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Kuroo has never been in love. Sure, he does love Kenma, but it’s not the let me get in you balls deep kind of love. He also loves Bokuto, but they haven’t… Well, they have done some experimenting on their own, but he considers the guy a brother; a brother that you occasionally fuck when you get bored and you have nothing else to do. The bottom line is, he has never been in love love.
Not until Sugawara walks in the café he’s in with Kenma. It feels like Cupid wants him dead, because he chokes him and saps his lungs. He doesn’t even want to breathe.
Kuroo slaps Kenma’s arm. Kenma lets out a quiet mewl but doesn’t pick his gaze from his game. He nudges him again. “Hey,” he mutters, his tone hushed. He hides his face behind the large takeaway cup of macchiato. “Isn’t that Sugawara from Karasuno?”
“I don’t know,” mumbles Kenma to his game.
Kuroo lets out an annoyed grumble and fixes his gaze on Sugawara. Idly he wonders what the boy is doing here, alone, but within a second he realizes the latter statement is far from the truth – Sawamura marches behind Sugawara on the counter. Kuroo grits his teeth. But he tries to ignore the annoying swirl of dark hair of the other captain, and rather focuses on looking at what his eyes caught first. He tilts his head slightly and lets his gaze travel from the very top of the light hair to the back of the shoes; he pays special attention to the roundness of the bottom that looks delicious. The way the small of the back curves so perfectly makes his collar tighten. He might have never been in love, but damn, he has spent his fair share checking people out, and he knows when he encounters something beautiful. Sugawara is exactly that. Pretty. Oddly so.
The smile Sugawara gives to Sawamura beside him is an angel’s. Kuroo frowns and hears his pulse tick right on the root of his ear. Guys or girls, he’s not really fussy about that, and now he parts his lips to a shivery sigh and stares. He’s the only one staring, and he wonders if no one else can see the beauty of the Karasuno setter. Weird. Kuroo scratches the back of his messy hair. His cheeks glow. In fact, his whole body glows underneath the clothes that feel a little bit too tight for the occasion. A second longer he catches a glimpse of the illuminating, bright smile, and then it’s gone.
It’s enough to get him infatuated.
So many questions roll on the tip of his tongue. What are you doing here in Tokyo? Mind if I join you? Mind if you fuck off for a second, Sawamura? Kuroo follows Sugawara’s movements with his gaze and swallows hard. Under the lighting of the coffee shop, the setter is breathtaking.
“That’s gross,” says Kenma beside him.
Reluctantly Kuroo turns his gaze to him. “What?”
“Your face. You’re blushing.”
“Am not.”
Kenma’s lips flatten and he arches a brow, and Kuroo knows what it means; say what you want but I’m right and you’re wrong. Worried, Kuroo fishes his phone out of his pocket and checks his face with the help of the front camera. Kenma is right – he is blushing, fiercely, deeply, his cheeks dark scarlet and the color doesn’t go away no matter how he rubs. He tightens his grasp from the phone. Didn’t they exchange numbers during the training camp…? His heart jumps up his throat. Kuroo parts his lips again and lets out a little moan under his breath, glances towards the right table. Neither of them notices them, and he blames it on Kenma who always insists on the shadiest corner. His fingers quiver. His spine tingles, and the area between his shoulder blades tenses. He rubs his cheeks once more to be absolutely sure that the color won’t disappear, and then accepts his fluster. He only hopes it’ll be gone soon enough.
He texts Sugawara. ‘Look behind you and to the corner’.
From afar he watches Sugawara squirm to take his phone out of his pocket few seconds later. Seconds from that, and he settles a wicked grin on his lips when the setter turns around and looks dumbfounded. Kuroo wiggles his fingers to him. If he doesn’t know better, Sugawara looks almost delighted. The angel’s smile climbs up to his lips, and Sugawara yanks Sawamura up with him together with their coffee cups.
When they reach their table, Kuroo makes sure there is only one seat available beside him, and that it’s sure as hell not Sawamura sitting on it.
*
A week of daily texts and one phone call (which he spends talking dirty with his purring tone – Sugawara giggles the entire time) later Kuroo finally asks Sugawara out on a date. He explicitly uses the word ‘date’ to create no confusion. He wants to make sure they’re on the same page. Beside him Kenma gives him a look.
Five minutes after Sugawara agrees and adds a smiley, comes a text from Sawamura.
‘Don’t you fucking hurt him or I will cut off your balls’.
Kuroo isn’t sure whether to laugh or be terrified.
*
Kuroo stares at himself from the mirror with narrowed cat-like eyes. No matter how much gel or hairspray he wastes on his hair, the darkness remains unruly and so very up. He grunts and tries once more now that he has washed it clean (per Kenma’s order through a ridiculous, last-minute-jitters Skype call), but it’s no use. He gives up and turns his concentration on his choice of clothing. He wanted to opt for comfortable sweatpants, Kenma told him to wear jeans. Why exactly he is listening Kenma who hasn’t had a date in his life, Kuroo isn’t sure. Jeans aren’t necessary, and they only make his ass feel goddamn restricted. He checks himself out and smirks to what he sees, but the motion of his lips melts as soon as he thinks things through.
The plan is to stay here. At his home. His parents gone (thank all the deities for that). He tried to suggest sightseeing, but Sugawara claimed he has seen them all. Kuroo cocks his head to his reflection and works his fingers through his hair once more. If it wants to be a mess, it better be a sexy mess. He puckers his lips and rehearses his teasing grin. It doesn’t look effective at all under the blush that decorates him. He slaps himself on the cheek to get rid of it, but it only achieves the opposite. For one final time he checks his phone for encouragement, but Kenma hasn’t sent anything. That traitor. Kuroo gives himself a sad grin and hurries to make sure the place looks neat enough.
When the doorbell finally rings, he feels like Cupid is coming for a second round of let-me-choke-the-fuck-out-of-you. His lungs stop working, and as he takes big breaths that don’t make any sense at all, he marches to the front door and swings it open.
And goddamn, does Sugawara look good. Kuroo’s used to seeing him in jerseys and sweatpants, but the guy looks cute with jeans and sweater, and if he wasn’t so smitten, he would drag him to the bedroom and have his way with him like he often does with Bokuto when that guy stands behind the door. But Sugawara’s special. Sugawara smiles like an angel and brushes some hair behind his ear, and looks just… so… Kuroo loses all of his vocabulary. Just stares at Sugawara with eyes that show a little bit too much white. Sugawara clears his throat quietly, discreetly, and shifts weight from one foot to another. How can someone look so pretty? Kuroo remembers the time when he thought Kenma was the prettiest – he got over that phase quite fast –, but Sugawara is like from a different planet. He stares at the beauty mole underneath his eye. He wants to dart his tongue out and taste.
It’s that specific thought that pulls him out of the trance. His knees tremble. “Come on in,” he says. His voice quivers, and as Sugawara passes him, he squeezes his eyes close and knocks his knuckles against the side of his head. What is the thinking? Flustered, blushing, it’s ridiculous. But as Kuroo turns around and faces Sugawara, his legs turn into jelly.
He thinks it’s love. Why else would he become such a mess whose tongue has been stolen by a sneaky cat?
He kind of wants to text his revelation to Kenma.
“Uh.” Sugawara’s eyes are so fucking pretty. Kuroo stares, and when he realizes he stares, he still doesn’t know how to look elsewhere anymore. “Movie? I mean, you want to watch a movie or something?” He flashes a smirk, but it’s gone as soon as Sugawara’s lips twitch even higher.
“That sounds good,” Sugawara reassures. His voice is like honey to Kuroo, or catnip. The expensive kind.
Kuroo takes a second to collect himself. “Just walk forward and you’ll get to the living room, I’ll bring some drinks.”
“Oh, you really don’t have to bother! I can do without—“
“I’d be a lousy host if I’d do that, so relax.” His voice is starting to sound normal again. Good.
He ushers Sugawara to the living room and escapes to the kitchen himself. His heart pounds like it often does after a match, and adrenaline drains through his veins, trickles towards his toes that he curls against the floor. He grabs two glasses and the carton of juice (he wanted to go with tea, but when he discussed his plans with Kenma, Kenma gave him the look), fills both of them, and tries to carry them to the living room. But the juice spills as his hands shake, and he can’t help but call himself an embarrassment. He manages somehow, although his fingers are sticky and smell of apples by the time he reaches the couch and takes a seat beside Sugawara. He wipes his hands clean to the hem of his shirt and grips his knees, and sits so upright he feels like someone has shoved a pole up his ass. From the corner of his eye he glances at Sugawara. The setter is still holding a smile on his lips.
“What are we going to watch?”
“I rented some romantic comedy,” Kuroo says and reaches towards the DVD on the table. Sways it around a bit. “Not really my thing but I thought, you know…”
“I’m not entirely sure if I know.” Sugawara smiles sweetly, yet his brows drew in together. Cute.
Kuroo forgets how to speak for a moment. “A date. For a date. You know, it’s a date. So romantic comedy. Unless you want to watch something else, I’m completely cool with that.”
Although he wasn’t being very cool at the moment.
Sugawara laughs gently. “I’m completely… cool with that, please don’t worry.”
If Kuroo could stop worrying, he’d do anything to achieve it. Now he simply nods and crawls to the television to start the movie, and with nerves bubbling right underneath his skin he takes a seat again beside Sugawara. He misses the opening credits because he is too occupied with the fact that Sugawara sits so close to him. He’s right there, within his reach, and as his mind trails, he thinks of Sawamura’s text and inhales a sharp breath. Whatever happens, he’s sure that Sugawara will tell it to Sawamura like he will tell to Kenma. Kuroo swallows hard and tries to mask the sound by a cough. It turns more into a choking kind of noise, and under Sugawara’s clearly worried glance he turns even redder.
Whoever stole his cool façade, he’d want it back. Right now.
He spends fifteen minutes watching the movie, and the next fifteen to think how Sugawara’s hand is between their bodies, the palm towards the ceiling, the fingers slightly curled, and doesn’t it look like an invitation to hold it? Kuroo stares down at it and feels his armpits turn damp. His fingertips itch. That means it’s okay to hold hands, right? He has held hands several times, often with Kenma in the midst of the worst winters, sometimes with others, but now his feel almost sweaty. Even Sugawara’s fingers look pretty. Lean, a little coarse, but that makes them so much better. Kuroo narrows his eyes. Why the hell is he overthinking everything? He never does that. He pulls his fingers to pale fists. He can just put his hand in Sugawara’s, right? Right?
After another five-minute moment of hesitation, he decides to be discreet. He fixes his gaze back to the movie and drops his hand to his thigh, and from there slides it beside his body on the couch. Just a little in between… He reaches his pinky towards Sugawara and can’t feel his heart anymore. He holds in a breath and sees zigzag in front of him. The moment he feels the tip of his little finger brush against the side of Sugawara’s palm is also the moment he lets out an embarrassingly loud breath. He’s touching him. He swears Sugawara perks beside him. Encouraged now, Kuroo moves his whole hand closer until it snuggles safely in Sugawara’s. Their fingers tangle together. His own hand feels so damn damp, but he ignores that and rather concentrates on the strokes Sugawara’s thumb gives to his knuckles.
Now that that step is taken, Kuroo feels a lot calmer. He squeezes Sugawara’s hand ever so slightly and looks at him. Sugawara turns his gaze towards him and offers the sweetest smile he has ever seen. An arrow of infatuation pierces straight through Kuroo’s heart and makes him feel like a gooey mess inside. He couldn’t care less about the movie now that he can safely drown in the other boy’s eyes; he doesn’t even want a life jacket. A breath gets stuck in his lungs. Sugawara blinks. His eyelashes are so long, and Kuroo spends a good moment to just stare. He takes all these little things in his mind and savors them. Shudders. As a romantic song blasts in the background, Sugawara flusters ever so slightly and leans in.
Kuroo’s eyes widen. Sugawara’s lips are close, so close. Few inches away, and he blurts out, “What are you doing?”
They both startle. Sugawara breaths sharply through his nose and clearly flusters even more, as he pulls his hand to his own lap and busies himself with looking around. “I-I, nothing! Nothing, I was, I, I lost my balance.”
Kuroo curses himself to the lowest ward of hell. Perfect setting for a kiss, and he ruins it. Chewing the inside of his cheek, he grabs Sugawara’s hand back to himself. The fingers in his grasp quiver gently, and he holds them, gives them a little boost of courage. “I want to do that,” he says, and then adds, “Kissing. I mean… that’s what you wanted to do, right? I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking, I really want to kiss you, alright?”
At first, Sugawara stares at him. Then, he bursts to the cutest giggles Kuroo has ever heard, and he’s absolutely sold.
“Sorry, I’m so nervous,” Sugawara admits.
“You’re nervous? Dude, just… Fucking hell.” Now that he regains his ability to speak normally again, he splutters out nothing but swearwords. Kuroo rolls his eyes at himself and inches a little closer until the outer sides of their thighs touch. Once he looks into Sugawara’s eyes again, he feels strange calm inside him. This is it. He’s going to kiss the prettiest setter on the entire planet.
He leans in gentler than he has ever done before to anyone, and plants his lips on Sugawara’s. The kiss is soft, moist, a little slick with saliva, but it’s perfect. Kuroo hums against the mouth and allows a quiet moan to escape, and Sugawara mimics the noise. Not ready to let go quite yet, Kuroo wraps an arm around the other boy’s waist and tugs him closer. Glued together, their lips sealed for what feels like forever, Kuroo feels nipping in his abdomen and bubbling in his chest near his heart. He pulls back for a quick breath, takes a hold of both of Sugawara’s hands and goes in for another kiss. And another. Another. Another, another, until he’s a panting, flustered mess just like Sugawara.
They forget about the rest of the movie and kiss instead.