decided im literally never going to finish the fic this is supposed to be part of but i still really like it so. here is an excerpt wherein noya talks to his mom after briefly coming back to visit from his travels.
Yuu woke up at a godawful hour and immediately needed to go for a run. It was kind of stupid, actually, just how much he needed to get up and move, considering how brain dead the jet lag made him. But old habits die hard, and as he stumbled through the dark past boxes and half deconstructed furniture, he wondered if it wasn't the spirit of his younger self stuck in the house guiding him towards the door.Â
He'd barely gotten one shoe on when his morning haze was interrupted.Â
"Yuu," his mother called from the kitchen. "Yuu, come here, I want to talk to you."Â
He bit back a sigh, knowing she'd somehow hear it even two rooms over, and complied.Â
Nishinoya Shouko was, in one word, intense. Even at the disgustingly early hour, she sat prim and proper, her focus glued on the stacks of paper in front of her even as Yuu bounded his way into the room. She clutched a stark black mug full of equally stark black coffee. With every silent, deep sip, she never quite fully set it down.Â
Yuu hoisted himself up onto the counter in one smooth motion. He knew she hated when he sat up there, and she knew he knew she hated it. But whether due to the morningâs influence or simple acceptance that this was a habit he would never break, she side eyed him but ultimately kept her mouth shut.Â
Then she took one look at his face and snorted. She held the mug towards him, handle out, and asked, "Want some?"Â
Yuu shrugged. He was really more of a tea guy. But he took the warm drink nonetheless, cringing when he took a sip. "Ew. Sugar in black coffee?"Â
"Breakfast before breakfast," she replied, as if that explained anything.Â
"Shouldn't it be all or nothing? Seems like the only thing you're doing is messing up the taste without even making it sweet." He held onto the warm mug a moment longer without drinking any. Even if it tasted gross, at least the heat felt nice against the cold morning air.
But his mother's well manicured nails tapped an impatient rhythm against the table, one-two, one-two.Â
"Doesn't matter if you never liked the taste anyway," she dismissed, taking the mug back with a long sip.
Yuu kicked his legs against the counter, one-two, one-two. She glared at him.Â
He ignored her judgmental stare with practiced ease. "You just totally ruined the illusion, you know that?"
"What, the illusion that coffee is good?"
"No, I knew that was a lie, I just thought, you know," he made a vague gesture at the drink, "I assumed you at least liked it if you drank it every day."
She blinked at him, once, twice. Said, decisively, "Stockholm Syndrome. And caffeine addiction." Then, before he could bother responding, "Your roots are growing in."
"Kairi said the same thing," he pointed out, taking a mental note that now two people had noticed and he should really get on that.
"You should really get on that, then," she said, her tone firm and efficient. He didn't meet her eyes as she repeated his own thoughts. Instead, he followed the subtle movement of her own white streaks, accompanied these days by gray flecks set in from age rather than genetics. He wondered if anyone other than family could tell the difference.
She took a sip of her gross black-with-sugar coffee, and he finally remembered to respond. "Yeah, yeah. Just haven't had the time to dye it recently."
"Think you'll ever go for a different color?"Â
His bouncing legs paused as he took in the question. She never took much interest in his choices about his appearance, except to quip about whether he might grow out of wanting to look like a feral animal. It didn't really phase him after the first few times, though. No matter how hard his mother glared, she could never take away the electric jolt he'd felt that first time he'd really seen himself in the mirror. Hands stained lemon yellow, hair spiked up in messy chunks, brand new binder tight against his chestâthat overwhelming feeling of looking right, like he could signal to the world, watch the fuck out for Nishinoya Yuu.Â
But things had changed since then. The shocks had long settled into a calm buzz, a thrum of comfort as he styled his hair every morning. Faded blonde melting into white didn't seem so pressing when he had a dozen piercings and stark black ink against his skin; even less so with stubble to waffle over shaving and a voice that fell easily into baritone. None of it needed to be a statement, a warning, anymore. It was just him.
He watched the way his mom watched him: out of the corner of her eye, expectant, but not accusatory.Â
Maybe she saw him now, too. Â
Honest, he told her, "I dunno. Haven't thought about it much recently." He blew the streak in question away from his eyes with a soft puff of air. Even if he didnât bother with the color, he really needed to cut it, at least. "Used to want to grow it out and dye it rainbow when I was a kid," he went on absentmindedly.Â
She laughed, piercing in the half empty house. "I remember. No way in hell I was letting you do that."
Yeah, he thought bitterly, that sounds more familiar.Â
At his silence, she only scanned over her papers, pursed her lips. Certainly didn't make to continue whatever this conversation was. Yuu kicked his legs against the counter, one-two, one-twoâŚ
"Okay, seriously, what's this about? I know you didn't call me in here to interrupt your morning routine just to talk about my hair."
She sighed. Took a deep breath. God damn it. He was trying not to get snippy. Things had been going okay, but now she was going to tell him he needed to comeâstayâhome and get a real job or get a degree or get off the damn counter, Yuuâ
"I've been reading your blog." She tapped the side of the mug, looking far off and decidedly not at him. "It's fascinating. You're a good storyteller. And your photos are beautiful."
Slowly, she turned fully to face him. Directed the full force of her stare over her glasses and at him. "I'm proud of you. I'm glad you're happy out there. I just wanted you to know that."
