#considering

“quite a mess you made back there.” your teasing voice brings kuroo back to where he is now.

it’s a little bit past 7pm, most of your co-workers have packed their belongings and went on home for the day, and as you take a final glance at the clock, it’s safe to say you’re ready to go home now too.

kuroo hides his head in his arms, grumbling loudly at the recollection, “don’t tease me about that. i feel terrible.”

“you should. you got coffee all over his white shirt.” you tease a bit more, a slight laugh in your voice as you hear your best friend let out another grumble.

he’s still tucked away in his arms on the desk next to yours, “aren’t best friends supposed to be supportive or something?”

kuroo’s finished all his work about thirty minutes ago, and now, as he’s waited for you to finish yours all this time, you finally give him a gentle nudge on his back, telling him the two of you can finally go.

“i am being supportive.” you defend, and it takes a minute for your laptop to close down, so you lean back on your chair and you shrug, “just buy him a new shirt.”

that gets kuroo to look up from his sulking briefly, his eyes squinted as he complains, tone heavy, “can we stop talking about him please?”

and you laugh, “wow, you sound like he’s the one who spilt his hot coffee on you.”

another grumble (and another laugh from you).

kuroo gets up quickly from his sulking, a deep frown on his face as he crosses his arms across his chest, turning the swivel chair dramatically to face you.

“okay: a. it was not hot coffee. and b. it was not entirely my fault.” “he kept asking me about some dating advice on how to ask someone out.”

you tilt your head, “and he came to you for help?”

he gives you a look. “i’m going to ignore what you’re implying by that.”

“you’ve been single since high school.” you point out, grin wide, “does he know that?”

and kuroo rolls his eyes, making a face, “no, he doesn’t. sorry i don’t put it on my CV or resume.”

remember that curse kuroo was talking about earlier? well, it’s not only limited to him spilling his lukewarm coffee all over his coworkers.

truth be told, he really does think he’s been cursed by this rumor: everyone’s been calling him such weird names; ladies man (what ladies?), playboy (he plays volleyball, if thats what you mean), heartbreaker (the only broken thing here is a coffee mug and that’s because he has a severe case of the butterfingers and an even worse case of please-dont-ask-me-to-help-you-ask-out-my-best-friends-who-i-feel-weird-about).

he gets asked for relationship advice all the time, dating tips or romantic help, and it all just feels so deeply ironic and cursed to him because — well — he’s the one in desperate need for them.

“man, it’s been a long day.” you yawn, arms stretching above your head as you give a big stretch. it’s nice working an office job, but man, it sure does take a lot out of you.

like a cliche scene in a movie, he looks at you now, and you’re not looking at him, but he peeks a little bit from his arms as he watches you.

kuroo perks up slightly, “dinner?”

“sure.” you shrug, your bag slinged on your shoulder as you give him a lazy smile.

you’re too busy fixing your desk to notice him, but the tips of his ears go slightly pink at the thought.

he’s the one who needs the romantic help.

kuroo grumbles to himself. he feels like he’s at an impasse. unsure what to do next. unsure if he should be doing anything at all.

after all, if he was the most unromantic person in the world, then you might just be a close second.

i mean— what else is there for kuroo to do for you to realize?

he helps you move, he brings you food, he drives you home. he annoys you, he bothers you, he sits next to you on purpose.

do you need him to write you love letters? he doesn’t know how to do that.

but he does know how to bring you an extra jacket in case you forget yours, and he knows that you take your coffee with extra ice and no whipped cream, he knows to have a few extra band-aids in his pocket because of how clumsy you get, and he knows how to stack the books on your shelves the way you like it.

what else does he need to do?

“dinner for the two of us?” he asks you from the table, rising slowly now when he sees you’re almost finished cleaning up.

you chortle, “yes, i assumed it would be you and me involved in this dinner that, oh, i don’t know, you asked me to.”

he leans back on the chair, “just the two of us?”

“well,” you turn to look at him, making a face, “don’t make it creepy.”

he rolls his eyes at that. you’re always quick with it when you talk to him. and it’s the exact kind of thing that pushes him deeper into this problem of his.

i mean, you really must have cursed him, for goodness sake, because what other explanation is there?

kuroo is a smart, sometimes dignified, sometimes arrogant young man, and for some reason, it all crumbles away when he’s with you. he fumbles over his words and he trips on his own feet and he feels his ears get so hot that maybe he needs to get it checked.

he knows the word for it — but it’s so much easier calling it a curse.

his voice feels quieter now, “like a date?”

there’s a flush on his face that almost matches how pink his ears have gotten.

for a moment, you look up from what you’re doing, and you look at him, but it doesn’t really look like it changes your expression.

“yes, kuroo.” you tell him again, and this time, he doesn’t miss how your smile suddenly turns into something more teasing, “i already said i’d go.”

he feels more frustrated now.

how are you so carefree about this? how can you just digest this so easily? one more second and he’s gonna melt into a puddle and you’re over there making fun of him.

kuroo crosses his arms at you, “you do know what a date is, right?”

and you scoff, standing up from your chair now that your things are all packed. “i assume food is involved?”

and your companion looks at you with squinted eyes. unamused. but the pink in his ears gives him away too easily. “yes, food is involved.”

you smile at him widely, and you pull him up out of his chair as he makes a dramatic gesture of rolling his eyes and dragging away from you as you tease him.

“i know what a date is.” you say, and it’s a whole lot quieter now when you realize it’s almost just the two of you left on the office floor.

kuroo takes the bag on your shoulder as the two of you stand together, and you wonder slightly if he even still realizes he’s doing that or if it’s completely out of habit now with how often he does it.

he’s so much taller than you but you always had a way to make him feel so much smaller. “and you’re saying yes?”

it wouldn’t be an outright confession of his feelings, but honestly, what else could he do except tell you straight up what he feels for you? he doesn’t know how to do that.

kuroo is awkward and tall and lanky and he is so unsure of what to say to you or what to do to let you know that he would very much like to be considered as more than your best friend.

he drives you home, he brings you food, he takes you out for coffee. there’s an extra scarf in his desk drawer and an extra pair of gloves in his car because he knows you’re too forgetful to remember them.

what else do you want him to do?

you tilt your head and you give him a smile and it makes him stumble on his feet. “well, for you to actually be able to give out dating advice, you’d need experience first, right?”

kuroo knows there’s another word for this — you give him a smile and he stumbles on his feet and he fumbles on his words, and the heat in his ears make him feel like he’s going to lose balance.

he thinks he’ll keep calling it a curse for now.