*Happy Trauma

2. A release ticket

We'll meet on a street corner or at the top of the world or... at your place ?

Tetsurou had no idea what was going through his mind... Not like it changed much, he wanted to say as a long knife was pointed in his direction. The glittering blade, which was illuminated by the light bulb above it, seemed to be winking at him. He would have preferred that it keep its good mood to itself because he wasn't necessarily happy to see it .

He put a hand between them, as if it would make much difference. Given the look the person holding the blade was giving him, perhaps it was best to take measures now. He tried to make the other person smile by putting his hands in the air like in a detective movie.

"Sorry to bother you, but could you..."

"Get out." The other one cut him off.

The dark haired's shoulders, directed toward the ceiling, slumped slightly as he heard him. The sharp tip of the knife moved a tiny bit closer to him.

"I promise I mean no harm. I saw you on a street corner below and..."

"Right now."

The blade was pointing at the door just behind him. As if he lacked the neurons to understand what was being implied. Tetsurou's hands slumped as he turned his head to look at the exit which was being indicated.

"I only followed you because your face looked familiar. Wouldn't we have already..."

"Go away."

"Do you always interrupt people when they're talking to you?" the dark haired asked, angry.

The other person didn't answer his question, merely staring at him with eyes too hard to greet a stranger. Tetsurou couldn't blame him; he'd still invited himself into his living room without the owner's permission.

He has been going from house to house for over a week. Well, ever since he'd left behind his last place of residence, where he'd lived for the past few years. Yet, he hadn't lingered in any of those places. He hadn't been able to return to his parents' house, and the acquaintances they'd stayed with had remained acquaintances for a reason. They either expected him to remain the same in the past six years or to have had a successful life. A former classmate, with whom he'd stayed for one night, had even teased him by telling him that he'd soon have to really settle down somewhere, work hard to get promoted quickly, and start really looking for the woman he'd be buried with in a cemetery vault.

Except it was complicated when you had nowhere to go, hadn't studied after high school and hadn't gone out with a girl in years.

"My name is Kuroo Tetsurou," he introduced himself instead.

He felt like he was going through a job interview with his hand out in front of him for the other to take..

The latter stared at it before his gaze fell on the floor. The kitchen knife in his shaky hands seemed to lower a little as well. Tetsurou was inclined to think of it as a good sign.

Seeing as his interlocutor wasn't responding, the dark haired man took the time to observe the man in front of him. He was relatively tall, but still shorter than him. Baggy clothes hid the edges of his body. One could still make out a rather frail figure for a man. While his head was lowered, his straight, mid-length blond hair hid the rest of his face. Actually, his hair wasn't really blond. Its roots were dark brown and suddenly lightened a few inches from their starting points. Tetsurou would have liked the blond to show him his face so he could more easily place a reference point on it.

He didn't have the outline of someone he might have known years before, though...

"Are you sure we've never met ?"