An alarm woke you from sleep and you groaned heavily until you came to your senses enough to realize you were still cuddled against Tsukki. His hand moved from your lower back and tried to find his phone on the nightstand to turn the alarm off. He turned it off and then his finger gently stroked your cheek and tucked your hair behind your ear.

"Morning Shortcake" he said with a yawn.

"Morning Kei" you said tilting your face up towards him, his cheeks turned a light shade of red at the use of his first name.

"That's going to take some getting used too" he said with a light chuckle.

"I can stick with Tsukki-poo if you like that better" you teased.

"No definitely not" he chuckled.

"We better get up, I need to run home and shower before practice" you said moving to get up.

"Ummm wait...... you could shower here" he offered.

"That's sweet but I also don't have any clean clothes, wasn't really prepared for a sleepover" you joked. "Plus your family is still here, I doubt your mom would appreciate that" you explained.

"I'm just not ready for you to leave..." he confessed embarrassed.

"Well then just grab your stuff and come shower at my house, that way we can stay together and I can still change" you suggested. You got out of the bed and got dressed in the pervious days clothes, and then quickly grabbed his gym bag stuffing clothes into it. He stretched and got up getting dressed and then you both snuck out of the house as quietly as possible. You walked outside and saw your bike surprised, having forgotten you had ridden it to find him.

It took several minutes to convince his very large frame to get on the back of the bike but he eventually gave in. Deciding not to repeat last night you asked him how to get back to your own house, with knowing the direction it was only a 10 minute drive versus the 45 minutes it took you the night before. The shower was quick and you both got dressed and walked hand in hand to the gym. You were about to walk into the gym when your phone started ringing, you waved Tsukki to go inside and walked around the side of the building to answer it. It was a facetime from Kuroo, you took a deep breath and steadied your face before answering.

"Morning" you said with a smile.

"What the hell L/N? Why haven't you answered in days?" he asked ignoring your greeting.

"Sorry I was out of town for a few days and decided I needed a break from my phone" you said with a fake laugh.

"What's wrong?" he asked taking you by surprise.

"Nothing, just didn't sleep great and had to get up early" you said trying to shrug it off but you couldn't meet his gaze.

"Chibi-chan.... Please look at me" he said much softer.

"Look I have to go practice is about to start, I'll call you later though I promise" you said forcing yourself to smile at him.

"No forget that, I'm getting in the car now and I'll see you in a few hours" he said.

"Wait!" you said trying to stop him but he had already hung-up.

"Damnit" you said lightly kicking the wall. You knew you had to break it off with him and just had no clue on how to go about it. He had always been open with his feelings and had struggled with jealousy but had stayed by your side. Now you had to break his heart and it made you sick to your stomach. You slid down the wall and landed on your butt, tucking your head between your knees you stayed there trying to calm down. The sound of footsteps approaching made your heart start racing again until a friendly face peeked around the side of the building.

"Are you coming inside anytime soon?" Hinata asked. "Coach sent me to get you" he explained.

"Yes sorry, just tell him I'll be another minute" you said gently shooing him away, he nodded and took off to the gym where Ukai was waiting at the door.

"Damnit L/N get your butt in here now" he said sounding annoyed but you knew he was really just worried. With a deep sigh you got up and stomped around towards him.

"Cant just let me have a few minutes to myself huh old man?" you said trying to tease but it came out more aggressive than you meant. He caught your face as you tried to walk by and turned it to look at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked bluntly.

"Nothing, I'm sorry. I'm just tired" you said much calmer.

"Go take a nap on the bench then, use my jacket" he said dropping his hand and letting you walk inside.

You did as he said and laid down but sleep wouldn't come, a gnawing anxiety was eating you from the inside out. The hours ticked by quickly and before you knew it practice was over and clean up had begun.You got up and helped the guys gather the balls and roll up the net but You nearly jumped out of your skin when the gym door was thrown open and heavy footsteps quickly came up behind you. He didn't even say a word, he picked you up and tossed you over his shoulder and started to walk away.

"What the hell man?!" Tsukki said stepping into Kuroo's path.

"Hello to you too Tsukishima, I'm taking Chibi-chan here" Kuroo said in his usual friendly tone.

"I'd rather you left her here" Tsukki said holding his ground.

"Yea that's not gonna happen" he scoffed thinking Tsukki was joking and stepped around him.

Tsukki was glaring at the two of you as you were carried away but you whispered that you would call him later. Kuroo dropped you on your feet at his car and opened the door for you, and then the drive home was quick. He followed you to the door and when you shut it after him, his face turned serious and he stood there looking down at you.

"Tell me what's going on, and don't say nothing" he warned.

"Can we sit down?" you asked using your head to motion to the couch nearby.

"That bad huh?" he asked stalling.

"Lets just sit"

His face tensed and you knew he already knew what was coming and was trying to brace himself. He plopped down on the couch and with a deep breath to steady your shaky hands you came to sit beside him.

"So I....... I'm not sure how to start this" you said trying to gather your thoughts.

"I'm not ready for this" he said interrupting you. His eyes were looking straight up like he was trying to keep from crying and you could tell his teeth were clenched.

"I'm not either, that's why I tried to avoid you earlier. I care about you so much and this is killing me" you tried to explain.

"Then don't do this now, give me more time" he said looking at you, tears slipped from the corners of his eyes.

"That's not fair to you" you said trying to reason.

"I don't care about that, I'll have you and that's all that matters" he said slightly frantic. He grabbed you and pulled you into his lap, his hands going under your shirt to place his palms against your skin. He buried his face into the crook of your neck and you could feel his tears wetting your collar.

"I'm so sorry Tetsurou, I think your so amazing and I don't want to lose you, but I have to follow my heart" you tried explaining, choking up every few words as you tried to hold back the tears.

"Please stop" he said kissing your lips to keep you from speaking "Just stop *kiss*, I can't be without you *kiss*, I need more time" he choked out.

"I wish I could, but I've made my choice and I've told them how I feel" you pulled him into a hug and ran your fingers through his hair trying to calm him down. The tears were pouring from your eyes at this point and your heart was literally hurting.

The front door opened and something inside you knew things were about to get much worse.

"Y/N!" Tsukki yelled as he walked in, he stopped in his tracks seeing the position the two of you were in.

"DAMNIT TSUKISHIMA CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE?" Kuroo snapped glaring up at him.

"Hey calm down" you said trying to bring his attention back to you. "I swear this isn't what it looks like Tsukki, just go home and I'll call you later" you said looking over your shoulder.

"Isn't what it looks like? WAIT IS IT HIM???" Kuroo asked upset, he launched himself up making you fall hard to the floor with a thump. Reality hit him like a fist when he realized what he had done, he dropped to his knee in front of you and reached for you but Tsukki caught his arm.

"Don't touch her, not until you've calmed down" he said sternly. He threw Kuroo's arm to the side and then helped you to your feet, you weren't hurt just more surprised and had a sore tailbone.

"I'm so sorry y/n, I just got so upset and forgot you were in my lap. I'm sorry" he said covering his face with his hands.

"Tsukki go to my room and wait for me please" you said trying to remove him from the situation.

"But what if" he started to argue.

"I'll be fine I promise, now go please" you asked, he huffed in response and disappeared to your room. You walked over to Kuroo and pulled his hands from his face, his cheeks were covered in tears.

"I'm sorry y/n" he choked out.

"It's fine pretty boy don't worry! I know you didn't mean to drop me, it was just unfortunate timing is all, I'm not hurt or anything. Plus if anyone should be apologizing it's me, I let us all get into this mess" you used your fingers to wipe his cheeks dry. "What I'm going to say is not going to make this situation any easier but I just need to make sure you know...... I love you very much, you have made these last few months amazing, and my lonely days vanished the moment I met you. So thank you so much for being here and being you, thank you for being so playful and flirty, thank you for talking to me until I fell asleep to the rhythmic sound of your voice, thank you for loving me even though it hurt you and tested your jealousy. You made me feel so amazing and I can never thank you enough for that. I have to follow what my heart wants though and it's just pulling me another way. I really hope one day you can forgive me, and I hope that you find someone amazing and maybe one day we can be friends as cliché as that is" you said pouring out your emotions, tears poured from your eyes at this point but he kept his eyes focused on you and listened to every word you said.

"I...... it's going to talk awhile for us to be friends, need to get past loving you first, but I'll come around. I kind of hate you for being so amazing, you made it impossible to not fall in love with you. All I've wanted this whole time was to have you and now I wish I had been more greedy with my heart because this fucking hurts...... I love you y/n and I probably will for a long time. I hope things work out with four-eyes though, I just know it would've been better with me" he joked trying to hold it together. "I better go" he said walking off towards the door. You followed after him and held the door as he stepped out, he turned back towards you and looked like he had something he wanted to say but he held it back.

"Bye Chibi-chan" he said forcing a smile, he leaned in and planted a kiss on your forehead and turned leaving not looking back.

You shut the door after him and stood there shaking, your legs were shaking so hard that you dropped down and then the pain started pouring from you. Hard sobs rocked your body and you felt like you couldn't get enough air, your lungs gasping in between sobs.

Tsukki came out of your room and kneeled down behind you, he pulled you up into his arms and carried you back to your room. He laid you down and covered you with a blanket, he made his way to the other side and crawled in beside you. He pulled you tight against his body and caressed your hair to try and calm you down.

"I-I'm sorry" you choked out.

"Don't be shortcake, I understand and I've got you" he said nuzzling into your hair.

Your heart might have been broken at that point but the warmth and love coming from Tsukki eased the pain immensely. It was nerve wracking that you would have to do this several more times, but knowing you had him by your side made it all worth it.

"I l-love you Kei" you whispered into his chest.

"I love you too y/n, always will"