The emotional reaction takes a second. Pure shock at the audacity has Kuroo, well, freezing for a second at the ice. Shock is quickly replaced by insult and offence.
The fact that someone poured ice down his shirt comes with the realization that he was not, in fact, a third year anymore. He was a first year, who got no respect and people thought it was ok to pour ice down his shirt.
Previous to this things were going great for first year Kuroo Tetsurou. Despite some of his nervousness about high school, he had made it into the volleyball team, had made friends, even gotten good grades so far. When the invitation to a practice camp was sent out Kuroo was ecstatic, and yes the 23 subsequent texts to Kenma were completely justified.
Turning around slowly, Kuroo expecting a boisterously laughing third year, maybe surrounded by a group of friends. What he got was a toothily grinning kid that looked younger than himself, with wild black hair that lay flat in some places and stuck up in others. The kid looked genuinely happy, as if the prank wasn't out of malice, but as if he expected both sides of the prank to be laughing.
Kuroo was not laughing. His face was burning and he felt extremely annoyed. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have lashed out, it's just Kuroo didn't like bullies. And while this kid definitely didn't fit the profile of a bully, his anger may have clouded his judgement.
Standing up quickly, his legs awkwardly jostled between the bench and the table almost knocking over his cup of bubbly water. Beside him Yaku stared up at Kuroo, eyes wide and expectant as if just daring him to pick a fight.
"Dude," Kuroo' voice rose in agitation, "What the hell?" He couldn't help the cuss word that slipped out, he just wanted to get across how angry he felt. In front of him the kid's brows furrowed as if trying to figure out how to pass the next level on his video game (Kenma made the same expression enough times for Kuroo to know) and then opened his mouth. He closed it a few more times as if trying to find the right words.
"I- I was trying to-" the beefy kid paused, trying to figure out what he had wanted to do. Confused the kid cocked his head like a baby bird before glancing over at a table of third years munching on sliced pieces of barbecue. Kuroo's eyes followed his gaze, landing on the group as they snickered and lowered their heads.
"Well?" Kuroo demanded, still irritant, his eyebrows raised in a 'go on' way. The kid's eyes flickered back over. "Well…" the kid mirrors back at him, twisting his thick fingers "I thought it would be funny…" he trails off glancing up at Kuroo, a light blush settling across his nose.
"Yeah," Kuroo scoffs, "I'm laughing and laughing." He turns away from the kid to stalk away to the bathrooms. "Wait- I, I'm sorry," The kid calls to his wet back.
"Whatever!" Kuroo throws hotly over his shoulder.
"You've got a weird look on your face," Yaku snickered. Kuroo glanced over from the spot on the wall he had been staring at for the past ten minutes mulling over ways to get back at that weird kid. Kuroo startled, windmilling his arms back for a second before steadying "I do not," he defended, pouting. "Yeah ya do," Yaku accused, "Kai, doesn't he?" Yaku leaned over onto his elbow to face Kai. "Don't bring Kai into this," Kuroo squawked, both looking over at the third boy awaiting his judgement.
Kai glanced over and studied his face, taking the request seriously. His eyes roamed over Kuroo's face while the other two held their breaths, before settling on a verdict, "Your face looks normal," he decided and before Kuroo's face could light up he finished with "But your hair still looks weird."
Yaku cackled in the corner while Kuroo dramatically fell back. "You can't just bring someone up to bring them back down like that," he complained. "Haha, seriously though," Yaku looked over at Kuroo, locking eyes with him and causing Kuroo to feel slightly invaded, "If you pull something and get us kicked off the team I will kill you," Yaku threatened.
Kuroo shifted along the floor, glancing away nervously, his sweat from the earlier games causing him to feel sticky uncomfortable. "When's our turn in the showers?" He asked nervously, looking from an escape from his clearly crazy teammate.
Kuroo doesn't do anything too dramatic (as in he avoided killing himself via Yaku) but he did glare at the black haired boy every time they passed each other. Although watching him Kuroo did notice that most times the boy was just running past to pick up stray volleyballs that the second and third years had spiked, which should have been a job for the manager. 'Whatever,' Kuroo thinks, 'He probably deserves it anyway.'
But when the kid bumps into him right before dinner, Kuroo isn't all that forgiving. While the adrenaline from the games had before left him feeling euphoric now Kuroo's beginning to feel tired and irritant in the face of his enemy.
"Watch it kid," he snaps out and feels an empty fleeting joy as the kid recoils. "I'm not a kid," the kid sticks his chin out and Kuroo laughs out a "pshh, so you aren't in junior high," he continues airily "Could've had me fooled."
Kuroo takes a step back and reigns in his temper for a second, just like his mom told him, "Look, sorry, just- watch it ok?" Except now the kid is puffing up like a rooster and suddenly there isn't so much a height difference. Now that they're closer Kuroo can see that they are actually pretty close in height. "Or what?" the kid challenges mulishly. Kuroo sends him a confused look, trying to step around him and get to his dinner. "Uh, nothing, just watch where you're going," he says, they've moved on so why is this kid trying to pick a fight?
"Oh yeah?" the kid slurs, and Kuroo can't help it when it slips.
"Oya Oya,"
"Oya Oya Oya?"
"Oya Oya Oya Oya,"
Kuroo takes a step back grinning. Suddenly the wild haired kid is grinning too and Kuroo feels just a little bit lighter. Until from the doorway-
"Kuroo get your ass in here," Yaku snaps, then glances considerably at the kid in front of him "And bring your friend too,"
Kuroo grins, and invites the kid to sit with him, catching a name in the process- Bokuto.
Kuroo finds out a few things about Bokuto Koutarou, like that the third years are absolute assholes to him and Kuroo is one hundred percent ready to fight all of them over this precious bird. He learns Bokuto wants to become the ace, that he makes the best comebacks and grins victoriously when he does. In fact the only flaw Kuroo can find in this overly large teddy bear is how loud he gets in the mornings, but Kuroo finds that maybe he doesn't mind too much.
Before he gets on the bus Kuroo finds himself exchanging numbers and goodbyes with the other boy, "Don't worry bro, those third years can suck it, you'll be the best damn ace this world has seen," he offers as final advice. Bokuto's big amber eyes widen and then tear up, his big bottom lip begins to pop out from his mouth, "Oh dude, don't cry…" Kuroo tries to comfort panicky, he's never dealt with a crying person before.
"Don't leave Ku-brooo," Bokuto wails and despite the moment Kuroo can't help but crack a smile, "I'll always be in your heart Bro-kuto," he returns.