Okay. Here's some explaining. While in some chapters I will have a single AU in it, in others I may combine several of them. For example, chapter A may have "the name of your soulmate on your wrist" AU, but chapter B may have "the name of your soulmate on your wrist" and "countdown of steps until you meet your soulmate" AU's. And in chapter C, I may have combined a ton of them into a single universe. Another example of the multiple AU thing is the first chapter with Kuroo and Hinata. The reason I'm doing this is because I've been thinking that it might be interesting to do something like this. Sorry if you're confused! Please comment if you have questions or you want me to stick to a single AU for each chapter!
Kuroo Tetsuro x Hinata Shoyo
Every single day, Kuroo Tetsuro sets foot into his mother's store and a small jingling of the bell signifies his arrival. He throws the keys to the store into his pocket and sits behind a small table with a cash register on the tabletop. Kuroo waits from 7:30 in the morning to 5:00 at night, then switches the sign to "closed" and cleans the store before he locks up at around 5:30. What a typical way to live as a broke twenty-three year old.
What Kuroo Tetsuro does not know is that at 8:00 in the morning, when he gets lost in a book or is talking to his friends on the phone, a boy several years younger than him passes the store every single day and passes again at 5:20.
What Kuroo Tetsuro does know is that in less than twenty-four hours, someone will catch his eye and the numbers on his wrist will turn into a line of zeros.
What Kuroo Tetsuro does not know is that the boy who passes in front of the store takes the long way to his university. Kuroo Tetsuro does not know that the boy will someday take a step in front of a person and the number on his wrist will turn into a single zero.
Kuroo Tetsuro looks at the timer on the wrist. The seconds beat away with the rhythm of the clock above his head. Right now, it is 8:30, and sooner or later his first customer will come in with the jingling of a bell behind them. His first customer does arrive, and she is a small elderly woman with a grin and gray hair in a bun. She is much shorter than Kuroo, or Kuroo is just much taller than the average person. Or maybe it was both. No matter what way, the old woman would enter the shop with her small angry dog behind her heels and speak to Kuroo with a louder than necessary voice.
"I cannot hear you, young man!" she says, a hand to her ear.
"I didn't say anything, Yamada-san," Kuroo says with a soft sigh.
"Well then, speak up!" she says with a grin. "I need another bouquet for my husband."
"The regular?" he asks. He knows her answer, but Kuroo's mother insists on him always asking in case she changes her mind.
"Of course! I cannot present any other flower to my husband other than chrysanthemums, young man!"
"And how is he now?" Kuroo asks politely.
"Now, how would I know? He's probably off dancing and drinking himself sick! I knew that my daughter shouldn't have brought him alcohol as an offering! I told her that he didn't need anything to drink right now! He needs flowers to remind him that I'm coming soon and will kick him so hard I would raise him from the dead! Probably thinks now that he's dead, he's finally free from me! Well, I'll teach him! That man needs to learn that drinking isn't the only pleasure in life, and I married him just to teach him that lesson!"
Kuroo hid an amused smile. "Really?"
"Yes! And you know, when I first met him, he was so shocked that he tried to run away from me. Looked like he was watching a ghost for the first time! Well, once I'm placed next to his body, I'll really show up as a ghost! And I'll say 'You see me now? I'm really a ghost now!' And I'll slap him so hard he wouldn't know it was me until I told him. When I caught up to him after ran, he screamed and screamed, saying that he didn't know that I was going to be his soulmate. But you know, I'm glad we didn't have our names on our wrist, unlike my daughter. Because if he did know it was me, he'd probably move to America and wait until he dies. But that's not how soulmates work! Even if he did move to America and die, I would find him in the afterlife and beat him to bricks!"
The woman taps her lips with a finger. The small brown dog moves to the corner of the shop and glares at Kuroo before lifting its hind leg. Then the woman touches Kuroo's hand. "How's yours coming along, dear? How much longer?"
Kuroo looks at his timer and smiles. He tries to hide his excitement. "Around ten more hours."
"Oh, that's today!" she shouts suddenly. "You better look your best, young man! And round up your best flowers, too! Hopefully you don't get someone like my husband! Did you know that when we first met, he ran away and hid under his best friend's futon? I was so furious! He looked like a ghost every time he saw me coming along the sidewalk!"
Kuroo barely hears the woman speak. He didn't realize until the woman said it that it really was today. He would meet his soulmate today. That's today. His excitement rises in his chest, but another feeling surfaces as well: worry. What if his soulmate didn't like him? What if his soulmate was disappointed in how he acts or looks?
"Can you hurry up now, young man? I need to get back so I can have my nap!"
"I'm sorry," Kuroo says, handing a bouquet of chrysanthemums to the woman.
She takes the bouquet and gives them an inspection. She must have sensed Kuroo's worry, because after she looked at the flowers, she smiles and pats Kuroo's hand reassuringly. "Now, don't worry. Soulmates are meant to be together." Her smile fades and she then looks at his hair. "But do something about your hair! If I were your soulmate, I would yell at you, you know!"
Kuroo lifts a hand to his hair as the woman walks away, the dog looking ominously proud. Kuroo plays with his hair before consulting Kenma.
Kuroo
What's wrong with my hair?
Kenma
What?
Kuroo
Should I change it today?
Kenma
Why?
Kuroo
The old lady said that I should change my hair so that my soulmate won't run away
Kenma
I don't know
Kuroo
Help me!
Kenma
What's the point of changing your hair if your soulmate is going to find out anyway
Kuroo
First impressions matter!
Kenma
Whatever
Kuroo
You're not helping!
Kenma
then ask someone else
And after frantically panicking for a complete second, Kuroo clicks to another contact.
Kuroo
Help me!
Bokuto
Is it a bury a body emergency or an Im bored emergency
Kuroo
Should I change my hair?
Bokuto
No
Kuroo
oh ok
Immediately, Kuroo feels at ease.
Hinata Shoyo always takes the longer path when it comes to reaching his destination. His friends say that it's of no use, no matter what path he takes, he'll still get to his soulmate one day. But Hinata thinks that he could get there faster if he takes shorter steps and longer walks. Well, that's why he started walking around the neighborhood in the morning. But as time passed, Hinata realized that his soulmate was taking their precious time. Still, Hinata would take longer paths to get to places. He refuses to ride in cars for a short ride to his destination.
"Nii-chan, you're such an idiot..." Natsu drawls with a sigh.
"Hm?" Hinata angrily retorts. "What was that?"
Natsu looks at her nails and picks at the nail polish. "Maybe the reason why you have such a high number of steps is because fate knew that you'd try something like this." She huffs and picks a bottle of polish out of her bag.
Hinata looks at his sister with complete frustration and she retaliates with a face of disdain. The young man slams his fists on the table and suddenly jumps up. He grabs his backpack as he dashes out the door. "I'm going on a run!"
"Huh- Eh?" Natsu snaps her neck towards the door. She sighs and places the polish on the table.
"Idiot."
Running. Running. Run and run. Faster. Slower. Long strides. Small steps. Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight. Hinata can run as much as he wants, but he knows that he's an idiot. He's an idiot for thinking that he could get to his soulmate so quickly. He stops and he looks through a window of a small shop.
"...fate knew that you'd try something like this."
Fate? What is that? What kind of force in this entire world has the ability to see and know everything?
Does fate really know who he will fall in love with? What if fate is wrong? Can it be wrong? Damn it, Natsu. Why did you have to mess with my head like this?
Hinata slaps his cheeks and looks back into the shop. His eyes linger on the soft blue flowers in the window. Hinata turns around to walk back home. But he looks back at the window and the beautiful blue flowers.
Hinata Shoyo does not know that his countdown is close to zero. Hinata Shoyo does not know that someone's countdown is also close to zero.
Kuroo Tetsuro knows that his countdown is close to zero. Kuroo Tetsuro knows that someone will walk up to him in the next fifteen seconds.
The young man creates a mental picture of himself. A tall, tall man with black spiky bedhead hair wearing a white long sleeve shirt, jeans, and an orange apron. Kuroo thinks that his image makes him sound intimidating (Well, minus the apron). Kuroo thinks that either way, he is still intimidating. He is over six feet for crying out loud. Any average human being would at least feel awkward in his presence. But hopefully the flowers he's holding will make him seem less intimidating. He is holding a bouquet of a dozen red roses. (Yes, it is cliché and extremely cheesy.) And thankfully, Kenma has given him some advice that afternoon, though it was not very reassuring.
"You're fine, Kuro. One look at you and they will realize how incredibly awkward you are."
Kuroo had studied at himself in the mirror and noticeably looked confused. Awkward? Am I awkward? Well, Kenma's one to talk. He's spent the last few weeks holed up in his room because he doesn't want to meet his soulmate yet. What a strange way to live your life. Kuroo would have to give Kenma a proper lecture on living your life to the fullest later.
But is Kuroo awkward? No way. He couldn't be.
"What part of me is awkward?" he asked Kenma.
Kenma shrugged and continued his game. "You just look it."
"If anyone here looks the part, it's you!"
Incidentally, Kuroo feels extremely vulnerable as of now. He spent the last three seconds worrying about the future ten or so seconds. So instead of continuing to worry, he finds a surge of confidence and walks out the bathroom door.
On the other side of the building, Hinata places a hand on the door handle. He enters the shop, the jingle of the bell behind him.
Seven, six, five...
Hinata trails his fingers on the tables. He looks at the bright orange tulips and touches the petals gently. "I didn't know they could be this kind of color..."
Four, three, two...
Kuroo steps out and now stands behind the counter. Hinata takes one more step. A small tingling sensation burns their wrists. Hinata looks down at his wrist and then snaps his focus on the tall man behind the counter. Both blush instantly. Kuroo keeps himself from hiding his face behind the bouquet of roses. Hinata wishes he is the one holding the roses so he could hide his own face. Instead, the both of them stare at each other as the clock behind the counter ticks as the seconds go by. Kuroo chuckles awkwardly.
"Uh, hi."
"H- Hi."
Kuroo holds out the roses. "Would you care to take these?" He grins cockily to hide his embarrassment.
Hinata takes the roses and pouts, a stubborn blush creeping on his face. This is definitely unexpected. Especially the hair. His hair seems to be intensifying his hotness.
Whoa that was so fun! Hope there will be more requests! Have some cookies everybody!