In retrospect, high school had been the easy route. Puberty was awful in general but that went for everyone. Having little to no friends wasn't an issue. He didn't want them anyway. Higher level classes and a dismissive, cool personality had come with the reprieve of being fairly isolated. No one to bother him, no one who wanted to bother him.
Safety in being a wallflower. Pride in being a wallflower.
Graduating had almost been easy. He had even been allowed to wear gloves when crossing the stage. College was going to be even less confined, spread out. A sprawling campus with a mess of different people doing different things. Many of which were on the move and had control over things not contained to college. Other places they could be, that weren't on campus; that weren't near him.
But the biggest advantage high school would always have over college… was that it was less than fifteen minutes from his house.
College definitely did not fit that criteria; and Keiji didn't, in all honesty, want to move out.
"I can find somewhere closer," he murmured, scanning his screen. If he scrolled far enough, searched a little longer, surely he'd come up with other more suitable options. Something. Anything. "The colleges in our area will still have the classes I want. You know it won't matter where I do as long as I have a degree at all to find work."
His mother quietly watched him, her hand tight on the door frame. "Keiji," she said, "the university offered a full ride scholarship. They're the best in Japan for literature." He squeezed his eyes shut but it did nothing to stop her. "I know it's... not ideal. I know. But this is one of those times that maybe the risk is worth it."
How could you say that? Keiji wanted to ask. After all these years, telling me to be careful. Telling me not to get too close. How could you?
A hand in his hair. The secondhand murmur of lip gnawing pressure and dim-lit sparks became a flood of concern and hope. Beneath the cold weight of anxiety was excitement and happiness glittering like sparklers in the night. Keiji could just make out a flashing image of shaking hands and a tearstained diploma before she drew back.
"I just don't want you to have any regrets," she murmured. "Being Adjacent shouldn't mean forcing yourself to not take the opportunities you have open to you. I know you're scared, but as long as you're as careful as you've always been, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay."
Keiji turned away. It did nothing in the face of his mother. She stepped forward and quickly wrapped her arms around his shoulders. The touch burned as it always did, unfamiliar heat imprinting on his skin. But The tide of love and affection, soft and comforting like sunlight and hot food in his stomach made him shiver pleasantly. He couldn't help sinking into it. Just for a moment.
Her lips pressed into his hair. "You're going to go to your top university," she said firmly, "you're going to get your free ride, and have fun, and it is going to be worth it."
Just as quickly, it was over. Connections snapping like fingers through cobwebs. Keiji was still all too aware of how her hands pressed into his shoulders, palms burning through even the fabric of his shirt. "Okay?" She asked. Despite her previous conviction, her eyes searched his out. Waiting. If he truly thought he couldn't do it–– despite it all, she would listen.
She always had. Who else would know him so inside and out, empath or not, as his own mother?
Keiji swallowed.
Adjacents weren't criminals. They weren't monsters. It wasn't as if it were illegal to exist– just that existing was uncomfrtable for everyone involved. They were normal people, like himself, like his mother. Normal people who still needed to get jobs and eat food and breathe air. Normal people who couldn't afford to avoid everyone because of harmful stereotypes and stigma, because of overstimulation. Normal people like Keiji, who had plenty of the practice needed in pretending to be perfectly normal.
Society didn't make a place for them over half the time. It was up to them to carve one out until it would.
"Okay," he managed, and the enduring warmth and fluttering light-headedness radiating from his mother felt like being swallowed by the sun.
If he had to move out, the best-case scenario would just be other Adjacents. It wouldn't be hard to adjust to whatever flavor of not-human they were— telepathic, telekinetic, empath, mimic— whatever. Whatever. It didn't matter that privacy would be impossible. Keiji had plenty of practice just by living with his mother.
The concept of being understood, of being safe in his own home, would be worth the loss of privacy in whatever form it took.
It was an idealistic idea and Keiji did not hold out hope for it. No adjacent was naive enough to advertise their status like that.
Keiji forcibly loosened his jaw. He continued to scroll through apartment and roommate offers.
The majority were unsurprisingly posted by humans. He swiped through them without even glancing. Living with a human would be bound to end badly. In close quarters, likely for months if not years? Akaashi was good, but no one was perfect— and humans had a much harder time adjusting the way Adjacents and Supers could. Keiji understood that there was a delicate balance between accepting others without being threatened by them, but humans toed that line with all the grandeur and fragility of a glass castle. They seized power where they could, in the face of a lack of supernatural ability.
Keiji had heard too many horror stories of Adjacents found out by their human peers. Of legal consequences for invasion of privacy. Of threats and blackmail and the stagnating, suffocating knowledge of constant distrust and wariness. There was no hiding from an Adjacent. It wasn't a blessing. More often than not, empathy was a hindrance. Especially to those like himself and his mother. The stronger the powers, the harder to control–– Keiji would have given more than he was comfortable thinking about to be able to just leave his own home without emotional overstimulation.
At least they were no longer legally required to give their status. It was a mild comfort.
Human, human, human. Two hedge witches; women only. Human. Griffin; on a ranch too far from campus.
Human.
Human.
Human.
Huma n.
Several too far. Lots in bad areas. Keiji spent several minutes in between wanting to bang his head against the table to consider even the listing from what looked to be an entire nest of crow shapeshifters, and even an offer made by a human with another dryad roommate. Purely out of desperation. Endlessly scrolling through offer after offer made him feel like he was going to start bleeding through his ears.
Human. Human. Nekomata; but by the wrong university. Human. Human. Human. Two supers; male—
Keiji stopped scrolling, squinting uselessly at the horrible amalgamation of color that was the listing.
"Become our third roommate!" Was typed in a massive and multicolored font. "Decent sized living space. Available kitchen, shared fridge with a working freezer, a stove, and an oven. You get your own room with a window. Mattress and bed frame provided. Both of us are second year uni students and supers. Rent is negotiable, money or blood money. Technically get a free pet dog if you call now!"
Keiji traced the numbers underneath with a finger, blinking quickly. It was a stupid looking listing. Childish and unprofessional. If it hadn't been typed Keiji half expected the listing to have been written in crayon. Probably just two jocks trying to better split rent costs. While in an apartment, which was another strike. Frankly, the phrase "technically get a free dog" alone was vague and concerning. Did they actually have a dog, or did they steal one? Maybe it was one of those cases where they adopted a coyote or fox, mistaking it for a dog…? Keiji didn't even want to consider what was meant by "blood money".
...However. However. It was within decent walking distance of his university. There was a cafe and a convenience store down the block. They were supers. Both of them.
It wasn't other Adjacents. It wasn't his best case scenario.
Keiji knew better than to push his luck. He picked up his phone, eyes tracing the number offered.
been working on this one for a while now, but only posting now lmfaoo
endgame bokuto/akaashi/kuroo!
find me at my tumblr, leviathiane!