Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kuroo jolted awake at the sound of his phone gently singing in his ear, he grappled with his phone turning the alarm off and checking his battery. It was nearly dead. He felt around his bed for Kenma but could not find him,

“Kenma?” he called, his voice still scratchy from sleep.

Kenma did not answer him, and immediately Kuroo jolted up from his bed.

“Kenma?”

Kuroo felt a small pit of anxiety form in the bottom of his throat, but he soon found Kenma sleeping on the couch, his Switch laying beside his head.

“Oh there you are,” he whispered.

Kuroo bent down and plugged Kenma’s switch into the charger, then placed a kiss on his fiance’s forehead. Kenma stirred slightly a sigh coming out of his mouth but he didn’t wake up. Kuroo heaved himself up, exhaustion still hitting his body from his new job. Kuroo turned the coffee pot on and began to make eggs for two. Kuroo’s scare made his mood feel off, made him feel a little bit on edge already. He focused in on the pan before him watching the eggs sizzle for a while fidgeting with them.

“Kuro?”

“Good morning Kitten,” Kuroo said, smiling over at Kenma.

Kenma’s head was resting against the couch, his eyes almost closed, heavy bags under them.

“You shouldn’t stay up all night playing games,” 

Kenma shrugged, “I’m just editing today anyway.”

“Ok,” Kuroo shook his head.

Kenma got up and went to the kitchen pouring Kuroo a cup of coffee and then pouring himself one.

“One scoop of sweetner?” Kenma asked.

“You know I like two.” Kuroo said.

“You don’t drink coffee right…” Kenma sighed.

Kenma placed Kuroo’s coffee cup next to him, and then plopped down on the couch again.

“What no hugs?” asked Kuroo.

“I gave you coffee.”

“You didn’t even mix in the sweetner you asshole.”

Kenma laughed, “Drink it right next time.”

Kuroo fidgeted with the eggs in the pan a little more before flipping them onto two different plates. He sat down next to Kenma on the couch.

“Where are my eggs?” asked Kenma.

“Make your own eggs next time.” Kuroo said.

The sentence came out more harshly than Kuroo had intended for it to come out.

Kenma studied Kuroo for a second, “You suck today,”

“Whatever,” Kuroo said, no longer wanting to tell Kenma about the other half of the eggs on the table.

Kenma didn’t get up to get his eggs, instead he pulled himself to the opposite side of the couch and drank his coffee. Kuroo turned on the TV. Kuroo spent the rest of the short morning in silence, Kenma deciding to ignore him. As Kuroo was heading out the door he glanced at Kenma who had left his spot on the couch and was now in the kitchen

“Kuro,”

But Kuroo didn’t want to hear it, he rushed out the door, running right into his neighbor.

“Oh!” she yelled.

“I’m sorry,” 

She just walked past him grumbling under her breath. Kuroo just sighed and walked to the train station, when he realized that he forgot his keys in the apartment. He glanced at his watch,

“Too late now…”

Kuroo walked the rest of the way to the train station, he got a text on his phone.

“Sorry,”

“It’s ok,” he replied.

Kuroo caught his train just in time before leaving, it was crowded more than usual today and he stood near the entrance, gripping onto the pole before he felt something warm and sticky on his fingers. Kuroo pulled his hand away watching as sticky, green gum came off with the pole. He gagged, and held his hand away from his body for the rest of the train ride. At work Kuroo washed his hands thoroughly. Everything that could have gone wrong at work did go wrong, he ended up getting yelled at by his boss before leaving.

The train ride home was less chaotic, it was dark now and Kuroo sat down leaning back against the cushioned seat, before he realized. He left his briefcase at work. His eyes snapped open, but it was too late the train already jolted into motion, sealing his fate. Kuroo buried his hands in his face, sighing deeply, then remembering his keys that he left at home. He pulled out his phone, and realized he had never actually hit send on his text to Kenma. He deleted the text and texted Kenma a different message.

“I left my keys at home can you open the door for me please,”

The whole ride home he didn’t get a response from Kenma, he dreaded the moment that he walked up to the door. The lights were on in the apartment,

“Did he ignore me?” he whispered, jiggling the knob on the door.

It was locked still.

“Of fucking course,” Kuroo mumbled.

He rang the doorbell a couple times, but there was no answer. Kuroo felt anger and sadness boiling up in his chest.

“Kenma dammit!” he yelled.

“Kuro?”

Kuroo turned to see Kenma with an absurd amount of groceries sprouting out of his hands. Kuroo immediately crouched down on the ground, covering his face with his hands.

“Kuro what’s wrong?” 

Kuroo heard the grocery bags rustling towards him. They dropped by Kenma’s feet and Kuroo felt Kenma’s hands wrap around his wrists.

“I don’t know, I guess I’ve just been having a shitty day.” said Kuroo.

“I’m sorry,” said Kenma, “Was it me?”

Kuroo shook his head no, “Of course it wasn’t you.”

Kuroo heard Kenma’s phone ding as his phone connected to the wifi. Kenma stood up and unlocked the door to the apartment,

“Come inside,” said Kenma, “Please.”

Kuroo stood up slowly, grabbing at some of the grocery bags.

“I got it,” said Kenma.

Inside the living room was set up with some unlit candles, and there were games set up on the TV.

“I thought that I had time to make up for telling you that you sucked this morning, but I got lost at the store…” said Kenma, his head down. “I left the lights on because I didn’t want anyone to break in.”

“I think you just got carried away,” said Kuroo, helping Kenma heave the groceries on the counter, “Thank you, I know you didn’t mean it. I’m the nicest guy you know.”

“Sure,”

As Kuroo unloaded the groceries he noticed all of his favorite sweets and foods.

“I wanted to get the cooked mackerel but they were out, so you’re going to have to make it for yourself.” said Kenma, “But not tonight.”

Kuroo felt warm arms wrap around his waist, Kenma resting his face against Kuroo’s back.

“I’m sorry,” said Kenma.

“For what?” asked Kuroo.

“You had a bad day, and I didn’t even help to make it better.” said Kenma.

“You can make it better by cuddling with me if you want.” Kuroo suggested.

“I guess,”

Kuroo led Kenma to the couch, sitting down and motioning Kenma onto his lap. Kenma grudgingly sat down, and Kuroo wrapped a blanket around the both of them.

“Can we watch a movie?” asked Kuroo.

“We can do whatever you want.”

“Spider-Man Three it is.”

Kenma sighed deeply.

Chapter Text

“Where are you?” asked Kuroo.

“If I knew where I was then I wouldn’t be calling you right now,” said Kenma, his voice sounded blocky his phone service was bad.

Kuroo laughed on the other side of the phone, but he could tell that Kenma was getting a little anxious. Kenma had been invited to a convention in America for his YouTube channel, he had been nominated for an award.

“Is there anything around you that is big? Any street signs?” asked Kuroo.

Kenma had gotten separated from Kuroo while getting off one of the buses near the convention center. They had somehow ended up pretty far apart from each other.

“I- there is an ice cream parlor and a park near me…”

“Ok I’m on my way to find you, scoop you up in-”

“Kuro.” Kenma said on the other side of the line.

“Ok seriously I’m on my way.”

Normally, Kuroo could find Kenma quite easily, but the streets in California were bustling with people, and he didn’t know anyone that well. Kuroo looked up parks near him praying that Kenma wouldn’t wander too far. People pushed and shoved as Kuroo made his way through the cosplayers and video cameras. It wasn’t far away from the convention that the lines and people began to fade out, the scenery was beautiful. There were restaurants with lush plants sprouting from their balconies, and dogs laying content near the feet of their owners.

Kuroo quickly came on the ice cream place that Kenma was talking about and spotted him across the street, sitting on a bench bent over his phone. 

“Kenma!” shouted Kuroo from across the street.

Kenma looked up immediately, his eyes wide and his face lit up. He rushed across the street,

“Did you want some ice cream?” Kenma asked.

“Sure,”

Kuroo looked around, he could see where the convention center was from the park. He wondered why Kenma wouldn’t just go back towards it, but decided not to mention anything.

“Want mint?”

“Ew,” Kuroo responded.

After they got their ice cream they both went into the convention, Kenma quickly found his booth, and sat Kuroo down next to him.

“I don’t know if I will get a lot of people to come…” said Kenma.

“They will.”

The rest of the day Kenma had a steady stream of fans coming up for autographs, and t-shirts. By the end of the day both Kuroo and Kenma felt exhausted, ready to go to their hotel.

“My feet hurt…” Kenma complained.

“Do you want me to carry you?”

Kenma was quiet, “Seriously?”

“I mean yeah,” said Kuroo.

“Ok…”

Kuroo carried Kenma the rest of the way to their hotel, which wasn’t far from the convention center.

“I bet this connects.” said Kuroo, “I think we went the long way…”

Kenma didn’t respond but Kuroo could feel his slow breath on the back of his neck, and he suddenly noticed how Kenma’s hands were gripping his shirt. Kuroo carried Kenma the rest of the way to the hotel room, his face was bright red.

“I have the key, but I haven’t seen the room yet.” said Kenma suddenly.

Kenma decided that having their luggage shipped to the hotel was easier than lugging it along on the airplane ride. Kenma slipped off of Kuroo’s back, pulled the hotel key out of his pocket and unlocked the door with ease.

“Ah,”

Kenma turned to Kuroo, his face looked shocked.

“There’s only one bed…”

“Oh, well, that’s fine!” said Kuroo, “I can sleep on the ground or maybe they have a futon or something that they can bring up.”

“No! I mean you can sleep in the bed if you want…” said Kenma.

“It’s fine, with me if it’s fine with you, I just don’t want to if you don’t.”

“You can just sleep on the bed,” said Kenma.

Kuroo nodded, “Alright,”

Their luggage was put near the bed, with a little romantic next on the bed. Kenma flushed,

“I’m sorry Kuro,” he said, “I didn’t expect this.”

“Kenma, I honestly didn’t see you as the romantic type,” Kuroo teased, trying to play off his own embarrassment.

Chapter Text

~

The first time that Kuroo took Kenma to his mother’s grave was when they were six. It was about a week after they met, and Kuroo wanted to show Kenma his mother, since Kuroo knew Kenma’s mother. Of all the days that they spent together as young children Kenma remembers this one the most clearly.

“Will you go with me to see my mom?” asked Kuroo.

“Sure,” said Kenma, who was still somewhat wary of this new boy.

He had expected to go next door to Kuroo’s house, but instead Kuroo led him by hand to a graveyard not far from where they lived. At the time there were fresh flowers on the somewhat new gravestone, it was clean the smell of earth. And Kuroo sobbed, Kenma stood there awkwardly, Kuroo's iron grip on his wrist still. Kenma did not understand.

~

The second time that Kuroo took Kenma to his mother’s grave was in middle school. After Kuroo graduated he gave one of the buttons of his uniform to Kenma, and wanted to give another to his mother. Kenma was flustered, Kuroo had announced rather loudly that he was giving his button to Kenma in front of the school, where there were many people.

This time Kuroo didn’t cry, rather they talked happily like they normally did. Kuroo placed the button on the top of her grave,

“Here you go mom, I graduated middle school!” he said. “Kenma was there and I gave him one of the buttons from my jacket. I’m giving the others to grandma and grandpa.”

Kenma didn’t have a strong sense of spirituality, but he could feel like there was someone there with them. A woman of intimidating posture, tall like Kuroo, with narrow eyes. So he stayed mostly quiet around what he referred to in his brain as Kuroo’s mom.

“I got into Nekoma High and I’m excited to attend next year…”

~

The third time that Kuroo took Kenma to his mother’s grave was the day after Kuroo’s high school graduation. 

“I’m glad there was no button giving this time…” said Kenma.

“Oh yeah?” asked Kuroo, his hand in his pocket, gripping the last two buttons from his uniform.

Kenma covered his face with his hands, “It was just so public the first time.”

Kuroo smiled, “Sorry I can never contain my love for you.”

“Kuro,” Kenma laughed.

When they stopped at the grave Kenma made sure to clean dirt and grime that had collected on the gravestone, before putting the flowers on top. Kuroo knelt quietly by the grave,

“There are times…” he started.

“What?” asked Kenma.

“There are times where… I miss her… yesterday I wish that I could have turned around and seen her face. I wish she was there at my graduation glowing with pride like everyone else's moms.” he said.

“Kuro…” said Kenma, “I think-”

He was cut off when Kuroo pulled out his hand from his pocket, both of the buttons tumbling out behind.

“Shit.”

Kenma knelt down beside Kuroo and picked up one of the buttons placing it on his mother’s gravestone for him. He picked up the other one and handed it to Kuroo,

“Try again,” he said.

Kuroo’s face instantly was red.

“I’m not ready yet!” he exclaimed.

Kenma laughed, “are you going to promise me or not Kuroo, your mom is waiting.”

~

The fourth time that Kuroo took Kenma with him to his mother’s grave was soon after his first year of college.

“I don’t have the paper yet, but I will.” said Kuroo. “Sooner than you think."

Kuroo had brought a picnic with him and had forced Kenma out of bed early so that they could spend the day together.

“We’re going to attract flies,” Kenma complained.

Kuroo took out the breakfast foods that he had prepared the night prior.

“Look I bought pie,” he said.

Kenma snatched the slice of pie out of Kuroo’s hands, no longer caring if the bugs came. Kuroo laughed, loudly. 

“We came today because Kenma finally-”

“Finally?”

“Finally graduated high school and I wanted to show that I am not going to marry a bum.” he said.

Kenma scrunched his face, “Kuro,”

“And Kenma, being the romantic that he is has decided to follow me to university. Isn’t that so sweet?”

“I’m not following him.” said Kenma.

Kuroo paused, “this is the first time that you talked to her directly.”

~

The fifth time that Kuroo took Kenma to his mother’s grave was when they first moved in together. He wanted to let her know that he lived a little further away now.

“After many weeks of convincing I finally got this lovely young man to move in with me.” he said.

Kenma rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. They clasped hands,

“I’m happier right now than I have ever been in my whole life,” said Kuroo.

“My cheek muscles hurt,” said Kenma.

Kuroo gripped onto Kenma’s hand tightly.

“I will make sure that you smile so hard that your face will hurt everyday.”

“Hmph we’ll see…” said Kenma.

~

“Hey, Kenma will you come with me?” asked Kuroo.

Kuroo held up a cleaning basket that they had put together for when they visited his mother’s grave. Kenma put his game down,

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Kuroo had been acting strange the past few days, and Kenma wondered if this was why. It was coming up on the 20th anniversary of his mother’s death. Kuroo kept track of these kinds of things, he was good with dates and numbers.

“It’s late, make sure you put on a coat.” said Kuroo.

“M’kay.” mumbled Kenma.

Kenma picked one of Kuroo’s coats off of the couch,

“No! Not that one!”

“What? Why not?” asked Kenma.

“Because I want to wear my own coat for once,” said Kuroo.

“Damn, ok my bad.” said Kenma dropping the coat.

He found another one in the kitchen and wrapped a scarf around his own neck. Kuroo held the door open for Kenma as he left the house. They walked silently, the street lights illuminated their faces.

“Is everything ok?” asked Kenma.

“Yeah, yeah everything is perfectly fine, why are you asking?”

“Because you’re acting like a weirdo,” 

“Am not.”

“Yeah you are.”

“I’m not.”

“Seriously, is there something wrong?”

Kuroo stopped, throwing his hands up, and sighing,

“There isn’t anything wrong.”

“Then what is this?” asked Kenma, mimicking his movements.

He looked at Kenma, “this is me asking to marry you.”

“Oh,” said Kenma.

Kuroo pulled the ring out of his coat pocket.

“I think it’s prettier than the button.”

Kenma nodded, “yeah, it is.”

“So… do you want to marry me?” asked Kuroo.

Kenma nodded, “Yes, I want to marry you Kuroo.”

~

Chapter Text

Kenma jolted from sleep feeling a ring aggressively against the side of his head, he coughed choking on his spit. He glanced down at the screen of his phone, Kuroo wanted to facetime.

“What do you want?” asked Kenma.

“Wow, someone is grumpy.” said Kuroo. “I’m just going to sleep right now, I wanted to see your wonderful face.”

Kenma glared down at his phone, “You’re welcome.”

Kuroo laughed, the laugh that Kenma wishes he could hear in person again, even though it used to annoy him.

“I miss you,” said Kuroo, with longing.

“Are you drunk?” Kenma asked.

“I may or may not have consumed some form of alcohol,” said Kuroo.

From what Kenma could see Kuroo was under the covers of his bed, his face mostly in the pillow.

“Do you have water?” asked Kenma.

“Hmm? Is that concern that I hear in your voice?” he teased.

“Not anymore,” said Kenma, he sat his phone down on the bed looking for his own bottle of water.

“I miss youu,”

“I know you already said,”

“How has volleyball been? Tora giving you a hard time?” asked Kuroo.

Kenma shrugged, “It’s Tora, Lev has been worse this year.”

“Mmmm,” said Kuroo, “I’m tired.”

“What’s it like in New York?” asked Kenma.

“It’s just been school,” said Kuroo.

“Clearly not,” said Kenma. 

“Huh, is there a tone of jealousy in your voice?”

“No,”

“Yeah,”

The phone was silent for a minute,

“I miss you too.” said Kenma.

“I wish I could hug you right now,” said Kuroo.

Kenma could feel a lump building in his throat, he took a gulp of his water.

“Kenma,”

“Hmm?”

“When I get back do you think that… I could kiss you?”

Kenma choked (again) on his water, spitting most of it up onto the floor beside his bed.

“Is that a no,”

“Water came out of my nose…” said Kenma.

“Ew, yeah I can see it,” said Kuroo.

Kenma glared down at Kuroo, “Keep talking and I won’t let you hug me when you get back let alone kiss me.”

Chapter Text

Kuroo grabbed his coat from hook on Kenma’s bedroom door,

“Are you ready to go?” he asked.

“No, I told you I’m not ready,” said Kenma, who was packing a bag with his games.

“Kenma we’re only going to be gone for a few hours,”

“It’s going to be a three hour train ride Kuro,” Kenma mumbled.

Kuroo sighed and sat down on Kenma’s bed, waiting for him while he packed his games, and charges. Kenma had his way of organizing his bag and to Kuroo it was adorable to watch him pack and fold his charges the way that he liked. Kuroo glanced down at his phone,

“We’re going to miss our train,” he said, tapping his wrist.

“Ok, ok I’m ready,”

Kuroo stood up, slipping his arm into Kenma’s so that they walked together. Kenma kept his head somewhat bowed, hiding the blush on his cheeks. When they got to the train station Kuroo was practically bouncing up and down. He had that big stupid grin on his face,

“I’m so excited!”

“It’s just a movie…”

“I know, I guess mostly I’m excited to spend time with you…” Kuroo admitted.

Kenma smiled, his face once again flustered from Kuroo’s comments.

“Yeah, me too.”

Once they were on the train Kuroo was happy that Kenma had taken the time to pack all of his games. There was nothing else to do other than watch Kenma beat bosses or harvest crops in a small pixelated field. Sometimes when his neck began to hurt Kuroo would look out the window and watch the buildings fly by, purposefully blending all the colors together. Making a montage of gray and black silhouettes. This is the place that oddly made Kuroo feel the most content, maybe it was the lilting of the train mixed with the quieted noise from Kenma’s games but it made him feel so peaceful.

“We’re here,” said Kuroo.

“Ok,” Kenma said, hurriedly shoving his games back into the bag.

“This theater is really cool. It will be worth the train ride.” said Kuroo.

“I hope so…” Kenma sighed.

The theater was large, one of the bigger buildings that Kenma had ever seen. Kenma felt anxious suddenly with such a large area around him. The theater rooms were probably going to be large and packed, a thing that he had thought about the previous night.

“Are you ok?” asked Kuroo.

Kenma nodded slowly, “yeah I’m fine, let’s go in.”

“Ok… we can go somewhere else if you want.”

“No, I’m fine.” Kenma insisted.

Kuroo looped his arm through Kenma’s again and led them up to the ticket booth outside of the theater. He had bought the tickets online because he was afraid that they might sell out on the night of.

“Kuroo?”

Kuroo turned around to see Oikawa standing behind him with his nephew. A sly grin grew on Oikawa’s face,

“Are you on a date, with Kenma?” he asked.

“No, we’re just seeing a movie,” said Kuroo.

He was suddenly realizing that maybe they did look like a couple, on the train they had sat so close together, and now they had their arms looped between each other.

“That’s not what it looks like to me,” teased Oikawa.

“Just leave us alone please,” said Kuroo, shaking his head.

“Oh, yeah, I would not want to spoil your date.”

Kuroo got his tickets from the person and rushed Kenma inside.

“Did you want some snacks? Popcorn?” asked Kuroo.

“Could we get some sour candy?” asked Kenma.

“Sure,”

Kenma’s face when he asked for things, the way that his brow furrowed and his lips pouted. There wasn’t much wait in the line for their snacks and Kuroo ended up paying way too much money for a bag of sour candy, and some popcorn, but the theater was worth it. It had a large surrounding screen and plush comfortable chairs, it was almost like laying in bed. It felt nice to lay in the theater next to Kenma, the seats were warm and Kenma had placed his candy between the two of them to share. When they first settled down Kuroo continuously glanced around, suspicious that Oikawa might come in and sit down next to them.

“Kuro?”

“Hmm?”

“Is this a date?” asked Kenma.

“Huh? No, no this is not a date.”

“Oh,”

“Did you want it to be a date?” asked Kuroo.

He turned to Kenma a look of shock on his face,

“I thought- I mean I thought that maybe you were going to ask me out… or something… eventually.” said Kenma.

Kuroo stared at Kenma blankly for a second, blushing, and thinking did he like Kenma in that way?

“I thought these… outings… were like when you were going to ask me out, I’m sorry.” said Kenma. “I guess I was waiting.”

“I- I wasn’t ready for something like this.” said Kuroo.

Kenma buried his face in his hands, “I’m sorry, I just ruined everything.”

“No, Kenma no, you just made everything better,”

Kuroo grabbed Kenma’s hand, “I want to be with you.”

“Oh,” said Kenma.

“This is ok?” asked Kuroo.

“Yeah,” said Kenma, “I told you I’ve been waiting…”

Chapter Text

Kenma was sitting on the couch playing games on the TV when Kuroo approached him. Kenma thought of his roommate as somewhat annoying, but a nice food resource since he had his parents paying for groceries. Kenma at least tried to stay on Kuroo’s good side.

“This is a big favor to ask but I was wondering if you would go to my friend's wedding with me?” he asked. 

Kenma made a face, “like a date?”

Kuroo was hiding his face, but Kenma could tell that it was bright red, and that made him very satisfied for some reason.

“Well, I don’t want to be the only one there that goes without someone…” he said.

“And?”

“And my grandma won’t get off my back about not going out with someone even though I am 24.”

Kenma shrugged, “I’ll go, but you have to find a suit for me to wear.”

“Seriously?”

“sErIoUsly? Yeah I’m being serious.”

“Yes!” shouted Kuroo, throwing his hands in the air.

He wrapped his arms around Kenma in a bone crushing hug. Both of them went stiff,

“Sorry.” he let go.

“S’fine,” mumbled Kenma.

“Thank you for doing this,” said Kuroo.

“No problem, maybe one day you’ll get a real girlfriend or something.” Kenma teased, continuing his game.

“Yeah…” said Kuroo.

He got up and left the living room. Kenma watched him leave, feeling off about what he had said, but he didn’t know if he should apologize. But Kuroo didn’t really say anything to him for the rest of the night; it was eerily silent in the apartment. The next day however Kuroo was chatting to him enthusiastically about the wedding,

“I met them when I was in my first year of college, they were seniors already, but we were really good friends…”

Most of what came out of Kuroo’s mouth Kenma filtered because he talked a lot. Kuroo liked to fill up empty space with his words. Kenma swirled the bowl of cereal that he made himself. But he kept the important things about Kuroo stored in the back of his mind.

“So anyway, I found this place last night it would be a good place to rent a suit from. If you have time after work today…”

“Sure,” said Kenma. “I’ll see you after work then.”

After work when Kenma got home he saw that Kuroo wasn’t there yet. That’s unusual, he thought to himself. Kenma shrugged off his coat and decided to watch some TV while he was waiting for Kuroo to get home. But Kenma gradually got less and less patient, the clock kept ticking and the TV kept on. Kenma got up and knocked on Kuroo’s door and it slid open without problem, empty. Despite himself Kenma did peek around his room, Kuroo had a desk with a large board above it, pinned to it were pictures of Kuroo and all of his friends. Kenma snuck over to the desk to look more, to his surprise he did find a picture of him and Kuroo the first day that they moved in. A picture that his grandmother had insisted they take, Kenma didn’t know how to say no to an old lady. Kenma snapped a picture of the printed photo before rushing out of Kuroo’s room, having no desire to be caught by him.

It took another hour or so for Kuroo to come through the front door and by then Kenma was a mess he had fallen asleep on the couch watching a crime show with the same plot for every episode over and over again.

“Are you still up for going to find a suit?” asked Kuroo.

Kenma rubbed his eyes, “Sure,”

“Let’s go,”

Kenma grabbed his phone, and followed Kuroo out the door.

“It’s a good place, it has suits for cheap but they’re good quality.” he said.

When they got there the lights were still on in the store but they were closing soon.

“Maybe we should come back another time,” said Kenma.

“Let’s just at least take a look,”

“Kuroo…” said Kenma.

But it was too late. Kuroo already went into the building.

“Can I help you?” asked the employee at the desk.

“Yes, we’re looking for a suit for a wedding, for my roommate.” said Kuroo.

“Oh,” the employee glanced over at Kenma, “we have a pretty wide selection…”

The employee walked over to the section with the white suits.

“No, no,” said Kuroo, “He’s not getting married, a friend of ours is.”

“My bad, did you guys want a different color like blue or black?”

“Black,” said Kenma.

They found a suit that was Kenma’s size swiftly and told him to go try it on. Kenma sighed as he pulled the pieces over his clothes and stepped out of the dressing room. Immediately there was some adjusting of the suit,

“How does it look?” asked Kenma, looking over at Kuroo.

“It looks good, yeah it looks good,” said Kuroo.

They bought the suit, and decided to get food while they were out.

“Why were you at work so late?” asked Kenma.

“For next week, since I covered your suit I had to do some extra hours for rent.”

“Oh sorry,” said Kenma.

“No problem, I should’ve chosen a date with more money.” he said.

“You don’t know anyone with money Kuroo.”

Kuroo shrugged, “true,”

“I’m excited to go to the wedding with you.” Kenma said.

Kuroo choked on his soda, “oh god, really?”

Kenma nodded, “Yeah I think that it will be fun…”

Chapter Text

Kenma stared at his phone waiting for Kuroo to text back, he sighed rolling over on his bed away from his phone. Since going to university Kuroo had become much slower at responding to Kenma's texts, something that was bittersweet for Kenma. He was happy that Kuroo was making friends and doing things that he wasn't moping around depressed. But he was also devastated that his texts were taking longer and their calls were getting shorter.

Kenma flushed even in the privacy of his own room he was embarrassed about these thoughts that he had of Kuroo. He turned over and glanced at his phone one more time before getting up and turning on his PlayStation, something to occupy his thoughts while he waited for Kuroo to respond.

Waited for Kuroo to respond.

“I'm playing games because I like to play games.” he reminded himself.

He clicked through his normal games trying to focus on replaying some of his favorites but he found himself glancing over at his phone waiting for it to light up. And feeling a great surge of disappointment when he found that it empty again and again. He frowned at his TV and clicked through the expansive catalog of games in his console. And finally settling on playing a new game, a romance game sort of a guilty pleasure that he indulged in occasionally. They were mostly cheesy click through games with easy to follow plots. There were times when he played through the games with YouTube videos going in the background because he got bored playing them but wanted a completed title for the game.

Occasionally, he would come across one that had real meaning behind it other than two people falling in love in high school, and getting married. Though he severely doubted that this particular one would be memorable to him in the slightest. It was the standard dating simulator with little animation, Kenma just needed to choose the character that he wanted to romance first. He flicked through the character profiles skimming through most of them until he landed on one. This one was the jock character, Yuuji, he was a star player on his Sports Team, and he looked intimidating at first glance but was a caring and loving person. He helped old people cross the street and volunteered at animal shelters on the weekend.

Kenma decided early on that Yuuji was his man, for no particular reason, maybe because his route would likely be the easiest and most lighthearted. Typically, characters like Yuuji would not be on his first option. Oddly, he was attracted to the characters with deeper backstories, ones who were incredibly troubled and reluctant to enter a relationship with him.

Yuuji was the childhood friend of the MC and right off the bat that reminded Kenma of a certain childhood friend of his. One that hadn't texted him back in several hours still. Kenma tossed his phone off the edge of the bed determined to enjoy the rest of his game. Another thing was Yuuji was infatuated with the MC, something that she was completely oblivious to. He invited her to practices, games, he took her to his favorite places, stared longingly at her when she wasn't looking. When he was around none of the other love interests would bother the MC all choosing to stay on Yuuji's good side. Their school year progressed and the MC would go on study dates with Yuuji, as they were approaching their final time together.

Kenma found himself oddly emotional as they approached graduation, remembering the various conversations that Kuroo had with him. Things about not wanting to drift a part, wanting to play together still. Kuroo of all people worried about making friends again, he worried about every little thing it seemed. The tears didn't start to fall until Yuuji talked to the MC about their route to school each morning. He worried about her falling asleep on the way to school, and missing her stop an almost exact conversation that Kuroo had with Kenma on the last day of school they had together.

At the end when the two characters finally got together and a credit scene started to roll Kenma stared at the black screen. He felt gears turning in his head.

Maybe the reason that he wanted Kuroo to respond so badly was because he liked Kuroo. He never felt that sense of urgency with other people. In fact when it came to most other people Kenma did not reply at all.

Kenma suddenly felt weak. This epiphany unlocked a new set of questions, how long did Kenma feel this way? Why did it take him stupidly long to realize that he felt that way? Does Kuroo feel the same way about him?
Kenma grabbed his phone up off the floor a twinge of disappointment hit him when he saw that yet again there were no texts from Kuroo. But he scrolled up, reading through the previous texts desperately searching for signs that Kuroo felt the same about him. There were texts similar to that in the dating sim but even with that Kenma felt unsure about Kuroo's intent. He was flirty, he flirts with his friends all the time.

The screen pulled down to the bottom of their texts, Kuroo had finally responded to what Kenma had sent him that morning. He apologized for texting him so late and told him he misses seeing him. Kenma felt the phone shaking in his hands as he had no choice but to quickly respond to Kuroo, he knew that he had seen his message.

I miss you too. Can we talk soon please?

Immediately, Kenma's phone lit up in his hands, catching Kenma slightly off-guard.

“Hello?” he said, voice rough from not talking for several hours.

“Hey, Kenma, been playing games in your room all day?” asked Kuroo, “Your voice is always so horse when you do that, remember to drink water.”

Kenma cleared his throat, “Yeah, I will...”

“So... why did you want to talk?”

“Oh, sorry I guess I just miss hearing your voice.”

“Oya? My dearest friend longs to hear my voice over the phone?”

“Kuro,” Kenma felt his face flush, even in the privacy of his own room, “Kuro, I'm serious right now. I don't know how to say this any other way... I love you.”

“Aw, Kenma I love you too.” said Kuroo.

“No, I am in love with you Kuro.” Kenma repeated.

Kenma felt his heart beating hard in his chest, shocked at his own words, he felt his breathing speed up.

“Kenma, I- you have no idea how long I have been waiting for you to say that.” said Kuroo, “Wait for me.”

“Huh?”

“Wait I'll be right there.”

He hung up the phone before Kenma could respond, leaving Kenma shocked and staring at the dark screen of his phone. Kuroo lived a good 40 minutes away from Kenma now, not a huge distance but it has prevented them from seeing each other everyday. Despite the fact that Kenma would have to wait for Kuroo to get there he didn't feel particularly anxious, because Kuroo had been waiting for him. All this time and he was waiting for him. How long had he been waiting? Was he courting him this entire time?

Kenma peered out the window that viewed the street down below, waiting for Kuroo just as Kuroo had waited for him. Not thirty minutes later Kenma saw a figure sprinting towards his house full speed, Kuroo waved up at Kenma. As fast as he could Kenma ran out of the house and into Kuroo's arms.

“Can I kiss you?” asked Kuroo.

“Of course.”