#kenma fluff

"—and that's why Across the Horizon would work with a storyline that could diverge into different parts depending on your character choices."

You wrap up the presentation with quick ease. You had spent the first 30 minutes of your class presenting your case on Across the Horizon as a storytelling game rather than just a MMORPG. Iris breathed a sigh of relief, her hand firmly finding yours clutching it with a shaky hand. You give her a smile in return, squeezing her hand in reassurance.

"That was an excellent study. I see that you've used several techniques that have been shown in your other literature classes for this. I'll add this as an incentive to your grades, thank you, you may now take your seats. Now to carry on with our topic for today…"

The two of you took your seats at the back of the class, breathless from presenting. You giggle to yourself silently, mostly out of nervousness but at the same time of relief.

"Thank god it's over." Iris whispered, trying not to get caught again. You tried to make yourself look busy by taking out your yellow pad, with the pop of your pen you wrote down something real quick before facing the pad towards Iris. On it it says:

Yeah, I'm glad that it's over. But, at the same time I kinda wish it was longer.

She tilts her head in confusion before chuckling. She motions for you to give her the pen in your hand, to which you give to her without much struggle, and she begin to write a response underneath your writing. Then she moves the pad to face you this time.

You just want to yap about AtH don't you?

You close your eyes IShowSpeed style and don't even respond. She already knew the answer. With that, your little talk subsided and the two of your began to actually pay attention to what your teacher had to say about modernism in literature and how it is shaped in our country.

The topic itself was very interesting and totally important to what you were supposed to be doing once you begin writing out your thesis. You were even considering using it for the thesis itself. Something something isolation and what not. You felt as though that could work for a character who's already given up on life and began to isolate themselves from the world by continuously playing games on their pc without getting up, no one comes to find them or asks them to join them for dinner or anything like that. Like the world itself has given up on them.

Maybe that was more nihilistic though…

You shook away the idea. Maybe there could be other ways to make it an appealing story idea. One that was less… depressing. And maybe less about your life? You were in creative writing for fiction, not non-fiction! You shouldn't base what you write down on paper to be about your life. Think outside the box!

Maybe that's what you'll do today. Find something that can help your gears turn!

Right as the bell sounded everyone began to pack up their things, yourself included. However, you fish out one of your smaller notebooks, a pen, and your bluetooth earbuds, your phone in one pocket on the go. You say your goodbyes to Iris before you set off into campus to look around for some inspiration.

This was your last class of the day so you had all the time that you could ever need. You were going to look around, maybe talk to some people and get some insights on what life on campus was like.

You had to admit that you weren't the most exciting or the most extroverted student in campus. A lot of your friends here in school were far too busy to really do things like party and go out and stuff like that. So, there was an opportunity for you to go around and find someone or something that could spark some sort of difference in your writing style. Perhaps maybe going to a cafe or a restaurant that you've never been to before?

You could go to that one trendy restaurant near campus! You've only been there once before with a few friends, it was a nice place. The atmosphere was great, real cozy and all in all nice if you wanted to socialize and enjoy with friends. The meals were quite expensive though… you were not going to enjoy the huge hole it was going to leave in your wallet. But still you brave on.

While you walked out of the campus gate and towards the back of the school you noticed how different the atmosphere from the two side of the school was. Where there would be college students was instead a large group of working class citizens who were all still wearing their uniforms. Many of which wore suits and ties, while some wore blue collar uniforms. Perhaps they were out to enjoy drinks after a long days work. The shops on campus would've already been closed by now, many of the stalls only stay up until 5:30 pm before they call it quits. You once tried to order some takoyaki from one of my favorite stalls only for them to say that they had been sold out! It really made your day sour knowing that you wouldn't be able to enjoy a meal before marching your way back home.

As you prepared yourself with a barage of questions that you had prepared for just in case you found someone to interview you stopped by a nearby tree to keep away from the sun and wind. In your hands was the little booklet notebook and pen that you had tucked away in your other pocket. You were scribbling down what questions you wanted to say and maybe even your order. Who knows if they'll kick you out for not ordering!

You open the door, a little bell jingles as you walk through, the staff greet you with merry wishes and you take a seat on the table closest to the window. It was a very pleasant vibe, sitting near the window. It reminded you of the times when you would head to the beach with your family, someone late into the night would be busy singing to karaoke while your parents made some barbecue to share with everyone. You would have the first stick as the youngest in the group. Your family was all there including those of your extended family as you would during the summer months.

Just as you were reminiscing of the past the bell chimes once more, you look up from the menu in your hands(to which you were feigning interest in), and was met with some of the most extraordinary looking college students you have ever laid your eyes on. You knew they were college students based on the IDs that they carried on their person, but otherwise you would've thought that they were already in the workforce or were some sort of bougie kind of people who had no trouble with money.

You wanted to look away, act nonchalant and just stay hidden in the background but that was a far cry from what you were doing right now. Instead you were staring at them, and very obviously too.

It got to the point where they began to look your way as well. That was when you realized that they weren't just any college students but rather some of your classmates! Your eyes widened at the realization and you look away, not quick enough it seems as your eyes lock in on one another for a split second before you looked back down at the menu in your hands. Your hands were shaking and sweaty as you awaited what would come next. When you looked back at where they sat it seemed like nothing had happened. They were all seated and looking down at their own menus. You breathe out a sigh of relief before raising your hands for someone to take your order. Carefully ordering the cheapest meal on the menu before you hand over the menu to the waiter. This left you with nothing to fiddle with while you wait so you take out your booklet notebook and review what you have right now.

Right now it was a whole load of nothing. Just some stupid questions about parties and sororities all that stuff that comes up in movies like Legally Blonde. You scratch your head as you filled out some more questions and potential names of students who you could go to for these questions. They could just think of it like it was a survey! Yeah, a completely relevant survey.

Right as you were scribbling down notes you hear the click of heels coming your way. Your heart rose in a panic, eyes darting up slightly then back down as if in a rush to figure out what to do or what to say. Maybe they weren't even headed your way?

Oh, but they were. And it was seen by the way they stopped in front of your table, their hand raised and a light tap on your shoulder you felt.

With no other choice you lifted your head up to see that it was indeed the person who you had been staring at this entire time. Elaine.

There was nothing about the two of us that was anywhere alike. That's why you avoided her like the plague. But, there was something about her that made your eyes wander towards her general direction whenever she's within your peripheral vision. She was just so… captivating, so stunning in a way that made heads turn as she walked.

Needless to say she was incredible. Not to mention completely and utterly capable.

She was the complete opposite of you. You lack in every sense. You've played volleyball for the last 2 weeks now and you still haven't gotten the hang of it. Not even a simple serve! And yet here you are, betting that if Elaine gets on the field she would have it down in no time…

"Hellooo?" She taps you on the shoulder once more, you jolt up, your back straightens and your eyes widen.

"Y-Yes!?" You almost shout out loud. Luckily there were very few people in the restaurant at the moment. It made sense, it was nearing 6 by now and no one who doesn't have a class wouldn't want to miss the train home.

She gives you an awkward smile before chuckling to herself. You've just made a fool of yourself… "you… were staring at me just a while ago. Is there something wrong?"

"N-No! There's nothing wrong?" That came out more like a question than a statement, leaving the two of you in an awkward position. She sits down on the chair opposite of yours anyways.

"What's in your notebook?" She asks innocently, her eyes darting down to the notebook you were instinctively hiding away.

"Just… some questions." Your words slip out from your lips before you could catch yourself.

"Oh, are you doing a survey? I can be one of the takers if you need it!"

"Ah, no its not… a survey." You said quietly. She seems to hear it though and looks at you, waiting for you to continue. "I just wanted… to know about other peoples college lives."

She tilts her head in confusion and then laughs lightly as if you had just made a joke. Your face flushes red in embarrassment. "The shoot!"

"What..?"

"Shoot me with some of your questions. I'll be your first sample." She smiles, her smile was as bright as the sun. It made your face hotter than it already was, your face must be as red as a tomato.

"O-Okay, sure. But… what about your friends?"

"They can wait. Besides, we've never really talked before have we? I'm Elaine." She sticks out a hand for you to shake, to which you take.

You tell her your name and you began to flip through some of the pages of your notebook before landing on a question. "Well— uhm… I guess this one would work..? 'What do you do on campus that isn't studying or class related?'"

"Hmm…" she taps her chin thoughtfully. "I guess I'd be with friends and we would walk around, maybe go to the library and find some books that we think is interesting. But… that's all kind of boring isn't it!" She laughs lightheartedly.

"N-No! Not at all. I want to know what people do on campus, so this is very important."

"I see… well, when there are events we also join those. The lectures on literature are also very interesting and not just because they're an inventive for classes." She looks over to her friends. Maybe she's bored..? "Oh, and the parties! Sometimes there are some school coordinated parties that happen on the rooftop of the main building. It's very formal though, not as fun as the parties in a random person's apartment."

"O-Oh? Do tell more..!"

She smiles and continues on. "When we have parties in apartments buildings its usually very chill or very chaotic. Depending on who's going y'know?"

The two of you continued to talk, switching up the conversation depending on the questions that you had. You ended up learning a lot more about the other side of college life. From your very quaint and simple life as a gamer and student to a hardcore full on students life filled with not just studies but also of fun!

Soon your food came and most conversation died down, with the occasional note from yourself or from Elaine. Maybe it was about you or maybe it was about Elaine. You ended getting to know her more than you thought you would. When Elaine's food came she stood up from her chair. You weren't going to lie and say that you weren't at least a little disappointed that she would go back to her table but then again this wasn't her table in the first place. But before that disappointment could settle in your heart she came back with her meal and continued to converse with you the entire time. By the time you had finished it was already 7 pm with most of the time being used conversing with Elaine.

You unfortunately had to leave, you walked Elaine back to the table where her friends had been sitting at, and with the courage in your heart you talked to them and even laughed with them at their small jokes! Call that a satisfactory result!

You waved them goodbye before making your way back home.

When you got back home you immediately rushed into your room to change, then got on your pc after greeting your parents who were by the dining table eating their dinner.

"Have you eaten?" Your mother asked, fork hovering over the chicken as she stared at you.

You gave a quick confirmation before you sat down on your "gamer" chair(it was just an ordinary office chair thats been through hell and back) and opened discord to see Kuroo already in call talking to himself.

You clicked on the enter call button and in one beep you were hearing Electro World by Perfume on blast. Kuroo singing it like there was nothing else to care for in the world. You waited for him to finish his little concert before saying something. You had to say, Kuroo wasn't a bad singer at all. Though, you'd rather listen to something else instead…

"Hey Kuroo." You said right as he finished. He screams, although his scream gets cut off by discord's shitty audio controls. You chuckle to yourself. Opening steam as you wait for Kuroo to recover.

"I didn't hear you come in." Kuroo said, seemingly embarrassed.

"I just got here don't worry."

"A-Anyways, we're playing AtH right?" He said, stealthily changing the subject. You didn't mind it however, you were just about to open the game anyways.

"Mhm, you ready?"

"Well, actually…" he continued. "I wanted to have someone join us for this session."

That caught your attention, you tilt your head as you put on your earphones, changing the sound system to go into your earphones instead of your speaker. "Who is it?" You asked. Obviously very curious as to who it might be, it could be anyone!

"Lemme just message him real quick."

After a few moments of silence and the clacking of a keyboard on his end he finally speaks up once again. "He's up for it!"

"Who is?"

Just as those words came out of my mouth a familiar name pops into the lobby.

Pie_Apple05

Kuroo said, "I made a gc for us, hop in when you're ready!" Before disconnecting from their current call and into the new gc he made on discord. Inside of the call Kuroo and Apple were already in there. Your mouth was open, like wide open.

You saw his name pop up before already, so you shouldn't be so shocked that Kuroo knows Apple but it was still insane that he knew— they knew each other!

You took a deep breath before disconnecting from the call yourself and then, in a moment, entered the group call with Kuroo and Apple.

Beep!

And you've joined their call. They aren't quiet about it either. Kuroo immediately goes haywire and starts causing noise pollution the moment you get in, screaming and shouting like crazy. Meanwhile Apple was quiet. It was like two very different worlds that collided into one group call.

This was crazy.

"Hey," said Apple. The first ever word that he said to me, one that wasn't written.

Something odd to note about Apple though, was that he was very clearly using a voice changer. But even with the voice changer his tone sounded very… familiar. Like you've heard it from somewhere before. But, you've heard different people in your life, it couldn't just be a coincidence or something like that. Besides, if Apple was using a voice changer then he must have a good reason to have one. Maybe he was underaged or something like that and didn't want to get doxxed or anything.

"Hey." You said, breathlessly. "You're… Apple. Pie_Apple05. The one who's in my chat from time to time… right?" You spoke slowly, carefully managing your words like it was going to explode at any moment.

"Yeah, that's me. I didn't know you knew Kuroo."

"Well… same goes for you. What a coincidence huh?"

He chuckles, his mic seemingly picking it up well. He must have a pretty good set up. "Yeah, totally."

"Soooo guys. Why don't we do some boss rushes? Apple's got pretty good gear. He can carry us through it all!"

"Don't get lazy Kuroo." Apple immediately scolded Kuroo like it was the most normal thing to do. They must be really close. And then his voice softens as he talks to you. "Let's do our best, okay?"

I nod, despite knowing that they won't be able to see me do so, but I do it anyways. "Yeah, let's do our best!"

Chapter 7 ↤ Masterlist ↦ Chapter 9

Taglist: @3mb3r8

he looked up at you, his catlike eyes meeting yours.

“i have, i’ve been procrastinating on it for some time.” the softness in his voice almost made you melt. you could listen to him for hours honestly. you already have before.

you mumbled a ‘mhm’ to show you were listening.

“do you wanna go back to black?” you suggested, blonde or black you didn’t care he’d look good either way.

he looked back at his monitor, resting his cheek in his palm.

“do you guys think i should go black or blonde?” he asked his viewers.

to be honest, you didn’t even know he was streaming. when you walked in he was quiet, even giving you a few kisses. you quickly recovered from your slight shock to stare at the chat. they were moving so fast you weren’t even able to read one!

“black it is.”

you side eyed him, did he even read the chat or just decide for himself?.. he stood up, stretching his limbs after being seated for hours. he let out a soft groan as he felt the relief spread through his body. you felt your cheeks get warmer, you continued staring not really caring if he saw. you wore your blush as a badge of honor.

a small chuckle escaped his lips, “really?” he said with a small smirk.

“what?” you answered shamelessly, a playful smirk on your own face as well.

he walked past you, placing a quick peck to your lips as he passed by. you followed him into the bathroom, noticing his phone was already propped up. you made the assumption he switched the live to his phone. you shrugged it off, crouching down to grab the unopened hair dye box.

kenma was sitting on the toilet, talking to his viewers. while he talked, you unboxed. you soon finished the necessary steps, now ready to start the coloring process.

while kenma was talking you squished his cheeks together, cutting him off.

“your skin is so soft, im jealous honestly.” you joked

you let go, gently caressing his cheek instead. he looked up at you, looking like he was wrapped around your finger.. and to be honest, he really is. he rested his hands on your hips—

fiftyshadesofgay donated $15 ‘infront of my salad?’

you both let out a giggle at the reference. you pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before pulling away to get the dye.

“the moment kenma actually decides to re-dye his hair.” you joked to yourself while mixing the dye.

“that wasn’t even funny why are they laughing..?” he jokingly complained after seeing ‘LOL’s and ‘LMAOOOO’s in the chat.

“not you being jealous ‘cus they like me more” you teased.

you stood infront of kenma and instantly felt his hands rest on your hips. your actions didn’t waver, already being used to his constant need to touch you. you dragged the small brush on the blonde parts of his hair, watching it disappear under the black.

kenma kept his eyes on you the whole time, as if you’d disappear if he looked away. his face had a small smile on it as he watched you enjoy yourself. his fingers slipped underneath your shirt, warm hands settling on your waist instead.

shulios: “he is so whipped bro😭”

fiftyshadesofgay: “i’m crying he not even hiding it no more”

kenlikesmen: “i love my wife final boss”

korasunae: “kenma you lucky bastard”

littlekodzuren: “someone clip this!!🥹”

99+ comments.

—

the stream had ended long ago, and the two of you were now in bed. your fingers raked through his hair, taking in the darker color instead of the fading blonde. kenma was rested on-top of you, his face pressed against your chest. he had fallen asleep an hour ago, claiming it was easier to sleep when he was with you.

his legs were tangled with yours as he hugged you in his sleep. even in his sleep he clung to you… cute.

you picked up your phone, seeing 99+ notifications on your screen. you raised an eyebrow and opened the app. you were on kenma’s account, so of course you’d get a lot of notifications. the first tweet you seen on the homepage was a clip of kenma looking utterly in love with you. kenma was just staring at you with a soft smile, seeing that made you smile too.

you swiped off the video to see what they titled the video as.

“streamer kodzuken is wrapped around his wife’s finger, many wish to have a relationship like theirs.”

you giggled quietly, careful not to wake kenma up. you turned off the phone, placing it back on the nightstand. you wrapped your arms around your kenma, soon drifting off to sleep with your husband in your arms.

crazy part is was they weren’t wrong. kenma loved waking up everyday being able to call you his wife. he wouldn’t know what he’d do without you. he would choose you to be his wife in every lifetime.

©keitsuuuki’s work, do not plagiarize, translate workout my permission, or feed my works into ai. all likes and reblogs are appreciated!

Ever since kenma was little, he knew of a girl, a girl that just couldnt help falling asleep.

When other kids would be out playing games, kenma would sit off to the sides. He would catch sight of a little girl, same age as him, 12 years old.

She would never run around with the other kids, he could see she wanted to, but would turn away and continue what she was doing, by herself with a downcast face. He would always turn back to his game with a weird feeling in his chest.

During monday classes, when the weekend was over and kids were excited to see their friends again, Kenma, would look to his right and see you. Half asleep and slightly old bruises around your body.

Kenma was always ignorant of what was going on around him when he had his psp in his hand. He always just assumed you were just a clumsy kid who took naps a lot. He never looked up and saw a girl who fell over abruptly, already passed out and in dream land, all he saw was you just on the ground in weird spots. He never noticed how teachers would drop everything and run over to you to see if you were okay.

It was around 1 year later when you both met, each 13 years old and both in your second year of junior high. After a particularly rough practice session in volleyball, kenma was utterly exhausted. He made his way to the schools office. There was sure to be a few staff still in there.

When he got to the front desk he had asked the lady if he could call his mother. Instead of using his phone and wasting its already low battery. His mother agreed and quickly hung up as the staff lady directed kenma to go wait in the sickbay if he wasn’t feeling well.

When kenma entered he was surprised to see another student in there so late. His eyes widen in shock and his hands become sweaty at the thought of having to hold a conversation.

Around twenty minutes in and all that fear he had before vanished. He found out you had similar interests and liked playing the same games as him.

Halfway through you talking about something funny that happened in your game, you went silent. Kenma who had been looking at his feet previously, looked up at the sudden silence in the small bed next to him. To his surprise, you head east slightly tilted to the side, your mouth still slightly open. Very quietly murmuring gibberish, your hands still idly wobbling in the air.

Kenmas eyebrows furrowed in confusion. People dont just fall asleep randomly like that, so why did you?

Like sone cruel twist of fate, it had to be right now that his mother arrived to pick him up. In a brave, not like kenma move. He pulls a book out if his bag and writes his phone number and gamertag down, sliding it in your pocket before running off to his mother.

It was from there that a small friendship, slowly grew into a relationship.

***

(Both in your 2nd year of high school)

Despite constantly falling asleep during free time when you’ve finished your managerial duties (sometimes halfway through) your team still loved you. Especially kenma.

During water breaks kenma would sit beside you, sometimes talking and sometimes just letting you nap on his shoulder.

But today was different, weird different. He hadn’t seen you at all. Not during class or lunch or even practice. The feeling of unease was gnawing at him, so instead of finishing drills with his team, he decided to leave early. The walk to your house drilled into his head it felt like he loved there himself.

When he arrived, he knocked on the door. Met with your mother’s tear stained face. Asking what happened kenma was told probably the worst news of his life. His stomach dropped, the bile in his gut rose up his throat, the urge to puke grew as he processed the information. You fell, passed out and took a hit, hard. Your head was hit and you broke your arm.

Kenmas worry grew as he urged your mother for details. Your mother spoke quietly. You tried to get your cousin out of a play-place. Your family outing immediately turned sour when you promptly fell asleep, losing your balance and tumbling off the side, right into the sand, your head was hit as you landed on your arm wrong, leading to it breaking.

Kenma, still stricken with worry asked if he could visit you. Your mother agreed, saying she could drop him off on her way back to work. Arriving at the hospital, kenma quickly sent a message to his mother. Saying how he’ll be home late before quickly pocketing his phone and opening your door. His eyes quickly landing on you. Small and broken, asleep in your hospital bed. Your mother departs after checking if kenma could get home safely by himself.

It was almost an hour he spent switching between his phone and psp before you awoke. He heard you groan and shuffle in your bed. Which made his eyes shoot up to you. Your eyes still hooded and laced with sleep as you stared at kenma in the seat beside you.

“You… stupid, clumsy idiot. I was so worried about you” he got out of the uncomfortable chair and wrapped his arms around you. Spending the rest of the afternoon with you before being kicked out when visiting hours ended.

Despite telling his mother he would be late, she vastly underestimated how late he’d actually be. He walked through the front door at 10:30pm, a small smile on his face as he replayed the evening he spent with you, only to be met with his mother. Arms crossed and a deep frown on her face. He got yelled at alot that night.

***

(Timeskip to after school)

Living with kenma was a great change of pace. Often having slow mornings and late nights filled with laughter.

Kenma promoted you to stay at home mother to your two cats after you took a fall during your job. He had enough money to take care of you fully without needing financial help anyways.

Kenma had built you your own pc next to his after about a month of living together. He always loved playing with you back in Highschool and now he could spoil you all he wanted.

If gaming was what you were interested in then kenma wouldn’t push you. If you preferred reading or other things, kenma would be sure to support you and do his research, before going all out and buying you whatever you would need. Dedicating a whole room to your hobby. Shelves filled with limited editions or photos of you together.

On the nights you struggle to sleep. Kenma will always stay up with you, ensuring you aren’t bored while awake. Whether it’s watching a show you like till sunrise or playing boardgames till you fall asleep. Kenma never wants you to feel like your condition is a problem or hassle, as he will always support you.

Headcanon time

* Due to the fear of you falling asleep behind the wheel. Kenma almost never lets you drive. Often play fighting for the keys. (He always wins)

* If you ever have a nightmare or sleep paralysis and you’re scared to go back to sleep. Kenma will gladly stay up with you. Leaving a nightlight on and just talking about nothing in particular.

* Playing games with you and kuroo is always fun. If you end up falling asleep, kuroo will always try to peek at your cards before promptly getting smacked by kenma.

* There are times when uneducated people ( or just ignorant people) will be rude and call you spoilt or lazy, and every time, Kenma will stick up for you. Insulting them back or just taking you away from the situation and comforting you.

Thats all, sorry the headcanon part was kinda short, i was kinda running dry with what to write and didnt wanna start getting bored. Umm im not sure what to write rn but i hope you enjoyed it, im still new to this so sorry if i offended anyone.

You sat on a train on an early Wednesday morning. You were on your way to see Kuroo at work. The two of you had decided that doing the interview where you could see the way you work would completely help the way you write your short story.

You were excited to say the least. This was the first time that you've had to go out to make your story. Whenever you were writing you often just did it on your pc that you couldn't move from the musty area of your house. So your imagination was often limited by what you could see and what you could google. But this time, you would be able to see if all first hand and discover exactly why Kuroo chose to do this as his line of work.

You couldn't lie and say you were a little bit interested in what Kuroo does as a job. You saw it first hand when he came to your school when you two first met. It gave you a great starting point on what you were going to write. You already placed down an outline for your story just from that one experience alone. However, that wasn't even close to enough. You needed more, and for that, you had to experience it all yourself.

You looked down at the clothes you were wearing, you wore clothes appropriate for volleyball. Hell, you even bought kneepads just in case you had to dive for a ball like how Kuroo did for you that one time. You were scared that you might get scrapped somehow do you brought a big bag full of things that you would need if ever you were injured or anything like that.

You didn't tell Kuroo about this. You wanted it to be a surprise. It would be fun to see how he would react to seeing you all dressed up and ready to get on court. He might even be ecstatic to see your enthusiasm to play the sport.

Once the train hit your stop you step off and take a deep breath in. This was your first time being in this part of Japan. Tokyo being all that, you know? You were surprised that it was in the more high end part of Tokyo that your directions had taken you. When you were chatting with Kuroo he once told you that he had been on the poorer side of Tokyo. You wondered whether he had been able to boost his way of life somehow during his time in college.

Soon you were standing in front of a building. A large one, in fact.

Hesitantly, you opened the door and entered the building. There was no front desk or anything that could help you find your way around the building, but you trudge on anyway. You found yourself in a large open area where there were plenty of people playing all sorts of sports. The one sport that really stuck out to you was Volleyball. It seemed to be the most popular sport here as most of the clearing were people who were playing Volleyball.

You take out your phone and open your message app to tell Kuroo that you've arrived. It takes a few minutes for him to respond, he tells you to raise your hand and that he'll be right over in a second. You do as your told and for a while it seemed like that didn't do much other than gather attention around you making you seem like you're definitely lost and looking for someone to help you. Which, to some extent, you do. But it doesn't matter for much longer as Kuroo soon finds you and he waves to you, which you do the same.

"Well, well, look at you all dressed up. Does that mean what I think it means?" He asks teasingly. His hand finds cover on his hip as he stares you down.

"If that means playing volleyball, then yeah, I am. I wanted to surprise you!" You said, you notice that he himself is wearing some sportswear, he was already quite drenched in sweat you also realize. You must've taken him out of a game he was playing in the moment.

He chuckles, "I am. But if this means anything that would mean your short story's gonna be something close to the main character playing rather than just watching then?"

"Sort of, yes. I wanted my main protagonist to go from not knowing anything about volleyball to learning to love it."

Kuroo hums in thought, "then now is a good time to try playing. Have you ever had experience with volleyball?"

You shook your head, Kuroo says. "Then let me teach you some of the basic stuff that I wasn't able to teach you last time." He beckons you to walk with him, your shoulder grew heavy with the big bag that still hung on to you but followed him like a mama duck and her duckling would.

You hurriedly place it down on own of the empty seats before following Kuroo along to an empty spot where no one seemed to be gathering. In his hand was a volleyball, where he got it from was something of a mystery to you. But nevertheless you went along with it.

"I taught you how to receive the ball, now I'll teach you how to serve. Watch me and receive."

You do as he says. He throws the ball up into the air and hits it with his open hand. The ball is aimed towards you and you successfully receive the ball, however it doesn't go towards Kuroo like you wanted it to. Instead it hits the head of someone on the stands. You go up to them and hurriedly apologize for it before taking back the ball to where Kuroo had been. Where he had been laughing his ass off.

"Don't laugh!"

But he does it anyways.

When he finally stops laughing he says, "now try doing the same thing I did."

"The— The serve?"

"Yup, just try it. It doesn't have to be perfect."

You steady yourself, trying to remember what exactly it was that Kuroo had done to make a perfect serve towards him. When you got the mental down you raised your hand and threw the ball up, it went up much lower than Kuroo's had which made your serve go downwards instead of towards your opponent.

"Try again." Kuroo instructs you, hands on his hips.

You do as your told.

You do it over and over again, Kuroo now by your side as he corrected every move you did until you did each move to perfection. You continued on trying to serve until your aim was no longer going from side to side, and finally Kuroo was able to receive the ball.

"Yes!" You cried out in victory. Finally being able to hit the ball towards the right area, towards Kuroo.

"How does it feel?" Kuroo asks you as he hands over a plastic bottle filled with water which he got from one of the dispensers outside of the open area.

"Satisfying." You breathed a sigh filled with contentment. Despite this only being the fundamentals and it taking you like 45 minutes to get it right you sure were having a lot of fun.

"You know how to serve and receive. So how's about you try out a real game?"

"A real game? Wouldn't it be too soon for me to try it out?" You voiced out your concern, even though you were having fun you would be working with other people and it'd throw the whole balance of the team with you on it, a complete noob.

"Trust me, it's so much more fun with others."

"Well…" You said, deciding to trust Kuroo. "Alright, let's do it."

He smiles, "that's the spirit." Kuroo then yells out to a group of people who were lazily sprawled across the stadium seats. "Hey, up for a round!?"

The people immediately sprung to life once they heard the word "round." Enthusiastically the group immediately ran towards Kuroo with a huge smile on their faces. They began to talk to one another, asking who would be on who's team and all that.

You shrunk into yourself without even realizing it. New people were always kind of hard to get used to especially with how enthusiastic this group was about playing volleyball. One of them looked towards you and darted straight to you.

"Hey!" They said, waving a hand at your direction.

"Hey…" You waved back, abeit more hesitantly compared to them.

"You're that person coach's been talking about, right?"

"Coach? Who, Kuroo?"

"Yessir! He said he was going to show someone how volleyball's gonna work and that we were gonna show em how cool it is!" They explained it all so excitedly you were kind of surprised how well they're taking you taking away from their playtime.

"That's me. Sorry, I took away from your time to play didn't I? I should've come another day but this is my only free day so—"

"Nah, you're all good. We were all so excited to meet you! You're gonna make a short story about volleyball right? Please let me read it when you're done. I'm a sucker for anything volleyball related."

"O-Ofcourse! I'll let Kuroo know when it's done and he can send it over to you guys."

"Yay, thank youuu!!"

That small interaction made your heart quell, even if it is just a little bit. It made you more stable, stable enough to walk up to the group.

"Hi, I'm here for an assignment of mine. Please, take care of me." You bow your head.

"Ah… you don't need to bow your head. We're all around the same age anyways." One of them said. When you lifted your head you see a dark haired man who seemed to. be the person who was talking to you. "We look forward to working with you."

You smile. "Same here."

"Alright," Kuroo said, "For teams I'm putting Araya and Roku with you." He said, pointing towards you, then pointing to himself for the other two.

The group goes towards one of the unused courts and preps up. Starting with drills, you included. Kuroo had all of you running and diving, that of which already exhausted you to no end, it was already bad enough that you also had to do spike drills, receiving drills, and serving drills. The first one being the hardest out of all of them. You've never jumped any higher than 5 cm off the ground. They even had to lower the net just so that you could play the game proper. You huffed, this was going to be a long and hard game.

The whistle sounded and the game began. Kuroo was serving on his team, he does a serve you've never seen before. He threw the ball high up into the air before running up and hitting the ball straight towards you. You receive the ball but due to your lack of aim the ball ended up going sidewards towards the outside line, where no one close by could save it. This meant that the point went towards Kuroo's team. He laughs at you and grins. You grumble in dismay.

"I'll give you payback soon enough…"

Araya, the girl that had walked up to you laughed. "Don't worry, coach is always like that. He can be… temptingly nice to hit with a ball."

Now it was your turn to laugh, who knew Araya would have such a devilish side to her."You're right. Let's do it after the game."

The game continues on, the other team started to notice that you were the team's weak spot and decided to pull every serve towards you. Sometimes you would get lucky and aim it right towards one of your teammates, while other times it would land straight out of the box. It sucked but you had to admit that you were having a lot of fun despite the amount of red that was starting to pool around your arms. It was like a trophy telling you that you did a good job trying. You were proud and learning.

The game would sometimes stop midway just to lecture you on how to make the ball bounce up in the air. Something like… letting your body lower itself before launching yourself up with the ball which would give it some more momentum along with you or even how your feet aren't to be grounded on the floor, but rather you should allow your body to be flexible and ready at any moment. It was really cool finding out all of these techniques within a game you've never been into.

You actually felt… so free. Sure, your jump could use some more work, but running around the court, blocking, receiving, serving, just… everything about it made you feel so alive, so free. By the time it was halfway to evening you were getting ready to go.

But…

You didn't want to leave this all behind.

"Hey, Kuroo?" You asked the taller man who was busy drinking water.

"Yeah? What's up?" He responded, planting his ass down on a chair out of the dozens that there are in the auditorium.

"Can we… can we do this again? This was just so fun. I've never felt more alive." You laughed like you just said one of the funniest jokes ever, "I don't know, it's not just because of my assignment anymore. Playing with everyone here, getting to know the guys through volleyball. It's all so…"

"Captivating? Fulfilling?"

"Yeah…" You breathed out like it was your first breath on Earth.

Kuroo smiles. "You can always come over whenever you want."

"I will."

As you walked back towards the train station your mind raced with ideas. Things that you wanted to write down the moment you got back home, you open up your notes app just in case you forget it on the ride back home. It was often that something like that happened to you while you were on your commute. You would often daydream about a story you came up with while you were on the way back home and then completely forget about it the moment you get back. It was frustrating, there was no way you were going to let that happen to you now.

As you typed you walked through the streets of Tokyo. It was quite scary to be outside without anyone to accompany you. You kind of wished that you brought Kuroo with you or even asked him if he could accompany you to the train since he would have a better understanding of where anything was as compared to you. But it didn't matter now that that was over with. What mattered was that you got back home safely.

While walking you began to notice something. Every time you stopped halfway something behind you would stop as well. You looked behind you every time after you heard it the first time, it was creepy. You thought about running, that maybe you could outrun whatever was coming after you, but being as unathletic as you are you probably wouldn't be able to get far enough that you could go to a police station and report the creep that's been stalking you.

So, you did the best next thing.

"HEY, WHOEVER YOU ARE I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU!! I HAVE THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON MY SIDE!!" You started swinging around your bag as you ran towards where you thought the figure was hiding, which was an electric post. You ran quite unsteadily as the weight of your bag could basically outweigh you in a bought of battle between gravity and yourself.

"HIYAAAAH" You screamed as you landed a hit on this mysterious figure that had been stalking you this entire time. They stumble back, their arms extended forward as if they were admitting to defeat.

"Stop, stop. It's me, Araya!" The stalker said, which made you stop your attack. When you looked down it was indeed, Araya.

Araya had been the one stalking you.

"What the heck, Araya!? You scared the living shit out of me!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Araya said, getting up from the ground where you hit her down. She dusts herself off before speaking again. "I just didn't know how to approach you! I wanted to accompany you to the train. I also need to go there, y'see?

You breathed a sigh of relief that you didn't realize you were holding and let yourself relax. It was just a friend after all, nothing bad could happen with a friend around. Plus, it's Araya! She's super chill and lovely to be around.

"Thank god it's just you Araya. If it was anyone else I would be screaming bloody mary!"

She laughs, almost awkwardly. "Yeah, just glad it's me!"

For a moment neither of you two talked, nor even moved. You just stared at each other, as if waiting for the other to make a move.

"Aha, yeah…" You said, breaking the awkward tension that grew between the two of you. "Why don't you come with me? I'm sure it would do us both wonders if we went together!"

"YES!" Araya said, putting a lot of emotion into it. "I mean, yes! I'd love to." A bit too much emphasis and emotion into it apparently.

And so the two of you walked to the station together, talking on the way. You had to admit that the day wasn't all too bad. You were able to get the information you needed to write your short story, that's for sure. Plus you were able to make friends along the way, surely that was a plus to all of this.

Now, you were back home and writing about your experience today. You wanted to write down your experience first then create a proper outline just so you could remember everything that happened today. Sort of like how you would a diary, but if this diary was like a draft of an outline sort of deal.

You throw your head back as you close your eyes. Today was a lot. You've never used your Wednesdays in such an active rush like this before. It was certainly something, something you could learn to love. Kuroo had told you that it was totally alright if you wanted to join them again some other time, to that you were starting to make a mental note of. Maybe you could go there on Saturdays after classes were done instead of Wednesdays so as to not break your streaming days. Today was just the exception.

Still, you couldn't wait for the next time.

Chapter 6 ↤ Masterlist ↦ Chapter 8

Taglist: @3mb3r8