I bet I could smoke you

chapter 1 - a little piss baby ruins it for everyone

It was a hot summer day in Westside College's training camp. Kenma's back was moist with sweat as he hit a ball across the court, breathing hard as he watched it bounce past his training partner, Kuroo. Kenma heard Kuroo curse under his breath as he ran to retrieve the ball. It wasn't hard to spot the AirPods in his ear, and Kenma rolled his eyes, suspicious that Kuroo-diot was blasting 100 Gecs. I mean, being called a "little piss baby" was probably pretty distracting from volleyball training. Not that Kenma knew from experience or anything. 

He coughed as Kuroo returned with the ball, almost tripping over his own feet. Looking closer, Kenma could see that Kuroo kind of did have arms like cigarettes. Or, at least that's what he thought for some 15 seconds before Kuroo attempted to serve the ball and hit it straight through the net. 

The two boys stood there, dumbfounded at what had happened. Was that net fragile as hell, or was Kuroo secretly muscular and brawned?

Either way, Kenma couldn't be blamed for this. Who knows how much that net was worth! Before Kuroo could say anything, Kenma was grabbing his bag, attempting to stuff his second pair of shoes in as he ran.

He heard Kuroo calling after him, but kept going. His legs weren't long enough for this, dammit. Curse low running stamina!

It was 3 pm now, around four hours after the volleyball incident. Kenma was leaving his class, and the building, to head to the Taco Bell across the street. Thursdays meant a late lunch, and he was starving. 

Unfortunately, the only way to get to that street was passing by the volleyball court he and Kuroo had been. A small, annoying part of him twinged with guilt. He hadn't even done anything! That dumb Tetsurō-ni Kuroo-ni pasta boy did everything. 

Kenma glanced over to the court. Bad move. He saw a tall dark haired boy approaching the court, tailed by a short ginger. All they had with them was a volleyball and a water bottle each. A bit underprepared, Kenma thought to himself, scoffing in his head.
Just as he was about to turn away and forget about the two boys forever, the ginger kid threw up his arms and loudly exclaimed something Kenma was too far away to make out. He appeared confused, while his black haired friend seemed more irritated than anything else. They were both staring at the broken net, probably attempting to figure out who managed to put a perfect circle in the middle of it.
The short ginger was still yelling about the damage, which caught the attention of everybody walking by. He didn't seem to notice as a few cautious students approached the ruckus. Unfortunately for the shortie, a professor was among the people going to see what was going on. As she marched towards the court, Kenma recognized her as Mrs Satou, teacher of  philosophy and volunteer coach of Westside's very own pickleball team, which shared the court with the volleyball practicers.
Mrs Satou took one good look at the damage before growing red in the face and turning to the two boys.
The students that had approached a few moments ago quickly began to back away as Mrs Satous newly found rage let loose. She seemed to tower over even the taller boy, despite being a solid 5'5, and gestured wildly between the net, the boys, and the volleyball they were holding.
Kenma winced and felt another twinge of guilt as he realized Satou mustve thought the new duo broke the net, not Kuroo.
"Godammit," Kenma muttered to himself, not realizing he was walking towards the three people at the court until he was already halfway there. Don't be a pussy, he thought. Fuckin say something.
"Uh.. Mrs Satou?" Kenma said monotonously, "they only just got here, the nets been broken."
Satous gaze snapped down to Kenma and she narrowed her eyes. "Who broke it then?" She snarled.
Fuck. How gracious was he feeling, really? Better own up to it right? After he ran away earlier, he had to.
Kenma took a deep breath.
"Tetsuro Kuroo."
Hey, it was true, was it not? What, did you think he'd lie to get himself in undeserved trouble?
Satou huffed. "Thank you for saying something, young man." She then stormed away, probably to go figure out just who this Kuroo guy was so she could yell at him, too.

When Kenma looked back, the black haired boy was staring him down with a face that was intimidating yet seemed to show no expression.
In the corner of his eye, the ginger kid was leaning in to look him up and down.
"Wait a minute..." the shortie began, " I know you- youre kenma! From high school!"

What.