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Eight am class on a Monday morning was too goddamn early. Still, Tsukishima was here. He was barely awake, dressed in the first clothes he had found that morning and had already drank half of the coffee in his thermos, but he was still here. Perhaps he could sneak in a few extra minutes of shut eye before class actually started, he still had about seven minutes. The blond laid his arms on the table and place his forehead on top of them and was just about to close his eyes when the sound of the chair scraping and a voice next to him stopped that.
“Morning, Tsukki!” Dear god. Tsukishima would really like to know what sort of supernatural being he pissed off for this man to always sit next to him during lecture. He always looked like he rolled out of bed himself (how the fuck was that hair natural) but always appeared to be awake and alert the three times their class met during the week. He always had to talk to Tsukishima as well. “You’re looking chipper this morning?” Tsukishima made a small noise of acknowledgement before burying his face further into his arms.
Now, Kuroo was aware that his seatmate didn’t say much, during class or outside of it. When he attempted to talk to Tsukishima it was more often than not one-sided, and that was fine with him. What he wasn’t aware of was that Tsukishima probably had as huge of a crush on Kuroo as Kuroo did on him.
Thus went their days.
Tsukishima showed up tired to class. Kuroo showed up looking too awake. There was what only could be described as a poor conversation between the two men before the lecture started and then they parted ways until their next meeting.
Yeah. Love was on the horizon.
Tsukishima would have honestly been fine with leaving things like this until the end of the semester, Kuroo was probably just trying to be friendly with the quiet kid in class who never said anything anyway. Then one morning, Tsukishima didn’t get a greeting. He heard the chair being pulled out next to him, heard Kuroo sit down, but then there was silence save for the usualy pre-class background chatter.
Curious, he chanced a quick peek from his usual position of head on the table to find Kuroo just staring at him. His elbow was propped up on the table, his head resting on his fist, just staring.
“What?”
“You know, I’ve thought I’d been making it pretty obvious that I’m interested in you.” Tsukishima jolted a bit, caught off guard by the news and Kuroo’s rather casual way of delivering it. “Maybe I was wrong, granted it doesn’t happen that often. I got it though, message received.”
Wait, what message? Did he think he wasn’t interested? Did he think the was purposefully ignoring him? Well, some mornings yes when he came in ranting about some cat video he watched the night before. Eighty percent of the time that wasn’t the case though. Tsukishima opened his mouth to try and remedy the situation, but the professor came in and started his lecture. Tsukishima had a class across campus right after this and they wouldn’t see each other for the weekend after today...what could he do though?
He stared down at his notebook. It was stupid, high school level stupid, but it was the only thing in his arsenal right now. Tsukishima quickly scribbled on the paper and slid the notebook over towards Kuroo, making sure it hit his arm. The other man looked surprised at the gesture but looked down at the paper nonetheless and his eyes widened further before he stood up abruptly from his chair and grabbed Tsukishima’s hands in his. “Are you serious?! Really?! That’s great! Oh my god, that’s amazing Tsukki!”
The entire class of course heard and saw the exchange, already laughing and tittering amongst themselves as the professor sighed and pointed towards the door. “Gentlemen, if you would take you personal conversation outside. This is a place of learning.” Both men quickly packed up their bags, neither too heartbroken or worried about being kicked out of that class for one morning, and as soon as they stepped out into the hallway Kuroo whirled around to face Tsukishima, brandishing the notebook like a treasure. On it Tsukishima had written, ‘I do like you. You’re just too loud and fucking annoying for eight in the morning.’
“Did you mean it?”
“...yes.”
Kuroo leaned in closer, giving an almost cat like grin as he asked his next question, filled with confidence once again. “How about a date then? Especially since you kicked us out of class. There’s a really good coffee shop down the corner.”
Tsukishima frowned, “You got us kicked out with your yelling, Kuroo. You could have just written back on the paper like a normal person. I’d like my property back as well, I need my notes for a lab later.”
“Oh no, I’m holding this hostage so you don’t run out on our date early.”
“I haven’t even agreed to go with you.”
“But you liiiiike me, don’t you?”
“I regret ever speaking to you.”
Kuroo laughed as he grabbed Tsukishima’s hand and pulled him along. “Come on, we’ve got coffee to get and a date to start!”