I love you

It was faint, and soft, almost like a whisper, however it resounded at least a million times in Tsukishima's ears.

Tsukishima woke up late the next morning, or rather afternoon, only to find himself surrounded by an unfamiliar atmosphere. The bed covers carelessly thrown over him felt different, the lighting of the room he was in seemed different, and the smell too… and somehow, he could hear the faucet of the shower being turned on. He rolled over to the bedside table, like he does every morning, and reach out his hand trying to find his glasses, only to realise he had been wearing it the whole time.

Tsukishima bolted straight out of the bed as the truth dawned on him. This is not my room! He quickly shuffled around the room trying to find some clues, only to hear someone stepping out of the shower.

"Good morning, sunshine."

Tsukishima did a really sharp turn and saw Kuroo casually standing in the middle of the room while drying his hair and he was… shirtless. All he had on was a pair of baggy comfy looking long cotton pants. Tsukishima could feel the blood creep up his face and turned around, raising a hand to adjust his glasses.

"Kuroo, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

Kuroo told him that he had let Tsukishima crash in his place because he was way too drunk to be going back to his own apartment. When Tsukishima felt pain shoot from the back of his head and when the dizziness approached, he then remembers.

I love you.

But he was drunk at that moment, and so was Kuroo.

"It's already past three but perhaps it's not too late to take you to a little lunch date?" Kuroo asked, reaching out to take Tsukishima's hand, who quickly retracted and heaved a sigh.

"Enough with the sweet talk, it's creeping me out," Tsukishima said. "Come on, let's go."

After their lunch, Kuroo had insisted he hung out at Tsukishima's place, in which Tsukishima refused but in the end let him anyway. By the time they arrived, Tsukishima paid no attention at Kuroo and quickly started on his paper that was due the next week. Kuroo made himself comfortable- or rather too comfortable- and lied down on Tsukishima's bed before he started flipping through the volleyball magazines he took from Tsukishima's bedside table.

They both remained silent for a few minutes before Kuroo decided to talk.

"Tsukki, you still like that freckled guy?" Kuroo asked, his eyes still on the magazine he was reading.

"Why does it matter? It has nothing to do with you," Tsukishima said without averting his eyes away from his laptop screen.

This time Kuroo put down the magazine and rolled over to face Tsukishima. "Of course it does."

Tsukishima wasn't so sure why Kuroo thought so. Sure, Kuroo has had his back this whole time, especially when it comes to handling Yamaguchi. But then again, it wasn't as if Tsukishima ever asked him to. If anything, he had told Kuroo to stop sticking his nose into his love affairs a lot of times. This time Tsukishima swiveled around on his chair and said, while bowing a little, "I appreciate all the help, Kuroo. You can back off now."

Kuroo clicked his tongue, not exactly out annoyance, though he actually is, a little, and got out of the bed, standing right in front of Tsukishima. "After all this time… don't tell me you don't know."

"I don't... understand?" Tsukishima said, backing away a little and raised his arm a little between him and Kuroo, a sort of a defensive gesture.

"I told you the other time didn't I? I love you, Tsukki."

"I thought you were just joking."

Kuroo leaned over to Tsukishima, placing one hand on Tsukishima's arm that he held up and taking the other boy's chin by his other hand. In that one moment and on just that very moment, Kuroo's presence somehow felt beckoning. The warmth of Kuroo's body suddenly made his heart beat faster, threatening to slam itself out of his chest. His face, more than anything, was flushed. Blood raced right to his face, and his cheeks were glowing bright red.

"I wasn't," Kuroo said, and Tsukishima had never felt so frozen in his entire life. And when his golden hazel eyes met the other, he felt as if he was falling down an endless pit, dark and pitch black, just like Kuroo's eyes.

"K-Kuroo, hold on. Wha-" Tsukishima tried to push Kuroo away, only to find out that he has lost control of his own body, and his limbs wouldn't move the way his mind wanted them to, especially his eyes. The thought of averting his eyes from Kuroo's gaze crossed his mind at least a million times. However, if anyone was in his position, no one would have been able to resist that gaze, that was so strong and so full of passion yet still unwavering. No one would have, not especially Tsukishima.

Kuroo leaned even closer and their lips would've touched just with a little push, and that would've been have Tsukishima's second kiss, would've been, until Kuroo suddenly backed off, released Tsukishima from his grasp and said, "Never mind."

"I'll see you in class," Kuroo said, then gathered all his things and left the apartment, leaving Tsukishima confused, still flushed, and heart beat yet to slow down.

"Kuroo? What's wrong?"

As soon as Kuroo reached his apartment and locked himself inside his room, he got a phone call from his childhood best friend, who was of course, in the same university with him, even now. Kenma had called to tell him about the cancelled volleyball practice when he noticed the dismal in Kuroo's voice.

"You see, I…" Kuroo heaved a heavy sigh before he finally said, "just got rejected."

"Oh? That blondie?"

Kuroo almost felt like a high school girl going home and crying all night long after a love rejection that wasn't even real love, that was actually just a mere crush. And when he couldn't hold back any longer, he told Kenma everything. After all, Kenma's had been in a relationship with someone too, (though they broke up in the end due to long distance relationship) so he should have at least a little advice for Kuroo.

"He never told you he didn't like you or anything right?" Kenma asked, his phone propped between his shoulder and ear, while both his hands clicked away on the playstation controller.

"I feel like I just got rejected though. It's awful."

"Keep your hopes high then, not too high though," Kenma said calmly, almost as if he could already grasp the situation already, imagining it vividly in his head. "Try talking to him again. From what I can see, that blondie is the type to hide his own emotions, or rather, he refuses to own up to it."

"Yeah, seems like it," Kuroo said, then heaved a sigh afterwards, not entirely of relief, but even if only a little, he wants to feel relief, he wants to know that he could still cling to the little possibility that Tsukishima would forget about the freckled cutie and turn to him entirely.

"But first, of course, you need to apologise. Oh, and also bring his favourite what was it-"

"Strawberry shortcake," Kuroo immediately replied without having to think twice.

"Ah yes, that. Oh shoot, I got defeated-" Kenma said, though half absorbed into his own game.

After another few minutes of consultation, Kenma had only wished him luck before hanging up. It was sort of unlike Kenma, to sincerely wish other people good luck that is, but because Kuroo trusted Kenma, and Kenma knew Kuroo could, Kuroo felt like he could risk hooking his fingers around this last bit of hope.