Chapter Text
It was a Wednesday afternoon and all you could think about as your teacher rambled on was how you would give anything for the ability to speed time. You hadn't thought it was possible for a person to be this boring before entering this class. Not even his voice was entertaining and all he did was read word for word off a slideshow. Unfortunately he wasn't kind enough to post that slideshow so you had to take notes.
You were still in the process of trying to find the right bribe for your friend Kuroo to give you his notes since he had the same teacher last year. You knew he would break soon enough if you just kept trying.
"Y/n, draw a lily on my arm right here." your friend Kayo said, pointing to a place on her forearm. You raised an eyebrow in question over why she would want that.
"I'm trying to decide if that spot is the right placement for my tattoo or not. I want to get an idea before next week." Kayo whispered in explanation. "Besides, you can't really tell me you are interested in whatever he is rambling on about." she added, gesturing towards your teacher.
"Fair enough. Pass your arm." you said, pulling out a pen from your pencil case. You had been taking notes but you knew you could manage to somehow get Kuroo's notes which would make yours useless anyways.
You began to doodle on Kayo's arm. You loved art, you always had. Since your school required each student to join a club you had gladly chosen the art club, which you were planning on doing even if it hadn't been required.
You had even managed to drag your best friend Kayo to join with you. She didn't mind though since the commitment hours were significantly less than any other club. She had claimed that you had saved her from being forced to join her brothers volleyball team as manager since she didn't have any clubs she was really interested in.
Kayo's parents agreed to finally let her get a tattoo as soon as she turned seventeen, which would be next week on April nineteenth. You were sure she was going to have a pretty big get together for her birthday which you were looking forward to. Unlike Kayo you didn't go out of your way to party, but if the opportunity presented itself you were always more than happy to participate.
"What are you guys doing?" Kenma's quiet, yet judgy voice came from behind the two of you as you were halfway through your drawing. The boy sat in the desk right behind Kayo who was beside you. His blonde hair hung just above his shoulders as he slouched in his chair, you could see the dark roots where the hair dye had already faded long ago. It was only recent that he had decided to dye his hair for the first time and it had been quite an adjustment to get used to, but it really suited him well in your opinion. Kenma was probably the most quiet person you knew but you had known him for long enough that he would talk to you.
You found it funny when you would overhear people in the hallways talking about how quiet and adorable the boy was. After being close friends with Kenma for years you knew that he was one of the most judgmental assholes out there - you loved him for it though. It wasn't like he was a bad person, just not the saint everyone seemed to think.
"I'm planning out my tattoo for next week. Wanna get matching ones Kenma?" Kayo replied with a flirtatious grin.
Kenma immediately scrunched up his face in disgust. "I think I'd rather die." he said, quickly flicking a few strands of Kayo's blonde hair off his desk.
You had to hold in your laughter. Kayo's favourite thing was to do her best to get a rise out of people, and she was talented at it. You were pretty sure you could put her in a room with someone she had never met before and within five minutes she would know exactly how to push their buttons.
The funniest of them all was watching her tick off her boyfriend of three years. He went to a different school than you guys but lived not too far, the two of them had gone to middle school together. You had met him several times because he was not only Kayo's boyfriend but also friends with Kuroo and Kenma who were your friends. This guy was possibly the most calm and collected person you had ever met, yet Kayo could still get a rise out of him anytime she wanted.
"Okay we'll skip the matching tattoos and just go straight for each others names, how's that sound?" Kayo replied with a wink.
Kenma gave her the most disgusted look ever before glancing over to you as you were trying to keep your hand steady as you drew even though you were desperately holding in your laughter, he then looked back to Kayo.
"If I had your name on my arm, I'd have to cut that arm off." Kenma said as he glanced down under his desk where you knew there was surely a Nintendo DS in his hands. Kenma never went anywhere without some sort of video game, especially not to this class.
When the bell had finally rung you had managed to finish your drawing on your best friends arm. She looked at it proudly.
"Holy shit if I had your talent y/n I'd just quit school right now and run a tattoo shop." Kayo stated as she examined her arm.
"It's probably a good thing you don't have any talent then." Kenma said in his normal quiet voice as he stood from his desk, still staring at his DS screen. In general Kenma was very blunt, and he was always attacking Kayo. To be honest you could never figure out if it was because they were friends or if it was because she actually annoyed him.
"Jeez Kenma tell me how you really feel! You know I..." Kayo let her sentence trail off as she got distracted by something on her screen. She started smiling as she began frantically typing onto the screen.
You instantly knew it was some message that her boyfriend had sent her that was making her smile like an idiot, you also knew that if you ever said that in front of him she would instantly deny it. She liked to hide the fact that she was absolutely crazy about him.
"I really don't know what Akaashi sees in that girl." Kenma said as he started to walk out of the classroom beside you. Kayo was walking behind the two of you robotically but not paying attention at all to what either of you were saying.
You laughed at Kenma's negativity. "Come on Kenma, even you have to admit that they are kinda cute." you said.
"I would never admit something like that. It's not even true. Hell even you and I would be a better couple than them." Kenma replied stubbornly.
"Is that you trying to ask me on a date Kenma?" you teased. That was one thing you had picked up from Kayo. While you weren't nearly as consistent at annoying the boy as Kayo was, you would still pick at him every once in a while.
Kenma rolled his eyes at you, refusing to give you anymore reaction than that as he continued to fiddle with his video game and walk.
"Where are you going now? Home?" Kenma asked as you two left the hallways of Nekoma and felt the warm outside air consume you.
"I might stay for your practice, I think Kayo is waiting for Yaku and I'll keep her company." you said. Kenma was the setter of the Nekoma volleyball team, your friend Kuroo was also on the team, and Kayo's older brother Yaku was as well. So you found that you ended up watching way more of their practices and games than you probably should.
"Huh? Did you call me?" Kayo asked, looking up from her phone.
"Nope, you're good to keep smiling at your phone. If you smile hard enough maybe he'll pop out of the screen." you replied teasingly. Kayo just nodded absent mindedly before continuing to type.
"She's not even paying attention." Kenma stated. "You still coming?" he asked.
You nodded. "Yeah, I've got a new offer for Kuroo anyways." you said. You were determined to get his notes. It meant you didn't have to pay attention in class and could just learn the stuff on your own. What was even the difference between you reading it and having the teacher read it word for word to you?
"You realize he isn't going to budge. I hate to break it to you but you are never getting those notes." Kenma said.
"Wanna bet? I will get those notes." you said. Kuroo may have been positive he wasn't going to break but you really believed you could convince him to give them to you.
"Okay deal. I really don't think you can win this one." Kenma agreed.
You didn't know if it was wrong to abuse this but you already knew that Kuroo had a weak spot for you. For some reason he just could not say no to you. One time you two had been hanging out late at night when you convinced him to break into Kenma's house, steal one thing from his room and return back to you. Kenma had ended up being awake and busted Kuroo but Kuroo never ratted you out and to this day Kenma has no idea that you were the one behind that operation.
Kenma turned his attention back to his DS, although he never fully took it away from his game to begin with.
As Kenma walked you had to grab his shoulders to steer him away from a group of people that he nearly walked right into. The boy was honestly so oblivious to everything around him it was ridiculous. He had been that his whole life though, even when he was little.
You, Kuroo, and Kenma have been friends since you were literal children. The three of you grew up on the same street and spent countless days together. At first it was just you and Kuroo and your older brother who hung out because the three of you were always outside. But eventually Kuroo managed to drag Kenma into the group. Then as you grew up you became closer with the two and your brother became too cool for a couple of volleyball dorks. Then your first year of high school Kayo joined and once again there were four of you.
You had known Kayo before high school because of her friends Bokuto and Akaashi but didn't become inseparable with her until Nekoma. She was so different than you and so easily made you feel insanely comfortable and confident, her energy was also a little contagious that it was so easy to add her onto your group.
"Ugh looks like we are going to be doing hard drills." Kenma whined as you two peered in the gym. Despite always complaining about the drills in practice, Kenma never cut corners with them - he always made sure to see them all the way through. It was one thing you admired a lot about him.
"It'll go by faster than you think. Besides after that you get to go home and do nothing, we have no homework." you said, trying your best to be encouraging for him.
"Yeah I guess." Kenma agreed reluctantly.
Kenma left you to go change into his practice clothes while you entered the gym, Kayo would come in as soon as she was done talking to Akaashi, you didn't mind going in ahead though. Coach Nekomata usually had no problems with you and Kayo hanging around during practice since neither of you ever caused any problems for him.
"Good afternoon y/n. How has your day been?" the coach asked you as you entered the gym.
"It's been good, I can't complain since not much really happened." you answered. "It looks like you have a few different drills set up today than usual." you added, scanning the gym.
Coach Nekomata nodded to your statement. "We are trying something a little different. If you are planning on sticking around you could help me run a few of them." he replied.
"Of course! Whatever you need help with." you quickly answered.
The volleyball team at your school hadn't been to Nationals in years and lost most of its school support. As a result they had a really hard time finding someone to manage the team and were stuck without the help. Kayo had been planning to join as manager until you gave her the option of the art club. You felt a little guilty of stealing away their one chance at a manager so you tried to help them out as much as you could, Kayo did too.
"Thank you, we appreciate it and know you are a busy girl." he said. You smiled in return. Coach Nekomata was one of the nicest adults you had ever met.
As you placed your bag on the bench beside the court you could already hear the ruckus of the boys heading towards the gym.
Even though you couldn't see them yet you knew Kuroo was among them from the sound of his chuckle. You would recognize that boys laugh anywhere. It was the type of laugh that was extremely contagious to everyone around him, especially you. You smiled as soon as you saw him enter the gym followed by a group of others on the team.