Surfaced Memories (ft. Embarrassment)

Resu lay on her back on her bed, one leg loosely crossed over the other, her foot swinging almost rhythmically. Her earbuds were plugged in and her eyes were glued to her phone screen, tapping at it with one hand with the other behind her head. She was currently texting Nishinoya and Tanaka, who asked if they could come over to hang out.

To: Noya, Tana

yeah i don't see why not. my siblings aren't usually home anyways so it shouldn't be a big deal. ¯\_(⌣̯̀⌣́)_/¯

Her phone buzzed nearly a moment later.

From: Noya

YAY!╰(✧∇✧)╯oh, i forgot to ask, is it ok if asahi wants to come too??

From: Tana

did u even ask him yet or

From: Noya

no but he probably wants to hold on i'll text him rn

From: Noya

he said yeah

To: Noya, Tana

that's fine, the more the merrier lmao. come around 1 then?

From: Tana

sounds good

From: Noya

see u then!!!

Resu placed her phone on her nightstand and stretched before pulling out her earbuds. As long as they didn't hang out in her room, she was fine with them coming over. Not only was her room pretty small, it was also filled to the brim with anime merch. Nobody needed to see that stuff.

A loud knock on her door nearly scared her out of her skin and she glared at it in confusion. Her siblings should be at work right now. Did one of them forget something and just come back to grab it?

Hitomi opened her door and leaned in with a bored expression.

"Make sure you're dressed before twelve, we're having guests over for dinner."

"Huh? What?"

Her sister rolled her eyes.

"I told you last week that I saw one of our old neighbors at the market the other day and invited them over. I'm guessing you don't remember?"

"No... I don't," Resu said slowly. "But I already told some of my friends that it was okay to come over because you guys weren't here."

"That's fine, we might be a little cramped but we have enough food," Hitomi said, curling a piece of long black hair around her finger. "They have a kid around your age too, you guys can just hang in here."

Resu blanched at the thought. It would not only be extremely awkward but also very uncomfortable, considering they'd all have to sit close to each other on the floor. She knew, however, that arguing with her sister was useless.

"Who even is it anyways?" She growled, her tone dipped in annoyance.

"We used to live near them when...mom was alive," Hitomi paused between her words, watching with a frown as Resu dropped her gaze to the floor and stiffened. "Tetsurou is their name. You went to the same grade school as their son, I think. They lived across the street from us but you were never really friendly with him."

Resu's eyes narrowed in thought. Tetsurou? Why does that sound familiar? A pair of glinting eyes and a sly grin entered her mind and she grimaced. Was that why he was acting weird at the practice match? She was a bit surprised that he had even remembered her, considering Hitomi said they were never really friends. Even before the whole accident with her family, she was never a very friendly child. She wasn't loud and brash as she was now, but rather the opposite - quiet and shy.

Hitomi shut her door and left her sitting on her bed with mixed emotions. With a heavy sigh, she supposed she should clean up her room before anyone came over. Resu shoved a bunch of stuff in her closet and into drawers (because that counted as cleaning in her mind) before hopping in the shower. She pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, attempting to brush the mess that was her hair before glancing at the clock. They would be here any minute.

Resu stood next to her sister as their brother answered the door. A middle-aged man and woman smiled pleasantly at the three of them, their tall son trailing in behind. Kuroo immediately looked at Resu with a noticeable smirk and she only scowled in return.

"Ah, Resu-kun!" Kuroo's mother hugged her tightly, suffocating her with her heavy perfume. "You've gotten so big! It's so nice to see you!"

"Nice to see you too, Naoki-san," Resu mumbled, grateful that Kouta had reminded her of their names before they had gotten there.

As the adults settled themselves in the living room Resu gestured for Kuroo to follow her to her room. She sat down around the small table she had set up with a grunt, eyeing him as he shut her door quietly and joined her on the floor.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew who I was?" She asked, tapping her nails against the table's surface in irritation.

"I thought you would figure it out sooner or later," he said, leaning back on his palms and observing her room with amusement. "Nice room, by the way. A little cluttered though."

"My sister reminded me actually," Resu huffed, her mouth twitching as she ignored his comment about her room. "You're a year older than me, right? What year did we go to school togeth-"

"If you're asking me if I know what happened to your parents then I'll spare you the time and say that I do," Kuroo cut her off smoothly, moving his eyes off her shelves and to her. Resu fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're thinking. Only Kenma and I know. Do you remember him?"

"He was the one with the pudding hair, right? Your setter?"

"Mhm. He lived near both of us, though that's kind of obvious."

"Oh my god... Were you two the kids that were always playing volleyball and screaming?" Resu asked suddenly, tilting her head.

"Well, I did most of the screaming," Kuroo chuckled. "Kenma's always been pretty quiet."

They chatted for a bit about the past, Resu purposely avoiding going back to the subject of her parents. Her memories from her childhood slowly returned to her mind, a feeling of nostalgia washing over her.

"I'm still a bit shocked though that you remembered me though," Resu said a bit absently.

"Well, you're a bit hard to forget."

She scoffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your hair's always been a mess and you've always been a bit threatening, although you were pretty shy back then," Kuroo grinned, shutting his eyes as he thought back to years ago. "I remember once we asked you if you wanted to play and you just glared at us. You didn't say anything at all, even when your sister dragged you away."

"That does sound like something I would do."

Her phone buzzed and she reached for it, but Kuroo was quicker and snatched it away, peering curiously at the screen. With a low hiss, she lunged for it, but he easily held it out of her grasp. Her long fingernails swiped at the air effortlessly, scrambling to get it back.

It was then, unfortunately, her door opened to reveal Hitomi with her three invited friends standing behind her.

"Resu~ Your friends are here...Oh?"

Resu snapped her head with a wild glare to her door, her hand still outstretched. Nishinoya, Tanaka, Asahi and her sister were staring at her, eyes wide or mouths open. She raised an eyebrow and turned back to Kuroo, who was leering at her. The second year realized that she was basically pinning him to the floor with a start. Rolling her eyes, she plucked her phone out of his grasp and fell back in her seat, nearly slamming her phone down on the table.

"Well?" She snapped, turning to the boys at the door. "Are you going to stand there all day?"

Hitomi left them nearly choking on air, stifling her laughter as she made her way back to the living room. Resu's new guests sat stiffly on her floor while she fumed, Kuroo watching them with an unnerving smile.

"You didn't tell me you were having friends over, Resu-chan," the cat-like boy commented, putting major emphasis on the honorific.

"Yeah, Resu, you didn't tell us you were having the captain of Nekoma over either," Nishinoya said through gritted teeth.

"Alright look, I didn't know he and his parents were coming over today but that's just how it is. Stop acting like two-year-olds and deal with it," she spat, scraping her nails against the smooth wooden tabletop. Asahi flinched at the noise and frowned at her tone.

The boys, although tense around each other at first, gradually relaxed and began talking about the one thing they had in common - volleyball. Resu spaced out three minutes in and focused on the wall behind Tanaka, thinking about how she could rearrange her figures on the shelf. She also noticed, with narrowed eyes, that one of her posters was crooked. A hand waving in front of her face woke her out of her stupor.

"I asked how you and Kuroo-san know each other, but obviously you weren't listening," Tanaka repeated jokingly, grinning at her. Resu shrugged.

"Sorry, you guys started talking about sports and you lost me. We went to the same grade school when I lived in Tokyo."

"You lived in Tokyo?" Asahi asked, surprised. They knew Resu had moved a few times, but they didn't know she had lived there.

"For a bit, yeah. But then, uh... We had to move. And we kept moving, since my brother changed jobs a lot. This time we ended up here."

Nishinoya tilted his head curiously.

"Why did you have to move from Tokyo?"

Her mouth was set in a straight line. How should she go about answering this? She wasn't mentally prepared to tell them the truth, not yet anyways.

"Her parents wanted to enroll her in a better school at first, because they were moving abroad to help research diseases shortly after her brother graduated," Kuroo said easily.

Resu nearly looked at him wide-eyed but mentally stopped herself from changing her neutral expression. He was lying in her place because he knew what had happened when they were young, and she had no reason to disagree with what he said.

"Oh! Is that why you told Hinata you don't like talking about them? Do you miss them?" Tanaka questioned with a raised eyebrow. Resu smiled thinly.

"Yeah. I miss them a lot." Well, my mom anyways.

Hitomi opened the door and told them dinner was ready and soon the nine of them were sitting around the small dining table. Kouta had put an extension in to make it a bit longer and had brought more chairs out of storage. They sat in silence before Kuroo's father spoke up.

"So what college do you go to?" He asked, turning to Asahi.

Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Resu stifled their laughter by shoveling food into their mouths whereas Kuroo just smirked behind his hand. Asahi resisted sending them a glare and smiled sheepishly, scratching at the back of his neck.

"Actually, I'm still in highschool."

"Oh! Did you get held back a few years?" Naoki-san asked, her eyes flashing with sympathy.

"N-No, um, I'm only seventeen."

"Wow! You look a lot older!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot..."

They talked about Kuroo's involvement with volleyball and the boys' as well, Hitomi and Resu sending each other bored looks. Kouta seemed to be very focused on cutting the meat on his plate.

"Oh, that reminds me, Resu!"

Said girl turned to Kuroo's mother with a raised eyebrow and her fork half raised en route to her mouth.

"Have you gotten a boyfriend yet?"

Resu nearly fell out of her chair and it took Hitomi grabbing her arm to stop her from meeting the floor. Kuroo was watching her in unveiled amusement whereas Asahi was avoiding her gaze, finding interest in the vegetables he had yet to eat. Tanaka and Nishinoya turned towards her expectantly, resting their heads on their palms with a mocking smile. However, she only shook her head in response.

"What a shame. Maybe Kuroo and you should start dating!"

Resu nearly snapped her fork in half but she remained calm, sending Naoki-san a thin smile.

"Mom, please. You're making Resu uncomfortable," Kuroo said, swallowing the laughter that had nearly slipped out.

"Sorry, dear."

"Resu needs to focus on her studies," Kouta said, eyeing Resu oddly.

"And she needs to get back on the track team," Hitomi added, nodding to herself. Resu only sighed.

Dinner ended relatively normally after that and she was waving goodbye to her school friends, standing next to Kuroo by the door as his parents were saying their farewells to her siblings. She shook her head and leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms loosely under her chest.

"I can't believe your mom said that."

"She says that to every girl I know, literally."

They stood silently before Resu spoke up once more.

"Thanks for lying for me, by the way. I probably would've only thought of an even lamer response if you weren't here."

"It's no big deal," he said with a half grin. "That's what friends do, right? Lie for each other?"

"Mm, sure."

"On a serious note..." Kuroo paused, meeting her curious gaze. "I'm not going to tell anyone what I know. I haven't for this long and I don't plan on telling anyone soon. Trust me."

Resu nodded slowly, appreciating what he had to say. Kuroo ruffled her already messy hair in reply to which she growled and messed up his as well. She and her siblings said goodbye to the three of them before retreating back inside their house.

"Ne, Resu~ Do you have a boyfriend?" Hitomi imitated with a smirk. Resu swiped at her but she ducked, snickering.

A boyfriend, huh? Resu thought to herself with a yawn as she entered her bedroom. That's not really my scene. She changed into her pajamas and turned out her light, curling up under the blankets.

Nobody would like me that way anyways.