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Not many people know, but as a kid, back when he moved to Tokyo, Kuroo wasn't this smart-mouth, confident guy that most know him as.
After his parents divorced he had to move from Itoman- a small city on the Okinawa Island- to Tokyo.
The big city and drastic change of environment scared him. Kuroo felt like he didn't fit in with the kids. He spoke differently and his skin was slightly darker- thanks to Okinawa's ruthless sun and living very close to the beach.
He never made a friend on his own before Tokyo. He much rather spent time fishing on a boat with his grandpa. The one person that made Kuroo go out to people was his older sister Yasashi, that insisted he played volleyball with her and her friends.
So as you can imagine, getting split apart hurt Kuroo quite a lot.
Kuroo's first real friend, that he made on his own was Kenma. Well... to be technically correct, Kenma was the one that hung out with him, when Kuroo was too scared to talk, afraid that this Tokyo kid would make fun of his dialect. He didn't seem like the kind do to such a thing, but you'll never know.
After getting Kenma into volleyball, the same way Yasashi did to him, and getting to know him a little better, making new friends came easier.
But easier doesn't mean easy.
Now, at the age of 15 years old, Kuroo is standing in the big gym of Shinzen High waiting for the first training camp of his high-school career, and without Kenma at his side he can't help but let that kid self take over him. He knows Kai and Yaku quite well already, second years are pretty cool too, but their third year Capitan and Vice Capitan are a mean pain in Kuroo's asshole. If there's one thing he's sure of, is that he won't miss these guys.
While Yaku and Kai are at the other end of the gym, Kuroo stands in the corner not sure what to do with himself. There's so many new people it makes him anxious. He fidgets with his fingers, itching to play, but can't do it now. Everyone has to wait, because some team is late.
Just as he thinks about going out to breath some fresh air, Kuroo hears the sound of gym door opening. And there they are. Fukurodani Academy.
Kuroo heard about them a lot from his older teammates. There wasn't a time in history when they weren't powerful- going to nationals was like a tradition to them at this point.
Out of the crowd one person sticks out to Kuroo.
Tall, buff guy with stupidly spiked hair that is coloristically matching his Fukurodani jacked.
He brought a lot of attention to himself- Kuroo heard some guys whispering to each other about him- but he was trailing of behind the rest of the team, like he lacked confidence.
Not long after Fukurodani's arrival coaches walked out of the gym and players were left alone. Groups of people that knew each other formed but Kuroo had no intention of joining any of them. He found a bench nearest to his corner and sat down, waiting for a match to start.
His piece was interrupted by loud:
"WHOAH cool hair!"
Kuroo raised his head to shoot the guy a confused look.
He was met with a bright smile and wide gold eyes. After a second of searching for any bits of sarcasm on the other's face Kuroo found nothing.
Nothing but sincerity in those eyes.
"Mine?" He pointed at his hair with a finger, still in disbelieve. "You're the only one that thinks they look cool."
"No way!" He sat cross-legged on the floor directly before Kuroo and seemed like thinking about something before speaking again. "I didn't introduce myself! Bokuto Kotaro, Fukurodani's wing spiker and future ace."
Kuroo snorted but took the hand offered to him, and wasn't surprised by the strength of Bokuto's grip at all.
"Kuroo Tetsuro, Nekoma's middle blocker and killer of Fukurodani's future ace's spikes." He smirked and Bokuto laughed loudly. But covered his mouth as soon as he realized people at the gym were looking at him.
Not fair, I liked that sound.
"Sorry, I can be too loud sometimes." He sulked down and hunched his back like he was trying to make himself smaller and it made Kuroo mad for some reason. Not mad at Bokuto, but people that surely said those words to him before.
So he decided to do something about it.
"Have you ever thought that maybe..." Kuroo bent down to Bokuto and whispered to him, like some kind of secret "...maybe you're not too loud, maybe other people are too quiet."
Bokuto grinned, so bright it almost made Kuroo blind.
"I'll hold on to that thought." And Kuroo couldn't help but smile too.
Their moment was ruined by coaches coming back and announcing the beginning of the matches.
"See you under the net then. Prepare to loose." There was a glint in Bokuto's eyes that wasn't there before, like he was hungry for the win. Kuroo, never being the one to back away from a challenge said:
"I should be saying that to you."
Which, looking back, was very stupid, considering that Nekoma lost every match played against Fukurodani and Kuroo's blocks were nothing against Bokuto's spikes for majority of the first set.
Then the emo mood happened and Kuroo managed to do something, but it didn't feel satisfying.
So he tried cheering him up. When the words of encouragement didn't work, Kuroo changed his tactic. He started provoking Bokuto with things like:
"Ooh what a shame, I thought you'd be tougher competition."
"I bet you couldn't go through my block now, even if you wanted to."
"That's not Fukurudani's future ace-like."
It was a low blow, but it worked. Also it made Nekoma's Capitan mad, because they lost their advantage, but who cares about that guy.
After official practice was over, everyone got permission to do some individual work, but not many were eager, due to being exhausted.
Kuroo wasn't done though. He went to a Gym Number 3, took a ball and begun service drills. Ten minutes in, he got interrupted.
"Wow you stayed for individual practice!" He didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"Gotta work on that jump serve to beat you." A loud laugh escaped Bokuto, that just put his volleyball shoes on, and was walking toward Kuroo.
"You wish." Without asking he took the ball from Kuroo's hands. "Look at how it's done." Few steps back, perfect serve toss and Bokuto was in air, slamming the ball directly on the back line.
"Service ace, even if the players were there. You're not so bad at this whole volleyball thing." That got Kuroo a punch in the arm.
"Not so bad? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, get rid of those moods and you'll be great." Bokuto's arms hunched a little at that comment, but without a word he went and grabbed a cart full of volleyballs.
"Toss for me."
More than an hour went by before they got tired. When whole gym got cleaned up and closed, both of them walked outside and laid on the warm ground.
"Damn, even from here you can't see the stars."
Kuroo turned his head to Bokuto who was looking at the sky with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yeah, it's because of light pollution. We would have to get away from Tokyo to see them."
Bokuto turned to lay on his stomach and propped his head on folded hands.
"Light pollution?"
Without changing his position on the ground Kuroo started explaining.
"To put it simply, all the city lights are so bright you can't see stars because of them."
"You're a smart guy, Kuroo."
"I have my moments."
Few seconds of silence passed and Bokuto went back to laying on his back, a little closer to Kuroo than before. Not that he minded.
"Have you ever saw stars? Like the whole sky just packed with them?"
At that Kuroo turned his head to Bokuto.
"What do you mean? Of course I have, lots of times." His whole face scrunched in confusion. "Haven't you?"
"Nahh, I never leave Tokyo, and you can't see them from here."
Now that he mentioned it, the last time Kuroo saw stars was back at Itoman.
"I'll take you to my home town some day, so you can look at them all you want."
"Don't tell me what's your home town’s name, so I can have a surprise."
Kuroo laughed quietly.
"Sure."
They were lying in silence for a few more minutes before Bokuto spoke again.
"What you said earlier, about my moods." Damn. Kuroo didn't think he would take this seriously. It was just some stupid comment Kuroo didn't thought through. "I'm working on them. It's just- I-" A deep breath. "I don't want to mess up so bad, that when I do, I'm scared the team is going to get mad and I mess up more. Just like with me being loud. I know from middle school people don't like when I'm super energetic and stuff." He stood up and give Kuroo a hand to help him stand up too.
"But I’ll get great, you'll see."
The rest of this summer training camp was spent on late night practice and talks, so when it ended Kuroo couldn't help but feel sad. He and Bokuto became friends so naturally, that it felt like they knew each other their whole lives. They exchanged numbers and promised to met up some time.
They did. And they met up more times after that, until they started their second year- both of them gained more confidence. Kuroo become the smart-mouth, smirking guy and Bokuto the ever energetic, loud one. New capitans of Nekoma and Fukurodani.
Another training camp started, and this time it wasn't just them at the Gym Number 3, but also Akaashi and Kenma (who was just sitting on the bench watching them play, but still). During this camp they were accused a lot for 'flirting under the net instead of playing' but they were just friendly rivals who liked to provoke each other. Right?
When it was the time for their third, and last summer training camp, Hinata, Lev and Tsukishima joined them both and Akaashi at Gym Number 3. At the time they got hailed The Most Obnoxious Couple in the history of the camp and were openly irritating everyone with their under the net flirting.
After high-school they went separate ways. Kuroo went to collage and Bokuto joined a professional volleyball team, so it was difficult to make time for each other, but they made it through.
Now, ten years after they first met, Kuroo is sitting in their apartment packing a suitcase for a vacation trip, that he doesn't just want. He needs it. He's been working his ass of at the JVA lately. Bokuto could also use a little break. Black Jackals won championship this season so it's well deserved.
"Why can't you just tell me where we're going?" Whined Bokuto for probably 10th time since morning.
"It's a surprise, and if you keep whining I'll just go alone." Bokuto looked like he wanted to protest but decided against it. He stood up declaring he's going to drop Sardine (their cat; yes, Kuroo named her, yes, he thought it was hilarious) off at Akaashi's and he'll be back.
Just when Kuroo heard the front door closing, he went to their living room and took a little box from under the couch where he hid it. And inside of the plain paper box was a smaller, velvet one.
He took it and went back to put it in his backpack.
On the airport Kuroo forced Bokuto to wear headphones so he wouldn't hear where they were going, and made him promise he wouldn't look for any signs. And Bokuto would never break a promise, even that stupid, so Kuroo was calm. He wanted to surprise Bokuto as much as he could.
After short flight they landed at Naha Airport, where Kuroo rented a car. There was no way of hiding their localization now.
"So we're in Okinawa! That's great!" Bokuto was so exited he was almost buzzing in his seat. "Where are we going exactly?"
"To the hotel."
"But where?"
"At the beach."
"Kuroo!"
"What's up?"
"You're an asshole."
"I love you too."
When all their luggage, except Kuroo's backpack, was secure at their hotel room Kuroo led them to the beach and rented a boat.
"You know how to drive that?" Asked Bokuto suspiciously before getting on the deck.
"No, but how hard can it be?" At that Bokuto froze and Kuroo laughed his hyena laugh.
"I'm kidding! If I couldn't, why would I rent it?"
"How should I know? You have crazy ideas sometimes." Mumbled Bokuto under his nose.
"Come on." Kuroo kissed him on the cheek. " There's kitchen inside, you can cook something, while I take us somewhere."
"Let's say I trust you with not getting us lost in the middle of the ocean."
Just as Kuroo got exactly where he wanted to be, which was in the middle of nowhere, Bokuto said the dinner was ready.
"Come on, we'll eat at the deck." Bokuto took their plates, and Kuroo took a bottle of sake and two glasses.
"So my trust was for nothing and you got us lost in the ocean?" Bokuto looked around for any piece of land, but found nothing.
"I know where we are, me and my grandpa went fishing here all the time." That seemed to get Bokuto's full attention.
Good, in ten minutes it will get completely dark.
"Your grandpa? You came here often?"
"Mhmm." Hummed Kuroo through a large bite, buying himself some time. He took a sip of his sake and continued. "Remember our first training camp? When we stayed after practice?"
Bokuto's mouth opened to reply, but Kuroo put his finger on it to keep him from talking. "Shh, let me speak."
"When we were lying in the grass, I told you I'll take you to my home town, and you asked to not tell you what it is, so you'll have a surprise."
Many people told them it was stupid. How could you be with someone for so long and don't know where they're from? But it wasn't stupid to Kuroo. Bokuto asked him to keep his mouth shut, and he did. Keeping promises was important to both of them.
This trip was in Kuroo's mind for some time now, but they never had time. Either Kuroo's schedule was full, or Bokuto's. But this summer Kuroo decided it was a goddamn time.
"Well, we're not exactly in my home town- I'm from Itoman, and we're going there tomorrow- but I wanted to show you something first."
He stood up and turned the light on the boat off, so it was completely dark.
"Let your eyes get used to the darkness for a little bit, while I talk." He sat down carefully, avoiding his food and sake.
"This first day of training camp was exactly ten years ago. You were looking at the sky, hopeful you'll see the stars, but they weren't there-"
"Because of light pollution." Said Bokuto so quietly it was almost a whisper as his brain put everything in place.
"Yeah, and we're in the middle of nowhere. No cities in the horizon." Kuroo raised his head to look at the sky. The view so familiar, but still beautiful to look at.
And then he heard a gasp coming from Bokuto, and his eyes followed the sound.
His mouth was slightly open and his head was tilted to the sky. After few seconds Bokuto stood up and started walking around the boat, the only sound surrounding them being waves and his quiet "ooh's" and "wow's".
Bokuto was looking at the sky and Kuroo was looking at Bokuto. The view so familiar, but still beautiful to look at.
"I'm- Kuroo this is amazing." His voice cracked a little and Kuroo walked up to him. His head had to hurt at this point but Bokuto was still looking up with awe, with tears shining in his eyes.
"I think there's something more amazing though." This words seemed to bring Bokuto back to earth. He was looking at Kuroo with crumpled eyebrows.
"What? More amazing than this?"
"Yep." Deep breath. Count to three. Be calm. "The stars are great and all, but you know what? Neil deGrasse Tyson said 'We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out— and we have only just begun.' We're built from the same stardust as those shiny guys." Kuroo gestured to the sky.
"It's like every single person is a star put on earth, and you are the brightest of them all."
"You're such a sap." Laughed Bokuto but stopped immediately, when he saw Kuroo getting on one knee.
"I'll always be the biggest sap in the world when it comes to you. Because let me tell you something." Again. Deep breath. You got this. "You're not only my partner but also my best friend. Every day that I wake up next to you, just you existing makes me happy. There's no other person in this world that could made my smile and laugh as much as you do. You have the kindest heart and love for the smallest things about this world. And that's what I love about you. I love how you laugh at stupid cat TikTok's, how every time it's raining you make me go out of the house to dance in it like we're fifteen again. I love that even though I start work an hour before you go to practice, you go out of your way to wake up before me and make me breakfast. I love how energetic, loud and positive you are, because I can't be sad and worry about anything when I'm around you. I love how close you're to your fans and how you love every single one of them. And they love you too, because you're the greatest volleyball player on this planet. I can't say every single thing I love about you right now, because we’ll be here all night. So."
Kuroo took the gold velvet box out of the pocket of his jacket and opened it.
Inside was a simple silver ring with their initials written on the inside of it. It was simple, but Kuroo thought it was perfect.
"So would you please make me the happiest guy in the galaxy and give me the rest of our lives to say all those things I can't right now?"
Bokuto was silent for a second. He wiped the tear that escaped from his eye and said:
"I can't believe it." And started laughing. "I can't believe you did it."
"Did what?"
"You beat me Kuroo Tetsuro." Bokuto reached to the pocket of his jacked and pulled out a similar box to what Kuroo was holding. "You did it first you ass."
"You wanted to-"
"Yeah but I'm glad you did it first. My plan wasn't even half as sappy as yours." Now both of them were laughing. "So, yes."
"Huh?"
"Yes, I'll marry you Kuroo." Smiled Bokuto and now Kuroo felt like crying. He put the ring on Bokuto's finger, and then Bokuto did the same but with more laughing involved.
"Now you have to show me some constellations. I'm still not over the fact there's so many stars on the sky."
Kuroo pulled Bokuto in for a quick kiss. He just poured his heart out to this man and he’s thinking about some gas balls in the sky.
Out of everything and everyone that stardust created, Bokuto Kotaro has to be Kuroo's favorite.