Work Text:
“Finally,” Kuroo leaned back in his desk chair and rubbed his neck. He picked his phone up off the desk and checked the time. Two in the morning. He finally finished his weekend homework. He glanced over at Kenma, who was playing a game on the TV in Kuroo’s room, “Are you winning?” Kuroo asked,
“yes,” Kenma replied, focusing intently on the screen. Apparently this new apocalyptic sequel was supposed to either be horrible or amazing depending on your view of the story.
Kuroo sighed, “You know the drill, I’m going to go brush my teeth and go to bed, you should do the same, we have a Saturday practice tomorrow,” he said, figuring it was better not to argue with Kenma. He found suggesting worked better to get him to comply.
Kenma frowned at the screen at the mention of a weekend practice, but didn’t say anything as Kuroo walked to the bathroom. Kuroo was slightly concerned when he came back and changed, that the game wasn’t already powered off. He layed out the futon for Kenma and crawled into bed,
“You should really go to bed,” Kuroo pushed, setting an alarm.
“I will,” Kenma replied, muting the game.
Kuroo frowned but layed down anyway.
Fifteen minutes passed
Kuroo poked his head out from his pillows, “Kenma,”
“I will, one second,”
Another fifteen minutes.
“Kenma, bed,”
“Yes, I know,”
After another ten minutes Kuroo had enough.
“Kenma,” he scolded, throwing back his covers and getting out of bed.
“I know, one sec-” Kuroo didn’t wait for him to finish, he pulled the controller out of his hands,
“No!” Kenma exclaimed. Kuroo froze.
Kenma scolded himself, now Kuroo would know something was wrong. Kuroo quickly switched off the console and TV. He knelt beside Kenma, the question of concern resting in his expression. Kenma looked down at his hands,
“It’s nothing,” Kenma said, standing up, “let’s just go to bed,” he began walking to his futon, Kuroo grabbed his hand to stop him, “I said it’s nothing-” Kenma stopped as Kuroo looked up, his eyes were watery,
“Please tell me,” Kuroo whispered, trying to hide the shakiness in his voice. Kenma tilted his head down, hiding his face with his hair,
“I know you’ve been doing this, I see how tired you’ve been the past couple weeks, the rings around your eyes have been getting darker. It’s hurting your health, please tell me so I can help,” Kuroo pleaded, still holding his hand. Kenma stared at the floor,
“I’ve been having nightmares,” Kenma offered, a simple explanation.
“About what? A scary game? Or volleyball? Or training lev?” Kuroo joked, swallowing the lump in his throat.
Kenma pulled his hand away, “you,”
Stunned, Kuroo let his arm drop. His mind then started going through every possible scenario, “have I been too hard? What did I do? Am I not being a good captain? Am I-”
“No,” Kenma said, barely above a whisper but it stopped Kuroo dead in his tracks, “your mother,” Kenma continued, “I saw her, at a store in the city a couple weeks ago, I don’t know what it was but now…” he trailed off and took a breath, turning toward Kuroo, “my mind echos with her words from years ago, I remember hearing them, even from across the street,” he knelt in front of Kuroo as a tear slipped down his stunned face. Kenma leaned forward to hug him, “I remember how badly she hurt you and your father, when I try to sleep I am enraged. I’m angry that it happened, angry that I couldn’t do anything, and angry for not slapping her where she stood,” Kenma confessed, tightly holding his friend.
They sat there for a while as Kuroo returned the embrace, quietly crying into Kenma’s shoulder, “it’s not your fault,” Kenma finished, pulling back.
Kuroo sniffed, wiping his eyes, “sorry, I’m a mess,” he choked out, he didn’t think he could be so impacted by so few words. Kenma was so silent but he never knew he remembered that much, or cared that deeply about what had happened.
“You’re not,” Kenma replied, “sorry for dumping that on you,”
“Are you kidding? I’m glad you did, I didn’t think you remembered that time, it was so long ago,” Kuroo admitted,
Kenma stared down, “yeah,”
“I suppose we should actually get some sleep though,” Kuroo said, standing up and giving Kenma a hand. Kenma embraced Kuroo once more, knowing he needed it,
“Kuroo,”
“Hmm?”
“Can we sleep like this?”
“Sure, Kenma,”