The Introverted Kitten's First Date

A Puppeteer, A Tactician, A Teacher, and Two Guardians walk into a gym...

Kuroo thought himself a puppeteer.

He never found his role to be one of power, or one that was manipulative.

Whenever he came up with his plans, he found it to be for his own interest, though when it came to his childhood friend, it usually was for his benefit. Even if Kuroo himself was quite entertained.

Finding a way to enlist the help of various people for this scheme without their knowledge? Beautiful. The way that they didn't even know how they interacted so well together to form this sort of spider's web? Artistic.

And the buildup to the eventual success, the climax of his plan? Whether it be a prank, a surprise for someone, or getting your best friend laid, that was his absolute favorite part.

Well, second favorite part.

Having everything line up was certainly his favorite part.

To him, it was like a Rubik's cube. When you solve a layer, and then another layer, and permuting all the pieces to where they should be, forming that beautiful symphony of colors melting together in that show of genius?

That was the role of the puppeteer.

But, a puppeteer wasn't exactly the type of thing he agreed with, though Kenma had referred to him as that before. So he simply took it on as his title.

His form of being a puppeteer was one where the audience would get enjoyment out of it, but him? It was ecstasy for Kuroo.

Kuroo thought himself a puppeteer.

He held quite a few puppets in his arsenal. This specific performance?

Bokuto, Kenma, Hinata, Oikawa, and Daichi.

That was his plan.

Yet, his first thought was wondering whether or not the puppets could see their strings. That wasn't the issue.

The issue that the strings had snapped. When one cog messes up, the entire mechanism stops. When one string snaps, the entire performance is ruined. Let's say, hypothetically, you're an actual puppeteer. Now, one of your puppet's strings snap. It's right arm can't move.

That's super obvious to the audience. To the puppeteer. It drains some of the enjoyment.

This was like making an impromptu plan.

Since one puppet wasn't at the performance, and two more came barging in, acting without the puppeteer's influence.

That was what Sawamura, Nishinoya, and Tanaka had done to his plan.

They'd broke the strings. The performance.

So he had to plug himself into the equation. He had initially planned for a few scenes where Hinata and him would speak, he could be convinced, and everything would be a happily ever after for him.

But with the sudden absence of Daichi, he had to take his role himself. And boy, he didn't fit into it at all. He'd talked with Kenma his whole life, but giving actual dating advice without the support of the team? That wasn't something he'd been prepared for in the slightest. He didn't think he ever would know, anyways, for the next month, due to a tall, glasses-wearing boy on Karasuno.

That was a problem.

This was his last resort.

Asking Kenma to go to the gym tomorrow at 7:30, before dinner? That wasn't planned in the slightest.

But this was his only option to get the plan back on track.

And the puppeteer had some extra string to fix the puppets up with.