I've Always Loved You | Kuroo Tetsurou

one

"Kuroo," the pudding hair setter called out to his childhood friend as he stood there, speechless in the middle of the school corridor.

"Hurry, Yaku and the others are waiting for us in the cafeteria already, and I do not want to sit between Lev and Yamamoto again." Kenma groaned and slightly tugged at Kuroo's sleeve. Kuroo didn't seem to move at Kenma's action so he looked in the direction his captain was looking, and was left speechless as well.

Four years.

It's been four years since they last heard of you, and now you were walking out of your classroom surrounded by a bunch of hormonal boys who were trying to get your number.

You weren't very fond of these boys talking to you since you sucked at socially interacting with others, but you couldn't get the courage to tell them to go away. You continued walking trying to get away from them as much as you could, but they insisted in buying you some sort of snack for lunch.

"Kiko," Kuroo blurted out without even thinking. He was in shock, he never would've called you out like that, not after all the rude things he used to say to you, but to him everything he told you didn't seem to be rude.

You looked in the direction where your first name was called.

No, it couldn't have been him.

You moved away halfway through your second year of middle school in order for this moment to never happen.

Why was he here?

"Kiko," Kuroo said again, still struggling on what exactly he should be saying right now.

"It's Hirugami." you interrupted him before he could continue. How dare he address you so casually after years of not speaking? How dare he address you like that as if he didn't break your young spirits before you moved away?

He didn't say anything after that, so his gaze moved towards all of the boys who were still surrounding you. It made him feel uneasy, seeing males be around you like that. You seemed to notice how his glare bore into the bodies of the boys which caused them to stumble away from you. Kenma was still standing next to Kuroo, scared of what to say to you since you corrected his captain so quickly.

"Hirugami, it's been so long. Where did you go?" Kuroo seemed to get his act together once he saw haw awkward the atmosphere had gotten. "I- I mean we, we were worried for so long, you suddenly vanished." He didn't know what he was trying to say, he just wanted to hear you speak to him again.

Kenma seemed to notice how tense his best friend was, so he put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back since he was starting to take a few steps towards you. You looked at Kuroo up and down, dang he hasn't changed one bit, you thought.

Kenma then thought it was a good time to speak since Kuroo was still in a state of shock, "Higuri-" but you cut him off as well.

"Kenma, you can still call me Kiko." You smiled warmly at your childhood best friend who's only dramatic change was his dyed hair. Kenma nodded and smiled as well. "I missed you so much." Tears brimmed his eyes as he ran towards you, engulfing you with a hug. You were a little overwhelmed with his action but hugged him back. You hadn't seen him in almost four years. The hug didn't last long as it was interrupted by a high pitched voice coming from the other side of the hallway.

A slim girl with short blonde hair lightly jogged in your direction yelling Kuroo-senpai over and over again while waving. Kenma scrunched up his face and looked at Kuroo who turned his head towards the girl. "Kuroo, I was looking for you, here." She handed him a box of chocolate milk. He thanked the girl and brushed her off. You had no idea who that was and you didn't want to know either. You looked at Kenma who was now looking at you again.

"Are you headed to lunch? I can eat lunch with you if you want." Kenma offered as he kept the eye contact. His cheeks had a small tint of pink on them just as when you were kids. He would always get flustered when he asked you anything directly. You smiled once again, "Yes I was, thank you, Kenma." You and Kenma walked off leaving Kuroo still standing with the box of chocolate milk still in his hand.

Why did you ignore him? You surely didn't mean to, right? You guys were all friends when you were kids, so why did you make him address you that way instead of how he used to?

When he stopped asking himself so many questions he looked up and both of you guys were gone. He let out a sigh of frustration and walked to the cafeteria where the rest of the volleyball club was surely waiting for him. He took another look at the box of milk in his hand and chucked it in the trash can, he hated chocolate milk.

As he slowly walked down the stairs he could hear yours and Kenma's distinct laughs. He stopped at the bottom of the steps to try and listen into your conversation.

"Oh my goodness, you play volleyball? I never thought you two would actually do it. I just thought it was a phase, like me." Her voice sounded beautiful. Had it never sounded like that? Why does it feel so unnatural to him?

"I didn't think I could pull it off either, but Kuroo persuaded me. He might have been a real jerk to you back then but at least we always got together to play games." Kenma chuckled at the end and looked at the ground. You hesitated to say something because your thoughts started to take over. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought those ugly memories back. Umm,-"

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Some of those ugly memories ended up better since I stayed at your house to play video games." You lightly laughed trying to ease up the tense atmosphere that was created. A few moments passed of you and Kenma just chatting and eating your packed bento's.

"Lunch is almost over, Kiko, it's nice knowing you're back. Did you move back into the neighborhood?" You looked at Kenma as he sipped his apple juice. "Yes, I did, we should hang out after school and catch up. I got way better at video games." You smirked and got a smile back from him. Just as he was about to say something you interrupted him, "Oh, mind if I get your number? I don't have any friends here yet other than you so it would be nice to have someone to talk throughout the day." He laughed and took the phone from your hands typing in his phone number. "Thank you." You put his contact name as; KenKen ᓚᘏᗢ

"I have to get going back to class, text me so we can hang out soon." With that he waved goodbye and walked off to his class.

Kuroo sat at the bottom of the steps slowly remembering his childhood with you and Kenma. He sighed when he remembered how you would always cry. Most of the time it was because of him.

You had moved away without saying goodbye to anyone.

After four years, he had forgotten all the damage he had done to you, but you surely didn't forget.