I've Always Loved You | Kuroo Tetsurou

eighteen

The atmosphere was tense. Kenma wasn't saying anything as usual, he was playing some new game he got on his Switch. Kuroo was texting random people on his phone - never bothering to speak to Kiko. And she was too busy texting with Sakusa to say anything. 

It was the first time in a couple of weeks since the three of them had hung out. Well at least Kuroo and Kiko being in the same room. Neither of them spoke to each other. Kuroo didn't want to let go of her small "date" rejection, and she didn't want to speak to someone who didn't speak to her. For Kenma, this was all too much to handle, so he stayed quiet the whole time. 

"Kiko, Kuroo and I are going to a training camp for about a week at the end of summer break. But before that we'll be busy with practice matches." Both you and him finally looked up from your devices. 

"Oh ok, can we still hang out before hand?" Kenma shook his head, "I have to travel with family out of town. Kuroo is free though." Kuroo didn't look up from his screen which was now black. He was ready to hear a sorry excuse come from you as to why you can't hang out. Maybe this time instead of going out to see your family, they come to Tokyo. Maybe your dad needs to travel and you'll go along with him. All of these thoughts started causing him to become anxious. 

"Great! Maybe we can hang out together, now that we both have time." Your smile after your statement caused trapped butterflies in his stomach to suddenly resurface. Although Kuroo assumed you were being petty and not talking to him because he wasn't speaking to you, you actually didn't care. The end of the semester is always making students busy, so the thought of Kuroo and the random chick making out had left your brain a long time ago - you had to focus on exams. Kuroo smiled at you for the first time in a while, it seemed like the rejection didn't have any affect on you. 

"Yeah we could." he grabs a handful of popcorn, shoving it into his mouth and dropping a few that didn't manage to make it in. You scoff at how messy he eats, throwing a towel in his direction. "You're so gross, Kuroo. You eat like a pig." Kenma nodded while grabbing some of the popcorn as well, not making a mess. 

"How are your guys' studying for exams coming along? I can't seem to focus much on Chemistry, these stupid gas laws have been making me rage." Your hand reached for the strawberry pocky, but Kuroo snatched it before you. A mocking smirk plastered over his face as he looked at you. 

"Only a dummy doesn't understand gas laws, they're easy!" He bit a stick of pocky ignoring how you mocked him. 

"Haha, it's so easy. My name is Kuroo Tetsurou, I love chemistry so much I'd marry whoever discovered it. I think gas laws are the easiest things ever." Your voice got deeper in an attempt to imitate his. A small giggle could be heard from Kenma's direction, and Kuroo glared at you - throwing the box of pocky on your lap. 

"I don't sound like that..."

"Yes you do." Both you and Kenma spoke at the same time, your heads snapped in each other's direction while sharing an evil smile. Kuroo sat there shocked to see his two best friends "bully" him. 

"That's it, I'm never hanging out with either of you. I have other friends to hang out with." A laugh erupted from his two friends. Kiko held onto her stomach while pointing in his direction while Kenma laughed loudly next to him. 

"That was a good one, Kuroo. But you don't have any other friends!" Kenma tipped over onto Kuroo's shoulder continuing to laugh at him. You wiped fake tears from under your eyes as you calmed down from your laughter. A pout and glare formed on Kuroo's face as he looked away from the two of you. 

"Aw, Kuroo come on. We are the only friends who can tolerate your nerdy-volleyball self." You go into your kitchen looking through the fridge finding a couple of boxes of strawberry milk. Grabbing a few and making your way back to the living room, you hand one to Kenma and then Kuroo. His eyes light up seeing the pink box you had in your hand. 

"Yeah yeah, shut it. This is my way of partially apologizing." He remains quiet as he takes the box from you. It brought him back memories he forgot he had. Memories of his childhood when he first met you. 

You had walked into Kenma's house with your parents when you first moved in. Lucky for him, he was playing video games in the living room with Kenma. As soon as you saw the two boys, you had rushed over - messy pony tail swaying back and forth. But as soon as your eyes met with the golden ones of Kuroo's, you became shy. You didn't know if it was because he looked intimidating, or if it was just because his hair caught you off guard. In that moment, Kuroo seemed like the only guy in the room, even though the smaller-long haired boy was sitting next to him trying to break the deep eye contact the two of you had. 

It was weird for a girl to be hanging out with them, especially one that was always smiling and talking a lot. At first you were kind of annoying, but he grew accustomed to liking you. For the first year of being friends, you would be around them as much as possible - at least the amount of time your parents would let you. It was normal for him to be at your house, you at his, or either one of you at Kenma's, your parents called you all inseparable. During lunch, they would sit with you and eat, talk about hanging out together, and share food. On one particular day, Kuroo had failed a math quiz. He ended up crying in front of you during lunch, Kenma was sick so he didn't have anyone else to vent to, but he didn't feel weird crying his eyes out in front of a girl. He remembers you hugging him, offering him some food, but the one thing that you had offered that he gladly accepted was your strawberry milk. He had never heard of such a thing, so it excited him to try it. You didn't mind since you had plenty at home, but for Kuroo it made you seem like an angel had fallen from the sky. Too bad he was too young to notice, but that was the moment Kuroo had developed feelings for you. Your kind nature, your respectfulness of people's emotions, and being able to share was what had Kuroo falling head over heels for you as a kid. 

Seeing the same strawberry milk box being handed to him by you made him realize how petty and dumb he had been towards you. You were too nice to ever ghost a friend like he did. He scoffed at himself as he realized how he let his overthinking get to him. Being here with you and Kenma drinking the same milk you would all drink only at your house made him feel at ease. 

"I can't wait to hang out more after our exams are done." You let out a sigh as you shifted in your seat - your feet dangling off of the arms of the couch. Both of the boys hummed in agreement while continuing to drink the milk. 

The rest of the evening you all spent playing some Street fighter on Kenma's switch and eating all of your snack from your pantry. It was a relieving evening for the three of you. You all finally took a break from studying and simply relaxing with each other. All 3 of you were ready to finish this month and head off to summer break. Maybe you will finally tell Kuroo about Sakusa, and hopefully they can become friends.