Chapter Text
It had already been an incredibly stressful week for Kuroo and it was only Tuesday. He had already taken two exams and was staring down the barrel of a third exam on Thursday so naturally he was headed to the library. It was about midday and Kuroo had finished his lectures for the day but still had practice in the evening and while Kuroo still loved to play volleyball; right now, it was getting in the way of his study time. People often perceived him to be much more of a smooth operator than he really was and in reality, he put his academics ahead of most things in his life. This was why Kuroo was looking forward to the three hours of seclusion and silence that the library offered him before he had to get to evening practice.
He was especially excited because he knew on Tuesdays around noon no one was ever in his favorite study spot because it really was a dour place to sit and study. There were no windows, the lights went out when no one moved for 30 minutes, and two large potted plants that during his first year he thought were real plants and sometimes he liked to water them. Upon further evaluation somewhere in his second year at the University of Tokyo he found that the Ficus trees were actually fake and he was probably just contributing to the mold and mildew problem that the library faced. Kuroo climbed the three flights of stairs with no problem to get to silent study and noted that the library was actually much busier than usual and really hoped that no one was in his spot. To his relief, only one person was seated at any of the four round tables, a dentistry student that Kuroo only knew by face and the student also knew Kuroo by his face.
Kuroo picked his favorite table, next to one of the fake Ficus trees, and hunkered down to work. He felt good about the Genetics exam he had taken on Monday and the Molecular Biology exam he had taken today but he was genuinely nervous for his third-year seminar Special Topics in Plant Biochemistry. Even the name freaked him out sometimes.
At least it’s not an economics class, Kuroo. Remember how that one turned out for you. He thought to himself. Kuroo was not especially good at math when it wasn’t applied to the sciences.
As he sat and reviewed all the steps of the Calvin cycle he fell into the natural flow of studying. Kuroo started drawing in different colors to help him remember the different steps and important parts of the cycle and lost himself in the biochemistry. He certainly didn’t start to notice that the silent section became much less than its namesake. Boisterous students were filing in and filling the available seats on the rest of the floor. The only time Kuroo did notice that people were starting to infiltrate his sacred study time was when all four of the large circular tables in his favorite corner became occupied and the couple next to him apparently didn’t understand the meaning of silent study. Kuroo looked up and gave the two a dirty look which they absolutely ignored and kept chatting. Kuroo finally gave in and put headphones in to try and drown out their noise which helped for a little while until he was interrupted again by a standing figure.
Oh my GOD. I don’t care what’s going on I just need to study. This class is kicking my ass and the practice exam questions that our professor gave us last week still don’t really make any sense. Maybe if I just ignore the person they’ll go away, I cannot deal with one more distraction. I only have 45 more minutes until I – he looked up to see a vaguely familiar face.
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Yachi Hitoka was thoroughly flustered. She needed to work on her laptop for a project for her Introduction to Graphic Design course that was due at 6 pm that night.
Who in their right mind makes a due date for an assignment 6 pm on a Tuesday?? She thought while searching for an outlet.
She had been working on the project of redesigning a local animal shelter’s logo for two hours already and she was almost done when she realized that she had a solid 10% battery power left on her laptop and there were no open power outlets near the spot she had camped out in.
Don’t freak out, you still have an hour and there HAVE to be other open outlets in the library.
Yachi started to do one of her anxiety exercises and set her feet firmly on the floor while relaxing her shoulders and began to breathe deeply. She started to count the number of electrical outlets—
Oh god, no that didn’t help at all. Now I’m freaking out again because holy crap there are 10 outlets by me and all of them are in use! Seriously, how can ALL of them be in use!
Yachi began her exercise again by planting her feet on the ground and taking 10 deep breaths. She felt calmer, but she still direly needed an electrical outlet. And thus, began her hunt for a free outlet in the library. Yachi packed up her school supplies, redid her side pony, and walked apprehensively around the first floor of the library.
None here, but don’t stress there’s still three more floors to check out.
The second and third floors only held disappointment for Yachi. There was one she found in the middle of the stacks on the third floor but when she plugged her laptop in, she found that the outlet didn’t work and had to move on. How could three floors of a library have no outlets?
Yachi was about to give up all hope and try to submit what she had unfinished with the little battery she had left, because after all something is better than nothing, when she walked past a little alcove with four large round tables. Yachi did notice also in that alcove was an open outlet! This win was accompanied by her anxiety spiking again because the outlet that was open was right next to an occupied table by a man with dark spiky hair and a deep scowl. Yachi really, REALLY didn’t want to bother this guy but she knew that this was probably her last chance to get her laptop charged and work on her assignment. She was going to get to this outlet even if that meant she had to talk to this scowling man.
You’ve got this Yachi. This isn’t crazy, this is totally normal. All you’re asking is to get past him to plug in your laptop. Just be polite and he’ll be totally ok. Come on, do it for the grade!
Yachi probably stood in silence in front of the dark-haired guy for a full two minutes and he hadn’t noticed she was there at all, so she decided she needed to get his attention some other way. He had headphones in, and she could hear string music coming from them from five feet away so there was no way she would be able to get his attention over that noise. Yachi decided to resort to drastic measures and tap in front of his laptop.
The guy looked up, still frowning and Yachi thought for a moment that her soul had left her body which solved her problem too honestly. If she was dead, she probably didn’t have to turn in the assignment.
Her brain eventually started working again and she signaled with her hands to ask him to take out an earbud. When he did, she asked in a whisper,
“Hi, I’m so sorry but could I sneak past you to charge my laptop? There really are no other outlets open and I just need to submit this assignment. Please?”
Yachi was already wincing in preparation for rejection from the scariest man she had ever met, apart from that spiker from Aoba Johsai. When she peeked out to see his response, she saw a sly smirk on his face that was somehow even more terrifying than frown.
“Sure, no problem. Just pass me the cord and I can plug it in.” He whispered back.
Kuroo still hadn’t placed her as Yachi and Yachi still hadn’t placed him as Nekoma’s captain from 3 years ago, they barely interacted in high school so why should they remember each other?
Yachi let out a deep breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and Kuroo let out a little chuckle.
“Oh, thank god. Thank you so much,” Yachi said a little too loudly while bowing to him which garnered the attention of the dentistry student who gave them a dirty look.
Yachi settled into the table without asking her new study partner which made Kuroo laugh again setting off a blush in Yachi. Yachi had not heard such a hyena-esque laugh that was also somewhat endearing before.
Yachi and Kuroo worked in silence for half an hour both only vaguely aware of the other; Kuroo was more aware of Yachi because she was a loud typist, and this made him want to rip his ears off. Kuroo decided headphones may be a more rational choice to block out her loud noise and went back to studying only intermittently peeking over his laptop to observe the adorable young girl sitting in front of him. What really caught his eye was the fact that she kept chewing on her lip. He knew he shouldn’t find it attractive because to the casual observer it looked like a manifestation of her anxiety but Kuroo couldn’t help imagining biting her lip. When that thought popped up in his head, he was sure he had lost it. Kuroo wasn’t the type to become wistful like this in 20 minutes.
Yachi on the other hand was blushing furiously. After she had settled in to put the finishing touches on her project, Yachi kept stealing glances over her laptop and her dark and brooding study buddy. It was after about 20 minutes that she realized she recognized him from somewhere. This thought stayed with her every time she glanced up over her laptop at him but 6 pm was fast approaching and this project was more important than identifying this stranger.
Kuroo had lost his ability to study anymore. He was thoroughly infatuated with the girl sitting across from him in the library. Kuroo decided he wasn’t going to get anything else done in the next few minutes before he needed to leave for practice and started to pack up his belongings. Kuroo liked having an organized studying environment so him packing up his papers, notes, and writing utensils took longer than most of his friends but his female companion didn’t seem to notice him packing up.
Yachi was finally satisfied with her project and still had 15 minutes to spare before it was due. She took one last look over the project before turning it in online and she stretched her arms over her head with a few satisfying pops of her joints. Kuroo watched with rapt attention as her shirt drew tighter around her chest and he looked away, dissatisfied with himself.
What are you, a perv Tetsurou? Leave this poor girl alone, she’s just stretching in the library. There isn’t anything really attractive about that, is there? But god, the way she looked so satisfied really makes me want to make her satisfied. Oh god, I’m doing it again.
During this train of thought Kuroo didn’t realize that Yachi was also packing up to leave and had asked him two times already to unplug her charger. Yachi didn’t understand why someone looking directly at her wouldn’t respond to her direct question but then again, maybe he was teasing her? He did seem like the type after all, all that brooding handsomeness and scowling. Yachi didn’t know what to do. Should she ask again? Should she go over there and try and get it out herself? The latter seemed impossible because he was a big guy, definitely more muscular than what she originally thought and while Yachi wasn’t weak she also wasn’t about to punch above her weight.
Third time’s the charm, I hope? Yachi thought to herself as she said a little louder this time, “I’m so sorry, could you hand me my charger back?”
Kuroo finally noticed and he felt a flush of his own travel up his neck as he realized his study buddy had been trying to get his attention while he was having perverse thoughts about a girl he just met in a library of all places. He blundered around her cord and dropped it on the table making a loud bang that got the attention of everyone near them.
Both Yachi and Kuroo were wholly flustered by the loud BANG! and they shuffled to pull their belongings together. Both of them stood at the same time and that was when Yachi was painfully aware of how much larger he was than she. This man had to be at least a foot taller than her and have a lot of muscle mass that she didn’t have. Her eyes were drawn to his arms where his grey t-shirt amplified the fact that he had incredibly nice biceps that stretched the cotton taut to his skin.
Kuroo muttered something along the lines of walking her out of the library and Yachi followed along passively where they enjoyed the same comfortable silence they had while studying together. Once they were out of the library Kuroo was determined to find out from where he knew this girl.
“I don’t mean to be so forward but, have we met before?” Kuroo asked.
“Well, that does seem pretty forward. I don’t even know your name; how could I know if I know you or not?” Yachi responded.
“Oh right! How could I forget to introduce myself? My name is Kuroo Tetsurou. I’m a third-year Biochemistry student,” Kuroo bowed slightly to his new friend and felt the blush come up his neck again because how stupid was he for forgetting to even introduce himself. When he looked to his right to where his study buddy was walking, he realized she wasn’t walking with him anymore; rather, she was bent and the waist and it looked like she was shaking like leaf.
As soon as he had said his name Yachi recognized him as the captain of the Nekoma Volleyball Club when she was a first year in High School. She also was overwhelmed by the fact that she had been so candid with him moments early when he was her senior. Yachi felt tears springing at her eyes, vying to break free. All Yachi wanted to do was throw herself at his feet and apologize for being so glib but all she could manage to do was perform a deep bow.
Kuroo backtracked and tried to pull Yachi upright but she was stiffly stuck at a ninety-degree angle while she said,
“I am so sorry for not recognizing you earlier Kuroo-san. Please forgive me! It has been so long but that’s not an excuse! I am so sorry! Please let me make it up to you!” Yachi pleaded.
“Woah, slow down there, kitten. I’m still not sure who you are! And really, it’s ok. I didn’t recognize you either,” Kuroo tried to placate the shaking girl.
“Why don’t you stand up and introduce yourself to me? That way we can have this misunderstanding out of the way. No harm, no foul!” Kuroo continued. Yachi stood slowly, with tears in her eyes that wrenched Kuroo’s stomach.
“I-I’m Yachi Hitoka. I was a co-manager at Karasuno for the v-volleyball team.” Yachi was still quite shaken up about all of this. She could feel all the anxiety she had worked through in high school coming back in full force. She didn’t want to cry, especially not in front of Kuroo-san.
“Ya-chan? That’s you? You really have grown up! I mean, now that I know it yeah that’s you for sure but you really look so much older now! Uh, um. No, wait not like that, you don’t look old. I’m just trying to say, oh God, what I’m trying to say is that I think you look nice. Like you don’t look 15 anymore I mean. What the hell am I even saying?” Kuroo was genuinely flustered trying to calm Yachi down. He had never been good around people when they were crying, especially girls.
It was good that he got flustered though, because it helped Yachi calm down and she even started to laugh a little through her tears. She bowed her head once more as a sign of apology for forgetting Kuroo but he took her face in his hands and wiped her cheeks to get rid of any signs of her tears.
“Hey now,” he spoke softly, and he was so close that Yachi could smell the spearmint gum he had been chewing while they were studying. “No need for tears. Normally I would give you a snack or something but I’m about to be late for practice. I really hope I see you around Ya-chan. Maybe we can reminisce about the old days?”
Yachi nodded as he started running in the direction of the gymnasium. Yachi found herself still standing there five minutes after Kuroo had gone.
Yeah, I really do hope I see you around Kuroo-san.