From: Cheshire Cat, 09:37
Subject: Rise and shine
Text: Rise and shine, Sugar! Don't forget you have courses later today! I'm going to pick you up at around 10:30!
Yawning, Sugawara Koushi squinted at his phone and the message he had just received, before he decided not to react to that text. Damn Kuroo. He couldn't have let him sleep 20 minutes longer, could he? Well, it was no use now. Now he was awake and there was no way he would be able to go back to sleep. He stretched, threw the blanket off and got up. Scratching his belly while he shuffled over to his drawer to search for fresh clothes, he was greeted by three loudly meowing cats.
"Yes, yes. Good morning to you, too, you troublesome lot.", he bent down to pet each of them shortly, before he put on some clean underwear and a dark red sweatshirt with a v-neck. His jeans from yesterday would still do, he thought. -Well, until he noticed that one of the cats -probably Loki- had slept on it. He especially liked to leave his white fur all over Sugas darker pieces of clothing, the little devil.
"Would you look at that, Loki! What am I going to wear now? All my clothes are in the wash! And I can't go out just in sweatpants!", he chided while he held up his now unwearable jeans, shooed the cats out of his room and started to dig around in the depths of his drawer. He hoped he would be able to find an old -very old- pair of jeans that he could wear for today.
"Ah, lucky me!", he cheered to himself, when he actually found one. He pulled the piece of clothing out and looked at it. Maybe a little washed-out, but not too shabby, he decided. It would do for the day. He pulled it on and had a look at himself in the mirror, before he left his room.
Which was not something he usually did. But those jeans sure were a tight fit and he wanted to check if it wasn't too tight. After a long look, he decided he felt comfortable enough with what he saw and left his room to get on with the rest of his morning routine.
Feed the cats, try to comb his hair, brush his teeth, prepare his thermos-can of tea (he just didn't like most of the stuff they sold in the numerable coffee-shops around college) and eat a quick breakfast, which usually consisted of some fruits and a slice of bread (he didn't have time for a traditional breakfast most of the weekdays, and he wasn't that great a cook, anyway), while he waited for his best friend to pick him up. He had long since given up on telling Kuroo not to do that, but that guy wouldn't listen to him, so Suga had come to accept that he was being picked up by Kurro every morning, when they had courses that started on the same time. -Which was basically every morning except on Thursdays. While Kuroo could be considerate and was a good friend most of the time, really, there were also times when he only did, what he wanted to do at that moment, and then no one was able to change his mind.
At 10:23am, the doorbell rang and Suga let Kuroo in.
"Ready to go?", he wanted to know and Suga nodded.
"Guess so. I just need to find my scarf... Where did I put it yesterday?", the silver haired boy mumbled to himself, before he scurried off to look for it.
"I'll help looking. -By the way, Suga, nice ass. Are those jeans new?", Kuroo teased, one eyebrow raised in question.
Suga almost gave himself a whiplash, as fast as he turned his neck to throw a glare at his best friend.
"No, they aren't. They're probably still from my last year in High School. I just don't have any other clean ones right now, since a certain white furball decided to sleep on my last clean pair of jeans at some point this night.", he scowled and then went back to looking for his gray scarf.
"And would you please stop ogling me already?! You do have a boyfriend, don't you?"
"Doesn't mean I can't appreciate a nice view when I see one. Besides, you better get used to it. I wont be the only one staring at your ass today.", Kuroo smugly retorted and pulled Sugas scarf out from behind one of the pillows on his couch.
"There it is! Now let's get going, we don't want to be late, do we?"
Suga sighed and took the scarf from his friend, before they headed out for the day.
They separated at the entrance of the university. Kuroo had another medical ethics course he had to attend to, while Suga headed off to his own course in the psychology department. Sure, studying psychology wasn't exactly easy, but he liked it anyway. Always had, actually.
On the way to his course, he could feel the people staring after him, once he'd passed them, even more so than before, when he walked with Kuroo. Suga wasn't exactly a shy person, but he had been glad when his friend had drawn most of the attention of the passers-by to him, with his captivating, intriguing aura and his good looks it wasn't even that hard for him. Now that Suga was alone, there was no distraction for all those voyeurs. He sighed, pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time, only to let out a shocked "Ack!", when he saw just how late it was. If he didn't run for it now, he'd be late. And as nice as Takeda-Sensei might have been, Suga really didn't want to be late, so he broke out into a sprint to his course and barely made it.
He was still catching his breath and trying to tame his disheveled hair, when his Professor came in and started the lecture. Lukily, Takeda-Sensei didn't bring up anything new for today and Suga didn't need to listen too closely. His Professor just rehearsed the stuff from his last lecture and remembered his students that there would be a test at the end of the next week and that their essay was still due to next Monday. Suga groaned, along with the other students. Since, as nice as Take-Chan (that's how the students secretly called their Professor) was, sometimes Suga wondered if the guy actually liked torturing his students with those enormous workloads he assigned them. Now, don't get him wrong: Suga sure as hell wasn't a lazy student, and his grades were above average in all of his classes, but he still liked to have his free time, thank you very much.
Sometime during the lecture though, his phone buzzed.
From: Cheshire Cat, 11:47
Subject: Lunch
Text: I hope you wont mind one of the guys from my volleyball team joining us for lunch?
To: Cheshire Cat, 11:50
Subject: Lunch
Text: I don't see why that would be a problem. Who is it, anyway?
From: Cheshire Cat, 11:51
Subject: Lunch
Text: Sawamura Daichi.
To: Cheshire Cat, 11:52
Subject: Lunch
Text: No. Kuroo, no. Everyone but him! You know I can't stand that guy!
From: Cheshire Cat, 11:54
Subject: Lunch
Text: You don't even know him, Suga. Come on, it's just lunch!
To: Cheshire Cat, 11:56
Subject: Lunch
Text: I don't have to know him to know that I don't like him, Kuroo.
From: Cheshire Cat, 11:57
Subject: Lunch
Text: Oh, come on! Just this once? You don't have to talk to him, if you don't want to.
To: Cheshire Cat, 11:58
Subject: Lunch
Text: Fine. You owe me big time now, though.
From: Cheshire Cat, 12:01
Subject: Lunch
Text: Yay!
Suga groaned and pulled a hand through his still slightly messy hair, making it even messier now. What had he gotten himself into? Why couldn't he just have said no, like any other sane person would have done? Why couldn't Kuroo accept that there were people on this planet that Suga would rather not get acquainted with? And one of them was Sawam3ura Daichi. He really only had seen the guy a few times, when he went to see Kuroos volleyball matches and on campus, when he was went out of his way to meet with Kuroo, and he hadn't talked to him even once. He just knew there was something about that guy that just didn't sit right with him. And now he had to have to sit through lunch with him! Wasn't that just great?
Luckily, his course lastet for at least another hour, and then he'd have to walk to the cafeteria where he and Kuroo normally ate their lunch. -Which meant that he could take his time in getting there. Hopefully, by the time he got there, they'd be halfway through their meals already, and Suga wouldn't have to spend too much of his time at the same table Sawamura-San.
When Takeda-Sensei expanded his lecture by over ten minutes, Suga didn't even care. Now he had an acceptable excuse to be late. Though he still walked at a snails pace to get to his destination. On his way, he sent another text to Kuroo.
To: Cheshire Cat, 13:17
Subject: Lunch
Text: I'll be there in a few. Take-Chan expanded his lecture by 15 minutes. You can start eating without me.
From: Cheshire Cat, 13:19
Subject: Lunch
Text: No, that's fine. We'll wait for you. See you soon!
Suga literally pouted, when he read that text. And there he was, thinking he might get to cut that dreaded lunch short! Damn that Kuroo. He really had no luck today, huh?
At least he had no trouble spotting Kuroos enormous bedhead between all those other students. He sighed, tightened his grip on his tray of food and made his way over to their desk. Kuroo and Sawamura-San really had waited for him, even though he had said they shouldn't. They greeted him with friendly, but slightly pitying smiles. Suga put down his tray and sat down on the chair opposite of Kuroo, while the guy pulled Sugas tray over to him and started snatching away all of the fish in his dish.
Sawamura-San followed that action with a curious, slightly confused look in his eyes.
"Uhm... I hope you don't mind me asking, but... uhm, you guys aren't dating, are you?", he almost shyly questioned them, a light blush appearing on his face.
And while Suga frowned at that, Kuroo laughed merrily.
"Oh hell no! I do have a boyfriend. Suga and I just have made a food-agreement. I get to eat all of his meat and fish, and he gets the fruits and vegetables I don't like."
"But why? You need to eat meat!", Sawamura-San explained almost worriedly, which had Suga roll his eyes.
He didn't attempt an answer, though, since he was sure, Kuroo would gladly provide him with the right one. -Which he did.
"Suga's a vegetarian, so it's fine. This way, nothing gets wasted. Oh, by the way! I believe you two haven't met officially before, have you?", he didn't wait for either of them to reply to that and continued talking, "Daichi, this is Sugawara Koushi-Kun, my best man. Suga, this is Sawamura Daichi-Kun, the captain of my volleyball team."
Suga only nodded shortly in Sawamuras general direction, before he went on taking most of the fruits and vegetables from Kuroos tray. Sawamura-San on the other hand greeted Suga properly.
"It's nice to meet you, Sugawara-Kun."
It earned him another frown from the silver haired one. The feeling definitely wasn't mutual, which is why he didn't reply and instead chose to start eating. He wanted to get over this already, and the sooner, the better. Sighing under his breath, he decided to zone out and not pay attention to the conversation Kuroo was trying to establish with his captain.
His best friend must have noticed Sugas unwillingness to take part in their conversation, which is why he didn't even try to rope him into it. Sawamura on the other hand glanced at Suga every so often -which didn't go unnoticed by the fair haired one and made him practically inhale his lunch. When he was done, not even ten minutes had passed since he had sat down.
"Well then, I gotta get going. See you later, Kuroo.", Suga took his leave, not even acknowledging Sawamura anymore.
Kuroo frowned, when Suga took his tray and left them behind. He also noticed Sawamuras crestfallen look, when he watched Suga leave.
"He really doesn't like me, does he?", Sawamura mumbled, when Suga was a safe distance away and wouldn't be able to hear them anymore.
Said boy meanwhile had left the cafeteria behind and was on the way to his next course -which wouldn't start before another hour had passed. And he had nothing to do until then!
"I guess I need to find something to kill my time with...", he mumbled to himself.
He was lucky enough that the lecture hall was already open and he could occupy one of the seats in the back. Within minutes, he had taken up more than half of the table he sat at with his stuff. His bag, his thermos-can, the books he would need for the lecture, a notebook for his copies. He made himself comfortable and decided to engross himself in that book he found just recently at the local bookstore and hadn't had the chance to look at, yet. It was a rather thin one, with probably not more than two or three hundred pages in total, and he could likely manage to read it within the week -that was, if he hadn't had to do quite so much for his courses- but he knew better than that.
In between his coursework, commuting to and from university, taking care of his troublesome cats and the occasional night out with his friends, he would need three weeks, maybe even four, most likely. Well, that way he'd at least be able to enjoy it, right?
Suga sighed and turned the pages to the first chapter. Soon he was so deep into the story, he didn't even notice the lecture had started. Only when the guy who had taken the seat next to him nudged him with his elbow, he came back to reality. He smiled apologetically at the stranger and whispered his thanks to him, before he started paying attention to his professor.
After the course, he checked his phone for any new messages and actually dawdled a little, before he left the room. Though it was still only October and the weather forecast had promised a nice day, it was pouring down now. And Suga neither had an umbrella, nor a jacket, for that matter. He'd be completely soaked by the time he would be home and surely would have caught a cold on top of that. He sighed and looked sullenly at the looming gray clouds. Kuroos courses would last for another two hours today, s they normally didn't go home together, but now Suga was willing to wait for him. Just for the chance of the other actually having his umbrella with him. Though maybe he should send Kuroo a text and ask him first, before he actually waited for nothing in the end.
To: Cheshire Cat, 16:32
Subject: It's raining
Text: It's raining. You don't happen to have a spare umbrella you can lend to me?
From: Cheshire Cat, 16:34
Subject: It's raining
Text: I actually do have one. I'm in hall 216, break's in 15 minutes. See you then!
To: Cheshire Cat, 16:37
Subject: It's raining
Text: Great! I'm on my way, then!
Relieved, Suga smiled and thought about the best route to take to get to Kuroos lecture hall. It was at the other end of the campus, he believed, somewhere by the west-entrance. If he remembered correctly. He pocketed his phone and started walking. It would take him approximately ten minutes to get there, since he'd have to walk the long way around campus to avoid going out into the still pouring rain. He'd rather not catch a cold.
The halls he passed were vacated for the most part, but here and there he saw a few people standing together and chatting away, probably waiting for the downpour to pass. There was even someone catcalling him, but he ignored that with an annoyed roll of his eyes. He would never wear these jeans again! Ever! Luckily, his day was almost over, so he wouldn't have to deal with much more bullshit.
"Sugar-Chan! Over here!", Kuroo called out to him, just as he entered the corridor where his best friends lecture hall supposedly was. Well, at least he got that one right.
"Gosh, Kuroo. Stop making such a ruckus. And please stop calling me that!"
"But it's true! You are as sweet as sugar, and your name is practically the same, anyway.", Kuroo all but whined.
"Kuroo, I'm going to double the amount you owe me for today, if you don't stop. Now."
Suga almost glared at him. And Sugas glares were just as scary as Daichis, Kuroo thought.
"Fine, fine, I'll stop. If it makes you any happier: I know of at least one guy, whose heart you broke today with those jeans.", he winked at Suga.
"Is that so?", the silver haired one frowned, thinking back to that faceless person that had catcalled him a few minutes earlier, then he smirked.
"Well, wearing these jeans wasn't in vain, then, I guess. I don't even want to know how many people realized today I was out of their league."
He was joking, though, and Kuroo knew that. He laughed, and Suga let himself be drawn into it and chuckled, as well.
"Sure, sure. Don't you want to know whom I'm talking about, though?", he pressed on, when Suga showed no intention of asking that question.
"No, not really. You know I don't care about that stuff. Will you give me your umbrella now?", Suga sighed.
He really didn't want to know. It was enough for him to know that is was yet another guy, apparently. Over the last few years he had lost count on just how many guys and girls had been crushing on him, it simply were too many. Some of them later said that he had planned them to fall in love with him -outright accused him- so he could become even more popular. -Not that he hadn't been, already. With his ash blonde hair and his angelic behavior he sure stood out amongst the other students. But to say that he had plotted for them to crush on him had hurt him. -And changed him, in a way, when he found out. He stopped always being nice to everyone, spoke his mind more often and he even opposed his teachers (just once or twice, but it did the thing) and it worked. Slowly but steadily, he lost his reputation of the angelic, nice guy and was just another student, that was -at best- admired for his good looks or his grades. Some people still crushed on him, but he didn't care about that anymore and turned each and every one of them down, be it boy or girl. -In favour of his grades, he would always say, but in truth, it was because he didn't know if he liked them. Could come to like them. He was nice enough to everyone, when it came down to it, but there never was anyone special. He never once thought he might come to actually fall for this person or that one. Neither boys nor girls would catch his attention, and so he remained single through all of his school years, and now, in university, far away from his small hometown and his friends, he was still the same.
"Ah, sure. Here you go. I'll come pick it up later, okay?", Kuroo pulled him out of his thoughts and handed him the umbrella.
"Thanks, Kuroo! Have fun at your lecture!", Suga took the umbrella and turned to leave.
"I'll see you later, then? At around eight?"
"Yep, as always. Oh, I'm also going to bring Kenma and Shimizu-Chan along, if that's alright?"
"Yeah, sure. Later!"
At home, Suga went to tidy up the place -not that he needed to do much, though. He just vacuumed and cleaned the kitchen, before he went to have a quick shower and did his laundry so it would be done by the time his friends showed up. While he was doing that, his mind was free to wander off, and it did. He wondered how the book he started reading would continue, what he'd do tomorrow and how he'd spend the rest of his free time until his doorbell rang.
Ultimately, he found himself lounging on his couch, two of his three cats in his lap and demanding their daily dose of affection from him. He smiled, thinking that it was the best idea Kuroo came up with so far. One day, Suga had been complaining how lonely it felt to come home to an empty flat, and the next thing he knew, Kuroo was standing in his door a few days later, with a basket that contained three adorable little kittens. Loki, Freyja and Sigyn he had named them after some nordic deities. But before he did that, he had scolded Kuroo for doing something so reckless as just picking up three kittens from a shelter, without knowing if Suga could (or would) keep them. Well, he had kept them, obviously, and he loved all three of them, even if they were more than a handful sometimes. He almost fell asleep, lulled in by the soft purring of Freyja and Sigyn, but the doorbell rang just in time and had him jolt back to be perceptive and alert.
The rest of his night was spent in the company of his friends. They made plans for Halloween, which party they would attend, what costumes they'd wear. They discussed their fellow students crushes or paired them up with people they thought fit them perfectly. At some point, the center of their conversation shifted from some unknown guy Shimizu had come up with, to Suga.
"So, Suga... You seriously don't have your eyes on anyone? There must be someone you like! Or at least someone you think is attractive -aside from me, of course!", Kuroo taunted him.
But Suga was used to that speech by now, so he didn't bother stressing over it and simply answered with a shrug.
"Nope. Not anybody."
He said it in such a matter-of-fact-way, that Kuroo didn't even pull a face at that. Kenma merely raised an eyebrow, before he went back to concentrate on the game he was playing on his phone, but Shimizu tilted her head, a questioning look in her eyes. She didn't believe him.
"It's true though. There's no one I feel especially attracted to.", Suga repeated.
"But you did have a crush on someone before, right?", the dark haired girl wanted to know.
"I don't think so?", came the careful reply.
Now that he thought about it... Did that count when you had to think about a person again and again, but not because he or she was particularly good looking or had a nice character, and you just couldn't quite put your finger on what intrigued you about them? Suga wasn't sure about that, so he stayed quiet. Besides, if he said that, Kuroo and Shimizu both would pester him to spill a name already. And they sure as hell would try to set him up with that person.
"Boooring! Suga, you seriously need to get laid!", Kuroo exclaimed, which made the blond actually blush and flustered.
