castles in the air: chapter 4
chapters: one.// two.// three.// four.// five.// six.// seven.// eight.// nine.// ten.//
pairing: kuroo tetsuro x f! reader
genre: uni romantic dramedy, angst
wc: 3.1k
warnings: drunken shenanigans, assholes abound
summary:
Exam season is far more brutal than winter.
The roads may be slick with sleet, the sun’s time in the sky grows shorter and shorter, but that bleakness doesn’t compare to the mind numbing hours spent cramped up in a seat, either in the library or your dorm room, trying your best to cram as much as you can before the dreaded week of exams. You aren’t alone in making offerings at the altar of grades, because Kuroo’s similarly burning his hours in pursuit of perfection, snapping at your heels.
“I want to die”, he complains, lying headfirst on your bed.
“Die, then”, you reply, resisting the urge to brush his hair away from his forehead.
“Alright”, he agrees amiably. “Promise me you’ll explain to my grandparents that I’m deceased because of grades -”
“So you’re making me break their hearts?” you snort. “Rude.”
You’ve seen his grandparents a few more times since, because he lives a few bus stops from you, and you wave to his grandparents when they insist on picking him up from the bus stop, never mind that he’s their strapping adult grandson. You start to pick up little titbits for them before you both make the trek back home, dried cod flakes, beef jerky, black beans packed in tiny individual packets for obaa-san to bring out on her morning walks. They, in turn, pack Kuroo off with herbal drinks and soup on Sundays, insisting that cafeteria food isn’t nutritious enough for either of you.
Even the New Year’s break doesn’t earn you much of a respite, despite stealing a couple of hours to hang out with your high school friends. The chance encounter with Kuroo at the diner throws your heart into further turmoil, your thoughts mired in quicksand, revolving around the question of his feelings for you. He’s said clearly to his high school team that you’re not his type, yet he gives you tickets to his games, follows you on your runs, lends you his scarf, winding it around your neck when you’re cold.
He confuses you to no end.