"HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY (Y/N)!"

Never before in my life had I been glad to have foregone a glass of water before bed, because it would have leaked out of me all over my sheets when I was pounced upon by two excited little kids and awoken from my slumber.

"Jesus fuuuuuuungus!" Catching my foul language, I woozily accepted the hugs from my nephews, yawning as they tried to unbury me from my tomb of linen and drag me from my resting place.
"Guys, ease off. She's still half asleep." I could hear my eldest nephew speaking from the doorway, and it took a moment to focus.

"Mmhmm...Momo's right, you two. Aunty is very much not awake enough to exist yet..." I yawned again, feigning tranquillity before trapping the pair in head-locks. "Not until I get to unleash my birthday noogies!" I began to grind my head atop theirs in turn, and they squealed and cackled, trying to free themselves.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Hidemi wheezed, kicking out into the air as I finally released them, watching them dash out past their brother.
"It's aunt, but close enough!" I called out after them, flopping back down across the width of my bed. I hated wake up calls like that, but I couldn't hold it against them. It was something I would have done.

"Happy birthday." Yaku placed something down upon my face, and I felt the bed dip when he sat down, nearly causing me to roll into his hip.
"Man, what is this?" I sat up, letting the small, neatly wrapped box fall into my hands. "I said no presents. You broke the law." I frowned, but he simply shrugged away my disappointment, nodding to it.

"Just shut up and open it." Pouting, I did as he told me to, for once, carefully removing the packaging in case I got an earful for being messy. It was a brown cardboard box, unlabelled, and I shot him a sceptical look before opening the lid.

Wait.

It was a small, shiny, violently yellow matchbox car. A Lamborghini, to be precise. I pulled it out to sit upon the palm of my hand, slowly, and stared at it for what seemed like forever.
"When we were little, you always said you wanted a bright yellow Lamborghini when you became an adult...Wouldn't shut up about it for what? Three years? So...I got you one."

I swallowed, turning the tiny car around to study it closely before I set it back in the box, putting it to the side.
"You...painted it..?" I asked, despite having seen the less than stellar paint job for myself.
"Well, yeah, I couldn't find a yellow one anywhere..." He replied, looking almost nervous.
"Shut up, or I'll cry. You know I hate crying..."

Blinking back the emotion, I made a small bounce to hug my nephew, who, at first, seemed completely taken off guard, but he quickly hugged me back, uttering a laugh that was laced with relief.
"I know, but hey, at least that means you like it, right?" He pressed a kiss to my hairline, and it was strange. This was how we had always been before life had taken the reins. I wanted to cling to it, but at the same time, it scared me.

"O..Okay, okay, you made me all sappy, Momo, congrats! Now out! I must gussy up for my subjects!" I began to shove him back towards the door and he cackled, leaving without fuss.
"You better hurry up, Your Majesty! We have to be at the gym in an hour!"

"IT'S TEN ALREADY?!"

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"I am unnerved and unwilling."

I nearly tripped and fell to my death for a third consecutive time as Yaku lead me, helpless and blindfolded, down the path towards the gymnasium.
"Quit being a drama queen, we're almost there. Besides, they insisted. I told them you wouldn't like it." He snickered, finally stopping. I could hear faint chatter from inside, and I shuffled from one foot to the other.

"This is dumb. Can I take it off now?" I went to remove the bandanna, but my hand was swiftly slapped away.
"Just hang on!" I heard the doors open, and a few words exchanged, before I was guided inside. "Okay, now you can take it off."

Without an ounce of grace, I tore the blindfold off, letting it fall to the ground before I really registered the sight before me.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The sheer volume of their cheer was enough to nearly knock me off my feet, and I took a single step backwards as I took everything in.

The gym had been absolutely littered with gaudy, mismatched dollar store decorations, from balloons to streamers, even assorted cut-outs of unicorns and dinosaurs from children's party packs. There was a table filled with snack foods, a covered platter in the middle, and several games like twister and pin the tail on the donkey set up in each corner.

It was horrendously tacky.

I loved it.

"Y..You absolute dorks..!" I laughed, voice breaking ever so slightly. Nope, I wasn't going to cry today. I had promised myself that, and I wasn't going to let some sappy shit make me fail. I welcomed the tackle-hugs from the first years, allowing them to drag me to everyone else, who I promptly greeted with hugs or fistbumps of their own.

When it came to Kuroo, I very nearly hesitated, but when I opened his arms first, I couldn't refuse. His hold around me was light, almost cautious, but I didn't mention it. Perhaps he was just worried he'd crush me, unlike the others.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Yamamoto hollered at the top of his lungs, kicking off the music, which, much to my relief and shock, wasn't half bad. We started the games off with pin the tail on the donkey, which, after much deliberation and quadruple checking for possible ways for him to see, resulted in Fukunaga being crowned the champion of the world.

Twister was more chaotic, as it often was. There was just something so very cathartic about watching hot guys all tangled together on a polka-dotted mat. It was even more entertaining when Yaku was squashed beneath both Kai and Teshiro, squawking out for rescue.

Naturally, I ended up absolutely blitzing Kuroo and Kenma, though holding out against the latter saw to be a real challenge. That boy could twist. Kuroo, however, had very quickly fallen victim to the panic of reaching between my legs.

"Cake time! I got my sister to make something I used to love as a kid!" Lev picked me up under the arms, like a toddler carrying their astoundingly docile house cat, and carried me over to the snack table, setting me down and lifting the lid of the hidden platter.

Beneath was a cute, round cake that appeared to be coated in a hard chocolate shell, each section decorated by a little white swirl.
"Oh my god. It's a turtle." I gasped a little, and the behemoth nodded excitedly.
"Yep! Cherepaha! Turtle cake! My babushka used to make it all the time!"

Don't cry don't cry don't cry!

"We didn't want to ruin it by shoving candles in, so..." Inuoka lifted a lighter in front of my face, flicking it on. "Make a wish!" I stared at the dancing flame for a few moments before closing my eyes, blowing it out with a long puff. The boys cheered, and honestly, whilst their excitement was exhausting, it made me feel...special. It had been a while since I'd felt that way.

"What did you wish for?" Kuroo asked, somehow yet again by my side, handing me the knife to cut the cake, and I shrugged.
"Can't tell ya, or it won't come true." I had wished for something I knew would never happen. Something I was missing out on that very second. At the very least I'd be able to speak to her that night, after the actual wedding.

"If it comes out dirty you gotta kiss the nearest boy, (N/N)~" Inuoka teased once it was too late for me to hand the knife over to someone else, and I tensed, just a little. Kuroo was the closest, easily, but I wasn't about to do that to him, or myself, for that matter. Raising a finger and leaving the knife in the cake, I pulled out my phone and pulled up a photo I had taken of Coach Nekomata before checking the knife.

Obviously, it was mucked with cake and chocolate, so I puckered my lips and pressed a squeaky kiss to my screen. After a few moments of confused silenceband avoiding looking to my right, I shrugged.
"I'd feel bad leaving the rest of y'all out in person, and besides, he let us use the gym today. Deserved a smooch."

Kuroo, thankfully, was the first to laugh, followed by everyone else. I was glad he hadn't been offended or upset about my choice. I was an idiot, through and through, but even I knew that giving him a kiss would be a bad idea. Leading him on like that when I had no intention of a relationship would have been cruel.

The cake tasted thrice as delicious as it had looked, and it was great to just relax, chatting and having fun with the people I considered friends. Even Yaku had chilled the hell out for the day, and it was almost like we were back to normal.

"Hey, can I steal you real quick?" Kuroo tapped my shoulder when I had been on the way to join in on a conversation with Teshiro and Yamamoto, and despite feeling uneasy about it, I followed him out of the gym and around the corner.

We were completely, utterly alone now, and I was worried. Did he actually like me like everyone seemed to think? Was he about to confess and ruin things? No, I was sure that the most he had was a little, innocent crush. Nothing serious. He couldn't like me. I was...me.

"Spiriting me away at my own party, Cap? You gonna confess your undying love for me?" My mouth was big. Big and fat. Big, fat and unbelievably stupid, but luckily it was also very funny, because I was met with a hearty chuckle. It was almost enough to help me ignore the blush against his cheeks.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? No, I wanted to give you this without adding fuel to their fire." From behind his back, Kuroo pulled out a package. Unlike Yaku's, it looked as though it had been wrapped by a blind worm, with so much tape he probably caused their stocks to go up.

"H..Hey..." I allowed him to place the present in my hands, but I began to panic a little. "Kuroo, you really shouldn't have gotten me any-"
"Technically I didn't. It's from all of us, but I was the one to pick it up this morning. Just open it, will you?" He insisted, nudging it a little closer to me.

Chewing on my lip, I turned my attention to the poorly wrapped whatever it was, and began picking at the tape before deciding it would take until my neck birthday. Shredding off the unnecessary layers of paper, my eyes grew wide when I spied familiar red material.
"I get one..?"

Kuroo reached forward and pulled it from my hands, letting the jacket unfurl.
"Of course you get one, dummy. You're one of us now, like it or not." I studied the club jacket closely, reading my surname that had been so flawlessly stitched upon the back. What kind of threw me, however, was the big, white number one that took up most of the space above the word 'manager'.

"Isn't that...your number..?" I asked, even though I knew it belonged to him. I'd seen it plastered to his body more than once, after all.
"W..Well, yeah, as a player. You're our number one manager though...so...I thought it would fit..?"

Yeah, no, I'm going to cry.

Swallowing, I quickly spun on my heel and held my arms out to the sides, motioning to them in turn.
"G..Go on then! Put it on me!" I tried not to pay much attention to his soft chuckle, such a nice sound, and squeezed my eyes shut when he began to slip my arms through the sleeves. He was so careful with it, making sure nothing would snag or bunch up.

His hands hovered over my shoulders once the jacket was on, just barely grazing the material, but I was hyper aware of their presence.
"Perfect fit. What do you think..?" There was a hopeful lilt to his voice, and I cleared my throat, pinching at the zipper tracks by my chest.
"It's...I love it..."

Sobbing. Shitting. Crying. Throwing up. Help.

"Uh...you okay there, Runaway..?" Kuroo leaned to look at my face, but I lifted my hand to block him, wishing that my eye sockets had come equipped with a vacuum function to suck back the impending tears.
"Y..Yep! Totally fine! It's not like you've made me tear up or anything! As if?! Crying in front of people?! Lame! So...so lame..." I thought I did a pretty good job of sounding tear-free. The wet sniffle at the end really sold it.

"I wouldn't say lame...Honestly, it's, uh, kinda..." Kuroo trailed off as he took a step back, shoes scuffing against the dry concrete path. "...cute..." How? How was he doing this? Bring so timid yet so smoothe at the same damn time? Was it on purpose, or was he just that naturally attractive?

Running my hands down my burning face, I exhaled slowly, not even bothering to try and rid it of the slight shake.
"Come over here a..and bend your lanky ass down. I wanna take a photo..." I fished out my phone, but I didn't bother unlocking it. I just waited for Kuroo to do as I had instructed. The moment I felt his face appear beside mine, I repeated the same, dangerous phrase over and over in my mind. 'Fuck it'.

It was a rushed, messy move when I spun my head, pressing a kiss to the captain's cheek, and before I pulled back to look away I felt his entire body bristle. Some kind of strange sound, almost like a chipmunkish wheeze, whistled from his throat before he stumbled backwards.

"Yu...I...Wha...Hu..?" Unfinished words of confusion came spilling out of the poor guy, and I had to really focus on not responding with the same gibberish when glancing over my shoulder. My god, he was redder than I had expected him to be. He even put my new jacket to shame as he stood there, hand against his cheek and eyes wide.
"You...were the nearest guy, back when I cut the cake...Like you said, they didn't need any, uh, fuel added to their fire, or, y'know, whatever..."

Hi, I'm (Y/N)! I'm the absolute fucking moron who said she wasn't going to lead this nerd on! Nice to meet you! Please euthanize me!

Kuroo had, physically, turned into some kind of beached fish, his lips opening and closing on repeat, serving no purpose aside from filtering out the squeaky little sounds of shock from his system.
"C..Calm down. I kiss everyone on the cheek...It isn't something that should have, whatever they are, Jimmy Neutrons misfiring in your brain, or whatever..."

"Neurons, and I got that on video."

Kenma's sudden, again inexplicable appearance, caused me to double over with a screech, my hands yanking my collar up over my ears.
"DO YOU JUST ASCEND THROUGH THE EARTH'S CRUST FROM HELL OR SOMETHING?! JESUS CHRIST, BRO?!" I hissed, leaping to my feet and waddling, with a great speed, back towards the gym doors. "No, for real, I'm going to piss my pants. You're terrifying. Thank you for the jacket, Kuroo, I...really do love it..."

I may have sprung a leak, but at least it gave me an excuse to run...Why did I think that was a good idea..?!

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***KENMA POV***

I waited patiently for (Y/N) to awkwardly speed-shuffle away before I turned to my friend, who had now lowered himself to a somewhat unstable squat. His hand was still plastered against his cheek, and I was pretty sure his entire blood supply had decided to camp out in his face.

"You're hopeless." I sighed, slipping my phone back into my pocket but making no move to approach. This was his own little issue. Sure, I had, and would continue to be, there for him to yap on and on about the girl, whether I wanted him to or not, but that was my limit on assistance. It wasn't like I had any experience with that kind of thing, anyway.

"Hhhhhhhyyyyeeeeeeeee...." She'd really done a number on him with that tiny kiss. He sounded like a deflating balloon, and I kind of wished I had kept recording.
"Words, Kuroo. You know words." I urged, hoping he'd snap out of it. I'd seen him have complete brain farts around pretty girls before, plenty of times, but this was overkill, even for him.

"I..I'm hopeless..." He finally formed our native language, and if I could have been bothered to be bratty, I would have applauded the effort.
"Yeah, I said that." At least he was self aware?

"She kissed me, man."

"On the cheek."

"Her lips touched me."

"Uh-huh. On the cheek."

"She said she loved it."

"Well, it's a nice jacket."

"I think my heart is going to explode."

"Unlikely."

"Why am I so...this?!"

"I've asked myself that for the last decade. Yet to figure it out."

Slapping himself on either side of the face, Kuroo finally stood up, taking a deep breath and letting it all out skyward.
"Well...at least I can say I didn't go through my high school years without k..kissing a girl!" It was physically impossible for me to not roll my eyes, shaking my head slowly.
"It was a peck on the cheek. That doesn't count."

Did I feel bad, knocking him back down a peg by being so blunt? No, not really. He was getting too, well, whatever that display was, and it needed fixing. Stat.
"Okay, okay, it's cool, I'm fine. Let's get back." He gave me a heavy handed pat on the back as he passed, but I reached out to seize the back of his shirt.

I guess I can give him some advice, for once...

"If you like her, then wouldn't it be easier to just tell her that? Instead of making a bigger idiot out of yourself?" I questioned, and I thought it was rather valid, even when Kuroo shot me a glare from over his shoulder.
"Even thinking about asking a girl out, especially (Y/N), is like mixing ammonium nitrate fertilizer and kerosene in my own brain!" I just stared at him, waiting for the inevitable dumb down. "Big ol' boom boom, Kenma! Ka'blooey!"

Ah. So he's scared.

"Whatever. Just don't get all depressed if she doesn't catch on. You said so yourself, we have to work on getting to Nationals." I shrugged my shoulders, setting off into a slow amble as he followed. "You could always just focus on being friends, and let it grow from there. I know you grew on me after spending so much time together. Like a tumour."

"H..Hey! I'm no tumour!"

"You kind of are. A pain in my ass. You're an ass tumour."

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME A SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA?!"

"Sure, whatever that is. You're it."