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For Tetsurou it happened so fast. It being when he realized he was in love with his childhood best friend, Kenma.
He was 7 years old when he first met Kenma. He and his dad moved in next door with his grandparents after his mom passed away. Tetsurou then was drastically different from what he grew up to be. Although he was still introverted now, back then he was so shy he refused to talk to anyone. That was until he met Kenma. They didn’t get along immediately, his father and Kenmas mother parctcally forced them to be friends since they were both shy boys around the same age.
Tetsurou was pretty sure Kenma hated him when they first met. He refused to talk to Tetsurou, he just sat in the corner of his bedroom and played on his psp. Tetsurou got accustomed to the silence and even started to enjoy watching Kenma play. One day he gained the courage to actually talk to Kenma by asking him about his games.
“You play this game a lot, is it your favorite?” He nodded to Kenma’s psp.
“I guess.”
“What’s it called? I think i've seen some of those lil dudes before.”
Rolling his eyes Kenma responded,” Those dudes are Pokemon, and its Pokemon red and blue.”
Finally more than a two word answer.
Their relationship grew slowly at first, Tetsurou thinks it started becoming more solid when they first started playing volleyball together. Tetsurou’s mother played when she was in high school, he remembered his mother telling him wild stories of her volleyball days before she passed away. That gave him all the motivation he needed to beg his father to sign him up. He was more than happy to oblige, signing his son up for the nearest community team, hoping this would help Tetsurou break out of his shell. And that it did.
Tetsuro quickly picked up the basic skills and was trying to play every moment of free time he had. But tossing a volleyball against a wall wasn’t as efficient of a practice as actually playing with someone else was. He knew Kenma would never outright agree to playing volleyball, getting him out of his house and to Tetsurou’s was already hard enough, but with enough apple pie he was able to get him in his backyard and pass a volleyball. At first Kenma would complain about the physical exertion non stop (only stopping to eat more pie). But one afternoon Kenma got tired of hearing Tetsurou’s long and dawn out sighs, he set his psp down and looked at Tetsurou, “Wanna go level up?”
That simple question flipped Tetsurou’s world upside down. He wasn't entirely sure if Kenma actually enjoyed hanging out with him. He kinda thought Kenma did it out of expectation from his parents. But this right here was proof that Kenma wanted to spend time with him and he enjoyed playing volleyball, even if he didn’t say it out right Tetsurou knew what Kenma ment. Over the years Tetsurou had to learn how to pick up on Kenma’s small behaviors knowing Kenma was too stubborn to say anything outright. The two of them would continue leveling up and in Tetsurou’s second year of middle school and Kenma’s first they finally got to play on the same team. Their team dynamic was perfect. They had about five years of history and knew how to read each other pretty well. Tetsurou was fascinated with the way Kenma played, many wouldn’t notice it at first glance but Kenma was a genius on the volleyball court. All of his gaming experience gave him insight on how to analyze people's behaviors. While Tetsurou could set up a pretty decent defense, Kenma could set up an incredible offense. Always knowing where to set the ball to benefit his teammates and absolutely crush the opposing team.
Their friendship grew throughout the years. The only true struggle was when Tetsurou first switched into high school. It was his first time in two years that he wasn’t seeing Kenma all the time. Worst of all they weren’t on the same team as each other. He was lucky enough Kenma decided to play in his third year without Tetsurou, he knew if he stopped then he probably wouldn’t continue when he got to high school with Tetsurou.
Not being able to see each other caused a slight strain in their friendship, they only saw each other on the weekend when Tetsurou didn’t have games or practice matches. Tetsurou didn’t have much trouble making friends in his high school, but the same couldn't be said for kenma, it was a lonely year for Kenma and all he could do was hope for time to pass faster so he could regularly see his best friend again.
After a year of barely seeing each other there was obvious change in their dynamic. For one Tetsurou grew a lot. He was about 20 cm taller than Kenma and he made an excellent middle blocker. He also grew as a person, without Kenma around he forced himself to be social and reach out to others in his grade. He learned how to be charismatic. His cheshire grin he had previously only used on Kenma, was now a staple in his high school life. He used it to make girls swoon and to get teachers off his back when he had too many missing assignments. Kenma was a little taken aback when he saw Tetsurou wave to people in the halls and he didn’t fail to notice the girls giggling whenever Tetsurou walked by. Tetsurou was never fazed by the girls, he always brushed them off and focused his attention onto Kenma. Some of his new friends thought he was crazy for always rejecting confessions, but those didn’t matter to him when he had Kenma by his side.
In Tetsurou’s third year he started to become more self aware of his feelings and actions. He was very close to Kenma, he recognized that. They would often spend the night together since Tetsurou’s father worked late at night and the Kozume’s were always more than happy to have Tetsurou over. Kenma was always too lazy to grab an extra futon for Tetsurou to sleep on though, so they slept in the same bed. It didn’t bother either of them so they said nothing. For then that was normal. It wasn’t until Tetsurou spent the night at one of his school friends' houses when he found out that friends don’t share beds. But Tetsurou and Kenma weren’t just friends, they were best friends. At least that’s why Tetsurou told himself. The guys on the team were also quick to point out how protective Tetsurou was over Kenma. He made sure Kenma would drink plenty of water during practice and would sometimes let Kenma skip a couple laps when they went running. He knew Kenma had now endurance and didn't want him to get hurt, that’s all it was. Right?
Tetsurou was slowly going crazy thinking about how much time he spent with Kenma. It was the small things that drove him mad. Like when Kenma dyed his hair, Tetsurou thinks he died a little that day. It was a total shock, and what shocked Tetsurou the most was how good he thought Kenma looked. He often caught himself staring at Kenma. The way he would push his hair back when he was playing games, the way sweat would drip down his collarbone after practice. And best of all how flustered he got when Tetsurou complimented him. He started doing that much more often. Calling him cute pet names out of nowhere. He thought Kenma would kill him when he called hime Kitten. It came out so naturally Tetsurou didn't realize what happened at first.
“Hey Kitten, get up, we're gonna be late for school.”
“…”
Kenma didn’t say anything, he just chucked a pillow at Tetsurou as hard as he could and turned away. That’s when Tetsurou realized what he had just said. And even in his own state of embarrassment he saw the way the tips of Kenma’s ears burned bright red.
But the true moment when he realized he was absolutely in love with Kenma was when someone else tried to confess to Kenma. It was a girl in Kenma’s year, she was cute and quiet. He didn’t know anything about Kenma’s romantic preferences but he had to guess that she was it. She asked Kenma out to an internet cafe and to Tetsurou’s surprise Kenma actually said yes and went with her a couple times. Tetsurou would get a torment of feelings in his gut. At first he would feel sad that Kenma wasn’t spending time with him, then he would get pissed that some random girl was getting Kenmas attention and not him. He knew it wasn’t fair to her to hate her, she didn’t do anything wrong besides liking Kenma and who wouldn't like Kenma he was amazing.
Tetsurou dealt with this for about three weeks before he exploded. Kenma was hanging out with her again and Tetsuro felt unexplainably lonely. He wanted Kenma’s attention, he wanted to be the one Kenma talked about his games with, he wanted to be the one to cuddle with Kenma, to wake up next to him, to cook for him, and spend his life with, and holy fuck Tetsurou was in love with Kenma.
It hit him like a truck and once he knew it he couldn't stop thinking about it. Practice was hell, he was totally off his game and Kenma was starting to get pissed.
“What’s up with you lately? You missed that set.”
“It's nothing, I'm just not focused.” Tetsuro wanted to change the conversation; he wasn't sure if he could go one without word vomiting his feelings.
“It’s obviously not nothing, you’ve been like this for weeks.”
“How would you know you haven't even been around the last couple weeks,” He spit it out quickly , his voice raining a little. But one glance around the gym told him most people were already gone, only a few people heading to the locker room.
“Is that what’s wrong? You’re upset I haven’t been spending time with you.”
“I- I mean I guess yeah you’ve been spending all your time with your girlfriends and-“
“Girlfriend? We’re not dating, you know that right? She just wanted someone to talk about video games with. PLus I wouldn’t date her anyways.”
“What do you mean why not?’
Kenma sighed and put his hands over his face looking annoyed now, “You’re not that dense are you, I wouldn’t date her, I’m in love with you dumbass.”
Tetsurou felt his world stop, it felt like everything was in slow motion. He’s in love with me? Tetsurou didn’t want to waste any time, so he rushed forward and kissed his best friend. A wave of anxiety coursed through his body thinking Kenma was going to hate him, but before he pulled away Kenma leaned in and kissed him back.
After what felt like an eternity they pulled away from each other for air. Tetsurou leaned down and presed his forhead against Kenmas and whispered the words, “I love you too I was just too dumb to realize.”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
Tetsurou was more than glad to oblige