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Kuroo had already noticed that glasses guy from Karasuno since Golden Week practice.
In his mental archive, he had classified him as a freshman who wasn’t very interested in volleyball, and that he practiced it as a tedious chore, dragged by discontent.
(He reminded him of Kenma. Maybe that blonde was dye, too.)
During summer training camp, he confirmed his guesses – Glasses guy still had that bored and weary expression printed all over his face, as if he didn’t belong to that place at all.
Why? It was a shame he wasn’t motivated. He was just as tall, as smart, for what Kuroo had seen in matches so far.
(All that physique and brains gone to waste.)
To Kuroo, provoking others meant a challenge, and being able to make them see another reality was a goal.
(The true reality of volleyball. That moment, cueing Bokuto’s philosophy.)
Karasuno needed someone like Glasses-kun to be at 100% capacity if they were willing to keep their status as direct opponents of Nekoma.
(Kuroo needed just as much, too. Probably.)
It started when he and Bokuto were in need of an extra blocker.
Block for us, was the excuse.
Learn to block if that’s your position, was the provocation.
Glasses-kun seemed reticent at first, but in the end he stayed. Kuroo wasted no time in teaching him how to properly block. Bokuto also teasing him for his weak technique helped, too.
Glasses-kun turned out to be quite focused, at least.
Kuroo couldn’t ask for more, or so he thought.
(It escalated from that moment on. )
(Kuroo learned the cutesy nickname Tsukki from others’ mouths and then it couldn’t leave his. Kuroo considered those arms and legs as no longer pale limbs, but warm skin that grazed his own for less than a second between blocks, and left him with the worrying need for more. Kuroo wondered whether he would be mad at him by snatching his glasses away just to see how he’d look without them.)
Sooner than expected, Tsukki delivered the new tips learned powerfully through a complete shutdown. His jump was accurately on time. His fingers were no longer hesitant. He eventually found control.
A sense of pride made Kuroo’s smile widen.
Something else made his chest flutter.
(Perhaps it was Kuroo’s time to learn.)