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As he put his hair up in the half-bun he’d been favoring recently and sighed, Kenma knew he was being ungrateful.
So many people would kill or do other equally exhausting things in order to have as distinctive a guide to their soulmate as he had, but he’s already sixteen years old in a city as bustling and global as Tokyo, and the glaringly bright orange hair he’s been dealing with since his fifth birthday hasn’t led him to anyone or anything besides a lot of odd looks.
At least half of the looks were envious, understandably. Kenma got it. His soulmate was likely going to recognize who Kenma was to them immediately, whereas most every other person in the country wasn’t going to recognize a particular shade of dark brown or black.
The other half of the gazes were confused, and Kenma got that too, because who the fuck had hair the color of a goddamn tangerine?
Kenma’s pretty sure that by the time he got the black hair he was born with back, he’ll be so used to a lighter, brighter color against his skin that he’ll have to do something like bleach it. Honestly, blonde hair would go nicely with his eyes, and it would attract less attention than the fiery locks he’s been sporting for the last eleven years. And Kenma would really prefer less attention. It’s hard to fade into the background or sneak away to try out the newest update to Genshin Impact when his hair drew people’s eyes every time he moved.
The volleyball team would probably prefer it too, since other players would finally underestimate him the way they were supposed to. Even with his apparent laziness and static positioning on the court, Nekoma’s opponents always fixated on the orange-haired, cat-eyed setter. No, if they’d never been looking at him in the first place, things would be better. Maybe then they could win in fewer sets and he could be done with the games sooner. He hated sweating.
Kemna was born to be overlooked, thank you very much, and he liked it that way. Or, well, he had liked it when he was little, and he would again once he found his soulmate.
He’d have to kiss them first though. And as much as he wanted to give this orange hair back to its true owner as soon as possible, who planted one on their soulmate upon their first meeting?
“C’mon, Carrot Top, don’t fall behind.” Kuroo said, looking back over his shoulder at Kenma, whose eyes flicked up briefly from the screen of his Switch before returning to the action.
“Seriously, Kenma. None of us are familiar with Miyagi. If you get lost, it’ll take me forever to find you again.”
“Who said I’ll get lost?” He answered, rolling his eyes. He wasn’t a child.
Kuroo scoffed. “Me. Because we both know you’d have wandered off into a million Tokyo alleyways, never looking up from whatever game you were playing that day if I hadn’t bodily dragged you in the right direction.”
“Lies and slander.”
“It’s goddamn true, and you know it. Listen, just try to stay with the group, ‘kay? The first years are being rowdy as hell, and coach is giving me the evil eye for not reining them in, but I can’t shut them up AND badger you into unconsciously walking in the right direction at the same time. So, please just stay near Yaku.”
Kenma sighed even as he nimbly moved his character through the town they were traveling to for this quest. “Ugh, fine.”
He didn’t see Kuroo’s grateful half-smile, but he knew it was there all the same.
“Fuck.”
Okay, so, despite not taking Kuroo seriously, Kenma really had intended to stay with the team. They were loud and annoying and exhausting, but he didn’t want to be the one holding everyone up. Also, he maybe enjoyed being with all of them. A bit. Whatever, they didn’t need to know that.
He slipped his Switch into his pocket and took stock of his surroundings. Unfortunately, none of the streets around him looked familiar. Not that they would, considering he’d never been to this prefecture before nor had he been paying any attention on the tour Coach Nekomata had organized for them before this practice match against their old rivals.
Kenma tried to listen for the sounds of his teammates’ typical rowdiness, something that usually worked well as a locator when he’d wandered away, but he couldn’t hear anything resembling Inuoka or Fukunga’s loud voices.
He had a few choices. The first was that he could try and find the team on his own. He might have done that if they’d been back home, but he’d probably just get himself more lost in this unfamiliar place, which would make it even harder for his team to find him. The second option was indeed to just let the team find him. Kuroo would realize pretty quickly what had happened, and despite his friend’s generally relaxed attitude, the middle blocker would set off to track him down almost immediately. That would definitely lead to a scolding though, Kenma knew. He pouted at the idea of the remonstration and the ‘I told you so,’ that was coming if he waited for Kuroo to find him. The third choice would be to just call and straight up tell Kuroo where he was. Ugh, that meant admitting he had completely ignored Kuroo’s request though.
He sighed. Calling was the best option, but it was going to be annoying. At least he wouldn’t have to do more pointless walking around in the wrong direction.
Kenma found a nearby curb to sit on while waiting for Kuroo, who had somehow been both resigned and smug on the phone.
“Of course you did.” His best friend had sighed, once Kenma told him that he’d gotten too absorbed in his game and had no idea where he or the team were. “Just stay where you are and I’ll come get you. I have an idea of where you’re at based on the landmarks you mentioned.”
He pulled up Temple Run on his phone to pass the time while he waited. His Switch was running low on battery, and he didn’t want to get absorbed in a game he actually enjoyed, considering that’s what had led to this situation. As he was listlessly directing his character, a cat trotted out and approached him, eventually sitting near his feet after deciding, for some unfathomable reason, that Kenma was interesting. The little guy even meowed, trying to pull his attention away from the game. He huffed to himself at that, planning to ignore the cat. He could pet it once his guy died, which was sure to be soon. He didn’t play Temple Run enough to be good at it.
However, that plan didn’t come to pass, because the cat’s meow seemingly drew someone else on the street’s attention. A loud gasp echoed out from somewhere behind Kenma, and he tried to ignore that as well. If he wasn’t going to let a cute cat distract him, why would he let a stranger?
“Hey!”
Kenma startled a little at how loud the stranger, who sounded like another teenage guy, yelled. It broke the calm quiet that had settled over this side street.
“Whatcha up to?” Kenma had no choice but to look up from his game, letting the dumb explorer trip over a tree root and get eaten, when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. He turned to look over his shoulder and saw a dark-haired guy coming towards him. He was a bit shorter than Kenma was and was grinning at Kenma excitedly as he came closer. The stranger’s amber eyes were wide and intense (pretty, he thought and then immediately suppressed that realization right down into nothing), and he seemed to be staring at Kenma’s face as if trying to memorize it.
He saw that the guy’s shirt labeled him a player on the team they were supposed to match up against later today, so maybe he was scoping out the competition?
“Well, it’s just, uh, I’m lost.” He mumbled out, a little overwhelmed at the way the other boy was looking at him. It was like the guy couldn’t decide whether he wanted to stare directly into Kenma’s eyes or at his bright orange hair.
The Karasuno player had the typical black hair that most people had here in Japan. It was fluffy and wild, and set off drastically against the guy’s pale skin. It made the golden hues of his eyes that much more pre--striking.
“You’re lost? Are you from out of town?”
Kenma nodded and looked back at his phone at the same time the other boy answered his own question.
“Yeah, you have to be, otherwise I’d have found you before now.”
He continued nodding. “Probab–wait, what?” Kenma shook his head slightly and looked back up at the stranger, who was now bent over slightly, leaning into Kenma’s space.
Kenma’s eyes widened at how close they were to each other, and he couldn’t help how all he could think about was how fascinating this guy was with his expressive eyes and giant grin and this vibrating energy that seemed to consume him.
“I’m Hinata Shouyou,” he said, finally introducing himself.
Kenma had to hold back a shiver at the way Hinata looked him up and down before asking, “What’s your name?”
For some reason, Kenma actually wanted to answer, even though he hated talking to strangers and normally would have walked away from this weird interaction by now if it had been anyone else but this boy in front of him.
“Kozume,” he said, haltingly. His lips felt heavy, and it was hard to make his mouth move. Kenma felt almost weighed down by Hinata’s continued staring, but it wasn’t unpleasant. More like it was grounding him in the moment, allowing him to participate in it rather than feeling like he needed to escape the situation.
Hinata tilted his head to the side and his eyebrows scrunched up in this adorable (no, bad Kenma) questioning look. “Is that your first name?” He asked.
Oh, fuck, had he really forgotten to say his full name? Kenma blamed Hinata’s eyes, which still hadn’t stopped searching his face for a single second. “No, it’s,” he paused, seeing the anticipation bloom in Hinata’s expression, watching the way the other boy’s fingers twitched as if every ounce of his restraint was focused on not grabbing onto Kenma.
Had it gotten hotter outside in the last few minutes? Because holy shit he felt so warm, too warm.
The heat inside him spread as the corners of Hinata’s eyes crinkled and he beamed down at him when he finally told the other boy, “It’s Kenma.”
“Kenma,” Hinata repeated. The last bit of Kenma’s composure fell away at the tone of awe in the other boy’s voice as he said Kenma’s name like it was a prayer.
Hinata slowly reached out and brushed a lock of Kenma’s hair back behind his ear. It fell forward again not even a second later, and Hinata smiled. A few strands had escaped the knot Kenma had put it up into this morning, and now this strange, fascinating boy was rubbing a piece of his hair and and forth between his fingers. “I always wondered how this color would look on someone outside my family,” he whispered, as if he were speaking to himself.
A jolt went through Kenma as he processed what the other boy had just said, and he shot to his feet. Hinata had adjusted with him, somehow, still fingering Kenma’s hair without tugging on it even with Kenma’s hasty movements. Kenma was now just barely looking down at him, and he must have been infected by Hinata’s franticness because his fingers were reaching out for Hinata’s wrist or to his black hair or anything Kenma could touch of this boy who might just be his soulmate . His left hand decided that yes, clasping Hinata’s wrist where it rested near Kenma’s face was a good idea, but his right hand was bold in a way Kenma never usually was, coming up to rest against the other boy’s chest. His fingers curled into the fabric of Hinata’s tshirt after waiting a moment to see if the other boy would shake him off or step back. But he didn’t. Instead, Hinata sucked in a small, sharp breath and stepped closer, bringing them near enough to feel the other’s exhales hit their faces.
“So what do you think, now that you’ve seen it?” Kenma somehow forced himself to ask.
“It’s better than I’d imagined,” Hinata admitted, that same awe coloring his tone. “It’s brilliant,” he said, in the next instant. “ You’re brilliant.” He added, his voice going a little deeper as he looked at Kenma in that way again, like he was precious. But Kenma was starting to understand that, because he didn’t know how to look away from Hinata now, not that he’d ever really wanted to. Still, now that he might be his, Kenma couldn’t stop himself from trying to take in every facet of the other boy, from the slope of his nose to his cupid’s bow to the calluses on his fingertips that were now stroking over Kenma’s cheek.
“Are you–are we?” Kenma didn’t have the words to ask, but he didn’t really need to, did he? Hinata Shouyou stood here in front of him, holding onto him, with a surety that belied any potential disbelief. It may be stupid, but Kenma knew without a true confirmation that this was his soulmate.
He didn’t even wait for the other boy’s answer before he felt the panic start to rise in his chest. His soulmate lived in another city, a different prefecture, at least an hour and a half away. How old was he? What if he realized Kenma was really just a scrawny, nerdy little gamer and thought him to be boring? What would he think about–
Hinata’s breathy chuckle broke Kenma out of his downward mental spiral and led him to refocus on the intensity of the amber eyes in front of him. “Only one way to be certain, right?” the other boy teased. Kenma’s eyes widened a second later as he realized what Hinata meant, but before he’d had a moment to protest or, the more likely outcome, agree out of pure shock, Hinata had closed the tiny gap that remained between them and slotted his lips against Kenma’s.
Kenma watched with his eyes open for another moment, but then he pressed back and tried to return the kiss. He didn’t really know what he was doing, but he let his eyes slide shut and just felt it.
Hinata’s mouth moved slowly against his, not hesitant but also not completely self-assured, and that somehow settled Kenma enough to try and match his movements. Neither of them knew what they were doing, but it was warm and soft and comforting, and Kenma was surprised to realize he liked it like this, both of them equally unsure but willing to try. He stopped analyzing it and just gave in to the headiness of kissing a strange boy who was probably his soulmate in the middle of the street.
Kenma curled his fingers tighter into the fabric of Hinata’s shirt, let his mouth open slightly at the unexpected feel of Hinata’s hand against his waist, pulling him in even further. He tentatively ran his tongue over the other boy’s lower lip once he’d slipped it in between Kenma’s, and he shivered in delight at the way Hinata licked lightly into his mouth.
“Shouyou,” he gasped, pulling back slightly as he felt the telltale tingle on his scalp. They’d said in school that the feeling of exchanging hair colors was indescribable, and Kenma agreed now that he was experiencing it for himself. It moved from the top of his head down to the nape of his neck, and he trembled under the hand that Hinata had rested on his hip. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw black strands swaying against the side of his face for the first time in a decade, and right in front of him, Shouyou’s face was framed in the warm, orange tones that Kenma had become so familiar with over the years.
It hit Kenma like a spiked volleyball to the chest.
He’s even more beautiful like this.
Kenma surged forward and crashed his lips back against Shouyou’s, tangling his left hand in the other boy’s hair and holding him in place while he tried to express everything he was feeling in this kiss. Shouyou made a startled sound at Kenma’s actions that transitioned into a groan when Kenma coaxed him into opening his mouth for him again. An appreciative noise came from Kenma in return when Shouyou’s hands circled around to his back and rested just above his ass. It was intense and wet and amazing, and Kenma felt like he was going to vibrate out of his skin. He wanted to kiss this boy forev–
“Hey, Kenma!”
They broke apart, each stumbling back a step at the jarring sound of the shout that echoed in the alleyway. Kenma looked off to his right, frowning slightly at the sight of his best friend’s raised eyebrows and the amused glint to his eyes.
With the way Kuroo was smirking at him with his lips pursed together so tightly they were turning white, Kenma could bet all of the money in his wallet that his face was bright red. He closed his eyes, willing the blush away and trying not to think about how soft Shouyou’s lips had felt when they pressed against his.
“Gotta go,” he told Shouyou softly, slinging his bag over his shoulder before walking over to where Kuroo stood. His best friend had turned back towards the way he’d come, either antsy to meet back up with the team or maybe trying to give Kenma another moment of privacy with his soulmate. It really could be either. Kuroo was irritatingly difficult to predict sometimes.
Shouyou’s voice shook him out of his thoughts. He sounded desperate as he stepped towards Kenma and reached a hand out saying, “Hey, wait!”
Kenma turned halfway back to look at him, breaking out into a grin at the sight of Hinata, wide-eyed and with his natural hair, still watching Kenma as if he’s something valuable, precious, something that he can’t bear to lose. As if his soulmate could ever lose him. Kenma had only known the guy for less than 10 minutes, and he’s absolutely certain he’d follow this boy across continents and oceans with no questions asked if he only hinted about wanting to go.
Shouyou’s confused but hopeful face might be one of the most endearing things Kenma had ever seen, but he wouldn’t leave him worried about if they’ll see each other again.
“Later, okay?” He reassured the other boy. His soulmate was probably a little too preoccupied with Kenma’s former hair to notice the stitching that spelled out Nekoma on his bag, but hopefully Shouyou realized that he and Kuroo are wearing matching warmups in their school’s colors. If not, well maybe the other boy would just trust him. Soulmates do that, right?
His certainty must have come across, because Shouyou’s desperation calmed, and he nodded back. The little wave he sent Kenma and Kuroo off with was so fucking cute it made Kenma want to do something crazy, like speed up the pace of their walk to a jog, god forbid, so they could get to the Karasuno gym faster.
Kuroo’s chuckle as they head back out onto the main street was the only thing that makes Kenma slow to match his normal stride.
“In a hurry there, Kenma?”
“We both know I don’t hurry.” Although I might if it’s for Shouyou, he thought. Kenma decided he would never be sharing that realization with anyone else, ever. He huffed in irritation just thinking about what the team would do if they knew that. They’d all use it against him relentlessly, energetic assholes.
“Your hair’s so dark now.” Kuroo said, as if he hadn’t met Kenma back before his 5th birthday and hadn’t already known what Kenma originally looked like. “It washes you right out, Kenma. You’re gonna need to spend a little more time in the sun, or maybe just not staring at your computer screen all night, if you don’t want to look like some kinda cartoonish vampire.”
“This is my natural look, in case you’ve forgotten, idiot.” He grumbled back. His trash-ass best friend was 100% right, not that Kenma would be admitting that. Yeah, he was definitely bleaching this shit the instant they got back to Tokyo. Or, well, once he got back and had texted Shouyou to make sure he didn’t absolutely hate the idea of Kenma going blonde. There’s no way he’s getting on the bus after the game without having gotten his soulmate’s phone number. But that’s for later, now was the time to actually get focused for this practice game. Kenma hated getting worn out, but he wasn’t big on losing, and now he’s got a soulmate to impress.
He smiled to himself, ignoring the nudge from Kuroo that might be teasing or congratulatory or a mix of both. God, he’s so happy to be rid of that orange hair, so happy to have given it back to the only person he’s ever met that could wear it well.
Kenma thought back to this morning and how eager he’d been to get his natural color back. He couldn’t help but laugh, drawing out an amused side-glance from Kuroo at the loudness of it.
What kind of person would plant one on their soulmate upon their first meeting? Of course, Shouyou would, he thought, still chuckling to himself as they finally caught up to where the rest of the Nekoma team was waiting.