The Boy Made of Stars and the One Who Counted Them

Breath

"HERE!"

It had been a month and a half since the sunflower incident. With the warm weather, Kuroo started to take matters into his own hands and pulled Bokuto along to every single event he had outside of his house.

That meant tying Bokuto down to the bleachers as he watched one of Nekoma's volleyball scrimmages. It pained Kuroo to glance at Bokuto as he watched others play volleyball. The way Bokuto looked at stars was the same way he looked at volleyball. He loved most things on this earth but volleyball was something special.

It made him feel closer to the one who used to set to him, Kenma.

"OVER HERE!" The high pitched voice of Hinata Shouyou shot through the humid air of the sweat scented gym at Karasuno High School.

Bokuto's eyes widened as he watched, completely entranced by the new and improved Karasuno team.

The sound of squeaking sneakers on a hardwood floor and grunts from the court took Bokuto back to his days of volleyball.

He went to the doctors two weeks ago and they told him volleyball was going to disappear in his near future. His heart was beginning to respond slower and slower each day he pushed himself in practice. Bokuto scoffed at this.

He was the captain, there was no way he was going to surrender his position for his stupid heart.

"YES! HA!" Hinata landed on his feet before tumbling backwards after successfully completing the super quick attack, him and Kageyama have just about perfected.

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT LITTLE DUDE!" Tanaka rushed to Hinata's side and tackled the small boy. They laughed as Nishinoya jumped up on top of Tanaka, starting to dog pile the small red-haired flame.

"HEY! There's still a game going on! Get up!" Daichi Sawamura, captain of the team, yelled from the center of the court.

"You'll be running suicides for hours if you don't TREAT THIS LIKE A REAL GAME!" Coach Ukai screamed from the sidelines.

Bokuto chuckled, he could practically see the steam rising from Ukai's ears in anger at the immature boys.

"Sorry Coach, I just wanted to congratulate him." Tanaka said, pulling Hinata up so forcefully that he flew up and landed back on his face. Nishinoya was still on the ground rolling in laughter. There was a wave of whooping as the two teams erupted in noise. Bokuto chuckled, catching Kuroo's eyes.

Kuroo's smile was so warm, but his smile quickly faded as the ball hit him square in the face.

The air was still as the thump echoed through the gym.

Finally, Bokuto let out a shrill laugh. He held his stomach, cackling in the silent gym. No one knew if it was appropriate to laugh when the captain gets nailed in the face but, the volume of Bokuto's laugh soon made everyone join in. Even Kuroo laughed after wiping his nose and eyes.

Bokuto was fulfilled with hearing the happy noises of happy people.

___________

"HINATA! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Bokuto screamed, bounding down the stands to tackle the boy in a hug. "You're getting incredibly smart with the direction of your kills!" Bokuto held him tight and ruffled his hair.

The game ended in a large win by Nekoma. After Kuroo was attacked by the volleyball for being distracted, he cancelled out any noise and feverishly blocked every single kill Karasuno tried to successfully do.

That obviously did not stop the boy with fire in his hair and heart, Hinata tried with all of his might to be as fast as humanly possible. Hinata got past Kuroo three more times until Kuroo finally analyzed his movements and was able to stop the golden duo, with the help of Lev of course.