Love is not Extinct ~ HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Weekend Haunt

"One! Two! Three! Shot!" The five boys kneeling around the glass coffee table that sat in the middle of the room tipped back their heads and downed shots of a bright green liquid, followed by the gasps and moans as it burned on the way down.

"Whoo!" Inuoka cheered, putting his arm around Fukunaga who sat to his left, still blinking wide eyed at the sensation the alcohol had left on his tongue and down his throat. "That's the stuff! What did you say this stuff was called again?" He looked across the table at Lev who was sitting behind Yaku with his legs on either side and his arms casually around his boyfriend.

"Absinthe," Lev responded with a smile as he watched his boyfriend pour himself another shot glass as if he had not been affected.

"Another round for me!" Yamamoto cheered, holding out his glass, followed by the whoops of agreement from Kuroo,Teshiro and Inuoka as they all moved their glasses forward onto the table to be refilled. Fukunaga's glass was moved forward by Inuoka without asking, and Yaku downed his second shot and placed his cup back down for a third. Lev reached over and filled each glass up with precision and finesse.

Behind Kuroo, sitting on the couch, Kenma listened to their caterwauling, disinterested as he played a mobile game on his phone while Kai and Shibayama sat next to him, observing the group on the floor, amused, while they sipped their own beverages.

This was a pretty common setting for the gang of Nekoma apartment complex men when they hung out. Although they rotated who's apartment they went to, Lev and Yaku's was usually a favorite simply because the couple had a three bedroom apartment that was the most spacious floor plan the building had to offer. And of course, their apartment was always stocked with a large variety of alcohol.

"So, how did you little project go?" Inuoka asked after they had taken their shot. He leaned back on his palms and looked over at Kuroo curiously.

"My project?" Kuroo asked as he leaned against the couch, the back of his head resting against Kenma's knee. "What are you talking about?"

"Obviously whatever it was you were up to at the club the other night," Yamamoto cut in, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the table.

"We all could tell you were up to something," Sibayama said casually as he took a long, slow sip of his drink. "You get this look on your face when you start to scheme."

"Not to mention, Lev came back from whatever assignment you gave him with a girl." Inuoka snickered and had to duck a shot glass being thrown at him.

"I am not happy with that Kuroo." Yaku looked over, glaring at their messy-haired companion who only smirked in response.

Lev tightened his arms around his boyfriend, hoping to get him to calm down. Yaku was always extra feisty when he was drunk and he had already been in a bad moon since that evening. Lev didn't really want him to start to try and pick a fight with Kuroo in their living room. Especially since, despite Yaku's fearlessness, Lev was sure that Kuroo was one of the only members of their group that Yaku wouldn't have a chance at defeating.

"Calm down Yaku. All I did was spill a drink on her to get her away from someone." Lev tried to reason and as a result got head butted by the short man in his arms. "Ow…" he winced, reaching up one hand to rub his chin.

"Because he knew you would get her attention. He was using you for your looks. I am not okay with that."

"You know I meant no harm," Kuroo said with a smile as he filled up his shot glass once again and slid it across the table as a peace offering. "I had faith in Lev. He is loyal like a little puppy. I wasn't taking a risk and you know it." Yaku grumbled but took the shot as Lev smiled brightly, wrapping his arms around him tightly once more.

"Oooh, so you were after someone?" Yamamoto smirked and both he and Inuoka leaned in, eager to learn the details.

"Yes. I was trying to get someone alone so I could talk to him."

They all waited but Kuroo didn't offer anything more. After only a minute Inuoka couldn't take it anymore and finally burst out, "come on man, tell us more! How did it go? Who is this guy?"

"He tricked him into accepting a date," Kenma pitched in without looking up from his game. Kuroo hit his head back against his roommate's knee in hopes of messing him up but Kenma had anticipated this move and simply held his arms up so that the bump wouldn't jostle him.

"Smooth Kuroo!" Yamamoto hollered, punching him in the shoulder way too hard and nearly knocking him over. The whole group laughed.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A fast rapping came from the door. Lev smiled brightly as he stood up causing Yaku to nearly fall over at the sudden loss of support behind him. "Maybe it's trick-or-treaters" he said as he happily went over to the door. From where they sat in the living room the rest of the group could hear the happy voices of a small group of children calling out.

"Trick-or-Treat!"

"Look at you" Lev cooed over the children's costumes. "We have a ninja and two crayons."

"Thank you sir," one of the children said and Inuoka perked up quickly, stumbling to his feet.

"Hey! Hey! I know that voice!"

He ran over to the door before Lev could shut it and smiled brightly at seeing the young boy dressed in the black ninja costume with his younger twin sisters dressed as a purple and pink crayon. They had chocolate brown hair but the same bright green eyes as their older brother, a trait which all three had inherited from their mother. The boy brightened when he saw Inuoka appear in the doorway.

"Hey Inuoka-sensei."

"Sawai-kun." Inuoka went over and patted the boy's head affectionately before kneeling down to bring himself to the young girls' eye levels. "It's nice to see you out with your sisters. Are you three having fun tonight?"

"Yes sensei!" Both girls giggled together, going closer to hug their neighbor and older brother's teacher.

"We are getting candy." The pink crayon, Sawai Karen, beamed up at him as she held out her bucket for Inuoka to see.

"Yeah!" The purple crayon, Sawai Mio, pitched in, holding out her bucket for him to examine. "Lots of candy!"

Grinning from ear to ear Inuoka reached up patting each girl on the head. "Good. Just make sure you don't spoil your dinner tonight. You have to remember to eat properly so you can grow big and come be my students one day, just like your big brother." He glanced back up at Sawai and winked before standing back up. "Where is your mom tonight?"

"Working," Sawai answered for the three of them. "She has projects that she really needs to get finished this weekend so she said we should go without her this year."

"Mama painting," Mio summed up as her twin nodded in agreement.

Inuoka smiled softly at the children. Sawai Masako was a talented artist who made a living painting and selling her artwork. Tall and thin with an elegant figure, Masako had soft black hair that fell nearly down to her elbows, though most of the time it was pulled up in a messy knot on top of her head to keep it out of her way while she worked. She was soft spoken but energetic and had a pure, gentle heart. Inuoka had fallen for her from the moment he had met her when she moved into the apartment complex four years ago.

But there was one problem. She was married...

...When she had first moved in Inuoka was in his senior year at university. One day, when getting home from his job as a student teacher, he noticed his neighbor's door was propped open with some boxes and it was clear that someone was moving in.

"Toshiaki, no!"

Inuoka's curiosity got the better of him and he peaked around the open doorway to see a woman wearing paint-splattered overall over a white shirt. She was barefoot and had rolled up the legs of her pants almost to her knees. She was attempting to wrangle a young boy with little success and, after a moment, the boy broke free of her grasp and bolted for the door.

"Toshi!" she cried out, panic filling her green eyes at her son rushing off in a new and unfamiliar place.

Quickly dropping his bag and the books he had been carrying, Inuoka snatched the boy around the waist and picked him up before he could get more than two steps out of the door. "Whoa there, buddy," he chuckled. "Where do you think you are going?"

"No!" the boy wailed, wiggling in an attempt to get out of his arms. "Let me go! I don't wanna take a nap!"

"Thank you so much." Inuoka looked up to see his mother now standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips, trying to catch her breath. She looked exhausted and disheveled. Her hair was starting to fall out of the knot she had it in and a few loose strands framed her delicate face. "He had just been so riled up, normally he is a good boy. I promise we won't be bothersome neighbors."

"No, no. No worries." Inuoka smiled, trying to steady his heart back to a normal pace after being so stunned by her simple and radiant beauty. "I understand how kids are. A move is very stressful on a child and they don't know how to cope with that stress, so usually they just end up acting out."

The look on her face after he spoke nearly melted his heart. She looked so touched, like that simple act of kindness and understanding might just bring her to tears. The poor woman looked like she was at her wits end trying to balance everything and no one had bothered to stop and show her even the simplest gesture of warmth.

"Thank you so much." She smiled and Inuoka had to recalibrate his heartbeat again.

"It's no problem. I work with children most of the day so I completely understand the whims of their emotions." He peeked into her apartment again, noticing how few boxes were actually in the apartment. "Did you just start moving things in?"

"Oh uh?" She tucked a few of her loose strands of hair behind her ear as she glanced back at her very empty apartment, almost embarrassed. "No actually, I've been working for most of the day actually. I had hoped that I would be further along by now… My husband will be home in a few hours and I had wanted to at least have everything moved in so he didn't have to worry about it after working a long day."

And that was when his heart decided to stop beating all together.

Husband. Of course she would have a husband. Inuoka didn't know why that information surprised him so much or hit him so hard. This beautiful woman with a young child would of course not be a single mother. What man in his right mind would abandon these two precious people.

"You have been moving boxes all by yourself?" Inuoka once again felt his heart melt for this woman and her current predicament.

"Yeah." She smiled, laughing lightly. He could tell that she was fighting to stay positive, despite everything that was clearly weighing her down.

"I would be happy to help if you wouldn't mind?" he offered as he adjusted her son in his arms, the boy having started to calm down, clearly sleepy though he was fighting his nap.

"Oh no, I couldn't ask that of you. We just met and that..."

"Nonsense," Inuoka cut her off with a grin. "That's what neighbors do for each other. Why don't you take your son and put him down and I'll go see if my roommates are home. We would be happy to help you out."

Once again the woman looked like she was going to cry from the simple offer of kindness. Reaching out, she took back her son cradling him gently in her arms. "Thank you so much…" She hesitated, realizing in the initial chaos of their meeting they hadn't even introduced themselves.

"Inuoka So." He smiled, responding to the unspoken question.

Her returning smile sent enough electricity through his body to not only jump start his heart once more but send it racing away too fast for him to catch it and take control again. "Thank you so much Inuoka-san. I'm Sawai Masako, and this is my son Toshiaki."

Thankfully, all it took for Inuoka to convince Yamamoto and Kai to help out with moving their neighbor in was to buy them dinner. With the three of them working together they were able to get all of the Sawai family's belonging off the truck and up into their apartment in just a little under two hours. This allowed Masako to be able to put her son down for his nap and start unpacking a few of the family's essentials.

"How can I ever repay you three?" Masako asked as she stepped out of the kitchen, drying off her hand with a dishtowel.

"No need." Kai smiled, dusting off his hands. "It was our pleasure to help."

"I feel so blessed to have such kind neighbors. I'm glad to know that we will have you around if we ever need anything."

Inuoka really hoped that she meant it. He wanted to help her in any way he could. He was just opening his mouth to ask if there was anything else that he could help with when someone came through the front door, slamming it shut behind them, making both Inuoka and Masako jump.

"Masa why is…" The man paused when he walked into the kitchen to find his wife standing there with three strangers. "What the hell is going on here?"

Inuoka couldn't help but notice the split second glimpse of panic that crossed Masako's face. "Jiro-chan, these nice men are our neighbors. They were kind enough to offer me some help moving all the boxes into the apartment so you wouldn't have to worry about it when you got home. Isn't that great?"

The man huffed, dropping his coat and work bag on top of a box in the doorway as he walked further into the apartment. "Yeah, that's nice of them," he finally said, and then in the same breath asked, "is dinner ready?" and plopped onto the couch...

...That had been his first encounter with Sawai Jiro, and he hadn't had a positive one since. The man worked during the day but hardly any of the money went to provide for his family, other than the basic utilities and rent, so his wife had to push herself to supplement their income. Food, clothes, school expenses, all of that had to be provided by Masako if they wanted it. He was never present for his son's school activities or parent teacher meetings. And though he had no proof, Inuoka had a gut feeling that the man wasn't faithful.

From what he had seen, the man never physically or verbally abused his wife or children but he was a rotten husband and a lousy father. And it made Inuoka's blood boil.

Standing back up, he ruffled Toshiaki's hair once more and grinned at the children. "Well, you better get all your trick-or-treating done then so you aren't out too late. You don't want to worry your mama when she is working hard."

"Yes sensei!" All three children spoke in unison before each girl hugged his leg and Toshiaki gave him a high-five. Then the trio was off to knock on more doors and obtain more candy.

A/N: Special shoutout to my awesome Beta reader/Editor! You are the best! Thank you so much for being available and making time to edit my work even though I have been so bad this week and all of my work has been sent to you last minute.

-For anyone interested my Beta is also a writer and has a few works posted online through Wattpad, currently she only has a few Miraculous Ladybug and Percy Jackson Fics but I know she has been writing more recently and will be having some Haikyuu! OneShots coming in the near future (which I had to honor of editing. They are so cute!) Her username is TrustMeImANerd -

Sensei: Teacher

-kun: is most often used for younger boys, it's not exclusive. The meaning expresses respect for someone of "lower" status than you or, most often, younger than you.

-san: the English equivalent is "Mr.", "Mrs." or "Ms.". This is a gender neutral word and is the most common honorific used.