Love is Not Extinct
Chapter 05: The Sawamura Family
Haruhisa sat on the couch in the Sawamura's living room playing a game on his father's phone. They had turned a cartoon movie on the T.V. and Daichi was on the floor playing with little six-month-old Tenshi who was giggling with delight as her father dangled a toy over her with a grin on his face.
"I got you a pillow and blanket." Yui said with a smile as she put said items down on the couch next to him. "Those boys like to stay out really late so it will be way past your bedtime by the time your father will get home."
"Okay." Haruhisa replied without looking up and then thought better of it, remembering he promised his father he was going to be good and treat the Sawamura's with respect. Looking up at Yui he smiled. "Thank you, Auntie."
Her eyes sparkled when she smiled as she reached over ruffling his hair. "Why don't you go brush your teeth and get ready for bed while we put Tenshi to bed and then you can pick a movie to watch okay?"
"Okay!" Haruhisa nodded quickly, scrambling off the couch and heading to the bathroom excited that he was going to be allowed to stay up later than normal.
After changing into his pajamas and brushing his teeth Haruhisa walked out of the bathroom going to head back to the living room to pick what movie he wanted to watch but stopped when he overheard Daichi say his father's name while speaking quietly from Tenshi's nursery.
"Tsukishima has been that way as long as I've known him. And he doesn't like people getting in his business. Don't meddle Yui okay?"
"I know. I know." She assured her husband. "I just worry about him. I can't imagine what it must be like being a single parent. I couldn't handle having to take care of Tenshi without you."
Haruhisa frowned. He had never known what it was like having two parents. When he was little his mom had raised him on her own. Then when his mom died, he went to live with his dad. For the past two years since he had been living with his dad he had never seen his dad with anyone other than friends. He never had a girlfriend. Was his dad alone because he had to work too hard to take care of him?
"The right person will come along eventually." Daichi assured his wife.
"I just hope Tsukishima will be ready to let them in when they do."
Haruhisa rushed down the hall and back into the front room as he heard the couple start to make their way out of their daughters' room. Kneeling in front of the T.V. Haruhisa picked the first movie that looked interesting and pulled it out.
"Did you find something you wanted to watch?" Daichi asked with a smile.
"Yes." Haruhisa said with a nod holding out the D.V.D. case with a group of cartoon dinosaurs on the cover. Daichi chuckled not surprised by the boys choice in movie as he took the D.V.D. from his and went to put it in while Haruhisa went over climbing onto the couch and setting up his pillow and blanket to get comfortable.
Once the movie started and Daichi made sure that Haruhisa was all settled the man left the room to join his wide in the kitchen. Haruhisa ley on his side pulling his dad's phone down next to him when he noticed there was an unread text message that hadn't been their earlier. Curious he opened it up and slowly read the text.
[20:47] Unknown Number: Hey! How are you?
He wondered who this was. His dad had texted him before but didn't save the number. After thinking for a moment, he deiced to text back curious about this unknown person.
Slowly and carefully he typed out a response.
[20:59] Tsukishima Kei: Tsukishima does not have his phone now. He is out with friends. Who is this?
The response was almost instant.
[21:00] Unknown Number: This is Kuroo Tetsuro. Who is this?
[20:05] Tsukishima Kei: My name is Akiyama Haruhisa.
[21:07] Unknown Number: Well hello Akiyama! Why do you have Tsukishima's phone?
[21:11] Tsukishima Kei: He left his phone with me. He had Uncle Tadashi's phone to text me.
The response was a little slower this time as the sender clearly took time to type his answer.
[12:19] Unknown Number: How old are you Akiyama-san?
[21:21] Tsukishima Kei: I am seven years old.
As Haruhisa sent the text he wondered if his dad would be mad at him for texting someone on his phone. Did this count as talking to strangers? His father hadn't put the Kuroo-san's contact information in his phone, but his dad knew him. He figured that made it okay.
[21:23] Unknown Number: Are you Tsukishima's son?
[21:25] Tsukishima Kei: Yes
"Haru-kun?" Daichi called his name as he and Yui walked back into the room. Haruhisa put down his dad's phone and looked up at the mand as Daichi leaned over the back of the couch to look down at the boy. "Yui and I are going to out room. I'll come and check on you in a little bit. Once the movie is over, turn off the T.V. and come get us if you need anything okay?"
Haruhisa nodded. "Okay." Then turned his attention back to the T.V. while the couple retired to their room. He continued paying attention to the cartoon until he felt his father's phone vibrate again. Looking down he saw there were two messages from the unknown number, Kuroo Tetsuro.
[21:25] Unknown Number: Cool! I bet it's awesome having a father who works at Seijoh museum.
[21:26] Unknown Number: Are you home with your mom then?
Haruhisa furrowed his browns and felt a bit sad thinking about his mother. He missed her. Sometimes he wondered if his father missed her too. Tsukishima had always been honest with Haruhisa about how he met his son's mother. He had told him he was young, and they meet in high school. Haruhisa knew his parents had never lived together and that his mother had never told Tsukishima about him. Though he had still been very young he could remember clearly what she would say to him when Haruhisa asked about his father…
...His mother knelt in front of him pulling her long wavy brown hair over one shoulder before running her fingers through his messy locks, her soft brown eyes looking into his own eyes filled with love.
"Your dad is a very special man, but he had his own live, just like you and me have out own live."
"Does daddy not love us?" Haruhisa would ask his big chocolate eyes staring up at her with uncertainty. He could clearly remember the way his mother's ruby red lips would twist into a careful smile though he never understood what that look meant.
"No sweetie, that doesn't mean he doesn't love you." She leaned over kissing the top of his head. "I think your father would love you very much. But me and your dad, well we liked each other but we never loved each other." …
…He thought about these memories of his mother before finally taking the time to type out the answer.
[21:36] Tsukishima Kei: No. When I was five years old my mom died. Mom and dad was not married.
[21:38] Unknown Number: Oh I'm sorry for your loss kid.
Before he could reply to Kuroo the phone vibrated in his hand and the notification banner at the top showed that his dad has sent him a text. Clicking on the notification it opened the messages between his father and Yamaguchi.
[21:38] Yamaguchi Tadashi: Are you still up buddy?
[21:40] Tsukishima Kei: Yes. I am watching a movie.
[21:41] Yamaguchi Tadashi: Daichi was nice to let you stay up and watch a movie. Make sure that you thank him.
[21:42] Tsukishima Kei: Ok
[21:43] Yamaguchi Tadashi: I will stay at Yamaguchi's house tonight and I will see you in the morning.
Another text came in right after, this time with a photo.
Haruhisa clicked on the image to open top open it up. It was a picture of the group his dad was out with tonight colored with the colorful lighting. In the front kneeling on the floor were Hinata and Tachi, sitting behind them at the right end of the table sat Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita with arms around each other and Sugawara stood behind them with one hand on his hip.
On the left side of the table sat Kiyoko with Tanaka sitting behind her, one arm tightly around her waist. Behind them stood Azumane who looked like he was about to fall over because Nishinoya had jumped on his back. And in the middle in the back stood his dad, that familiar board expression on his face, shoulder to shoulder with Yamaguchi who stood with a bright happy grin. All of them held out their drinks as if cheering to him.
Haruhisa smiled. These people were like him and his father's family and he loved them all.
[21:45] Yamaguchi Tadashi: Goodnight Haru
[21:48] Tsukishima Kei: Goodnight. I love you.
[21:49] Yamaguchi Tadashi: Love you too buddy.
Haruhisa was tarting to get tired and it was hard to keep his eyes open. He closed the messaging app before he remembered he hadn't answered Kuroo's message. She he opened it back up and found he had sent another message while Haruhisa had been texting his father.
[21:45] Unknown Number: Do you happen to know where you dad and his friends went out tonight?
[21:26] Tsukishima Kei: I don't know. They sent me a picture from the place.
[21:56] Unknown Number: That would work!
[21:57] Unknown Number: Can you send that to me? I might be able to figure out from the picture.
It took Haruhisa a few minutes to send the picture, but he managed to figure it out. He set the phone next to him and curled up in the blankets his eyes drifted closed. By the time the reply text came in Haruhisa was fast asleep.
Kruoo lay back on his bed holding up his phone as he examined the picture Tsukishima's son had sent him. He looked at each face in the photo attempting to get an idea of the type of people Tsukishima hung out with. Though he couldn't really tell from the picture the group seemed like a very diverse group of people.
Zooming in on the table he searched for something that might help him figure out where they were at. Perhaps a logo on a napkin or glad. Unfortunately, he didn't see anything like that. But as he was zooming back out he noticed the wrist bands on their wrists and the different colors. "Oya! Oya! Oya!" an idea popped into his head.
Quickly rolling out of bed Kuroo made his way to the front room of his apartment where he knew he would find his roommate playing a video game.
"Oi, what was that club called that Inuoka was talking about the other day? The one with the different colored wrist bands?"
His friend didn't even bother to look up at him as he eyes remained focused on the screen. "Club Niji Hikari."
"That's it!" Kuroo exclaimed as he plopped down next to the smaller male nearly making him fall over. Pulling up his internet, Kuroo searched for the club to look up information and location. "Open till 4:00, in the heard of the west side district, we welcome all come pick you color to state your preference and dance the night away." Kuroo mumbled to himself as he read through the website.
Kenma Kozume watched his roommate with a blank expression. What was he getting all worked up about now? Pausing his game he leaned over to see over the taller man's shoulder to find him zooming in on a picture of a group of people Kenma didn't recognize.
Kruoo sighed. "Dang his wrist isn't visible in this picture."
"Is he wearing a dinosaur skeleton tee-shirt."
His friend smirked almost looking proud. "Yeah, isn't that cool. He is a paleontologist, works at the Seijoh museum downtown."
Kenma looked at his friend raising an eyebrow. "Is this the 'cute, grumpy' guy you met yesterday because of the incident at the train station?"
"Yeah." Kuroo leaned back against the couch zooming the picture back out to examine the other group members again but he just found his eyes keeping getting drawn back to the tall blonde. What was it about this sour puss that fascinated him so much? Then his eyes shifted to the slightly shorter freckled man standing next to him. Though all the group looked really close there was a difference about the way this guy stood by Tsukishima. It was almost as if he was the only one truly at ease around the blonde. The others around him stood close but not toughing. But freckles stood flush up against the paleontologist as id this was where he belonged.
"Kuroo…" Kenma sighed.
"What?" Kuroo looked over at his roommate with an innocent expression that Kenma wasn't buying. Reaching down Kenma scratched the head of the calico car who was rubbing against his leg seeking attention. The two had adopted the car together when they had first moved in together after Kenma had graduated High School. They had been roommates for nearly six years now and friends much longer than that. After all these years Kenma knew his friend extremely well.
"For someone so intelligent sometimes you can be really dumb. Don't do this to yourself."
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Kuroo picked up that cat who meowed with surprise before settling in his lap happy to get the attention.
Kenma shook his head putting his controller down completely to look at the man. "You know exactly what I am talking about, Kuroo would you stop petting Pansa as an excuse to avoid the topic and listening to me."
The younger male waited until he was sure he had his senpei's full attention before he continued.
"you are doing it again. You are getting yourself to invested in someone you are interested in before you even know them. This is how you get hurt Kuroo."
"I'm not." Kuroo promised. "I'm interested yes, but I am not getting invested prematurely. I just want to get to know him."
Kenma wasn't convinced but he could tell there would be no talking him about of this. His friend really was interested in this paleontologist and he had made up his mind that he was going to get to know him. And Kenma knew better than anyone that once Kuroo Tetsuro made up his mind about something there was no one who could talk him out of it.
"And on that note," Kuroo stood up letting Pansa jump out of his lap with an annoyed meow. "I am going to go check out this club Niji Hirkori. I'm going to text the gang to see if anyone else if interested in coming."
Kenma pressed his lips together as he watched Kuroo composing his text as he walked back towards his room to decide what to wear. He prayed that Kuroo was being truthful and that he wasn't letting his interest cloud his judgment. He didn't want to see his friend get hurt again.
Standing up, Kenma turned off his game and put away his controller before heading to his own room to change. He was pulling a hooded sweatshirt over his head when his phone started buzzing with texts from 'the gang'.
Living in this building for so long Kenma and Kuroo knew most everyone in the building. It was mostly bachelors, a few apartments with college girls and the few sweet old ladies on the first floor. Over the years a group had formed with some of the guys in the building that had been dubbed the Nekoma Apartments Gang. Kenma opened up the ongoing group text to read the flurry of messages.
[22:16] Kuroo Tetsuro: Hey! Any of you still up and want to hit the town tonight? 23:00 Niji Hikari
[22:17] Habia Lev: Count me and Yaku in!
[22:18] Yamamoto Taketora: Whoo! Yeah! Let's party!
[22:18] Shibayama Yuki: sure
[22:19] Inuoka So: Sure. I'm down.
[22:19]Yaku Morisuke: wtf Lev!? Why are you speaking for me?
[22:20] Inuoka So: lol
[22:20] Yamamoto Taketora: BAHAHAHAHA! BUSTED!
[22:21] Habia Lev: But it will be fun Yaku
[22:21] Yaku Morisuke: Stop texting and open the bathroom door to talk face to face!
Kenma could hear Kuroo's laughter form his room in response to the text. He simply shook his head grabbing his keys and his wallet as he headed towards the door to grab his shoes.
[22:22] Kozume Kenma: I'll DD