Chapter Text
"A hormone is a chemical released by a cell or a gland in one part of the body that sends out messages that affect cells in other parts of the organism. There are three classes of hormones: Pept..."
You began to doze off in class as the professor droned on. Seriously how could anyone stay awake when he talked with such a monotone voice, and about the most boring shit you've ever heard.
You accidentally let a "ugh" out loud, cursing internally you hoped no one had paid any mind to you. You looked around with fingers crossed that you didn't draw any attention, when you suddenly met lidded hazel eyes. You couldn't look anywhere but into the harsh gaze of the male across the room, trapped in the eye contact you began to blush, and to your relief the teacher called for the end of class so you took the chance to grab your coffee and notes before making your way quickly out the door.
You shook your head, trying to figure out what the hell just happened when your lab partner sauntered up and threw and arm around you. "Hey little cutie, you seem like you're in a hurry. Got a hot date?"
You rolled your eyes, not in the mood to deal with his shit at all, you curtly respond," No, Oinkawa, only man that annoys me is you. Everyone else has the common sense to stay away."
He recoiled from the new nickname, making you giggle, and quickly recovered,"Oh so I'm the only man in your life, huh?"
You didn't even need to look at him to know the smirk that was plastered across his face, the one you would love nothing more than to slap off his smug face," No, I said you're too stupid to stay away." The smirk didn't even falter, so you gave up and just kept walking to the cafeteria, hoping he would find someone better to terrorize.
Although if you were being honest, you didn't mind Oikawa. His company wasn't completely terrible, he could at least take your teasing and dish it back. Most people found you too brash or honest, which always made you come off mean. Even though you just liked a good tease, you managed to always take a joke too far.
"You have to have a thick skin to stick around me," you thought to yourself.
Soon you made it into the giant cafeteria, you hurried into line to get food before the lunch rush hit. You were hoping to get in and out before it got to busy in there, you enjoyed spending your breaks in the studio anyway. Oikawa always begged you to eat lunch with him, but you weren't a big fan of attention and you knew that him and his friends got nothing but attention. That was a side effect of being on the volleyball team, it also helped that they were all absolutely gorgeous. You might be stubborn when it came to people, but you weren't blind. Anyone could tell they were in a league of their own.
After finishing your pizza and shaking yourself from you thoughts, you hurried out the building and made your way to Arts Building. What you weren't aware of was the hazel eyes that followed your every move till you were out the door.
-Timeskip to late that night-
"UGHHHHHH CHEMISTRY CAN SUCK MY DICKKKKK" you screamed out in frustration because for the 3rd hour that night you couldn't figure out how to finish the homework.
Giving up on your current predicament, you strolled out of your room to find you cousin slash roommate in the living room.
"KIYOKOOOOOOO HELPPP MEEEEE," you cried out as you haphazardly threw yourself across the couch, nearly spilled the popcorn she had in her lap.
"What is wrong with you?" she glared at you since you obviously ruined her quiet time.
Most people couldn't believe we were related, we couldn't be more polar opposites. While she was quiet and reversed, you were loud and abrasive. You were always ready to pick a fight, but she avoided conflict like the plague. Most would think that'd make us incompatible but between being family and forced to spend time together, you two were thick as thieves and balanced each other perfectly.
"Chemistry. Either it's going to kill me or I'm going to kill it. And currently it's winning. Please say something nice at my funeral!" You sat up at the end of the couch and dramatically laid yourself over the arm, clutching at your chest and wiping away fake tears.
Kiyoko simply rolled her eyes at you," Stop being dramatic. It can't be that bad." ouch Ms. Ice Queen
"I'll have you know that my fine arts brain can handle math and biology all day long, but this chemistry shit? All bets are off. I can't drop the class either, I'd have to take it eventually anyway. UGHHHHHH I don't know what to do..." You picked up a pillow and shoved your face into and screamed," FUUUUUUUUCKKKKKK."
"Jesus (y/n) stop yelling, we do have neighbors. It's not that big of a deal, just get a tutor or something."
"A tutor? You're joking."
"Not at all, what's wrong with a tutor? I had to have one for Trig last semester."
"Well for starters, I don't want some rando judging me for not understanding something. Secondly, I don't have the money to hire one from the school." You rolled your eyes at her obvious ignorance of how stupid getting tutored is. You didn't need someone else's help, you had gotten by alone so far and you'll keep doing it yourself.
-Timeskip to the next Chem class-
"A FUCKING 79?!?! Fuck me..." you whispered to yourself as you stared at the right red writing at the top of you latest chemistry failures. If this kept up, there was no way you'd be able to pass the class. "shit shit shit shit shit shit shit..." You continued to chant a string of explitives at the paper like it was the one who failed you.
"...just get a tutor or something..."
Dammit Kiyoko, I hate it when you're right. Luckily, I hate failing even more.
You approached your professor after class and asked him about chemistry tutors, to which he explained that there several students who were registered tutors with the school, but he also knew many students would help tutors other on the side, so I was more than welcome to ask anyone if I couldn't afford a college tutor.
"Ok, well can you tell me who's doing really good in the class? If I'm gonna grovel from help from anyone, it might as well be the best."
He seemed to think about this for a second, and then looked around for a sheet of paper and pointed at a name on a test paper with a bright red "100" on it,
Kuroo Testurou
Shit. That name sounds way too familiar.
You decided to chalk up to paranoia and thanked the professor before turning to walk away when you ran into a wall.
Well to be more specific, it wasn't a wall but a guy built like a telephone pole and staring down at you with an amused smirk. Your ears flushed and you immediately bean to apologize, but he beat you to it,"I'm sorry I didn't see you down there short stack."
You scoffed and your eyes lit up with irritation, who the fuck is this guy and where does he get off-
You're fuming thoughts were cut short by the ugliest laugh you'd ever heard, it was almost infectious though. You were entranced as this looming giant was bent over, cackling at your expense. You decided you need to get the last word in before you would stomp away from this idiot.
"Jesus, I might be short but I'd take that over being tall and having a laugh like." Not your best work, but you were dying to leave his immediate vicinity.
That's when he fixed onto your eyes with his. Hazel. You took an involuntary breath in, almost gasping at the sudden intensity.
"What's wrong short stack? Cat got your tongue?" He leaned towards you with a hungry smirk on his face, almost like he thought of himself as the cat itself.
As if lady luck finally was looking out for you, the tension was cut by your professor.
"Ah! Kuroo, I'm so glad you're here. I was wondering if you would be available to help me in one of my first year labs..." You zoned out the rest of the conversation because you just realized that your biggest hope for passing this godforsaken class was this insufferable pine tree. You have got to be fucking kidding me...
Before even debating about talking to him, your phone rang. You began to walk out the back out the lecture before picking up.
"Heyo"
"Hey it's Kiyoko, I'm gonna be in the cafe for lunch today. Wanna eat together? I think Yachi is going to join us."
"Yea that sounds good, I'll meet you in the usual corner."
You hung up after she agreed, and took off for the cafeteria. But not before catching a pair of hazel eyes out of the corner of your (e/c) eyes as you turned into the hallway from the auditorium. What a weird guy...
-------
"Ok but I'm just saying, if there are aliens out there, there is no way that they would want to come to Earth. We have nothing to really offer besides violence!"
"(y/n), you can not possibly believe that! We have culture and love to share!"
"What alien would care about that. You can spout something about love and they're just gonna eat your brains... I hope you enjoy having fewer brains than you even have now..."
You and Yachi had been going back and forth about Aliens for several minutes now, Kiyoko sat there just trying to hold back laughter as you both were getting more ridiculous and the volume was slowly going up and people around had begun to notice your conversation too.
You three occasionally would have lunch together, and it was always something of chaotic. At first, you had chalked up Yachi as being reserved like Kiyoko but as she warmed up to, you slowly realized she was bat-shit crazy tucked into a cute girl. She always had too much energy and got excited about the smallest things, but you could see why Kiyoko kept here around. She was sweet and would drop anything if you were in need of help.
"Let's just agree to disagree then, Yach, you are clearly delusional and I don't want to ruin a crazy person's fantasy..." she gasped at your words and threw some napkins at you whole faking a pout, all while you chuckled at her dramatic display.
"Hey Yoko, question for ya." You turned towards your cousin, with a new train of thought forged through your head.
She didn't verbalize her attention, but just lifted her head and met your eyes with her raised eyebrows.
"So I took your advice about the tutor- DON'T SMIRK AT ME LIKE THAT- anyway, I asked my teacher for suggestions. And he suggested a guy in my class, but what was weird was the name sounded startling familiar. Kuroo Testurou? I think that's how he pronounced it." You were rambling on about how you couldn't think of where you would know the name from, even though his face didn't ring any bells.
That's when you snapped you attention back to your cousin who was looking at Yachi, both staring at each other like they were communicating through their thoughts.
"Uh, hey. So I can't read minds, but I'd love to be in on the conversation, " You sighed and rolled your eyes, they did this all the time, it was annoying.
Kiyoko tuned back to you after nodding to Yachi, "Oh yeah you definitely know the name, you went to school with him at Nekoma."
"What?? No I definitely would've remembered someone who resembled a tree with a bad haircut." You argued but, you didn't disagree. It's the only thing that makes sense.
"You never paid attention to anyone in school, but anyways he was on the volleyball team. He was the captain his third year."
"Hmmm not ringing any bells. Like i said I remember hearing the name but nothing more. Weird. Anyway, think I should give him a shot at tutoring?"
"Might as well, he's not a bad guy. We interacted a couple times during volleyball. Karasuno and Nekoma were close for rivals. Plus what's the worst that could happen?"
Taking in her words you shrugged and stood to leave. After saying your goodbyes, you dumped your tray and stared out over the sea of students.
"Whats the worst that could happen?"
You could think of several things, but none bad enough to stop you from what you were going to do next.
Scanning the main dining area you hunted for fluffy brown hair, when obnoxious laughter filled the air and caught your attention. Ah yes, just the attention attention whore I was looking for.
"Oinkawa!" He turned and smiled despite the nickname he hated, but you didn't stop your teasing there, "If I didn't know any better, I would think that you were trying to get everyone in the cafe to look at you." You sent a little smirk at him with this comment because you both knew that's exactly what he was doing. He was a very intelligent person and had his fair share of issues and quirks, but the man did love being the center of attention.
"For your information, little cutie, I was only trying to get your attention. Looks like I succeeded." He, of course, ended this statement with a wink making you cringe even harder.
"God, you're insufferable," making a fake gagging face much to his amusement," but I have a favor to ask you!"
"I don't know (y/n), you're being awfully mean to be asking for favors now." The smirk on his face grew to new "douche" levels you hadn't even thought conceivable on a face that pretty. You rolled your eyes, but you knew he was just giving you a hard time.
"Pleaseeee Tooru! I'm so close to failing Chemistry, you've seen my grades! I just wanted to ask Kuroo to tutor me! I just need you to tell me when the best time to run into him would be." You weren't much of a begger but you knew if you used his first name, he wouldn't be able to resist anything you asked for.
You slowly watched his resolve break, the stoic stare he was giving you eventually replaced by his usual smartass smirk. However, he wasn't bothering to make eye contact with you at all but behind you instead.
You turned to see what had him so smitten, when you ran into a wall for the secodn time today.
That's when you realized, you ran into a telephone pole again...
A deep ragged voice spoke right about your ear, "Chibi-chan, we really should stop meeting like this."
You flushed immediately and backed into the table full of volleyball players behind you, you could feel their eyes on you as they had obviously watched all of this go down.
You heard that throaty laugh again, and looked over to Kuroo, who was clutching his ribs, "Maybe I should call you Strawberry Short Cake with how pink you keep getting."
Pulling yourself together, you shook your head at the male in front of you and took a step forward. He stopped laughing and just stared down at you with a smug grin on his dumb face. What a dumb looking... Is he really the person to ask for help?... I'm going to kill him
Your internal monologue was interrupted by a soft clearing of his throat, you looked at him and met his entrancing eyes. He knitted his eyebrows, almost like he was trying to guess why you were still standing here.
"I was hoping to run into you again, I had to ask something-" You were suddenly cut off by the raven hair male as if he thought he could read your mind.
"Aww Chibi-chan, ready to confess your love? I knew I was good at first impressions but I didn't expect you to fall so fast... It's very cute." He finished this comment off with a pat on your head as he turned to sit with his teammates.
At that point you were seething, your whole body was vibrating with anger. You turned on the bedhead, prepared to tear his head off when he suddenly turned back around, "No."
"WH- what? I'M NOT CONFESSING MY LOVE! I just need a chem tutor!" you exclaimed as quietly as you could but your anger was making you lose you cool faster than anticipated.
"I know, I listened to the whole conversation you had with Oikawa. Still no."
You stood their gaping at the tall asshole, considering homicide for how he wouldn't even look at you while saying all of this. At this point, all his teammates had inched away from the lanky male hoping to stay out the blast range when you blew up on him. When suddenly he whipped his head towards you, with the most evil smirk you had ever seen. You could see him scheming between those hazel eyes, and you weren't looking forward to hear what he had to say next.
"Kiss me."
You froze. You felt the red growing from your ears to your face. Not an inch being spared from the sudden blush. "Ex-Excuse me?"
"If you want me to tutor you so bad, kiss me. Make that sacrifice to show your serious." No fucking way are you hearing him right, is he insane?
You couldn't even think of anything sharp to say back, you just stared with your mouth agape.
You stared at each other for what felt like forever, neither one of you moving or reacting.
"That's what I thought, you can have someone else tutor you." You swore it was just your imagination but he sounded almost disappointed.
Being fed up with the situation, you just turned and stormed off, barely hearing Oikawa call after you. He eventually caught up with you and stopped you by grabbing you by your arm.
"Hey I'm sorry about him, he can be difficult like that sometimes. Ever since he got dumped in high school, he gets pretty short with new people. Doesn't want to ruin the balance of his life or some shit." He waved his hand and rolled his eyes as if waving away the bullshit wafting through the air.
"I don't care what girl broke his heart, that was pure disrespect and excessively rude- and that's coming from me..." You were crossing your arms, looking at the ground, still shaking with embarrassment and anger.
Oikawa was silent for a moment, but continued wit," Well Kuroo got his heart really broke by his Ex-BOYfriend... and I think if I were in his shoes, I'd be the same way honestly."
Your head jerked up from the floor," Oh shit, I would have never pegged him for batting other team. I should've just kissed him then." You smacked yourself in the forehead for being so dumb, and screwing your chances up with Kuroo being you tutor, You could apologize, but your pride was too big to do that. You'd rather take this embarrassment and anger to the grave before apologizing or begging for help again.
"I know I'm not Kuroo, but I did do better on the two tests than you did, I would be willing to help you where I could in Chem..." Oikawa said shyly, glancing at you trying to gauge your reaction.
Your (e/c) eyes snapped to meet his, and they lit up with excitement. "Oh my god! That would be the best, You're the best!" You rambled on, feeding into his pride and ego until he cut you off.
"Two conditions tho.." you prepared yourself for the worst," You HAVE to stop calling my Oinkawa and you bring me coffee to every study date."
huh, not too bad- wait study date? NOOO
"I can agree, but no calling our study sessions date, jackass." Oinkawa was relatively easy to replace with other insults.
"Fine..." he was definitely dejected at that condition, but more opportunities to annoy you he thought to himself.
"You'll help me?..." you were basically jumping up and down at this point, you couldn't contain yourself. This was going much better than you thought when you had initially get rejected by Kuroo.
"Yes you idiot, why wouldn't I? More time to try pick up lines on you and watch you die inside? Perish the thought, I wouldn't miss the chance." You stared at him blankly, starting to regret your choice, but at least studying wouldn't be boring.
From across the room, a pair of hazel were trained on your face, watching the entire conversation transpire. And in the moment Kuroo felt weird, and couldn't say what he was feeling but he knew that he didn't want to be shown up by some pretty boy like Oikawa.