Chapter Text
Kuroo didn’t mind his job, honestly. He managed to still stay involved in volleyball even if he never went pro like so many of his friends. He got to meet lots of amazing people and being in marketing allowed him to have fun with the things he was promoting.
All that being said, his days were long and he was exhausted most of the days he came home. Today was going to be one of those days. It was 8 o’clock on a Friday and he was still at the office working with his team on the latest project. His coworker, Eiji, was saying something about maximizing the audience they reached when Kuroo heard the soft sounds of Animal Crossing coming from his pocket.
He waited for Eiji to finish their sentence before he stood up. “Sorry, I have to take this, I’ll be right back.” There were a few nods from his coworkers along with a confused look from one of the newer members of the team which he chose to ignore for the moment.
He stepped out of the room, taking a deep breath of the fresh air outside of the stuffy conference room before he answered the phone.
“Hey.”
“When are you going to be done?” Kenma asked immediately.
“I don’t know, hopefully in the next hour? I think everyone is running out of steam.”
Kenma let out a small hum in acknowledgment. “Okay, just let me know when you leave. What food do you want?”
“Whatever you decide is fine with me. I’ll be so hungry by then I will eat anything.”
“I’ll order when you leave,” Kenma confirmed. They sat in silence for a minute, Kuroo wanting to extend the time he spent out of the tiny room filled with other exhausted business people and Kenma inherently understanding that. “You should reply to your captains' group chat and Yaku. They are both trying to make plans with you.”
“Yeah, I saw. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and really look at my phone today.” Kuroo said with a sigh. He did see the messages from Yaku asking him to get together in the next little while and the captains from his 3rd year trying to plan a group gym day. He figured he would answer them when he had a second to think about his schedule.
“You answered 3 memes that I sent you today.” Kenma deadpanned.
“Yeah, but those are easy to reply to,” replied Kuroo defensively. “It’s completely different.”
“Sure it is.” Kuroo could hear Kenma’s eyeroll. “Go get back to work. I want to eat before midnight.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll see you in a bit?”
“See you soon,” Kenma confirmed before the line went dead.
Kuroo took one last breath of the free air and then turned to return to his team. As he took his seat again, the coworker who had given him a weird look before, Yuko, was looking at him from her spot beside him again. Eiji was still talking about audience and it didn’t sound like Kuroo had missed much.
Yuko leaned over towards him as he settled in. “Everything okay?” She whispered, trying her best not to disturb the meeting. Unfortunately for her, it was late and everyone was easily distracted.
“Kuroo always answers his Animal Crossing calls, it’s crazy that he can even hear the sound of it,” another one of his coworkers explained to her.
That statement confused Kuroo. His ringtone was obvious. “What do you mean it’s crazy that I can hear it? It’s not like it’s hard or anything, it carries pretty well.”
“Literally, no one else can hear it, dude. We only know because you answer it,” Eiji decided to add.
“Ok,” Kuroo placaded. He didn’t really believe them, it was an obvious sound, right? “Either way, it’s my best friend. He was just asking what food I wanted to order. Everything is good,” Kuroo explained, giving Yuko a reassuring smile.
“Dinner with the famous Koduzen? Lucky you.”
“You know Koduzen?” Yuko’s eyes went wide.
“Have forever,” Kuroo boasted. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. I got him into volleyball. Also convinced him to start streaming, so you’re welcome.” Kuroo could see Eiji rolling their eyes, they went through this fairly often and they were probably tired of hearing it by now.
~
Kuroo kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag as soon as he got inside. He knew Kenma hated it when he left his bag laying around but sometimes he just couldn’t deal with everything when he first walked in. So instead he left his mess at the door, walked the 10 steps to the couch, and proceeded to flop onto it face down.
“I ordered ramen,” Kenma greeted. Kuroo could hear him collecting the discarded bag and putting it in the closet where it belonged. “Go get changed.”
Kuroo just groaned and kept his face buried in the couch cushions. He heard Kenma shuffling around and knew that his best friend was standing next to the couch waiting for him. Kuroo turned his head and found his guess correct. Kenma was, in fact, standing next to the couch watching Kuroo with his arms crossed and a disapproving look on his face.
Kuroo couldn’t stand that look. “Ugh fine. Help me up,” Kuroo pleaded, reaching his arm out to Kenma.
“You’re such a baby,” Kenma complained, reaching out to Kuroo regardless. Kuroo pulled himself up, mostly just using Kenma’s help for the dramatic effect. As he stood he used his grip to pull Kenma into a hug. Sometimes being close to Kenma gave him just enough energy to keep moving.
“Get off,” Kenma grumbled, slightly muffled by Kuroo’s embrace. “You smell like capitalism.”
“That’s rich coming from the CEO of this household.” Kuroo let go of Kenma and made his way to his room, pulling his tie loose as he went.
When Kuroo reemerged, freshly showered and in his comfy clothes, Kenma already had their food dished out and at the table where he was sitting, idly scrolling through his phone. As soon as Kuroo sat down, Kenma’s phone went away and they immediately dug in.
Kuroo hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he started eating. As he thought back on it, he realized he hadn’t had anything to eat since his lunch break at noon. God this ramen was exactly what he needed.
“Did you answer Yaku and the captains?” Kenma asked between bites.
“Not yet. I haven’t had much time.”
“So you said earlier. I told Yaku you could do dinner tomorrow night and everyone else wants to go to the gym at 10 am on Sunday.”
“I can make that work. Are you coming out with me tomorrow?.”
“No, I figured I would let you catch up with Kai and Yaku without me. I am trying to convince Keiji to get out of his office and hang out with me for the night.”
“Good luck with that one,” Kuroo said sarcastically. In reality, Kenma was probably the only one besides Bokuto who could make Akaashi stop working. “That new game was released today, wasn’t it? Do you want to play after dinner?”
“You’ll be asleep before we make it through the character creation stage.”
“I will too! Besides, it’s not like I’m the one playing, what does it matter?”
“You make a valid point.”