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As Kenma leaves the club room, changed and ready, he hears Kuroo’s voice outside. “No chance in hell I’m cancelling that run today.”
Kenma sighs. He flinches from the five o’clock heat, but he starts to stretch.
“Kuroo-san, it’s forty degrees.” Lev whines. He stops tying his shoes to flop down on the concrete. “Mm, the cement is actually really nice in the shade.”
“Cut it out. We run in ten minutes. Three kilometers, just like every Friday.” Kuroo starts to stretch his legs.
“But Kuroo! I’m going to die. Like, actually perish. Making me run out here is like sending my out on the gates of hell and give me permanent respiratory issues.” Yamamoto says.
“And third degree burns!” Lev adds.
Kuroo galres. “You don’t see anyone else complaining.”
“Oh yeah?” Lev replies. Rookie mistake—you never take on Kuroo’s challenge. He watches Lev’s eyes scan the rest of the team in search of an ally—no, don’t go to me. “Kenma-san, you don’t think we should run either, right?”
Oh, Lev. Kenma can see the rationale behind this attempt: Kuroo listens to him, duh, and so his word could prevent this god-awful run. But it’s a complete miscalculation. Kenma never questions Kuroo’s decisions in front of the team.
Kenma just gives him a deadpan look and shakes his head, hoping he’ll drop it.
Kuroo laughs. “Looks like you’re outta luck, kiddo.”
“People are just too scared to say anything.” That makes Kenma flinch. Something about Lev’s height, confidence, or Russian...ness makes him completely oblivious to accepting authority. It’s especially worse with Kuroo. He jokes and he bonds naturally with his teammates, but that’s not what makes him such an effective captain. It’s his ruthlessness.
“Well, looks like you’re shit outta luck.” Kuroo grins, but Kenma can spot a twitch. He silently pleads with Lev to drop it, because Kuroo is not going to waver.
“So we take a vote!” Lev blurts out.
“No, we don’t fucking vote!” Kuroo snarls. That makes Kenma frown, but he makes sure no one on the team sees it. Everyone grows so quiet that you can hear the heat radiating off the ground. His eyes are closed and his brows are furrowed. After taking a breath, his voice is steady. “We run today. No further discussion. Line up.”
They run. It was brutal, of course, but they survived. They continue with practice. It goes smoothly, normally, except Lev’s obvious poutiness the whole time. Kenma doesn’t say anything to him, but he wanted to make sure it didn’t weigh on him. Kuroo’s scary, but only when you deserve it.
Practice ends and they all say goodbye. When it was just the two of them left at the gym, Kenma speaks. “Kuroo. Are you gonna talk to Lev about today?”
Kuroo scratches his head, thoughtful. “ I don’t know. He was being an ass. Should I?”
Kenma mulls it over for an extra second, knowing Kuroo would do whatever he suggests. “Yeah.”
“Ugh. Fine. What do I say?”
Kenma lets a coy smile stretch across his face. “Figure it out, captain.”