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"Did you know", Kuroo said one day after training, "that a bolt of lightning contains enough energy to toast 100,000 slices of bread?"
Yaku looks up, the slice of toast he'd saved over the day still between his teeth. "What?"
Kuroo shrugs. "Read it somewhere."
Basically, that's how it started. Random facts being thrown at Yaku, more and more of them, each week. At first, Yaku just brushed them off. No one needed this knowledge. So he mostly ignored Kuroo.
"Did you know", Kuroo started. Yaku blinked at him and stopped nibbling on his water bottle that Kuroo's gaze seemed to be strangely focused on. "Did you know that bottled water expiration dates are for the bottle, not the water?" "Ah. Nice" Yaku turned around, leaving Kuroo behind.
"Your hair looks as if a depressed rooster's died on it", was Yaku's comment first thing in the morning when he saw Kuroo walking into class. He had overslept, looked tired (a rare occurrence) and Yaku wasn't going to let the opportunity to tease him about it go to waste.
Kuroo, who until now had looked like he was about to fall asleep on the very spot he was standing on, flinched at the comment, but then whipped up his head and stared at Yaku. "Did you know", he started, beaming, as if Yaku had woken him up from a coma, "that roosters have built-in earplugs?"
Yaku huffed, trying to hide his amusement, and then shook his head. "No. Is that why you didn't hear your alarm?" Kuroo gurgled out a pained laugh, lightly smacked Yaku's shoulder as he passed him and sat down behind him.
"I hate winter", Yaku announced when he entered the locker room. The team turned towards him, some of them dared to giggle at the sight of Yaku's jeans, hems wet from the deep, newly fallen snow he had to stomp through to reach the entrance. Yaku shook his fist at them in theatrical anger and walked to his spot next to Kuroo, who looked at him for a second and then inhaled.
"Did you know..."
"No, I probably didn't."
"Heh, I don't control the weather, no need to be so snarky, Yakkun!"
Yaku glared at him.
Kuroo just grinned and continued.
"Did you know that the largest snowflake on record was 15 inches wide?"
"I'd love to have seen it. I would have personally introduced it to a flamethrower."
Kuroo let out something that was probably supposed to be a giggle, though it sounded more like a hoarse hyena. Endearing.
It continued like that, for quite a while. Quite a long time. But Yaku was rather quick to notice a change in the facts that Kuroo so generously presented to him.
"Did you know that butterflies in your stomach are real? They're caused by adrenaline", Kuroo whispered.
Yaku's head popped up over the edge of the book he was reading. He looked around the library to see if someone was around, and after confirming they were alone, turned back to Kuroo. "What, you in love or something?", he teased, and Kuroo gave him a thoughtful look.
"Hmm. I don't know. Maybe."
Yaku blinked. Once. Twice.
"REALLY?"
The young librarian violently shushed him from behind the counter.
Kuroo smiled.
"Did you know that being in love is chemically addictive?"
"Let me guess. The adrenaline."
Kuroo nodded, eyes wide, and Yaku sighed. "Whoever they are, you're absolutely whipped for them."
Kuroo shot him a wide grin, a genuine one. "Yeah. You're right."
"Did you know that being in a relationship positively shapes your personality?", Kuroo mumbled, face buried in his pillow.
Yaku hid his eyeroll behind the manga he was reading anyway.
"Yeah, and that's how I know for sure that you're single."
Yaku hadn't expected the pillow to hit his face with as much force as it did.
Holding back his tears took so much willpower Yaku forgot to breathe. He gripped onto the edge of his desk so tightly, his knuckles were white and his fingertips started to tingle uncomfortably. He stared at the blank paper in front of him. Panicking over the workload the teachers were putting onto them in their final year was not how he had planned to spend this study session. But he was determined to not let it show.
Though, his eyes burned.
His fingers were starting to feel numb.
His leg was bouncing uncontrollably.
And his vision blurred.
There was a light touch on his shoulder.
"Did you know-",
Yaku inhaled. His vision cleared.
"-that hugging your partner is an instant stress reliever?"
"You're not my partner", Yaku croaked.
A pause.
"Well, but we're study partners", came the reply. Kuroo's hand rested on Yaku's. He finally noticed the stinging pain and let go of his desk. He could practically feel the blood rush back to his fingertips. Yaku inhaled again. He looked at Kuroo.
Kuroo's eyes were dark with concern. He let go of Yaku's hand and opened his arms.
Yaku exhaled. His lips quivered. His throat forced out a sob.
He threw himself into Kuroo's comforting embrace.
"Did you know that being in love makes you live longer?", Yaku asked. Kuroo cocked up one eyebrow.
Yaku bit his lip and dismissively pointed at a random article he'd pulled up on his phone. "Just read it somewhere", he mumbled.
"Makes sense", Kuroo said after a while. "You'd want to love them for as long as possible"
Yaku tried to slow down his suddenly increasing pulse through sheer willpower. He was sure he had just found scientific proof that the human heart was actually located in one's throat.
"Did you know that dilated pupils show your attraction to someone?", Kuroo purred. Yaku felt his face heat up immediately.
"It's just dark. That's why." He turned away and stared at the TV screen although not processing the moving pictures at all.
he felt Kuroo shuffling closer under the thin covers, but didnt react even when he felt Kuroos breath against his ear.
"It also makes you more attractive", he whispered and managed to place a quick kiss on Yaku's cheek before Yaku shoved him away with his foot. Kuroo laughed.
"Did you know", Kuroo started, and Yaku smiled, knowing exactly what Kuroo was about to say.
Kuroo took Yaku's hand and caressed it before gently sliding the ring onto his finger.
"Did you know that I love you?"
Yaku's smile only grew wider.
"I know."