Work Text:
Kenma tears the wrapping paper off the box, revealing a very expensive headset. He can see the price sticker on the back of the box.
“Thank you, Aunt Aiko. I appreciate it,” Kenma muttered, putting the box to the side for now.
He still has a few more gifts to open before his oh-so-exciting 18th birthday party is over. It wasn’t really a party, it was just his family coming over to celebrate, but he figures it’s the same thing. Ever since Kuroo graduated Kenma hasn’t had a party. Or hung out with anyone besides the volleyball team, truthfully. His boyfriend just had to pick a college three hours away, so trying to plan a good time for him to visit was a pain in the ass.
Kenma finished opening his gifts and saw his family goodbye as they left his house. He gathered his new belongings and told his parents he was going to his room for the night and that they should yell if they need him.
Setting the gifts on the bed, he begins to think about where to put them. He hangs all the clothes he got up in his closet, adds the new succulent plant to his desk, puts the new kneepad in his volleyball bag. He reaches for the headset box so he can take the headset out and test it.
Oh, fucking hell, dude. This thing has cat ears on it, Kenma realized when he turned the box to the front.
It’s not like anyone will see them, I don’t show my face in my streams, it’s fine. And besides, it’s not like I bought them. They were a gift and it’d be rude of me to not use them after Aunt Aiko spent so much on them. She didn’t know any different, Kenma rationalized in his head.
…
Kenma was so excited for this new game to release, he’s been ranting about it to Kuroo for two months now. Clicking download, Kenma’s phone rings. He knows it’s Kuroo because Kuroo literally just texted him,
hey i’m gonna ft u in a sec when i get out of class :p
So it wasn’t weird when Kenma hit the green accept button without a second thought.
“Kenma! I miss your face babe,” Kuroo said through the phone, he must have had it propped up on something because he was now rummaging through his backpack for something.
“Hi Kuroo,” Kenma smiles at his boyfriend’s comment, knowing he missed Kuroo’s face just as much.
“Oh my god so just now in class my calculus professor was writing on the board, right? He’s writing out a practice problem and out of nowhere the marker fucking explodes. He turned around Kenma and I swear his entire face and neck were bright blue, it even got on his-” Kuroo found whatever he was looking for, which was his calculator, and turned to face his phone before continuing his story, “Kenma... are those cat ears?”
Kenma’s face flusters the deepest red it probably ever has as he reaches to take the headset off. “I can explain dude, don’t say anything,” he starts.
“Should I meow? Is that appropriate? Kenma, look at you,” Kuroo teases and doubles over in laughter on the screen, “Meow.”
“Please shut it Kuroo, it was a gift from Aunt Aiko for my birthday last week,” Kenma pleads with Kuroo to stop laughing at him.
“Hey wait, put it back on and put more of your face in the frame,” Kuroo says.
Confused, Kenma reached to put the headset back on and propped his phone up against his water bottle and stared. Next thing he knew, Kuroo grabbed his phone and there was the tiny notification that Kuroo had taken a screenshot.
“Kuroo, what the hell?! Dude delete that,” Kenma practically yelped.
“No, you look kind of cute. Hey babe does this mean you’re a catboy now?” Kuroo asked.
“Never call me that again,” Kenma deadpanned.
…
“Kenma honey, Kuroo’s here,” Kenma’s mom yelled from the living room.
Kenma was already on his way to the front door, Kuroo had texted him that he was here just a second ago. He made it to the front door and opened it, letting his ridiculously tall boyfriend into his home.
“Hi Kuroo,” Kenma said with the smallest trace of a smile on his face.
“Hi, Kenma. Hi second mom and dad too, I’ve missed you guys!” Kuroo said as he turned to take off his shoes behind the couch Kenma’s parents were sitting on.
Kenma grabbed Kuroo’s hand and started dragging him to his room. When they got inside his room, Kenma snaked his hands into Kuroo’s jacket and around his waist. He laid his head on Kuroo’s chest and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“I missed you Tetsurou,” Kenma whispered into Kuroo’s shirt.
Kuroo hugged Kenma back and ran one hand through his boyfriend’s bleached hair. “I know, Ken. Facetimes stop working after a few weeks. I was so swamped with homework though I couldn’t make the three hour drive up here,” Kuroo was apologizing, but he avoided the word sorry. Kenma didn’t like it.
“It’s okay, I know,” Kenma pulled away and went to sit on his bed while Kuroo took the chair in front of his PC. Kuroo always liked to sit and poke at Kenma’s computer, he never played video games so it was all neat to him.
“Where’s that headset, the one with the cat ears?” Kuroo asked as he dug through a drawer.
Kenma rolled his eyes, “I have it put up somewhere you can’t find it, because you’ve made enough catboy jokes over the last three weeks.”
“But babe I wanna see it on you in person,” Kuroo pleaded and dragged his words.
Kenma blushed, just barely, but Kuroo still managed to see.
“Aw is my favorite catboy blushing?” Kuroo poked.
“I thought I told you to never call me that again,” Kenma stopped but then, “I’m not a fucking catboy Kuroo.”
“Ken, relax I’m joking and the headset is cute, that’s all, so please,” Kuroo said in his own defense.
“You’re lucky I like you,” Kenma groaned as he went to get the headset out of his closet. After digging for a minute, he found it and took it over to Kuroo at his PC. He put it on, pushing his hair behind it, and stared at Kuroo.
Kuroo smiled and grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket. Pointing the camera at a smiling Kenma, he snapped one good picture before Kenma was slapping his phone out of his hands.
“Hey! I didn’t do anything!” Kuroo exclaimed and grabbed his phone off the floor. He went to his camera roll and saw the one non-blurry picture of Kenma smiling and wearing the cat ear headset. He quickly set it as his lock screen and then grabbed the headset from Kenma’s head.
“I just wanted a picture and to see you with it on in person. No more catboy or meowing jokes, I promise,” Kuroo said as he placed the headset on the table and grabbed Kenma to pull him onto his lap.
Kenma’s face was redder than any tomato on earth as he said, “Yeah you are so lucky I love you. And yeah, no more catboy jokes. You’re super cute but that doesn’t make them less annoying.”
“I love you too, you grump. Meow,” was all Kuroo got out before Kenma was softly punching his chest and curling into him.