partners | t. kuroo

Chapter 8 - Scotty Doesn't Know - Lustra

"Let's not... Talk about that..." You said back to him as you went to sit back down in front of your laptop and finish up another paper you wanted to do.

"Yeah... Sorry..." Kuroo said sitting back down on his chair shaking his head and running his hand through his hair.

You look at your phone. Your parents are still trying to get a hold of you. So you call your mom.

"Hi mom"

"Hi y/n, we need to talk about your father"

"Why"

"It's about the settlement"

"What settlement?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about"

With those words your heart sank. What the hell? Were they fighting about something? You didn't want to deal with this right now. You couldn't, this was going to get in the way of school and everything you had going on. You didn't want it to affect you. But you couldn't help but feel overwhelmed at the fact that your parents were still taking legal actions.

"Can we not talk about this now mom, I'm busy"

"It's important honey"

"Don't call me that"

"Whatever, I guess when you're not busy give me a call"

"Won't be for a while but alright"

She hung up on you and you placed your phone down before placing your head in the palms of your hands and letting out a sigh. You thought they were done with each other, you thought everything was done already and you could live without them bugging you, with the money they both gave you for University. Clearly that wasn't the case.

"Hey... you okay?" Kuroo looked up at you, a concerned look on his face. He had one foot on his bent knee and was leaning forward on his chair with one of his elbows resting on the elevated foot, with his chin in the palm of his hand. He was wearing his glasses today too, and he didn't change from what he was wearing earlier, you could still see the purple mark poking out from under the turtleneck. His hair was still tall and spiky with the bangs covering his right eye. He looked cute. You shook your head at the thought and tried to explain in little details what you were going through.

"Yeah, it's just, my parents and everything... It's okay I don't want to be a burden to you, I just have a lot." You said, rubbing your hands together indicating you were anxious.

"Hey come here." He looked at you with a warm smile. You got up and you sat on his right leg, placing your legs between his. "It'll be okay, look at you, smartest kid in our year, you got so much going on for you, don't let this set you back." He said running his hand through your hair and pulling you in towards his chest.

"Thanks, Tetsurou." You said wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him closer to you. This felt nice, you didn't really get any affection from anyone when you were younger, besides Kenma. You only talked to Kenma about these types of problems. You questioned in your mind again why you made yourself vulnerable with Kuroo. Maybe because he was sitting right there and just listening to the whole thing, maybe you developed a soft spot for him. You still didn't know how you felt about him. "Thank you." You buried your face in his neck and you let out some tears. It felt good to wallow a bit. He pulled you away from him and he looked at you. He cupped your face with the palms of his hands and using his thumbs wiped away the tears from your cheeks.

"You still look pretty when you cry." He said smiling. You let out a giggle before punching him in the arm. "OW... " He said, rubbing the area that you punched. "Do you want to go grab some dinner now?" He asked looking into your eyes.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." You said getting up from his lap and putting your things in your bag.

------

You wished Kuroo a good night by giving him a hug, one that was too long for your liking. You ran your fingers through his hair as he bent down wrapping his arms around your waist. You made your way back toward your dorm building from the cafeteria. You had to admit you had fun with Kuroo today and you got a lot more work down with him than you expected to. You didn't like the fact you did. Shit, Kenma was right, he's really a good guy.

You made your way inside the building and swiped your card at the elevator. You got into it and made your way up to the floor you and Eva lived on. You got off and went directly to Eva's room. You knocked on her door and she opened it immediately placing her arms around you.

"BABES! I've been waiting ALL DAY !" She said pulling you into her room and closing the door behind you. You took off your shoes and sat on her bed.

"Listen, I saw you at the library with Kuroo today..." She said taking a seat beside you. Your eyes widened and you could tell what her next question was going to be. ".... Is Kuroo the mystery man..?" You were careful to control your face, since Eva knows your tell, you ran your hand through your hair and looked her dead in the eyes.

"No, why would I fuck the person I hate the most. We were just doing some chemistry stuff, that's all." You said, and for some reason it was painful to say. You really enjoyed your day with Kuroo, he even comforted you. You looked at her hoping she wouldn't realize you were lying.

"Aw shit really, I would've thought he was, I saw him at the party yesterday!" She said back to you.

"Oh really? I didn't even know he was there." Another lie.

"Really? I heard some guys saying that Kuroo walked away from a group of girls to talk to a girl with h/c hair." She said looking at you raising an eyebrow.

"Well it wasn't me, I left with another kid, a third year actually." You said, another lie hoping she didn't notice your change in tone as you shifted the topic away from Kuroo.

"Well damn baby, I see you, okay okay, enough, I think I was a little pushy..." A little, you scoffed. "... Let me talk about Bokuto now! Oh speaking of Bokuto, maybe you can give Akaashi another chance next time!" You gave her a shocked expression and nodded your head indicating maybe you would. It's not like you and Kuroo were exclusively hooking up. You established that you were just friends, friends in secret too.

"Alright, maybe I'll give Akaashi a chance next time." You said, again for some reason it felt weird to say. You definitely didn't have feelings for Kuroo so why did it hurt?

"GOOD! He thinks you're so hot!!" So does Kuroo, you thought to yourself. "Anyways Bokuto and I had a fun night, you know the usual..."

You gave her a smile and listened to her ramble on about Bokuto, you couldn't help yourself, you would often stare into space thinking about your night with Kuroo. No. You're not going to fall for him. That's not the plan, Kuroo is strictly a part of your professional life as a student in research. That's it.

"... I think he's gonna ask me to be his girlfriend soon!" Eva exclaimed, her eyes shone brightly as she stared directly into yours.

"Aw, really! That's so cute." You were happy for her.

"Don't worry girl, you'll find your someone soon I promise!"

What if you already did?