Okay. First of all, I must apologize… I re-read and re-watched these few episodes, but the timeline is really hazy to follow. Hence, I'm going to be taking some liberties with the number of days and so on. However, regardless of my own issues with myself, I hope the lot of you will enjoy the chapter! I promised some steamy scenes, and there shall be some :D

Chapter 27: Close

Akari arrived at Fukurodani Academy, glancing at her phone for directions multiple times before she finally found it. She had a bag in her hand with a few things Haru had asked her to pick up for her on Monday when she had the time. She hadn't particularly minded the errand, especially since they had no school and she needed at least some amusement. And, when her friend had told her of Kuroo's proposal, she couldn't resist taking the train to travel a few stops and see her in person to tease her.

"Akari!" Haru's voice caught her attention. Akari's head snapped up from her phone, where she'd texted that she had arrived, and to the running girl. Haru was wearing the usual red Nekoma sports sweats, which looked rather good on her. The bottoms fit her wide hips nicely, accenting them, and the white shirt she'd coupled with the red top showed off her generous breasts. Indeed, her friend was enviously well-endowed. Akari glanced down at her own chest briefly. "Thanks for coming!" Haru took a moment to catch her breath when she reached the gates.

"No problem," Akari grinned. "Just give me some of those, you have too much." She sneakily pointed at Haru's chest, making the girl blush.

"Take as much as you want, please." Haru took the bag from Akari's hands, leading the girl into the Academy. It was well-known among the two friends that the half Cuban girl wasn't too fond of her looks. She didn't like the attention her large breasts brought from the male population at school, and she was often uncomfortable about the comments that attention made the female population spread. "We're going to take a break in a bit, wanna say hi to Kenma?"

"Hell yes!" Akari and Haru intertwined their arms as they usually did, walking to the gym where the boys were practicing. "I've been missing him like crazy. Are you supposed to miss your boyfriend this much? It's never happened to me before?"

"I wouldn't know…" Haru mused. "Though, I think I'd, oddly enough, miss Kuroo is he was away." Akari groaned.

"Just call him by his first name, you're together now, no?" Haru nodded shyly.

"It's weird, though." The girl admitted. When Akari gave her a questioning look, she elaborated. "I mean, I've been calling him Kuroo-sempai for ages! It's in my head now… Calling him Tetsurō would be weird."

"I get that, I suppose." Akari mused. "So, tell me, how did he do it? Have you kissed? Is he as good as he seems?" Haru blushed, but then squealed and tugged on her friend's arm in joy.

"Oh, even better than I thought he'd be! It's like… I don't know! It's so good! And it's not always super hot, it's sometimes super sweet, and oh, gosh, I always want to kiss him when I see him now!" Akari was giggling through her explanation, tugging on their connected arms, as well.

"Now you know why Kenma and I can't keep our hands to ourselves!" Haru nodded.

"I totally get it," she gushed. "Gosh, why hadn't we done it earlier?"

"I've been saying that for ages!" Akari laughed. The two walked up to the door of the gym, finding the boys outside on the small grass patch, drinking water, lying down and looking generally dead. "Look, we'll talk more, I want to hear all about Kuroo-sempai. And, I do mean all of it."

"Okay," Haru nodded. Then, Akari gave her a small kiss on the cheek and bounded off to the familiar pudding head with a huge grin on her face.

"Doing good for humanity?" Kuroo asked from his spot on the grass, spread out like some kind of a cooked, middle blocker star.

"I suppose," Haru joined him, the bag Akari had brough next to her. "Did you get completely worn out?" The girl teased.

"Not completely," Kuroo smirked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Haru shook her head, not taking the bait. "A little PDA is good for the soul." The third-year told her, pushing himself up on trembling arms and kissing her before she knew what was happening. Her eyes closed on instinct, welcoming the contact. Kuroo's hand was around her waist, pulling her closer to him. It was only after her body touched his, noticing the sweat on his jersey, that Haru pulled away.

"Oh my God," she pushed him away gently. "That's gross." Kuroo laughed, dropping back onto the grass. There was a whistle coming from one of the Fukurodani team members.

"Now look what you did," Haru scolded half-heartedly. "We've become the local show."

"Is that so bad?" Kuroo asked with a smirk.

"Not at all," and Haru proceeded to wipe that smug grin off his face by bending down for another kiss, this time careful not to touch his sweaty body.

"He hit is like whaam!" Kenma watched as Hinata's hands flew all over the place, explaining. "And then it was kablaaam!" The hands moved again. It was like watching some kind of a medusa monster at the final boss fight doing ten moves at once, attacking in multiple directions. But, Kenma could also see what Hinata was getting at.

"That's because of the setting point, Shōyō," he told him, then frowned for a second, trying to decide how best to explain it in terms that the boy would fully understand.

"You're going to get wrinkles, like an old man," the voice behind him made him promptly drop his water bottle, then fumble to catch it. A finger pressed to the middle of his brows, where it usually did when she was making that point. "Right there." Kenma leaned his head back, the image of Akari's face coming into focus upside down.

"Woah!" Hinata gasped. "So pretty!" Akari giggled at that, smiling at him politely.

"Thanks!" Immediately, Hinata blushed profusely. "You must be Shōyō!" Kenma could swear that the boy's head literally blew up, a weird grin spreading on his face. "Oh, sorry, Hinata-kun?" Immediately, Hinata was doing some kind of a waving his hands in dismissal but still not recovered from before noodle dance.

"Shōyōshfine!"

"Is that Japanese?" Akari's head tilted to the side, which made Kenma chuckle.

"I think he says first name's fine, Akari." Kenma finally spoke, head rising again to look at her from his seated position. "Why are you here?" Akari pouted at him.

"Came to drop off some of Haru's things and see you," she smiled at him in a telltale way. "Want me to go?"

"No." The instinctive reply which came without a second's hesitation seemed to change something in the girl.

"Sorry, Shōyō, can I steal him for a bit?" Hinata seemed to mutely nod and then wave as Akari took Kenma's hand, pulling him up and leading him away from the group. Kenma couldn't help it. His fingers started playing with hers, tracing them and switching their grip. He had missed that. He had missed the contact which had become a daily thing. "How long is your break?" Akari whispered as soon as they were inside the building of the Academy.

"Ten more minutes." Kenma replied without looking at his phone for the time.

"Closest room we can use?"

"This way." He took the lead, eager to satisfy his weird need for skin to skin contact with the girl.

Kuroo was miffed. On one hand, he was glad that Kenma had gotten himself a girlfriend and that they were eager to have some alone time. On the other hand, he didn't like that the fact that the setter had left with a pretty girl had unleashed the orange unknown territory onto him and Haru, breaking their peaceful moment. They'd simply been chatting, about games, plans and so on, when Hinata had descended upon them, stumbling over his words.

"Ha-Haru-chan, who was that? Do you know her?" Hinata plopped down next to them, taking all of Haru's attention. Kuroo had seen how, after their practice game, their manager had checked the small middle blocker for signs of concussion and how they'd chatted. What he hadn't realized back then, but was coming to find out now, was that she'd developed some kind of a maternal instinct towards him. "She's so pretty!"

"Ah, Akari? She's my best friend," Haru replied, smiling at the first year.

"Akari!" Hinata blushed. "She called me by my first name!" Haru sighed, apologizing immediately.

"That's probably Kenma's fault," Kuroo joined in. "He doesn't do the whole formality thing and he's probably talked to her about you."

"O-ooh!" Hinata seemed shocked, cheeks still blushing. Kuroo could swear he saw stars sparking all around him. "Why? Why?" The questions flew to both of them, making the captain instantly a tad tired.

"Because you two are friends, and Akari's Kenma's girlfriend." Haru told him. Kuroo was jealous of the way she was looking at him quite openly. He wanted to go back to those lazy kisses in between conversation, and he just knew that Haru would object if Hinata was with them.

"G-girlfriend! How mature!" However, as the girl talked to the eager first-year, Kuroo felt his mild irritation decrease. Obviously, she'd noticed his growing annoyance, touching his hand with hers, playing with his fingers lazily on the warm grass as she kept her side of the conversation up. Kuroo decided that he didn't really mind that Hinata was stealing her attention, after all. As long as he still had some of it, he didn't particularly care that she was facing the boy and talking with him eagerly. Those fingers on his told him enough.

Haru was watching the match with a slight frown. While her primary concern was her own team, she couldn't help rooting for both Fukurodani and Karasuno due to her friendship with many of the members of those teams. The group she was worried about, though, at the moment, was Karasuno. It was like something was going on inside the team which didn't make much sense. Was it just mistakes? Were they trying something new? What was wrong?

"Crows are omnivores, you know?" Nekomata had obviously noticed her worried gaze being directed at the group on the neighboring court.

"Omnivores?" Haru asked, looking back to the coach.

"They will devour anything they can get their beaks on, if need arises." Haru gasped, looking back at the boys. Now that the coach mentioned it, she could see it. Each and every one of them were trying something new. It was still rough around the edges, with a lot of mistakes, but it was definitely evolution.

"But, Tsukishima-kun…" She commented, noticing the way the players swapped out. Nekomata nodded.

"Let's hope he grows a bit hungry, too." Nekomata chuckled, turning back to their own team. "Ah, that was a nice course!" He instantly praised Yamamoto. It was when there was a shout from the nearby court that Haru looked over to Karasuno again. Instantly, she was on her feet, rushing over.

"What happened?" She asked, taking in Hinata and Azumane on the floor.

"They collided," Sugawara told her from the sidelines, both of them running forward. She knelt next to Azumane, quickly assessing him.

"Where does it hurt?" Haru asked, ignoring his reassurances that he was fine. "Where?" She simply repeated, and finally, the wing-spiker gave in, showing her his side. "I'll only take a minute." Haru promised the referee from Ubugawa, as her and Sugawara helped Azumane get his jersey up. She tentatively felt along his ribs with the pads of her fingers, checking for breaks. She noticed him wince in a spot. "There?"

"It's nothing, Sakurano-san," Azumane tried to laugh it off again. "I'm fine." A single glare from her shut him up, though.

"Take a deep breath, tell me if you feel a pinch in that spot," he did, then shook his head. "Slowly twist your torso to each side, again, tell me if there's pain," she placed her hands on his shoulders, helping him through the gentle motion.

"Just the pain from the collision, nothing else," Azumane assured her.

"Cough," Haru instructed, and despite looking confused, he obeyed. "Any pain?"

"Nothing more than what I'm feeling otherwise." He assured her.

"Looks like there are no breaks, you could still have bruised ribs," she said. "I'll catch you after practice and treat that before the bruise sets in." Haru promised, then moved to Hinata who seemed to have dissolved in some kind of an apology noodle on the floor, twisting and bending while crying 'sorry'. "Shōyō, let me take a look at you, too."

"We should get ourselves someone like Haru, too!" The girl heard Nishinoya say loudly while she was checking the small middle blocker for injuries. She grinned at the libero.

"I'm one of a kind, Noya-kun."

Haru was on her way to the kitchen after taking a quick shower when the practice finished. Luckily, the most they'd had regarding injuries were a couple of jammed fingers and a single rolled ankle, which was quite a feat. She'd checked both Hinata and Azumane once more after they were done with practice and they both seemed fine. So, she was feeling quite good, grinning and humming a familiar salsa tune as she headed to help Shimizu out in the kitchen.

A hand at her elbow, and then another one at her waist, stopped Haru in her tracks, pulling her body back. For a split second, she was terrified. However, she managed to calm herself down by recalling that she was on a camp with people she knew. It was a safe environment, especially with the height and the intimidating demeanors of some of them.

Haru was pulled back into a warm, firm body and the smell or freshness and sandalwood. Instantly, she knew who was the person that had scared the living daylights out of her for a mere second. She took a deep breath, though, enjoying how it felt, filling her lungs like crisp, almost pre-snow air. That's what Kuroo smelled like. Like the air before snow fell.

"You scared me," she pouted while her racing heart attempted to go back to its usual rhythm.

"Sorry," Kuroo whispered into her ear, his lips grazing the shell of it. She knew that he'd felt her shudder against him, as he smirked and then spoke again, those lips touching her ear more than they should've. "Are you busy?"

"I was going to the kitchen to help Shim-"

"Not busy, then," Kuroo decided for the both of them, pulling away from her. Haru felt cold somehow, now that his lanky body wasn't wrapped around her, holding her in its secure embrace. But, she didn't get the chance to feel cold for too long.

Kuroo pulled them into a room she wasn't familiar with, closing the door and gently pushing her against the wall right next to them. Haru looked up, at him, noticing the expression on his face. It was like he was in pain or strained somehow, yet there was a smirk on his lips.

"Are you okay?" She asked tentatively, seeing as his hands were already on her hips, fingers moving around in lazy patterns over her shirt.

"No." Kuroo told her, voice low.

"What's wrong?"

"You."

"Wha-" she began to ask him if she'd done something wrong in their new relationship already, but Kuroo reached up, putting a finger to her lips.

"Shhh," he told her, that finger tracing her bottom lip slowly. "I just need a bit of attention, alright?" Haru nodded shakily. Her fingers were cold as ice and trembling. Her knees didn't seem to want to stay strong or keep her up. "Stop me if I go too far or make you uncomfortable." With another nod, Kuroo lowered his head, his lips replacing his finger.

Gosh, kissing Kuroo was heaven, Haru thought absent-mindedly. It was warm, tender, slow and came with little nips at her bottom lip. She didn't mind the switch between the softness and the tiny bursts of almost pain. In fact, it made her want even more. Haru didn't let her hands to what they usually did, just grab onto his shirt like a lifeline. Instead, she moved her fingers from that spot down his torso, feeling the muscles he'd built up through years of volleyball. Then, her hands circled around to his back and slipped up, nails scratching through his shirt. She reveled in the way he groaned into her mouth at that.

Somewhere between him sneaking a hand under her top, the warm fingers trailing up her back and driving her insane, and her gripping the back of his loose shirt, Kuroo managed to turn their kisses into open mouthed ones. Haru felt incredibly out of control there. She wasn't quite sure where her tongue should go or what it should do and tried to keep it out of the way as much as possible. That made him pull away with a chuckle.

"Stop pulling that tongue back," Kuroo told her, a little breathless. Haru felt her cheeks flame even more, but she recalled how he'd told her to be as honest with him as possible, despite the embarrassment.

"I don't know what to do with it," she giggled, which made him laugh and pull her deeper into what had turned out to be a classroom.

"You're too cute, you know that?" Kuroo asked her, then helped her sit up on one of the desks. Haru looked at him uncertainly, hands at his shoulders. She was completely out of her element. "Don't worry," Kuroo was a lifeline. "I'll teach you." His hands gently pulled her legs apart, stepping forward. "This alright?"

"As long as you don't tell me to strip, I think I'm fine," she answered honestly with a chuckle. Kuroo nodded.

"Sometime in the future, maybe," he cheekily replied, making her smack his chest softly. "But, for now I'm just solving the height issue." He promised and Haru decided that he'd been talking for too long. She kissed him this time, enjoying the way he almost immediately opened his mouth when she nipped at his lip.

He was right, though. The new position gave her much better access, as she was now almost the same height as him. Though, the desk still gave her a few centimeters over him. It was definitely an interesting angle. This time, she didn't let her tongue stay as flat as possible in her mouth. Instead, she did her best to mimic what Kuroo was doing and he groaned, fingers squeezing her thighs gently. She'd done something right. Haru became lost in the slow dance of their tongues and the soft touches on her skin. She couldn't help messing up his hair. Each short break they took in between the hot kisses brough her an inhale of Kuroo's scent.

"Do you have lip-gloss on?" He asked when they took a longer break, foreheads touching to keep them centered.

"Lip balm," Haru whispered back.

"It tastes like almonds."

"It's supposed to." She replied cheekily, which made him kiss her again through a chuckle, this time without as much tongue. It was a loving kiss, she could tell. Gosh, he was as head over heels for her as she was for him. Kuroo's hips came forward, pressing into hers.

"Shit, sorry," he immediately said, when he felt her stiffen in surprise. Kuroo was pulling away from her when Haru gripped his shirt tightly at the shoulders, pulling him back forward. Their eyes locked as his hips came into touch with hers again.

"It's fine," she told him with a smile, quite a bit happy that she could have that effect on him. "Is that because of me?" She needed to know. Kuroo chuckled, shaking his head.

"You really have no idea what you do to me, do you?" He gave her a slow kiss, then pulled back a bit again. "Earlier, on the court, when you were doing your medical thing you pretty much singlehandedly destroyed me." Haru's head tilted to the side.

"Really?"

"Really," he confirmed. "It's irrational, I know," he laughed. "But, I find you very sexy when you get all serious about something."

"Sweet talker," Haru giggled, eagerly accepting the kiss that came her way. This time, her tongue was the one to touch Kuroo's first, rather confidently. It was all fake bravado, though. She was still clueless if what she was doing was right. Though, judging by the way he pressed into her even more, she'd done it correctly. During the next small break they took, Haru couldn't help but ask the question which was plaguing her mind. "Say, what happens if you get hit by a volleyball while having… issues?" Kuroo winced, his head dropping to her shoulder with a chuckle.

"Successful mood killer much?"

"It's bothering me." Kuroo sighed, head coming back up to give her a quick, close lipped peck before he pulled back, but only with a bit of his torso. Those fingers on her thighs couldn't stop moving, it seemed.

"Pain, if you're lucky," he told her. "If not, you'll end up with one broken source of children." Haru balked.

"You can break it?" Kuroo seemed to give up on trying to restore their previous mood, instead answering her barrage of curiosity.

"When it's hard, sure you can." Haru winced. "Yeah, my sentiments exactly." Then, he noticed the curious way she looked down at their joined bodies. "Oh, hell no." Suddenly, Kuroo moved away from her, leaving her feeling quite cold. Her skin tingled where he had been pressed against her.

"C'mon, Kuroo, it's for scientific purposes." The girl hopped from the desk, walking towards him as he backed up.

"No, no," the third-year shook his head. "I'll do tons of stuff you ask me, but this is too much." Then, he laughed. "God, I never thought I'd be telling you to keep your hands outta my pants."

"Then don't." Haru gave him an innocent smile. "Don't worry, I won't break it."

"You can't play with it!" Kuroo protested, going for the door. She opened her mouth to say something, when he cut her off. "And telling me you'll be gentle won't work either!"

"C'mon Kuroo!" She advanced on him, which made the third-year grab the door and open it violently, startling the two people standing in front. Kenma and Akari seemed to have had a similar idea as Kuroo had previously had.

"Move, move, move!" Kuroo begged almost and the two parted, letting him dash past them. Haru was hot on his heels. Their disheveled hair and red cheeks didn't escape the other pair.

"Just let me test it!" Kenma and Akari heard Haru yell. "I'll be gentle!" They shared a look of complete confusion.

"Haru, I'm not letting you break my pride and joy you evil creature!" That shout made the duo in front of the classroom wince. But, they couldn't hear the rest as Haru gave chase after a quite fast Kuroo.

"She's scary…" Kenma whispered after a second, his face in an interesting expression. Akari laughed, taking his hand again and leading him away from the empty classroom and towards the place he'd shown her as their temporary rooms.

"Trust Haru to get him running even before they could properly start dating!" The girl laughed. Kenma nodded, then shook his head.

"He deserves it, for all the stupid stuff he's been pulling with her." Akari sagely nodded at that.

"When you think about it, they're perfect for each other," Kenma glanced at her with curiosity. "He's a total scheming tease, Master of Provocation and she's the person who won't back down from his challenge and is totally blunt about the weirdest things."

"She's also fixated on testing if he can break, apparently," the boy offered her a small smile, which made her burst out laughing.

"I'd never try to see if you can break a penis." Akari shrugged. "That's why we're the sane people here." She told him with a giggle.

"Can you do my hair again?"

"Gosh, just when I called us sane," Akari sighed, but accepted the comb he gave her when they entered the classroom with numerous futons on the floor. "Read the atmosphere, Kenma."

"I don't particularly care about the atmosphere…" He murmured, taking out his PSP and settling in front of Akari on a futon, leaning back so that she could play with his hair and get all the tangles and knots out. She did it much better than he did, after all.

"Sure you don't." Akari told him knowingly, kissing his hair softly as the opening credits of the game came up on the screen. Then, she buried her fingers into his hair, making Kenma sigh in content.

I had too much fun with this chapter xD Hope it makes you laugh, as well!

Reviews:

YamamotoIsLife:
Hey there! Welcome to reviews and thanks so much for leaving me some feedback xD It made me so happy!
Thanks for all the praise xD I'm glad that you like my writing style xD Ummmm the trick is, I think, in planning it out? I have a separate document with chapter by chapter plans :D I try to keep a bit of fun for the Omakes all the time :D They're the scenes I think up as I'm writing the chapter and then add at the ending xD
Hahahahhaha Yaku and Haru crack me up xD And Yamamoto is super cool! I'm glad that I managed to do him justice xD
My updates… are… urgh… yeah not really scheduled xD I'm mostly updating every two or three days right now, but that really depends… I'm kind of coping with my exams by speed-writing this, so it's quick updates for now… Every two-three days should work xD Last week I was doing every day updates xD I think I wrote like 20+ chapters in a month xD Sorry, I write a lot when I'm stressed hahhahah
Regarding the 'sempai' or 'senpai' dilemma, they're interchangeable, actually. I think I went with 'senpai' in the beginning then 'sempai' later on, but not sure xD
As for 12 ways, they're pretty much AU xD I was going to have them be a part of my timeline, but then decided against it… After all, in 12 ways Haru and Kuroo don't get together until his graduation and I was a bit afraid that I'd get lynched if I didn't get them to have some time together during the fic itself xD On the other hand, I also wanted to write some spicy scenes! Though, I do make some random references to 12 ways in this fic. But, feel free to consider them stand-alone :D
Hmmmm I never went back to scour for it, I must admit… I remember that it was on AO3, though it wasn't that well-written… I'll look for it and let you know :D
I'm so happy that you're enjoying this fic! Hope to hear from you again :D Cheers!
P.S.: Haru's dad is gold xD

Rosto'sGirl:
Thanks so much for the comment!
Finally, I know xD I've stopped teasing xD Well… maybe? I'm planning to write at least up to the end of the year, but we'll see :D Depends on demand hahahha
I'm glad that you had fun reading my interpretation of Kuroo and I'm happy that you like Haru! I'm going to do my best to keep it fun still :D
Best!

Omake:

"Why are you running?" Haru was breathing hard, standing on one side of the cafeteria table, looking at Kuroo who seemed ready to bolt.

"Because you're chasing me!" He yelled back and moved to the left when she went right. Then, they stopped, staring at each other for a moment.

"I'll give you a kiss?"

"No!" Kuroo went right when she went left. "You can't bribe me into this!" Finally, the girl seemed to make up her mind, stepping on the bench quickly and sliding across the cafeteria table towards him. "Shit!" Kuroo ran again, eyes wide.

Shimizu and Yachi stood behind the counter, watching the scene, their eyes following the pair who kept running around the cafeteria tables, both quite desperate.

"What… are they doing?" The first-year asked, tilting her head. Shimizu shook hers.

"Some kind of weird foreplay," she sighed at the pair who kept screaming at each other. "Don't look, Hitoka."

"Y-yes!" The girl followed the older manager into the back of the kitchen.

"I'm not letting you touch my dick with evil intentions!" Kuroo's yell made the first-year's face go as red as a tomato. Nekoma is… intense, she decided.

That's all for now, folks!