#pls read on ao3 cause tumblr doesnt do fics justice XD

[tetsookie]

Hey, hey, hey, Eiri-chan @schion ! Surprise, it is I, your HQ Valentine’s Day Person for @hqvalentineexchange ! XD I hope you have a lovely birthday, you absolute darling~!! <3

Title: Dinosaurs, Strawberries, and Everything Kei Rating: Teen and Up (for swearing) Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji Summary:  In which high school romantic Kuroo struggles with the first Valentine's with a certain hot blonde nerd. Even though Kuroo has no gardening experience whatsoever, gifting his boyfriend some homegrown strawberries shouldn't be too much of a struggle, right? ...Right? (Also on Ao3!)

"Bo, what does Akaashi want for Valentine's?"

Bokuto looked up from his phone at Kuroo, brows furrowing. "What?"

"I asked what Akaashi wants for Valentine's."

Bokuto stared at his roommate, sitting up straight and putting his phone aside. The two were lounging about in their dorm room on the first Saturday of January. "Why do you want to know what my boyfriend wants for Valentine's? Kuroo, are you going to hit on Keiji?"

"No, no, no," Kuroo chuckled, waving away the mere suggestion with his hand. "I think Akaashi would probably shank me with whatever present I'd even think about getting for him. Fortunately--or, maybe unfortunately for him, I'd like to preserve whatever life college hasn't sucked out of me."

"Then, how come you're asking about a gift for him?"

"Not for him, no," Kuroo mumbled, running a free hand through his hair. "I want to get something nice for Kei, but I'm not sure what to get him. I'm looking for ideas."

Bokuto blinked. "Why don't you ask Tsukki what he wants?"

Kuroo grimaced, looking back down at the unfinished drawing for his medical illustration class. "I did."

"And?"

"He doesn't want anything in particular. That's why I was asking you. I mean, aren't you and Akaashi still together despite your occasional blunders? You've gotta be doing something right."

"Hey--" Bokuto protested angrily, chucking a pillow in Kuroo's direction, the latter deflecting it easily with a smirk. "Maybe I shouldn't help you at all, jerk."

"Sorry, sorry," Kuroo bit back a bark of laughter, clearing his throat and swiveling around in his chair to meet eyes with Bokuto. "As the more experienced man in love, please give me your wisdom, oh, wise, Bokuto Koutarou."

Bokuto seemed to swell at the compliment and he hummed, eyes trailing to the ceiling and his hand resting on his chin in thought.

"Well, last Valentine's, I sent Keiji little gifts after each of his classes. Boxes of chocolates, cards, little owl plushies..." he ticked off each item from his fingers, his eyes lighting up with the memory. "But, then Keiji said he didn't want to show me his class schedules anymore because it was too much to clean up afterwards." Bokuto shrugged, deflating a little. "I think we're planning to do something smaller this year."

Kuroo remembered that. It was their second year of university and surprisingly, the three of them had all been accepted to the same school of choice--granted, Bokuto barely ended up getting in through waitlist and sports connections, but Kuroo never brought that up more than two times a week.

Bokuto and Akaashi had been dating for a while by then--the two were slightly insufferable in Kuroo's opinion, but he was definitely happy for his best friend landing the guy he was pursuing for over two years. With three years of anniversaries under their belt, the looks, the presents, and the physical displays of affection only seemed to grow in strength and number as the months passed.

Last year was probably the worst. Bokuto had decided he would go all out on the Valentine's gifts and consequently made friends with at least one person in each of Akaashi's classes who could deliver Bokuto's undying confessions of love. Needless to say, Akaashi was unhappy. Or maybe, Kuroo mused, he was a bit too happy about all the attention. He could still remember the faint pink that tinted the back of Akaashi's neck as the younger man confronted Bokuto, with a firm, "Bokuto-san, for both your sake and mine, please never do that ever again."

"I'm surprised you need my help with this at all." Bokuto continued, cutting Kuroo off from his thoughts. "Weren't you quite the ladies' man back in high school? You gave girls chocolates and stuff for Valentine's, right?"

"I did, but, I want this to be extra special," Kuroo groaned, resting his chin on the back of his chair. "I don't want to just do something I've done before... Kei is special."

Bokuto whistled and it was Kuroo's turn to grab the pillow from the floor and chuck it across the room at his face. "I'm being serious here... this is new to us. Sure, I can get him the usual chocolates and flowers and whatnot, but I'm sure he's expecting that. I want to do something to completely knock him off his feet."

An image of Tsukishima short-circuiting as bright red spread across his cheeks made Kuroo's heart fill up with warmth, and he smiled at the thought. Bokuto seemed to observe him for a while before speaking.

"How about dinosaurs?"

"Nah," Kuroo sighed. "I did a huge dinosaur thing for him on our one-month anniversary. Took him to a museum and got him enough dinosaur related things to fill up his entire closet. It's too soon to repeat that."

"It's only been two months since you started dating."

"Still."

"I don't think Tsukki would be that picky though... is he?"

"Bokuto, I’m that picky for him," Kuroo huffed, blowing upwards to clear some hair out of his face.

"Just make him something then!" Bokuto gestured to the papers on Kuroo's desk. "You can draw him something. That's personal, right?"

Kuroo turned back to stare at the drawings on his desk. As he was pursuing a career in medical illustration, he was taking required courses in both art and in the sciences. Regardless, other than know how to sketch a perfect surgical diagram, Kuroo wasn't entirely sure how to draw anything else. He was more than positive a drawing of a live, beating organ was the furthest thing from romantic.

He picked up his draft of the veins in a human skull and showed it to Bokuto with a mild air of defeat. "Think Kei would like this at all?"

Bokuto squinted at the drawing as if to make out the bits and ends of it before snapping his fingers. "Maybe if it was a dinosaur skull, what about that?!"

Kuroo decided asking Bokuto for Valentine's advice was a bad idea altogether.

  Despite Kuroo's failure to gain any solid advice from his roommate, the following day he admit that a personalized gift wasn't too disastrous. If Kei’s complaints about his cheesiness was any indication, Kuroo had already done plenty of personal things for the blonde. That wasn’t new.

Yet, Kuroo couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t the usual explosion of red and pink hearts, teddy bears, and various assortments of chocolates.

Kuroo sighed, slugging his bag over his shoulder and waving goodbye to his classmates before heading back to his dorm room. It wasn’t as if he was on a time crunch or anything—in fact, he was probably overthinking this too early. Bokuto had even asked him what kind of whipped fool started planning for Valentine’s a month in advance?

Kuroo ran a hand through his hair. Right. This whipped fool. But, it wasn’t as if Bokuto could say anything about it—his and Akaashi’s first anniversary was planned weeks in advance.

As Kuroo stepped outside the building, a cold gust of air blew through the area, sending chills down his spine. It was a mistake wearing his metal studs that morning because now his ears were just as cold as the rest of him. He bundled up a little warmer in his coat and scarf before heading towards the university entrance, thinking about how he would give anything now to cuddle up on the couch with Kei. The younger man was definitely weak to the cold, and being the warmer of the two, Kuroo enjoyed wrapping himself up with his boyfriend to fend off the winter chills.

Unfortunately for Kuroo, Kei was off at the campus greenhouse with other biology majors, fighting the biting winds for the plants there. Kuroo had grumbled that Kei couldn’t fend off winter’s sting himself so him trying to fight it off for others was illogical. Kei rolled his eyes and assured Kuroo that the greenhouse was properly heated so Kuroo didn’t have to worry.

But, Kuroo couldn’t help but worry anyway as the image of a shivering, rosy-cheeked Kei came to mind. He’d have to warm his boyfriend up once they met up in a few days. Kuroo would make sure of it.

Initially, the two had planned to secure an apartment together, but Bokuto had begged Kuroo to stick with him until the end of the academic school year.

People often asked why Bokuto roomed with Kuroo if the former had a boyfriend to go to at the end of the day. Bokuto always flushed bright red, stammering about needing to wait for marriage. Akaashi deadpanned, saying Bokuto was too distracting for his studies. Kuroo wanted to ask in what way was Bokuto distracting, but an icy glare from Akaashi kept his mouth shut.

Of course, Kuroo was happy to do his best friend a favor, but that meant Kei had to endure one semester without his boyfriend’s warmth. Kei had said he was fine and he seemed excited to set up his single room the first week of school.

A single, because after all, Kei wasn’t a people person. The very idea of rooming with anyone other than Kuroo wasn’t feasible for him. So, Kei selected a small apartment down the way, one with a tidy little balcony where he could keep some plants for company. Plants were better than people, after all.

To be honest, Kuroo was certain the blonde would pursue geology with his interest in fossils and archaeology. Either that or something in music. The two seemed a closer fit than biology was, but Kei was always full of surprises. One thing was for certain though—if there was anything Tsukishima Kei enjoyed indiscriminately, it definitely fell into the region of songs or dinosaurs.

Kuroo wondered if he could write Kei a song.

‘A song about dinosaurs?’ a voice in the back of his head meekly asked, and he grimaced, shoving that idea to the side. Maybe some other time. After all, Kuroo wasn’t the best with rhythm or tempo, as much as he enjoyed listening to music, he sure as heck couldn’t keep a beat even if he had a metronome placed right in front of him.

Kuroo grumbled, shoving his hands into the front of his coat pockets and trudging down the street towards his apartment complex. His place wasn’t terribly far from campus, but the extra time to think about a gift idea that would never come was vexing.

Dinosaurs, no. Music, no. Well, maybe, but it was far too late to start something now given he would have to write a song, then practice, then make sure it didn’t sound like it was composed and orchestrated by the elementary school kids down the block.

What else did Kei like? He loved sweets, especially those small strawberry cakes from the bakery on the street corner. Those were his absolute favorites and Kuroo was definitely going to get him that, but he needed something else… something more…

He scratched his head in frustration. Kei was more than dinosaurs or music. He was more than strawberry sweets, and sugar sweet kisses in the early rays of sunlit mornings. He was more than a blonde nerd with glasses—granted, a hot blonde nerd with glasses, but Kuroo digresses. He was more than his interests, his likes, and his passions—his eyes were an ocean Kuroo could get lost in, his laugh was a gift to the heavens, he was more than the small things that put him together—Tsukishima Kei was everything.

Yet, Kuroo couldn’t think of a proper gift for the life of him and felt terribly inadequate. He wanted to give Kei something he worked hard on and thought seriously about—not some cookie cutter formula Valentine’s day gift.

Suddenly, Kuroo stopped, finding his feet rooted to the spot as he heard the jingle of a bell from a nearby shop ring with the opening and closing of the door. He stared at the items on display and it was as if the bud of the most brilliant idea took hold in his mind. Without another thought, Kuroo shuffled over, wrenched the entrance open and walked inside.

  “What’s that?” Bokuto perked up from the magazine he was reading, white and black hair sticking out at odds and ends on his head.

Kuroo beamed, taking off his coat and backpack before heading into their shared living space with his arms wrapped around a bundle of thin plastic. “It’s Kei’s Valentine’s gift!”

Bokuto bounced up from his seat on the floor. “Let me see!”

Kuroo grinned, setting the mess in his hands onto his desk. Slowly and carefully, he undid the wrapping around it revealing—

“Is that a plant?” Bokuto slumped, the excitement draining out of his face. “Man, Tsukki has like a million plants already, you got him another one?”

“It’s not just any plant,” Kuroo retorted, smoothing out some of the baby leaves on the potted beauty. The to-be gift took up nearly half of his desk space. “It’s a strawberry plant, for your information.”

“Where are the strawberries?” Bokuto asked, disbelieving.

“I’m going to grow them.”

Bokuto stared in awe at the plant as if a group of strawberries would suddenly pop up out of the blue on its green stems.

“Wow,” he breathed, staring at the pot with a newfound sense of wonder. “That’s a great idea, Kuroo.”

“I hope so,” Kuroo smiled, looking down at the pot. “I’m not as good with plants as Kei is, but the lady in the store said that this type of plant in particular makes a lot of strawberries so I thought it’d be perfect. We could probably use them the next time we try baking together.”

“Hey,” Bokuto turned to Kuroo, mouth open wide. “Do you think I can do this too?”

“Huh?”

“Gift Keiji a plant!”

Kuroo frowned. “No, dude, get your own, I’m not giving you any of Kei’s strawberries.”

“No, I don’t want any, I meant a rapeseed plant!” Bokuto exclaimed, a sparkle in his eyes. “They’re a part of Keiji’s favorite food!”

“Thank you for the boyfriend trivia I didn’t particularly need to know,” Kuroo responded, shoving Bokuto out of his face. “That’s fine—I think I saw some in the store I went to, you know, the flower shop next to the ramen place.”

“We can grow them together!”

“Sure, as long you don’t take credit for my brilliant idea,” Kuroo hummed, moving the potted plant closer to the window of their room. “Much better than a drawing of the inside of a dinosaur skull, right?”

“Well, actually, I think my idea was fin—”

Kuroo chucked a pillow at Bokuto’s face. “Go get your gift, you idiot.”

“Hey, hey, hey, I’m on my way!”

With that, Bokuto slipped into his winter gear and headed out the door. Kuroo’s eyes trailed after him before settling back down on the plant in front of him. At this point, the pot was abnormally large in comparison to the small buds poking out of the dirt here and there.

It wasn’t the most extravagant gift in his opinion, but with love and care, he knew Kei would cherish the gift. At least, he hoped.

  Kuroo needed a different gift for Kei and he needed it fast.

He didn’t have a green thumb, he knew this, but he didn’t think he’d be worse than Bokuto Koutarou.

Glancing over at the towering plant on Bokuto’s desk, Kuroo groaned, laying his head in his hands. Through his fingers, he peeked at his strawberry plant, half of which was withered and brown, and half with a bunch of scrawny strawberries under some subpar leaves.

This was a disaster.

Three weeks before Valentine’s, Kuroo wondered if he was doing something wrong.

Two weeks before Valentine’s, Kuroo started investing in fertilizer and searching up home remedies for plants on his laptop.

A week before Valentine’s, Kuroo began looking for other gift options.

It wasn’t like him to quit halfway, but dammit, Mother Nature wasn’t working with him and there was nothing he could do about the forces of the universe cursing his beloved strawberry plant with infertility.

Now that Valentine’s was tomorrow he had no other option than to do something else for his boyfriend.

Bokuto seemed as happy-go-lucky as ever—if anything, even more so than usual. Kuroo wasn’t sure if the change in mood was because of Bokuto’s innate plant caring skills or whatever, but his roommate’s success was making his failure look even more terrible.

Kuroo glared at the plant as if the sharp looks would spur the strawberries to ripen within the span of 24 hours. As if. If whatever he had done before hadn’t worked, it wasn’t going to start working now.

He had poured his entire soul into his gift. Kuroo spent hours trimming away the dying leaves, watering it at set hours of the day, and making sure the plant got enough sunlight even when he would spend the weekend away at Kei’s. It wasn’t as if he didn’t get anything for his efforts. Heck, there were a few small strawberries on the stems, but it was as if he had been granted the Midas touch of turning everything to gold because, damn, the plant was looking mighty yellow.

Granted, Kuroo could probably pop down to a local florist and purchase a strawberry plant that actually had strawberries on them, but then there’d be no heart in the gift. The past month would have been a complete waste of time.

Bokuto wasn’t doing much to help his mood.

“What’d you do?” he probed, looking back and forth from his plant to Kuroo’s.

Kuroo nearly snarled back, letting his face fall onto his keyboard. Bokuto had hardly done anything special for his gift and yet, his plant had grown beautifully vibrant. It had been accidentally dropped, tousled, and Bokuto had even forgotten to water it for days and yet, there it stood, mocking Kuroo from across the room. Kuroo swallowed the lump of bitterness in his throat and mumbled, “Leave me alone.”

Bokuto gave him a sympathetic look that Kuroo pretended not to feel. He scooted his chair closer to observe Kuroo’s plant. “Hey, it’s not all bad! You have some strawberries here!”

Kuroo grunted, gesturing to his laptop screen. Bokuto looked up, reading the information on display.

“Strawberries are in season for the majority of the year, so if any new farmers are looking to plant them, you’re in luck. From late April through Augu—oh.”

“I’m an idiot,” Kuroo sighed.

Bokuto furrowed his brows, typing in something else on the keys after gently shoving Kuroo to the side. “Rapeseed,” he began, once he finished searching. “This crop is often grown as a winter cover crop… no wonder mine was fine! Kuroo, it’s not your fault!”

“Yes, it is, Bo. I was blinded by love and didn’t even check to see when it grows best.”

Laying a hand on Kuroo’s slumped shoulder, Bokuto nodded understandingly. Kuroo would have probably laughed at him and brushed him off if he didn’t feel so miserable. “I get you, man. Love does that.”

“But, what do I do? I have nothing to give him now!”

Bokuto hummed, placing his hands on his hips. “You could go on a double date with us! Keiji and I found this awesome cake place downtown that has some great reviews. I think it’s even better than the one that bakery you always go together with him. We’re planning to go this weekend after Valentine’s so maybe you can make Tsukki a little something to hold him over til then? After all, didn’t Tsukki say he didn’t want anything in particular?”

“Yeah,” Kuroo sighed, a sad smile fitting onto his lips. “I don’t know what I did to deserve him.”

“You’re such a sap,” Bokuto laughed, grinning wide. “I’m sure he’ll love whatever you do for him! And don’t worry about Friday—there’s no way Tsukki won’t like these cakes—they’re fancy wedding cake samples!”

Kuroo choked, looking Bokuto in the eyes for the first time that evening. “Bro, are you—”

Bokuto averted his eyes, red flooding his cheeks. “I… I wanted you to be the first to know.”

“Bro, what the hell, when did you propose?” Kuroo leapt up from his seat, wrapping an arm around his roommate’s shoulders. “Congrats, man! How come this is the first I’m hearing of this?”

Bokuto shrugged, shrinking a little under the praise. Even though he was elated to receive compliments for himself, he always tended to be shy when it came to Akaashi. “You were stressed over your strawberries.”

“Still,” Kuroo nudged Bokuto hard in the ribs. He couldn’t believe he was so stressed about his gift he hadn’t even realized his best friend was getting married. “That kind of news is always welcome. Man, it’s about time!”

Bokuto beamed, pushing Kuroo off him and puffing his chest out proudly. “Anyways! They allow an additional guest and their date to join in cake tasting so you and Tsukki can come!”

Kuroo grinned, his chest feeling lighter already. “I’m sure he’d love that. Does he know?”

“I dunno, Keiji might have told him.”

“I hope not, I want to see the look on his face when he learns we’re going cake tasting,” Kuroo placed his laptop to the side and grabbed a fresh sheet of paper from the pile near his desk. “It sucks that I couldn’t gift him these strawberries, but I think I’m okay with you and Akaashi stealing the spotlight this Valentine’s.”

Bokuto blinked, watching Kuroo select a graphic pencil from his pencil case before turning to type something into his keyboard. “Wait, what are you—”

Smirking, Kuroo turned in his chair to display his screen—a real life drawing of a T-Rex in the images tab. “Think Kei would like some dinosaur skull veins?”

“Kuroo,” Bokuto laughed. “That’s so unromantic.”

  Kuroo fit his checkered dress shirt on and adjusted the collars in the mirror. He spun once to make sure there were no holes in his black jeans before looking back at his reflection with a smile. Nice.

The two were going on a date together after classes. It was hard to find a spare moment on Valentine’s, but they had made it work. Kuroo assured Kei that he would keep it on the down-low and the latter had agreed to a small dinner date at a restaurant the two frequented from time to time.

Kuroo heard the doorbell ring and called out a ‘coming!’ before grabbing the shoulder bag on his and Bokuto’s shared table space before swinging the door open wide.

Kei stood at the entrance, a blue denim jacket wrapped snugly around a casual t-shirt with a black backpack, dark blue jeans on the bottom. The setting sun in the background made Kei’s pale skin almost glow, and Kuroo couldn’t help staring before his boyfriend cleared his throat, hints of pink dusting the tips of his ears. “Kuroo-san.”

“Kei!” Kuroo beamed, moving forward to cup the blonde’s face in his hands and place a light kiss on his lips. “Happy Valentine’s, moonshine.”

“Happy Valentine’s…” Kei looked down, hands hovering over Kuroo’s. Kuroo took the chance to grab them in his own and the two naturally intertwined their fingers together.

“Ready to go?”

Kei blinked, looking not-so-subtlety down at Kuroo’s shoulder bag before glancing back at the apartment. If Kuroo hadn’t known the taller man for years back in high school, he wouldn’t have caught the glint of longing in the golden eyes.

“Something wrong?”

“Ah, nothing,” Kei murmured, adjusting his backpack. “I just thought…”

Kuroo’s silence prompted Kei to continue. The younger man narrowly caught himself about to fiddle with his fingers, but held them a little more stiffly in Kuroo’s hand.

“I just thought the plant thing was your idea.”

Kuroo sputtered, staring incredulously at Kei. “What?”

“I saw Akaashi-san today in the library and he had this plant with him. He said he got it from Bokuto-san, but Bokuto-san, isn’t very good with that stuff so I figured it was something you convinced him to do. When Bokuto-san showed up a bit later, he said something about how you both were growing plants for us.”

Resisting the urge to bury his head into the floor, Kuroo laughed awkwardly, his free hand reaching up to cover his eyes. “Ah, shit. Damn, Bo.”

Kei watched Kuroo with a mixture of confusion and amusement. “Kuroo-san?”

“I was planning to take that plant to my grave,” Kuroo sighed, biting his lip nervously. “It… wasn’t… isn’t… didn’t turn out as great as Bokuto’s.”

Now Kei’s eyes were filled with curiosity. He peered back into the dark room, craning his neck to look towards Kuroo’s side of the dorm. “Can I see?”

Kuroo needed to say no. I mean, how could he even show that plant to anyone, let alone the love of his life? It was hideous, and tiny, the disgrace of all farmers and planters out there alike. The abomination should stay clear of the light of day, far away from prying eyes and inquisitive glances.

But, of course, Kuroo couldn’t say no to Tsukishima Kei.

Damn, was he whipped.

“Just a second,” Kuroo grumbled, kicking off his shoes and heading back inside as Kei’s eyes followed him.

Without a closer look at the gift, Kuroo grabbed the potted plant, made his way back out and placed it into his boyfriend’s arms.

Kei took one look at the bundle of shriveled strawberries underneath and paused, expression unreadable. Kuroo winced, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. He couldn’t bring himself to look his boyfriend in the eye. “Ah, well, I really did try, Kei. I really should’ve checked the season—I forgot that planters do that because, well, that only makes sense after a—”

Kuroo was interrupted by a guffaw of laughter. When he looked up, he saw Kei doubled over himself, hand over his mouth in an attempt to contain the mirth, but to no avail. The blonde shook with giggles, trying to keep it together. Kuroo would’ve thought it was adorable if he weren’t so embarrassed.

“Kei, c’mon, don’t make fun of me, you know I tried berry hard,” Kuroo offered weakly, a smile growing on his own face.

“Oh, my, god, Tetsurou, stop,” Kei choked, holding onto his sides for dear life. Kuroo snickered, sidling over and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend’s waist.

“Stop or what? You’ll leaf me?”

“Tetsurou,” Kei tried keeping his voice straight this time, but it was easy to detect the cracks. Kuroo smirked.

“C’mon, Kei, you know I’ll always be a pot of your life,” Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows.

“God, please, stop,” Kei huffed, wiping tears out of his eyes and pushing his boyfriend back in a way Kuroo knew was playful. “You’re the worst.”

“But, I’m yours?”

Kei exhaled, finally collecting himself enough to roll his eyes with conviction. Kuroo chuckled, burrowing his face into his boyfriend’s shoulder.

God, he was embarrassed. But, it was definitely worth it to hear Kei’s angelic laughter.

“This,” Kei spoke up, clearing his throat and gesturing to the flower pot held between them. “Is probably the worst thing I’ve seen in my entire life.”

“Damn,” Kuroo said, snapping his fingers. “Bokuto said I should’ve gifted you a dinosaur skull for Valentine’s. Should’ve listened to him—that was probably a better idea than a half-dead plant.”

Tsukishima paused, giving Kuroo a wary look. “A what?”

“No, not a real dinosaur skull stolen from a museum or someplace—a drawing of the inside of one like I do for my illustration classes,” Kuroo snickered, holding up the product in his hand and handing it to Kei. “It’s not that great, to be completely honest, as no one really knows what the veins inside a dinosaur skull looks like, anyways.”

Kei looked down at the drawing in his hands, his mouth agape as if looking for words to say. Kuroo paused, staring at his boyfriend in confusion. “Wait, don’t tell me you actually really like it that much?”

As if on cue, Kei’s cheeks burst into color and he shook his head, huffing angrily and refusing to meet Kuroo’s eyes directly. “No, that’s ridiculous. Please don’t talk nonsense Kuroo-san.”

“Aw, Kei,” Kuroo leaned in closer, a knowing smile on his lips. “You can be honest with me. What happened to ‘Tetsurou?’”

Kei seemed to burst into flames at the statement, but instead of responding, he placed the flower on the floor and dug into his backpack, pulling out a wrapped, medium-sized box that he shoved at Kuroo’s chest.

Kuroo blinked, taking the gift tentatively. After trying to make eye contact with Kei for half a minute, he slowly peeled back the tape, undid the binding, and lifted the lid.

The smell hit him first. A smell of roses or wisteria or jasmine—to be completely honest, Kuroo couldn’t tell too well. The bottom of the box was lined with an assortment of dried flowers, half of which Kuroo couldn’t place. There was what looked to be a tie wrapped in light red tissue paper to the right and a greeting card on the left.

Wordlessly, Kei grabbed the box so that Kuroo could dig through its contents without worrying about dropping anything. Kuroo’s eyes flicked up to meet with Kei’s for half a moment before they dropped back down to the present. He was so happy. So damn happy.

Kuroo took the tie first, unwrapping it to reveal what would be a plain black tie except for the fact that it was covered with images from periodic table of elements. He laughed, taking the cloth to his neck and lifting an eyebrow in Kei’s direction. “Aw, moonshine, you shouldn’t have. Now, I’ll definitely get into grad school. When I go for my interview, I’m sure they’ll instantly accept me with this!”

Kei smirked, “Or they’ll instantly erase all contact with you after finding out you’re a giant nerd, who knows.”

“Mean,” Kuroo smiled, knowing it was all in good fun. He gently placed the tie back into the box. “I’ll cherish it.”

Kei didn’t respond, merely looking back down at the contents of the gift once more. Kuroo took that as an invitation to continue.

He took the card into his hands, but nearly fell over his own feet catching an item that slipped out of it. After he had firmly grasped it, Kuroo looked closer to find a pair of earrings.

“That…” Kei spoke quietly. “Was Yamaguchi’s idea. You know how he is about jewelry so he wouldn’t let it go after I told him about the idea. If you don’t like it, I can always take it back. I’m sure Yamaguchi can sell it in his store somehow.”

“What are you saying, Kei,” Kuroo breathed, running a finger over the sleek metal exteriors. “These are perfect.”

And, indeed they were. One side was designed like a black cat, with a tuft of hair off to the side of its face. It reminded him terribly of himself and likewise, the other side, a golden moon that shone brilliantly in the last rays of the setting sun reminded him of the most important person in his life.

Kuroo looked up, and Kei found himself stammering. “D-don’t cry!”

“I’m not!” Kuroo responded, rubbing his eyes with his free hand and clutching the earrings with the other. “This is… this is wow. Kei, you designed these?”

“Not entirely,” Kei mumbled. “I had help. To be honest, my first Valentine’s gift wasn’t that great either.”

As if to prove a point, Kei grabbed the card out of the box and handed it to Kuroo. After placing the earrings back into the box, Kuroo took the card and opened it.

What he saw inside made him burst into laughter. Kei’s ears went bright red and he distracted himself by shutting the box with the gifts inside.

On the inside of the card, there was a short letter wishing Kuroo well for grad school but, right next to it was a large drawing of a fish. Or at least, Kuroo thought it was a realistic-looking picture of a fish’s veins with black and gold lettering around it that said: “I’m your biggest fin!”

“Oh my god, Kei, how long did it take you to draw this?”

Kei flushed. “It’s lame, I know! Don’t laugh.”

“But, moonshine, you just gave me a pun, how am I not supposed to laugh?”

Kei pouted, glaring down at the floor.

“Don’t be mad, Kei, this is the best card I’ve ever gotten.”

Kuroo fought back the last of his laughter as he shut the card and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. “I’m so happy you thought of me and drew something that I enjoy doing.”

“Don’t lie,” Kei huffed, but let himself relax into Kuroo’s touch. “I’m a biology major, not an art major. It was a bad idea.”

“Really, I mean it! I’m glad you’re my biggest fin.”” Kuroo said, pulling back and flashing Kei a smile. “Beats the dinosaur drawing I made you.”

“At least yours looks like a dinosaur.”

“At least my inedible strawberries made you laugh.”

Kei snickered, looking back at the pot next to their feet. “Hey, some of those look edible. It was… thoughtful of you. We’re both not the best at baking so it’s fine to have experimental strawberries for the next time we do.”

“When’s that, Kei?” Kuroo crooned, leaning forward.

“Whenever, I guess,” Kei responded through the red that spread across his cheeks.

Kuroo grinned, threading their fingers together once more. “Well, now that our disastrous gift giving is over, shall we go get dinner? Afterwards, we can get some dessert at that bakery you love. Consider that an apology for the strawberry tragedy I created.”

Kei hummed as if considering the options. “Alright, I’ll forgive you if the strawberry shortcake is good.”

“You said it’s always good the last time we went there, didn’t you?”

Kei shrugged. “You never know, Kuroo-san.”

“Tetsurou.”

Kei glanced over at Kuroo, honey meeting golden. The younger man’s expression seemed to soften. “Tetsurou.”

“God, Kei, you’re going to kill me,” Kuroo groaned, turning away. “I’m going to put our stuff away.”

He picked up the plant from the floor along with the box and returned it inside, but before he stepped back out, he paused at the kitchen counter. “Hey, Kei?”

Kei popped his head into the doorway.

“Come here for a sec.”

“What is it? I thought we were going to go eat?”

Kuroo smirked, gesturing for Kei to sit at the stool. His boyfriend removed his shoes and went to do so without further complaint.

“Now, close your eyes.”

“Tetsurou, pleas—”

“Close them!”

Kei sighed, closing his eyes. Kuroo leaned forward and cupped his hands around Kei’s ears. Before Kei could question what he was doing, Kuroo pulled back, marveling at his handiwork. “Alright, you can open them now.”

Kei opened his eyes to find Kuroo beaming at him. “Kuroo-san, what—”

There was a glint near his boyfriend’s face and Kei saw Kuroo’s left ear had the golden moon placed perfectly in his earlobe. When he looked at the right ear though, there was nothing to be seen.

It only took a minute for it to click before Kei reached for his right ear and found the black cat. “Kuroo-san, wait, these are—”

“I’m more than positive Yamaguchi would have wanted us to share these,” Kuroo winked, adjusting his shoulder bag and making his way out the door. “Unless you don’t want me as your right hand man, or rather, right ear man?”

Kei flushed, getting up from his seat and reluctantly reaching out a hand to take Kuroo’s. “You’re such a sap.”

“So I’ve heard.”

Kei hummed, looking down at their feet as Kuroo went to lock the door behind them. “Speaking of things you’ve heard, did you hear Akaashi-san is getting married?”

“Yeah, Bokuto told me the other day! I hope your weekend is free for some wedding cakes!”

“I’ll have to see,” Kei teased, rubbing his chin as if in deep thought before turning to Kuroo. “But, I’ll probably be able to make it.”

“You better be,” Kuroo laughed, gripping their hands tighter together as they left the building. “Cause one day we’ll be the ones buying them.”

“Wha—Kuroo-san!”

Kuroo smiled, giving Kei a small peck on the side of his lips. “In time, I mean.”

“That…” Kei’s cheeks shone a brilliant red, and he looked away as the cold winter air swirled around them. “That would be nice.”

Kuroo felt his heart could burst at any moment. He giggled, unable to contain the pure joy that threatened to drown him from within. He peppered the side of Kei’s face with kisses as the blonde yelped and swat him away.

The two made their way towards the restaurant together hand in hand, talking about strawberry pastry recipes they would try out the next free day they had. The moon glistened in the sky, making their earrings shine brightly.

Sure, their first Valentine’s hadn’t gone too smoothly, but that was alright. They had many more to come. Despite Kuroo’s obvious horticultural mishap, Kei didn’t think any less of him. In fact, Kei had tried to do something similar for him, and Kuroo couldn’t be happier. Dinosaurs, strawberries, music, or whatnot, Kei was his and his alone. As the stars speckled the world above them, and their hands came together as one, Kuroo knew he wouldn’t trade away their first for the world.

He hoped Kei felt the same.