make fun of me or anything. You just… You were there.”
“I hope I’m never stuck with you on a deserted island”, Kuroo breathed, “because I would spoil you to no end.”