Chapter Text
Fact No.1 About Kenma
He had some type of relationship with water (Kuroo thinks it’s romantic).
Kuroo didn’t know when he had noticed it, but all the signs were there. As a child, Kenma didn't like going outside much or going to any place in general. Kuroo wasn’t as outgoing as people would have thought. Despite all this, Kuroo begged Kenma to go to the ocean with him during the summer after they met each other. Kenma didn’t put up a real fight against it and Kuroo was too excited to dwell on it. When they had arrived at the ocean, Kuroo distinctly remembered how Kenma stared out while digging his feet into the sand.
The moment the car was parked properly Kuroo jumped out and took off dragging Kenma with him. He raced towards the ocean, the other boy stumbling to keep up with the sudden action. Crashing into the water, Kuroo had let go of Kenma’s hand moments before his feet had hit the coolness. The water splashed up, disturbed from its rhythmic pattern of washing up on the shore by the two little feet now pushing and pulling at its form. There was a pause, Kuroo was no longer moving his feet so wildly. The water settled into a new routine, compromising with the intruding shapes—as it always did. The boy turned his head towards his friend who was still standing on dry land. Kenma stood still, Kuroo was scared for a moment; perhaps his friend did not like the ocean at all.
Then, as Kuroo focused in on Kenma’s face, he saw it. There was a striking peacefulness in the way Kenma let the slight breeze flow past him and how he had that steady shine in his eyes. Kuroo sucked in a breath—no, the world hadn’t stopped, everything was just suddenly, then and there, moving in matchless equilibrium.
It made sense that, when they grew up Kuroo would take note of all the times it happened again. Kenma falling asleep in hotel bathtubs, relaxing in the pools, going out to the bathhouse later in the night even if he was already bathed. Kenma quietly suggesting going to the beach as a team bonding activity or how he always ended up in Yaku’s hot tub when they went to his house. That same sight repeated before his eyes countless times, and he thought it was a shame that there were so many living beings that would miss it each and every time.
So, of course, when Kenma had asked Kuroo to move in with him and Kuroo agreed, he was not surprised to find the large tub in Kenma’s bathroom when he did move in. There were days Kuroo would notice Kenma getting overly tense and stressed. On these days, Kuroo would go and start Kenma’s bath for the said boy. Pulling Kenma onto his back so that the boy was piggybacking him, he made his way to the bathroom. Kenma would mumble a thank you into Kuroo’s ear as he slid back down to the ground and off the taller boy’s back. Kenma would shoo Kuroo out, but Kuroo always caught Kenma’s eyes on the water when he left. That glint of happiness was everything to Kuroo, he loved making Kenma happy. Even if he hadn’t quite figured out why yet.