virgowriting-blog - Tumblr blog

virgowriting-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Kagehina–College Bar AU

Chapter 1

Summary: Kageyama, college student, is struggling to battle the constant gnawing of loneliness. One night, though, in the bathroom stall of a college bar, he overhears something which could change that completely...

-----

Kageyama enjoyed being alone.

Ever since he was younger, he's been on the extreme introvert side of the spectrum, keeping to himself throughout school. Maybe it was his too harsh facial features that he couldn't seem to soften, or maybe it was his intense love of volleyball that distracted him from socializing. Whatever it was, though, he was always alone, and he didn't mind. He found comfort in it.

Recently, though, he's been feeling a bit lonely.

Alone and lonely are two completely separate concepts. Kageyama has become quite familiar with this over time, considering that he could be alone for months in a row without ever feeling that desperate ache in the pit of his stomach that comes with being lonely.

His fist clenches around his shirt, crumpling up the fabric against his skin as he struggles against the ache.

The ache has been revisiting him much too often lately. Usually a one-nighter with some random guy from a bar cures it, but recently it's been gnawing at him no matter how many hook-ups he endures.

Why now? he thinks to himself. He has finals the following week, and he desperately needs to be burying himself in a Calculus textbook. He can't spare the time for hook-up after hook-up, guy after guy, having sex all night when he should be studying all night. And yet, before he even realizes what he's doing, he finds himself grabbing his coat and keys, not even bothering to smooth down his hair before making his way out of his apartment and towards his car.

When he arrives, the scene is just as it usually is. The bar itself is quite loud: party music blasting, colored lights flashing, sweaty people dancing. Despite it being a Tuesday, the bar is as vibrant and lively as ever. That's the beauty of being the most popular bar at his college campus. Kageyama always gravitates directly to the stools by the bartenders, taking his seat and enjoying the act of targeting his next prey.

You wouldn't think that Kageyama would be the one hitting on guys, especially considering his naturally introverted nature. In fact, it was kind of surprising to Kageyama as well. But, the first time he came to the bar, he got hit on by guys that he was not at all interested in, and finally decided that he would be better off going directly after someone who he actually liked. It was only logical, and he would waste less time in the long run. To some guys, Kageyama was too intimidating, but he found that he could be intimidating in a hot way if he tried. Besides, usually a guy who's sitting alone at a bar on a random weeknight isn't too particular about whose bed he's sleeping in.

Apparently he spent too much time mulling over his thoughts, though, because pretty soon a drink is slid up to him by the bartender. He knows for a fact he didn't order it, so that can only mean that someone bought it for him.

"Who's this from?" Kageyama asks, though it ends up coming out sounding a lot more sharp and cold than he had meant for it to sound.

"They said to keep them anonymous," the bartender shouts over the music with a shrug, turning back around to mix another drink. Kageyama blinks mindlessly towards the beer sitting in front of him.

It's not just any beer, though. It's the same beer he's been getting every night this past week.

Someone's been paying attention to him.

Kageyama contemplates this for a moment, slowly taking a sip out of the bottle that feels all too familiar in his palm after this past week.

"Hey, bartender," Kageyama says, shouting slightly so he can hear him.

The bartender, who was now wiping down the counter, looks up. "What can I get you?"

"Can you, um, get that anonymous guy a drink when he finishes whatever he's got? On me," Kageyama finishes, scratching the back of his neck and handing over his credit card.

"Will do," the bartender smirks, taking the card.

Though Kageyama spends the next ten minutes trying to determine who the anonymous man is, the bartender hands out too many drinks for him to possibly figure it out. Frustrated, he spends the next five minutes finishing up a second beer. The liquid cascades smoothly over his tongue and down his throat, and a small, tingly shiver chills down his spine as he dumps the final drops out of the glass bottle.

He's definitely tipsy at this point. Despite being a fairly tall guy, Kageyama for some reason has an extremely low alcohol tolerance level. Apparently he has a low bladder tolerance level as well, so he quickly signs his bill before pacing his way to the restrooms in the back.

Kageyama feels sweet release as he empties his bladder. Once he's finished, he begins to zip up his jeans, when suddenly he hears the bathroom door slam open.

The distinct sound of vomiting echoes from the stall next to his throughout the small, ratty, two-stall bathroom.

"I told you not to drink another one," a voice says, deep and cold like Kageyama's, but slightly more monotone.

Kageyama doesn't exactly know what to do with himself, so he just stands, frozen and listening.

Coughs from the other stall, and the sound of spitting into the toilet. "I know. What was I supposed to do?" asks a higher-pitched voice, slightly hoarse from just throwing up.

"I don't know, not drink it?" the other man responds, sarcasm evident in his voice.

"I couldn't just not drink it. And I really didn't expect him to send me a drink back." There's a short pause. "I told the bartender not to tell him who I was. You don't think he knows do you?"

Kageyama's heart jumps. Are they talking about him? No. They couldn't be. It's probably just a coincidence.

"I don't even know why you're so hooked on that guy. He's not even that hot."

"Have you seen him? And his hair looks super nice today. More shaggy than usual."

Kageyama's hand subconsciously gravitates towards his hair, and he remembers how he hadn't bothered to comb it down like he usually does before coming to the bar.

"Why don't you just go talk to him then, idiot?"

Kageyama suddenly feels extremely uncomfortable eavesdropping on this conversation. It doesn't feel right, no matter if it is or isn't about him. He decides that he'll just exit the stall like a normal human being, wash his hands silently, and leave the bathroom as if they weren't even there. They won't notice him, and then he'll go home. His introverted feelings are kicking him in the stomach, hurting even more than the lonely ache tugging at him, and Kageyama desperately just wants to curl up on his couch with his laptop open to his favorite tv show. Kageyama begins to reach for the lock on the stall door, fingers pul–

"Kageyama would never want anything to do with me," the man responds with a worn sigh. At the sound of his name, Kageyama is now even more frozen than he originally was when the two mystery boys arrived, fingers glued in place on the lock.

The other man releases a tsk in response. "You won't talk to him in class, and you won't talk to him at a bar. Of course he doesn't want anything to do with you. He doesn't even know who you are yet, idiot."

"You don't have to call me that so much," the high-pitched voice grumbles, but the deeper voice continues as if he hadn't said anything.

"Look, he might actually like you if you talked to him. Just try."

There's a shuffle of footsteps and then a flush of the toilet. "You know what? You're right!"

"Of course I'm right," he replies. "Now go home and shower. You smell like vomit."

Kageyama listens as he hears the clicking of footsteps on the tile floor and the opening and closing of the bathroom door. He is left in the muffled silence of the bar bathroom, slightly tipsy, desperately wanting to go home, but also desperately wanting to figure out who that man was.

As Kageyama washes his hands, he racks his brain. One of the two had mentioned a class... Kageyama could feel the sting of regret over never paying attention to his classmates seeping into his bones. The deeper voice had sounded slightly familiar, but Kageyama could not determine where he knew it from. The high-pitched voice–the one he really wanted to figure out–he didn't recognize at all.

After drying his hands, Kageyama opened the bathroom door, walking into the full-volume of the bar.

Only a few steps out of the bathroom, a hand touches his shoulder. Kageyama reluctantly turns around. Expecting to see some crazy drunk guy, Kageyama's eyes widen when he realizes who it is.

His recognition of the deeper voice clicks into place. Tsukkishima, his old high school classmate, stares back at him. He looks the same; slightly broader in the shoulders, but still wearing the same black-framed glasses on his pale face. He has the same short, pale blonde hair and the same apathetic gaze plastered on his face.

"Tsukkishima," Kageyama says blankly.

"It's not very polite to eavesdrop," Tsukkishima responds with a sigh, his eyes trailing towards the bar, though his hand holds a firm grip on Kageyama's shoulder.

Kageyama remains silent, words not forming on his lips, which he now realizes are extremely dry. He tries to lick them, but his mouth has gone dry as well.

"Let's go outside, shall we? It's too loud in here," Tsukkishima says, as if this was an entirely normal situation to be in. As if they were just two good friends, reuniting after several years.

They walk out into the cold air. Tsukkishima shoves his hands in his coat pockets and leans against the brick wall of the building, looking up towards the night sky. Silence passes between them.

Kageyama decides to break the unbearable silence. "How–"

"I saw your shoes as we were leaving," Tsukkishima interrupts, monotone and calculating. "I saw you get up and leave your seat earlier, but I thought you just went home. I actually didn't expect it to be you that came out of the bathroom, but I thought it was possible. Anyone else wouldn't have just stood in a bathroom stall for five minutes." Pause. "Unless they were jacking off, maybe," he adds thoughtfully with a slight tilt of his head.

Both of them let out soft chuckles. They had always shared the same odd, crude humor. In high school, their personalities were extremely similar, and that hasn't seemed to have changed much, if at all.

"Apology accepted," Tsukkishima states sarcastically.

Kageyama, recalling the recent events, actually does feel a bit bad. "Sorry," Kageyama grunts half-heartedly, though not succumbing to making eye contact with Tsukkishima. Instead, he holds his gaze upon a random black car in the parking lot.

"You graduating this year?" Tsukkishima asks.

Kageyama nods. "You?"

He nods in return. The dry conversation feeds into Kageyama's desire to go home, but he also would never back down when competing with Tsukkishima. Not that this is a competition, but it's always easier for Kageyama to deal with undesirable situations if he thought of them that way. First person to run away from the conversation loses.

Deep in his mind, though, Kageyama knew that he wouldn't run away even if he had the chance. He was just waiting for the right moment, the right break in conversation, to ask Tsukkishima who the other man was. Kageyama could still faintly feel the gnawing of loneliness within the pit of his gut, and, though he had never considered himself to be very superstitious and didn't really buy into the whole soul-mate thing, he sure as hell couldn't help but feel like fate was screaming his name right about now.

"I'm not gonna tell you who it is, if that's what you're waiting for," Tsukkishima tells him, steam forming from the heat of his words clashing with the cold of the air.

Kageyama just looks at him for a moment, silent. "Why the hell not?" Kageyama demands, suddenly angry.

"One, because he wouldn't want me to tell you. As much as that idiot drives me crazy, I'm still his friend," Tsukkishima explains. "Two, payback for driving me insane back in high school," he finishes, gaze shifting over to lock with Kageyama's, a smug smirk spread across his face.

Kageyama is fuming on the inside at this point, and he now remembers why he never got along with Tsukkishima back when they were teenagers. He's boiling, but he tries to maintain his composure, not wanting to feed into Tsukkishima's satisfaction.

Kageyama turns around and begins to walk towards his car. Before he's too far away, though, he looks back over his shoulder. "Later, idiot."

Tsukkishima simply smiles, seemingly taking joy in reliving their old bickering ways. Standing up off the wall, he walks away in the opposite direction towards the other side of the parking lot, leaving Kageyama alone.

Alone.

Lonely.

As he arrives at his car, Kageyama's inner rage collapses into sadness. Here he is again, another day gone by, still being pierced by the persistent ache that does not seem to have any plans of leaving. He places his hands on the top of his car, gripping the cold metal tightly within his fingers until his fingertips sting. Leaning into his palms, Kageyama gazes frustratedly down at his shoes.

He hates feeling these feelings. He hates not having control over them. He hates being angry, being jealous, being helpless...

He hates being lonely the most.

Almost instantly, his mood shifts, determination pulsing through his veins. He stands up straight and fights away the tears that had been attempting to fall. Clinging onto his pride, he shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. In four seconds, hold seven seconds, out eight seconds.

At that moment, in the middle of the parking lot of an overcrowded college bar, something within Kageyama clicks, and his eyes fly open.

He is going to find that mystery man–that vomiting mess of a man–no matter what it takes.

He is not going to be lonely anymore.

4 notes · View notes