summary: Kuroo rules at Monopoly and everyone hates it. Time to kick him down a notch.
an: i suck at math and i haven’t played monopoly in ages so pls don’t come at me because of the money thanks
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“Uh oh...”
“No.”
“That looks like...”
“Shut up.”
“Kenma~”
“Quit that, I get it!” The setter sighs. “How much?”
“Let's see... 315.000 Yen sounds about right.” Kuroo smirks at him in the single most complacent way anyone could ever manage and Kenma closes his eyes in agony. “Do you have 315.000 Yen, Kenma?”
“No.”
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Kuroo, stop being annoying,” Kai rebukes the captain from the other side of the board, a little sympathetic for poor Kenma, but undoubtedly relieved that it's not him who has to pay.
“Alright, alright. What do you have then, Kenma?”
God, Kuroo is lucky that he is too tired to attempt an assassination. “50.000 Yen.”
“And?”
“And the train stations.” It's physically painful to even say it out loud. “In for a trade?”
“Sure. We can agree on... 30.000 Yen and three train stations.”
“Three?”
“Or two train stations, but that will be 50.000 Yen then.”
Asshole. Kenma sighs again and hands Kuroo the three train stations along with more than half of his asset. He still has a long way to go before he can pass start and half of the property is owned by Kuroo, which is just bullshit, considering that there's six of them playing. Honestly, he's impressed that none of them is broke yet. Well, completely broke.
“Monopoly sucks.”
“No, you suck at Monopoly.” Kuroo smiles and adds the game money to his already unbelievably huge stack of Yen and property cards. “And anyway, why would you say that? We're having a lot of fun, aren't we?
“Yeah, whatever.” Yaku grabs the dice and for someone who only has 5.000 Yen and a lousy brown street in front of them, he seems awfully self confident. Probably because he has no problems being an enemy of the state and doesn't give a damn about how much money Kuroo has when push comes to shove.
The dice knock Lev's little car over, then they stop. Two and four. Hotel. Kuroo's hotel. Of course. Kuroo is the only one who can afford hotels right now.
“Yakkun, I hate to break it to you, but I think you're out.”
Yaku crosses his arms and Kenma prepares himself for a discussion, because yeah, maybe Yaku is pretty chill about board games, but he's also a bad loser and the setter can tell from his teammates' expressions alone that everyone is ready for some drama.
“Says who?”
“Me and the rules.” Kuroo points at the pathetic asset in front of the Libero. “If you can't pay, you're out and you can't pay me with that, that's not nearly half of what this move costs you. Give me your money and street.”
“Or else what?” Yaku smirks and leans back against the wall. “You can't stop me from just keeping everything. Actually –” he sneaks a hand into the bank and takes out some of the game money – “you can't stop me from abolishing this whole construct. See this? What are you gonna do, put me in jail?”
“You're a sore loser.”
“And you're king of capitalism, can we play something else now?”
“Not until you say it.” Kuroo smirks and folds his arms behind his head, leaning back. “Say 'I'm a sore loser'.”
“Kuroo Tetsurou is a sore loser.”
“Yakkun, you're no fun!”
“I am no fun?!” Yaku jumps up and onto Kuroo before anyone can react and squeezes his sides, making him shriek and fall back on the floor. “If I'm no fun, why are you laughing, huh? Why are you laughing, idiot?”
Kenma can't help but smirk at the scenario – not like Kuroo and his self-complacent ass don't deserve it. And laughter is a good look on him, especially when it's this kind of laughter. He always found his best friend's ticklishness something quiet fun to mess with. And Yaku for sure feels the same way, judging by his wide grin and his fingers relentlessly massaging Kuroo's ribs.
“Noho, Yahaku! Stahap,” Kuroo cackles and clamps his arms to his sides desperately. “I-”
“You what? You're enjoying yourself? That's great!” Yaku grins when his friend squeaks. “I'm enjoying myself too! See, now we're having fun! Hey, hey, don't move around like that, you're gonna make me fall! Yamamoto, help me out here.”
Yamamoto doesn't hesitate for a second though – not surprising, Kenma thinks, considering that he has even less money left than Yaku and half of his own streets were taken over by the “king of capitalism” as well. He grabs Kuroo's kicking legs and makes himself comfortable on his ankles. “No can do Captain, I'm sorry.”
A squeeze to the hips, Kuroo snorts. “Ah- noho! Kehehenmaha! Don't lahaugh ahat me! Hehelp!”
“If you insist.” He actually hasn't meant to get involved, but honestly, why not? Kenma crawls over to where his friends are seated and carefully drags one finger over Kuroo's socked foot, glad that his legs are trapped – judging by the shriek, he would've probably gotten kicked in the face otherwise.
“AhahAH, Kehenmaha!”
“Lev, come and train your dexterity.”
The first year, happy to be included, scrambles over to his Senpai and copies Kenma's movements for a bit before resorting to scribbling all five fingers under Kuroo's toes, causing a literal scream from the Captain.
“StahAHAP! PLEHEHEASE!”
“Stop? Kuroo, my friend, we're just getting started.” It doesn't take more than one quick glance from Yaku for Kai to roll his eyes and make his way around the long forgotten board game and over to them. Kenma chuckles lightly to himself – Kai always seems so sweet and kind, but he's really mean, even meaner than Yaku.
When it comes to tickling Kuroo, that is. After all it's him who was the first one to do it and he always likes to go for, well, the worst spot.
“KYAHAHA! KAHAHAI!”
“Kuroo,” Kai replies in a mocking tone, wiggling his fingers in Kuroo's armpits, making him clamp his arms to his sides and – finally – letting out his hyena laugh. “You good there?”
“AHAHAHAM NAHAHAT!”
“Oh, come on, don't be a buzzkill.” Yaku smirks at Kai and they double their efforts as if choreographed. If Kuroo wasn't dying before, he's now. “Everyone is having so much fun. What do you say guys, six minutes? One for every damn hotel on this board?”
The desperation in Kuroo's eyes grows and when he looks at Kenma, the setter can't help but smile.
Hey I just saw your message and as a fic writer myself I completely understand. I’ve had situations where someone will request something and/or someone that I don’t know much about and it gets complicated lol. Anyway but if your still willing to write for me I’d love to see something with Kuroo and Lev ❤️
Was thinking, like, maybe something where Lev had just recently gotten on the team and he finds out that Kuroo Tetsuro, the cool and casual captain of Nekoma is actually ticklish. I don’t see much of Lev tickling Kuroo so I thought I’d want to see that lol.
Again if you can’t totally ok and thank you! Drink plenty of water and have a good day/night!!! 💕💕💕❤️❤️❤️✨✨✨
you're my idol!
summary: Lev struggles with his confidence and in order to help his Kouhai, Kuroo resorts to drastic measures to prove that he, in fact, isn't nearly half as cool as Lev believes him to be.
an: the intro is so much longer than the actual tickling, i'm so sorry- i hope you like it anyways and thanks for your patience about the other request! also the main duo here remains lev and kuroo but there's a teeny tiny smidge of yaku in the end because i couldn't help myself, sorry ^^'
word count: 2630
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“No, no, no no no no, stop!” Kuroo groaned and caught the ball that he had been about to hit into Lev's direction. “You don't even know whether I'm going to do a jump serve or a regular serve! Why are you moving?! And why are you only moving your arms?! You receive with your whole body, remember?”
“Uhm...” The first year stood up straight and stared at the ground. “I... I thought...”
“Don't think. Here.” Kuroo threw him the ball and got ready to receive it. “Do a serve and look carefully at what I do, okay?”
Lev nodded and took a deep breath. Calm down. This was just practice, nothing too serious. It wasn't the end of the world if he didn't know how to properly receive a ball, that was the reason he was here! At practice... with Kuroo-senpai... who was probably super annoyed with his incompetence and judging him so hard right now... who had the authority to kick him out of the team if he didn't fit Nekoma's standards... who was kinda the coolest person Lev had ever met and compared with whom he felt like a loser just standing next to him...
“Lev? Serve?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, sorry!” Stupid serve! Stupid insecurities! Lev shook his head a little, trying to clear it, and threw the ball in the air. Not a good throw. But he couldn't catch it, let alone drop it – he had already failed at receiving without even receiving, he wasn't going to fail at serving as well now!
Of course the ball didn't go to where Kuroo was waiting for it. It went somewhere else, somewhere it echoed through the whole gym when hitting the ground, somewhere Lev didn't see, because as soon as he realized that this serve wasn't going to work like he wanted it to (which was immediately after his hand hit the ball), he looked down so he wouldn't have to see the disappointment in his Senpai's face.
The ball stopped. It was deadly silent for about three seconds, then Kuroo cleared his throat. “That... was so bad, oh my god.” Steps could be heard when the captain approached him and Lev quickly bowed, clenching his fists in shame.
“I'm sorry, that was my mistake! I can do a serve, I promise, my thoughts just drifted off and... I'm really sorry to waste your time like this Captain! I should be able to receive a ball by now, but I'm not good enough and I realize that I have to practice more and that I'm not contributing to Nekoma's success with the way I play at the moment and-”
“Hey, whoa, slow down kid!” Kuroo grabbed him by the arm and forced him to look up, nothing but shock and concern in his eyes. “What are you talking about, are you- Lev, are you okay?!”
“No, like I just said, I suck, I totally suck...” A fist seemed to clench around his lungs, his voice broke – shit, he was going to cry, he was going to cry in front of Kuroo-senpai and then he'd never be- Lev yelped in shock when two arms wrapped around him and he was softly guided into a sitting position, a hand resting on the back of his head and another one holding him carefully but tightly.
He closed his eyes and tried to quiet his thoughts, additionally being calmed down by Kuroo's soft voice right next to his ear (Shh, it's okay, I'm here, you're fine, let it out) and it was a rather short moment, only lasting twenty, maybe thirty seconds, but somehow it was... enough. Enough to let him breathe again at least.
Kuroo didn't let go of him until Lev signalized him to do so by softly tapping his arm and when he did, he remained seated right next to him, a hand still on his shoulder. “Better? Good, because I think we need to talk about this.” There was still concern in Kuroo's eyes, but also something else, something questioning, lurking. “We're clearly not on the same page here. You're not wasting my time, as your captain it's my responsibility to make sure that you learn everything you need to know.”
“But I take so long to learn stuff...”
“So? You've been on the team for two weeks or so, don't stress yourself so much. Also, you're trying, aren't you? You realize that you need the practice and you accept it, you really put the work into it.”
“I still suck though.”
Kuroo glared at him. “Why would you think that? We've all been amateurs once!”
“Yaku-senpai told me that I suck just an hour ago!” Lev wrapped his arms around his knees and tried to bury his face. “And it's true, I didn't do a good job at blocking today!”
“So what, we all have off-days.”
“But not as bad as mine! I'm just worse than you guys, don't lie to me to make me feel better!”
“Lev,” Kuroo sighed and switched positions so that he was in front of the first year and could look directly into his eyes, “shut up. Calm down, okay? You're not especially bad or especially vulnerable or whatever you're trying to tell me right now. You have off-days, that's fine, sometimes you suck, that's fine. As I said, we all do.”
Lev threw him a skeptical glance. “Even you?”
“Hell yeah!” Kuroo smiled at him. “The week before my finals is always off-days exclusively for me and Yaku tells me that I suck twice a day, at least. I fail serves, I miss spikes, I drop balls, that just happens and that's fine, alright? You don't have to feel bad about that, we'll fix it.”
“But... I still think it's different...” Lev crossed his legs and bent forward a little. “You can just... I don't know, shrug that off. You'll never fail completely, you're way too cool for that, Kuroo-senpai!”
A slight blush spread across Kuroo's cheeks and he looked a little taken aback. “I... what?”
“You're too cool for that! You're our captain, that's cool, isn't it?! And you're also really good at volleyball and you're funny – and you're so smart, I could never be this smart!” This was weirdly relaxing. Talking about someone he was very appreciating of seemed to help him to calm down rather than being compared to others. He lowered his voice a little. “You're smarter than Yaku-senpai, and nicer. To be honest, I even admire you more. You're... you're, like, my idol!”
“Me?!” Kuroo squeaked and his face was completely red now. They had somehow switched positions, with Lev enthusiastically leaning forward and thus towering over Kuroo who had scrambled back a little.
Lev tilted his head to the side – he had never seen the other boy this flustered. Well, he hadn't been on the team for that long, but Yaku surely would've tried to make Kuroo flustered if he knew how to, right? (Or maybe he knew how to and genuine compliments just were too high of a price to pay for him, Lev could imagine that as well.) “Kuroo-senpai, am I embarrassing you? I'm sorry.”
“I-it's fine,” Kuroo reassured him quickly and rubbed his neck. “I'm just surprised you see me that way... there's a lot about me that's not cool at all.”
“For real?!” Lev knew that he sounded like an overly curious five year old and he was well aware of the blush that still covered Kuroo's face – the last thing he wanted to do was making him uncomfortable, but the thought of the captain being uncool in any way just didn't fit right into his head. “Like what?”
“You- you wanna know?”
“If you wanna tell me. I'm sorry, I should be more respectful.”
Kuroo just looked at him in a slightly stunned manner, then a rare, genuine smile sneaked onto his face. “Well, maybe it helps you to be a little more realistic with your standards for yourself, so... okay, yeah, sure. Anything for my Kouhai, right?” He chuckled softly. “Let's see... you know how you called me smart? I'm a goddamn nerd. Kai has a safe word he uses when I use too many chemistry words he doesn't know.”
Lev grins a little at that, but then he shrugs. “How is that uncool? I mean, you're talking about something you're passionate about and you understand it so well that other people can't follow you. I think that's pretty cool!”
Kuroo blushed some more. “W-well, what do you wanna hear about then?”
“See? You're so cool that you can't even think of something uncool about yourself!”
“Hey, not true!” Kuroo furrowed his brows and suddenly seemed very determined to prove Lev wrong, as if this had become some sort of challenge. “I talk like an old man!”
“That just means you're really wise. It's super badass to be wise at the age of 17!”
“I... my hair sucks!”
“I actually like it. It makes you stand out, also it looks super fluffy.”
“It's not... you... I'm scared of heights!”
“Who isn't?”
“Okay, fine, you know what... dude, have you heard my laugh?!”
“Actually, no.” Lev curiously examined Kuroo who peeked at him from where he had hidden his face in his hands. “Why?”
The captain sighed, rubbing his temples and consequently avoiding his gaze. “It's super ridiculous. I sound like that one stupid hyena from The Lion King.”
Lev couldn't help it, he snickered and quickly clapped a hand on his mouth when he saw how the tips of Kuroo's ears took an even deeper shade of red. “Sorry... I don't believe you, to be honest.”
“It's true, I swear! Would I lie to you?”
“Hm, maybe to make me feel better... no, wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you a liar, Kuroo-senpai!” Lev tried to make eye contact with the third year. “Can you... show me your laugh?”
“Show you my- no,” Kuroo spluttered and shook his head, “how do you think I'm going to do that?! I can't laugh on command, stupid!”
“Oh... yeah, right.” Lev honestly couldn't tell where he took the courage from, but then the words left his mouth before he could think about them twice: “Are you ticklish, Kuroo-senpai?”
If Kuroo hadn't been red before, this would've done it. “What?! No!” Somehow his voice had risen another octave, though Lev wouldn't have thought that this was possible. Hm. Interesting.“What are you talking about, I'm naHAt-”
“I think you are.” Lev couldn't help it, he just had to smirk at the way Kuroo immediately broke out into cackles when his hands made contact with his sides. He knew that he should probably be more careful not to overstep too many boundaries here (although he probablyalready overstepped all of them), but seeing his normally so collected and aloof upperclassman crumble under a little tickling was just too hilarious and, yeah, why deny it, endearing to not continue.
“What are you doing- Lev!”
“I'm just trying to get that laugh from you, Kuroo-senpai.” Lev tried to move up to the other one's ribs, but his arms were clamped to his sides too tightly, so he instead grabbed his hips. Kuroo shrieked, falling to the side in an attempt to get away and Lev quickly took advantage of this new position to straddle the captain, gaining easier access to the newfound tickle spot. “That was a nice shriek though, I didn't know your voice could be that high!”
“Shut up!” Kuroo threw his head back, wheezing through his laughter and carefully moved his hands down, trying to grab the torturous fingers.
Lev smirked a little. “Gotcha.” He actually hadn't planned it like this, but making Kuroo think that he was analyzing him would maybe help him to a better image. Though he highly doubted that the captain could pay attention to anything like this right now – the priceless reaction when Lev quickly shoved his hands up into his now vulnerable armpits said otherwise.
Kuroo anything but screamed with laughter, his legs kicking out and slamming into the floor violently, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and his hands grabbing onto his shirt strong enough for his knuckles to turn white. “YAHANAHA! Stahap, stashahit shitshitshit, LEHEV!”
“Whoa,” Lev mumbled a little surprised, but continuing to scratch under Kuroo's arms. “Is that it? Is that your hyena laugh, Kuroo-senpai?”
“YEHEHES!” The third year managed to open his eyes, looking at Lev through tears of laughter and his face flushed bright red. “Ihit ihihis, now stahahap! PleahEASEYAHAHA LEHEV!”
“If you insist.” Lev took his hands away, handing Kuroo his water bottle and waiting for him to catch his breath. He flinched a little when the captain glared at him, but there was a playful spark in his eyes he hadn't expected to see there after nearly tickling him to death... his Senpai... his captain... an upperclassman who was almost an adult... heaven, what had he done?! “I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done this, I was so disrespectful-”
“Lev, calm down, it's fine.” Kuroo chuckled softly and rubbed his tummy. “Ouch... got me good kiddo, I'll give you that. And I hope you realize now that I'm no one to be idolized. I'm not perfect.”
“Are you sure? I think, uh...”
“Say something about my laugh being unique and I'll kick you off the team, I swear.”
“Okay, fine, it was kinda ridiculous.” Lev grinned hesitantly and then a little wider when he saw the smirk on Kuroo's lips. “Certainly unique though, you can't deny that.”
A snort escaped the captain and he weakly punched his shoulder. “Shut up.”
They sat in contempt silence for a few seconds, with Lev examining his hands and Kuroo hydrating himself some more, then the first year softly cleared his throat. “Thank you. I mean, for trying to make everything better. But I still think you're cool.”
Expecting another 'Shut up', Lev was surprised to be met with a certain kind of... shyness? when Kuroo glanced at him. “Really?”
“Of course!”
“Color me flattered.” The soft expression on Kuroo's face suddenly turned serious. “Do me a favor then, don't tell Yaku about this! Like, don't tell him anything!”
“Oh, no need.”
“Yaku-senpai!” Lev jumped to his feet and bowed to the Libero who put on his shoes and entered the gym, smirking at Kuroo on the floor whose face had gone pale the second his classmate spoke up.
“How much did you see?”
“Enough. Gee Kuroo, how come I never knew?” Yaku chuckled and positioned himself on the other side of the net. “Lev, come here and watch. Kuroo, give me a jump serve, I'm showing the idiot how to properly receive.”
Lev shuffled over to him to watch and tilted his head in surprise when the Libero looked at him. “May I ask the context of whatever this was?”
Looking over to Kuroo who was busy gathering the ball from where he had hit it earlier, Lev smiled. “I was having a hard time and he helped me. He really helped me a lot.”
Yaku smiled back at him. “Yeah, he does that.”
A warm feeling of being welcomed sparked in Lev's chest and when he focused on the way Yaku got ready to receive the jump serve, he thought that maybe, no, certainly Nekoma would accept him after all. He would find a team here.
AAAH, ok so i had this anon request for lee!kuroo in my inbox but it somehow got deleted - it’s here now but it’s been a while and idk if the anon who sent the request is actually seeing this, but whatever, here it is
an: tickle fic, kurodai
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Something was off. Akaashi couldn't quite name it, but the usual cheery and relaxed atmosphere of their extra practice in the third gym had been replaced by something a lot more tensed and weird. He didn't like it. Being used to Bokuto's and Kuroo's bullshit, the newly established silence was uncomfortable and, on top of that, awfully suspicious.
Akaashi looked at his captain intensely, who was practicing his serves. That idiot was probably planning some shenanigans with his non-better, maybe even worse Nekoma pal and they were just bad at hiding their intentions. The Setter wasn't sure what to make of the tension in the gym though – were they scared that their prank could go wrong? A cold shiver ran down his spine as he imagined the horrible stuff they could've gotten themselves into.
But alright, no need to panic, there was no evidence of a crime about to happen – yet. Akaashi put his water bottle down and walked over to Tsukishima who was taking a break as well. “Hey, you don't happen to know what's up with them, do you?”
The Karasuno Blocker just shrugged. “I'm not an expert like you in that matter, but I actually don't think there's something up with Bokuto, he's just focused.” A nod in the other direction, away from said Bokuto. “Kuroo, however, is behaving a little strange.”
Akaashi followed the gesture and furrowed his brows. Tsukishima was right and now that he had said it out loud, the second year saw it too; Bokuto was just focused on his serves, a rare but possible and very much appreciated state. Meanwhile, Kuroo hadn't made a snarky comment in over twenty minutes and was just spiking a ball against the wall again and again and again, not even really looking at what he was doing. Good to know that it wasn't something going on with the two of them, but the empty expression on Kuroo's face made Akaashi worry nevertheless. Very unusual.
“Kuroo-san?” The ball fell to the ground with a loud THUD and the Middleblocker turned around. His eyes took a second to focus on Akaashi who came closer carefully. “Are you alright?”
“Aw, Akaashi, are you worried for me?” In the blink of an eye, the usual lazy smirk returned to Kuroo's face and he leaned backwards against the wall. “Didn't know I was so important to you.”
“I'm serious, Kuroo-san. You're behaving weird.”
Akaashi noticed how the others were slowly gathering around him; let it be curiosity, like it was probably in Bokuto's case, or actual concern, like in Hinata's and Lev's. Akaashi didn't know why Tsukishima was there. Maybe he just liked having Kuroo on edge, because that was certainly what this whole movement seemed to do to Nekoma's captain. On the one hand, Akaashi felt a little guilty at the nervous flicker in Kuroo's eyes, but on the other hand, the chance that he would just shrug his concerns off was immensely limited by the sheer number of people surrounding him.
Still, he tried his best. “Tsk, wha- I'm not being weird, what are you talking about? Hey, Lev, shouldn't you be practicing receives?” Seemed like his best in a situation like this wasn't good enough though. Akaashi smirked to himself. So much for smug and manipulative.
“Yo, Kuroo, you good?” Perfect, Bokuto had caught on! Despite being a little dense from time to time, his emotional intelligence was impressive. “'Kaashi's right, you look like you saw a ghost. Hey hey hey, did ya? Did ya see a ghost?” Noticing that his friend didn't go along with the wide grin, Bokuto's face switched back to slightly concerned and he tilted his head curiously. “Bro?”
“What?!”, Kuroo snapped and if that wasn't evidence, Akaashi didn't know what would be. “It's nothing, okay? Can you all just stop bothering me and go back to practice?”
Hinata and Lev exchanged a glance, clearly intimidated and were just about to turn away and do as Kuroo said, when suddenly- “You know what I think?” The softness of Tsukishima's voice even sent a chill down Akaashi's spine. “I think you're lying.” The next sound echoing through the gym was a surprised shriek and Kuroo tumbled to the ground, his expression a mixture of withheld laughter and pure horror.
“Hgnnh- w-what are yohou doing?! Stahap! Gehet off of me!”
“No, I don't think I will.” Tsukishima leaned forward a little and now Akaashi could see that he was softly scribbling his fingers over Kuroo's sides, forcing giggles out of the Scheming Captain. “If you don't want to talk about what's concerning you, we'll make you.” Even though it seemed a lot more likely that Tsukishima just didn't want to leave out an opportunity to mess with Kuroo, but Akaashi decided to go with it anyways.
“NAha, Ahakaashi, nohoho!” The fabric of Kuroo's shirt was soft under his fingers as he experimentally dragged them over the captain's ribs. Oh, that got him cackling. Akaashi normally wasn't the type for things like this, but something told him that he wouldn't get Kuroo to talk any other way and in the end, he only wanted to help him! Kuroo might've been annoying most of the- sometimes, but they were still friends. Somehow. Actually maybe they weren't, but Akaashi couldn't stand people around him being sad. “Hohow do you knohow-”
“I saw Kenma nudge your side the other day.” Tsukishima smiled maliciously. “Hate to break it to you, but it was painfully obvious to anyone who was watching. Just as obvious that you're hiding something from us.”
Kuroo's reply was cut off by another shriek, way louder and high pitched, when Bokuto finally decided to join in on the fun, effortlessly grabbed Kuroo's wrists with one hand and stretched them out over his head, only to go directly for the armpits. That sent the Middleblocker straight to the ground and he all but howled with laughter.
Akaashi took off his hands for a second, astonished. He'd only ever seen two people being tickled (Konoha and Komi when Bokuto thought they wouldn't put enough effort into their practice) and he wasn't an expert, but judging by the amazed looks on Bokuto's and Hinata's faces, Kuroo seemed to be extraordinary ticklish under his arms. Hm. Interesting.
“NAHAHA STAHAHAP!” A glimpse over his shoulder showed Akaashi, that the two first years had joined in, curiously nudging Kuroo's hips, making him wheeze in between his fits of laughter. “PLEAHEHEASE! BOHO, DOHOHON'T!”
“So”, Tsukishima smoothly chipped in, gesturing to Bokuto so he would slow down a little, “coming back to the actual topic, what is bothering you?”
“Ihihihi... nahaha...”, Kuroo turned his head to the side as if to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks and Akaashi couldn't tell if it was from the tickling or the general embarrassment, “Ihihi cahan't, ihit's stupid...”
The others exchanged a glance and while Lev shrugged (“Well, at least it's something now.”), Bokuto leaned forwards, unusually serious. “If it makes you all sad and distracted, it's not stupid. We can't help you if you won't talk to us.”
“Mahaybe I don't wahant you toho help- AH! Nonononono, Shrimpfahahaha, stahahap!”
Hinata just smiled innocently while consistently prodding his thighs, right above his knees. “Everybody needs a little help sometimes, Kuroo-senpai. Trust me, it's for the better.”
“Yeah”, Lev agreed and Kuroo honest to God screamed when the first year wiggled his fingers right under his toes, even pulling them back a little to have better access. “And come on, I mean, whatever it is, it can't be as embarrassing as this, right?”
“He's got a point.” Tsukishima lightly shoved Bokuto's hands aside so he could tickle Kuroo's armpits instead and contrary to the Fukurodani Ace, he went soft, calculating and almost excrutiatingly slow on the elder's weakest spot and it didn't take long for Kuroo to absolutely lose it.
If he hadn't been a breathless mess before, he now definitely was and Akaashi was impressed with how long he took it, only giving in after roughly two minutes.
They immediately let go off him, even Tsukishima, and gave Kuroo a little time to catch his breath and come to his senses again. Akaashi hastily got him a bottle of water – hydration was important and considering Kuroo's exhaustion, this must've been almost a workout – and watched as Bokuto helped his friend sitting up and soothingly rubbed all over his back. “Hey, you alright?”
“Yeah, I-I'm fine.” Kuroo leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, peeking them open for a second after a while only to shut them again immediately when he saw all the others were focused on him. “Gosh, you people suck.”
“Sorry, Senpai.” Lev scooted a little closer. “Are you going to tell us about your concern now?”
Kuroo pulled his legs closer and buried his face in his arms, hugging his knees tightly. His ears took an even darker shade of red. “Fine, but... ugh, I don't know, it's really silly. It's probably nothing. It's just embarrassing.”
“Tell us now!” Bokuto gave Kuroo's side a little nudge, making his best friend flinch hardly.
“Ohohokay, okay! I... I might... Imighthavealittlecrush...”
“What?”, Tsukishima digged deeper and Akaashi couldn't tell if he was for real or just fucking with Kuroo again if his life depended on it.
“I have a crush!”, Kuroo cried out and finally looked up, his blush intensifying even more. “I'm in love, okay, are you happy now?”
“Very”, Bokuto chirped with a satisfied grin. “Who are you in love with?”
“I- I can't tell you.” Kuroo sighed shakily and glimpsed at Tsukishima and Hinata, muttered: “If you guess right, I'll tell you tho. From Karasuno.”
“Shimizu-san? Yacchan?” When both of these guesses were met with a quiet No, Akaashi and Bokuto exchanged another glance before the latter smiled widely. “Was this the reason you were scared to tell us?”
“What?! No! … Maybe.”
“Then you really didn't have to be!” Being the touchy guy he was, Bokuto pulled Kuroo in a tight hug and ruffled his hair. “It's fine, Tetsu, really! So, who is it? Is it Sawamura?”
Kuroo didn't even need to nod, his stunned silence and tight grasping onto his fellow captain's shirt were answer enough and Akaashi could feel Hinata's excited beam before he actually saw it.
“Oooh, that would be so cool if you and Captain were a couple! You have to ask him for a date! Youhavetoyouhavetoyouhaveto-”
“Are you crazy?! No!” Kuroo ripped himself from Bokuto's hug and pushed Hinata so that the first year rolled onto the floor. “I'm not going to ask him for a date!”
Tsukishima cleared his throat softly. “You should, tho. For real.” Before anyone could wonder about where this sudden compassion came from, a typical Tsukishima-scowl appeared on his face. “If you had each other, maybe it would make both of you less of the insufferable romantics that you are now.”
Akaashi couldn't help but smile at the shock on Kuroo's face, at the vehement No and at the following laughter when he fell victim to his friends' ticklish encouragement once again.
“I will kill you, I will actually kill all of you – HEY!” No matter how tall Kuroo was, he couldn't do anything against the united strength of Bokuto and Hinata pushing him into Sawamura's direction. Luckily, the other captain just happened to turn around at that very moment and he looked mildly surprised at most – no wonder, Kuroo approaching him was a daily thing to happen at this point.
“Hi, Kuroo. Can I help you?”
“Ah, no- I mean, yeah, I mean...”, Kuroo took a deep breath and when he threw them a short glance, Akaashi made an encouraging movement with his hand, “W-would you like to... go on a date? With me?” He barely gave Sawamura time to fully comprehend his request, immediately resolving into hectic stuttering; “You don't have to tho, I mean, it's not a big deal if you don't want to, i-it's, uh, what I'm saying is, I-I'd totally understand-”
“Kuroo?”, Sawamura interrupted him and Akaashi saw Hinata and Lev share a fist bump when the Karasuno captain smiled. “I'd love to.”
