Work Text:
There’s a loud banging on the door. Kenma jumps up off the couch, his eyes wide. Shit. Is he getting robbed? Should he call the police? He tiptoes over to the door, craning up to look out the peephole. Ah, he thinks with some degree of relief. It’s just Kuroo.
And then, with a degree more enthusiasm - it’s Kuroo.
See, the thing is that last week he and Kuroo had been sitting in the den, talking their usual shit, when Kuroo announced he had to go home because he had work early the next day. Kenma had snorted, said something along the lines of, “Yeah, you’d better make use of the rent you’re paying, since you spend more time here than at your own place.”
Kuroo had looked up at him with wide eyes. Kenma hadn’t been sure why, until Kuroo said, “What if I didn’t pay rent?”
“You might get evicted,” Kenma had said slowly. Is that a revelation to Kuroo?
“No, I mean, at my place,” Kuroo had said, which makes even less sense, and Kuroo winces. “I mean, what if I pay rent here? What if I just move in with you?”
“Oh.” Suddenly it’d all made sense to Kenma. And, truthfully - it wasn’t such a bad idea.
And now, Kuroo’s here, on his doorstep - or rather, he thinks, their doorstep now - with a load of boxes and a little smile on his face. Kenma pulls open the door. They look at each other for a moment before Kuroo says, “Aren’t you going to say welcome home ?”
“Ew. No.” Kenma scrunches up his nose.
“I don’t feel welcomed in this environment,” Kuroo complains dramatically. But he walks in anyways, lugging a stack of two boxes, and Kenma can’t help but glance at the way his arm muscle flexes. When did Kuroo get so strong? Could he lift Kenma like that?
Maybe it’s weird to think that about your best friend. Chances are Kenma’s been playing too many otome games. He averts his gaze and pretends he wasn’t staring. “Don’t put up anything weird.”
“So I can’t hang up my poster of the half-horse guy?”
“Your what - you know, I don’t even wanna know.”
Kenma watches as Kuroo keeps bringing in his stuff. He doesn’t offer to help, because knowing him, he’d drop one of those heavy boxes as soon as he got his noodle arms on it. But he watches. He watches as Kuroo places his prized volleyball next to Kenma’s 1 million subscribers YouTube plaque. He watches as Kuroo hangs up a pretentious looking piece of art in the living room. He watches as Kuroo’s shoes appear in the entryway, as Kuroo tries to organize the mess that is Kenma’s bathroom, as Kuroo’s toothbrush appears next to Kenma’s, and he smiles to himself.
After a couple of hours of muttering obscenities under his breath as he tries to make sense of Kenma’s mess, Kuroo apparently just gives up and heads to his room to go to bed. Kenma, of course, usually starts his stream when Kuroo’s going to bed. But, after a while, there’s a soft knock on the door. Kenma tells his stream he’lll be back in a moment and walks over to the door. Kuroo stands there, looking abashed and almost childish, a strange look for a man as tall as Kuroo is. “I couldn’t sleep,” he mutters. “First night in the house, I guess.”
This routine is all too familiar to Kenma. He’s brought back to when, as a child having sleepovers with Kuroo, he’d be jolted out of his steep concentration on his game by Kuroo tugging on his blanket. “I can’t sleep,” he’d complain, and Kenma would sigh, moving his body closer to the side.
“Come up here,” Kenma would say, and Kuroo would smile before climbing in next to Kenma. They’d fall asleep next to each other. Sometime during the night, Kuroo’s arms would grab onto Kenma and their legs would end up entangled. Kenma’s parents would find it adorable the next morning and attempt to take photos of them. It was cute back then, Kenma supposes.
He doesn’t think it’d be as cute now. Probably not normal either. Still, he doesn’t really think he cares, either. “Give me a second,” Kenma says. He turns around and tells his stream he’ll finish up tomorrow, then goes to brush his teeth. By the time he gets back, Kuroo’s already in his bed, snuggled up against the wall. Kenma snorts to himself. The bed probably isn’t built for two fully grown humans.
But he climbs into his bed next to Kuroo anyways and tries his best to get comfortable. Within five minutes, Kuroo’s already fast asleep.
Kenma wonders what that says about him.
.
The next morning, Kenma gets woken up at an ungodly hour by his stupid body. He’s about to attempt to fall back asleep when his phone buzzes. Confused about who could possibly be texting him at this hour, he picks up his phone to see a new message from Akaashi.
Of course. Who else could it possibly be? Only Akaashi gets up at ungodly hours for no good reason. Or maybe he’s been staying up all night. The message reads, Is Kuroo-san all moved in now ?
Kenma laughs internally, lifting his phone up to snap a photo of the still-sleeping Kuroo. I’d say , he says along with the picture.
?!?!? comes Akaashi’s quick response, then Why is Kuroo-san in your bed?! Did something happen between the two of you last night?
For a moment, Kenma is taken aback before he realizes that he is, in fact, a gay man with another man in his bed. He quickly texts, no. he just couldn’t sleep so he came here for the company ig chill out
You know, it’s interesting that Kuroo-san sleeps better when he’s with you, Akaashi says. Bokuto-san finds it hard to sleep without me too.
you two are dating tho , Kenma answers.
Yes. Exactly. Think about that.
Kenma doesn’t really get the point Akaashi’s trying to make, so he decides to just ignore him and go back to sleep. When he wakes up again, Kuroo’s gone, probably already gone to work. But when he meanders out to the kitchen, he finds a freshly-made muffin sitting there with a note. Thanks for the company , it says in Kuroo’s signature scrawl. See you later today. And don’t order delivery without me tonight!!
Kenma rolls his eyes as he bites into his muffin, but smiles. He could get used to this.
.
Because of Kuroo’s kind muffin offering, Kenma makes himself wait till Kuroo gets home to start pulling up a food delivery place, even though he knows Kuroo will complain about how unhealthy whatever Kenma ends up ordering is. Sure enough, as soon as Kuroo gets home, he plops down on the couch next to Kenma and wrinkles up his nose. “You realize how high in sodium that is? Not to mention the chemicals -”
“You know, I could also just not eat dinner,” Kenma reminds him.
Kuroo sighs one of his overly dramatic sighs. “Fineeee. But at least let me look at the menu too.” He sprawls out, dumping his long ass legs into Kenma’s personal space. Without even blinking an eye, though, Kenma hands over his laptop so Kuroo can add his order. Kuroo’s leg feels weirdly warm in his lap. Absentmindedly, Kenma’s hand falls onto it, fingers barely tapping the fabric of his work pants.
If Kuroo minds, he doesn’t say. Instead, he makes a low murmur almost like a cat and seems to move closer to Kenma. Strange, Kenma thinks. “This one seems like it has the highest nutritional value,” Kuroo says, though, as if nothing strange is happening. “Which is not saying a lot with these options, but y’know.”
“Life is no fun if you spend it worrying about nutritional value ,” Kenma gripes. He takes the laptop back only to see Kuroo’s selected a wrap. From a fast food place. Who does that?
“Life will be short if you don’t worry about nutrition,” Kuroo replies. “I’m ordering a side salad for you too. The lettuce probably has chemicals in it, but at least it’s something.”
“Why are you like this?” Kenma complains.
“Everyone else seems to love it,” Kuroo remarks in that voice that Kenma hates because it makes him sound too much like the Kuroo everyone else sees and not the Kuroo he knows.
Kenma plays the part, though, and rolls his eyes. “Yeah right.”
“They do, though,” Kuroo says, still too smugly, so Kenma pinches his thigh and Kuroo yelps. “I’m serious, they really do! Like the new girl at work.”
Kenma narrows his eyes. He’d heard a little about the new girl at work, a girl named Hana or something that Kuroo had said ‘was almost too pretty’ and ‘heard him laugh once and took a step back into the water cooler which he’d felt really bad about’ and ‘keeps staring at him like there’s something on his face.’ From Kuroo’s descriptions, she seems nice enough. But Kenma, who’s naturally averse to new people, is not exactly jumping at the reins to meet this girl. He keeps his drumming on Kuroo’s thigh to keep himself centered. Tap, tap, tap. A steady rhythm.
“What about her?” Kenma asks.
“Well,” he says with a dramatic flourish, “she asked me out on a date this weekend. So obviously she’s into me at least a little bit.”
Kenma’s tapping stops short.
A date?! He inhales deeply. A date?! What the hell? He takes a second to think. C’mon, idiot - a date is a totally normal thing. Of course Kuroo wants to go on dates. He breathes out again, praying that Kuroo somehow hadn’t noticed his mini freakout. Kuroo says, “Uh, you okay?” Kenma winces. Shit, of course Kuroo had picked up on that. He has to make himself act normal so Kuroo won’t figure out how big of a freak he is.
“Yeah,” Kenma manages. “I was just… surprised.”
“Whaaaaat? You don’t think I’m handsome enough to get girls to ask me out?” Kuroo asks, widening his eyes innocently.
“No. Just shocked she’d want to date you after hearing your laugh,” Kenma shoots back. He clenches the fist that’s not still resting on Kuroo’s thigh. “So what did you say?”
Kuroo shrugs one shoulder. “I said sure. I mean, she’s cool, seems pretty smart, funny. Really pretty. So why not?”
Truly, why not? Kenma can’t come up with a good answer to that question besides the pathetic one rising up in the back of his throat. Aren’t you happy with what you have now? Why would you need to add anyone else into the equation? What more do you need?
That’s something he’d never voice to anyone, though, let alone Kuroo. Instead, he nods as though he understands. “Yeah. I guess.”
“I might need your help though,” Kuroo says in a lilting tone, one hand coming down to catch Kenma’s. He gives it a light squeeze. “You’re the dating sim expert, right? So you know how to make a date go swimmingly.”
Kenma stares down at where Kuroo’s grabbed his hand. It’s not an unusual thing, but in this moment it feels weirdly intimate. Still, he doesn’t let go. “I don’t think girls in dating sims are written realistically, Kuro.”
“It’s gotta be better than nothing, right?” Kuroo says. “I mean, you know me, I always say dumb shit.”
“Yeah,” Kenma agrees.
“You weren’t supposed to agree to that, asshole. But like, what if I run out of things to talk about?”
Kenma looks over at him, at his messy rooster hair and his wide concerned eyes and the tiny scar over his eye from where he’d fallen at the park when he was nine years old, and his chest squeezes. “I don’t think it’s possible for you to run out of things to talk about,” he says.
“It happens sometimes,” Kuroo says, giving Kenma’s hand a harder squeeze.
“You’ll be fine,” Kenma says, and he believes it. It’s not Kuroo he’s worried about.
Kuroo smiles at him. It’s a soft smile, one that seems genuine in the way that he almost feels as though it’s 8-year-old Kuroo beaming that grin at him on the volleyball court they grew up at. “If you say so.”
Later that night, Kuroo shows up in Kenma’s room again. Kenma doesn’t even say anything, just gestures to his bed.
Before he sleeps, he takes in Kuroo’s sleeping face, the way he drools a little bit and he mumbles dumb little nothings in his sleep. He imagines Hana from work seeing this face in her bed before she falls asleep instead.
Kenma doesn’t like it. But then again, he’s never been fond of change. He supposes it’s just something he’ll have to work through.
.
“So you’re telling me Kuroo-san is on a date right now with a girl from work,” Akaashi says, his intense gaze fixated on Kenma. “With a girl from work. ”
“Yes,” Kenma says. “That is what I said.”
“That means you two actually aren’t dating,” Akaashi says, his voice getting inexplicably higher.
“Yes,” Kenma says. “I told you that already.”
“But you live together, you spend legitimately the most time together of any couple I’ve ever witnessed, he sleeps in your bed every night - “
“It helps him sleep,” Kenma mutters.
“Sometimes I look over and you two are holding hands.”
“We do that all the time,” Kenma says dismissively. “It’s a normal thing.”
Akaashi’s eyes look as though they’re about to bug out of his head. Rather dramatically, he takes his glasses off, cleans them, and then puts them back on his face. Then he blinks. “So you mean to tell me that what I just heard wasn’t some sick hallucination.”
“Cleaning your glasses doesn’t do anything for your hearing.”
Akaashi just sighs in response to that. “And you’re okay with him going on a date with someone else?”
Something about the question sparks back the unfamiliar uncomfortable feeling in Kenma’s chest. He squirms in his seat, trying to shrug off the feeling. “I didn’t say that.”
“Ah,” Akaashi says, an undertone of sympathy in his voice. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“I just don’t like change,” Kenma says, staring down at the table so he doesn’t have to deal with Akaashi’s weird gaze on him. “That’s all.”
“Okay,” Akaashi says, but he doesn’t sound convinced. Instead, his voice sounds like he knows something Kenma doesn’t. Kenma can’t tolerate it. He doesn’t need anything else to puzzle over before he falls asleep.
“Let’s talk about something else,” Kenma says decisively. “Like the fact that the bags under your eyes are even bigger than last time.”
Akaashi frowns. “Are they actually that bad?”
“Yes,” Kenma says. “Have you not been sleeping at night?”
“I have ,” Akaashi says. “At least three hours a night.”
“I’m not an expert in sleep.” That’d be Kuroo - Kuroo, who is out on a date with this Hana girl that apparently has something that Kenma himself can’t provide. Grimacing, he continues, “But I’m pretty sure the human body needs a lot more than three hours of sleep a night.”
Akaashi lets out a long sigh. “It’s not as though I do it on purpose. I have a lot of editing to get done that can’t wait.”
“Does Bokuto-san know how little you’ve been sleeping?” Kenma asks him.
Akaashi doesn’t meet his gaze. “No. He’s not as observant as you are,” he says eventually, “and don’t you tell him either.” Which means, of course, that Kenma is most definitely going to tell him, because someone needs to keep Akaashi alive. He pulls out his phone, which makes Akaashi kick him hard under the table while hissing the closest thing to obscenities Kenma’s ever heard out of him. It distracts Kenma from thinking about Kuroo and his date for a few minutes while he argues with Akaashi.
But then he remembers, and the sinking feeling sets in all over again.
.
Once he gets home, he holes himself up in his room and begins to regret moving in with Kuroo for the first time. He doesn’t want Kuroo to burst in and start raving about how wonderful his date had been. He just wants to pretend the whole thing isn’t happening so that the tight feeling in his chest will be kept at bay.
As soon as Kuroo gets home, he bursts into Kenma’s room without even knocking, as he is wont to do. Kenma grits his teeth and waits for the burst of incessant talking that is sure to come.
Instead, though, there’s just silence.
Kenma turns around slowly, as though a fast movement could spook him, to see Kuroo laying back on his bed staring at the ceiling. Is he broken? Kenma wonders. He has little idea of what to do in a situation like this. Still, because it’s Kuroo , he ventures, “Uh, how was the date?”
“It was fine,” Kuroo says monotonously, his gaze not straying whatsoever.
“Fine?” Kenma asks. “That’s why you’re counting the number of cracks in my ceiling instead of actually telling me about the date?”
Kuroo sighs, pushing himself up to sit so that Kenma can actually take a look at his face. He doesn’t look actually upset, as Kenma would imagine he would if the date had gone badly. No, he looks contemplative. “Do you think there’s something wrong with me?”
Kenma could make a list of all the things that are ‘wrong’ with Kuroo. He’s known him his whole life, after all. It’s not the most appropriate timing, though, and there are more things that are ‘right’ with Kuroo than Kenma could even list, so Kenma says, “No, not really. Why? Did something happen?”
“No, I just…” Kuroo trails off. “I mean, she’s a great girl, seriously. Verging on perfect. She made me laugh the whole night and didn’t even comment on how loud my laugh was. But… I don’t know, something about it just didn’t feel right to me. There wasn’t that click . So I don’t think it’d work out. I don’t know, am I crazy?”
Kenma sighs, getting up out of his chair finally to sit next to Kuroo. The weight feels like it’s been removed from his chest all of a sudden. He sits close enough that their shoulders brush and says, “I don’t think you’re crazy.”
Kuroo breathes out a laugh. “Really now?”
“Well, not this time, at least,” Kenma quickly amends. “I just think you’re a hopeless romantic. You need it to feel right. You need sparks and all of that cheesy shit.”
Kuroo groans, and for some reason, Kenma feels compelled to reach over and take his hand. A quick glance at Kuroo shows a tiny smile on his face in response. He gives Kenma’s hand a squeeze. “I think you’re probably right,” Kuroo says. “But what am I supposed to do? Wait until I bump into someone in a coffee shop, our eyes meet, and I feel that instant spark?”’
Kenma gives him a look. “You really need to stop reading those cheesy mangas.”
“Well, but isn’t that how hopeless romantics always meet their true loves?” Kuroo asks. “How else am I supposed to find someone?”
“That’s not always how they meet their true love,” Kenma protests. “Sometimes it’s someone they’ve known forever that they didn’t know was perfect for them. Someone like their…” Childhood friend. The words linger on the tip of Kenma’s tongue, but he can’t force them out. They feel too vulnerable in the air between them. Instead, he finishes with, “Good friend.”
“Ah,” Kuroo says. “So you’re saying I should go convince Bokuto to leave Akaashi and date me instead.”
Kenma gives him an unimpressed look. For some reason, though, he’s a little bothered that the first person who came to mind for Kuroo as a ‘friend he could fall in love with’ is Bokuto, of all people. Bokuto, who’s been completely infatuated with Akaashi the whole time they’ve known them. “I’m not saying that.”
“Who else is there? Ooh, should I call up Yakkun and flirt with him? That’d piss him off real good.”
A flare of heat shoots up in Kenma’s chest. He can’t tell where exactly it came from. He’s known for years that Kuroo enjoys angering the people he cares about, especially Yaku. But there’s something about the idea of Kuroo flirting with Yaku that Kenma doesn’t like one bit. “I thought we were being serious here.”
“I am, I am,” Kuroo says, his face falling. “But I don’t see what the hell else I could possibly do in this situation. It’s not like I have that one person who I just haven’t noticed I’m in love with yet.” His thumb skims over the back of Kenma’s hand, and Kenma’s heart falls. It feels like the flotation device keeping him above water has just popped and he’s sinking to the bottom.
Just like that, all the pieces fall into place. Kenma feels defeated because…
Because he wants to be the friend that Kuroo’s secretly in love with. Because it pisses him off and breaks his heart that Kuroo had thought of both Bokuto and Yaku before he’d thought of Kenma, his actual best friend and childhood friend. Because he doesn’t want Kuroo to flirt with anyone else that’s not him, not even as a joke.
He’s suddenly hyper aware of Kuroo’s hand wrapped around his, of Kuroo’s warmth against his palm. It stings. Still, he can’t bring himself to pull away.
“Kenma?”
Kenma blinks, feeling himself pulled back into reality. He turns to make eye contact with an expectant-looking Kuroo. “Yeah?”
“I said, what else am I supposed to do?”
Date me, idiot, Kenma wants to say. Seriously, how is he supposed to be Kuroo’s love counselor or whatever knowing that he’s stupidly in love with this asshole who doesn’t even know how to brush his own hair? It would’ve been better to have just never figured it out! Kenma frowns, saying, “Well, we’re in the twenty-first century. You could just sign up for a dating app or whatever.”
“Ooh,” Kuroo says, letting go of Kenma’s hand. The air around Kenma suddenly feels ice cold. “Will you help me make my profile? I’m not exactly the best at making myself look good.”
“Trust me, I know,” Kenma mutters, and Kuroo barks out one of his wolf laughs. But Kenma can’t make himself laugh, not when he’s helping Kuroo create his perfect dating profile to appeal to other people who might fall in love with Kuroo, not when Kuroo swipes through profiles of people much more good-looking than Kenma, much more interesting and funny and athletic.
Of course Kenma never even had a chance, he thinks. But at least for now, he’s still the one Kuroo curls up beside at night, his hand snaking around Kenma’s waist some time during the night.
It’s a small comfort.
.
Kenma gets Akaashi on FaceTime the next day as soon as Kuroo leaves for work. it’s an emergency, he insists over text, and Akaashi reluctantly agrees to jump on a call for a few minutes before he has to get back to work.
“What’s the emergency,” Akaashi grumbles after he answers, seeming to be occupied with pouring his coffee into a mug. “Did Kuroo-san get hit by a bus?”
“Wh- no. Why is that the first thing that comes to mind for you when I say emergency?”
Akaashi shrugs. “I don’t know. What’s the emergency?”
Kenma inhales deeply. Something about admitting it out loud makes it feel more like it’s more real, and that intimidates him. But Akaashi is looking at him expectantly in a way that’s making him more and more nervous, so Kenma blurts out, “I think I’m in love with Kuro.”
It’s quiet for a moment, and then there’s a quiet chuckle out of Akaashi. The chuckle only grows louder and louder until Akaashi manages to say, “You are joking, yes?”
“No,” Kenma huffs. “Why would I be joking? This is an emergency.”
Akaashi bites down on his lip in an attempt to stop laughing, but a couple of chuckles slip out nonetheless. He says, “You’ve just realized this?”
“I realized it last night when he was talking about his date,” Kenma says flatly.
“Oh, for the love of god,” Akaashi says. “You realize that the rest of us have known this for years, right?”
Kenma blinks. That doesn’t make sense. How could anyone else know if he himself didn’t even know? “What?”
“Nothing,” Akaashi says with a sigh that sounds like it definitely is something. “How did Kuroo-san’s date go, anyways?”
“Okay,” Kenma says. “But he says he didn’t feel anything while he was on the date, so he’s not going on another date, I guess.”
“Obviously he didn’t feel anything,” Akaashi tells him. “He has feelings for you, so he’s not going to be able to feel something for anyone else.”
Kenma thinks back to the night before, how Kuroo had said in no uncertain terms that he does not have anyone that he could possibly be in love with, how Kuroo hadn’t even thought of Kenma. He shakes his head. “No. He doesn’t have feelings for me. Trust me.”
“Kuroo-san is more oblivious than you are, which is saying something,” Akaashi says. It sounds like an insult and a statement of fact at the same time. “There is a high chance he does not even know how grossly in love with you he is. Even if he did know, he would not say anything. He is a coward in that way. But trust me, the entire world knows how much he loves you.”
That statement lingers with him throughout the rest of the day. It nags him while he’s trying to eat his dinner, while he’s streaming a completely unrelated game, while he’s watching an episode of some stupid show with Kuroo while Kuroo starts to doze off on his shoulder. He looks at Kuroo’s peacefully sleeping face, and he wonders.
So he excuses himself to the bathroom and calls good old Yaku Morisuke.
Yaku answers within a couple of rings. “Hah? Kenma?” he asks gruffly. “Why the hell are you calling me at 10 PM? It’d better be an emergency.”
“Right,” Kenma says. “I forgot. You’re one of those old people that go to bed at 10 PM now.”
If anyone else had said this to Yaku, it would’ve earned them a swift kick in the head. Yaku’s never been as aggressive to Kenma as he can be to everyone else, though, so he just says, “Shut up. You never call people. Why are you calling me?”
“Do you think Kuro’s in love with me?”
Yaku pauses for a moment. Then he starts to laugh. He laughs, and he laughs, and he laughs until Kenma interrupts and says, “What?”
“Is Kuroo in love with you,” Yaku says, then laughs again. “You wanna know how many times he got hit with the ball during practice because he was staring at you instead of paying attention? You wanna know how many Kenma stories I listened to that went on for what felt like hours? You wanna know how he talked about you for hours on end and every sentence started with ‘Actually, you know Kenma…?’ So you tell me, is Kuroo in love with you?”
“I don’t know,” Kenma says, a bit helplessly. “It sounds like maybe so.”
Yaku groans into the phone. “You’re perfect together. Both just as oblivious as the other.” Kenma’s never been called oblivious before, much less this many times within a 24-hour period. He frowns as Yaku continues, “Go talk to Kuroo about this.”
Kenma’s frown deepens. “What if it messes up our friendship, though?”
“That man would die before ever letting you go,” Yaku says seriously and then hangs up. At the same time, his phone buzzes with a message from Shouyou. Earlier, he’d sent Shouyou a message:
do you think kuro’s in love with me?
Shouyou had replied:
Well yeah of course!!! But shouldn’t you know since you’re dating him???
If even Shouyou knows, then maybe Kenma is completely oblivious. He groans. Maybe it is worth it to talk to Kuroo about this, after all. If there’s even a chance of being with Kuroo, he wants to take it.
But, he thinks as he returns to the couch and finds Kuroo surfing through one of his dating apps, messaging some cute guy, a guy that looks happier and more attractive and more fun than Kenma, Kenma thinks that maybe now isn’t the best time. But he’ll bring it up eventually.
Probably. Or… maybe Kuroo can just bring it up. If he ever realizes.
.
That weekend, Kuroo tells Kenma, “I’m not going to be home for dinner.” Absently, Kenma thinks to himself that it sounds an awful lot like Kenma’s own dad telling his mom he won’t be back for dinner, and do they always sound this much like a married couple? And then Kuroo’s actual statement dawns on him.
Kenma blinks. “Are you going out with Bokuto or something?”
“Nah,” Kuroo says casually. “You know how you encouraged me to get on the dating apps and try again?”
Kenma had really shot himself in the foot with that one. He cringes internally, but nods. “Yeah.”
“I have a date tonight,” Kuroo says happily. “He’s really cute. Played volleyball in high school. I think we played his team once, actually, back in the golden days.”
I played volleyball in high school too, Kenma wants to say. Is Kuroo really this oblivious? Or does he really not have feelings for Kenma? Mustering up all his strength, he says, “Ah, sounds nice. Have fun.”
Kenma sits on the couch that night, alone except for his racing thoughts. He wonders if this time, Kuroo and his date will click and Kuroo will feel something. He wonders if Kuroo will even come back tonight. He wonders if Kuroo will start up a relationship and move in with that person and Kenma will be alone here again. He didn’t think he’d ever be the type of person to like sharing a house with someone, but it’s different when it’s Kuroo, when he sees Kuroo’s towels next to his and Kuroo’s notes on the table. They are all reminders that Kuroo is with him.
He sits with this deep feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach until Kuroo comes home. Kenma feels relief wash over him as he half-heartedly waves at Kuroo. “Welcome back.”
“Well?” Kuroo says teasingly. “Aren’t you gonna ask how my date went?”
The feeling of dread comes back. Kenma swallows. “Uh, sure. How’d the date go?”
“I think there is something wrong with me,” Kuroo says thoughtfully, plopping down beside Kenma on the couch. “But I also think it might not be what I thought it was.”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“I didn’t feel anything on this date either,” Kuroo says, and the relief comes back. Kenma’s never been on an emotional rollercoaster quite this steep. “But there’s something more important. At the end of the date, this guy said something that I can’t stop thinking about.”
Kenma looks at him. Kuroo’s not the most serious of guys, not unless the situation really calls for it. But now, judging by the look on his face, the situation must be calling for it. A shiver runs down Kenma’s spine. He makes himself say, “What did the guy say?”
“He said,” Kuroo says slowly, “that I should confess my feelings to you.”
Time stands still. Kenma feels his mouth drop open, but he can’t close it. He knows he’s probably staring at Kuroo like an idiot, and he should say something, but he doesn’t know how. Thankfully, Kuroo keeps talking so Kenma doesn’t have to. “I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, y’know? What feelings?” That’s a blow to Kenma’s heart. “But then he said that I spent half of the date with him talking about you! Which, you know, is crazy. I looked back on it, though, and I kind of did do that. I just like talking about you. You’re my fave subject! But does…” Kuroo trails off. “I don’t know. I just wanna try something. Can I…”
He leans in, his gaze nervous yet inviting. It only takes a moment for Kenma to realize that Kuroo is trying to kiss him.
It only takes another moment for Kenma to give him a small, inviting smile. Yes.
Kuroo’s lips meet Kenma’s. Kenma doesn’t believe in the stupid moment romance manga shit Kuroo believes in, but Kenma thinks that this might be the closest thing he’ll ever get to that moment.
Kuroo kisses softly, warmly, with a type of tenderness that Kenma’s unfamiliar with. Kenma had wondered if it would be awkward kissing Kuroo since they’d known each other so long. Turns out it’s not.
It’s actually perfect.
Finally, Kuroo pulls back, a little smile on his lips. “Huh,” he says. “I guess that guy was right. I think I am in love with you.”
Kenma quirks an eyebrow at him. “You finally figured it out.”
“Finally?” Kuroo says, and then, “Wait, you knew?”
“Everyone knew,” Kenma says. “Keiji and Shouyou both thought we were dating, and Yaku gave a whole speech -”
“Oh my god,” Kuroo says, turning a wonderful shade of red.
Kenma just whispers, “It’s fine, I already knew you were an idiot,” before he kisses him again.
.
The next morning, Kenma wakes to find Kuroo still in bed, his arms wrapped around Kenma’s body. It’s warm and relaxing. Kenma’s tempted to sink into it. But then he looks at what Kuroo’s got pulled up on his screen.
“Cats?” Kenma mumbles, still hazy from sleep.
“I think it’s about time we expand our family,” Kuroo says. “Don’t you?”
“We just started dating yesterday,” Kenma deadpans. “Don’t you think it’s a little soon?”
“According to everyone else, we’ve been dating for months, if not years,” Kuroo says, pressing kisses to the back of Kenma’s head, and Kenma laughs. All the tension of the past few weeks melts away.
It’s Kuroo , here with him. And he couldn’t be happier.