ten reasons - Chapter 5: Chapter 5

"kiyo~!" you cheered, walking in the door and throwing your keys at sakusa where he sat on the couch. he caught them and set them on the coffee table as usual (he did this so you wouldn't lose them), and quirking a brow at you, who was practically bounding towards him. "guess what?" you asked excitedly, getting down to straddle his lap and hook your arms around his shoulders.
sakusa hummed in question, leaning on the back of the couch and waiting for your reply.
"today at lunch, alisa got us tickets to her and lev's modeling thing!" you nearly screeched, smiling bright and making the corners of your eyes crinkle.
"what?" he asked.
"so alisa and her brother lev are really awesome models you know?" when sakusa nodded, you continued, "so they got everyone front row tickets to their show! it's tomorrow night!" you were practically bouncing on his lap by this point. "ahh, it's been so long since everyone was able to go!" you sighed, and then promptly stared at him while waiting for a reply.
"...are you saying i was invited?" he asked, to which you nodded quickly. "oh. aren't there a ton of people at these things?"
you had to give it to him, sakusa had learned to deal with crowds the tiniest bit in his adult life, he really worked at it and wanted to get over it. he just couldn't quite do it so well yet, and you were completely fine with it still, proud that he'd at least gotten a little bit better.
your face fell, "well, yeah..." you murmured, but quickly smiled again, "but if you don't wanna go that's okay too, y'know? i won't be mad at you." you said honestly, giving him a sweet smile as you waited for his answer.
"who's invited?"
"you and me, umm..." you furrowed your eyebrows while trying to remember, "kenma, kuroo, bo, akaashi, sho-chan, and...shit, there was one more..." you pursed your lips for a moment. "oh! it was tsukishima kei!" you grinned again.
"no twins or suna?"
"no, they really only invited people they knew from high school...but we can go cause we're friends with them!" you said, standing up from sakusa's lap. "it'll be fun!" then you leaned down close to sakusa's face, placing a quick kiss on his lips. "and i can't wait for you to see my outfit~" you smiled. "but really, yoomi," you said, standing straight once again, "i'll understand if you don't want to go, it's okay." you fished two white tickets out of your pocket and placed them on the fridge with a magnet, just so you wouldn't forget about them. "did you eat yet? do you want me to make you something?" you asked, hearing sakusa follow you into the kitchen.
"no, miyas and i ate at onigiri earlier," he said as you turned to look at him, "i'll go, only if i can sit in between you and bokuto-san." at this you gave him a wide grin, excitedly and quickly wrapping your arms around him.
"thank you!" you mumbled into his chest, and sakusa took the opportunity to pet your hair while you stared up at him, chin resting on him. "just tell me if it's too much, okay? nobody's gonna make you stay." he agreed after a moment, and began wondering what it would actually be like to attend a big event with a huge crowd...and not be one participating in it.
and the next day, you were drooling over sakusa.
don't get me wrong, you looked hot too, but sakusa was the epitome of attractiveness.
he just looked so good. with a black suit, shoes and trench coat, you felt nobody could come close to the amount of big dick energy he was giving off. he wore a black disposable mask to complete the outfit, and you so seriously wanted him to ruin you in the car right now. but this is sakusa, and when you both walked into the event, people were clamoring around, drinking and laughing and touching each other, he was immediately anxious.
you grabbed his hand and turned to sakusa, who was already sweating and glowering at you. "are you okay? we can leave—"
"i'm fine." he cut you off, swallowing thickly and letting out a shaky breath. you gently grabbed his coat and pulled him close.
"you're sure?" he nodded, and suddenly you heard your name being called from behind. you turned and walked towards an excited bokuto, hinata, and another timid boy you didn't recognize, beckoning you over with a smile. sakusa grasped your hand while you walked, you guessed for comfort, and you gave it a little squeeze.
"(name)-chan! you look so pretty!" bokuto said with a smile, and you gave him a little hug to show your thanks.
"(name)-chan!" hinata cheered, and you returned his greeting with a side hug (what can i say? you're a hugger), still holding onto sakusa. "ne, tsukishima-kun, i told you she was nice." hinata gave a pointed look a tall and lanky blonde, you guess this was the terrible tsukishima that he spoke about yesterday at lunch.
"i didn't notice," he deadpanned, turning to you with an outstretched hand. "tsukishima kei." he gave you a devilish smirk as you shook it with your free hand.
"(full name)!" you greeted, "sho-chan said you played ball together in high school?" he nodded with raised brows and looked at hinata.
"just how much shit did you talk?" he grumbled, and hinata held up his hands in surrender.
"none!" he said.
"but yeah we did, even went on a trip to brazil with him and the king." tsukishima noted.
"king...?" you trailed off in confusion, but ultimately decided to drop it, "he also said you work at a museum in miyagi?"
he nodded shortly. "yeah, i do the dinosaur exhibits." you gasped, smiling and dying to know more about the dinosaurs, they always seemed so cool, until he asked you a question. "how do you know haiba-san?"
"oh! we met alisa in university," you said, noticing sakusa's hand slip out of your grasp, looking and seeing him walk towards bokuto and hinata, who'd also walked away. "we met kenma and pain-in-the-ass-kuroo-san there too."
"we as in...? you and sakusa-san?" he asked with a quirked brow. "i remember seeing him one time a nationals in high school. didn't seem too friendly." he remarked. you shrugged, as you couldn't really disagree, but you turned your gaze over to him anyway.
"he's not so prickly when you get to know him. he's gentle." you said, and tsukishima nodded, noticing the stars in your eyes as you stared at the man that stood awkwardly next to bokuto. "so how do you know the haibas?" you looked up in curiosity.
"met lev, kuroo, and dumbass over there at a training camp in my first year," he said, pointing coolly at bokuto, who was now only next to hinata.
you could see that sakusa was making his way out of the venue, from the corner of your eye.
you laughed a bit and turned back to him. "hey, you gotta at least admit that they're funny," you said, "it was great to meet you tsukishima-kun. would you excuse me for moment?" the boy nodded blankly and you turned away, searching adamantly for your boyfriend. "yoomi...?" you said quietly, opening the door to the venue exit and peeking outside.
to your relief, you saw sakusa leaning against the outside wall with his hands in his pockets.
"hey, you okay?" you asked, standing next to him. he looked to you and nodded.
"just needed air," he said, "i'll be fine in a few minutes." you murmured an okay and gripped his forearm, forcing him to look at you.
"do you want me to wait or go get our seats?"
"seats."
you raised an eyebrow.
"you promise to tell me if you wanna leave?" you pressed, and sakusa nodded, noticing your hesitance to leaving him. he gently took hold of your hand on his arm and pulled you close, pulling down his mask for a brief moment to place a kiss on the side of your head.
"i promise." he said, his voice sending shivers down your spine and right to your core.
so off you went back to your friends with a deep, rattling sigh, but were happy again once you spotted kuroo, kenma and akaashi.
"is that the great kodzuken?!" you whisper-shouted, pulling him in for a hug. surprisingly he returned it with as much effort as you put into it.
"i don't wanna keep saying that it's kenma to you," he said shortly after letting you go, "you look nice."
"all of you look amazing~" you fangirled over them half-jokingly, kuroo wearing his usual scheming smirk and akaashi with his small smile.
"kuroo-san! so good to see you!" you looked up at the businessman, who returned the compliment with a little laugh.
"you too, kid."
"please tell me you saved the best for last," akaashi deadpanned, but seeing your pout, he added, "just kidding, it's nice to see you, (name)."
"you as well, keiji-kun!" you smiled and shoulder checked him jokingly, hearing him laugh briefly, while walking away and grabbing kenma's arm in the process.
"sit by me?" you asked, and he nodded without hesitation as you both walked.
"i knew i'd be your first choice."
"shut the hell up." you faked a glare, and he flicked your hand off of him once you'd arrived to the front row seating area. soon enough, people were beginning to start sitting as the show would be starting pretty soon, you sat by kenma, of course. though the other seat beside you was empty, and you wondered where he could be. after a few minutes bokuto came to the row, followed by sakusa, who did not seem happy.
when he sat down you grabbed his hand with a little smile, and you could see him try to return it under his mask.
everyone's attention was snatched by a voice on the loudspeaker, one you didn't recognize, announcing the start to the show, and the catwalk lit up with lights all around the bottom of it. spotlights dramatically shone on the black curtain, and music started quietly, only to crescendo with anticipation.
"introducing, the haiba siblings!" the emcee said with excitement, their voice making your eyes widen and squeeze sakusa's hand unconsciously. as he turned to look at you, he found your bright smile to be the only thing he could focus on, and he felt the tiniest bit better about being here.
your jaw dropped as you watched alisa strut down the runway with lev not that far behind. her outfit was stunning, and apparently everyone else thought so too, because there were the flashes of camera shutters all around the room, as well as oohs and ahhs and a bit of quiet applause. she wore a seemingly mischievous smile, looking down at you and winking.
"did you see that?!" you whispered to sakusa, "she looked at me!" he found it cute how you acted like you weren't being a fool with alisa nearly every day, but he nodded with a little scoff and looked back up to the catwalk, watching lev make his debut for the night.
you knew lev pretty well, meeting him a ton of times while you did shenanigans with alisa, and he looked so cool. he walked with fluidity, like he knew he was hot shit, and he looked like it too. lev was a lot like alisa in terms of looks and attitude, but you knew from kenma that he's actually a big dork.
"it's hard to believe he actually grew up," kenma said quietly beside you, "he used to be a colossal pain in my ass." you giggled quietly, and so did kuroo.
all in all, the show lasted only about twenty minutes, a little speech by the designers afterwards, and then everyone was free to go. the models came out in all their glory afterwards for a little reception, and you wanted to say hello to lev and goodbye to everyone else, but a familiar hand on your shoulder stopped you.
"(name)..." sakusa muttered with a bit of pain in his voice, and you looked around, immediately knowing what the issue was. the crowd was bustling around, people were accidentally bumping into him in their bubbles of excitement, and drinks were being spilled. you heard his shuddering breaths as you tugged him to the exit of the venue without a word.
once outside and walking across the street to the car, you dug around in his front pocket for his car keys, easily fishing them out and hitting the remote start. the car came to life, and sakusa headed to the passenger side door, quickly opening it and sitting inside.
you strode across to the other side of the car, and he was looking at you the whole time, wide eyed and angry aura coming off him. now sitting in the drivers seat, you reached over the center console and grabbed his hand, pulling it into your lap and staring at him.
"go talk to your friends, i'm—"
"kiyoomi, don't even tell me you're fine," you said seriously, "our friends are probably wanting to get drunk right now anyway. we can talk to them tomorrow. i'm worried about you right now."
he sighed, rubbing his eyes and taking the mask off as you traced your fingers over his hand.
"i knew you wanted me here," he started slowly, "i just wanted you to have fun."
"kiyo..." you mumbled, giving him a small smile, "i want you to have fun too, and that's why you need to talk about your limits. honestly, even if i'm sitting next to you doing nothing, i'm having the time of my life, so don't ever think that you bring my mood down," you assured, brining a hand up to caress his cheek. "there's nothing wrong with having boundaries, yeah?"
"yeah." he said quietly.
"wanna go shower?" you asked, and he nodded quickly as you released his hand and went to put the car in drive. not once did sakusa take his eyes off of you, though, finding your presence being enough to make him relax.
"number four." he muttered, and he didn't have to say anything else for you to know what he meant.
you respect my boundaries, always trying to make sure i'm comfortable.