Wham
Taiji whammed the ball into Karasuno's court absentmindedly. The set was over and Karasuno went on to do their round of penalty.
Taiji picked up the ball that was lying on the ground and put it into the basket. Her mind was wandering back to that morning.
~~~
"I really like you"
Kuroo's grip loosened after the words escaped his lips. Taiji squirmed her away and stood up, unsure what to tell him.
"I don't know–" Her chest felt heavy, "I don't know what to say."
Kuroo could feel his stomach churning, "You don't have to give me an answer right now."
Taiji avoided Kuroo's eyes, her hair covering her blush from Kuroo, her heart was in her throat.
The female captain slowly made her way to the door, "I'll let you know soon,"
As she opened the door, their teammates scrambled away from the door. Her blush deepened as everyone stared at her with glee smiles.
"Still spying on us?" Taiji raised her eyebrow at their smiles. Kuroo followed behind with the same shade on his face, which caused the boys to laugh.
"You guys should head in, I'm going to the toilet." Taiji pushed through the crowd.
Harumi followed her senior quietly behind despite her protests. She stood by Taiji as the female captain splashed cold water on her face.
"Captain..." The quiet first year hardly ever spoke, "Are you going to accept Kuroo's confession?"
Taiji wiped the water on her face with the collar of her shirt, "I need to think about it,"
The first year was quiet again.
"Maybe you should tell him at the festival?" Harumi's voice was small.
Taiji softly patted Harumi's shoulder, "Maybe I'll do that,"
The two quickly made their way to the courts just as the matches started.
~~~
As the sun set, practice ended. Some went to wash up and have dinner while others stayed back for extra practice.
Yukie, one of the managers, asked Taiji to get the boys before they cleaned up the cafeteria. Taiji slowly made her way to the 3rd gym and opened the door.
She was greeted by some screaming from Bokuto and Hinata.
The boys were playing a 3v3. Bokuto, Hinata, and Akaashi were standing on one side of the court while Kuroo, Lev, and Tsukishima.
Taiji went unnoticed as she slipped in. She watched as Kuroo explained some blocking tips to the two boys. Bokuto and Hinata were glaring at the two whenever their spikes were blocked.
"Hey, guys!" Taiji quickly called out, Kuroo was the first to notice her. As Taiji made her way closer to the boys, she was greeted by Bokuto and Hinata with high fives.
"What are you doing here?" Kuroo gave an awkward smile.
"Ah well," Taiji scratched the back her neck, "Yukie asked me t—"
The female captain's sentence was cut short as a stray shot from Hinata slammed into her face, how ironic.
Taiji tumbled backward from the force of the ball, but Kuroo quickly caught her from falling.
Taiji's head was spinning, she didn't even realize she was leaning her head against Kuroo's chest.
"Are you okay?" Kuroo watched as Taiji squeezed her fingers against her head.
"Yea, just give me a second," her voice was brittle.
The world blurred out around Kuroo. Hinata, Bokuto, and Lev's panic screams seemed to fade into the distance as his focus was entirely on the girl in his arms.
Taiji's sight cleared up after a moment, Her head was still leaning against Kuroo's chest as the room stopped spinning.
The three idiots stopped yelling once they noticed Kuroo was holding her tightly. Their panic turned into a smug grin and Kuroo gave them a nasty glare.
Taiji pulled away once she balanced herself, but Kuroo still kept his arms around her. Taiji looked up in surprise, "You can let me go Kuroo,"
A blush crept onto their faces that were centimeters apart. Kuroo let Taiji go and the poor girl got swarmed by the loud boys.
"TAIJI SENPAI!" Lev shook the female captain's shoulders, which earned a flick on the forehead from her, "I'm going to throw up on you, Lev."
Lev immediately let go and apologized. Bokuto was on his knees trying to get Taiji's forgiveness, which he earned very quickly.
"Tai-Senpai, Your forehead is swollen!" Hinata was slightly panicking as he noticed.
"You should probably get it checked out, Taiji-san." Akaashi pointed out, "We'll go have dinner now."
Taiji gave a smile and headed to the nearest toilet, the red mark on her forehead was as bad as Hinata said it was. She splashed cold water on her face in hopes that the redness would reduce.
Just as the female captain left the toilet, she was surprised to see Kuroo standing next to the door with an ice pack in his hand.
"Kuroo?" Taiji let out a small chuckle, "I thought you went with the others to dinner?"
Kuroo handed her the ice pack, "I was worried about you."
The tired girl thanked him and pressed the cold pack against her forehead, "You should go eat before they clean up for the night."
Kuroo gave a small wave and made his way towards the cafeteria. Just as he made a turn from the hallway, he bumped into Hinata, Lev, and Bokuto, along with a defeat Akaashi.
"How long have you guys been standing there?"
"The whole time!" Hinata exclaimed excitedly.
Kuroo let out a small sigh, there wasn't any privacy for the two captains anywhere.
Yukie popped her head around the corner, "Hurry up guys! We're closing soon!"
~~~
Taiji received a whole lot of attention because of the new mark on her forehead from Bokuto.
"WHO DARED HARM OUR CAPTAIN?" Ayoi, a second year, was the first to point out the mark on Taiji.
"I'LL SHRED THEM!" Akari added on to the yelling.
The two noisemakers were scolded by their fellow 2nd years Izanami and Ena to keep their voice down.
"Don't stay up too late tonight," Taiji pointed to the first years who were going out for a short stroll around the school, "We have to wake up early tomorrow."
Masami gave a thumbs up for her friends, "Make sure you give Kuroo-san an answer at the festival!"
Taiji jokingly rolled her eyes at the first year's comments, she grabbed her toiletries and went to wash up.
"I'll let him know soon enough."