#all my friends would play catching during recess and i always ate the same old nutella sandwiches

[angelcupid]

I miss primary school man…

[tellmeyellme]

Bound to each other (prologue)

genre: angst,  ennemies to ???

pairing: Kuroo x reader

WC: 1520

He soon realized you were both bound to meet.

              When you first met Kozume, he was petting your cat and told you he was waiting for his friend. You were young, as young as him, so as most children would, you tried to engage in conversation and make him your friend.

After all, you had just moved in, and you thought it would be better for you to at least know someone. When you learnt that you went to the same school as he did, you felt nothing but relief: you wouldn't have to start the new school year all by yourself. When your mother called you back home, you worried about him, hoped his friend wouldn't take too long to show up.

On your way for the first day of middle school, you crossed Kozume's path. He was talking to someone, you guessed it was the friend he was waiting for during that day. You were not exactly shy, but you found it harder to go and greet him when he wasn't alone, so you kept walking towards the school's gate. Your gazes crossed, and he seemed to wait for you to come, but that didn't change your mind, deciding you could do that before classes started.

You had already settled your notebook when he showed up in front of your desk:

" You didn't greet me, was that because you were worried about Kuro?" he asked. Oh, so that was his name, you concluded. "I don't know him, and I didn't want to interrupt the both of you. But at least I guess he was on time today," you tried to joke, hoping not to make the situation more awkward than it already was. "I guess so, but if he was, I might have been able to introduce you to each other."

“Well, we could always do that during recess, right?”

Recess came quickly, and you followed Kozume. While when you first saw Kuroo this morning, laughing with your classmate, he seemed approachable, you were met with nothing but coldness. You did not read too much into this, and thought he just had a bad first impression since you did not greet him this morning. You couldn’t blame him, you might have reacted the same way if the roles were reversed. So you tried your best to change that, so that you could make him a friend; you knew he was close to Kozume, so you concluded that he couldn’t be a bad person. That, and also you didn’t want your friendship with Kozume to be clouded by a misunderstanding.

Months passed by, and it seemed like what was once coldness on his part had grown into hatred. You wanted to give up on him, and you had no choice but not to: he tended to come to Kozume’s house a lot since they both were Neighbors, and you tended to go to Kozume’s house to play videogames with him, so you were bound to cross each other’s paths at some point.

You had tried to find a reason why he was so cold with you. You really did, and for much longer than any middle schooler would. At first you thought it was because you were introverted and he was more extroverted, but you realized that it would not make sense, because Kozume was also introverted, and they were both best friends. You thought it was because you knew nothing about volleyball, that would have probably been nothing but a petty excuse, but you decided to give it a try. You watched a few matches to understand the rules before you asked him to teach you how to play volleyball, which you grew to like, but when you did, he looked at you with utter disdain. So didn’t seek to pursue it. And as you did, you decided all your efforts weren’t worth it, and that one day, he might mature and tell you what you did wrong.

Having to meet him with Kozume was a thing, because he would always tell him to cool down if he ever got too mean with you, but having to meet him at your family house was another. You had moved here because your parents had more business associates in Japan, and especially in Tokyo, so it would be more convenient for them to be close. Little did you know that one of those associates was Kuroo’s father. It really seemed like fate kept pulling you together.

    You thought he would at least try to make it seem like he had nothing against you in front of your parents, but he did not. You were thankful he had at least the decency not to snap some remarks at you. You noticed something that night. While both of your parents were there, it was only him and his father. That was a part of his life you did not know about, but then again, he would have had no reason to tell you about it. You wondered if Kozume knew. Probably. That must have been the reason why he was so often at Kozume’s place. You decided it would be wiser not to ask him. You ignored each other for most of the dinner, and you prayed that it would be a one-time thing. Despair spread across your face as you heard your parents, “it was nice having you here, next friday at your place it is?” It would not be a one-time thing.

    The next Monday at school, you decided not to mention it, neither to Kozume nor Kuroo. You had just been accepted into the school’s basketball club, and you did not want your mood to be spoiled by a grudge some upperclassman held to you for apparently no reason. You decided to eat with the other club members; it would allow you to get out of your comfort zone -to be honest, you already had Kozume, and you were so preoccupied to fix the Kuroo situation, as you so called it, that you never made new real friends. You sent Kozume a text beforehand so that it wouldn’t wait for you. 

    Having new friends did not change anything between you and Kozume, you still ate with him every second day and spent most of your recesses with him, but it allowed you to take a break from Kuroo’s incessant remarks.

    You had kept this routine until Kuroo entered high school, when you went back to eating with Kozume every day. This year announced itself to be great: you had become the captain of the basketball club, you had great grades, and you wouldn’t have to deal with Kuroo everyday. You were not stupid, you expected that Kuroo graduating meant that he would spent more time at Kozume’s house to catch up, but you were still disappointed when that happened

    You now only saw him when you were both at Kozume’s place, and thankfully, the dinner with his father that was once a weekly thing had become a monthly thing. Yet, this new life was bittersweet. He probably wanted to make up for the time where he couldn’t annoy you, because  you felt like it got ten times worse. He had never insulted you when he was still in middle school. You were both waiting for Kozume when he did for the first time. You wondered if it was because of new friends he made, but a part of you knew he wasn’t the type to hang around bullies -even if in some ways, he had turned himself into one. That was the turning point into your relationship, you had never asked Kozume about it, because you didn’t want him to be uncomfortable by talking about his other friend.

“Say Kozume, do you remember our first day of middle school?”

“As much as I can,” Kozume answered, eyes riveted on his console.

“You remember how I didn’t greet you when I arrived ? Is that the only reason Kuroo hates me so much?” You knew you must have sounded dumb, maybe even desperate, but at this point you would do anything to fix the Kuroo situation.

“I know Kuro can be petty, but I don’t think he can be that petty, especially about something that happened when you were eleven,” he looked at you when he said that, and you knew that even if he didn’t show it, he wished for this old feud to stop.

“So you’re telling me he never told you?”

“I’d rather not talk about you when I’m with him, for obvious reasons.”

    You knew that was the truth, that Kozume wasn’t the most confrontational person, and that even if he was, Kuroo would have probably told him off.

    Soon enough, it was your turn to start high school. You were not in the same class as Kozume anymore, he was in 1-3 while you were in 1-6. You had joined the basketball club, and since its schedule didn’t clash with the volleyball club’s, Kozume asked you to be their manager. You still remember a few things about volleyball, and even if it was not much, you came to the conclusion that it would be enough to learn more on the fly. What you didn’t remember was that the reason why Kozume played volley was also the reason why you never pursued it.

A/N: Hiiii: I hope you appreciated this chapter, i really liked writing it, even if it’s my first time writing FF lol. If you see any mistake please lmk! Also, this chapter was kinda written in (y/n)’s POV, but next one will be written in Kuroo’s POV. I’ll try to publish it tomorrow, no promises though :C. 

published on 08/06/2020