"Ohno-Chan, let's go." Her friend called, tugging her by her arm once class had ended. "Wait, what happened to your chin?"

"Sorry, I have plans with Kuroo and Kenma after school today, and I fell." She said politely.

"You always have plans with Kozume and Kuroo-senpai." Another one of her friends complained.

Ai shrugged, "They are my best friends."

"I am gonna pretend like that didn't hurt." The first one said, crossing her arms. "Look, these guys go to an all-boys school, I promised that you'd come."

"I already told you-" Ai was cut off when the second girl pulled out her ponytail so that her hair fell down her back and set parts of it delicately over her shoulders.

"It will only be for an hour, it will be over before practice is even over." The other assured, .

"I don't know..."

"Look, I already told the guys we would be there." Ai gave in.

"Only for an hour." She sighed.

"Yay!" Her friends pulled her along.

Ai drank her soda. She didn't even go through the effort to put on makeup, though her friends had coerced her into putting on at least mascara and some concealer on the mark on her chin. She wasn't really listening to the conversation that was happening around her. Even when the guys would ask her questions she would only give half-hearted one-word answers. She stared at her phone, Ai just wanted to get out of there. It was going to take her a while to walk from where she was to the school.

The guys sitting across from her were obviously interested in her and her friends, but as attractive as they were, she felt nothing when looking at them. She couldn't believe that that rat's nest captain was the one she was attracted two when she had idol-level men sitting across from her, trying to coax out more than three sentences from her at a time. This would give her friends the opportunity to pick one of the guys to pick

She thought about that morning and waking up in Kuroo's arms, the smell of his shampoo and deodorant, the calloused pads of his fingers roaming over her body. She shivered. She sent a text to Kuroo.

Ai: Let's meet at Nakano Broadway for some Daily Chiko.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna go, I have someone I'm meeting."

"Oh, I'll walk you there." A shorter boy with large blue eyes and light brown hair offered, getting up from his seat. He was more of the cute type, it reminded her or Reo.

She waved her hand dismissively, collecting her belongings. "No, it's fine, you don't need to bother. I'm going all the way over to Suganami City."

"I insist." He said in a way that made it impossible for her to decline. Ai pushed her hair off her shoulder as she exited, a bit peeved that he was tagging along.

As she walked he asked her questions like what her favorite subject was, where she was going, and what she wanted to do when she got older. Not that she was opposed to meeting new people, well she kinda was, but she also wasn't socially inept. All things considered, she certainly did not need this boy who couldn't take a hint following her around and making puppy-dog eyes at her.

She flashed him a fake smile as she answered "I don't know " to all of his questions. When they boarded the bus to Sugami City, she had just about had enough of this kid. She didn't bother learning his name, and his resemblance to Reo made her attitude short with him. She really didn't enjoy how dense he was or his intrusive nature. She might have given him more slack, he was trying to be nice, but her emotional battery was drained and she didn't want to be forcibly nice. This boy had not a care in the world, ignoring that Ai was blatantly disinterested and frustrated.

Nevertheless, she did her best to maintain her base polite manners the whole ride. Her cheeks hurt from her fake smile. She sat on a bench inside of Nakano Broadway and waited for Kuroo and Kenma to show up. She half-listened to what the boy was saying, when she replied, she gave answers that wouldn't prompt further questions, but he would ask anyway. She kept her eyes peeled for a tall messy-haired guy and a shorter pudding-headed boy.

She recognized Kuroo immediately and ran up to him while the boy she was sitting with was halfway through his one-sided conversation. She wrapped her arms around his torso and cried "Kuroo-senpai, how was practice?" Dramatically, hoping the other guy would get the memo.

She looked up at Kuroo's face and it was all red. "Go with it." She hissed through gritted teeth, squeezing his arm.

"It was good," he hugged her back slowly, digging his fingers into her back until she stopped gripping him so hard. The flush in his cheeks replaced with paleness, Ai was intimidating.

Ai looked over her shoulder at the boy who had accompanied her. "Thank you for walking me here!" Her smile was overwhelmingly fake, it probably showed. "Have a nice night." She waved to him. He looked at her dejectedly before exiting the way he came.

"I told you, it wasn't my idea to go to the group date but I didn't have much of a choice." Ai licked at her ramune flavored ice cream.

"Kuroo, you're being weird again." Kenma said, biting into his vanilla ice cream like a goddamn heathen. "Why do you care?" He looked at his best friend with scrutiny.

Ai was honestly a bit shocked that Kuroo hadn't told Kenma about the night before yet. Though Kenma hadn't asked, and probably wouldn't, Ai figured Kuroo would have offered up that information.

"Good question, Kenma." Kuroo said as Ai handed Kenma a napkin.

She was eating her cone too slowly and the pale blue ice cream started trickling down her hand. "Aw shit!" She exclaimed, licking at her wrist. Kuroo watched her intently as she lapped up the ice cream. This didn't go unnoticed by Kenma. So did Ai, his inappropriate staring earned him a light kick in the shin under the table.

Kenma sighed, "If you guys are going to keep a secret from me, at least be good at it." He handed the napkin back to Ai because she needed it more.

"It's not really that much of a secret." Ai blushed, wiping up her hand. "I like Kuroo." She felt her stomach churn when she admitted it. Kenma nodded his head like this information was exactly what he had anticipated.

"Oh, Ai-chan!" Kuroo handed her another napkin. "You never told me that!"

Ai rolled her meadowy eyes. "I did, also wouldn't it become even more apparent since I kissed you? " She would have thought that given their morning escapades, he would know rather intimately that she was into him.

"How was I supposed to know?" Kuroo cried.

"Kuroo, are you an idiot?" Kenma asked.

"Who's side are you on?" Kuroo cried.

"You two have fun," Ai's mother said, putting on her shoes. She was out for another Friday night with her friends from work. Friday had somehow become drinking day for the three of them, though Ai's mother would never drink with them. Ai nursed a rum and coke. Kuroo didn't feel comfortable drinking around Ai's mother, so he waited until she was out of the apartment.

"Should we have invited Kenma?" Ai asked, putting her drink to her lips.

Kuroo thought about it for a moment, "I don't think he'd like it."

"I feel like it's sometimes hard to connect with him," Ai took a sip of her drink, "I think he knows me better than anyone." She sighed. "Still, he doesn't like small talk and I'm scared he doesn't like me?" Ai said it, but it sounded like a question.

Kuroo brushed hair off her cheek. "Kenma doesn't like small talk. But he does like you." Ai smiled at that.

"You think so?"

"I know so, you made him pie and you don't ask him invasive questions." Kuroo patted her back. "You're golden!"

"What about you?" Her facial expression changed to a rather mischievous glint. "Do you like me?" She set her drink down on the coffee table and straddled Kuroo. He placed a hand on her hip lightly, careful to be aware of the bruise on her hip, which was a gentle gesture that Ai notices and appreciated. One hand rested on the small of her back.

"Not at all." He said, pulling her closer to him with a hand on her back. There was a huge grin on his face that betrayed his words.

"How rude." She chuckled, kissing his forehead. "I happen to like you a lot, Kuroo . " She said softly as she nipped at his throat.

"Ai-chan," Kuroo swallowed thickly.

"It's okay," Ai soothed, "I won't do anything tonight." She traced circles against his neck. "I'm greedy, but I won't do anything more unless you say you'd like me too."

She raked a hand through his hair, it was soft. How he got that hairstyle without product, she didn't know. His stupid dumb hair felt soft and luxurious under her fingertips. Kuroo melted into her touch, letting his eyes slip closed. What could be better than this?

"I want you to be my boyfriend" Ai said slowly.

"Hmmm?" One of his hands skimmed through the strands of hair hanging down Ai's back. "I thought you only liked me in a physical sense." Kuroo brought up a section and smelled it. He paused for a while like he was considering it. "Okay."

In retrospect, that was pretty creepy. However, the intimacy of the action made Ai's heart flutter anew. He looked up at her and the way his eyes looked, it was impossible for her to look away. Ai moved so she's no longer straddling him, but half on and half off his lap. Her back leaned against the arm of the couch and her legs were draped over his lap. Kuroo encircled Ai with an arm, clasping her shoulder. Despite Kuroo not saying he liked her back, Ai felt peaceful and comfortable.

She grabbed her drink and handed Kuroo his beer, trying not to roll her eyes. Ai was more than happy to make him any other drink, he insisted on drinking beer. She figured it was probably part of his fragile masculinity, he wanted to like beer more. Ai drank about half of her rum and coke before setting it back down. She picked up the remote. "What do you want to watch?"

"A horror movie." Ai groaned, it was going to be a long night.