Work Text:
Two years into dating you, Tsukishima only now realized how much he had changed. Standing by the aquarium’s ticket booth on a working Monday only because he got off early from his job. You were already making acquaintance with the security guard by the ticket gate, waiting for him to catch up with the tickets. He wondered if you actually just knew him to begin with, the laughter that was shared sounded familiar already.
This didn’t come as a surprise to him either. Almost every time that the two of you went out, there was always someone who claimed to remember you from some kind of event in the past.
He knew what he was getting into, entering a relationship with the natural extrovert of the class. It felt like ever since the two of you graduated and entered working society, you’d gotten even more of an audience. Tsukishima wouldn’t be surprised if he saw your poster in the neighborhood for elections.
Out of all people, he got to be the number one and the first victim of your charisma. It must be your sheer benevolence that you hadn’t manipulated him into committing crimes for your own gain. Sometimes it took him a whole five minutes to realize some of the crazy things you’d gotten him to do.
Today, he realized with a sigh.
He already had the tickets anyway. Finally coming up behind you with the security guard, whom he had never once seen in his life, grinning at him until his eyes got buried in soft and kind wrinkles.
“Oh, this is Kei-kun?”
First name already, huh.
He lowered his head politely anyway, because the man looked old enough to be his grandfather.
“See you!” You waved after, the security guard took it upon himself to take the tickets from Tsukishima’s hands and scan them at the gate.
Without meaning to, Tsukishima found himself staring back. The security guard resumed his work, with a little less personality than he had exuded just a moment ago. Directing guests as they scanned their tickets independently.
Then he looked back to you…
So this is how you got away with making other people do things for you.
It was too late already to question his place in your world. He couldn’t stop walking beside you. Couldn’t stop reaching for your hand so you wouldn’t stray and bump into people.
He wasn’t complaining that you’d dragged him to this kind of situation, this kind of place. The aquarium had a different echo to it now that it was almost deserted. All the guests that gathered at the entrance at once dispersed here and there and everywhere.
There were long moments when it was just the two of you. So he placed a hand on the back of your waist, tightly enough to mean something.
You pointed at a fish.
It was the size of his palm. Lime yellow at the head with scales that gradually blended with magenta, only to shift a brilliant blue at the tail. When it glided and turned, the scales seemed to react under the display light and glow purple.
“So colorful!” You gaped, glancing at him to see if he was looking at it too. “Did you know they would lose all that color if they lost their mate? It’s called the flower fish.”
Tsukishima looked down at your face. You were staring at it with your smile fading a little.
Like you were envisioning it happening right before your eyes. Did you think about you and him?
“They mate for life. Like, I think swans do. Also seahorses?” You looked up again.
He looked back at the fish, his hand absentmindedly rubbing up and down on your back. Was he trying to console you?
Tsukishima wasn’t really good at this kind of conversation. Surely other more normal boyfriends would start flirting about how they were also mated for life. Something like he too would lose his color if he lost you.
Which was truer than he liked to admit. But there was a kid in the same room who had been making up some sort of jingle about the barracuda fish behind them. She had been in the room for quite a while now.
If Tsukishima was ever going to say something romantic like that, he was going to say it after the child was finally gone.
You moved on before that could happen anyway.
To a bigger area with the aquarium stretching floor to ceiling from one end of the room to the other. You pulled him to sit down on one of the empty benches.
People passed by in dark silhouettes. Standing small before the aquarium. Chatting in whispers like somebody had told them to. It must be the soothing blue reflection of the water and the light that swayed on the floor and the walls that made them feel like they needed to speak intimately.
Him included.
“Does the fish die after it loses all its colors?” Tsukishima spoke lowly, not enough that he was whispering.
“The flower fish?”
He nodded. You looked at him, right into his eyes. The kid singing barracuda was not in the room anymore. The last group of people were slowly making their way to the next hall. And you looked dreamy under the soft blue hue.
He thought that if he wanted to say something or do something, this may be the time to do it.
“I made that up.” You blurted without remorse. Your tongue stuck out a tiny bit, eyes squinting as you grinned and he could almost hear you breaking out into a tee-hee!
Tsukishima felt his mouth open in disbelief. Then he looked away, pursing his lips. At this point it was his fault for falling for it again and again. Of course you would do this. You’d done this a million times before. How did he fall for it so effortlessly, yet again?
“I don’t even know what that was,” you continued to his annoyance.
He couldn’t stop himself. Tsukishima reached out with his hands onto your waist and you nearly screamed when he tickled you.
“Nghh! S-stop—HAHA!” You gasped, eyes widening and trying to move away from him, but he was practically hugging you just to continue the torture. “Kei!”
“What is wrong with you?”
“Hhhuhngh—hehe! Shh! People are coming!” You pushed away once. He nearly toppled over from the bench. Tsukishima found himself straightening up, just as you did the same.
Two people sitting up rigid like statues.
Two people in love.
Did all of everyone here in the room know that? Maybe sitting like this, they didn’t look convincing. He was glaring at you from the corner of his eye.
But did they know?
That he would indeed lose all the colors in his life if he lost you.