Kazoku Futarikiri had never placed much value in labels - fat, skinny, loud, quiet, nice, mean. All they were good for was dehumanizing someone, trimming their existence down to a few adjectives.
But she was pretty sure she was a bad person.
Steal...
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By the time Kuroo ended his practice, I still hadn't decided whether I wanted to walk with him or not. However, I was in no mood to go home to a lonely, uninviting apartment. I could hardly even call it home anymore. Nikko was gone. His room was empty and the board games had been collecting dust since he was ripped away from me.
My stare intensified on the grass in a vain effort not to cry.
My thoughts were running in circles. Each one more depressing and soul crushing than the last. I was getting increasingly desperate and my urge to run to foster care and take Nikko back myself was almost consuming.
"You waited." Kuroo's hopeful voice snapped me out of my whirlwind thoughts and his warm smile melted my heart a little.
I both loved and hated how his small acts of kindness were beginning to wear me down. I felt as though I could trust him, even with something as monumental as Nikko being taken from my custody.
"I guess I did," I replied.
"Well come on." He nudged me forward with his elbow. "I'll walk you home."
I nodded, taking a small lead to where my dreary apartment waited.
The walk was hardly silent for a minute before Kuroo decided to break it. "Did you want to talk?"
Despite my level of trust for him, I hesitated. What if he leaves me too? He has so many friends and people to talk to other than me. Meanwhile on my end, as sad as it was, he was the only person who seemed to care. While I would be left lonely and scrambling, Kuroo would have nothing to loose if he just decided he didn't want to put in the effort to talk with me anymore. Besides, all I brought was drama, anger, and baggage. Who in the right mind would willingly choose to be my friend?
"Are you okay?" His question made me aware of the silent tear falling down my cheek.
I instinctually began to nod before slowing the motion. There was no use in lying. "No, but that's obvious enough. Did you really need to ask?" My voice was still hoarse and scratchy from sobbing all of last night. I still felt dehydrated from the endeavor no matter how many bottles of water I drank. The feeling wouldn't go away, comparable my misery over loosing the only family I had left.
The pain I felt now was immensely more abominable than when my parents had walked out.
"No, but sometimes it's just easy to start out with a simple truth." His response made me want to hug him. The urge brought to light how touch starved and in need of comfort I was. Yet I stayed on my side of the path, solemnly staring at the ground.
