Archive of Our Own

"What…"

"Hm?"

"Kuroo…"

"Yah?"

"There's been a mistake…"

"What do you mean?" 

"You made cookies…"

"Yea, I did. You said you wanted something sweet, right? You like lemon sables."

"I do. But there's no more milk," Kenma stated blankly from the open refrigerator door. 

He stood barefoot in an entirely oversized hoodie (stolen from Kuroo's side of the closet) and comfy gym shorts, shoulders slumped low, cell phone dead-weighted in his other hand. His long strands of black and gold were tied up properly into an actual ponytail for once because after much pestering from his boyfriend he caved and came out of his gaming office to help Kuroo make cookies since it wasn't a live stream night. (If sitting at the island countertop dicking around on his phone while providing the occasional sassy commentary on his boyfriend's workday stories counted as helping.)

"Ooooh…" Kuroo perked out his lips and then contorted his features into a wide-eyed yikes face. He scooted his dark framed glasses into their proper place on the bridge of his nose and continued, "We done screwed up bossman."

"We?" 

Kenma shut the fridge door and turned back to face his counterpart with a deadpan look of pouty displeasure. 

"You agreed to co-pilot this sugar rush mission, so yes, we," the lanky blocker insisted as he began wiping down the counter and stacking dirty utensils and mixing bowls. 

"Why would you suggest cookies if we had no milk?" The former setter asked in monotone, sinking back into a stool at the countertop and burying his face into a melted pile of hoodied arms. 

Now that wasn’t exactly the reaction Kuroo had expected. 

In this moment Kenma wasn't unlike a sulking child the way he was hiding (but not really) all buried there in the heap of too much fabric and bitterness. Or maybe he was more like a cat? Yea, definitely a very cute sulking cat. 

Nowadays Kenma was usually far too busy to indulge in much self pity, especially over something so trivial. His startup business, streaming schedule, and YouTube channel left little room for whiny bouts of non-productive time. Though it honestly didn't really bother Kuroo when his boyfriend got like this over seemingly small things. That big tech genius head of his was always so focused and engrossed in constant content creation and problem solving that he didn't blame him for getting pissy about the stuff that was technically under his partner's umbrella of household responsibilities. 

Not that Tetsurou liked it, but he got it.

Groceries were a Kuroo thing. Cooking was a Kuroo thing. Anything related to shopping in physical stores was generally a Kuroo thing. Hell, even thinking about groceries, cooking, or shopping was designated to him because Kenma didn't have (nor did he want to have) the mental space to devote to those things. He claimed that he sucked at them so he largely took care of other household things to make it fair—laundry, paying bills, scheduling house maintenance and the like. They both agreed to this division long ago otherwise they'd probably be eating takeout deliveries from the same cycle of local restaurants every night while consuming irresponsible levels of energy drinks (and not the zero cal kind Kuroo always bought them).

"Do you want to lick the booowl?" The bed-headed fool asked in an apologetic, hopeful tone as he leaned the majority of his upper body onto the counter down to Kenma's eye-level while treating himself to a generous spoonful of raw leftover cookie dough. 

"I can't," Kenma's bitter voice came from the pile of multi-colored bangs and skinny limbs obscured by the loose folds of the dark navy hood and crimson color-blocked sleeves. 

"Why not?" Kuroo insisted, tugging lightly on the smidge of blonde dye left in his ponytail because he was too cute not to tease at the moment.

"Because there's no milk..."

"You don't need milk to enjoy cookie dough Kenma..."

"Says the old man who drank it all."

"I did not! You had a bowl of cereal at noon and then a protein shake with me after work. And who are you calling old? " Kuroo jabbed his licked-clean spoon into Kenma’s shoulder.

"So you admit it," came his boyfriend's still muffled voice as he spoke directly into his baggy crossed arms and the countertop.

"Admit what? I’m only one year older than you!"

"You used it all. You knew it was gone," Kenma clarified in sharp vitriol.

"Baaabe. I'm sorry, okay?" Kuroo half laughed at the absurdity of the conversation. So this was how the night was going to go...

"Do you really want it that bad? I'll go get some," the tall cat offered genuinely, still leaning his heavy core far too much on the granite countertop as he checked the time on his fitness tracker. It was past dinner but not so late that he couldn't run out real quick. Thank the impatience of modern society for 24-hour convenience stores...

"No," Kenma huffed as he finally turned his pretty, yet stone cold face sideways atop an arm and began tapping away on his phone.

"Kenma, seriously, I'll just go to the konbini around the corner real quick," the blocker offered again, trying not to grin at the terribly adorable pout now visible on his boyfriend's face. Kuroo was overcome with the extreme urge to kiss it away. You know, to aim for the irresistible puffy cheeks until Kenma had no choice but to crack a wide smile because he was ticklish, especially the closer you got to his jawline and neck. However, if he tried that move right now Kuroo was 80% certain he’d get shoved in the face. Hard.

Ultimately, the moody streamer said nothing. He simply continued to ignore his milk-thieving boyfriend and forcefully thumb at his device.

"You giving me a one star review or something?" Kuroo's curious knuckle prodded the pale sensitive skin along the baby fine hairs of his exposed neck to an immediate squirm of protest.

"No," Kenma reiterated grumpily, somehow retreating even more into the hoodie that wasn’t his. 

Maybe that’s why Kenma stole it? So he could pull this bullshit turtle move if Kuroo got too handsy with the ponytail he’d insisted on? What an ornery little genius he was...

"Then what are you doing?" The blocker poked his boyfriend's cheek with one finger then snatched his hand back just in time to not be swatted.

"Fixing this," the gamer stated with blunt finality.

"Fixing..." Kuroo's eyes furrowed quizzically beyond his frayed bangs and dark rims.

Then his eyes blew wide with realization. 

"Kenma, no!" Kuroo flattened his huge tan palm overtop the entirety of the offending phone and typing hand, sandwiching them hard into the countertop much to his partner's annoyance. 

"Babe, that is not what task rabbits are for!"

"This is exactly what they're for," Kenma shot back trying to free his hand so that he could continue placing an online grocery delivery for however many milks got him up to the minimum charge. He'd buy one of every flavor twice if he had to. Three times even.

But the blocker held firm. 

"I will go get you milk, okay? It's no biggie," Kuroo tried to make eye contact with his boyfriend's handsome (yet decidedly irritated) golden eyes but Kenma was still refusing to look at him. Instead he glared distantly into the counter space beneath their hands. 

"I don't want you to…" Kenma mumbled half into a fold of his sleeve.

"Why not?" 

At this, the former setter tucked his face back into his hoodied arm like the pile of milkless misery that he was.

"I can wait until the cookies are done so you don't have to get them out yourself if that's what you're worried about," the bed-headed fool reassured him knowing that Kenma hated dealing with anything in the kitchen. He'd accidentally burned, sliced, and banged himself up enough times for Kuroo to unofficially "ban" him from most cooking and baking activities that involved more than two ingredients without adult supervision. (Kuroo apparently considered himself the adult here.)

But at the promise of not having to handle a hot pan Kenma still made an annoyed throat sound and scrunched up his nose. Even though he couldn’t see it, Kuroo could tell he was doing this by the wrinkles that appeared on the side of his face near the corner of his eye.

"What?" The tall cat asked genuinely, biting his own smile at his boyfriend's ridiculously dramatic overreaction. He was honestly confused about what was happening right now.

The small cat said nothing, but did shift slightly—enough to reveal part of his face which displayed another stoic yet conflicted pout.

"Kenma, seriously, what is it?" Kuroo tried again, dusting two long careful fingers over his forehead to properly see his face beneath the few strands of mussed bangs there.

"I don't want you to go…"

Kuroo's heart took a critical hit.

"I can be quick. I could even go get on my running shoes. Better than any other milk runner rando you'd get online," the blocker assured him, tucking the loose hair he’d been fiddling with behind his boyfriend's ear. Kenma's face fell into something more like neutral melancholy vs actual irritation.

"No…" Kenma very nearly whined. 

Strange. He wasn't normally a whiner either. Maybe a groaner or a lazy pants or a party pooper, but not really a straight up whiner...

But then things seemed to click behind Kuroo's dark grays. They softened considerably at the realization.

"You don't want to be alone, huh?" 

After a pause, Kenma shook his head the tiniest bit from his melted position on the island. Sharp golden eyes lingered blankly on his boyfriend's huge gentle hand which was still enclosed over his own. The grip was looser than before though, now simply holding onto him because he could. Kuroo's hands were always big enough to capture his perpetually chilled and poorly circulated fingers in their warmth.

Truthfully, there weren't very many nights each week that they could have uninterrupted time like this together. It was the blessing and curse of Kenma becoming a successful startup mogul and a globally-rising streaming personality. Some weeks were much harder for him than others so it was moderately safe to assume this one must have been challenging based on his seemingly "unwarranted" moodiness and snapfire agitation alone. 

In fact, Kuroo had thought he heard a few heated phone calls and long suffering groans earlier that afternoon when he’d gotten home from work. Most people who didn't know his boyfriend very well were unaware of the fact that Kenma Kozume had a silver quick sharp tongue and could easily deploy it to make business happen and cut through epic levels of bullshit. While this could be very entertaining depending on who it was directed at, Kuroo hated hearing it through the gaming office door because that only meant even more stress on his boyfriend who was already busting his ass each day multitasking and bossmaning.

But… maybe he was counting this milk mishap as more BS to deal with too? As much as Kuroo loved to mess with his boyfriend (figuratively, literally, always and forever) this wasn't intentional and he felt a little guilty for putting one more shitty thing on Kenma's plate when he was trying to put cookies there instead. 

Maybe he could turn it around though.

"Why don't you come with me then?" Kuroo suggested brightly, switching tactics. He stood up straight way too fast and realized that maybe he was too old to be leaning that far down onto low surfaces. Old man indeed.

"That's even worse… " Kenma mumbled bitterly with a partial eye roll just above the edge of his sleeve.

"Come on! It'll be fun! When was the last time you left the house? Last week? Last month?" The blocker chirped, slapping his hands together into a loud, enthusiastic clap to hype it up.

The gamer grunted noncommittally. 

"Seriously! Put some pants on dude and come for a walk with me. You'll feel like a real adult," Kuroo encouraged him.

"I am a real adult..." Kenma pouted as he slinked back onto his phone. 

"Okay, then prove it and put your big boy pants on already. It'll be just like old times, eh? You and me going on a quest just like we used to when we'd go pick stuff up for your mom. Except now we can get whatever we want without worrying about blowing the budget on candy and apple tea," Kuroo snickered at the fond childhood memories of rogue sugar purchases and their subsequent scoldings.

Truth be told, when they were younger Tetsurou had been very good at weaseling their way out of trouble, especially when he was doing it to cover up Kenma's own occasionally impulsive tendencies. Because seriously, the kid couldn't help blowing his family's errand money on "unnecessary things" vs "the list"—for the love of god these were the temptations of candy and apple tea. Did the boys really need a bunch of highly-caffeinated drinks and a butt load of sour gummies and konpeito rock candy? No, no they did not. BUT he would defend their irresponsible decisions to the end if it meant he could salvage Kozume parental relations enough to still sleep over, play games, and consume their convenience store loot all night long with his best friend.

"Hmm…" Kenma hummed in response to his boyfriend's call for pants and a cool evening walk to the corner store. He trailed this with a more or less defeated sigh.

"You want to stock up on sweets and iced tea now, don't you?" Kuroo guessed smugly, cocking a knowing brow high with a cheshire grin.

"Maybe…" The small cat admitted under his breath.

"Then it's settled!" The tall cat grinned even wider now like the mad scientist he often pretended to be.

Kuroo briskly padded around the island in his sweatpants and striped bumming-it muscle tank then leaned over placing a smooth kiss on the back of his grumpy companion's still mostly exposed neck. This easy access to the sensitive skin there may or may not have been the real reason Kuroo forced his boyfriend into a ponytail even though he full-well knew Kenma would not be actively assisting him in the kitchen. Ah, the perks of being a sneaky devil in love...

In a predictable response, Kenma scrunched up his shoulders as Kuroo's ticklish lips pressed a few more times against the grooves of his spine. His boyfriend's breath ghosting along the prickled skin sent fleets of goosebumps on down his back.

"Let's go babe. You. Me. Pants. Front door. Five minutes," Kuroo's low, deep voice pep-talked him in faux seduction as his knuckles razzed Kenma's heavily slumped shoulders. The blocker gave him one more forceful kiss on the top of his head for good measure then bounded off through the house presumably to get his own more socially acceptable pair of pants on.

It was in that moment that Kenma finally couldn't help the tiny grin that blossomed at the corners of his mouth. 

Kuroo always had a way with words. He was reliably unreliable when it came to sounding like a sane person, but the sweet weirdo was undeniably sincere and always had a genuine desire to want to make things right no matter how stupid or small they might seem. Kenma loved him for this. 

He loved him for a lot of things.

—

The walk wasn't even that long all things considered. The two Nekoma grads had commuted by foot much farther for school back in the day, so this was nothing by comparison even for someone like Kenma who had so woefully given up most of the exercise habits from his youth.

As they traversed the nighttime streets of little residential houses with gardens, gates, and autumn moths fluttering around the street lights and power lines Kenma realized he was actually quite unfamiliar with his own neighborhood. Their house was at the far end on a cul-de-sac surrounded by privacy trees, shrubs, and a yard with a fence which made it feel more secluded than most of the other houses here. With ride shares, rentals, and a few friends who had vehicles he rarely got the opportunity to simply walk anywhere nowadays, and even when they did walk he was usually nose down in his phone or a handheld.

Luckily, Kuroo knew exactly where to go.

He still did his crack of dawn jogs every morning while Kenma slept in from his self-structured nighttime work schedule. The blocker would slap a sweatband on that bedhead of his, pop in some bluetooth beats, and sprint out of the house just as the first traces of light bled into the sky. Kuroo had memorized every street, shortcut, and many of their closer neighbors' faces by now. He was on a friendly man-nod basis with the majority of them and even on a light conversation, "Do you need help with those groceries" basis with the old lady across the street whose house was similarly secluded. Apparently the three cats who often frequented the Kozume-Kuroo yard were hers. Both of them made sure to pet the wily, sweet felines whenever they visited.

"So is it dark enough out for you to wanna hold my hand?" A deep satin voice asked casually.

Kenma glanced over at his boyfriend who had donned a navy zip-up atop his gray joggers. He had, in fact, put on his obnoxiously bright highlighter red running shoes sporting white reflective stripes and trim. His still summer-tanned hand flexed down at his side temptingly for Kenma, the other hidden in his sweater pocket. 

The gamer sighed through his nose and looked down at his own pair of rarely worn gunmetal custom-embroidered Kodzuken kicks. He never got to wear any of his new shoes because he so rarely ever went out. 

"You're not being fair," Kenma spoke quietly into the suburban Tokyo hush. A vague, distant highway could be heard from here as could the sounds of mid-autumn insects that had yet to settle in before winter.

"What?" Kuroo partially laughed out of habit. His standard response to being called out. 

"You know I want to…" The former setter muttered, shifting his golden eyes away to look at the street gutter opposite from them. Crows were fussing with someone's trash bags on the sidewalk. Was trash day tomorrow? Kuroo always put theirs out. Sometimes Kenma forgot how many things his boyfriend did for them while he slept each morning...

"Yea, yea…" The blocker drew in a ragged, wary breath and then blew it out slowly with exaggerated puckered lips.

Kuroo put up with a lot, but Kenma knew this was one of the hardest things for him to try to not psych himself out about. 

Honestly, Kenma just never felt comfortable being too affectionate in places where people could see them together. It was a paranoia he hadn't been able to shake since they were teens. He just wanted to meld into the cityscape, unseen and unwatched by prying eyes. Unjudged. Left alone by the outside world. He didn't want the affection they shared to be marred by the shitty opinions and behavior of others. 

It wasn't that Kenma felt ashamed to be with Kuroo in the slightest (something the blocker originally had to riddle out after much confusing trial and error), it was more like he wanted to protect him. Protect them both. From embarrassment, from harassment, from all sorts of general douchebaggery because people could be assholes for the dumbest reasons—hand holding included. And as mouthy and confrontational as Kuroo could get sometimes when he was hot about something, cruel words and actions affected him deeply no matter who they came from. They used to cut deep for Kenma too, but after a lot of sorting through the anxieties of his youth (with therapy, coaching, earning fuck-you-level money) he now found that other people's unsolicited opinions were a massive waste of time and energy. There was no sense in giving idiots fodder for flames by drawing attention to themselves.

So as much as Kenma wanted to simply hold his boyfriend's hand as they made their way to the convenience store on that brisk autumn night, he refrained. He could hold him and give him attention when they got back home where it was safe. He could thank him in other ways.

A chilly breeze lifted the rogue strands of non-ponytailed bangs from Kenma's face just as a lanky arm hooked around his neck.

"Tetsurou," Kenma grunted half-flustered as his boyfriend drew his body in close like an awkward one-armed sideways bear hug.

"What?" Kuroo feigned innocence, continuing to walk normally while his shorter companion struggled to get in pace with him.

"Must you?" The gamer asked as he attempted to throw his heavy arm off, but as per usual Kuroo was too strong for him to do much about it. Kenma often blamed that Olympic level lifting routine he'd gotten from Bokuto, even if it was only the babyman version of it. (No one else they knew could actually deadlift like Koutarou. That boy was thick.)

"Must I what?" Kuroo mused, continuing his little clueless act.

"Be so possessive?" Kenma shot him a look.

"Me? Possessive? Kenma, clearly I'm drunk and you're just a real good friend helping me home," the tall cat explained matter-of-factly.

"You are so ridiculous…"

"Ridiculously drunk," Kuroo nodded in agreement, swaying a little of his body weight onto Kenma for dramatic effect.

"Ridiculously dumb," Kenma corrected, prodding a sharp finger into his side. 

"Ridiculously love drunk," the blocker whispered conspiratorially as he leaned even lower onto his much smaller and scrawnier boyfriend. He nuzzled his wild bedhead against Kenma’s roots, mussing up the pulled back hair.

"You need help," the former setter grunted under the panther-level heaviness that he legitimately couldn't handle for too much longer. Goddamn Kuroo and his goddamn loophole neediness...

"I've already got it," Kuroo smugly proclaimed, blowing a playful puff of air into Kenma's face to mess up his bangs too.

"Professional help," Kenma clarified with a huff.

"Kenma, this is your mess. You drove me to this state of inebriated insanity, so you're going to have to take some responsibility here."

Kenma sighed and eye rolled waiting for the monologue.

"Before you I was perfectly respectable," Kuroo began, waving his free hand out in front of them and ignoring his boyfriend's scoff. "And now look at me! Stumbling in the streets like an intoxicated wayward office worker lost on his original quest to find milk for his poor sugar-starved house husband."

Kenma's face wrinkled at the word choice.

"Looks like you're gonna have to pick up my slack on this mission Kodzuken," Kuroo noted with a classic snarky grin. He was such a cheeseball. 

"Sort of my life…" Kenma muttered.

At this, Kuroo gawked and finally stood up straight in order to actually shove his boyfriend. Fortunately, Kenma was ready enough for it and largely dodged the attack. He grinned naughtily at having broken through his companion’s silly facade. 

Kuroo was smiling too now, but he was also trying very hard not to in order to stay in his Hapless Love Drunk Office Worker character.

"You sir, need to take some responsibility!" The tall cat accused again playfully.

They rounded a corner which revealed more of a main through-traffic street with stop lights, more power lines, and other private single family residences among nighttime autumn-tinted trees.

"How might I do that?" Kenma humored him since Kuroo was still in such a mood. Maybe he had eaten too much raw cookie dough because he was being ornery as hell.

"You're gonna have to catch me to find out," Kuroo winked and before Kenma could even process what he'd said the blocker shot off running down the street.

"Shit," Kenma hissed to himself as he stood there realizing that his stupid hyper boyfriend wasn't slowing down and he still had no clue where the konbini was.

With another deep sigh, Kenma Kozume mustered all the strength, stamina, and patience inside himself to speed walk after his crazy nerdy wannabe athlete of a boyfriend.

Running could go to hell.

—

"You didn't catch me Kenma..."

"I did too."

"You did not. I was pretty much done shopping by the time you even walked in."

"You didn't stipulate when. I did find you..."

"You cheated and used your phone!"

"You abandoned me in the middle of nowhere because you can't just walk like a normal person. You looked like a thief running away like that..."

Kuroo frowned down at his boyfriend as the beeps from the checkout scanner rang up the other customer in front of them.

"I resent that," the blocker stated, tapping his fingers restlessly at his side along his jogger pants. "We're not nowhere and it was only a few blocks."

"You made me sweat," Kenma accused, flat-lining his lips and staring at the ridiculous amount of snacks, milk, iced tea, and energy drinks they'd collected in Kuroo's basket. 

Kuroo grinned naughtily.

"I did, did I? I'd like to make you do it again later if—OOF!"

Kenma removed his elbow from his boyfriend's ribcage and shot him a warning look. It was the "There are people around idiot, don't flirt with me" face.

"Owwwwah, Kenmaaa..." Kuroo whined and coughed a bit as he clutched his side with his free hand and tried not to drop the loaded shopping basket with the other.

"Can't you hold it until we get home?" The former setter mumbled as the cashier greeted them and started ringing up their haul.

"Only if I have to."

Kenma glanced up at his companion who had now resigned himself to both hands in his zip-up pockets, which were the safest places for them to be if he had to keep them to himself. He stared distantly at the checkout magazines and blind box toys while unconsciously chewing the inside of his cheek. It wasn't often that he did this, but it was one tiny tell Kenma knew meant he needed reassurance or risk bruised feelings.

"Outside then."

Kuroo looked up slightly dazed.

"Outside?"

"Wait until we're outside," Kenma vaguely clarified in front of the cashier lady but this was enough for Kuroo because that brilliant sly smile spread wide across his face again.

Occasionally, Kenma wondered why this man was so smitten with him, especially when (if he was being super honest) he himself could be kind of a moody stick-in-the-mud sometimes. However, these thoughts always disappeared when he was flooded with the same unexplainable, heart-fluttering surge of deep affection for him back like he did right now simply because Kuroo was smiling at him while trying (poorly) to contain his giddy anticipation. Love made no sense at all but it didn't have to in order for Kenma to know that he was unequivocally adored by the person who stood beside him right now indulging his late night sugar cravings and urgent need for a konbini run. 

Kenma's heartbeat silently quickened with Kuroo's self-satisfied gaze lingering on him. He tried very hard to ignore this as he tapped payment with his smartwatch but unfortunately a very light blush still crept up his neck and heated his face.

Great. Just great.

He was such a goner for this sweet dork.

—

A transformer buzzed above them as they made their way back down the little residential streets with hands full of their massively unnecessary grocery-bagged loot. By now, many of the lights from the windows and front doors of unknown neighbors had gone to sleep with their residents. While this was Kenma’s prime waking hours to stream, edit, and work these people lived on a completely different timetable than the gamer did, and truthfully he much preferred it that way.

The former setter stole a quick glance over at his tall companion who was simply looking down the road ahead, presumably enjoying the comfortable silence between them. The funny thing about Kuroo was that he knew precisely when to push buttons and when to hold back. For practical purposes, this made him good at drawing effort out of people by encouraging them when they needed it and giving them tough love when they needed that too. For one-off situations, like right now, Kuroo knew that Kenma's promise of "wait until we're outside" was not a button worth pressing. Kenma would initiate when he was comfortable.

There had been other times when Kenma tried to open up more in front of their friends or in subtle ways publicly despite his unwanted anxieties. Unfortunately, many of those instances only ended in disappointment because as it turns out it's actually quite difficult to overcome years of behavioral and psychological self-safety practices. Part of what made Kuroo the person that Kenma loved and appreciated more than anyone else in the world was his ability to understand this even though the blocker didn't feel the same way himself. 

Thankfully, Kuroo didn't really pressure Kenma about it anymore. He would offer affection sometimes when they were out or test certain boundaries if it had been a long time just to see if anything had changed, but he largely knew when and where to hold back. Kenma was grateful for that. Grateful for the patience and respect and space even though he knew it still bothered him in certain situations. Kuroo wouldn’t mention it anymore but Kenma could very clearly read the disappointment in his eyes whenever he refused his advances even if they were as innocent as hand holding.

Kenma shifted his grip on the plastic grocery bag between them. 

"Here..."

"Hm?"

Kuroo glanced over and saw Kenma's still faintly flushed face which was giving him something between nervous, neutral, and impatient energy. His duotoned bangs and ponytail drifted slightly in the leaf-scattered breeze.

"What?" The blocker raised an eyebrow.

"Did you want to or not?" The semi blonde muttered, anxiously shifting his golden gaze to the asphalt between them.

Kuroo's eyes traveled down to find that Kenma’s hand holding the grocery bag between them subtly had two fingers extended towards him. An offer.

"You sure that's discreet enough for you?" Kuroo asked, his smile growing at how cute his boyfriend was when he got mildly embarrassed.

For once Kenma did not come back with something snappy which, in combination with his still downcast look of apprehension, is how Kuroo knew that now he was pushing it. 

The fingers lowered on the plastic.

"Ah, that’s not what I meant," Kuroo amended, immediately feeling like a prick and shuffling his own bag to make room. "I do want to babe. Are you good like this though? Shouldn't be too obvious because of the loot, yea?"

He shifted his hand close to Kenma's at a dimly lit intersection, the drinks and sweets plunking together when the bags bumped one another. Their index and middle fingers intertwined snugly over the pull of thin white plastic. Kenma’s were chilled, but softer than his own despite so many hours a day bashing that keyboard of his. Kuroo thumbed his boyfriend's fingers reassuringly and felt a deep rumbling purr of contentment fill his chest. Even on the off chance that people were looking out their windows in the darkness at this hour they would only see two inconsequential late night shoppers walking home together. Nothing to worry about. No big deal.

Careful cat-like eyes flickered down to their incognito version of holding hands. Kuroo was an inferno of sweaty energy somehow warming up his entire body with only two fingers and the friction of his thumb. 

"It's fine," the semi blonde said at last. His heart palpitations said otherwise, but he willed himself to believe it.

"You're too good to me," Kuroo laughed, swinging their hands and the konbini bags ever so slightly. 

"You're going to mess up the drinks," Kenma commented, thinking about the carbonation he did not want to clean up off the tatami like he had the last time Kuroo was too expressive with the groceries.

"Eh, it's fine! You were gonna head straight for the milk and apple tea anyway," Kuroo reasoned logically having studied Kenma's snacking habits for the better part of two decades.

Kenma did not dispute this.

"Man, I didn't know I was getting this lucky tonight," Kuroo continued beaming genuinely as they walked. "Get to eat cookies with some of the finest convenience store milk in Japan AND hold my boyfriend's hand like we're two giddy little school girls! One more minute of this and we'll be skipping all the way to—"

"DON'T you fucking dare," Kenma spat and tried to pull his hand away but Kuroo had anticpated this and only drew him closer towards his shit-eating grin.

"I'm kidding, babe! Kidding," Kuroo's deep-bellied laughter fell into a snickers upon seeing the sourpuss glare on his boyfriend's face.

"Yea, well if you want to get any luckier tonight don't even think about skipping anywhere…" Kenma mumbled bitterly. The flush that never quite went away was now more apparent on his cheeks even in the sparse electric glow of moth-fluttering street lights.

Kuroo's eyes widened behind his thickly-rimmed frames.

"Wait, was that on the table?" The bed-headed fool asked immediately.

"Was what on the table?" 

"Kenma, you just insinuated having the sexy times after we go ham on these cookies," the blocker blinked rapidly in hopeful awe.

“No I didn’t,” the former setter denied in monotone.

“What? Babe, are you gaslighting me?” Kuroo’s mouth hung open affronted. 

“Maybe.” 

Kenma couldn’t help the wry smirk that crept onto his face.

“Don’t play with my heart Kozume—you have too much power and you’re abusing it,” Kuroo huffed, tugging Kenma’s fingers closer to him again as punishment.

Kenma shoulder bumped his boyfriend's sweatered arm, the smug satisfaction on his face fading to pensive reflection.

“Thanks for all this," the small cat murmured as they rounded the corner of their little secluded cul-de-sac. "You don't have to indulge me every time I complain or want something dumb. We could have easily gotten it delivered..."

"What and miss the opportunity to see you in actual pants? AND to be all lovey dovey with you outside the house? I think not Kenma. I'll indulge you every single time if it means I get to spend time with you like this," Kuroo reasoned while they walked past the privacy trees and on through the solar garden lights of their rental home's front yard. 

Once at the door, Kuroo reached for the house keys’ lanyard swinging freely from his jogger pants pocket, but before he could retrieve them he felt the insistent tug of two fingers on his own. His boyfriend's reflective golden eyes connected with his in half-lidded intensity.

"You should indulge me again then," Kenma nearly whispered, tone rumbling into a low purr. His face shrouded in curious mischief. 

"Oya? How can I be of service Kozume-san?" Kuroo's deep voice rolled into his own delighted friskiness as Kenma shifted a grocery bag into the tall cat’s hand—formally withdrawing from their near-skip-worthy PDA.

What Kuroo didn’t expect next was his boyfriend’s now free hand slipping into his joggers.

"You. Me. Bedroom. No pants. Five minutes," Kenma breathed onto Kuroo's neck, tugging one of his zip-up hoodie strings and sending major chills down Kuroo’s spine. Withdrawing from his pocket, the house keys chimed against each other swinging from the faded freebie MSBY black jackals promo lanyard they’d gotten from Bokuto a few years back.

And even though every fiber in him knew it was incredibly stupid, Kuroo asked the first thing that popped into his kitchen geek brain anyway. 

“What about your cookies?”

For half a moment Kenma did in fact stare at his boyfriend like he was stupid, but then he bit back the tiniest smile and shook his head.

“I’ve found something sweeter to binge on.”

The groceries had never been put away faster than they were on that night.