Love is not Extinct

Chapter 07: The Scheme

Kuroo scanned the club with calculating eyes, taking in the setting, as he adjusted the white band on his wrist. The people on the dance floor were lively, pulsing and swaying to the music, the base so strong you could feel it reverberating in your chest. He grinned. "This is going to be fun."

Kenma looked up at his friend, wishing he could feel the same way about this situation. He was not optimistic at all about how this night was going to turn out and he worried about his best friend. Kuroo was getting ahead of himself and he didn't care how much Kuroo denied it. The odds of things ending well were not odds Kenma liked. Resisting the urge to pull his sleeves down over his wrists, Kenma pushed up the sleeves of his hoodie to his elbows, making sure his purple wrist band was visible. He hoped this would at least keep people away.

"Come on Yaku!" Lev said excitedly, dragging his older, much shorter boyfriend along.

"Would you stop dragging me, you titan?" Yaku complained as he half heartedly tried to pull his hand away from the half-Russian.

"It's not my fault your short legs can't keep up."

Anticipating their short friend's response, Kuroo and Kenma sidestepped in opposite directions. Yaku yanked his hand from his boyfriend's grip and kicked the silver-haired man in the back of the knees, causing him to fall forward, landing on his hands and knees right where the two had been standing previously .

"Ow!" Lev whined. "Yaku..."

Yaku ignored him and walked past the fallen giant with his head held high. "I'm going to get a drink." he shouted back to them before diapering into the crowd.

Inuoka laughed as he joined them, putting one arm around Kenma's shoulders and his other around the much shorter Shibayama, who had also joined the group now. Kenma quietly ducked under his arm to get away from his grasp, but Shibayama didn't seem to mind. He just reached up and adjusted his taller friend's hand so that the man's yellow wrist band wasn't poking his cheek. His own blue band rested back against his wrist as he returned his arm to his side.

"You alright there, buddy?" Inuoka smiled down at Lev, both amused and genuinely concerned.

"Yeah," the half-Russian replied as he pushed himself up and got back onto his feet. "He just got so mad so fast, I wasn't prepared."

"Wasn't prepared?" Shibayama asked, surprised.

"Dude! He got mad because you called him short. He always reacts that way," Inuoka interjected. Lev looked down at his friend with his head tilted to the side, perplexed.

Kuroo started laughing so hard he had to hold onto his stomach as he almost doubled over. "You are just as clueless as ever Lev," he guffawed. "You two have been going out, how long now? And you still don't know not to call him short?"

"Almost two years." Lev answered the first question. "I know he gets upset about that, but I don't understand why. Him being short is what makes him so cute." His answer was so innocent and sincere that it caused Kuroo to laugh even harder. Even Inuoka started laughing once again.

"Does that mean my height makes me look cute too?" Shibayama asked in an indifferent tone with a small smile.

"Definitely!" Kuroo and Inuoka responded at the same time as Inuoka tightened his arm around Shibayama's shoulder. Shibayama simply smiled in return at their unnecessary enthusiasm. Unlike their friend, Shibayama wasn't overly sensitive about his height, or lack thereof.

"Alright!" Yamamoto said in his boisterous voice as he joined the rest of the group and placed his hands on his hips. "Time to scope out the ladies!"