Can I hold her hand?

Kuroo stared at the second year setter as he made grabbing motions with his left hand. Kenma had done some pretty unusual things in his life like not sleeping for 30 hours because he couldn't beat a boss in one of his games. But this was obviously not about a video game.

"Oi, Kenma, what are you doing?" Kuroo asked after what seemed like 5 minutes of guessing. "Is your hand cramping up? From all those years of gaming I thought your fingers got used to it or something."

Kenma frowned and shook his head. He looked up at Kuroo. Should he tell him? Should he not?

Kuroo blinked while Kenma continued to look at him thoughtfully. After a few moments, the blonde decided to give up and just tell him the problem. He held out his hand in front of Kuroo, to which the captain raised a curious brow, and told him seriously.

"I'm not sure why but I kind of want to hold Yume's hand."

"...Is that it?" Kuroo deadpanned. "You know, Kenma, she's not going to bite. Probably."

"That's not reassuring........" Kenma grumbled as he imagined his girlfriend biting his hand like an angry chihuahua. "Is it normal to hold hands with someone you've been dating for less than a month?"

"Sure. Why not?" Kuroo shrugged with a light smirk. "I'm more curious as to why you're so hesitant about it. Yume seems like the type to not mind that sort of thing."

"That's true..." Kenma mentally agreed.

The two were walking towards the gym and it was still early morning. Kenma wasn't too keen on attending since it was a Sunday, but coach said that Lev needed the extra practice. Plus, Kuroo was always there next door to drag him out of his room anyway.

"Good morning!" Everyone greeted them as they entered.

"Good morning." Kuroo and Kenma greeted back.

Yaku watched questioningly as Kenma stared at his hand and resumed grabbing motions with it. He didn't expect himself to be witnessing the day when Kenma would be acting this strange. What weirded him out the most was that their setter was doing this with such a straight face.

"What's wrong with him?" Yamamoto asked them as he scrunched his brows and squinted his eyes at Kenma.

Kuroo snickered, "He wants to hold his girlfriend's hand but is too shy to initiate it."

After explaining it to the team who were standing around, everyone smiled in sympathy at their precious setter's predicament. Kuroo grinned in amusement then decided to take charge, getting everyone into volleyball mode and starting practice. It wouldn't be long until their next match so they needed to be prepared for their upcoming opponents.

Coach Nekomata examined his team from the side of the gym with a proud smile. The third years would be graduating and he needed the rest of the members in good shape. Especially their half-Russian rookie who has absolute zero experience in the sport.

But that wouldn't be much of a problem since they have their brain and heart of the team: Kozume Kenma.

"Oops...." Kenma mumbled as his toss was a little too low, causing Lev to miss the spike.

Coach Nekomata frowned confused and leaned forward in his seat. Did he really see that right? Did Kenma actually mess up? That was rare.

"People make mistakes," Nekomata reminded himself and leaned back in his seat.

"Don't mind!" Yamamoto shouted.

"I'll definitely get the next one!" Lev cheered and readied himself for the next jump.

Kenma took a deep breath and grabbed another volleyball from the cart. "Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about--" He tossed the ball into the air as Lev made the jump.

Nekomata narrowed his eyes as he saw the ball fly over Lev's reach. The taller player landed, blinking and wondering where the ball went, before yelping in surprise when it hit him on the head.

"Eh.." Kuroo sweatdropped at the scene.

He dared himself to look at the coach and regretted it immediately. The regulars felt their hearts stop when they saw the steam coming out of the eldery man's ears.

"Oi Kenma! Get your head in the game!" Coach Nekomata scolded.

Kenma sighed in frustration and nodded without saying anything. He didn't want to look but he knew the other regulars were giving him encouraging smiles. He picked up another volleyball, calculated Lev's running speed and the point of his jump, before tossing the ball and--

"GEH!?" Lev yelped again as the ball hit his right cheek.

"..."

Kenma slowly and awkwardly looked away, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"I think it's time for a break," The coach suggested with a sigh.