The Adrenaline Woes to Falling in Love
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Pairings: Akaashi Keiji/ Kuroo Tetsurou; Ushijima Wakatoshi/ Shimizu Kiyoko; Tendou Satori/ Kozume Kenma
Summary: There were rare occasions that summed Akaashi to social gathering, Halloween-themed parties not so much; but, for some reason this year he went to at least five before the actual holiday. That was why it was interesting to say the least when he kept on meeting the same guy from five different Halloween parties.
It is a coincidence right?
Akaashi didn't think at first but, what else was he supposed to believe after it happening to him five times in a row.
Note: For both @kurooakaweek and @hq-rare-pairs . Happy Halloween!
Prompts used: Vampire, Midnight, Autumn, Costume
There were rare occasions that summed Akaashi to social gathering, Halloween-themed parties not so much; but, for some reason this year he went to at least five before the actual holiday.
He didn't know what possessed him to attend these ridiculous events. Akaashi just knew that he had this unnatural energy to get out of his apartment and mingle with society. Throughout the vampire community they knew him as a passive loner, he never was a rabid binge drinker or made the news to make mortals aware of their existence. Akaashi Keiji, was essentially a “safe” vampire as one could get. However, Akaashi didn't care about what people or his community thought about him, he went on about his life and was able to successfully blend into the human world without difficulty. After all, he worked at a decent job and, had a handful of good friends to keep him company. Years went by slowly in the beginning, trends appeared, movements shifted an era or two but, what Akaashi eventually settled on was passively minding his own business. The twenty-first century was a curious one; as he was still considered as a new guy and quite young with the lifestyle he barely went out. Halloween in pratical started to come close and closer to his friend’s chats. He knew enough about the line that vampires and other creatures couldn’t cross with humans and yet, it was something that hit one of his close friends a couple of odd decades ago.
He remembered how the ghoul was amoured with a human.
The kid was fragile, nervous but, he understood what captured his friend’s interest. Tendou always liked the outcast bunch and that kid had all the requirements to gravitate towards him. Bright cat-like eyes that pierced one’s gaze, a soft tone that was soothing and enjoyable to hear such sarcastic remarks and the ability to understand the atmosphere and not further question anything amiss. He was silent and a little anti-social but, Akaashi wasn’t shocked to see Tendou was able to make the kid flash a smile and laugh. It was an innocent friendship that passed too quickly for Tendou. And that was the problem; time was not kind for either of the ghoul and human. It was painful to watch a dear friend clutching for a love that could never last. A ghoul was no immortal like a vampire but, they still lived a hard life between eating human flesh and trying to blend into their communities at the same time. He knew that his friend struggled with his pastime of eating in cold blood before meeting the kid. He told Akaashi about the nightmares of accidentally eating his human, the terror of being revealed and having to choose between his own existence or from the little shed of hope of being accepted. It was never easy to see this transition of watching Tendou fool himself that love would conquer everything as he confessed to the human.
The side glances and soft brushes of skin-ship they shared were enough to make Akaashi wary for the couple; he wanted to support them but. he had a prior experience that didn’t give him enough warrant to keep trusting its power. It was hard to come by a short half a decade to open his door with a bloodied ghoul crying. The instance he uttered his friend’s name he knew by the way he hunched his shoulders more and shook violently as the tears fell down his cheeks that things didn’t end so well. Even to this day the human’s name escaped Akaashi; he just remembered how it was a disaster the way Tendou lived the rest of his life walking to the cemetery where he laid his lover. Years have gone by after he passed away with regret of how things ended but never for falling for a human. That was why Akaashi wondered why this unexpected flourish of sociality was running through his veins and forcing him to party more than usual. Tendou was gone; but he couldn’t deny that he still had Shimizu, another fellow vampire, to keep him company.
But that was why it was confusing, neither of them were party people like Tendou was. If anything he was the only reason why they went out when he was alive. He loved going out and making Shimizu and Akaashi used up their time wisely as being immortals. But decades after his passing…Akaashi never really saw a reason to go out other than getting his supply or for work. Shimizu was the same, preferring small quite get-to-getters and hardly going to crazy parties most young people decided was necessary to do. He didn’t know how to explain this curiosity to wander past midnight and mingle with a range of people and other supernatural creatures like himself. He was only thankful that Shimizu was willingly to go out with him. That was where things started to begin to get weird. Being vampire already was something that asked for some pretty weird shit to be in his normal life but what he didn’t expect was to be getting a second round of cruel selfish love pounding his chest five times before October ended in this particular century. It started in the middle of the month where autumn was on its highest and aesthetic pleasing. Seasonal drinks were being disrupted and he couldn’t escape the smell of pumpkin hitting his nostrils at every shopping corner he walked passed. Even in the city full of gas and smog it was colored black and orange. The holiday was becoming more festive and bright. Sweets were sold faster to summon swarms of children in the streets, the costumes invented were getting ridiculous that it made it far too easy for Akaashi not comment under his breath. He enjoyed the childish glamour, it was innocent after all but, it was the older folks that made him debate whether he was okay with how the holiday was evolving.
It created boundless opportunities for the supernatural to mingle and come out in broad daylight without too much commotion. And that was what scared Akaashi to some extent; it was getting more blurred to have humans wonder in their own turfs unnoticed. Shimizu was lucky to have met a fellow vampire a couple of decades after Tendou’s passing. He was an awkward guy but reliable enough to make Akaashi happy for his friend. As for Akaashi he sailed this single life longer, while he didn’t care too much Akaashi still wanted to know why so many creatures kept on fantasying this unrealistic love to conquer every hardship of coexisting with humans. It was easier to lust over an idea but to maintain it was something he couldn’t do. Humans were selfish people, other supernatural creatures themselves shared an awful trait or two as well. He knew the sweet taste of new love, the addiction of lust and the sour painful back taste of heartbreak. The bitterness was harder to swallow in the beginning, and as years went on and muddled his memories Akaashi still hated how faint that sour after taste lingered in the back of his tongue on random days. The parties that he ventured on where like the cherry on top, they all started the same. He would walk as a part of a trio with Shimizu and Ushijima but after a couple of short ten minutes walking around the dance floor and being rubbed by strangers from the constrained space available Akaashi would give up and go to the refreshments. Each time he would hum to the few tunes he liked while bobbing his head slowly. His costume would be subtle and almost mute against the colorful and pop-cultured ones around him. The lights would blind him but at the same time hypnotize his senses. The vibrations would clog his lungs as he stepped closer to the dance floor, and that was where the easy part would end in the night. When he got to the middle he would hear others asking for a dance, he would humor them knowing he had a certain person’s attention.
He did not indulge them by staring back the first two parties.
Akaashi just remembered the stare with no face, the small smell of coffee and seasonal drinks that incorporated pumpkin or vanilla and that heartbeat that was almost too tasty he thought he imagined it himself. By the third he stole small glances when he knew the other wasn’t looking. By then he could pinpoint the voice that came with that intense stare; and Akaashi was right about not looking before. The human (he still couldn’t help but shudder at the thought) was a sight to see. Unruly hair, dark eyes that looked mischievous under those neon lights and, a voice that could rival a well-known seductive vampire on the hunt. The first two parties were easier to conclude the unofficial meetings; they were two well-known college parties. It was bound to generate for humans to come and have fun. The third one though…it was hosted by a supernatural couple; granted they okayed few humans to come along so it was kind of a stretch. But Akaashi didn’t know how to explain the fourth and fifth time they meet in the dance floor. By the fourth they were close enough to talk, Akaashi was only thankful for Ushijima coming around the corner and touching his shoulder before the human could speak to him. He left feeling the human’s gaze and hearing his companion complain about how he missed another coincidence of meeting him. Shimizu didn’t say anything when Akaashi went to the next party, Ushijima focused on learning how to dance and making Shimizu giggle at his honest blunts and kisses. But he knew they were curious at the human that made Akaashi get caught off guard once again.
The only way he could properly explain his behavior was the dance floor had this air that made him feel something again. It wasn’t the hundreds of bodies that pressed against him or the smell of body sprays and sweat mixing that was attractive. The music wasn’t always appealing but it probably had to do with the way the stereo carried the vibrations and swelled his body and how connected he felt when he swayed to the beat. The adrenaline was something he lacked in the normal world; his job was hardly the place to feel alive. He wasn’t even the type to enjoy hunting, at times it felt like a chore that it made him a little self-conscience when he compared to other vampires. It wasn’t like he never got hungry, he did but, that didn’t mean he liked how it shifted his schedule time to time. Blood was his nutrient, it was sweet and addictive but it was something Akaashi was able to conquer and not fuss over about like most vampires his age could not accomplish right away. So for most of his new lifetime he wandered, he grew wary of love, he learned to appreciate the little time he could afford within human constrains. And after a couple of decades later he was now in the middle of a Halloween party from an acquaintance meeting the same human party after party but never once making small chat. The stares were more obvious and flirtatious, the body language was evident that he wanted to talk but for some reason the human was still shy to come over his side of the floor and ask for a dance. Then again Akaashi wondered if he would even be able to converse normally with the music drugging him into a high he hasn’t been able to find until recently. The music ranged into a dance crazy seemingly, his body felt hotter and maybe that was the last straw for the human because when Akaashi gave a side glance the human hesitantly took a step closer. One of his eyebrows rose in time for a cheeky grin. He could feel his own body tire from this endless hesitation and settled on closing the gap.
When they were close enough to talk Akaashi wasted no time to dance and make the human chose to either move along or back away. The grin that settled on the human’s lips made Akaashi almost smile, instead he tilted his head to the side and allow the music to talk for them. Five songs passed too quickly bringing them closer and closer with semi-shouts of chatter between them. Akaashi’s hands burned against the human’s exposed skin, his voice was pleasant to his ears but what got him crazy was the blood flowing so close to him. It was dangerous to linger; his past was haunting him from enjoying everything. But there was still this spark to stay and taste this adrenaline rush from its peak. When one of the human’s fingers brushed one of Akaashi’s arm pulled back, he started at the human for a solid ten seconds before curling his fingers into a fist.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” He could feel himself losing this control of thirst that came out of nowhere.
The human didn’t understand what Akaashi was really implying and instead foolishly believed he was living your typical young adult affairs. And in many ways Akaashi felt the guilt he could impose on feeding on the human; but it was only natural that these rare moments of being thirsty would come to bite him in the ass. In the end, they settled on small touches to the arms and shoulders. They continued this dance of glances, sly skin-ship and hunger for more but stopping before anything could happen. By the time the party was losing momentum Akaashi felt Shimizu and Ushijima getting ready to leave, they signaled him quietly making Akaashi settled on one last dance with the human before saying goodbye to this disaster before it could fully form. As much as this temporary happiness and anxiety gave him something to look forward Akaashi knew there was so much at stake if he ever crossed path with this human again. He wasn’t ready to open another Pandora's box again and so soon after his best friend’s tragedy. Even if the human in front of him was tempting. So he enjoyed the small instances of contact and hoped they would never meet again because he wasn’t sure how he would turn out if he gave into another round of love.
When the song ended Akaashi pulled back he gave one last look at the human who was flushed from all that dancing. They said their good-byes, Akaashi gave him a random number and left the hot place and sighed into the cold night in tow of Ushijima and Kiyoko. As he walked back to his apartment he left the folded piece of paper neatly inside his night stand for two nights without giving it a second look. October was a strange month to begin with, human cultures themselves made them more outrageous but Akaashi didn’t mind much anymore. Tendou was right about that but Akaashi wasn’t shocked anymore, by the second night of pretending the phone number didn’t exist he relented and unfolded it just enough to see the name, Kuroo Tetsurou, scribbled on top of the digits before throwing it in the trash.
When he heard it slowly fall to the bottom he whispered the name under his breathe once before going back to the bathroom and getting ready for another normal night at his job.
