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Like most modern love stories, they remet by chance.
The first time it was only a meeting of eyes on a crowded train. One set on the platform, one in the train car. The one with messy hair stood frozen as he met warm brown eyes, eyes he loved so much. He could drown in them, lost in the deep end. Then they were gone, just like the last time they had seen each other, when they decided to end it all.
The second time they stumbled upon one another was at a restaurant. Kuroo was out to lunch with an old friend from high school when broad shoulders and a thin waist passed by him. He would recognize that dorito shape anywhere. Another body followed him, one more thin and lean. Kuroo gaped as he watched the two sit at the table behind him. Of course Daichi was facing him and their eyes met once again. Recognition pooled in dark brown eyes and Daichi’s jaw went slack. His lips formed around Kuroo’s name and Kuroo ducked his head, breaking eye contact.
He was forced to listen to Daichi make small talk with his date for the rest of lunch, hearing that deep voice over the kind hum over Kai’s.
“You okay?” Kai asked as they left. He had seen Daichi pass their. He knew how much their break up had wrecked Kuroo.
Kuroo exhaled. It had been months. Two months, sixteen days, and…. Eight hours since the break up. But Kuroo was fine.
“I’m fine.”
By the third time they met Kuroo was most certainly not fine. He didn’t know what he did to deserve this. Had he pissed off some deity? Kuroo tried to retrace everything he had done in the past couple of weeks since he had seen Daichi on his date. Was it because he cheated on his organic chemistry test? It was only a really quick glimpse of his notes that he had set as his phone background when the professor left the room. He didn’t even read it completely.
Kuroo tried to make himself sparse. They were both in the grocery store. Daichi was only a few aisles over when Kuroo had last seen him. The store wasn’t that big, the shelves weren’t tall enough to hide him, but he would do it anyway.
Kuroo thought he had outrun him, but apparently fate was too cruel.
The two of them reached for the same box of tissues and Kuroo’s eyes widened when he saw the familiar hand come into view. He snatched his own back as if burned.
“Oh. Tets…. Kuroo.” Daichi was looking at him and Kuroo was vehemently trying to avoid all eye contact.
“... Sawamura.” It physically pained him to call Daichi by his family name. It had been so long since he had done so. But Daichi had moved on, and at some point Kuroo would have to as well.
“How are you?” Daichi asked awkwardly. Kuroo didn’t want to do this. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t make awkward, post break up small talk. Not when he still harbored feelings for the boy who had dumped him.
Terrible . “I’m fine. You?”
“I’m alright.”
Kuroo nodded and eyed the tissues he had been reaching for. He could grab them and run. But would he see Daichi at the registers? It was possible. He wished he hadn’t come to the store that day at all. He didn’t even need to. He was just bored. Kuroo tended to do chores when he was bored. It was a blessing for his apartment, as Hurricane Bokuto swept through it almost every day, leaving trash and general disgustingness in his wake.
“See you around?” Daichi asked, shoving a different box of tissues into his basket, offering a kind smile to Kuroo. Kuroo swallowed around the lump around his throat.
“Yeah, see you around.” He watched Daichi turn and walk down the aisle then turn. Kuroo let out a sigh. He hoped he wouldn’t have to see Daichi again, at least not for a long time. Not until he was completely over buff arms and a gentle smile. Kuroo didn’t see how this was possible though, as these features plagued his thoughts and his dreams each night.
He thought they had been doing well. They were close, spent a lot of time together; Kuroo had confided in Daichi with his deepest secrets. He was falling in love. And then one day, out of nowhere, Daichi told him it wasn’t working out. There was no evidence to back up this claim and Kuroo fought hard to keep Daichi around. But Daichi hadn’t been convinced and Kuroo was left standing by himself, watching Daichi go. Getting rid of all of Daichi’s things had been the hardest part; looking Suga in the eye as he handed him the box of Daichi’s stuff was the worst. Daichi couldn’t even look him in the eye.
Kuroo returned home with their groceries to Bokuto shoving chips into his mouth and aggressively jamming the buttons of a playstation controller. Kuroo could see all the crumbs littering Bokuto’s lap and that were inevitably on the floor and felt the desire to grab the vacuum immediately. Bokuto would bitch if Kuroo vacuumed while he was trying to play video games.
“Yo.” Bokuto said, not sparing a glance in his direction.
Kuroo grumbled out a hello and shoved the groceries into cabinets in the kitchen, tossing the rest of the bathroom items into his bedroom to sort later.
“What’s wrong?” Bokuto called. Kuroo dragged his feet into the living room and collapsed onto the couch next to him. There were crumbs all over the couch and he could feel them digging into his ass through his shorts, but that was a problem for later. There were much pressing matters to attend to.
“I saw Daichi today.”
Bokuto’s head whipped in his direction, owl eyes wide and blinking. “Again?”
“Yeah.”
Bokuto exhaled heavily, “Did he say anything?”
“We made awkward small talk… Bro, it was so bad. He looks so good.” Kuroo leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands.
“Wasn’t he one a date the last time you saw him?”
Kuroo didn’t want to be reminded. Daichi was allowed to move on. But if Kuroo wasn’t, then it was unfair for Daichi to be able to go on dates. Kuroo was jealous, it was as simple as that.
“Yeah.”
“Hm…” Bokuto paused his game and leaned back, arms stretching over his head. “You should go on a date. Get yourself out back out there! Show Sawamura who’s boss!”
Kuroo really wanted to be able to do that. But… he just couldn’t. Kuroo thought it was unfair, going on a date while he was still hung up with some other guy. Kuroo wasn’t into hookups, more of a romantic at heart and going steady with somebody before sleeping with them. Daichi had been the first person Kuroo had slept with and he didn’t know how he was going to get those images out of his head for the future.
Bokuto took it upon himself to finding Kuroo a date. Kuroo had jokingly asked if he could take Akaashi on a date (in front of Akaashi of course) and Bokuto had been so scandalized that he didn’t remove his arm from Akaashi’s shoulders all night. Akaashi wasn’t too upset about that and even offered to do it if Kuroo was going to pay for him and if it was a ploy to make Daichi jealous.
(Akaashi would do a lot for free food).
In the end, Kuroo did not go on the date with Akaashi. Bokuto had found him a date a week or so later, but Kuroo chickened out and texted him two hours before saying he couldn’t do it. He really couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to him or himself.
“Come on bro! If you’re not going to go on a date then let’s go do something fun!”
“I’m not going to hang out with you two so I could watch you make out the whole time.”
Bokuto pouted. “We didn’t make out the whole time.”
Akaashi looked at his nails. “It was a pretty long time though.”
With a roll of his eyes, Kuroo went to his bedroom and buried himself under the covers. Bokuto’s pleas to come to the movies with them was ignored and eventually died down, the door shutting behind him. Kuroo let himself wallow in his pathetic darkness before emerging from his sheets. He was kind of hungry and since he wasn’t going on his date, he didn’t have any plans for dinner.
So he left his apartment.
Thus bringing him to chance meeting number four.
Kuroo ended up in a small, hole-in-the-wall ramen place that was down the block from his apartment. He always went here when he was short on cash and wanted something cheap and good. It was definitely a bang for his buck. He ordered his usual and went to sit down.
Finding that there were no tables to sit at, his heart dropped. What made his anxiety spike, however, was the fact that almost everybody was sitting with somebody except one person.
That one person, of course, was Sawamura Daichi.
Kuroo knew he should’ve just changed his meal to take out instead of a to-stay, but that was too much effort. And inconvenient for the staff. He also knew that he should not go up to Daichi and ask if he could sit with him.
“Um, hey.” He drawled as he went right up to Daichi. His feet moved on their own and he cursed himself.
Daichi looked up from his laptop, brown eyes morphing from confusion to recognition. “Kuroo, hey.” He sounded a little breathless and the corner of Kuroo’s mouth twitched into a half smile.
“I, uh, kind of ordered to stay and there’s no other open seats… Do you care if I-”
“No, please, sit.” Daichi moved his empty bowl out of the way and Kuroo slid into the seat across from his ex. He tucked his feet under the chair so that he wouldn’t actually brush Daichi’s under the table. He studied the boy across the table who had refocused on the work before him. He wondered why Daichi was in this part of town so far from his own apartment but didn’t want to distract the boy from his work.
When they were together Kuroo used to poke and prod at Daichi while he was doing his work for fun, to get a rise out of him. Most of the time it worked, sometimes they would even have a wrestling match if they were in one of their rooms. That always ended up in a steamy make out session and books shoved to the side.
Kuroo blinked those thoughts away as his bowl of ramen was placed in front of him. He thanked the waitress and started slurping up all the goodness that was in the bowl, making little content sounds after each bite. He forgot that Daichi was sitting across from him until he met big brown eyes holding an incredulous expression.
“Sorry.” Kuroo spoke around a mouthful of noodles and quickly swallowed them down. The corners of Daichi’s lips quirked up but he ducked his head to look at his computer screen again. Kuroo tried to eat his food less noisily from then on but he was so hungry that he couldn’t help but scarfing down the noodles. It was as if he hadn’t eaten in days.
He made a satisfied noise once he was done and made to get up and leave. He honestly didn’t want to continue sitting with Daichi if he didn’t need to. It was awkward, the two of them sitting in silence when there was so much history between them. Daichi was one of the easiest people for Kuroo to talk to, but in that moment he wanted nothing to do with him.
That is, until Daichi asked him to stay.
“Wait.” Daichi called as Kuroo’s hand touched the door to the restaurant. Nobody looked at them and Kuroo was glad. “Can we, uh, talk?”
Kuroo swallowed and nodded, turning to sit back down across from his ex-boyfriend. Kuroo kept his mouth shut, not wanting to say something stupid that would make Daichi shoo him away like he had when he had broken up with him. Kuroo suppressed that memories.
“We’ve been seeing a lot of each other, in passing.” Daichi fingered the keys of his keyboard as he spoke.
Kuroo nodded. “Yeah, it’s weird.”
Daichi laughed a little. “Yeah, really weird. It’s been… nice though. In a way.”
“Nice?” Kuroo was perplexed. Daichi had said that he needed space, that Kuroo was too much, he needed room to breathe. That was the opposite of it being nice seeing him again.
Daichi ran his hands through his short hair. “Yeah… I’ve been thinking about it and I just… miss you Kuroo. I know it’s fucked for me to say that but I really mean it.”
“Language, Sawamura.” It was the only thing Kuroo could think to say. His face was neutral. In all honesty, he was hurt. In some sense he was elated, as he hadn’t exactly moved on from Daichi. But Kuroo felt like his feelings were being toyed with.
Daichi chuckled lowly and peered at him over the top of his laptop. “Sorry, sorry. I know you’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this, and why I’m sitting in this ramen shop even though it’s nowhere near my apartment. Truth be told, I was really hoping to run into you again. I’ve tried moving on but I just… can’t. I compare everybody to you.”
“How… honest of you.” Daichi had never been anything but honest. It was a strength and a flaw.
“Do you think maybe we could start over?” Daichi looked so hopefully, brown eyes wide as he gazed at Kuroo.
Kuroo was torn. He didn’t expect this all to be dumped on him so suddenly. Yes, he wasn’t over Daichi but was there a guarantee that Daichi would break his heart again? Was he going to put himself into that position again?
“You really, you know, broke me.” Kuroo began slowly. “I didn’t understand why you broke up with me. It hurts more now because you’re telling me you miss me but when you dumped me you told me that you didn’t want anything to do with me. I was too much for you. I just… don’t get what changed.” Kuroo tugged on his fringed as he spoke, a nervous habit.
Daichi leaned back in his chair. “You’re a lot, I won’t lie about that.”
“Thanks.” Kuroo scoffed.
“ But .” Daichi’s eyes were sharp, “It’s one of those things you don’t realize you love until it’s gone. I missed your constant presence.”
Kuroo clicked his tongue and sighed. He didn’t really know what to make of this. It was a big decision to make.
“You know how I feel about fate,” Kuroo began after a long pause and an exhale. “I think seeing you around lately hasn’t been a coincidence. I won’t lie and say that I haven’t missed you too because I have. A lot.”
“But?” Daichi pressed.
“I just… Don’t want it to all go to shit again. I don’t want to try again and then have you realize that you really can’t stand me and leave again. We can start over but only… as friends.” Kuroo knew it wouldn’t work. He would get way too attached again like he tended to do and it would be a disaster all over again.
“Just friends for now.” Daichi agreed and nodded. “I promise I won’t leave this time.”
“You said that when we first started dating.” Kuroo grinned solemnly. Daichi only stared at him, once again incredulously. Kuroo took this as his chance to get up from the table and finally leave the shop. They would be doing this on his terms now. He wasn’t going to fall for him again.
As always, things happen by chance. And Kuroo was a liar.
The two of them fell down the rabbit hole once again. What started as a slew of texts turned to hanging out once a week, getting lunch here and there, then seeing each other almost every night. This all happened in the span of a month. The two were magnets attracted to each other; they couldn’t let the other go.
One night while they were watching a movie on Kuroo’s beat up couch, Daichi turned to him. “Are we dating again?”
Kuroo blinked. He thought back to all the times they had hung out recently. It consisted of going out for meals, one paying for the other, or doing other miscellaneous, date-like activities.
“I think so…” Kuroo wasn’t sure how he felt about that. But the grin that appeared on Daichi’s face made him know that it was the right choice.
“Cool.” Daichi simply said and slumped back into the cushions. Kuroo tentatively wrapped his arm around Daichi, warmth encompassing his side.
Things finally fell into place. Kuroo wasn’t going to let go of this second chance anytime soon.