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Kenma sighed loudly for the fourth time. Kuroo didn't even turn around.
"You cheated," Kenma said with a frown. That got Kuroo to wheel around to face him with a smug grin.
"How?" he demanded. Kenma looked to the side at the passing cars on the road.
"You practiced on your own," he muttered. Kuroo let out a quick bark of laughter.
"That's not cheating. You're just upset that I beat you and your high score for that track."
"Whatever," Kenma muttered again. "That track's boring, anyway."
"Wow," Kuroo said, bringing his hands to the back of his head and stretching to look up at the chill spring night. "You really do hate losing."
"Doesn't everyone?" Kenma shrugged, and Kuroo didn't try to quip back at that one. "Where are we going, anyway?"
"Bet was that we do whatever I want for two hours."
Kenma stopped walking. It took Kuroo a few more steps to notice, and when he turned around, Kenma's face was scrunched up in an impressive annoyed frown. "Don't tell me you found someone to play volleyball this late at night." It was equal parts exasperated, dreading, and threatening.
"I have other interests, you know," Kuroo said with a wink, and turned to keep walking. Kenma hesitated slightly, before resuming his pace with another sigh. "Fine. We're going to a party."
"A what?"
"A party. A social gathering. You know, where people talk to each other in real life."
"Now I almost wish we were going to play volleyball."
"We don't have to stay the full two hours."
"Oh, good-"
"-but we do have to stay long enough for you to get into at least five classic high school party situations."
Kenma narrowed his eyes at the back of Kuroo's head. "What does that mean?"
"Haven't you ever seen a teen movie?" Kuroo blinked, realizing his own question. "Okay, okay. Classic high school party things are stuff like... try drinking alcohol."
"What if I don't like it?"
"That's fine, you just have to try it. It counts as another if you finish a whole red plastic cup of beer, but only if you want to. It can be any five things, you don't have to stick to the things I'm listing-"
"-yeah, okay, I get it. What are some other examples?"
"Oh! Talk to someone in your class who you usually wouldn't talk to."
"That one's easy. Can't I just do that five times and have it count?"
"Nope. Gotta be five unique experiences."
"Ugh, fine. What else?"
"Dance on top of a table."
"Absolutely not."
Kuroo shrugged. "Um. Flirt with someone."
Kenma walked in silence until Kuroo cleared his throat and spoke again.
"No opinions on that one?"
"I'm making a mental quest list."
"...oh," Kuroo said, rubbing the spot behind his head at the base of his neck that he always goes to when he's thinking. "That makes sense."
"Oh, I've seen one of these movies!" Kenma said so suddenly that Kuroo nearly jumped in front of him.
"Yeah? Got any ideas for other quest options?"
Kenma started listing off things quickly, counting them on his hand. "Let's see. Drunkenly throw up somewhere embarrassing. Walk in on someone you know making out. Crash through a glass sliding balcony door-"
"-let's take property damage and potential bodily harm off the table," Kuroo interjected, and Kenma nodded, continuing his list.
"Get in a fight with your best friend-"
"-on a personal level, I hope you don't choose that one-"
"-Confess your love to your crush..." Kenma trailed off a little as Kuroo rubbed that spot at the base of his neck again. "Oh, and kiss your crush."
"That about covers it, yeah," Kuroo said, stopping his stroll in front of a small house alive with loud music and flashing lights. "We're here. Do you feel equipped for the mission?"
Kenma nodded, stuffing his hands in his hoodie pockets. Kuroo held out his hand expectantly. "What?"
"Insurance."
Kenma groaned. "But I'm already here-"
"-not one of the things we listed involved video games. You don't need your handheld to take part in this kind of party."
Grumbling, Kenma handed over the game system to a grinning Kuroo. "I get this back as soon as I do the five things, and then we can leave?"
"That's the deal," Kuroo confirmed, pocketing the handheld. He watched as Kenma squared his shoulders next to him, standing a little taller than usual.
"Okay," Kenma said with an amount of confidence that surprised Kuroo, "let's get to it."
It was bad luck that the person who opened the door when Kenma knocked happened to be Lev, smiling widely and holding a surprisingly content cat. "I didn't know you were coming to this! Look, their cat is so nice!" He offered the calico cat as Kenma frowned and walked past ignoring him but gently scratching the top of the cat's head in the process. Kuroo nodded and ducked his way through the door, leaving Lev to close it behind them and go back to the arm chair he was occupying, carefully setting the cat down on his lap once more.
"Please tell me I know more people at this thing than just you and Lev," Kenma muttered. Kuroo looked around at the crowded living room.
"Yaku said he'd stop by. I think Tora did too, I'm not sure if they're here yet, though."
Kenma groaned slightly, and made a direct line for the kitchen, finding the stereotypical red solo cup and filling it with the closest beer-like liquid he could find. He turned to walk back to Kuroo, finding the taller teen only a few steps behind him.
Kenma raised his glass theatrically and took a sip. He paused. "That's not actually that bad," he said, taking another sip. Kuroo looked into the cup curiously, and Kenma offered it before he could ask.
It was definitely ginger beer, non-alcoholic. Kuroo smiled, vowing to reveal this to Kenma later, as it was technically still within the rules they defined. Kenma took the cup back and continued drinking, walking around and searching the crowd for familiar faces.
"There," Kenma said, nodding at a girl chatting with some other students near the stairs. "She's in my class."
"Do you even know her name?" Kuroo asked. Kenma shrugged.
"That wasn't part of the quest," he said, striding forward. The girl caught a glimpse of him walking up and turned, smiling, and started saying how she was starting to think they were going to go the whole year without actually speaking to each other.
There was sufficient small talk - she'd watched one of their matches on tv, Kenma talked about how tiring the spring tournament was, she asked how he did on their last exam. At one point she took out a piece of paper and wrote something down, and turned back to her friend group again as Kenma quietly went back to regroup with Kuroo, finishing his ginger beer.
"If I got her number, that counts as a point too, right?" Kenma asked casually.
"I'm starting to think five things was not enough of a challenge," Kuroo muttered.
"I'm just getting the easy ones out of the way first," Kenma said with a shrug. "Keeping track of my completed quests?"
"Yep. The beer in the red cup, the classmate conversation, and getting someone's number. I guess that counts as the flirting one."
Kenma nodded, scanning the room again for familiar faces. "Now the real challenge begins." Kuroo grinned behind him, watching him square off against the threat of the teenage high school party experience.
Forty five minutes later, Kenma was still sitting at the same completed quests, and growing increasingly impatient. He was pacing in front of the arm chair Kuroo had decided to sit in and drink his own ginger beer from.
"You could always dance on a table," Kuroo offered helpfully, receiving a well-earned glare.
"Let's go look around the rooms," Kenma suggested. Kuroo raised one eyebrow but got up easily, draining the last of the liquid remaining in his cup, and following after a determined Kenma.
"Why are we doing this?" Kuroo asked, ducking down a bit as they climbed the stairs so he didn't hit his head on the ceiling.
"How am I going to walk in on someone I know making out if I stay in one spot?" Kenma said matter-of-factly, and Kuroo chuckled under his breath.
"So you think opening the doors to random rooms is a better plan?"
"Gotta go to the right dungeon to find the right monster," Kenma replied, opening a door casually, and frowning at the empty room. Kuroo stuck his head in the door too, grinning.
"No luck here."
Kenma shut the door swiftly, taking a step back almost into Kuroo, and continuing down the hallway to the next door. He opened that one with a little more fanfare, but it was just an empty bathroom.
The third door was a room where a person had taken refuge from the crowd and was playing a game on their phone. They looked up quickly and muttered "shut the door," which Kenma did with a notable air of wistfulness that was not lost on Kuroo.
It was the fourth door that proved Kenma's point, as he opened it quickly and light spilled into the room onto unmistakable white-tipped hair, spiked into two points like owl feathers. "Bokuto," Kenma said with a quiet air of triumph, as Bokuto's head moved to reveal a stunned and obviously blushing Akaashi.
"Oh, hey, I didn't know you two were gonna be he-" Bokuto started saying but was cut off by Kenma quickly shutting the door again, and turning to Kuroo with a satisfied grin, holding his hand out expectantly.
"Quests complete," Kenma said smugly. Kuroo was still staring at the now closed door, half in shock, half expecting it to burst open for Bokuto to finish his sentence. Kenma cleared his throat and Kuroo finally looked down at his open hand.
"What? That was only four."
"Walked in on someone I know making out," Kenma listed patiently, "talked to someone I usually don't talk to, got her number, drank a full cup of beer, and tried alcohol. Five."
Kuroo smirked. "You drank non-alcoholic ginger beer. That only counts for the first one."
Kenma narrowed his eyes and lunged forward towards Kuroo's pocket, but the volleyball captain was a step ahead, bringing the handheld game system out of his pocket and holding it high above his head. "You tried the beer! You should have said!"
"It still counted for the beer in the red cup quest, so, technically, it was still correct."
Kenma frowned, standing on his toes in an attempt to reach the game system, hanging one arm off of Kuroo's bicep in the process. "I hate games like this. Technically correct, but still not all the way correct," he muttered.
"You've still got another hour," Kuroo said. "We can find a table-"
Kenma groaned. "Another hour? We've only been here an hour?"
Kuroo stopped smirking and waving his hand high out of Kenma's reach. "Hey," he said, his voice suddenly serious. "Do you actually hate this?"
Kenma stopped trying to pull Kuroo's arm down at the tone shift, glancing down the hallway to avoid eye contact. "Not really," he admitted. "New quests are...interesting."
"Okay," Kuroo said, his shoulders relaxing with visible relief. "I just wanted to make sure."
Kenma glanced back at the slightly less on guard Kuroo, and with unexpected speed bunched the taller teen's shirt in one hand and yanked down swiftly until their lips met.
Kuroo's raised arm fell to his side immediately, his tight grip on the small video game system loosening in surprise. His other hand braced against the wall behind Kenma's head to help keep him on his feet. Kenma's hand was still tugging at his shirt, keeping him in place. His lips were...soft. Much softer than Kuroo expected. Kuroo had thought about this, yes. Obviously. A lot, actually. But he hadn't ever thought that Kenma would have such a tight and unyielding hold on his shirt, or that it would go on for this long, or the way Kenma's soft, slightly warm lips felt pressed against his. Or the way Kenma's other hand was lacing through his, over his fingers, slipping the game system out of his grip--
--wait a minute.
By the time Kuroo opened his eyes, Kenma had already released his shirt, pocketed the handheld game system, and was grinning at him like he'd just won several rounds in their favourite fighting game in a row.
"Five," Kenma said smugly.
"Uh," Kuroo said, trying to find words. "Uh, did you just-"
"-we can leave, now. You said."
Kuroo's hand traveled behind his head awkwardly and started rubbing the base of his neck again. "Kenma."
"Hmm?" Kenma said simply, having the audacity to look totally normal right now.
"We never said that kissing your friend to steal back your video game was one of the quests."
"No," Kenma agreed. "But kissing your crush was on the list." He turned back towards the staircase to the exit, taking a few steps by himself and Kuroo stood, frozen while a blush slowly overtook his face. "Anyway, I'm gonna leave. You coming?"
Kuroo smirked, his shoulders shaking with a quiet laugh, before turning as well. "Yeah. Lead the way."