Kuroo sat in his office, anxiously bouncing his knee. It had been weeks, but he hadn't stopped replaying that one morning.
He woke up next to her, tangled up in the bed sheets. He laid on his side admiring her. The way her long eye lashes rested on her cheeks. Listening to her calmly breath, locks of hair framing her face. She was ethereal.
She didn't stir when Kuroo moved to get out of bed. He retrieved his scattered clothes through out the apartment, getting dressed in the process. He slipped out of the apartment, something he did time and time again whenever he slept with someone else.
How would he be able to explain why he left?
But before he could register what he was doing, he stopped the door from locking behind him. What was he doing?
He wasn't ready to leave just yet. He decided to make a makeshift doorstop out of his jacket so he could return with a coffee for her. He jogged to the corner of her street to a small shop, ordering her favorite before rushing back to get out of the cold.
As he drew the heart on her cup like he had many times already, he slowly started to feel a tightness in his chest. He couldn't figure out what the feeling was. He was happy. Addicted. Anxious.
The confusion he felt made him want to crawl back into bed with her, wrap his arms around her, and lay there for the entirety of the day. But another part of him wanted to run out of the apartment as fast as he could.
Unfortunately, he chose the latter.
- - - -
A new assistant. Kuroo drowned out the words that came out of her mouth. He vaguely heard her name. Hitoka Yachi. That was all Kuroo needed to speak to her.
But telling her to let Y/n know that he wasn't available? For a while?
He knew he couldn't avoid this forever. And he couldn't put this burden of dealing with his problems on someone else.
As he heard the footsteps become distant, Kuroo emerged from his office to a disappointed assistant. Yachi stared at him with pleading eyes.
"Sir," Yachi's nervous voice implored, "Please don't make me do that again."
Kuroo leaned against his door frame and sighed.
"I'm sorry," Kuroo was embarrassed, "I really didn't mean to put you in the middle of that. I didn't know how else to handle the situation."
"Do - do you need advice?" Kuroo could see that Yachi was trying to help. Maybe a girl's perspective was better than asking Bokuto for advice. He could only get so far with him before Bokuto would start making jokes at his expense, and empty threats of stealing her away.
"I'm sorry! I shouldn't ask to not be involved and then try to be involved!" Yachi threw her hands up, and went to sit down at her desk.
Kuroo pulled up a seat in front of her desk, and straddled it.
"Would you seriously help me?" Kuroo begged.
Yachi's eyes became round brown saucers, she wasn't prepared for her boss who wouldn't give her the time of day earlier, to suddenly become so desperate.
Yachi listened to Kuroo talk about Y/n. He told her about initially meeting Y/n on her first day, and that he was instantly attracted to her. He mentioned the New Years outing, and how he regretted bringing every one else along. He had wished it was just the two of them. But when he talked about the love talisman, that he bought it because of Y/n, he seemed to be lost in his own world. Kuroo went on about how he admired the way she laughed, and how beautiful she was when she became shy as he teased her.
"I'm not seeing a problem." Yachi blurted out. Kuroo snapped out of his daydreaming.
"I'll be honest, I've never felt this way about someone," He admitted, "And I haven't talked to her since we ... I don't think it's work appropriate."
"It's not." Yachi said sternly, confirming she knew he was headed with that sentence.
Kuroo rubbed his face in his hands.
"You need to talk to her, but you need to tell her how you truly feel. You can't keep playing games and avoiding her. She needs to know," Her expression was melancholy, "She was hurt, really hurt."
Kuroo's stomach turned. He didn't want to see Y/n upset, and he knew. He heard the sound of her voice when she spoke to Yachi. He hated that he wouldn't move from his chair and face her earlier. What pained him the most was that he hated to acknowledge that he was scared.
Yachi watched as Kuroo wrestled with his thoughts.
"Maybe write down everything you just told me, all the things you love about her," Yachi smiled reassuringly, but Kuroo only heard one thing.
"Love?" The idea hadn't crossed his mind. He knew he liked her, but love?
Yachi giggled, "After what you told me, that's what it sounds like. Why else would you get a love talisman, especially because of her?"
- - - -
A light tapping on the door awoke Kuroo from his daze. He had been reading the letter he wrote for Y/n for the past few days, and was trying to make sure it conveyed everything that was hard for him to say to her.
Yachi stood in the door frame.
"Sorry to bother you, but ... it's been a couple of weeks and you haven't done anything."
Kuroo knew she was referring to Y/n. He told her he would let her know how it went, and he hadn't said a thing about it since then.
"Is it done?" Yachi motioned at the piece of paper Kuroo held.
Kuroo nodded, staring done at the letter again. Was this good enough?
"It's time," Yachi wasn't giving Kuroo much of a choice. Deep down, he knew if he didn't talk to Y/n soon, she would move on.
Kuroo scanned the letter one last time before realizing that it was probably around the time she went on break. He made his way down the hallway to the stairwell that connected their divisions. As he reached to turn the handle, the door was pushed open.
There she stood, eyes down, unwilling to acknowledge him. Her tired features were apparent at first glance; but it only took him a second to notice her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, as though she had been crying.
Kuroo could barely hear her mumble a sorry, as she made sure to avoid touching him as she squeezed by.
"Y/n," Kuroo called out, but he could see her pace pick up to a slow jog. It was obvious to him she was trying to get away from him.
He wanted so badly to chase after her, but his legs wouldn't let him. He just stood there, watching her until she was completely out of his view.
