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I'm sorry for the short chapter </3 I'll make it up to you in the next chapter! ;)
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You groan quietly as the peaceful raindrops ticking against the window start getting louder and louder the more your mind starts to wake up. It was raining. You shudder as you feel cold air hit your back, Kuroo's warm body been replaced with... nothing. You slowly flutter your eyes open, your dark room giving no way to see anything. It felt like Kuroo wasn't next to you anymore, which made you frown. You were sure he was going to sleep at your place tonight, you can recall so far. It wasn't a dream, you thought.
You tiredly move your body up with your lower arms, pushing up your weight as you look around yourself even though you couldn't see anything because of how dark it was, but your eyes started to get used to it. You extended a hand to your side, quickly coming in contact with Kuroo's bare upper body, which made you flinch. ''I'm sorry,'' you whisper as you feel guilty and afraid the brief touch might have woken him up. ''It's okay.'' He replied. His voice was smooth and calm, showing no sign of any grogginess because of sleep. His voice was subtly giving away he hadn't had closed an eye at all.
You move your head to look at your digital clock, it displaying 3:18 AM in a bright red colour. The noise of soft breathing and the raindrops mixing was the only noise filling the room until you moved yourself on your back, your bed creaking faintly as you puff out a breath. ''What's bothering you?'' you speak quietly in a tone of care. You cared about him, a lot. Which is why it was difficult to bring up the conversation about the bet.
Kuroo is a popular guy at school, and many rumours had been spread around in the past— which is what Kuroo had ever told you when he took you out for a fancy dinner at McDonald's. They were ridiculous; going from him stealing tests to him supposedly cheating his way to being the captain of the volleyball team. He told you foolish stories about how he would have to defend himself, making silly impressions of the people he had to deal with. He made you laugh, causing you to choke on a fry you were chewing on and when you reached for your coke, it fell. You smile to yourself as you recall those memories, but your smile quickly fades away as the bet pops up into your mind again.
You couldn't talk to him about this right now. He was already dealing with his mother and you didn't want to give him more stress.
You reluctantly decided to wait with the conversation until he and his mom were back on 'decent' terms. Maybe it was part self-defence, being afraid of your heart getting broken, but you also cared about Kuroo. You didn't feel like it was right to bring your own feelings into question when he was struggling with his own. Even if the bet was real— although you rather wanted it to be fake, you felt like he had to heal from this first. Or maybe; you didn't want yourself to look like a fool if the bet does turn out to be real, but then again- you would already look like a fool by now if it's real.
Kuroo was lost in thoughts as he bit his upper lip with his bottom teeth, dragging his teeth along the soft flesh before inhaling deeply and trying his best to make his exhale as quiet as possible. His mind was a mess— not only because of his mother but also because of the bet. The bet he started to hate because of one reason: his heart. When he first met you he never thought he could ever catch feelings for you, that wasn't one of his priorities. Sure, he liked girls, ones with long hair preferably. It still wasn't on the top of his list though- relationships. He thought the bet Gin proposed to him was funny and him not having to do his homework anymore sounded appealing. In the end, his homework was always too much if he wanted to practice volleyball as much as he- in his eyes, need.
He started to catch feelings for you— real feelings. It was part of the bet, if Kuroo caught feelings then he'd lose. He didn't care if he lost the bet, his pride would remain undamaged since it was a dumb bet to him anyway. The reason he couldn't lose is because he didn't want Gin to be captain of the volleyball team. That's why he couldn't give up. That's why he had to go on, he couldn't falter. He had to break up with you eventually, but he couldn't- not yet. He would love to say 'I can't break up until my feelings fade away- if they ever do', but he couldn't because he knew Gin would bring it up sooner or later. Kuroo sighed, rubbing his eyes gently as his mind was fully a mess and he didn't know how to deal with it.
Talking to Kenma about this wasn't an option since he'd feel like an idiot and Kenma had already told him he had to be careful and that he wasn't thinking greatly of this bet. He thought it was unfair, which in reality it was. It was unfair. And after a lot of thinking- it wasn't even funny and Kuroo wished he could just stop.
He also couldn't tell you the reason why him and his mom argued because of the lie he told you. it was about science. His mom thought it wasn't fair to you that he was lying about being bad at science. In fact- sometimes he wished he could teach you since he noticed some mistakes you were making. Still, he couldn't tell you. Or help you.
And ultimately he only has himself to blame for the mess he created.
''Hey... Kuroo?'' you spoke with a soft voice as you placed one hand back on his chest, his skin heating up under your touch as he sucked up a breath before swallowing thickly. ''Are you okay?'' you whispered as you moved your body closer to his, causing him to grow nervous somehow. This wasn't like him. You softly kissed his chest, not realising what you were doing to him.
