rice cake | kuroshou

002: breakdown

When the class was over, Daishou quickly gathered his things and rushed out of the class. Kuroo watched him rush out and he saw a tear roll down his face. He wondered if he was being the usual crybaby he's always been. He brushed it off and finished gathering his stuff.

Daishou walked to the lunchroom and sat at the table he and his friends usually sat at. He wiped his face and put his head down, waiting for his friends to get there.

"You were supposed to buy me lunch," someone said, as they sat down. Multiple people sat down and the table was silent. "Hello?" they asked.

No answer.

"Yo," someone else said, poking Daishou's arm. Daishou picked his head up and rested it on his arm, the others gasping. "Holy shit. Daishou? Are you good?"

"I'm fine," he said, his eyes watering again. "Why would you think I wasn't fine, Sakishima?"

"Daishou.." Hiroo said, moving from across the table and sitting next to Daishou, hugging him from the side. The others joined him and they all hugged as a group, Daishou's tears streaming down his face. "Do you wanna tell us what happened?"

Daishou sniffled a few times before he answered. "Kuroo.. said some shit. I don't care about the other stuff he said, but the thing that hurt the most was when he said he regretted being my friend. That he would've cut ties sooner if he knew how much of a shit human being I was.."

"Daishou," Kuguri said sternly, getting the four others' attention. "do you want Kuroo to die?"

"What?! No!" Daishou said, quickly sitting up.

"Then, stop talking bad about yourself before I kill him for putting this shit in your head."

"For all this trauma he gave you, you should at least want something bad to happen. Like, another broken bone," Hiroo said.

"Guys, I can't wish anything bad on him. You know how I feel about him," Daishou said, putting his head back down.

"We know, you're weirdly in love with him. I say 'weirdly' because he put you through hell and you still love him," Sakishima said, leaning on his arm.

"I know he's not like that!" Daishou yelled, sitting up once again and turning towards Sakishima. "He's just.. shaken. His one friend that he trusted the most left him in a cold, dark cave for two hours, of course he's gonna be hostile towards me."

"Yeah, but for ten years? That's fucked up, Daishou," Kuguri added.

"And it's crazy how much you defend him. You know he's dead wrong, and yet, you defend him with your life. I bet he could shoot you in the foot, in front of the police, and you would say he didn't do it," Hiroo stated, Sakishima and Kuguri agreeing.

Daishou tried to think of a way to prove Hiroo was wrong, but he couldn't come up with anything. Because he knew Hiroo was right. But, no matter how hard he could try, defending Kuroo is his second nature. And, God, he wish it wasn't.

"Hey, uh, I won't be riding with you guys today. I wanna go somewhere and I wanna be alone," Daishou said, staring at the table.

"I don't know if we can trust you alone," Kuguri said, a suspicious tone in his voice.

"I'll be fine. I'll call you if something happens."

"Mmhmm," Kuguri hummed, looking Daishou up and down.

...

Daishou was glad this was his last class. That meant he had 55 minutes before he could leave and go to his safe place.