Just Like We Used to Be (Haikyuu fanfic)

The law of attraction

Today, I can't stop thinking about Kenma. I had to call Hinata to tell him Kenma was in the hospital. He and Kageyama jumped on the first train to Tokyo to visit the poor guy. They should be arriving soon. I had to lie to Hinata to keep him from talking about Kenma and I's relationship.

"I want to tell him myself since it's our story," I said, or something like that.

Today is my first day back with the Nekoma team. I'm scared of everyone's reaction. They know it is not like me to miss so many practices. They will probably excuse my lack of consistency because of Kenma's incident (I bet they all know by now. News travels fast here) but in reality, I totally let them down. I let them down in the most difficult situation, being the loss of an important player.

When I arrive at the gymnasium, everyone turns to look at me. Nobody says anything, not even myself - and God knows I talk all the time. But not today. Kenma would have known what to say, and even if he wouldn't have said it aloud, he probably would have tugged my sleeve and whispered it in my ear.

"Welcome back, Captain," smiles Yamamoto while giving me a slight pat on my back.

His usually loud voice is gone. His tone is neutral. I feel his pain. Yaku and Lev approach me but I ignore them. Lev is dumb and Yaku is overly energetic. I do not want to deal with this today. They notice my lack of motivation and leave me alone, as they should.

"Kuroo," calls a voice outside of the locker room. 

I drag myself out of the small space to meet with coach Nekomata. This man is strong. He offers me his usual smile and asks me how I am doing. "I'm in so much pain and I'm also torn between letting Kenma know about our relationship or just taking this chance to completely leave his life!" I want to scream at his face. I want to collapse in tears until there is no water left in my body. But I don't. Coach Nekomata would not understand. He is the type of person that wants to win whatever the situation is. He would not understand my feelings for Kenma and how much strength it took me this morning to just get up and come to morning practice. Behind this happy face is a coach who is able to put his feelings aside a little too easily.

"I'm doing okay," I answer. I'm not but...

"Fake it 'till you make it, they say," gazes the old man.

And he is right.

"This team's number 4, the ace, he's the real deal. That's the player we have to worry about"

Kenma lifted his eyes from his tired fingers and stepped forward.

"That is not it at all. Their setter is very talented. Probably a lot more than I am. Number 4 is just strong. Knowing that the setter is in the back row, if we can get him to make the first contact then we will be at a huge advantage. That will shut down their attack power," thought Kenma out loud.

Jesus, I absolutely loved when he got all proactive. 

Our time out was over and the six of us ran to the court. We had a plan. We could defeat Fukurodani's powerful attacks. I was in the back row beside Yaku. I was confident in my receives and our libero's.

Kenma winked at me and I offered him one of my best smiles. He was in a good mood today and it showed. As soon as the ball went up, I looked at Yaku in the corner of my eyes. He returned my look. Yaku was ready and so was I.

"It's up!"

The sound of the libero's skin in contact with the ball made me grin even harder. The ball went directly to Kenma. The brunet didn't even need to run to set. It was a perfect serve-receive, as expected from Yaku.