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How she found out about the ceremony, he had no clue. It wasn’t as if Kenma could have slipped her an invite. The only person who still talked to her was his mom, but even his mom knew what Kenma's parents did, so why would she invite his mom? And why would she have the nerve to show up anyway, after isolating his husband from his only family besides those on Kuroo’s side, it's not like she could morn, if she even felt emotion for the duo. But he wont kick her out, even if they don’t deserve to be here, Kenma wouldn’t have wanted the drama.
That’s right, this was for Kenma. He wouldn’t want any drama, he would have just wanted a quiet get together (if anything.) His husband would have wanted a chance for everyone to heal with no worry, so that’s what he’d do. Even if it was hard for him.
He was lucky, or as lucky as someone in his position could be, he guessed. While Kenma lost contact with his family, having been kicked out, they still had Kuroo’s mom and their friends, so they built their own family. And it was that family that supported them, even in this moment. Where they’d be without the family they gained through volleyball, he'd never know. But seeing their old teammates, as well as Hinata, Akaashi and Bokuto, who they saw almost daily, there at the ceremony was a small comfort. Everyone there avoided Kenma’s parents though, as if they had the plague, though to those who knew Kenma well, they did in a way.
Kenma used to say that people had to reach a certain friendship level to unlock his tragic backstory, and that’s why it wasn’t something either of them announced. But in his last year of high school, around graduation, Kenma came out to his parents. It wasn’t anything big, just a simple “hey I’m dating Kuroo,” he didn’t put labels on his sexuality and didn’t delve into gender, but his parents didn’t handle it well. That bad reaction led to them giving him a choice. Breakup with Kuroo and pretend the whole thing never happened, or leave and never come back. The setter always told him it was an easy choice, but he couldn’t imagine being in his shoes. Kenma refused to leave Kuroo, and his parents gave him one day to leave.
The setter took that day to pack up his essentials, box up his electronics and clothing, and make calls. He was smart, he switched bank accounts, making sure anything he had stayed his, and then he showed up at Kuroo’s house. He knew that even if Kuroo was in residence for University, being too far from home to stay there and having no one to share an apartment with near campus, they’d let him stay until he graduated in two weeks. And then, after everything was settled, he called Kuroo and broke down. The couple of days he missed were easily made up, though he never missed practice, only class, and between Kuroo (and the old captain's family,) and the team, he graduated as planned. And then, when Kenma started university on the same campus as Kuroo, he and his boyfriend moved into an apartment together.
Akaashi, Yaku and Kuroo shared a look, and he knew it was time. The three moved to the front of the room, instruments set up already. It was a wish, in fact it was one of the few details left for this situation neither of them had planned for. Whenever Kenma was stressed, he’d ask Kuroo to sing their song. No matter where or when, the song never failed to calm him down, so who was he to refuse. So, when it came to his funeral, Kuroo felt it was only right to sing it for him one more time.
Meanwhile, after hearing his plans, Akaashi and Yaku offered to accompany him, both playing instruments and being close to the duo. So, while Akaashi checked his Cello and Yaku put the sheet music on his piano, Kuroo adjusted the microphone while looking at those who came. He had never sung to anyone but Kenma, so it was a bit startling. But if his discomfort could bring a final moment of peace to his husband’s memory, he could close his eyes and imagine he was alone with him again.
“My lover's got humor, he's the giggle at a funeral. Knows everybody's disapproval, I should've worshiped him sooner,” he starts, the music quietly following behind him. And with the music, the slideshow of photos Hinata had made for the ceremony began. The ray of sunshine offered to do it for him, knowing he may not be able to handle it and having been in Kenma’s life since they met at practice the first time. The boy stayed by his husbands’ side, acting as a friend and later, as his best man.
He supposed there was truth in what he was singing, he never saw their life together ending so soon, in such a way. No one had, but especially not him. It was a fluke really, neither of them saw it coming. But you can’t control death. Of course, Kuroo hadn’t even seen what pictures had been chosen. But guessing based off everyone's reaction, he must have chosen to start with funnier pictures.
While others listened to him sing, they witnessed pictures from various times of Kenma’s life. The first, a photo of Kenma being hit in the face with a volleyball at a young age, young enough to still have black hair, as Kuroo pointed and laughed. Kenma’s mother remembered that, remembered the slight bruise that came with that day, the hidden happiness that came with that bruise. The two were each other's first major friend, and she was just happy Kenma wasn't alone anymore, and she knew he was happy about that too.
When Kenma was in his room too long, Kuroo would drag him out, and Kenma helped Kuroo break out of his shell. She remembered it well, it was a time she didn’t have to worry, thinking Kuroo would help lead her son to his wife. Instead, all he got led to was more guys. He joined a volleyball team, and was never around women, but just his teammates and other players.
More photos were shown, all from middle school and high school. From the junior team the couple shared, to Kenma pulling a blank face as Hinata and Lev acted stupid around him. In the crowd, Lev smiled as tears fell at the memory. Photos of the team together as Kuroo, Yaku and Kai graduated were shown, Kenma’s third year, after Kuroo graduated, came soon after. From Taketora and Kenma and standing in their jackets that marked them in their new roles, captain and vice captain, and then Kuroo in the stands cheering as Kenma acted as if he couldn’t see or hear him. And then Kenma’s graduation, Kuroo and his mom standing around him, both tearing up, with Kenma’s parents nowhere to be seen.
“The only Heaven I'll be sent to, is when I'm alone with you,” this is when he felt like he would start crying, but he held back. He was going to get through it, if not for him then for Kenma. And as he sang this, photos of him and Kenma showed. Whether they were with friends and the pictures were public knowledge, to ones he knew only Kenma or he had. Hinata must have collected those when he wasn't paying attention.
Photos from their first date, where Kuroo forced him to take a selfie together and Kenma surprised him by quickly kissing his cheek as he took it were shown. A date Kuroo held with high regards, as he left it knowing full well he would do anything to live like that, together and happy, forever. Even more so than he knew before. More dates passed by and then photos from when they moved in together, both sweaty but still in each others arms in a room full of only boxes. It was their first place, and while Kuroo’s mom had helped a little, the place was their own. That apartment grew with them, from their lectures at different times, Kenma’s livestreaming and Kuroo’s late lab classes, to Kenma starting Bouncing Ball Corporation and Kuroo's teaching position.
“If I'm a pagan of the good times, my lover's the sunlight. To keep the Gods on my side, they demand a sacrifice,” many wouldn’t associate Kenma with light, especially as they tended to view him as lurking in the shadows, but Kenma was Kuroo’s light and that was obvious to their friends.
Kuroo remembered all those moments where it felt like time slowed down, from mornings after where the light seemed to make Kenma glow as he slept to their wedding day when he saw Kenma in his suit. Moments he could picture so clearly and fondly in his mind, like a movie only he could see. And moments only he had felt.
Hinata had chosen photos that the couple’s friends had taken when the two were too focused on each other to notice. Photos showing them in a light Kenma’s mom had never seen. From the two in their own world during their first dance to lying on the gym floor together, the day Kenma found volleyball fun for the first time. Shots of one looking at the other, eyes full of love, as the other did something, whether its talking to teammates, gaming, or grading lab work. You would have to be blind to not see how they felt about each other. Their love was boundless, and it didn’t matter what others said about it anymore.
But it seemed their love was at a cost, and that cost was Kenma leaving too soon for them to enjoy it to the end.
“No Masters or Kings, when the Ritual begins. There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin,” a couple years after their wedding, Kuroo came back from teaching his lab. He went about business as normal, figuring Kenma was out at a last-minute meeting because he couldn't hear him. But when he went in their room to change into more comfortable clothing, he found his lover on the ground, a foot from their bed.
Everything spiraled after that. He called for an ambulance, and the ride to the hospital in pure silence, nothing heard besides his own breathing as he cried silently and the beeps of all the machines hooked up to his husband. The doctors said he fell into a coma, though no one was really sure why. And then a week later, he passed away. The only good thing to come from it was that he went in his sleep, feeling nothing.
“I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies, I'll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife. Offer me that deathless death, good God, let me give you my life,” Kuroo would have done anything to go back and keep Kenma from his fate. He would have traded his own life for it, and yet here he was now, at his best friend and husband’s funeral. Kuroo knew that he wasn’t the only one mourning, he knew it well, which is why he was here to honor Kenma and acknowledge other’s suffering.
As the song ended, he nodded to Akaashi and Yaku, and then those who were watching. Stepping off the stage and walking right past Kenma’s mother, who was crying, realizing exactly what she lost, he grabbed his coat and left. No other words were spoken to the widow, and no one chased after him.