This piece is cross-posted on my AO3 account. It's a Kuroko no Basuke (Kuroko's Basketball aka. KnB) fanfic. Anime screenshots found via Google search. Word Count: 2,322
Summary:
A year after graduating from Kaijo High, and passing captain-ship of t...
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A year after graduating from Kaijo High, and passing captain-ship of the basketball team over to Hayakawa, Kasamatsu was finally settling in to his college years. Everyone had expected the former point guard to try out for his university's basketball team but he honestly just wanted to focus on his studies for a change. Sure, he graduated high school with decent grades but he had to face facts, the continual practices late into the night and traveling for games really hurt his study habits overall. Ultimately, he basically only excelled at math.
First year was getting acquainted with the campus, learning where everything was, and getting back into the swing of things. He did have one comfort at university; his dorm mate happened to be his best friend and former teammate Moriyama, so that wasn't so bad. Having played on their high school team for three years together allowed each to learn the other's habits, body language, and ability to interpret those infamous one-word answers or silent facial expressions. It was almost like being on a team again, except it was just the two of them.
Moriyama was pretty easy going at university and was determined for Kasamatsu to make friends, so Mori-chan frequently hosted parties in their dorm. His heart was in the right place but Kasamatsu was an absolute dismal failure of a person when it came to the opposite sex. It wasn't that he didn't like girls. He liked them just fine, in fact, he liked them a lot. He did in high school too, but did he know any of the girls in his classes? Of course not. Because when it came down to it and he actually had to talk to one, he panicked. Of all the things in the universe to be afraid of, girls was probably the stupidest thing his brain could come up with.
He just couldn't help it. First, there were the palpitations; his heart rate spiked and felt like it was going to burst forth from his chest like a cheesy creature horror film. Then, he'd begin to sweat; not as bad as he did after he had been practicing basketball, but what self-respecting girl was going to stand near a guy who couldn't keep his sweat under control anytime she looked in his direction much less tried to say hi to him? Yeah, none of them. And then, as if the heart racing and undesired sweat weren't enough, his body betrayed him in the most humiliating way possible; he'd blush uncontrollably. Not even the cute little rosy blush you get when you're talking to your crush or what have you. No, he got the obnoxiously bright red face and to top it all off, the tips of his ears would go red too. He ended up looking like a sweating tomato on the verge of a heart attack. Definitely not the sexiest of first impressions to give girls.
And should a girl ask him a direct question like "excuse me, could you please tell me where this classroom is?" he'd stutter out an answer. Well, that isn't entirely accurate. He'd start off stuttering and maybe get two or three words out before the rest of the sentence got lost in his panic attack, at which point it was always best to run away. It worked pretty well in middle school and high school. After the first half of his first year in high school the girls clued in pretty fast and took pity on him. They only ever asked him yes or no questions so that he didn't have to speak, just nod or shake his head accordingly.
