I do not own Haikyū!

Tetsurō is being a dickhead for science. Tetsurō is being a dickhead for science because he wants to see if Chitōse Akiko will be annoyed with him for making her wait even longer for him after volleyball practice ends. He leisurely helps clean up the gym after practice, takes his time getting dressed into his uniform, and spends time a few moments chilling and talking to his teammates. And yes, he knows it is messed up for making Akiko wait longer than necessary considering she's been waiting for him after school and she currently does not partake in any club activities, but he kind of really wants to see a figurative tick mark appear on that little brown haired head of hers.

Chitōse Akiko, however, is an extremely patient person. Tetsurō comes to this conclusion when he spots her sitting under a tree near the gym while reading a book, the last of the sun's rays barely casting enough of a deep red and orange light to see before it becomes dark altogether.

Truth be told, he did feel a little guilty, but ultimately wants her to get mad at him (the thought of her scowling and crossing her arms at him does something inside of him that he can't quite pinpoint, but he just knows it'd feel good). In the end, it is a good sort of relief he feels when he apologizes for making her wait so long and all she does is smile up at him and asks how his practice went.

They begin walking, Tetsurō adjusting the weight of his bag as he rolls his shoulders to work out the kinks in his muscles after a long day and practice; while Akiko keeps up with his pace, a content look on her soft features.

"So, if you don;t mind me asking. . . How did you know we lived in the same area, Kuroo-san," Akiko asks after walking in silence for a few minutes.

The male gives a short breath of laughter. "Ah well, I've always just kind of noticed you are before." And he did. She stands out in that very strong but quiet way where she doesn't have to act like a class-clown to be noticed, nor talk about the newest fashion or star-icons everyone is obsessed with at the moment. Akiko stands out in the way that everyone knows her because she is always kind and listens no matter what it is. Their classmates know they can depend on her for notes if they miss, or can invite her to a mixer if they need one more person. He notices her because he likes the way she feels like an unseen warmth rather than a bright light.

Akiko giggles. "I guess I kind of always just noticed you too."

"Hoh? But I'm so easy to overlook! On the other hand, it's very hard to miss someone like you."

"Someone like me?"

Tetsurō eyes her from the side. At this point, his fingers are laced together to support the back of his head as he walks. He has to watch that his jutted-out elbows won't conk her in the head, but at the rate he is growing recently, he isn't surprised if one day he won't have to worry about that anymore as they walk side by side.

She'll be shorter than him. She is shorter than him. So, yes. . . someone like her. With her just barely managing to reach the top of his shoulders and her small frame easily able to be overpowered by his; she is not someone he or anyone else's eyes can pass over without much thought. Akiko is pretty in every sense of the word. Not gorgeous, that is a description for someone taller with her looks; and not cute because her face is angled with more maturity than many other fifteen year old girls. But definitely pretty.

Akiko is not some foreign beauty, she does not look all that different from any other Japanese girls. She has fair skin like most of the girls that he sees around, brown eyes that sometimes border on being too dark, brown hair instead of black. But somehow, he believes that she wears it better than anyone else.

And then Tetsurō eyes work their way down to examine more of her. She is petite, small; he thinks her body resembles more of a child than a teenager. Her chest proves that she hardly has anything to suggest her age. Though, while his gaze continues further down, he takes note that her skirt is long in the front but hikes higher up in the back.

So she has an ass, he thinks to himself. Not maliciously, never maliciously, but something he just notices and stores away for the hell of it, even if he's not so sure why.

"Kuroo-san?"

Her voice is small when she speaks up, a hint of hesitance detectable even to his unfocused mind.

Tetsurō's bright hazel eyes snap up to her own deep brown ones. He can feel the rise of his eyebrows before he realizes he's even moved them, and the heat that suddenly crawls up his spine and into the back of his neck.

He'd been caught red-handed. Well shit.

His hands that are laced behind his head tighten around the base of his skull ever so slightly in embarrassment.

"Ah- sorry, Chitōse-san. I was just. . . thinking. . ."

The girl gives a tight smile as she turns a bright red before nodding and looking away.

The rest of the train ride and walk to his house is quiet, all the while Tetsurō is mentally berating himself for even checking her out in the first place. He looked and he believes that there is no harm in looking, in checking someone out. He just doesn't like how she reacted to him checking her out. He likes to rile people up and make them angry enough to do something about it; but making sweet Chitōse Akiko not even want to look at him is not his plan.

He knows she is too polite to ever mention what happened and he didn't actually want to make her - god forbid - cry, so Tetsurō isn't planning on bringing it up either.

The time spent together afterwards working on the project is quiet with Akiko only ever speaking to him about minor stuff in regards to the assignment. He is quite thankful that his dad and grandparents happen to not be around during this time; his dad probably at work while his grandparents do who knows what (those sneaky geezers), so they're not here to witness the tragedy of the first time Tetsurō bring a girl over and her seemingly like she would like be anywhere else - politely though.

Now, the messy-hair boy doesn't consider himself to be someone who gets upset with trivial things, so why does he feel so bad about it?

It is a week since the project is completed, him and Akiko working as a good team academically and earning a perfect score on their assignment; but outside of that: nothing.

Girls, in his mind, are more complicated than guys. They become upset over nearly every little thing and hold onto it for ages. When he provokes members on the volleyball team, they become upset but the kind that they need to fuel their desire to win. Off the courts, he is just as sharp tongued, though more out of persona than anything else.

That is why he hardly ever does anything to provoke a girl. Opting to interact with minds more similar to wiring as his own; because a boy can shake something off in a matter of minutes, girls. . . not so much.

Though, it seems like Tetsurō is not able to shake off the incident so quickly like he thought he would. He believes that checking someone out is no big deal, that getting caught checking someone out is no problem; but the longer he keeps going back to getting caught looking at Chitōse's backside by said girl herself, he is bothered. He thinks that he is in the wrong - that maybe Chitōse-san doesn't want to be checked out, especially so blatantly. More and more he feels upset with himself, but why should he be upset with himself? Should he not be? Should he be? No? Yes?

Ugh.

His brows furrow. Tetsurō is at his best friend Kenma's house. Him trying to get the young boy to practice volleyball off the school grounds.

The messy-hair boy is taking their break to lay down and stare at the blue, cloudless sky in thought when his long, brown haired friend speaks up.

"Mm- Kuroo?"

Tetsurō turns his head to where his friend is sitting a couple of feet away, fingers dancing on his hand-held gaming device. "What is it, Kenma?"

The boy seems to mull over his thoughts a little bit, a humb sounding from his throat before deciding to speak. "You're still thinking about that girl, aren't you."

Tetsurō watches as Kenma continues to play his game while he thinks about what his friend said. It is true that he keeps thinking about his too-kind classmate. Tetsurō has already told Kenma and Chitōse and everything that happened, his friend only shrugging as most of his responses since he didn't know what to say about the matter other than to not stress about it too much.

Rather than say anything, the tall volleyball player just gives a hn of acknowledgement.

So what if he is thinking about her and their interaction. Boys usually think about girls when they are not thinking about sports or school or, or, things in general. Though, he can remember seeing her face looking up at him with big brown eyes that show nothing but happiness. The way her lips smile and her teeth peek out from beneath the soft pink skin Or the way she runs a hand through her hair, or she tosses it over her shoulder and he can catch the scent of her shampoo (something light and sweet, and overall wonderful that he can't put a name to but smells so, so good).

But nope, this is completely natural. Afterall, he is a boy and she is a girl. And puberty, he noticed, is starting to hit him hard at fifteen if growing hair and his voice cracking is anything to hint at.

That's why he is thinking about it. About her. There is no other reason for it. Nope. None at all.

Kuroo is definitely drawn to the warm, quiet type huh. Kenma anyone? A little bit of Tsukki maybe? Am I just trying to make a connection out of nothing? Lol

(Edited 09/23/2020)

I'd like to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story! I appreciate you all so much!

Again, this is like the 3rd time or so that I've edited this story and all I've made are a few changes on grammar, tenses, capitalizations, etc. Only a few sentences have been altered in terms of deleting, changing, or added; nothing too major to have to go back and read for older followers.