cw: past whump, protective caretaker, dialogue, implied whumpee breakdown, friendly work setting
caretaker and whumpee live together. they've known eachother for a while and caretaker knows about everything the whumpee's been through before they met.
they also work at the same company. when caretaker gets a text from supervisor, they head right to their office but before they can get to the door, they spot a person standing next to a water cooler by the office. it was whumper.
caretaker's heart skips a beat, but they try to not show it. they've only encountered the whumper about two times before, but they'd recognise that face anywhere. why are they here?
caretaker wonders if the whumper recognises them as well, the answer being clear as day the moment whumper gives them a patronising, smug smile they can only see for a second before they enter the office.
"caretaker! good to see you," their supervisor greets them with a smile, along with a few coworkers who were in the office as well.
"good to see you too," caretaker tries to reciprocate the warm greeting, but can't hide the way their throat suddenly goes dry. they swallow before continuing, "listen, who's that person outside your office?"
supervisor looks at them a bit confused, but answers anyway as they take a sip of their coffee: "their name is whumper, I just hired them. why?"
"is whumpee here?" caretaker shoots the next question immediately as they visibly grow worried.
"they just left, actually. looked like they were in a hurry, too."
"god damn- did they talk to eachother?"
"I don't-? caretaker, what is this?" supervisor puts their coffee mug down as they and the rest of the crew eye caretaker.
"supervisor, did they or did they not talk to each other," caretaker urges. if this wasn't a professional setting, they'd probably grab supervisor by the shoulders at this point.
"um, i think i saw them exchange a few words?" a coworker chimed in.
"fuck," caretaker uttered, "god fucking damn it. listen, we need to put a pin in this, i need to go find whumpee, like, right now. i probably shouldn't talk about it but i just know that they're not having a good time." they explain briefly as they gather their things.
"we'll help," supervisor put a hand on caretaker's back. "you know them best. where do you suggest we look?"
caretaker gives them a thankful look before the whole group storms out of the office.
When the whumpee is rescued from the whumper and they keep having terrible nightmares, so their entire team decides to sleep in one room with them so they can be there to comfort them. Their teammates all taking turns watching over them as the rest of the team sleeps, and waking them up whenever they start having a nightmare. The whumpee feeling safe surrounded by their team, and falling back asleep relatively quickly after nightmares. Them waking up the next morning feeling well rested for the first time since they’d been rescued, and their teammates making sure to continue the sleepovers for awhile, until the whumpee doesn't have such horrible nightmares.
Character A is the brains of the team but also the only member without any super powers, rendering them physically useless in any battle against the whumper, so their team always has to rally around to ensure they are protected
Something happens where the only way to get Lance to wake up/heal Lance is for someone who romantically loves him to preform whatever ceremony or something. He got sprayed by some sort of flower like the dummy (affectionate) he is.
All the paladins are in a panic, and Keith is internally debating it himself, but deep down he knows the answer and is just delaying the inevitable. So while they’re all panicking, Keith takes whatever he has to take to do the ritual thing (a kiss?), and all the paladins just stare at him as it works.
What they don’t know is that the only way for the spell or whatever to wear off is for the person being kissed/whatever to return the feelings.
So now all the paladins know about Keith’s pining (except Lance, because if Lance knew then Keith wouldn’t be pining) and it’s a bit awkward at first, but it’s all fine. The thing is, everyone thinks Lance doesn’t reciprocate Keith’s feelings, when in reality, he’s just really good at hiding his crush unless people know, then it’s obvious (one of my favorite tropes.)
One day, they go back to that planet and the aliens accidentally reveal the real reason Lance was saved, because they assumed they had gotten together by now, and Lance goes “but who…” until his eyes land on Keith, hopeful.
But Keith doesn’t know it’s hopeful, so he panics when he thinks Lance had figured it out. So, he runs, and that’s basically all the confirmation Lance needs before he tries to run after him and scream Keith’s name.
He’s stopped by Shiro, who says to give Keith time, and Hunk and Pidge stand there too, Hunk looking a bit guilty and Pidge being like a steel wall.
Lance is so confused, until Pidge says something like, “give him time, he doesn’t need a rejection right now.”
Lance literally stares at all of them and goes “what?!” He breaks out of Shiro’s grip and starts sprinting, and when the team calls out he goes “how could I not love him?!”
More Keith POV now, he’s running through the forest of an alien planet, part of the area that’s not charted so his map is useless, until he falls. After he tripped, he hears the sound of footsteps, and tries to get back up, but Lance come through the forest faster than Keith could run, and basically tackles him.
There’s a dramatic love confession with a lot of screaming and tears, and they both just stop to stare at each other for a bit, the only sound surrounding them the quiet calls of an animal native to the planet.
And then Lance let’s out a disbelieving laugh, and pulls Keith in by his armor collar to kiss him. It’s a bit messy, desperate, but it’s also languid and loving. Most of all, /it’s them/, and they wouldn’t give it up for the world.
@justalittle-mad said “I love this. Because all I can picture is Tony trying to live his life while everybody else goes out of their way to protect him. Working in the lab? Bruce constantly throwing himself on anything at risk of it exploding. Fury being fury? Assassin twins to the rescue. Call to assemble? Armor suddenly missing.”
That’s the quintessence of what happens at the Tower after Loki’s left.
At first, Tony doesn’t really pay attention to his teammates odd behavior. They’re always odd -- not just confusing in the way people generally are but also plain weird and it’s a good thing the public has no idea how peculiar Bruce is about his tea and how the table is set and how Steve swears when he’s losing at Mario Kart and how Clint is just a general disaster in the mornings -- but lately they’ve been a different kind of odd.
For example, just the other day Tony’s been blindly stumbling towards the coffee machine when Steve just stormed into the room like was being hunted down by seven evil clones [don’t ask] and proceeded to sweep Tony off his feet and carry him to the kitchen.
Granted, that’s happened before. But usually because Clint dares Steve to carry something. And usually that something isn’t Tony.
Then there’s the whole being Watched™ by Natasha and Clint thing. It’s cool when one of them does it -- they’re spies, they can’t help it -- but when they team up and you look up or turn around just to find them there, in the room with you, motionless and staring at you with blank eyes and you’ve no idea how long they’ve been there?
That’s a sure way to give a man a heart attack.
[That was a joke. Mostly. It still got the assassin twins banned from the Tower for three days though and that’s unusual as well.]
Tony wishes that’s where the list of incidents ended, but really, he isn’t even half-way through Monday morning yet.
The madness continues from there and whatever is wrong with his teammates, it doesn’t wear off.
Some of the incidents can be explained by the Avengers being their normal, traumatized-but-totally-buried-under-bad-coping-mechanisms-and-mountains-of-denial, broken-edged selves.
Like that time Tony and the microwave had a small disagreement and Thor massacred the poor thing with his magic hammer [and that won’t ever not sound wrong]. Or the one where Bruce bodily threw himself between Tony and the bunsen burner.
Others though?
Having Natasha give his poor employees the So You’re About To Have Regular Contact With Tony Stark And I Will Remember Your Face And Name Shovel Talk whilst cleaning her nails with a butcher knife is new, but sort of amusing in an oddly heartwarming way, but also unprecedented. [He’s definitely gonna pay them extra high hazard bonis that year].
Having Clint optimize his security schematics is helpful, but less so when Clint doesn’t think to clue any of them in on some of his more-- offensive defensive measures. [There’s only so many times you can accidentally almost get a cleaner killed by your well-meaning AI before the company will stop sending any more people.]
Having Thor’s magic hammer smite his coffee machine because Tony burned his tongue on his first coffee?
This has to stop. Right. The. Fuck. Now.
[It turns out there is something more terrifying than Loki. It’s his boyfriend.]
*
| Extra |
Natasha tried to mess with the Iron Man armor exactly once. And never again.
“Told you,” Clint points out smugly when she stumbles out of the elevator, pale and sweaty, shooting the thin air behind her a look of untold horror.
Neither Steve, nor Bruce or Thor are stupid enough to ask.
Malcolm never really knew what family should be like. Even before he had found out what his father was and their family had fallen apart, the Whitlys weren’t the poster family. They had too much money, they were too formal, too stiff. Neither of his parents believed in smothering, at least not when they were children. More prone to expecting them to be independent rather than holding their hand every step of the way. It a lot of ways they were too hands-off. They expected too much independence.
That is why Malcolm was utterly baffled by the fact that his new family seemed to think him incapable of surviving without them.
Gil was obsessed with feeding him. Every time Malcolm turned around, there was Gil with something more to eat. Every single time. Sandwiches for lunch, invitations to dinner, bring pastries to work for “the whole group” but really meaning Malcolm in particular.
As if that wasn’t bad enough there was also Dani with her refusal to leave him alone ever. She took him home every night. She picked him up for work every day. If he so much as stepped out of the office to go buy a cup of coffee she would go with him. Usually with an excuse about wanting another one to or about him getting the wrong one if he got it for her.
It was JT that was the biggest surprise though. Malcolm had always figured that it was at most a grudging respect for him. As it turns out, JT expressed affection through grumpiness and teasing. Once Malcolm had figured that out the rest of if sort of made sense. Sort of. He still wasn’t sure about JT’s sudden insistence on trying to help him find a treatment for his night terrors. As much as he liked the doting, (he did like the doting) he wasn’t so sure that burning sage would help.
Although the melatonin had helped him sleep more soundly and made the dreams much less intense. He did have to give him that. However, the TENS unit had been a horrible idea.
All of this added to the fact that Malcolm thought he was being treated like a child or an adorable puppy that had wandered into the precinct, and now they were all taking care of it. Which is why he had decided he was going to have a talk with them about the over-protective behavior.
He lured them into their meeting room with coffee and pastries and then closed the blinds. Gil had given him an odd look but allowed him to do so. JT had been focused on the pastries and Dani had been focused on the coffee. Which made it the perfect time to launch into his speech.
“I love you all to bits. Seriously, you’re my family and I adore you, but you’re making me nuts. I can’t go to the bathroom without one of you walking me there. I have eaten more food with you guys than all of the rest of my life combined. JT, I love that you are trying to help with the night terrors, and I appreciate it, I really do, but half of these things are pure hokum. Seriously, guys, I love you to pieces, but I can’t deal with this anymore.”
There was silence as they all looked at him. it was broken by JT speaking his own piece.
“Tough shit. You’re my little brother and I get to try and help you any way that I want to and can. So, what if half of them are hokum? The other half isn’t. Some of them haven’t helped, but some of them have. A hundred failed ideas are worth just one that helps you. Just one that makes your life better or easier. I’m not stopping and you can’t make me.”
Malcolm stared at him for a moment, perplexed. He hadn’t thought this scenario out. He’d figured that once he had said his part that they would all back off. He hadn’t counted on them not backing down. Gil shot JT a look and then started to talk himself.
“I think what JT means is that we love you, Malcolm. We want to look after you and protect you.”
“Yeah, because that is what family does for each other,” Dani said. “They’re overprotective and they drive you up the wall with it. But that means that they’re there for you when you need it the most. When the psycho has beaten you up or a killer has locked you in a dark closet. That’s what family is.”
“And I know that you don’t really understand family Malcolm. You don’t get why we feel we need to do these things for you when you can get by without them. So, we are going to do our level best to show you why we need to do them. Why we can’t sleep without them. Because we can’t Malcolm. So yes, Dani is going to go with you everywhere to keep crazy people from killing you. JT is going to try every possible cure for night terrors every known to mankind until he finds something that works. And I am going to put so much food inside of you that you may explode. And kiddo, there is nothing you can do to stop us.”
Malcolm looked back at them, tears filling his eyes. He reached up to brush them away and Gil opened his arms. Malcolm pushed himself into the warmth and hid his face. Allowing even more tears to leak out of his eyes. Dani smiled at the sight of them and took out her phone snapping a couple of pictures.
JT shot her a look. “Send me a few copies of those too. My mom’s been dying to have a picture of Malcolm since I brought him home. Not sure that there could be a better one to give her.”
Malcolm laughed at their conversation and stepped back. “Guess I really am your family, aren’t I? Never going to be rid of you now.”
Kuroo/yachi scenario where kuroo has trouble with asking yachi on a date bcz a certain team of crows *karasuno* wouldnt want to hand their little manager over.(especially the parent duo and kiyoko) please. Sorry if it’s too much. Btw your work is amazing :))
IIIIIIIIII’M BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
Hi dear!
I’m sorry if I made you wait so much, but I’m finally here! Thank you for your kind words! Writing a good KuroYachi has been more tricky than what I expected (maybe it’s because I haven’t written in a month and I’m a bit rusty) but I hope this small drabble will make you smile at least :3
Have a wonderful day
KuroYachi, Karasuno Team, Kenma Kozume, Implied BokuAka, DaiSuga and KageHina
Fluffy, Protective Team, Attempt at Confession
Worth It
“Kuro…”
“Shut up, bo.”
“But-”
“I’m pitiful enough without your commentary!”
His friend sighed, shrugging, and took another sip from the water bottle.
Kuroo was seated beside him, with the back against the wall and the hands running through the messy hair. His face was scrunched in annoyance and exasperation.
“I’m just trying to say it’s absurd you haven’t asked her out yet.” Bokuto couldn’t stop himself.
“Booooo!” Kuroo moaned, hiding the face against the knees, “I tried, I tried alright?”
“You’ve been crushing on her since the last training camp!” His friend frowned, “And you haven’t asked her on a single date, you have to do something instead of pitying yourself!”
“I don’t want to hear that from you!” The raven glared at him, but the other smirked proudly.
“I have a boyfriend, and he’s the prettiest setter ever!” he gloated with a dreamy expression.
Kuroo scoffed.
“You have a boyfriend because Akaashi took pity on you and confessed after you had moped around for weeks, thinking he would have rejected you.”
“Still!”
“I feel like decking you.”
“Cooooome on! I bet you can do it, you just have to muster up the courage! You’re a captain, an amazing middle-blocker, a smart student, and even good-looking when you shut up! She won’t say no!” Bo patted his shoulder, “And if she rejects you, I’ll let you crash at my place, crying while eating ice-cream as we watch your favorite Disney movie!”
Kuroo elbowed him, with his cheeks flushed, but barely hid a grin. Bokuto was serious and honest, he really wanted to cheer him up, but…
“The problem is not the courage. Or her rejecting me-”
“You sound awfully confident for someone who was cr-”
“Okay, it is, but not the major one now. I believe she likes me, or at least she doesn’t fear me anymore. The problem is that I can’t even approach her!”
“Uh?” Bokuto tilted his head, blinking owlishly.
“Her parents. And big brothers. And protective best friends,” Kuroo sighed. He slouched as he dejectedly let his coal eyes wander towards the other side of the gym.
“You mean the Karasuno Team?”
“Someone must have told them I wanted to ask her out, and now they’re constantly on alert. I’ve barely talked to her this week,” the raven explained, lips curved in a grimace.
“Bro, no one told them, there was no need: you blushed, stumbled around her, offered to help her with the chores as manager, followed her around all the time…you did everything to approach her and find a way not to intimidate her. It’s plain as day you like Yachi. Even the coaches know.”
“She’s too cute!” The other whispered blissfully, hiding his face, “She’s an angel.”
“That’s true. Absolutely lovely,” Bokuto agreed enthusiastically, “She even helped me when I accidentally bumped into the basket with the balls and knocked it over!”
“But the other crows are demons from hell.” Kuroo darkened again.
“Don’t be dramatic, they’re not-”
“On Monday, I tried to ask her if we could eat together, but Shrimpy jumped on her and dragged her away shouting she had promised to eat with them. Obviously, Kageyama followed the two. You should have seen the way he glared at me,” Kuroo shuddered.
“They’re really close, uh?” Bokuto chuckled.
“That damn Tsukki is getting in my way too,” he continued his ramblings, “And every time he manages to snatch her away, he smirks, the little shit! I’m sure he’s the one pushing Yamaguchi to stay close to Yachi, but I can’t even try to intimidate freckles-boy, or his stupid boyfriend will murder me in my sleep.”
At this point, Bokuto was loudly cackling.
“The small libero and Tora’s ‘brother’ are even worse. They build a human wall as soon as I try to greet her, shouting embarrassing things.”
“Well, you know how they get with their managers!”
“Obviously, all of them are nothing when compared to the Papa Crows,” Kuroo met his friend’s eyes, with an overly-serious, terrified face, “I swear, Suga has tried to kill me with his eyes. And he was smiling, he was smiling as he stabbed me mentally, over and over. I never witnessed anything more terrifying.”
“Kuro, you’re really pitiful right now,” Bokuto tried to hug him, but the boy smacked his arms away.
“You’re not very convincing if you keep laughing.”
“Aw, don’t be sh-”
“Kuro you should man up.”
The two captains jerked, startled by the sudden third voice.
“Kenma!” Kuroo called, noticing his best friend seated by his side, playing with his console, “when did you arrive?”
“I’ve been here from the start. You forgot.”
“You weren’t here,” Kuroo argued.
“I was.”
“You weren’t.”
“I was.”
“You weren’t.”
The setter shrugged.
“He’s too silent,” Bokuto whispered in reverent fear.
The blond let out an imperceptible sigh, “Weren’t you speaking about something more important?”
Kuroo nudged him lightly, “Oh yeah, man up, uh? As if it was that easy.”
“Are we speaking about Kuroo’s hopeless crush?” Akaashi asked, reaching them with an almost invisible smirk on the lips.
“Keijiiiiiii!” Bokuto wrapped the arms around the boy’s leg, as the other patted his head.
Kuroo, on the other side, threw him a dirty look.
“What’s with you setters today?” Kuroo grumbled
“I didn’t want to hit a nerve, Kuroo-senpai,” Akaashi innocently replied.
“If I didn’t know you,” Kuroo scoffed, “I could almost believe you.”
“KEEEEEIJI! You’re smart! Can’t you help Kuro?” Bokuto interrupted their banter, fixing his puppy eyes on the boyfriend, “Pleeeeeease. I feel sorry for him!”
That earned him a smack from Kuroo.
Akaashi chuckled, “Ah, thank you, but I don’t think being smart could help this time. However, I believe I could ease things for him…”
Kuroo perked his head up, suddenly focused and sharp.
“Elaborate.”
“Taketora-san is training outside with Tanaka-san and Noya-san. Tsukishima-san and Yamaguchi-san went out to buy popsicles for their team,” Akaashi quickly described the situation, “If you’re ready to do it now, I can go and ask Kageyama if he wants to practice some tossing with me.”
That…that sounded perfect. It was exactly what Kuroo needed. The blueberry boy looked up to Akaashi, he would have never refused, but…
“And Shrimpy?” He narrowed the eyes.
“Kenma can practice with him. He won’t say no.”
Kuroo turned to gaze at his childhood friend with expectant, pleading eyes. The boy grimaced, quickly glanced at him and returned to the console.
“…I want three apple pies.”
Kuroo scrunched his nose.
“Two, or you’ll get diabetes.”
“Three.
“Two and a box of chocolate milk.”
Kenma seemed to ponder it, before nodding slightly. He knew Kuroo, the boy would have never let him eat all that pie ever again. Not after the incident of the last time…
Kuroo exhaled. A strange nervousness tickled his stomach, and he fidgeted, nervously. It could work. He could really have the chance to ask Yachi out.
Now that the time had come, he felt less confident than what he would have liked. He couldn’t believe he was that agitated as if she was his first crush ever.
“Fine,” Akaashi gave him an amused glance that made clear he knew what Kuroo was thinking, “Kenma-san and I will go. Yachi is outside, hanging the laundry.”
Kenma stood up and tailed Akaashi. He just nodded in Kuroo’s direction.
“Good luck with the final bosses.”
Kuroo and Bokuto watched as the two setters vanished outside the gym.
“It’s your chance,” Bokuto encouraged him, jumping on his feet and helping him up, “Go and steal her heart!”
Kuroo smiled jittery, a little unstable; he felt as if his legs were made of jelly. He took a big breath. He had to try. It was his only chance, and Yachi was worth the shot.
“Ice-cream and Disney movie, right?” He asked his best friend, slowly walking towards the door.
Bokuto’s expression softened, “Obviously, you know I’m always here!”
The raven nodded and finally found the strength to leave the gym too.
“I’ll wait here!” He heard Bo screaming as he ventured to search for his lovely angel.
As Akaashi predicted, Yachi was hanging the laundry near the dormitory.
The problem was that she had company.
Kiyoko, the manager beautiful enough to be almost scary, was helping her out.
Obviously.
“Shit,” Kuroo cursed, stopping in his track.
What now?
“Are you going somewhere, Kuroo-san?”
Kuroo’s blood curdled.
From bad to worse.
He turned slowly, just to find a creepily close Sugawara. Few inches away from Kuroo’s face, he was smiling again in that way that made him want to flee as fast as he could.
Setters were really scary creatures.
“Kuroo,” Daichi greeted him from behind the demon. From his expression, he was more exasperated than anything.
“Daichi, Suga,” Kuroo forced a polite smile. He wasn’t even surprised they had managed to sense his movements and came to rescue their daughter. That was the power of the Papa Crows.
“So, Kuroo? Why are you here?” Suga prodded his chest with a finger, eyes narrowed.
“Uhm,” Kuroo gulped.
“Suga,” Daichi sternly said, “What did we say?”
Suga frowned, refusing to back off. Clicking his tongue, Daichi wrapped an arm around his boyfriend’s waist and pulled him back.
“Daichi!”
“You promised to behave,” the captain scolded him, in that nice scolding voice he used only with Suga. He tried to be firm, but his face was soft and adoring as usual.
Had he been in a better situation, Kuroo would have laughed his ass off at them, but he wasn’t exactly in the position to piss them off.
“I don’t want to!” Sugawara pouted, now openly glaring at Kuroo.
“We’ve agreed on that…” Daichi reminded him.
“I hope you’re not talking about my death,” Kuroo joked jittery, “Because I don’t know if I could agree to that.”
Daichi chuckled, even if there was something in his eyes that told Kuroo he was serious.
“Not really, we just want to ask you a question,” he explained calmly.
Sugawara cursed under his breath and crossed the arms.
Kuroo felt his heart stopping but nodded.
“What?”
“What are your intentions toward Yachi?”
Shit.
“I-” he stuttered, helplessly. He could feel his face burning and his hands sweating. Was it that moment? The dreaded “meet my parents” moment? He’d thought he would have had the chance to go on a first date before that!
“I’m waiting,” Sugawara reminded him in a sugarcoated tone.
“I-I- Well, she’s- you know-” Kuroo would have liked to slam his head against a wall and faint. Instead, he decided to man up, at least to make his friends proud.
“I want to ask her on a date.”
Daichi didn’t miss a heartbeat, didn’t even blink.
“Why?” His expression was unreadable. Sugawara, on the other side, was clearly annoyed. He had gone full Mother Hen Mode.
Kuroo scraped the back of his neck, embarrassed.
“I…think I have a crush on her.”
“You think?” the setter hissed.
“I have!” Kuroo corrected himself promptly, “I have a crush on her and would like to know her better. If she’s fine with that, obviously.”
A beat of tense silence.
“Then, we should leave her the choice.”
The voice came from behind Kuroo, and he jumped for the surprise.
Kiyoko, impassible, was standing behind him with an intense gaze.
“She’s right. If he’s serious, we don’t have the right to interfere. Especially since he’s a friend,” Daichi added, offering Kuroo an encouraging smile.
“I am serious. I’ve been from the start.”
“Happy, Suga?” Daichi softly nudged the boy caged at his side.
The other shrugged, still sporting a cute pout.
“Whatever. She tells me everything, by the way,” he said, “So you better watch out. If you mess up, I’ll know.”
Kuroo nodded, trying to smile in a reassuring way.
“I won’t.”
Daichi seemed satisfied, “Then we are off, for now. Good luck, Kuroo.”
“Thanks,” The raven replied, infinitely relieved by the outcome of the whole conversation.
“I hope she rejects you,” Suga stuck out his tongue, childishly, and Daichi smacked him lightly on the head. Kuroo laughed: he could feel it from the tone that Suga wasn’t being honest.
“Let’s go, troublemaker,” Daichi chuckled, dragging the boy way.
“You were as worried as me!”
“But luckily less dramatic.”
Kuroo watched them go away, divided between amusement and longing. It must have been nice having a relationship like that. He wondered if one day, he and Yachi…
A slight tap on the shoulder interrupted his thoughts.
Kiyoko was still there, face blank as ever.
“Yes?” Kuroo felt nervous, knowing how strong the bond between the girl and Yachi was.
“Please, take care of her. She’s shy, timid and gets scared easily, but she’s the kindest, most selfless and cheerful girl I’ve ever met. She deserves to be treasured,” she told him earnestly.
Kuroo’s eyes widened, in surprise. Her words sounded so heartfelt…
“I know,” he replied quietly, “That’s why I’ve fallen for her.”
Kiyoko showed him a little smile and moved to leave him. However, she stopped after few steps and threw him a glance over the shoulders.
“Ah, Kuroo-san. If you ever hurt her, you’ll pay for it.”
Kuroo stilled.
“U-understood,” he muttered under her intense stare. If someone had revealed him Sugawara and Kiyoko were actually serial killers, he wouldn’t have been surprised. At all.
Content, the manager finally left, and the boy breathed a sigh of relief.
He was royally fucked.
The girl he liked was more guarded than a princess.
A wrong move could probably kill him.
That brief encounter had literally exhausted him.
Why Karasuno’s guys were that close? Couldn’t they be a normal team?
Fuck it!
“Kuroo-san?”
The boy spun so fast he nearly fell on the ground.
Yachi was looking at him, curiously. She had the basket with the clean sheets in her hands, the blonde hair styled with cute cat hairpins, and a delicate blush graced her cheeks.
Kuroo felt his heart swell at the sight.
“Is everything alright?” she asked, stuttering a little bit as always when she got flustered.
He found himself smiling without noticing.
“Yeah, I was searching for you,” he said with an airy chuckle, trying to swallow the anxiety that was trying to choke him.
“For me?” she repeated, surprised. Her eyes widened, and she tilted her head like a small animal.
“Yes, but first let me help you with that,” he offered, stretching out his hands.
“No, no!” she refused, shaking her head, “It’s light, I can do it!” she reassured him, before flexing an arm. “I don’t seem so, but I’m actually pretty strong!”
Kuroo chuckled amused, hiding the mouth behind a hand, “Don’t steal my line.”
Yachi giggled back.
“Then, let’s take one side each. How does it sound?” Kuroo suggested, “This way we’ll both protect our honor.”
Yachi grinned and nodded with rosy cheeks, “I-I think it’s a good idea!”
Kuroo immediately grabbed one of the handles, and the two of them started walking slowly, with only a laundry basket in between.
“S-so, K-Kuroo-san,” Yachi was the first one to speak, visibly flustered, “Why were you looking for me?”
Kuroo swallowed his agitation back.
The heart in his chest was ready to leap out. But he couldn’t say anymore if out of fear or excitement. Because he was finally there, with her, ready to ask the decisive question, ready to bare his heart. And he was so ready, oh, he could merely wait. He wanted to know. He wanted to know what she really thought of him in her pretty, creative mind. He wanted to know if he had the chance to hope
“I would like to ask you something.”
Her team might have been crazy, and Kuroo might have gotten himself killed in the future, but in the end, Yachi was worth it.
