Chapter Text
Tsukishima carefully juggled two coffee cups as he unlocked the side door to the museum in Sendai. Stepping inside his footsteps echoed through the empty museum as he made his way to the administrative offices in the basement. Stopping at his office he dropped off his gym bag, looking at another office across the hall. He knocked before opening it. Seeing it empty he sighed, knowing exactly where she was. He quickly walked to an area of the museum that was blocked off with tarp due to construction of a new exhibit.
There was Michiko, fast asleep against a wall. On the floor around her was a giant arch of books, each with a different reference of a Fukuiraptor. He couldn’t help but be impressed with the sketch she had made. It was extremely detailed with measurements and proportions for the background of one of the dioramas they plan to put up. With his hands full, he reached his foot out, gently bumping against her leg. Michiko startled awake, her sketchbook falling to the ground. “Shit! What time is it?”
“6:45.” He grumbled at her, handing over one of the lattes he bought. Letting out a sigh of relief that she took a drink of coffee. Finally she glanced up at the blonde and saw his disgruntled expression. “What's the look for Dr. Hammond?” Tsukishima fought back a smile at the nickname.
“This.” He called out, waving his hand to gesture at her. “-is not healthy.” Rolling her eyes, she stood up, wiping the construction dust off of her skirt.
“It’s called dedication.” Her hands rested on her hips “And how can you say that as someone who practically lives in archive. There’s been some days where you don’t even come out for lunch.”
“At least I manage to go home at night and not sleep here overnight.” At that Michiko let out a huff knowing she didn’t have a rebuttal. Tsukshima gave her a smug look and sipped his coffee.
Ignoring his look, she grabbed the sketchbook off the ground, flipping to a different page. “Fine. Maybe I do get a little sucked in and forget what time of day it is but it’s how I work best.” She held the sketchbook out to him. “And look at how this has turned out. Anatomically correct, just like you asked.” Tsukishima took in the sketchbook, admiring the details and dedication she had. The page was filled with different point of view sketches of the Fukuiraptor. They looked incredible.
“I’ll admit they are impressive. Still doesn't warrant sleeping on the floor and sustaining yourself on coffee and rice crackers. When was the last time you actually ate a meal?” Michiko paused for a long moment in thought. Tsukishima could feel his eyebrow twitch. “You seriously have to think about it?”
She turned a bright shade of red. “The days mesh together.”
“At lunch time you are coming with me and getting actual food.” As she opened her mouth in protest Tsukishima shot her a glare making her stop.
“Okay, fine.” He filled the page of the sketchbook over to the picture of the diorama, handing it back to her.
“By the way, that plant is off center.” He called out, pointing to the sketchbook. Michiko’s face dropped slightly as she quickly looked over the drawing. To her everything looked correct.
“I don’t see how it’s-” Looking up at him, she trailed off seeing his smirk as he turned and left.“Kei! I swear!” She shouted after him
“Art Freak!”
“Dinosaur Junkie!” Michiko simply shook her head, a smile falling on her face as she gathered all of her books and supplies.
While some would find it depressing in the giant basement with no windows, Tsukishima looked forward to the silence it brought. The task of looking at different artifacts, describing and sorting them was calming to him. Currently he was looking at a kintsugi pottery piece, noting its key details. It was a soft baby blue color and across it were streaks of gold from where it had been broken and repaired. Taking down notes about it for the archive he couldn’t help but admire it’s beauty. After a moment, he jolted for his phone to check the time. Seeing it was 1:45 pm he cursed, realizing he needed to take Michiko to lunch. He quickly climbed the stairs out of the archive and moved towards her office.
He knocked on the door but didn’t get a response. Knowing she was probably asleep again he opened the door. “I hope you’re not…” He trailed off seeing Michiko sitting at her desk with their boss, Mr. Sato looking over her sketchbook. Hearing the door open they both looked up at him. “Sorry to interrupt. “
“Oh, you’re fine Tsukishima.” Mr. Sato told him with a wave of his hand.
Michiko looked at Tsukishima with a big smile. “We were just finishing reviewing the concept designs for the displays. Once the engineer double checks the displays to see if they are capable of being displayed they will go to the investors.”
“Michiko has been so thorough that I don’t see a problem with them.” Mr Sato nearly gleamed with pride and excitement. “These new exhibits are going to perfectly display our new findings and draw in a huge crowd.”
Michiko turned a shade of red at the praise. “Thank you Mr. Sato. That means a lot.” Mr. Sato turned his attention back to the blonde.
“Were you needing something Tsukishima?”
“I was hoping to take Michiko out to lunch.” Hearing that Mr. Sato glanced at his watch.
“I guess it is that time.” A smile formed on his face as he looked at Michiko. “You’ve definitely more than earned it. Go enjoy your lunch. I’ll contact the engineer.”
Michiko’s eyes lit up and she grabbed her purse. “Thank you sir.” Once they got outside of her office, Michiko let out a huge breath. Tsukishima looked at her in confusion. “Wow, that was a very nerve-racking meeting.”
“Mr. Sato isn’t that scary. He seemed to love your work.” He commented as they walked out of the museum and towards the cafe they normally ate at.
“I know he did but I wasn’t sure if he would.” She quickly explained, clearly full of anxiety. “And the fact that soon I have to sit down in front of a group of investors and convince them that my designs are what they want to pay for. If not, I’ve wasted everyone's time.” Tsukishima scowled at the idea of the investors hating her work.
“They’re idiots if they think they’ll find someone better than you.” He said in a snarky tone. Michiko’s face flushed in response to his words.
“You really think so?”
Tsukishima shrugged in response, trying to act uninterested. “I’m just saying, if you keep stressing out and doubting yourself we’ll never get that exhibit up.”
Michiko let out a big laugh in response. Glancing up at the blonde she gave him a big smile. “Who knew you being so snarky would be so supportive?” Ignoring her comment, they finally reached the cafe. Tsukishima held the door open for her as they went inside. They greeted Izumi, the owner of the place before sitting down at one of the open tables.
Not long after they sat down, Yuuna, one of the cafe waitresses came over to their table and set down a bowl of Soba in front of Tsukishima and chicken katsu in front of Michiko. Their usual orders. “I heard from Izumi that my favorite customers were here. ”
“Yuuna!” Michiko called out in excitement.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, Michiko. Everything okay?” Before she could respond, Tsukishima cut her off.
“That’s because she’s basically living in the museum.”
“Ignore his grumpiness.” Michiko waved off before switching her voice to sound more dramatic. “He’s just concerned for me.”
“Yeah because if you croak from all the stress and construction dust, they’ll have to hire someone new and I won’t get my dinosaur display for another year.” Even while he took a drink of tea she could still see his smirk peeking out from behind the cup.
“Aw!” She cooed back mockingly. “You do care about me.”
“I never said that.” He looked aloof as he started to eat his soba.
Yuuna looked between them and let out a small laugh. “Good to see you two haven’t changed.”
“Sorry Yuuna.” Michiko called out, slightly embarrassed at their bickering.
“It's just good to have you two back.” Her voice was full of excitement. “Now it makes sense why you haven’t been in. I just can’t believe you’re designing that new display. Now I have to go see it.”
“It’s been a lot of work.” Michiko said with an awkward laugh, trying to distract herself by poking her katsu with her chopsticks. “I’m just hoping it turns out okay and the investors like it enough to keep my ideas.”
“Like I said, ” Tsukishima cut in, giving her a sideways glance. “As much as you’ve been sacrificing sleep and food, you’re the only other person besides me who could go overboard on dinosaur accuracy.”
“He’s right.” Yunna called out with a smile. “Knowing you, Michiko, it’s going to be amazing.”
Michiko turned a shade of pink at the complements. “Thanks guys.”
Yuuna looked behind her before looking back at the two of them.“I have to get back to work. Let me know if you guys need anything else.”
“Thanks Yuuna.” Michiko told her as she walked away. Finally Michiko took a bite of her katsu and let out a soft hum in happiness. “I missed this food so much.” Tsukishima withheld a smile and felt relief that she was finally eating a meal. As Michiko ate, Tsukishima couldn’t help but take in her features. She looked more relaxed than she was earlier. Her long lavender hair that was tied up into a loose bun. Light brown eyes behind her circular glasses that lit up after every bite. The way she hums after each bite of food. Her soft pink lips curled into a soft smile.
“What's with the look?” She asked with a playful glint in her eye, making Tsukishima snap out of his gaze. Realizing he was analyzing her features, specifically her lips, his ears turned a shade of red.
“Nothing. Just…thinking how grateful I am that I took you to eat.” His tone came out snarky and he ducked his head down, messing with his soba to hide how embarrassed he was. “The way you’re scarfing it down, you must have been starving.”
“I see.” Michiko called out, drawing out each word in a mocking way. “You force a girl to go out to eat and then you mock her for how she eats because you got caught staring.” Tsukishima’s smirk slightly dropped at being caught. She looked at him with a coy but taunting look. He couldn’t help but be slightly disgruntled that she could see right through to how he was really feeling. Normally his grumpy front prevented that from happening.
“I was just noticing things.” He mumbled, the redness starting to reach his face. Their eyes were locked onto each other.
“What did you notice?” Her voice was full of curiosity.
“I-”
A phone rang, snapping them out of each other's gaze. Michiko reached for her phone and Tsukishima felt relieved at the interruption. “This is Michiko….What?” Her voice suddenly sounded strained. Tsukishima immediately dropped his chopsticks back to the table, watching as the color drained from her face. “How did-Okay, I’m heading that way.” Hanging up the phone, she looked at Tsukishima. “I have to go.” She called out standing up, grabbing her purse.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, standing up with her.
“My apartment’s flooded.” Digging through her purse she grew more and more frustrated. “I need to get home so I can grab my things before they get ruined. All my clothes and artwork.” Pulling out her keys they slipped from her hand hitting the floor. She let out a noise of frustration.
“Let me drive you.” Michiko caught herself about to protest but accepted his offer. The drive to her apartment was quiet and full of tension. Tsukishima tried to drive as fast as he could through the traffic without getting any violations.
She nearly jumped out of her car when they got there. As she climbed the stairs she kept praying her artwork was safe. Finally getting to her floor she saw water seeping out from under her door and her landlord Hana was waiting for her.
“Michiko!” She called out frantically. “I’m so sorry about this. We’re not sure what happened but we’ve called a plumber.” Barely taking in the words she opened the door to her apartment, more water rushing out of it. Seeing the sight she almost dropped to her knees in defeat. There was an inch of water covering the ground and part of the ceiling had collapsed. Some of her things floated in the water. What caught her eye was a sketchbook soaked in water.
A strangled noise left her at the sight, her breathing became heavy. She clutched onto her chest, feeling a sharp pain. Seeing her start to panic, Tsukishima pulled her away from her apartment and found a dry space for her to sit.
He sat with her as she cried, sucking in quick breaths between each word. “I have no friends or family nearby. And I can’t afford a hotel.” Her head dropped to her hands. “Don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“Stay at my apartment.” Tsukishima heard himself say surprising the both of them. His words seem to help cut through her panic. She looked up at him with big sad eyes and he knew he couldn’t back track. “It’s not like you have a ton of options. Besides, it's only temporary, right?”