Kuroo

The air was thick with smog and the smell of sex and booze. Gyrating bodies below morphed into blobs of many different shades in the strobe lights. They pulse about like someone was time skipping through a movie. The balcony area glared over the rest of the club, resembling that of an opera house's upper class area where queens and kings watched with eye glasses. Although, unlike those medieval social circles, this stood very much alone and aloof to the actions and the music below, more immersed in their own worlds and social quo to be concerned with other irrelevant people. The furniture and the railings, which truly seemed elegant enough to have been plucked straight from a palace, did not affect the mind set or the arrogance that came and went.

Kuroo's focus never strayed much from Akaashi, even when they were apart. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he stared at his dark whiskey, the crowd a blurry afterthought in his vision. His mind wandered, thinking about his love, barely processing bits and pieces of the conversation behind him. His stomach clenched with anxiety. He didn't like being so far from Akaashi. His eyes caught two dark haired boys sneaking in the back exit, one with wild hair and the other with wild eyes. As soon as they assumed they were safe, they fell into each other's arms and grinded their bodies against one another.

"I miss Keiji..." He muttered, shifting his gaze.

"Ne? Did you hear that, Bokuto-san?" Oikawa called from behind, his voice deepening to a teasing voice. "I think I hear Grumpy Neko-chan complaining..." His sing song voice rang out, and Kuroo turned to face his friend's as he rolled his eyes. Oikawa had a smirk plastered on his face and his hand up to his ear. Tsukishima leaned forward, pushing his hand of cards against his chest as his eyes cast downwards to the cards in Oikawa's other hand. Bokuto and Kenji leaned forward as well to sneak a peek, when Bokuto snickered and elbowed Futakuchi in the ribs jokingly. His eyes bulged in pain as he fell back into his seat, shooting daggers with his eyes into the back of Bokuto's oblivious little head.

Yaku, appearing from the other side of the room, yanked Bokuto by the ear into his chair silently, and Lev suppressed his hysterics. Tsukishima leaned back casually, shrugging. Kuroo resisted shaking his head. "Tooru, I am not afraid to push you down the stairs when we leave."

"So rude..." Oikawa huffed, pouting and turning up his nose. Tsukishima kicked his feet up onto the table, slamming them a bit extra, causing Oikawa to spook.

"Baka, you never answered my question." Tsukishima glowered, pulling Oikawa's attention back. "You gonna fold? Or not?"

Oikawa narrowed his eyes. "I would never."

"Even when you're going to lose?" Kuroo jabbed, sending Lev careening into a laughing fit. Oikawa shot him a glare.

"I will not."

"Ohh c'mon, Tooru, you always do." Bokuto laughed.

"I don't mind it," Futakutchi sniggered. "We always get to see Oikawa naked so there's a perk."

There was a small groan from Yaku in the room. "Frankly, I don't wanna see that at all." He looked up to Lev, who had finally calmed down, and leaned against his chest.

"Other than Kuroo, Tsukki, and us, everyone does." Lev shrugged.

"Oh and maybe Aone. I gotcha covered buddy!" Bokuto turned, waving at Aone, who stood by the door silently. He grunted a bit, giving a thumbs up.

"I don't know whether i should be offended or not..." Oikawa mumbled.

"If Akaashi were here-..." Kuroo began, only to be cut off by Yaku.

"You all would be naked already, blah blah blah. We know Tetsuro." He rolled his eyes, and Futakuchi and Oikawa burst into laughter.

"At least I can get onto big kid rides at the amusement park." Kuroo sang out, causing a small riot at the poker table.

Yaku stood, pushing up the sleeves of his flannel. Lev grabbed him neatly by his collar as he stomped in place. "Why, you little-..."

"Don't mind, Yaku, you're almost tall enough to be taken seriously..." Kuroo prodded again.

"I mean, Tetsuro, you gotta hand it to him..." Bokuto began, a smirk splitting his face.

"He is too short to reach, after all..." Futakuchi giggled.

"I'm going to kill all of you!" He snapped, Lev's eyes widening.

"Guys, lay off already..." Lev grunted. "Mori-senpai's closer to hell, so he's super strong for such a little guy-..."

Yaku growled, spinning around and landed a hard kick in Lev's thigh. He let go, and Yaku charged furiously towards the table as the others simply sat and cried as they accepted their hysterical deaths. Yet, to the dismay of Yaku, the door swung open and bounced off the wall. A man with fiery red hair strutted in and posed gaudily, a broad grin splitting his face. Following him in a slow paced, relaxed manner was Ushijima.

"Hello, my friends, the party has begun!" Tendou exclaimed as Ushijima side stepped him.

Oikawa squealed, throwing his cards into Tsukki's face. Tsukki winced, and stared furiously after Oikawa who jumped up and sprinted toward Tendou and Ushijima. Tendou grinned, and Ushijima didn't quite react until Tendou threw his arms open and stepped forward. "Come to daddy-..." He smirked, but Oikawa slipped past him easily and went straight to Ushijima. He lept into Wakatoshi's arms and wrapped his legs tightly around his waist.

"Ushiwaka, I missed you so much!"

"Oikawa." Ushijima said, his voice and expression remained unchanged, as he squeezed Oikawa's ass shamelessly. Oikawa squeaked, before smashing their lips together.

"Did I miss something...?" Kenji whispered, his face a bit horrified, and Bokuto snorted.

"Yeah you did, they've been fucking for like a year now and they aren't very private." Tsukishima said.

Tendou blinked, and stood normally. "Well, should've expected that, but it's still a bit depressing." He grinned, acting as if it never happened as he approached the table. "What do we have here? Is this poker? Of the stripping kind?" He asked, his eyes flaring.

"Why else would Bokuto be half assed naked?" Tsukishima raised an eyebrow.

Tendou cocked his head, and narrowed his eyes. "Ohh, you."

"Ushiwaka, will you pretty please play for me? I'm absolutely awful at this, and you know how i hate losing." Oikawa interrupted the tense moment as they reentered the scene, dragging Ushijima to the table. "I wanna win."

"As you wish," He said gruffly, sitting down. His velvet voice made Oikawa's heart melt. Wakatoshi gripped Oikawa's hips, pulling him into his lap.

"I guess I'll play too." Tendou pulled a chair up, sitting in between Kenji and Ushijima.

"Does that mean you'll guess how to play, too, Mr. Guess Monster?" Tsukishima sneered, tilting his head down. Tendou visibly twitched, annoyance clear on his face.

"You literally still piss me off."

Tsukki smiled. "Perfect."

Kuroo shook his head, using the awkward opportunity to slip closer to the door, and Kenji and Bokuto's eyes followed the conversation, wondering how far downhill the entire situation was about to roll, when Yaku spoke. "Why did you take up poker after college? You have made millions of dollars off playing it after all, Ushijima-san."

Ushijima turned his head, his brows raised questionably before returning to his expressionless state. "Lady Gaga." He said, unwavering in his solemnity. Yaku, Kenji, and Tsukki's faces scrunched up in complete disbelief and confusion as the other found their own reactions to the answer.

Kuroo made his way to the door, and Aone waved him through. Kuroo patted his shoulder, slithering out of the room into the entirely silent hall as his expression of enjoyment dropped from his lips. All night, his stomach had been curling and flipping in his stomach enough to have finally made him nauseous. He yanked his phone from his pocket, thumbing through the screens before he finally fell upon the call app. He lifted the phone to his ear, staring at the ground as he awaited the first buzz of the ring. Soon, the obnoxious drone filled his ears in the usual pattern and he tapped his foot anxiously.

He had been texting and calling Akaashi all day to no avail and no answer. He messed up the notes of some of the songs tonight, something Kuroo hadn't ever done in a concert. He knew he was simply panicked for no plausible reason other than the fact that hadn't answered that day, but they had never been so far apart and Akaashi never shut off his ring.

There was a click, and the line shifted over. Kuroo held his breath.

"Hey," Akaashi said, his voice relaxed. Kuroo threw his head back in relief.

"Gah, Keiji! God, baby, you really need to shoot me a text or something-" He cried out, before being interrupted.

"Gomen, I must be busy right now. Don't forget to leave a message. Chao!" The crackly, automated version of Akaashi's angelic voice recording spoke to him. His heart cracked a bit and his lip quivered. He didn't know why he was so stressed out, it had only been a day or two, but so far it's been the longest since he's seen Akaashi since they got together. He began to pace, panic lacing his voice.

"Keiji... I'm not sure why you haven't contacted me, but you know how I am. If you're phone isn't malfunctioning from the amount of stupid memes I've sent you, or calls I've made and voicemails I've left, and however many times you've dropped it from insane places then that shit is seriously indestructible. I'm starting to get worried about you. I will literally cancel the fucking tour if you don't answer fuck the women I just wanna hear your voice. I know that's childish, and I know it's weird for me to worry because we both know you may call me daddy but you take care of me, but I miss you dearly. I'm babbling now..." He sighed. "I need to know that you're okay. Don't hesitate to call at any time, I swear to god I'll answer." His shoulders slumped forward in defeat.

"I love you." He removed the phone from his cheek, clicking the ohone screen so he could click the end call button. The call screen closed and opened up to his wallpaper, and he scrolled so that he could stare at it. The image showed Akaashi laughing vivaciously. He brushing his thumb over Akaashi's virtual face and bit his lip as he contemplated calling for the millionth time.

"Whatta damn sap you've turned out to be..." A sarcastic voice echoed in the concrete walls. Kuroo winced and spun around to face whoever had spoken. "I swear, the high school girls thought you were a demon sex king or something..."

"Kozume! When the fuck did you get in here?" Kuroo cried out.

"I was in here first. Right there, since we got here." He said, lazily pointing to the corner. "I beat the game."

"Oh?"

"Yep. Why so glum though?" Kenma tilted his head, narrowing his eyes questioningly.

"Well, didn't you hear the whole thing?"

"Ehh, no? You think I was actually listening to your whiney ass?"

"Damn, nice kill... But, Akaashi hasn't answered at all for a few days now and I have a new phone and I don't have Yamaguchi's number and I don't want to ask Tsukki's rancid ass. I miss him, Kozume." Kuroo moped. "I'm so lame and clingy."

"Well, you'll see him soon enough. He's probably just busy, with his upcoming deadlines and such, right?"

Kuroo nodded slowly, tasting all his options. "Yeah... I guess you're right." He said, looking down. "But I have a weird feeling, had it since this morning." He touched his stomach subconsciously. "It feels like something's wrong."

"You're hungover idiot." Kenma rolled his eyes.

"Am not!"

"Are too."

Kuroo snorted, turning and heading back for the door. "I am not, and I will prove it right now." He banged it open, causing his friends to look up. "Who wants to take some shots?"

He had missed Kenma's small, but existent, mischievous grin.

"Now we're talkin'!" Bokuto called out, standing up.

Kenna strode over to Yaku and Lev who sat back casually on the couch. Lev grinned.

"Nice save, Kenma..."

"The King of Provocation just got served."