Six Pills - A KuroKen Fanfic

{Chapter Eight}

The next morning I got dressed and ready before the other second years were even up, hoping to avoid anyone seeing the bandages. I also put my sleeves on now instead of at the gym where people would probably see. 

I was exhausted, mentally and physically. I'd gotten no sleep due to my anxiety. I hated it. More energy drinks it is, I guess. 

I sat in the room, waiting for it to be time to go out, and sneaking hits off my vape before the others woke up. I was also waiting for Kuroo, figuring he'd at least pop in here saying he'd meet me outside. 

That didn't happen.

It was time to go and he hadn't come in. I went outside, hoping he'd already be there. He was, and Bokuto was standing there with him. 

Bokuto walked ahead of us as we walked to the cafeteria. 

"Did you get any sleep? You look like a zombie?" I asked Kuroo. It's not like him to stay up like that. 

"Not a lot, no. Looks like you didn't either." He replied. 

"Yeah…" I sighed. I wanted to ask him if he was alright, but didn't really know how to go about it. Eventually, I just decided to straight out ask.

"Hey, are you okay? You just seem…off." 

"I'm fine, Kenma. Just tired. And last night I just needed to be alone for a bit. It's nothing you did, I just needed some quiet and the gym was not the place." He answered. 

"Okay, you know you can talk to me, right?" I just wanted to make sure he knew I was there for him as much as he was there for me. 

"I know. I promise though, I'm fine. Just exhausted." He gave me a small tired smile. I just nodded and went along with it. 

We both ended up getting bacon, eggs, and energy drinks. 

"You guys good?" Sugawara asked us when we sat down at our table.

"Fine, just tired. Neither of us slept that great." Kuroo said, cracking into a peach Red Bull. 

"So in other words, we might have a chance against you guys today?" Daichi joked. 

"Not after I down these you won't." Kuroo held up two other Red Bulls. 

"Damn…" Daichi shook his head and shoved some eggs in his mouth. I just laughed a bit. Kuroo chugged the drink he was holding and then opened up a coconut one. 

"So, Karasuno boys, how were yesterday's punishments?" Kuroo laughed once he got bored of the silence. There he is. Guess the energy drink kicked in fast. 

"My legs still hurt." Sugawara groaned. That's what happens when you lose every game and have to do hill sprints. 

"Today's punishment isn't gonna help that. I heard it's 10 minute wall sits." Bokuto said. 

"You're joking…" Daichi looked like he was ready to kill a bitch. Kuroo just laughed. 

"Nope, have fun with that." Bokuto said as he got up to throw his trash away. I saw the time and started to do the same. I shoved an energy drink in my bag and drank the one I had on the way to the gym. 

*~*

We had a first round BYE. Not sure if I was excited or annoyed about it. Standing doing almost nothing sounded nice to me right now, but standing doing almost nothing might make me fall asleep standing up. 

Kuroo and I were on the Fukurodani vs. Shinzen game. We stood there talking 99% of the time, just bull shitting and making fun of Bokuto. That may be why they lost straight sets…Akaashi wasn't happy with us. He had to deal with emo Bokuto now. 

Our first actual match ended up being against Fukurodani. Bokuto and Akaashi aren't gonna go easy on us, that's for sure. 

We got first serve. Which was nice. Bokuto went right for the shitty attacks and spiking them down near me. I had to dive for that first one. I almost screamed when I received it. Volleyball and cuts…not fun, but satisfies my brain's want for me to hurt so…that's a win I guess?

I stood up and Kuroo could see the pain on my face. 

"You good?" He asked. 

"Yeah, hit the bone in my wrist off the floor." I made up a quick shitty excuse. 

"Oh, that shit sucks." He replied. I'm gonna have to hide the pain better. I can't use the same excuse every time I receive a ball. 

*~*

By the end of the day I was pretty much used to the pain that I was able to just kinda shrug it off. Kuroo wanted to do extra practice, which he'll probably do all week, so we stayed to do that. 

I sat against the wall and messed around on my phone. Mostly was reading fanfics though. 

I'd gotten sucked in and lost track of time. Kuroo came over and told me it was time to head back to the dorms. 

We split our ways as soon as we got there. The other 2nd years were already asleep, so I didn't really have to hide much to take off the sleeves and bandages. 

After showering and rebandaging, I ended up falling asleep reading on my phone.

Word Count;879