"Uh..?"

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, he just does that."

"Okay, but...why?"

"No idea, just does. At least he has since I've met him."

"Huh. Well that's just a little bit extremely strange and adorable."

This had been the first time since I had transferred to Nekoma that I had witnessed Kuroo sleeping, and it truly was a sight to behold. Laying stomach down on the gymnasium floor, he had a bag pressed to either side of his head, squishing himself to a point where I had been concerned as to whether or not he could even breathe.

"Feel free to wake him up. If we leave him too long he'll get all pissy." Kai waved off the sight as he returned to the middle of the court to resume practice, but I just continued to stare down at the captain. It was certainly a strange way to sleep, but who was I to judge? I'd woken up to find myself in plenty of weird and wonderful positions in the past.

I could make this funny for everyone...but I kinda want to be nice...

Moving to his top end, I lowered myself to the floor, belly down, and rested my chin upon my crossed arms. From my new positioning, I could see his face, and he looked so incredibly peaceful. There wasn't a scrap of the usual cunning, or mischief that he usually exuded. He was just...soft.

Slowly, I puckered my lips and blew against his face, watching his lashes quiver before he began to stir, uttering a low pitched whine and further squeezing his heads with the bags. To say it was one of the most endearing things I had ever seen in my life was an understatement. Reaching my hand out, I gently petted his unruly hair, taking note of the satiny texture before he kind of pressed up into it. That had my heart thundering so hard that I was certain everyone inside the gym would be able to feel it through their shoes.

"Mmhhff...?" It wasn't a word, but a weary sound of confusion that came from the ravonet, one eye cracking open, just barely, and obviously not quite yet connected to his brain.
"It's okay, you can sleep if you want to." I murmured, still brushing my fingers through his hair. The intended result had originally been to wake him up, sure, but I liked this, and by the way he was still seeking my touch, he did too.

Kuroo's visible pupil was blown wide as he looked at me, not entirely seeing, and I tilted my head on my arm, smiling a little. This was a much better way to distract myself about the upcoming weekend than it would be to cause mild chaos during practice. Almost therapeutic, like stroking a service animal. Maybe I could buy him a little vest or something?

This isn't going to help the allegations, but fuck it. I'm selfish.

It didn't take long for him to completely relax again, eye drooping shut and his breathing to regulate. I couldn't imagine that he'd be exceptionally comfortable, considering the fatty tissue of my chest was already starting to ache from the pressure of being smashed against hardwood, but whatever suited him.

He looked like he'd be good at cuddling. I was the type of person to cuddle up with people I considered friends, so it wouldn't be weird, right? I'd fallen asleep squashed between Lev and Inuoka before at the Summer Camp, and Kenma and I had tried to merge into the same being on the trip home from paintball, so nobody would blink if I cuddled up with Kuroo at some point in the future, would they?

Who am I kidding? Of course they would. Hell, even I would...

A ball spiking down on the other side of the gym caused the man to flinch, nearly crushing his own head for a moment with the bags and temporarily trapping my wrist. One eye opened again, then the other, and a confused rumble rolled from his throat, which, as a woman with taste, had me instinctively press my thighs together.

"Hhhhh...Wha'the hell..?" He was more conscious this time, and I slowly pulled my hand back, using it to prop my head up so I wouldn't be quite as close. Couldn't have him seeing the evidence of my own fluster, now could I?
"You back in the land of the living, Tets?" I asked quietly, watching his sleepy face as he tried to compute life, the universe and everything all at once.

"Mmhmm...Wait...huh..?" He released the bags either side of his head, hooking an arm around one to rub at his eyes. He blinked at me, I blinked at him, and I could pin-point the exact moment when he became a sentient being again. His cheeks darkened, almost instantly, and he stared up at me as though I was definitely not supposed to be there, like he had seen a moose operating a forklift. I was the moose.

"You fell asleep and she was petting your hair." I flinched so hard I fell onto my side when Kenma spoke up, sitting against the wall not even five feet away, not even looking up from his console.
"Do you not even breathe?! Have you been there the whole time?!" He just puffed out a ghost of a snicker, which confirmed that he had indeed been sitting there all the while.

"You...were petting me..?" I returned my attention to Kuroo, whose voice was still rich with sleep, so low and rough, and very much difficult to ignore.
"I will neither confirm nor deny that accusation." I turned up my nose, only to be brutally betrayed.
"She was. For like fifteen minutes."

Woah, was it actually that long? I must have spaced out...

"You can try all you want man, but no amount of beauty sleep is going to fix that face." Yaku approached, ball tucked under his arm, and Kuroo grumbled something bitter under his breath, forcing himself to his feet, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"Hmmmmscrew off..." He yawned, tongue curling and jaw clicking loud enough to hear. "Kenma...Toss..."

I moved myself to a seated position, watching the grumpy captain trudge towards the net, Kenma sluggishly following.
"Don't worry, you didn't piss him off." The setter sighed as he came to stand beside me, hands in his pockets. "He just gets really grouchy after taking a nap. Probably stayed up late studying again."

Well, at least it wasn't my fault. It usually is when people are shitty.

"You look so little sitting criss cross, (N/N)!" Lev walked up behind me, leaning over a little whilst I craned my neck all the way back to meet his big ol smile. "I bet I could pick you up and spike you over the net like a volleyball!"

Head whipping back towards Kenma, I aggressively motioned my hands to the behemoth first year, trying to scream 'See?! I'm not the only one who says awkward shit!'. Kenma glanced between us before clicking his tongue, finally starting off towards Kuroo.
"That doesn't count. Lev doesn't say freaky stuff on purpose. You do."

"Aww, come on! Who says I do it on purpose?!"

"How was that freaky?"

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"Why are there, uh, one, two, three...Like seven and a half pensises and fourteen testicles in my room?"

I had been sitting on my bed, minding my own damn business, when almost the entire volleyball team had strolled on in without warning. My room felt like the interior of one of those comically tiny clown cars you'd see in cartoons.
"Your math is wrong." Yaku pointed out, sitting down on the foot of my bed, and I looked him dead in the eye.
"No it isn't. Be lucky I gave you a half."

This is...

I was pretty used to having my privacy invaded, considering I lived in a house with two, technically three little boys, but I was still kind of put off by watching the first years, and Yamamoto, poking around the knick knacks on my dresser.
"Is this, like, some kind of intervention? Because I swear I can quit crack any time I want." I immediately pointed to Yaku, who was a split second away from a meltdown. "That was a joke. Calm down."

Yikes, the fact he thought it was true...

So I just sat there, waiting for somebody to tell me what the hell was going on. It was going to take at least a few days to air the stench of sporty deodorant and testosterone from my room, and I was mildly peeved about it.
"Did you have plans for your birthday, (N/N)?" Inuoka was the one to finally say something useful, picking up one of my make-up brushes and poking at the fluffy end.

"My...birthday?" Of course they knew about it. Why would I have even considered that Yaku would have kept his mouth shut? "I was literally just going to buy a cheap supermarket cake and stuff my face with it." I didn't ask why, because I already knew the answer. It was pretty damn obvious, considering they were all here.

"Boring. Not you at all." Fukunaga shook his head, arms folding as he sat perched upon my windowsill.
"Yeah, you're getting a party." Yamamoto added, confirming my fears. It wasn't like I hated parties. Of course, I loved them, like any sane individual, but the coming Saturday wasn't a day I wanted to celebrate.

I had the Sendai shindig, sure, but that wasn't exactly for me. It was just a great coincidence, and the perfect opportunity to forget all my issues. Having a birthday bash specifically to celebrate the day made me feel kind of queasy, and my eyes flitted to my phone. My mother hadn't responded to any of my messages since our phone call almost three weeks prior.

"Something casual, with cake and hanging out. Coach said we could use the gym, too. How about it?" My nephew tilted his head, searching my face for something I wasn't sure he'd ever be able to find again.
"I don't kno-Tora, if you open that drawer so help me I'll strangle you with whatever you find inside." I shot a glare to the mohawked boy, who immediately jumped away from my dresser drawers with a yip. "Why do you want to throw a party anyway? It's so much effort."

Feeling a hand come down upon my head, I looked up to meet Kuroo's eyes, fighting against the urge to melt under their honeyed hazel hue when he had the absolute gall to smile at me like that. How dare he? In my own room? My sanctuary?
"What, we can't spoil our favourite manager?"

You devious little big bastard...

I went to flop backwards against my pillows, and thankfully Kuroo caught the back of my head because I had sorely miscalculated, nearly concussing myself.
"If you all insist on worshipping me, then fine. Who am I to refuse you your God given right? As long as I can return home and devolve into a bedridden gremlin before sundown, I shall humour you."

That seemed to make them happy, and in turn, I guess that made me happy as well, if only a little.
"My sister can make the cake! She's really good at it!" Lev announced, one eye closed as Inuoka dabbed at his face with my make-up brush.
"I've got music covered." Yamamoto thumbed himself proudly, and I made a mental note to bring ear plugs, just in case.

"I hope we didn't interrupt by barging in on you, (Y/N)." Kai, ever the gentleman, offered me an apologetic nod, and I blew a raspberry, still hyper aware that Kuroo hadn't moved his hand from cupping the back of my head.
"Nah, it's cool. I was just getting ready to listen to the recording I took of Momo singing all the parts of Lady Marmalade in the shower this morning."

I had thankfully braced myself before speaking, so when I was crushed under a dogpile of teenaged boys I wasn't completely unprepared.
"You reco-?! I never?! Everybody out! Out of my house!" Yaku began trying to drag people off by arms and legs, but it was no use. I'd tempted them with the apple.

So there I was, completely crushed under the weight of seven high school athletes, in my own bed, but the only person I was really focused on was Kuroo. Sure, he'd pounced the moment I had revealed the little treat I had in store, but he'd made sure to be right by my side, an arm slung across my shoulders, almost - but not quite - pulling me into himself.

Trying not to smile at the preposterous thought; the ridiculous notion, that I was starting to maybe fall a little too much into the net of his charms, I somehow wrangled my phone from beneath Fukunaga's ass and brought the video up.

"Behold, my darlings...Lady Momolade!"