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Kuroo had suggested Kenma to begin streaming and try a career as a YouTuber during one of their promised calls while Kuroo was away for university. The setter was hesitant on the idea - not liking to have a few people watching him. But with Kuroo’s support, Kenma pushed through and gave it a try. Kenma knew deep down, no matter what, he could never say no to his childhood friend.
Kenma have asked Fukunaga to come up with a name for his channel and was pleasantly pleased when the comedian-inspired suggested ‘Kodzuken’. Kuroo had let out his infamous annoying hyena laugh when Kenma had told him but agreed nonetheless. It was a good name.
The setter began streaming on his father’s computer. It was old but it would work. Kenma wasn’t too picky on his equipment just yet. He opened his stream for a few of their friends only as a test run. He wasn’t used to being watched with the exception of Kuroo, so having 10 people watching him play live was nerve-wracking. But somehow he managed to pulled through. Kuroo was also obnoxious in his promotion method; promoting Kenma’s channel at any given chance he’d get to his fellow classmates or schoolmates alike and slowly, Kenma watched his subscribers and view counts increase. Hopefully most of them weren't from Kuroo's constant nagging and bragging.
Once Kenma was confident enough, he decided to use the crappy webcam that came along with the old computer for a face reveal and began to feel comfortable with letting people see his face.
Kenma stayed silent as he waited for the viewers to join the stream. He could see chat beginning to pour in with greetings and questions flooding his chat questioning who was sitting beside him. Once he deemed everything was set up, Kenma gave a small wave to the camera, “Evening everyone, thank you for tuning in today. For today’s special 5k stream, we’re going to play a game with a special guest.”
“Greetings Kodzuken viewers, I am Kuroo Tetsurou, Kodzuken’s childhood and best friend!” Kuroo grinned, waving at the camera. “And I would like to flex that I was his first ever subscriber!”
“No one cares.” Kenma murmured, looking at the chat. “See? Even Yaku-kun agrees.”
“Go away Yakkun.” Kuroo glanced at the chat and suddenly squawked. “Wait, you made him a mod?”
“So he could ban you when you get annoying.” Kenma murmured under his breath but both the mic and Kuroo caught what he said.
“I am wounded, Kenma.” Kuroo pouted, pretending to sound hurt. “I was nice enough as your friend to come all the way here to appear as a guest on your stream and to celebrate your milestone, only to get attacked like this?”
“No one said you have to be nice.” Kenma tried to fight back a smile, “but we should get on with the schedule. The fans have voted on what game we should play today with you.”
“Oya? Which one is it? If it’s Virtual Fighter, I’m ready to beat you.” Kuroo warmed up his shoulders, smirking.
“Horror games.”
“What?” All the colors disappeared from Kuroo’s face.
“You heard me the first time.”
“I am definitely not deaf yes, but what?” Kuroo turned terrified, “we’re playing horror games?”
“That is what I said. Yes.” Kenma pulled up the poll, showing how the horror game genre won by a landslide.
“You’re joking…”
YakuMori: HAHAHA! Is Kuroo-kun secretly a scaredy cat??
“No I am not!” Kuroo huffed at Yaku’s message and Kenma mused. “Let’s play, what game do you have?”
“Five Nights at Freddy’s.”
Kuroo had screamed and squealed far too many times, much to Kenma’s amusements. Even Yaku and their friends had a ball of a time watching the ever provocation expert to be such a scaredy cat and so bad at horror games. Kuroo’s compilation of being surprised by jump scares were created after the stream, thanks to Fukunaga’s hard work. Totally ignoring how Kuroo would reach for Kenma's arm as a way to calm himself after a jump scare.
Kuroo continued to appear on as Kenma’s guests over the years as his channel grew. And almost every time, he was tortured by sitting through and play horror games. He was the fans’ favorite among all the guests Kenma had, mainly because they thoroughly enjoyed the cool and calm-headed childhood friend to be a huge wuss when it came to horror games.
“Evening Kodzuken’s viewers! It is the great Kuroo Tetsurou again!” Kuroo laughed the moment Kenma turned on the camera. “We’re celebrating Kenma’s huge milestone for hitting 1 million subscribers today!” He popped a toy confetti, making the streamer jumped slightly.
“Since when did you bring that in?” He hissed, hitting Kuroo’s chest.
“What? I have to celebrate your achievement somehow. I’m so proud!” He grinned, pulling Kenma in for a side hug in which the streamer immediately pushed him off, a small blush on his face.
“Yeah, yeah.” He sighed, turning to the chat. “Sorry, I haven’t said what we’ll be doing for today’s special stream yet.” He sighed, “due to popular request, we’ll be doing a Q&A session so you can ask anything about me and Kuro. Of course, we get the rights to not answer your questions if we’re uncomfortable.” He gave them a quick explanation before turning to Kuroo.
“Oh.” He grinned, pointing down. “Kenma had set up a link where you can click on it to submit your questions. The mods should have it and can spam it in the chat as well. Any questions that were typed in the chat will be ignored.”
The two sat for a while, talking random things before Kenma pulled the site open on his other monitor and they began to answer some questions. The questions were fairly simple, ranging from how old both of them were or if Kuroo had a job yet. Questions about how they met and how they were able to still be friends for so long also pop up.
“Kuroo-san, what job to you want to apply for once you graduate…” Kuroo read the question before turning to the camera, grinning. “Bold of you to assume I already don’t have a job.” He hummed, “I’ve been interning for about 2 years now and will be working full-time for the Japan Volleyball Association in the coming April.”
“No matter what, you’ll always find a way to get back to volleyball huh…” Kenma hummed, scrolling to find more questions.
“Of course! Volleyball is an amazing sport! It connects people together and hardly no one dies.”
Kenma tried to hold back his snort. “Alright nerd, I’ll need you to stop right there before you start rambling about how sports are beneficial to our lives.” One question caught Kenma’s eyes. “Are you two dating?” He read the question aloud and Kuroo visibly froze in his seat. It took Kenma a bit too long for his liking before he shook his head, “we are not. Just friends.”
“We’re childhood friends so I guess some of our actions may have confused people.” Kuroo added, nodding. “Even our friends get confused a lot too.” He laughed weakly. Nope, they were definitely not dating. Just close friends. Childhood friends that have been together for the past 16 years.
A follow up question caught both of their attentions but they had decided to ignore it and moved on. Tension was suddenly thick for the rest of the stream but hardly anyone noticed. When the stream ended, Kuroo acted as if nothing had happened and stood up to prepare dinner for Kenma. This is normal for friends, right? Kuroo had decided to crash at Kenma’s place for the night so this was the least he could do as a guest. But that question definitely plague not only Kuroo’s, but Kenma’s head as well.
For the next few streams, Kenma was thankful that no one questioned about his relationship with Kuroo again and the fans had long just concluded that Kuroo was just a very caring friend and everyone was jealous of Kenma to have someone like Kuroo.
“Pokemon Sword and Shield is dropping soon; I was thinking we can either do a Sleeplocke or Nuzlocke.” Kenma hummed while he moved his character around, smiling slightly at how silly the game he playing was. “This is one destructive goose.” He mused, oblivious to the sound of the door opening.
“Oi Kenma, I brought you dinner!” His body came into the camera view, prompting the streamer to look up.
“I can feed myself, Kuro.” Kenma narrowed his eyes.
“Right, and how do you think I’ll believe that?” Kuroo huffed, “besides, I doubt your viewers won’t mind me intruding.” Kuroo leaned down to make himself visible on camera, “hello! Did you miss me?” He grinned.
“No. Now leave.” Kenma hit him lightly.
“The world-famous Kodzuken is kicking his precious friend out. I’m hurt.” Kuroo whined, “oi chat, make sure he eats or I’ll come back and end this stream myself.” He laughed at all the ‘no’s and ‘please eat, Kodzuken’s appearing in the chat.
Kenma sighed, hating how Kuroo was able to influence his chat so easily. “I’ll eat. Now leave. You have work to finish.”
“No need to remind me. I like it much better here.” He nudged onto him lightly, “but you’re right. I’ll leave. Have fun, kitten.” He ruffled Kenma’s hair before leaving, cackling at Kenma’s complaints.
Kenma sighed, fixing his hair while he turned to the chat. “Friend goals? You’re welcome to come and take him away. I don’t need him.” He went to pause his game and switch the screen, “we’ll take a dinner break. We can watch some videos or the chat can play some games while I eat.” He murmured, he then glanced at the chat, noticing how one particular line was being sent by multiple people. “Boyfriend goals? Yeah right.” Kenma scoffed.
Kuroo’s sudden appearance to force or remind Kenma to eat or sleep then became a regular scene for the stream. Everyone was pleased with how nagging Kuroo could get to remind Kenma to not overwork himself and Kenma hated how they would always be on Kuroo’s side.
“We’re back for another special stream for hitting 2 million followers.” Kenma sighed, glancing at Kuroo already waving at the camera. “Stop it.”
“What? Your fans love me!” Kuroo huffed up.
“As you can see, Kuro is back as a guest.”
“I can’t believe the last time I was guest; you were at 1 million.” Kuroo wiped a fake tear, “I’m so proud of you.”
“You’re not my mother.” He hissed.
“I don't have to for you to love me.” Kuroo wiggled an eyebrow, making the stream turn red slightly and he then bury his face under his hoodie. Kuroo cackled, turning to the chat. “I am well aware you all are about to torture me into another horror game shenanigan. Let me enjoy this first before Kenma enjoys watching me be a wimp.” Kuroo pointed to the camera to make the deal.
Kenma hit his hand, sighing. “Don’t point.” He then sat up straighter, reaching for his mouse. “But yes, we’re going to make you suffer again for our amusement today.”
“You wound me.”
Kenma turned to him, his lips lift into a small smirk. “When have I not?”
“Hello fellow Kodzuken viewers! Your favorite guest has returned!” Tetsurou cheered loudly the moment Kenma turned on their mic and camera.
“You’re too loud.”
“I prefer the word mood maker.” Tetsurou hummed, reading through the chat. “Yes, we’re going to celebrate Kenma for reaching 3 million subscribers today. Time flies.” Tetsurou pretended to cry, “I remember as if it was just yesterday, I was his first ever fan and watched him stream with father’s old computer, headset and webcam.”
“Why are you acting like my parent?”
“But I can’t help to feel so proud of you, Kenma!” Tetsurou insisted, “it’s been 8 years since you started streaming. Look how much you’ve grown! You’re now World-Famous Kodzuken!”
“Shut up! Stop calling me that.” Kenma hissed, “do that one more time and I’m not letting you do your stupid promotions on my channel anymore.”
“You wouldn’t dare! I can just steal your camera and record any time!”
“I’m making you sleep in the guest room instead, then.” Kenma turned back to the chat, noticing the chat was flooding with questions. “Oh, he moved into my house 2 years ago.”
“Rent is cheaper when you share.” Tetsurou nodded before turning to Kenma, “should we do the announcement now?”
Kenma furrowed his brows, “The stream just started.”
“So?”
Kenma sighed, ignoring the nudge from the JVA employee. “Fine, I’ll make an announcement. Let me confirm to you all my housemate and maybe roommate.” He pointed to Tetsurou. "Emphasis on maybe."
“Is that all?”
Kenma scrunched up his nose. “They know you’re my childhood friend.”
“But there’s something else too.”
“That you’re an eyesore?”
“Kenma!” Tetsurou gasped.
“An eyesore of a husband, that’s what you are.” Kenma finished his previous statement but Tetsurou seemed pleased. The chat seemingly had exploded at the reveal as well.
Tetsurou swung his arm around the streamer, pulling him in close. “You heard it here people, World Famous Kodzuken proposed to me!”
“Shut up or I’ll really strap you in this chair and make you sit through the scariest game of 2020.” Kenma threatened.