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Moving into an apartment with Koutarou and Tobio had been a complete pain in the ass, but he couldn’t say he hated it. Akiteru helped them, of course, and Koutarou had roped Kuroo and some others into it as well. Kei would never turn down watching his boyfriend lift heavy objects in a tight fitting tank top after all.
The apartment was small but cozy and seeing his boyfriends be sappy was always worth the frustration of having to move. It was home and sometimes he’d just stare at the ceiling and ponder over the joy that phrase filled him with. He had a home with two people he loved dearly and was loved by. He hadn’t thought it possible when he was younger.
The current morning was overly bright and Kei just wished he could die, as he curled into his blankets. His throat felt raw and there was a dull pressure behind his eyes that made his head swim as he reached for his glasses before giving up when he couldn’t find them.
Koutarou and Tobio were most likely out on their morning run. It was a strict routine that they had tried to include Kei in until it became obvious that nothing good came from waking up the blond before ten most days.
Calling out to them proved to be useless, as it only confirmed their absence and further agitated his throat. The bed was also becoming too warm for his liking as his skin heated up with fever. He never felt this warm and it wasn’t a welcome feeling. The first thing he needed was some water to sooth the dryness in mouth.
Any movement seemed like a tremendous effort when the favorable solution was just to stay in bed and die already. And he could tolerate the bed if he just pushed the blankets away a bit whenever he felt to warm and pulled them back in when it grew cold again. His body kept alternating which proved to be annoying as well as distracting.
He eventually dragged himself out of bed and towards the kitchen, leaning against the wall for support until he tripped on a fucking volleyball and found himself sprawled out on the living room floor and increasingly unwilling to move. The coolness of the floor pressed to his forehead was strangely relieving and he wasn’t sure how long he was there when he heard his boyfriends come in.
Kei must have passed out for a moment because when he opened his eyes Koutarou was holding him upright as they sat on the couch, Tobio clinking around in the kitchen.
“You alright, Kei? You’re burning up.” Kou spoke low and soothing, his voice washing over him as an ice pack covered with a cloth was pressed to his forehead.
“M’fine….” Kei muttered back as he leaned into Koutarou’s chest. God he was blessed to have someone so muscular like Koutarou. And he just said that aloud if the soft rumbling of laughter in said chest was any indication.
“You’re sick, Kei. Tobio is making soup but this is what you get for overworking yourself.” Kei knew they were both upset about him stressing over his midterms but he didn’t think a couple all-nighters would kill him. He had to pass these business classes to get his licence after all. Wasn’t his fault the teacher was an asshole.
“The only asshole here right now is you.” Oh, he must have said some of that aloud too. His brain was too fuzzy for him to bother caring as Tobio sat on his other side with a bowl of soup. God his boyfriend was so pretty. How could someone’s eyes be so blue? Completely unfair.
“Eat up you useless idiot.” Tobio grumbled at him, blushing as words spilled from Kei without his consent.
“Tobio is bullying me.” Kei whined, curling up more into Kou’s steady embrace.
“We told you this was going to happen and you didn’t listen.” Tobio huffed, starting to feed Kei the soup.
“You were right.” Kei agreed easily, happily eating the offered soup as his mind started to drift away.
He was brought back by the sounds of volleyball which wasn’t surprising since it’s never not on the TV in their apartment. At some point Kei must have laid down because his head was now resting on Koutarou’s (very nice) thighs while Tobio sat at the other end, watching the match intensely before looking over at Kei. “Back finally? You passed out on us right after eating, dumbass.”
Kei let out hum of acknowledgement as he tried to sort through the haze in his mind. Koutarou’s fingers combing through his hair weren’t helping as Tobio rubbed at his calves gently. He could tell when he fell asleep this time, comfortable between his soulmates.
Of course, waking up in sweaty clothes and with an awful dryness in his throat is another matter entirely and he disentangled himself to drink some water and shower.
Kei would have stayed in the shower if he knew he was going to come out to his soulmates sitting at the table waiting for him. With a sigh, Kei took his seat, “Intervention time then?”
Tobio threw him a dark look that just showed how pissed he was about them having to go over the topic again. Kei answered said look by rolling his eyes, arms crossed in front of him.
“Don’t be a smartass about it, Kei. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”
“I hate when you two team up on me.” Kei huffed, sipping at the tea Tobio had placed for him.
“It’s because you know we’re right.” Koutarou hummed, scooting closer to Kei and rubbing at his knuckles. Koutarou was always the more physical of the three and while sometimes Kei needed his space, it was comforting to have those gentle touches. “We just want you to be happy, Kei.”
“I know. I’ll try to take better care of myself.” Kei relented easily, too tired to argue the point further when he knew they just wanted him to be healthy. “How has practice been?”
“I love being on the team with Tobio but I wish you were there too.”
“We miss not being around you as much.” The look Tobio gave Kei at this comment was more meaningful than the comment itself. It was hard for him to be away from them so much too and the setter could see as much.
Kei smiled softly, looking down at his tea. “I miss you guys too but I don’t think I could play professional volleyball. I am proud of you though.”
“When did you get soft?” Tobio teased, scooting closer to Kei’s other side while the blonde glared at him for the comment.
“When did you become an asshole?” Kei countered, lips curling into a pout.
“Probably around the same time.” Affection seeped into Tobio’s voice as he absently played with a lock of Kei’s hair.
He had started letting it grow out at his soulmates’ insistence, both of them constantly touching and playing with the curls. It was a pain to keep maintained but his boyfriends loved it so he was willing to put up with it.
“I know that I’m pushing myself too much,” Kei continued, the stray leaves were swirling around his tea, “But I’m so close to being done with these stupid classes and then I’ll be able to open the bakery with Hitoka.”
“We know Kei. We’re really happy for you but we hate seeing you so stressed.”
“Just be more careful, please.” Koutarou plead, squeezing his hand gently.
“I will.” Kei promised, drinking the rest of his tea before letting out a pleased sigh.
“Good. And we actually have a graduation present for you but you’ll have to wait.”
“You’re awful.”
“Well you’re stuck with us now!”
“Not a bad thing.” Kei smiled kissing Koutarou gently before turning to kiss Tobio as well.
“The real intervention is the amount of cake you’ve been eating.” Kou said with a grin, hands finding his hips which were definitely more plump than they had been in high school.
“I’m a baker, what do you want from me?” Kei argued as a blush fought it’s way up his cheeks.
“You can’t eat just cake.” Tobio answered with a small smile as they all settled into friendly banter at Kei’s expense.
It took another grueling month before his classes were finished, but finally he had his stupid business licence and planned to celebrate accordingly. It wasn’t surprising that Kou would organize the party but Kei was thankful he kept it small.
Soon enough Kei was too buzzed to really care as he settled himself on Tobio’s lap with a smile and nuzzled the setter’s neck. Kou was in the kitchen with Kuroo making god knows what sort of alcoholic concoctions while the two of them laughed.
“You’re going to have an awful hangover tomorrow.” Tobio spoke lowly, brushing blond curls away from his face as Kei giggled softly.
“But I’m happy right now and you’ll take care of me anyways. You’re so nice to me Tobio. Why is my boyfriend so pretty? We should get married.”
Tobio chuckled at that as Kou gave Kei another shot he downed quickly. “I will take care of you but you’ll hate yourself tomorrow.”
“I don’t need to have a hangover to hate myself.” Tobio sighed at Kei’s comment while the blond continued to snuggle into him.
True to Tobio’s words, the hangover Kei woke up with was decidedly unpleasantly. His head continued to throb at being lifted from bed by Koutarou.
“No.” He whined, pulling the blankets with him before Tobio disentangled them from his fingers gently.
“C’mon Kei, baby. We’ve got something we want to show you.” Koutarou prodded gently, cradling the blond to his chest despite their height difference.
“You two are awful.” Kei replied, squinting at them with a frown. “It’s too early.”
“I know but this is important.” Tobio insisted, eyes shining with an excitement that he couldn’t quite hide. It was the same look he had when Kei had made him a volleyball shaped cake for his birthday.
“Well you have that look so this must be good.” Kei yawned while Koutarou set him down gently so the blond could get dressed.
Upon preparing for whatever his two soulmates had in store for him, Kei was immediately blindfolded. After much complaining on Kei’s behalf and decent amount of walking they finally stopped.
He could practically feel the excitement coming off the two in waves as the blindfold was removed and he felt his lips twitch into a smirk.
“Wow, a blurry building. How exciting.”
The two fumbled at the comment, Tobio placing his glasses on their perch with an irritated huff.
The building was a bakery that had closed a couple months ago. Kei remembers them closing up because the couple that had owned it were retiring. It was different now though.
The entire place had been renovated with new furniture and a completely different color scheme that struck a chord with Kei because had helped Hitoka pick it. Everything was perfect, down to the decal on the window that read “Moonflower Bakery” in neat print he had watched Yachi create. The swell of emotion in his chest was almost too much as he gripped at the hands of his boyfriends.
“Thank you so much.”
“Fuck Kei, don’t cry.” Koutarou sighed as he pulled the taller into an embrace. “You’ve worked so hard for this.”
“Not crying.” Kei mumbled into the offered shoulder, voice nearly cracking while his eyes stung.
“We’re so proud of you.” Tobio’s hands found their way into Kei’s hair and rubbed circles into his scalp gently.
“Oh god. Marry me already.” Kei groaned, rubbing his eyes and smiling brightly at his boyfriends. “I don’t think anyone else could make me happier.”
“We love you too Kei.”
“Let’s save marriage for when you’re settled in though.” Koutarou said, chuckling lowly and wiping stray tears away from the blond’s cheeks.
“Fuck that. Let’s elope right now. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
“I don’t think your mom or brother would be too happy about that. We can wait a bit longer.”
Kei made a disgusted face that Tobio and Koutarou both found amusing, “Since when were you two the patient ones? This is some bullshit.”
“We just want everything to be perfect.”
“It already is perfect with you two here.”
Tobio snorted at that and hugged Kei tight while the blond pouted, “Wow, you’re getting sappy today. I promise we’ll get married soon.”
“We better.”