Spring Leaves

Chapter 17 [CW: Implied Polyphobia*]

CW: Implied polyphobia (some sources say polyphobia is multiple phobias but others say it's prejudice against polyamorous folk. In this case, it's the latter meaning but please tell me if there's another, more correct term for this. I genuinely couldn't find one. Thank you so much!)

"I feel so lost right now, May," Bokuto whispered to May who was curled up against his side, asleep.

It was late at night and the week before Kuroo's birthday which he was excited for since, out of pure chance, their teams had a joint practice on that day. And of course, being the amazing friend he is, he was going to surprise Kuroo there. Aside from that excitement though, there was this feeling of frustration and guilt that was keeping him from going to sleep.

He knew what caused it and how it was interfering with his want to sleep, but he didn't address it because the solution that he's used for all of his problems was to pretend like they didn't affect him or that he already solved them (when he very clearly didn't). This strategy wasn't healthy for him, he knew that as well, but it worked at least 95% of the time so he stuck to it. The other 5% when it didn't work were during moments like these when his mood was especially bad or the problem was getting out of hand. In this case, it was mostly the latter.

Now that he'd figured that out, he had to think of a new strategy to deal with it. The only problem was that it was easier said than done. He couldn't think of anything that would help him in this scenario.

He sat up from his bed, sighing, and left to get himself a drink of hot chocolate. It was comfort food, well, more like a comfort drink, that helped ease his stress. He took his phone so he could use its flashlight to guide himself to the kitchen but saw two text messages from Kuroo, both of which were sent about three minutes ago.

Kuroo
Heya ^-^
Still awake?

Bokuto
Yeah.
What's up?

Kuroo
Nothing much
just couldn't sleep
You???

Bokuto
same here. I was just gonna go make some hot cocoa actually

Kuroo
nice
hot cocoa is really good

Bokuto
Agreed! I love putting little marshmallows too.
They make it 10x better ＼(＾▽＾)／

Kuroo
mhm!!
Should I make hot cocoa too?

Bokuto
if you wanna ig
Btw why'd you msg me????

Kuroo
couldn't sleep

Bokuto
same
wanna vc? typing is taking way too long

Kuroo

lol sure

...Incoming call from Kuroo Tetsurou...

He quickly answered it and greeted Kuroo with a quiet, "Hey hey hey!"

"Hey Bokuto. You seem pretty energetic," Kuroo replied, lightly chuckling.

"A little bit. You seem really tired though. How come you're not asleep yet?" Bokuto asked as he made his way into the kitchen, setting his phone against the microwave and hoping it wouldn't fall.

"My sleep schedule has been a little messed up so I've been using it to my advantage and have been spending it studying. I was just doing some Social Studies, actually."