Haikyuu Creature Collection

Stars 2 (Tsutomu Goshiki)

The first thing that I notice when I open my eyes in the morning is the arms wrapped tightly around my waist. Slowly I think back to the events of last night...

Despite being a college student now, Goshiki had never been much of a drinker. Lately though, he's been doing it a lot. It's not that I can blame him... when the girl you've been dating for four years dumps you so suddenly, how do you not turn to something to ease the pain?

The first two times, he went way overboard and barely managed to make it back to our apartment. After that, I made sure that he'd only do it at home, where he would be safe and have someone who would look after him.

Obviously babysitting a drunk man isn't my idea of fun, but I can't just leave him to fend for himself... So many times he'd pick up his phone and try to call her... and of course I had to stop him. She'd made it very clear she didn't want to speak to him ever again and the one time he tried to talk to her, it didn't go well.

Last night, I'd thought that he was doing better than he had been, but then this happened... A simple, spontaneous kiss... one thing leads to another and before I knew it, he had me in his bed.

I should have said no. I should have tried to stop him. Not because I wanted to... hell, stopping was the last thing I wanted... No, it was for his sake that I should have done something... because I know that when he wakes up, he's going to regret what happened or he simply won't even remember.

I closed my eyes and rest my forehead against his bare chest. Tsutomu... you've gotta let go... If you do, I can go before you wake up and then you can just pretend this never happened...

If he wanted, I could pretend too. I've been doing it for so long anyway... pretending that I'm not hopelessly in love with my best friend...  I know, I know, I sound pathetic, but I'm not about to go and ruin what we have by telling him how I feel... it's already clear what he wanted... and that wasn't a human like me.

Goshiki started to move, making me freeze. I don't want to have to handle this... not yet... It's not like I can deny anything happened either... even an idiot could figure it out... I mean come on! Not only is he holding me tightly against his chest, but we're naked. Nude.  Zero clothing. Not even underwear.

As I waited to hear his reaction, I felt him shift a bit before suddenly stopping. He probably realized that neither of us are dressed, which means he's probably already figured out what happened last night...

Goshiki isn't saying anything... and I think that might be scarier than anything he could say right now.

"T-Tsutomu..." I mentally curse the way my voice shakes. I've got to keep it together. "If you want, we can just pretend it didn't happen..."

Goshiki doesn't say anything to that, but I feel his arms around me loosen their grip. I took the chance to roll over so that I was turned away from him. As I did I noticed something.

"Tsutomu, are those stars?" Little objects were stuck up on his ceiling. Small and seemingly star-shaped. They were spaced just right... "Wait... that's Orion..."

His arms around me tight end again, pulling me closer to his chest. "Orion is the only I can ever remember... but I only know it because of you... You like stars, don't you?"

"I mean, yeah, I love the stars... but why would you have them on your ceiling?"

"They glow... and it kind of feels like when we used to lay and watch the stars..." he said softly, not making any attempts to get up from the bed.

I remember those times all too well. We used to sneak out all the time to just lay under the stars. Sometimes, it would get cold and Goshiki would transform so that he could use his fur to help me stay warm.

Those memories were always so dear to me... but I'd never thought that they might mean just as much to him too. "Maybe we can do it again sometime..."

"We could do it every night if you want to..." I felt his breath on my neck as he spoke. If he had any idea the effect that he had on me...

"If you get a new girlfriend, I don't think she'd like that..."

I felt his grip loosen and myself being turned so that he could stare down at me. "I don't want some other girl for a girlfriend." He sounded so sure, but where had this come from? "It... it was stupid of me to even think about trying to copy Ushijima... I'm not him... I shouldn't try to be him... not when it means I can't be with the person I want..."

"Tsutomu..." I want more than anything to believe that what he's saying is that he feels the way that I do, but there's a big part of me that fears that I'm misunderstanding him.

Goshiki brought a hand to my cheek. His touch is so gentle... you'd never believe that this is the very same hand that spikes a volleyball on a regular basis. "You feel the same way, don't you?"

My heart wants to beat right out of my chest. "You... you don't care that I'm a human?"

"Does it bother you that I'm a werewolf?"

"Of course not... I just thought..." I have to pause a moment to calm my racing heart and collect my thoughts. "I thought you would never think of me in that way because I'm just a little human..."

Even as I say it, I know it's stupid to have ever thought it. That gentle look in his eyes only proved it. "I love you." It's all that he says, but it's enough to make me feel like the entire world stopped turning.

He doesn't give me the chance to say it back though, instead he presses a sweet kiss to my lips. It's not our first, but this time I know he's thinking clearly... that it's meant for me and that it means something... and I know that it won't be our last.