CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DON'T LOSE
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"You know you are truly dedicated to something when you lie about being hurt so no one will make you stop."
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"Don't you look nice."
Rin narrowed her eyes at the taller male, his hands were planted on his hips and his signature smirk graced his lips. Kuroo tilted his head, reaching forward to tug at the collar of Rin's red Nekoma jacket. She huffed, slapping his hand away harshly and adjusted the jacket herself - a light blush burning the tips of her ears.
"I see you added the manager patch."
Rin hummed. She was dressed in the red tracksuit, the bottom of the red Nekoma pants scrunched up and ending just below her knees, she wore a plain black shirt and the red Nekoma jacket, the 'M' patch resting right above her heart. Daisuke had helped her sow it on last night, since she kept poking herself with the needle he had offered to help - teasing her about how cute she was the whole time. But at least he helped.
"You don't get road sick do you?"
Rin shot Kuroo a lazy glare, "No... why?"
Kuroo slung an arm over her shoulder, goading her to where the rest of Nekoma was eagerly getting on the bus so they could head to the Inter-High prelims, "'Cause you're sitting with me."
"I didn't agree to that," Rin grumbled half-heartidly, none the less letting herself be ushered into the seat. The two sat in a seat across from Kenma, who sat alone with his headphones plugged into his phone. Rin pulled out her own phone, unlocking it to check the time. She let out a soft gasp of surprise when it was snatched from her hands before she could even type in her password.
"I didn't know we were the wallpaper on your phone," Kuroo teased, holding Rin's phone out of her reach while he looked at her wallpaper. Rin growled, stretching her arm out to reach for it, "This is one of the pictures from the Aquarium, right? It is! Kenma look! Rin's wallpaper is the 3 of us!"
Kenma blinked, unable to get a good look at Rin's wallpaper since she kept shaking Kuroo's hand, urging him to give her her phone back. Kenma rolled his eyes, turning back to his phone as he attempted to hide the small smile behind his screen.
"Tetsurou, give it back!"
Rin groaned, finally snatching her phone from his hands. She pouted in his direction, causing him to only snicker in response. Rin huffed quietly, unlocking her phone and checking her messages, "Hey, Tetsurou?"
Kuroo lifted his head, turning away from the window to look at Rin curiously.
"There's two representatives for Tokyo prefecture, right?" Rin asked, "Who's the other representative?"
Kuroo hummed, "Fukurodani Academy."
Rin switched her phone off, shoving it into the pocket of her sweats while she slumped lazily in her seat, "I feel like I've heard of that school for some reason."
Kuroo shrugged, "Who knows?"
Rin fumbled with her fingers on her lap, she could feel her nervousness grow as the bus continued to move closer and closer to where their Inter-High prelims would be held. Her heart was pounding against her rib cage and a part of her felt the urge to vomit. She was nervous and she wasn't even playing in the match today. It was a weird feeling, a new feeling, to be nervous for someone else.
Rin blinked when a hand was held out in front of her. She glanced up to see Kuroo staring down at her, looking at her with an arched brow. She furrowed her own in response, tilting her head to the right in confusion.
"You have the same look on your face from the day with Saruhiko," Kuroo started, his voice low, "You grabbed onto my arm when you got scared."
"Oh," Rin muttered, slowly understanding what Kuroo was offering her. He was offering her reassurance again, and the thought almost made her want to laugh again because she should be the one reassuring him. Rin bit the inside her cheek, slowly and tentatively she grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket. She wrapped her fingers around his arm, and the thudding of her heart seemed to quiet almost immediately. They sat silently the rest of the ride on the bus. Rin squeezing the red fabric of Kuroo's jacket in between her fingers, while his hand rested in the area between them. They exchanged light conversation, neither of them mentioning their closeness.
Both of them completely oblivious to the fact that Yamamoto was red faced and silently "screaming" as he leaned over them while Kenma looked at the two of them with a small smile.
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"You played at this gym once, Rin," Her grandfather whistled happily, looking over his shoulder at Rin.
Rin grunted in response, rapidly typing the keys on her screen. Daisuke was suppose to get his own ride to the game, but the oversized child wasn't answering her last couple of texts. So she did the only thing she could do, she kept sending more texts. The last four texts she had sent her brother were filled with nothing but name-calling, and nothing really worth repeating.
"Rinny!"
Both Rin and Kuroo flew forward, Daisuke pulling the two back and towards his chest to prevent them from falling face first towards the ground. The brunette had his arms wrapped around both of their shoulders, a grin on his face while he spoke animatedly, "I'm so excited to be able to watch Kuroo-kun and the rest of Ya-jii's team play! I have high hopes for you!"
Rin sighed, flinging her elbow back roughly to hit Daisuke in the ribs. He grimaced, a pout forming on his lips as he stood up straighter - pulling his arms away from the two teens, "You're hits are starting to hurt more, Rinny. I'm not sure if I should be proud or worried at this point."
"Shut up, Daisuke."
Daisuke pouted, "You're no fun, Rinny. Aren't you excited - wait! That's right! You use to get super nervous before a match!"
"Daisuke!" Rin groaned, throwing her head back, "Why don't you, I don't know, go find your seat or something?"
Daisuke sent Rin a wink, "Gotcha, I'll leave the guys to handle your nerves then! I'll be cheering from the crowd, don't lose!"
Kuroo blinked a couple times at Daisuke's last comment, ignoring Rin's string of curses that she called out to her brother.
"Don't lose."
"What kind of good luck is that?"
"Oi, Rin."
Rin huffed, her glare softening when she looked away from the direction Daisuke had walked and instead looked towards Kuroo, "What?"
"Daisuke said don't lose," Kuroo started, pointing a finger in Daisuke's direction but moving it over to point at Rin, "You say that too."
Rin's cheeks flushed quickly and she turned her head away, raising one of her hands to wave at Kuroo dismissively, "It's - it's nothing! It's, ah, something Dai and I do for good luck... I guess?"
Kuroo couldn't help but smirk, "So you were wishing me good luck for that practice game, Rin-chan!"
Rin tsk'd, stomping towards the other Nekoma players a couple of feet away. They were all looking at the set up, seeing who they would have to go up against first and who they would go up against next if they won. She stepped beside Fukunaga, looking at the list of High Schools. Rin's eyes scanned the board for a few seconds before she found Nekoma and who they would be paired up against, they would be going up against Kuzuryu High School.
