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There weren’t many things that were considered a concern for Koutarou.
The most important of them were things like upcoming volleyball matches, trying to get members of his team to practice with him more, and what he was going to eat later.
Of course, there were more trivial things on the list, like how to disable his fire alarm because the pan was supposed to be smoking, okay?
But the biggest thing that nagged him was the fact that Akaashi Keiji was hellbent on rejecting all of his advances with zero hesitance. It sucked. Because they were most certainly made for each other.
For every toss that the setter gave, Kou was there to hit. For every stupid comment he made, Akaashi was there to retort. They were the epitome of soulmates.
(Not that Akaashi agreed.)
And even though Koutarou had already spent a year in college, away from Fukurodani and Akaashi, he had always assumed it was a given that it wouldn’t be long before Akaashi joined him. That was just the way things were. Or the things were supposed to be.
Despite his best attempts to sway Akaashi, all his efforts were futile since Akaashi had already decided on a different school, long before he had even started filling out applications.
Regardless of him feeling utterly betrayed and heartbroken, Koutarou still fulfilled his role as the best friend and tagged along to help Akaashi textbook hunt for his traitor school.
“You know,” Koutarou hummed, “It’s never too late to send a quick email saying that you accidentally accepted the wrong offer. ”
Akaashi pulled open a door, “Of course, Bokuto-san.”
“Wait, really?”
“No.”
His pout went ignored as they entered a secondhand book store. Inside, the lighting was warm and there was the distinct smell of old books. There was quiet rock music playing from somewhere inside and Koutarou gave his nod of approval at the choice. A few people were flitting through novels but the textbook aisle was empty.
Akaashi knelt down and pulled out his book list, his hands trailing along the spines as he wordlessly muttered to himself.
Koutarou stretched out his arms and yawned. He looked over the setter’s shoulder and sighed at the titles. They all sounded pretty boring. But then again, what kind of textbook was entertaining?
After ten or so minutes of just standing around, he pouted and set off. Koutarou skimmed the action adventure, poked through mystery, and glanced at nonfiction. Nothing really piqued his interest. He entertained himself for a bit reading the synopsis’ on the back of romance novels. All of them were dramatic beyond belief (and this was coming from him) and marketed towards teenagers (perfect for him, right?).
Torino Kiki, fresh out of high school, tackles college with an upbeat attitude and endless positivity… only to meet her match- Mori Ougashi, who seems hellbent on making Kiki’s college career come to an end. Who’s to say where they’ll go?
If you asked her what she thought of vampires a week ago, Nakahara Megumi would’ve given you an odd look and continued on with her day. Except this was her reality. Her best friend of 12 years- a vampire. And the clincher? Now that his secret was out, he was determined to make her one too.
Koutarou gave a slight snort of amusement and reshelved the book. He peeked out the front window of the shop and took note of the ice cream parlor down the street.
He turned around and looked at the cashier to his right. There was a guy tapping his foot along to the music playing from a speaker linked to his phone, head buried in a book.
“Akaashi, let’s get ice cream,” Koutarou said when he made his way back to the setter.
“I didn’t bring much money,” Akaashi replied, straightening and brushing off his jeans, several books now in his arms.
“I’ll pay, now hurry up!”
Koutarou ushered Akaashi over to the register. The boy at the counter bookmarked his page and set the book aside, and-
Wow, that was a hell of a face.
His brain registered sharp golden eyes, smooth tan skin, impeccable bone structure (yes that was important), and not to mention a killer jawline, this guy-
Super fit.
Even though he was wearing a long-sleeved red tee, Koutarou could tell he had a bit of muscle definition on his arms and chest. He couldn’t help but get excited at just the possibility that this guy might play volleyball.
In short- he was fine as hell.
And Kou had described all that without mentioning the most important part. He had sleek black hair that stuck straight up, bangs flattened over one eye. This was truly a man after his own heart.
He wondered what kind of hair gel the guy used. Maybe wax.
The owner of the impeccably styled hair’s eyes flitted from Akaashi to Koutarou, a smirk curling around his lips as they made eye contact.
“Nice hair you’ve got there,” he said as he punched numbers into the register, his eyes never leaving Kou’s.
“Hey hey, not bad yourself,” Koutarou grinned.
“3000 yen, thank you,” bookstore boy accepted a few bills and with a satisfying ka-ching! of the register, Akaashi’s books were bagged and ready to go.
Too soon, in Koutarou’s opinion. He wouldn’t mind a few more minutes of just staring at this guy.
Akaashi tugged at his jacket and began subtly pushing him towards the door.
“Alright, alright,” Koutarou grumbled, “I’m going.”
“My name’s Kuroo,” he heard the other call out, “Thanks for coming. Feel free to come back any time.”
The door shut behind them. Koutarou stared at the door. Kuroo, huh?
Akaashi began pushing at his back again, “I thought you wanted to get ice cream? Your sister’s making dinner today, right? We should hurry back for that.”
Koutarou just handed the setter his wallet, staring wistfully back to the bookstore. The image of—what was his name, Kuroo—spun around in his head.
He was handed a chocolate cone and began idly licking at it.
“Say, Akaashi,” he started, “Don’t you think that guy was kind of hot? The guy in the bookstore?”
He was on the receiving end of a deadpan look.
“The one at the register?”
“Yeah, him.”
“He looked like the Cheshire cat.”
“He looked like a hot Cheshire cat.”
Akaashi’s eyes did that squinty judgemental thing and his lips pressed into a thin line in that way that made his opinion known without him even needing to say anything. Koutarou refused to wilt under the gaze.
After a few seconds the other just let out a heavy sigh and returned to his cone. Koutarou did the same.
“Hey, Akaashi? I’m sorry but I don’t think you’re the love of my life anymore.”
“Finally.”
-
As it turns out, Koutarou was right. Kuroo did play volleyball, which he knew for a fact because standing on the volleyball court, across the net from him with a killer smirk, was Kuroo. The Kuroo that had the hair, and the eyes, and the him , because he was right there.
By right there, it meant right there when Koutarou leapt up to spike, only to find the ball slamming back down next to him, right there when Akaashi set the ball and he totally didn’t become jealous that Kuroo got to be the one who hit it, and right there looking unfairly good.
And by the combination of Akaashi’s exasperated look and the blocker’s smug grin, he was definitely remembered.
Just a few days ago, Koutarou had completely forgotten about this man, having been practicing near obsessively with their new first year setter, Miya Atsumu.
When his team gained possession and they rotated around, he found himself face to face with Kuroo. He tried to make a face—a proper one, an intimidating one that conveyed all his frustration and fierceness—but it only resulted in a weak grimace.
“Aw, don’t be like that,” he whispered across the net. “I haven’t seen you around since you came in the shop.”
“Why, missed me?”
This was odd. He was chatting with an opponent. In the middle of a volleyball game. A scrimmage, sure, but a volleyball game nonetheless.
“Bokuto-san, you should stop talking to Kuroo-san.”
Which brought him to another point.
Koutarou had been thrilled when Akaashi had not only joined his school’s team, but had also been subbed in a fair few times during their practice match. He was not thrilled when he had walked into the gym to see the two conversing (borderline betrayed, really) because his dear sweet setter had neglected to mention the hot guy that had told him to ‘feel free to come back any time’ just happened to be attending Akaashi’s school, and just happened to play volleyball, and just happen to be good at it.
It wasn't a subjective opinion either, seeing as Kuroo was quick enough track every ball and jumped accordingly, even getting a few points in here or there while shutting down a good third of their attacks.
But Kou… he was better.
Graduating the high school division as the #4 wing spiker, with the #1 setter of the high school division? They were no match.
“HEY HEY HEY!!”
“Bokkun!” Tsum-Tsum yelled, slapping Koutarou’s hands, “Nice spike!”
“Awesome toss!” he grinned and shook out his red palms. With that last point, they ended the second set, a new victory under their belts. After gathering around the Coach for a few words, they were released to help clean up the gym.
Instead of doing that, Koutarou bounced over to the other team.
“Hey hey hey!” he announced his presence by slapping Akaashi on the back, “Akaashi! Come with me.”
“We have to clean up our gym-”
“Just a few seconds!” Koutarou pulled him outside of the gym and promptly levelled him with a stern look, “Akaashi.”
He stared back evenly, “Bokuto-san.”
“There is a very fit guy in there right now.”
“There are several fit guys in there right now. You and I were two of them until you dragged us out here.”
“Correction: there is a very fit guy in there right now that we have happened to meet before.”
“Miya Atsumu? Yes, we met him several times at Nationals.”
Koutarou groaned, “Stop being sly, Akaashi! You knew about our instant connection, right? You could feel it! For us to meet again that's just fate playing it's hand!”
All he got was a sigh.
“Bokuto-san, you met him once. ”
“Oh, someone talking about me?”
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Akaashi muttered.
“Akaashi, Coach wants to talk to you,” Kuroo said. The three of them stood around for a moment. “That means go. Let me talk to your friend for a bit, yeah? Pinky promise I won’t hurt him.”
Koutarou heard Akaashi let out a quiet ‘ugh’ before pushing off the wall and stepping back into the gym, “Bokuto-san can take care of himself.”
Kuroo hummed, “‘Bokuto,’ huh?”
“It seems Akaashi isn’t too fond of you, mind telling me why?” he leaned a bit closer, pushing into the blocker’s space.
“Easy, tiger, I haven’t done anything to your setter,” Kuroo held up his hands, which let him see the slight callouses on them, especially along the thumbs. Video games, maybe?
Of the two of them, Kuroo was definitely the more tiger-like. Maybe even a panther. Quiet and could probably slink around in shadows, like some mafia member or something. Koutarou briefly entertained the thought that the college student in front of him was some sneaky assassin that could put him out in three moves while dressed in a clean three piece.
Probably not.
There was still something distinctly cat-like about him, though. Maybe it was the eyes.
He shrugged and backed off, “Alright. I’ll believe you.”
“Say, why don’t we trade numbers?”
...talk about a 180.
“Yeah, give me a sec to grab my phone,” he went back into the gym and dug around his bag, dodged a lecture about cleaning up the gym from the captain, and hopped back to where Kuroo was helping take down the net. “Here, put your number in.”
“Hey, when I said that you should drop by the store, I meant it, okay?”
A few tippity taps later, his phone was returned, now with a new contact under Kuroo Tetsurou (๑ↀᆺↀ๑). Koutarou grinned at the use of the emoticon.
A finger jabbed at his back and he turned to hear Tsum-Tsum hiss, “Dude, the fuck’s going on with you and that guy?”
“I have no clue,” Koutarou responded cheerfully. What he did know, was that he was one step closer to a potential date.
-
A month went by and the first tournament of the season loomed over them. The amount of hours Koutarou spent in the gym increased as he and Tsum-Tsum got closer, and with the coach announcing that he’d join the starting lineup
His grades were taking a slight dip but he figured it would be alright as soon as the games were won, and it wasn’t like he was actually working towards a degree. As always, he was aiming for first on the court.
“Hey hey Akaashi!” Koutarou greeted, “Where’re you right now? I want to meet up!”
“Hold it,” the captain grabbed the collar of his jacket and yanked him back, “We have to get checked in first before you go running off.”
“Listen to your captain, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said from the other side of the call, “I’ll meet you after we arrive. We’re still waiting for a few people to get here.”
Koutarou sighed and bounced impatiently as they went through the familiar but boring process of checking in all their team members and assigning rooms.
If he wanted, he could just go home. They were in Tokyo for the tourney and it would be just a short bus ride to where his parents lived. If he was willing to go another three stops, then he could get to the apartment where one of his sisters was living with her fiance. He briefly entertained the thought—the opening ceremony didn’t start until tomorrow and after dinner they were advised to go over game tapes and rest but weren’t strictly limited to—but remembered that he was planning to meet with Akaashi and discarded it.
As soon as he was given the okay, Koutarou was out the door and dialing a certain setter.
“AKAASHI!! Where are you guys staying??”
There was a heavy sigh. He waited patiently.
“Tell me.”
“Do you remember the corner store we would go to after Nationals games?”
“Of course!”
“I’ll meet you there.”
Koutarou immediately changed direction and headed towards their newly designated meeting spot. It was unrealistic that Akaashi could’ve gotten here so quickly after they had talked but he pouted nonetheless when nobody was waiting for him. He knocked a few bags of snacks into a basket and thought briefly whether to bring his teammates any before he realized he would probably have inhaled them all by the time he got back.
He squatted down in front of a display of drinks, debating on which to get. He shuffled closer when he heard footsteps coming down the aisle. At his ear, there was a small puff of air followed by a ‘boo.’
“Woah!” Koutarou leapt up and spun around, “Aka- Kuroo?”
“Just Kuroo, but yeah,” he grinned. Behind him was Actual Akaashi, looking almost apprehensive.
“Sorry Bokuto-san, he insisted on coming along.”
“Totally fine! Hey man, long time no see,” Koutarou slapped a hand on his shoulder and tried to ignore the fact that Kuroo was built like a Ken doll on steroids. It did not work.
He shot Koutarou a hurt look, “No fault of mine, I put in the effort and invited you back to my shop, too.”
Akaashi ended up paying for the snacks and ushering them out of the conbini. After wandering around for a bit and finding a plaza filled with street performers, they hung around to watch.
“Ne, Bo, bet you hundred that I could do that better than that guy,” Kuroo nudged him and gestured to a group of teenagers breakdancing. At the moment one was doing windmills in the center while the rest hyped him up.
“Don’t be a pain in the ass, Kuroo-san,” Akaashi groaned.
Koutarou was all for it, “Go. C’mon let’s see it, rooster boy.”
Kuroo shot him a challenging glare, “Want to try me, owl head?” He pushed his way up to them and exchanged quick greetings with the boy in the center, and after some gestures, Kuroo turned back around and winked.
Koutarou crossed his arms and gestured for him to take the floor.
‘Gladly,’ Kuroo mouthed. They were a bit far back but were tall enough to look over the heads of everyone else, which gave Koutarou the perfect view to watch as a smirk began to grow across the blocker’s face as he nodded along to the music for a few beats, jumping along to get a sense of the rhythm.
With the beat drop, he jolted into action.
A bit of near-hypnotic footwork turned into him dropping to the ground with hand hops, steadily transferring his weight from one arm to another as he bopped. Cheers were called out when he spun around, transitioning into flares, like the gymnasts on their horses. At the end, Kuroo came to a stop, posing with his legs crossed in the air.
To the whistles and admiring 'oooh's, Koutarou abruptly spun around and laid a heavy hand on Akaashi’s shoulder, the other shielding his face, “Akaashi, he’s literally a hot Cheshire cat,” he whined.
Two taps on his shoulder and he reluctantly lifted his head, only to see Kuroo’s smirk sharper than ever as he held out a hand expectantly. Koutarou handed over a hundred yen. The blocker looked self-satisfied, in a way that kind of made Koutarou want to do something like slam a ball so hard that even if it was blocked it would leave red imprints on the other’s arms.
“Give me a sec,” Kuroo quickly ran back and exchanged a few more words, throwing the money into their tip hat and returning.
“Ugh and he’s a good person.”
“…it was just a hundred yen.”
“And he could just not given them the yen, Akaashi!”
“So, what’d you think?” Kuroo grinned, stretching out his arms, “It’s been a while since I’ve done that.”
“ Really? Akaashi maybe I should pick up some super cool hobby,” Koutarou mused, ignoring that Kuroo’s skin looked like it was glowing with his sweat. “How’d you get into it?”
“I used to dabble when I was younger, but I dropped it in high school. Still got it, though,” he pushed up his sleeves and flexed. Kou averted his eyes quickly. “You liked the show, didn’t you?”
Was this flirting? This was flirting.
There weren’t many more things that held their attention (read: Kou’s attention) after that and they left not long after. It was approaching dinner time so they went back to wandering keeping an eye out for food.
Akaashi was talking about some books he had been meaning to read, or something along the lines of that, when Kuroo chipped in, “6/10. I’m pretty sure half of the chemistry notes in that book were made up and the plot’s predictable. The main character is your typical forced smart girl. The only redeeming quality is the ending.”
“Chemistry notes, Kuroo, really?” Koutarou said with a bemused smile.
He let out a haughty huff, “If they’re writing a book with chemistry as a driving plot point, might as well make it accurate!”
Seeing Koutarou’s bewildered expression, Akaashi supplied, “Kuroo’s a biochemistry major, Bokuto-san.”
“Dude what?!”
In his head, Kuroo had been this hot popular athletic bad boy that skipped class. He’d probably have this Uber expensive motorcycle that he drove on and off campus to get from his apartment to volleyball practice. Tattooed down his sides, chains around his neck sort of thing,
Except biochem is such a nerd topic.
As if his mind could be read, “Kuroo-san actually has some of the best grades in his department,” Akaashi sounded particularly resigned saying it.
“Brains and brawn I’m the whole package deal,” Kuroo winked. Again. It was giving Koutarou some heart problems. Of course he’s smart too.
“And you use it to be a book snob,” Koutarou couldn’t help but snipe.
“I work in a bookstore, what do you expect? By the way, have I mentioned? You still haven’t come to say hi. Kenma’s my only company and he spends all the time playing video games!”
“That seems more my kind of guy. Who’s Kenma again?”
“Oh! My best friend, childhood friends and we’re roommates right now,” Kuroo tilted his head and gave him a once over, “Kenma wouldn’t like you.”
Akaashi failed to hide his snort as Koutarou squawked indignantly.
“Relax, relax,” Kuroo patted him on the back, “I like you enough for the both of us.”
-
On the last day of the tournament, Koutarou stood behind the barriers and gazed across the court wistfully. They had put in their all but against the best schools in the country, his team had been knocked out a day prior. University was definitely on a different level from high school.
“Sakusa’s on top form today,” he noted, watching an impressively close line shot land them a point. And this was coming from him, who was practically a connoisseur in sharp shots. He dropped his head into his hands and groaned, “I want to play against him!!”
Atsumu sighed next to him, “Make that two of us. We’d steamroll him.”
“You know, I never understood why you’d want to play against someone you find scary,” a third commented. Koutarou whipped around at the voice.
“Akaashi!! Hey hey!!” he enveloped him in a big hug, “When’d you get here?”
Akaashi’s team had done even worse than Kou’s, and he was greatly disappointed that they never had a chance to go up against each other. When asked whether he needed a shoulder to cry on or not, Akaashi had just hung up.
“Do I get a hug too?”
“Kuroo!” Koutarou turned around and went in for another hug, this time reciprocated.
“Bo!”
A nickname! That was new!
He smelled like a cat. At this point, Koutarou really wasn’t that surprised by it. He could also see strands of cat hair clinging to the hoodie the other was wearing, like no amount of lint rollers could have gotten rid of them.
“Do you have a cat?”
“Yeah! How'd you know? Want to see some photos?” Kuroo was quick to slide out his phone and pull up his photos, “His name is Curry-um, I found him a few years back when our school travelled for a match and he’s been with us ever since. Kenma, the gamer friend I told you about a few days ago, co-parents him. He’s really cute, right?”
He turned to Koutarou with an expectant gaze, like if he didn’t agree then their friendship would be decimated on the spot or something. Lucky for him, the cat really was cute.
Atsumu leaned over his shoulder to look at the photos too, “..Kenma?”
“Yeah! That’s my roommate’s name,” Kuroo swiped to a photo of a boy with blond tips staring at a screen with headphones in while a cat was curled up in his lap.
“Cute cat!” Koutarou said, “You should have me over some time to see him!”
“Bokuto-san you shouldn’t invite yourselves over to others’ homes,” Akaashi muttered.
“No, no, come over! When’s good for you?”
“Hmm,” Koutarou pretended to think about it as he tapped on his chin, “I’m a busy man, Kuroo.”
“C’mon, don’t leave me hanging.”
“Bokuto-san’s free next Sunday. They don’t have practice that day,” Akaashi cut in.
“Really? Great! I only have a morning class that day,” Kuroo’s phone buzzed, “Ah, excuse me for a sec. I’ll text you details later, okay?”
“See you!”
As soon as he was out of earshot Koutarou turned to Akaashi with a manic excitement, “AKAASHI!! I thought you didn’t support me!? You’ll help me, right? Should I bring him something??”
“It’s practically my job to support you,” Akaashi sighed, “You could never go wrong with food.”
The crowd roared and they turned back to the game. Sakusa’s team was in the lead but fatigue was dragging down both and it was showing.
“You’ll come with me, right Akaashi?”
He made a noncommittal noise, instead turning to Tsum-Tsum, who Koutarou had forgotten was still there. The other setter was looking vaguely faint and his eyes were distant as he muttered to himself.
“Would you go with Bokuto-san, Atsumu-san?”
The ref blew his whistle and Koutarou snapped back towards the game, the shrill sound obscuring whatever Tsum-Tsum was saying.
“...roommate...pie...Bokkun…”
“Ooh! Good idea, pie!” Koutarou murmured absentmindedly, watching as one of the players make a futile effort to argue with the referee.
-
“Akaashi, I think I’m lost,” Koutarou announced, slowly revolving as he scanned his surroundings. He had a box of pie he had just picked up in one hand and a bag of cat treats in the other, which was also holding up his phone.
“Bokuto-san,” came the expected groan, “I’m in the middle of class.”
“Then why’d you pick up the phone?! Focus on your studies, Akaashi!” he admonished. Akaashi wasted no time on hanging up. Koutarou stared at the disconnected call. “I didn’t mean that focused,” he grumbled. He fumbled with one hand to press on another contact.
“Yo, Kuroo!”
“Bo? Where are you? Weren’t you supposed to get here like 15 minutes ago?”
“Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked. By that, I mean I went down a side track and now I’m lost.”
Kuroo snorted, “Where’re you?”
“I have no clue!”
It would’ve been much easier if Kuroo had lived on campus, because at least then Koutarou had a vague picture of the place after Akaashi showed him around. But alas, the only things beside him was a sushi restaurant. And those were everywhere. Koutarou made sure to tell him so.
“Oh I think you’re close, actually. Go… towards the- you see the green dome in the distance? Get on the main street and head towards that. I’m heading down so I’ll be outside and you’ll see me if you keep looking left.”
Koutarou did as he was told and peeked into every alley and side street he crossed, but when he went two blocks without seeing anything, he went back to his phone to call again.
“Dude I’m right here.”
“Oh!” Koutarou swivelled around, “Hey hey!”
“Hey hey yourself,” Kuroo appraised him for a moment before his eyes landed on the box he was carrying, “Oh did you bring something?”
“Yeah! Apple pie!”
“Really? Quite the charmer!” Kuroo grinned, “Come up! My roommate’s home right now, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all! I’m here for the cat.”
“Not for anyone else?”
Come on, this had to be flirting.
The apartment was small, and knick knacks decorated the place. A row of candles sat along the window, all looking like they had never been lit, small figurines sat on shelves, in front of thick textbooks boasting impressive scientific knowledge.
What looked to be a conspiracy board hung on the wall, red yarn and all, and homework papers mingled with the ground.
“Sorry, it’s kind of a mess. I was studying earlier and lost track of time.”
A cat came sprinting out of an open door, meowing loudly.
“Curry-um!” Kuroo laughed as the cat began rubbing along his legs. Koutarou chuckled when she sniffed at him curiously.
“Nice to meet you!” Koutarou reached out and almost forgot that his hands were full.
“Woah-” Kuroo plucked the pie out of his hands as Curry leapt back.
He spent the next 15 minutes chasing the cat around the house, nearly breaking several things and leaping over furniture. Kuroo looked on, cackling. Curry meowed loudly and dashed off to the side, slipping through a door that was cracked open, the same one that it had ran out of when they had arrived.
“Wait, Bo-”
Koutarou slipped in too. There was a person already in there, sitting at a desk, tense and frozen.
Whoops.
“...hey?”
Kuroo sighed, “Kenma, stop hiding in your room. Bokuto, this is Kozume Kenma, my best friend of… 13-14 years?. Kenma, this is Bokuto Koutarou, the guy I said would be coming over.”
Like one of those dramatic action spy movies, he could see Curry sitting in his lap as the chair slowly spun around. Koutarou was almost expecting to hear a “Hello, Bokuto… or should I say, welcome to hell, Bokuto!!” followed by maniacal laughter.
Instead, he got a, “Hey.” with downcast eyes.
Kenma had black hair with the tips dyed blond. Like a pudding cup. He had gotten a general image of the other when Kuroo had showed him pictures, but Kenma was a lot… smaller than he expected.
At most he was probably 172 cm. It didn’t help that he wore baggy clothes. It also didn’t help that he was really hunched over.
“He brought pie.”
Kenma visibly perked up and scurried out of the room.
“Wow he must really like pie.”
Kuroo snorted, “You don’t even know.”
They followed him into the kitchen, where Kenma was serving himself an indulgent slice. After they settled around a small round table, Koutarou was on the receiving end of a searching look. When Koutarou stared back curiously, Kenma quickly averted his eyes.
Like Kuroo, Kenma also had golden-brown eyes reminiscent of a feline’s. But they were sharper, like they could pick his brain at any time. Koutarou wondered if Kenma could read his thoughts. He was rather cold to him, too. He wondered if Kenma hated him.
Oh. Oh no.
Koutarou stood up abruptly, “Bathroom!” he blurted out before dashing out.
“That’s the closet! Door on your other side!” Kuroo called.
He quickly shut the door and pulled out his phone, pressing his trusty call button.
“Akaashi I think Kenma might hate me!!” he hissed as soon as the call picked up.
“Bokuto-san Kenma doesn’t hate you.”
“You’re not even here Akaashi! Kenma was glaring at me earlier!!”
He sighed, “Alright. Say Kenma-san hates you, then, why does it matter?”
“How the fuck do I date a guy who’s best friend hates me??” Koutarou moaned, running his free hand through his hair, “It’s like I’m meeting Kuroo’s dad, Akaashi, you’ve heard how he talks about him!”
“If you’re this distraught about meeting just the best friend, how will you ever meet the actual parents?”
“Why’d you have to drag me to that bookstore, Akaashi? Why couldn’t have we gone to a non- used books store? Then I never would’ve met Kuroo, and I never would’ve came to this apartment, and-”
“You would’ve met him anyways once our schools played against each other,” Akaashi reminded him.
“I guess it really was fate,” Koutarou muttered, sighing wistfully. “Too bad his best friend doesn’t approve.”
He heard Akaashi sigh and could practically see him pinching the bridge of his nose, “Kenma doesn’t hate you, Bokuto-san. You think highly of Kuroo-san, correct? Then he must have good taste in friends, which means Kenma-san is smart and can see how great you are.”
Oddly enough, it actually comforted him.
“You’re pulling that out of your ass, Akaashi,” Koutarou said cheerfully, standing up straight. He fixed his hair in the mirror and smoothed out his shirt, “But thanks. You’re right, too, who wouldn’t like me?”
“I’ll talk to you later, then?”
“Yep!” he hung up and cracked his neck. “Alright, Kou, you go out there and make the best impression of your life!”
-
As the weather cooled, Koutarou began bundling up. Thick scarves, warm mittens, and long pants. He even began carrying a thermos of hot chocolate around with him to his classes. Volleyball slowed down a bit during their off season, and much to his disappointment the team began focusing on their studies more, which resulted in less practice time when Captain came around to kick them out of the gym.
The trees shed their leaves in time for winter break, where Koutarou went home to celebrate with his family.
He met his nephew for the first time since he had been born and swore on the spot that he’d raise a volleyball player (regardless of his sister’s wishes) and met his other sister’s fiance. Koutarou laughed around the questions his parents shot about him getting settled down soon.
For New Year’s, he and the other Fukurodani ‘13 alumni plus Akaashi spent the day together before visiting a shrine.
“Bo-ku-to-kun!” one of the old managers sang, pushing a glass towards him, “Have a drink!”
“Yu-ki-ppe!” he copied, “I can’t!”
“Just one won’t hurt,” she pouted, leaning against him, “Come on!”
“You know Bokuto-san has no self control, Shirofuku-san,” Akaashi commented. He gave a pointed look to the 3 or 4 glasses on the table, “And neither do you, for that matter.”
“I’ll take that, thank you Yukie-chan!” Konoha leaned over and plucked it out of her hands.
The rest of the night went similarly, and somewhere around 3 they were politely hustled out of the bar after Komi knocked a few glasses off the table, miraculously smashing none of them.
“Akaashi, come over to my place!” Koutarou shouted, slinging an arm over the setter, “Your parents’ is really far, yeah?”
He was already slightly swaying on his feet, eyes struggling to focus as he tried to keep them open, “Hm? Oh... sure, Bokuto-san…”
Koutarou half carried half guided Akaashi down a few blocks to his parents’ apartment, where he, as quietly as possible, unlocked the door and slid in. They made their way over to his room and changed into sleepwear. Adrenaline was still buzzing in his veins and Koutarou wasn’t quite ready to settle in after such an eventful day.
“Hey, Akaashi,” he whispered, “You asleep?”
From the futon, Akaashi gave a quiet grunt.
“Today was really fun. I kind of miss the guys, you know? Wish we could all get together and play again.”
“Yeah.”
“You think if we were put into a different bracket we could’ve played against Kuroo’s old team? He told me he was a captain too, in his third year.”
Akaashi suddenly sat up, looking a lot more awake than he had a second ago.
“Woah, Akaashi, you okay?”
“Bokuto-san, why do you like Kuoo-san?”
“Well, he’s hot.”
“Seriously, Bokuto-san.”
I don’t know if I’ve ever been serious my entire life, he thought to himself, no, that’s a lie. I’m serious about volleyball.
“Hmm... man what's there not to like about him? He’s funny and makes me laugh. He's a total loser and a dork but he's also super cool and chill, plus he’s awesome at volleyball. I feel great being around him,” Koutarou thought about it for a moment, “I want him in my future and he makes me wish I knew him in the past.”
Akaashi let out a quiet ‘oh,’ In the dark, the only thing Koutarou could see was what the faint moon outside allowed him to. Akaashi’s eyes shone; it seemed like they were a blue darker than the sky outside. He seemed almost… bittersweet.
“He makes me feel like I just played a 5 set match and my heart won’t stop pounding. And I think about him. A lot.”
“Alright. Thank you, Bokuto-san. Goodnight.”
Akaashi laid back down and rolled over, facing away from him. Koutarou wondered what that was about.
-
“Hey Tsum-Tsum, what do you do when you’re not practicing?” Koutarou asked after dumping a few balls back into the cart.
“Hm? Oh, I dunno. Eating?”
He nodded deeply, “Valid. Hey, give me a higher toss next time.”
“A’right.”
Koutarou threw up the ball and Tsum-Tsum, like promised, set a high ball. He smacked it down and whooped.
“Again! But what happens when we’re forced out of the gym for the day?”
“I prob’ly head over to my boyfriend’s pla-” Tsum-Tsum snapped his mouth shut. Too late. Koutarou’s eyes were as wide as saucers.
“TSUM-TSUM YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?!”
“SH! Shh!!” he grabbed Koutarou and looked around like he was searching for eavesdroppers, “Bokkun! Ya don’t hafta be so loud about it!”
He was practically vibrating with excitement, “Why didn’t you tell me??” he whisper shouted, “Wow! You have a boyfriend! Who is it?! ”
“I- uh, we’d prefer if we were a bit more private ‘bout it…”
“Aww, fine!”
“Whatever-” Tsum-Tsum had a sweet blush across his cheeks, “Let’s just get back t’practice! Focus, Bokkun!”
He put the news out of his mind for the moment, but as soon as they agreed to pack up for lunch around noon, the excitement came back in full force. Who was Tsum-Tsum’s elusive lover? How come Koutarou had never heard a peep about him? Were they cute? Did they play volleyball??
As much as he would have loved badgering Tsum-Tsum, the setter disappeared soon after they wrapped up practice and Koutarou remembered that he already had plans.
A few days ago Kuroo had offered to cook up lunch for both of them at his place (Kou was unofficially dubbing it their first date in his head) and he was already running a bit late.
Koutarou sped through a shower, upended his dorm room for clothing before just tugging a jacket over his longsleeve and bounding out the door.
When Kuroo opened the door, he had meant to say something like ‘hey Kuroo, lookin’ hot, as always, thanks for having me over!’ but what came out instead was:
“Hot! Did you know Tsum-Tsum has a boyfriend??”
He blinked, “The blond setter on your team? Yeah, why?”
Koutarou gasped, “You knew?? How come you never told me? Do you know who?!”
Kuroo’s eyes shifted to the side, “Yeah, but I heard that they wanted to keep it private.”
“Yeah, he did say that…” he muttered, “Shoot…”
Kuroo cleared his throat and clapped, “Anyways! Come in, I’m nearly done with lunch.”
Following the blocker in, Koutarou took a second to scan him over. Now that he was looking closely, Kuroo seemed a bit more… tired than usual. A hint of bags under his eyes and his hair was messy.
Well, messier than it was normally.
“Hey, what’ve you been up to lately?”
“Eh, a lot of school stuff’s been coming up recently. Biochem’s a competitive department,” Kuroo let out a slight laugh. “It’s kind of a downer when you’ve got 5 assignments looming over your back.”
Koutarou took a seat and almost immediately, Curry materialized under the table and hopped into his lap, headbutting his hand. He gave Curry scritches.
“Want to play practice with me? I read somewhere that volleyball's stress relieving.”
Kuroo tapped open a rice cooker, “Man you volleyball idiots really don’t think about anything else, huh?”
“Why would you need anything else?”
-
Koutarou stretched out, feelings his joints crack satisfyingly as he yawned. Today was a slow day, and he had popped on over to Akaashi’s apartment, where he had been served tea and lounged around for a bit before the setter had to head to class.
He tagged along, for lack of anything to do, and on campus he spotted a tall head of dark hair. Koutarou grinned, waving to the boy on the other side of the grounds, “Kuroo!”
“Just go after him,” Akaashi rolled his eyes.
“Thanks, Akaashi!” Koutarou jogged over, “Kuroo! Hey hey! Kuroo!”
As he got closer he realized the other was talking to someone, laughing with a short girl with an armful of books. A classmate, maybe?
But as he got closer, he saw their hands were linked… Were they-
“Kuroo..?”
“Hm? Oh, Bo!” Kuroo waved his free hand, “Hey! This is my girlfriend, Ch-”
Koutarou’s eyes flew open and he sat up, breaths coming a bit quicker than usual.
“Was- was that a dream?” he muttered, dragging a hand down his face, “A… nightmare?”
Kuroo didn’t have a girlfriend, right? There was no way Koutarou had suddenly gotten clairvoyance powers or something (however cool that may be), right?
He chewed on his lip.
No way.
He couldn’t be straight.
Koutarou reached over and grabbed his phone, squinting when the light of his screen hit is eyes.
Me
Yo do u have a gf??
Sent 1:42 AM
Kuroo Tetsurou (๑ↀᆺↀ๑)
what no, why?
You?
Sent 1:45 AM
Me
wasn’t expecting u to bee awkaef lol
no
Sent 1:45 AM
Kuroo Tetsurou (๑ↀᆺↀ๑)
was studying :P
smth up?
Sent 1:46 AM
Me
nah all good
Sent 1:47 AM
Kuroo Tetsurou (๑ↀᆺↀ๑)
mk see you whenever
Btw you still haven’t come back to the store yet
been waiting you know :/
Sent 1:48 AM
Me
srry srry will do that
eventalyl
Sent 1:49 AM
-
“So your biggest fear… is that Kuroo-san is straight,” Akaashi deadpanned.
“Well when you put it that way it sounds stupid,” he huffed.
“Bokuto-san, I say this in the most respectful way that I can. Why are you like this? ”
-
Koutarou hammered on the door, “Kurooo, let me in!”
“Woah! Someone dying? Why’re you trying to break down my door?”
“Practice with me!” he beamed, “Surprise! I’m here.”
Kuroo blinked a few times before he rubbed his eye and he let out a laugh, “Come in?”
“Practice with me!” Koutarou said again, “Akaashi said no so I’m here now!”
“Sorry, Bo, can’t play today,” Kuroo plopped down in his living room and stretched out like a cat, “I kind of have to do work.”
“Aw come on, just for a bit?”
“No can do,” he shook his head, “I’ve got a big project coming up and I need to research. You could stay if you’d like, I just wouldn’t be able to guarantee that it’d be very entertaining. Maybe we can put on some cartoons for you?” he tacked on.
“Please! I’ve graduated to anime alright,” Koutarou huffed.
Kuroo hummed disbelievingly, “Well, I’ve got to work, so…”
Koutarou gave him a thumbs up and sat opposite of Kuroo, picking up a piece of paper nearest to him. It looked like a draft of an essay, angry red pen marks making comments on almost every little part of it. Science jargon popped up every few words and he quickly dropped it.
Picking up a packet instead, the spiker flipped through it. It seemed to be classwork of some sort, maybe the results of an experiment? Or maybe it was just an example…
Koutarou sighed, “Kuroo. Hey Kuroo. How about we ditch and go find a gym to practice in?”
“Wait, be quiet for a sec, Bo? I’ve got to…” Kuroo’s sentence trailed off into incoherent mumbling as he scribbled something down in a notebook.
A few more minutes passed as Koutarou played around with a pad of sticky notes, folding small animals that he lined up on the table.
He sighed again. “Kuroo, c’mon,” he whined.
“Bo, I can’t practice with you, I have to get this done.”
“But-”
“Sorry. I’ve got to keep my grades up and this project is a big part of it. If the research isn’t done right then my experiment’ll be off from the start, and-”
Koutarou was starting to get a little bit impatient.
“I’d have to start from scratch and I’ll have wasted weeks of time that frankly, I just don’t have, and-”
He flicked his small creations off the table one by one, watching as each flew further than the last as he increased the force. Kuroo was now scanning over all his previous notes, nearly tearing the paper with the speed he flipped through the notebook as he rambled.
“Not to mention the several trials needed for experiment, it’ll take so long to wait for the bacteria-”
Koutarou furrowed his eyebrows and cut him off, “Is this really that important? Why can’t we just…”
Kuroo stared at him with a dumbfounded look.
It wasn’t a good “oh you surprised me!” sort of look. He felt uneasy being on the receiving end of it.
“Is this impor- YES it’s important! Didn’t you- Bo this isn’t something I can’t just- just get distracted! ”
“I’m just saying- why don’t you, you know, take a break or something!”
He wasn’t really thinking of practicing now. Kuroo really did look like he could use it. Since the last time he had seen Kuroo, the other’s bags had only grown and his skin was looking paler, though that might’ve just been the cold weather. Add to that the slightly crazed look he was sporting right now?
He looked one coffee away from a mental breakdown.
“Bo- I can’t, I don’t want to play volleyball with you right now. This is incredibly important and-”
“This isn’t about-”
“Why are you even here?!”
Koutarou opened his mouth. He closed it. Kuroo’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, oh shit, sorry, I didn’t-”
“I’ll go,” he said abruptly, “Sorry I uh. Distracted you.”
“Bo-”
As the door swung shut, he heard a quiet “shit.”
Koutarou felt angry. He felt so incredibly angry. He felt like punching a wall, or maybe a tree, or maybe the concrete. ‘Why are you even here?’ well that was simple To see you, he thought.
But.
Angry at who? Was he upset with Kuroo? Himself?
“Fuck-” Koutarou turned and kicked the brick wall next to him. “Ow!”
-
Koutarou was off his game. Both in court and out. He was getting sloppier in practice and he could tell Tsum-Tsum was going to yell at him any second now.
He couldn't really bring himself to care.
“Ugh,” he groaned, dropping his head onto his desk. His work was spread out across the table but his brain wasn’t absorbing any of the information. It needed to be done since he kind of had to stay in college for him to actually play on the college team, but he had zero motivation to move and grab the pen in front of him.
The last time he tried to study, he was abruptly reminded of his little run-in with Kuroo, which in turn reminded him that in the two weeks since then, they’ve had zero contact because 1. Kuroo was definitely upset with him, and 2. Koutarou was a coward.
For the umpteenth time, he picked up his phone and scrolled aimlessly through whatever social media caught his attention for a few seconds. He popped into their old Fukurodani chat and typed out some nonsensical answer in response to whatever dilemma Komi was struck with, and hovered over Kuroo’s contact.
He held a staring contest with the screen.
Koutarou lost. He blinked and clicked off his phone, jumping up and stretching out. He resolved to do something to occupy his time and changed into jogging clothes. He set off on a short route around campus.
He had had a class that morning that had yielded, in his opinion, an unfair amount of homework, that he was currently ditching, but the rest of his day was free. Campus was fairly empty since most students were either in class or heading to their next, and he popped in his earbuds as he ran.
As he left the athletic grounds and headed back to the dorms, he spotted a head of blond hair lingering near the entrance. Koutarou tilted his head curiously.
“...Kenma?”
The blond jolted and he lifted his head. His eyes seemed to sharpen just looking at Koutarou.
Right, he had kind of yelled at his roommate/best friend.
“Bokuto,” he said shortly.
Koutarou cleared his throat, “So… uh. How’ve you been?”
“...fine. Kuro’s been... in a funk.”
He blinked, “Oh uh. Good to know. Not that it’s good that he’s been down- I’m just saying thanks for uh, telling me that-”
“Bokuto…” he snapped his mouth shut. Kenma considered his words carefully, “You… Kuro’s lonely.”
Huh?
“He’s charismatic but he doesn’t really have a lot of friends outside of the team or me. And he… he really liked you,” Kenma paused, “He’s sorry for losing his temper with you.”
“What?! But- that was my fault, why’s he sorry??”
Kenma blinked, almost like he was surprised? “Well. I don’t know. Kuro’s just like that.”
Oh jeez.
Kuroo… he was lonely, he felt bad, and now Koutarou really wanted to talk to him again.
“That’s- that’s not the point. You should… call him or something. Come see him. You’re- you’re good for him.”
“Thanks, Kenma,” Koutarou offered a small grin. Then something struck him as odd, “Hey what’re you doing here? Here to see someone?”
Kenma adopted a slight blush and looked away, hair falling into his face.
He gasped, “You totally are! Who? Do I know them??”
“Go away and talk to Kuro, Bokuto.”
-
“Akaashi, I don’t know if I can do this,” Koutarou stated, cradling his phone in his hands. Akaashi was on speaker and sounded exasperated.
“It’s just one text. What’s the worst that could happen, Bokuto-san?”
“I try saying something but as it turns out he blocked my number because of how pissed he was.”
“Bokuto-san, Kenma-san just told you that Kuroo-san was feeling down, why would he have blocked you if he was feeling bad?”
“But-”
“Bokuto-san, keep in mind that Kuroo-san lives less than 10 minutes away from me, and if you don’t say something, I will. ”
“Okay okay!” Koutarou typed out a simple ‘hey’ and hovered over the send button.
“Do it.”
He sent it.
Almost immediately, text bubbles popped up and Kou nearly tossed his phone across the room, “Akaashi he’s replying! Oh shi- he stopped typing!”
“Calm down-”
“HE’S CALLING ME!” he shrieked.
“Then answer!”
Koutarou steeled himself and the phone clicked, hanging up on Akaashi and picking up Kuroo.
“...hey.”
“Hey.”
“So. How've you been?”
“Fine.”
“Good… good.”
“Look, I’m really s-” Kuroo began the same time Koutarou said: “I’m so sorry that-”
They both cut off and waited for the other to speak.
“Kuroo… I’m really sorry that I stormed out of your apartment after yelling at you. I was never supposed to be there to begin with and you let me in anyways because you’re cool like that and then I went and got mad at you anyways-”
“Bo, no. I shouldn't've just ignored you like that, I was the one who let you in so-”
“But you should’ve just kicked me out! You were clearly busy with studying and I was just distracting you-”
“You’re a good distraction!” Kuroo blurted.
“Aaa aah! You can’t say stuff like that, Kuroo!”
“Why not? I was stressed and I blew up on you for it and I said shit that made you upset. You’re not bad, you’re a good distraction! ”
Koutarou dropped his head into his arms and he could swear he was practically radiating heat. Good distraction??
“Gah! I fucking like you!”
“...what.”
Aaaand, he said that out loud. Because of course he did. Because Koutarou had no filter. He could already imagine his panicked call to Akaashi after this one because he needed ice cream or something after this.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Or maybe—Kuroo might also… like him back? It wasn’t impossible, right? Thinking back.. it wasn’t unimaginable.
“Bo I like you too! I missed you so much- god you wouldn’t fucking believe how much I wanted to call you-”
“You do?!”
“Yes! Of course I do! How could I not? I’m more in disbelief that you liked me, actually.”
“What?? Can I see you? Where are you right now?”
“Oh…” Kuroo’s voice fell dejected, “I’m at work, that’s a bit far from you…”
“I’ll be there!” Koutarou beamed even though the other couldn’t see. “I’ll see you soon!”
He hung up and jumped into the shower, enthusiastically spiked up his hair and threw on clean clothes. He dialled Akaashi’s number, “HE LIKES ME!”
“Congratulations, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said, “I told you.”
“You’re the best, Akaashi!” Koutarou laughed, “He likes me!”
“Yes. Are you outside right now?”
“Yup! I’m heading out to see him! I’ll call you later, Akaashi!”
There was a slight pause as Koutarou waited for a 'bye.'
“Good luck, Bokuto-san.”
It was about time that he finally paid Kuroo’s bookstore a return visit.
He pushed open the door. The inside looked the same, warm lighting, the smell of old books.
“Bo!”
There weren’t many things that were considered a concern for Koutarou, and right now, confidence wasn’t one of them.