Archive of Our Own

He was unsure of why Lev gave him this game in the first place. Kuroo very rarely played videogames. In fact, the only times he ever played them was with Bokuto, and that was on the rainy days of their junior high years. Now, he was all volleyball. So the fact that Lev handed him this brand-spanking-new game two weeks before summer vacation was very weird.

“Why?” He had asked.

And Lev shrugged. “I dunno. You might like it.”

“I’ll never play it, ya know.” Kuroo admitted when he looked over the case. “…A first person shooter?”

“I know you’d be more into Kingdom Hearts or whatever, but just give it a try?” Lev paused, then sighed, and smiled as he reached out to take the game back from Kuroo. “Or don’t, you’ll probably suck at it anyway since you never play anything but volleyb—”

“Shut up, I’ll play it tonight.”

When night came around, Kuroo was placed at his desk at home, tapping his finger impatiently as the game downloaded. It was at 99-percent, and he had been waiting an hour. All he planned to do was play it for an hour at MOST, master it, and rub it in Lev’s face that he was good at videogames and then never bring it back up again.

Once downloaded, Kuroo was graced with the installation pop-up, groaned, and threw his head back in protest while he waited for the game to be ready. Installation only took a few minutes, thank god, and when he was greeted by the game option window, he ignored the tutorial option. This wasn’t volleyball. He wouldn’t need to train himself for days, weeks, months, to perfect this.

Once he made his account and profile, which was mandatory before playing the game (he shook his head at least three times due to the “this username is taken” message). Eventually he settled on a simple-to-remember user and password instead of something cool and edgy, because he was tired of waiting. When the game window finally appeared with a “Welcome, KURO0-1”, he grinned. Finally.

There were a lot of options on the window. Instead of story mode, he selected co-op mode and was immediately brought to a full-screened game-server map that showed him how many players were connecting to other players. Along with that, there was an activity log, and below the activity was the “OBJECTIVES” list with different missions to select.

He pursed his lips. It wasn’t complicated or hard to figure out, but there was a lot going on near and on the server map. Eventually, he selected his mission, and the server map showed him as a red dot being swiftly connected to another player’s dot.

Kuroo didn’t get a chance to read the other user’s information before the black screen with a white-numbered countdown for the mission began. He noticed a grey rectangle in the bottom of the screen labeled ‘chat log’ in small letters above the box. While the mission loaded, he decided he’d greet his mission partner.

KURO0-1: Yo

The other immediately responded.

Kencat: hi.

Before Kuroo could type out another message, the game screen flashed and showed off a forested area all around them. Kuroo wiggled his mouse, revealing a shotgun, and he grinned widely. “Nice.”

There was another character on the screen, standing not too far from him. The character design was female with a dark shirt, short hair, and camouflage pants. I’m playing with a girl? Nice.

Kencat: you have no idea what you’re doing, do you.

Um. Excuse me? Kuroo squinted at the message left to him by his co-op partner. He responded quickly.

KURO0-1: I just got this game today so no not really

Kencat: tutorials are your friend

Kuroo laughed a bit as he typed his reply.

KURO0-1: Tutorials are for n00bs.

He only knew that word because of the one time he went over to Lev’s house and watched him play some game similar to this one with a chat log, and Lev’s entire party was calling him a n00b, with two 0’s.

Kencat: you are a n00b

Kencat: you just told me you have never played before.

KURO0-1: how do you know I wasn’t joking?

Kencat: well for one, you picked the generic male character model, you’re only at level 1, and you’re waving your weapon around like you’re trying to get used to the feel of the controls.

Kencat’s response elicited a sigh from Kuroo. He had been found out! How did this person know all of that? He must’ve been playing for quite a while… unless it was obvious. Which it probably was, now that he thought about it. After all, he had been wiggling his mouse around like an idiot. He also wasn’t aware you could customize a character (he mentally kicked himself, because that was probably in the tutorial). And then he was that the level of the players was right above their head in faded wording. He cringed. Kencat was level 25.

Kencat: by the way you use your mouse to aim, right click is shoot, left click is reload, double left click is to change your weapon, but you only have the shotgun with limited ammo right now, so don’t waste it. and you can jump with space. if you want to move forward, backward, or to the sides, you use W, A, S, and D. hit M to open your map, and H is to check your list of weapons.

Kuroo stared at the information Kencat had bestowed upon him. It was really helpful for someone who just basically dissed him, and much quicker than the tutorial would have been.

KURO0-1: thanks.

Kencat: don’t thank me. just stay alive.

Then the real game began. Kencat’s character began running forward, and Kuroo tried his best to keep up though he didn’t know what key to press to make his character run. Only walk.

KURO0-1: how do I run?

Kencat didn’t respond for a bit, so Kuroo tested the keys and such to get used to them and make sure Kencat wasn’t playing him just because he was new to all of this. He knew the WASD keys worked the way he had been previously told. He tried aiming and shooting a tree. He did it several times until he couldn’t anymore, and then smiled to himself because he was starting to get the hang of this!

Then Kuroo began to wander around the forest area, gun drawn up. Since Kencat still hadn’t responded with how to run, Kuroo was winging the mission now and hoping for the best. The screen shook suddenly and everything turned red.

“Holy shit, I’m being shot at already?” Kuroo turned as quickly as his mouse and A key could allow him, and a male character different from him—jacked with a small gun, and obviously customized by this player to overcompensate for his low level (it was 3, not that Kuroo could judge). He aimed carefully and clicked to shoot once he was sure that the other was in his range.

Nothing happened. Kuroo squinted, wondering if he had gotten disconnected or something, when suddenly the other player fell dead. Perhaps it was lag—

Kencat’s character appeared back on screen with a different gun than before, and stood near the other, now-dead character that had a white and red square glowing and rotating above him.

Kencat: come get this health pack also press shift with WASD to run i forgot to add that sorry

KURO0-1: why didn’t he die when I shot him?

Kencat: check your ammo? top right corner

Kuroo looked at the top right corner of his screen and felt a deep sense of regret from having shot at that stupid tree so many times. He was out of ammo, now.

KURO0-1: oops

Kencat: come get this health pack and follow me. there are two other teams and the other person from this guy’s team, and they won’t be too hard to kill also there’s a spot in the forest that always has ammo too, so i’ll cover you on the way there

Surprisingly enough, Kuroo got a lot better once he actually did have the hang of this game. Kencat had to save his ass another time after that, but they ended up winning because Kuroo had sharp eyes and shot anything that moved. When the round ended, their team had won the co-op mission; Kuroo had killed 4, and Kencat got the first two.

Kencat: good job

Kuroo was excited. Not only could he happily say that he did really well for his first time playing, but he felt like he was teamed with a high-ranked player that was willing to help him.

KURO0-1: do you wanna play another round?

Kencat: i have nothing else to do

Each player had a checkmark by their name except for Kuroo. When he clicked “END MISSION” option at the bottom of the team scores, he received a checkmark, and the screen faded. He was brought back to the server map, and a split second later, Kuroo received a notification from the server: Kencat has sent you a Friend Invite. Kuroo’s grin that Lev once described as big and dumb got bigger and dumber as he accepted it.

Near the mission list, a small list called labeled FRIEND LIST appeared. The only person on Kuroo’s list was Kencat, of course. He noticed the little transparent envelope beside the contact and clicked it, which brought him to a little messaging template. It was blank, but he kept smiling to himself. You can IM on this thing?

He closed it out, and right after he did, he got another notification. Kencat has invited you play a Co-Op Mission. Accept? Decline? Kuroo clicked accept, and was brought to another countdown screen.

Kuroo’s night was another four hours of first-person-shootering with Kencat. In those four hours, he had gotten a lot better than in his first game. The second game they played had ten teams instead of four, and Kuroo took four down all on his own. Each game he got better and better, and even began leveling up. By hour two, Kuroo was level 7. Kencat informed him that was the fastest anyone had ever leveled up after just getting the game. Kuroo felt proud. Boy, was he ready to rub that in Lev’s face.

The fourth hour was almost ready to become a fifth when Kuroo noticed what time it was. He cursed himself under his breath and sighed when the game came to an end, leaving him at the server map. He took it upon himself to leave Kencat a message saying goodnight.

KURO0-1 @ Kencat ((1:37AM)): yo I have school tomorrow so I gotta go. We can play again tomorrow and on Saturday night

He didn’t expect an instant response.

Kencat @ KURO0-1 ((1:38AM)): k night

The next night. Kuroo was greeted by 0 messages on the server. That didn’t stop him from messaging Kencat a “hello” with approximately 10 L’s and 40 O’s. And that obnoxiously long greeting didn’t stop Kencat from replying as quickly as ever.

They played a bunch of co-op missions that night, and then Kencat asked Kuroo if he wanted to do a party mission with him and two other people. Kuroo accepted. He wanted more things to low-key rub in Lev’s face.

When Kuroo was added to the party, he was met with a barrage of messages from another, rather excited member.

Small10GIANT: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANOTHER PARTY MEMBER WAHOO!!

Kencat: shouyou please don’t do that

Small10GIANT: SORRY BUT 4 IS BETTER THAN 3!!

ROLLINGTHUNDER: smh shouyou

Kuroo snickered. When the mission began, everyone got serious. “Shouyou” was only level 3 and was proving exactly why he was such a low level: he’d rather get really excited on the chat log about literally anything in the world. And ROLLINGTHUNDER, who he later learned was called “Noya,” was at level 16. He didn’t talk much in the log other than to say LOL to some of the stuff that “Shouyou” said.

From that point on, Kuroo would come home almost right after practice—sometimes Lev would hold him back to ask for pointers, other times he’d spare a minute to visit Bokuto and listen about his stressful his love-life is—to do his homework, and get on the game. It was weird. Other than volleyball, he’d never felt so focused on something before. But it wasn’t the game itself that he was so focused on.

They had been gaming together for a week and a half, talking a lot, though it was mostly Kuroo who would send the IMs and often got short replies from the other (which was fine). The second to last day before summer vacation, Kuroo had to take a break to grab some dinner with his family. When he returned, there was a message waiting for him from Kencat, sent only a few minutes ago. It made Kuroo smile because in the last twelve days, Kencat had never been the one to initiate conversation.

Kencat @ KURO0-1 ((6:48PM)): do you have a skype?

He responded as quickly as his fingers would let him.

KURO0-1 @ Kencat ((6:55PM)): Yeah you want it?

The answer was instantaneous.

Kencat @ KURO0-1 ((6:55PM)): yeah

Within five minutes and after pulling up his Skype for the first time in what was probably two months, a ding~!and a contact confirmation message was waiting for him.

kozumekenma would like to add you on Skype

“Kozume, Kenma,” Kuroo hummed. “That’s a nice name.” And, of course, he accepted the request.

They started talking instantly.

Kuroo Tetsurou: Kozume-san!

Kozume Kenma: you can just say kenma

And that’s what started it all. Kuroo learned that Kenma was laid back, had more videogames than everyone Kuroo knew put together, and he liked cats. And that’s all he knew about him for a while. Kenma didn’t care to ask Kuroo any questions. A lot of his replies, as Kuroo expected, were short and often unpunctuated. Which was fine.

Another thing that was fine was that Kenma was a boy. Kuroo had originally thought that he was a girl because of his customized female character in the first-person-shooter. He was curious as to why Kenma chose a girl, as he was curious about a lot of things having to do with Kenma (though he had no idea WHY he was so curious).

School came to an end that following Saturday.

“I can’t believe you’re going to University after we’re done here. What am I going to do?” Lev practically cried. “You, and Yaku-san are leaving me to fend for myself in this dog-eat-dog world of volleyball!”

Kuroo smiled lazily and rolled his eyes up at his young friend. “You’ll survive, Lev. And hey, who knows? Maybe with Yaku gone you’ll stop getting distracted during practice and become the Ace.”

Lev’s eyes got all starry like they often did at the mentions of being the Ace (and/or Yaku). “I’ll show you, senpai!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Can we hang out this summer, though?” Lev looked serious when he asked this, his green eyes no longer starry, but staring.

“Hell yeah. You can come hang out with me and Bokuto if you want. We’ll play one on one on one matches.”

The younger boy’s eyes became hopeful and he threw his arms up in celebration. “Wahoo!”

Kuroo saw another question on Lev’s face, but the taller of the two held back whatever else it was he wanted to ask, and Kuroo it go. Lev always looked like he had a million questions to ask, but never did.

He bid Lev a “see ya~” before starting his trek home. Normally he’d walk the other to his house, but he just wanted to get home and tell Kenma what a crazy last day he had.

It… was a little weird to say the least. Kuroo had grown very close to Kenma in two weeks, and if he didn’t know any better he’d say Kenma was quite attached to him as well. And that was weird to him. He didn’t know why, it just felt weird to grow so fond of someone you only really see as little blurbs of text on Skype or the IMs they had sent back and forth two days prior.

One day, Kuroo would have to tell Lev about Kenma. Lev would like Kenma.

His phone buzzed excitedly in his pocket when he was halfway between Nekoma and home. When he pulled it out, Bokuto’s goofy contact photo greeted him.

“What’d’ya want, Owl-Face?”

“You say that like it’s an insult, when really it’s the best compliment I’ve ever received…”

“Doesn’t answer my question.”

A long sigh from Bokuto hissed at Kuroo through his phone. “I’m feeling kinda shitty, and Akaashi left early, so I was wondering if you’d make the trip to walk me home and hang out for a while? I’ll feed your face if that’s what it’ll take.”

“You want me to walk you home? You realize it’ll take me a while to get there right?”

“I can wait. I’ve got a spare key to the gym still so I’m just gonna be giving myself tosses to murder spikes with for a while to see if I can cheer myself up.”

Kuroo sighed. Dejected Bokuto was one of the things he’s never been able to say no to. With a turn, he nodded though Bokuto couldn’t see it. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

When he hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket, he made himself smile thinking about what a good friend he was. Then he made himself smile more thinking about telling Bokuto about Kenma.

And then he was just smiling thinking about Kenma.

It felt like the whole day had gone slower than it should have, Kuroo thought on his way to Fukurodani Academy. He knew the way by heart after three or so years of traveling with Nekoma and just going on his own to visit his friend.

When he arrived at the gate, he took his phone out to text Bokuto that he was there, there was already a text from his friend saying to just go to the gym when he got there. So that’s what Kuroo did.

The door was unlocked and wide open, and Kuroo could hear volleyballs smacking against the gym floor from yards away. He peaked inside to watch Bokuto toss balls up as though serving, and then getting a running start to jump and spike them past the net that he had put up by himself.

“Yo, Owl-Face!”

Bokuto was mid-toss, so the ball came falling back down and bounced off of his head and onto the floor. Kuroo saw the pain in Bokuto’s eyes from where he stood, and not the pain of the volleyball hitting him.

“Bro, you alright?” Kuroo stepped inside of Fukurodani’s gym and approached Bokuto with concern. “You look like you’re going to cry.”

“Been there, done that.” Bokuto breathed out. He took a seat on the floor right where he had been standing and held his head in his hands. Kuroo sat beside him and placed a hand on his back and received a whiney, strained thanks for showing up from his friend.

“So, you wanna tell me what’s up? …Does it have to do with Akaashi?”

“No… well, yes and no.” Bokuto admitted. “Like, it didn’t at first, but then I thought about it more and it TOTALLY has EVERYTHING to do with Keiji…”

Kuroo waited for him to explain, but an explanation never came. So, of course, he asked. “Wanna let me in on what it is?”

He got a whimper before anything else. “Today was my actual factual one-hundred-percent last day here. Do you know what that means? No more Fukurodani, no more volleyball club captain, no more Akaashi Keiji as my vice-captain, no more matches with you guys, no more lots of things… My life is literally going to end this summer.”

“That’s a really awful use of the word ‘literally’.” Kuroo hummed, lightheartedly. Bokuto gave him a look between spread fingers and he snorted. “Sorry, dude.”

“What am I going to do without this place?” Bokuto gestured everywhere to have this place mean Fukurodani. “What am I going to do without volleyball? What am I going to do without Keiji?”

“Well, it’s not like you can’t visit the place and tell the upcoming First Years how great you are.” Kuroo offered. “Also, you can always play in college.”

“What about Keiji, though? What am I going to do without him?”

“Do you mean as a vice-captain or…?”

Bokuto dropped his hands and looked forward, squinting as though he was trying to read an answer from the wall farthest away from them. Then he sighed. “Being a Third Year sucks so much ass, Kuroo.”

His answered with a soft hum, mostly because he didn’t know what to day.

“I don’t want to leave and him still be here… I know it’s dumb. I don’t like the idea of missing him more than I’m going to miss the volleyball club, and I can already feel like that’s what’s going to happen.” Bokuto explained, dropping his gaze from the wall and looking at Kuroo for advice.

Kuroo shrugged, now looking in the same place Bokuto had been looking previously. “You’ll still see him.”

“…Huh?”

“He’s so into you. And you’re so into him. So, I really don’t see you two letting something like college separating you guys.” Kuroo replied with a grin, still looking toward the wall.

The Fukurodani Third Year just stared at Kuroo. Kuroo was right, and Bokuto knew it. College couldn’t stand between them. College couldn’t stand between him and volleyball either. Even if he couldn’t play for Fukurodani anymore, he could still play. And he could still see Akaashi.

“You… really think so?” Bokuto had to ask, just to see if Kuroo was fucking with him.

Kuroo gave him a Cheshire smile. “No. I know so. So, buck up, dude! You promised you’d feed my face.”

When Kuroo started to stand, Bokuto stopped him. “Wait.” And he paused until Kuroo was looking at him. “Can we volley for a minute? …Just so I can say I beat Nekoma one last time?”

“You asshole,” Kuroo laughed, glad to see Bokuto didn’t look or sound so depressed anymore. “Get up, I’ll kick your ass one on one.”

Kuroo got home later than originally intended, but Bokuto needed him, and so his mother understood why he was on a public bus at 7PM. He felt dirty because Bokuto insisted they play to at least ten points and they ended up playing until twenty. So he took a shower after telling his mother about his last day of high school, and then he went to his room and flopped down on his desk chair.

He couldn’t wait to talk to Kenma.

Skype had one message waiting for him:

Kozume Kenma: are you against skype calls

Kuroo stared at the message for a while. It meant virtually nothing other than Kenma possibly wanting to call him, and that got him excited. He didn’t understand why. It also made him nervous, and again, he didn’t understand why.

Kuroo Tetsurou: Nope

Kozume Kenma: do you care if I call you right now or are you busy

That was the longest message Kenma had ever sent him. And Kuroo was grinning that big dumb grin of his that he swears he probably inherited from Bokuto.

Kuroo Tetsurou: I’m not busy

And so Kenma called him.

It was Kenma’s last day of school, his last day of being a Second Year, and his last day before he could spend the next few months doing practically nothing. The look on his face didn’t replicate his emotions for others to see that he was excited.

During breaks, he got texts from Shouyou about how everyone on the team is crying about their third years being off soon (especially those in the Karasuno Volleyball Club), and how he was totally not prepared to be a senpai for new first years, and how he thinks he’s going to be sick. He never responded to texts during school, mainly because he didn’t feel like it. However, today was different. He responded to each one, shortly of course, but to assure Shouyou that it wasn’t the end of the world in each text was all he could do.

When Kenma got home, he went straight to his room. He wanted to nap, and play some games, and relax, and then probably play some more games. As soon as he hit mattress, his phone was alerting him of a new message. It was Shouyou, again, stating he wouldn’t be able to do a party mission that night due to his mother and sister wanting to go out to eat. So that would leave Kenma with only Kuroo, since Nishinoya didn’t play on weekends.

Kenma thought back to the first time he had met Shouyou. It had been on a fantasy game server that the other had joined out of curiosity and couldn’t figure out how to play. Kenma came to his aid, mostly because he was bored, and the two had been friends since. That was a year ago, and it started the tradition of Kenma video-calling his internet friends after he learns their names (except for one, that he met at a convention once, but that’s been the only exception). It’s a weird tradition, but none of them have declined yet, and it makes him feel like they aren’t just internet friends.

Then when he discovered Hinata lived in the Miyagi Prefecture, the two decided they should meet in person. They met each other halfway between Tokyo and Miyagi (with the assistance of their mothers), and have been close friends ever sense. The two occasionally take the train to visit each other once or twice a month (depending on how much money they have, again, with the assistance of their mothers).

Shouyou introduced Kenma to his senpai about a week after they met the first time in a Skype group chat, and that was how Kenma and Nishinoya became friends. The three of them often go on party missions together.

Kenma had been wondering when he should call Kuroo, or even if he should. It’s something that made him comfortable, but he didn’t want to make Kuroo uncomfortable just for the sake of himself, so, of course, he had to ask Kuroo if that was alright. He must have waited at least three hours before Kuroo responded with a simple “nope”. Kenma didn’t care about late responses, he made Shouyou wait about ten hours for a short “okay” a few months ago, so he was in no place to judge or be impatient.

He felt a funny tingle in his fingertips as he typed out his next question to Kuroo. Kenma enjoyed the sensation, the wave of excitement that washed over him when he was about to call a friend for the first time. It came with an undying glob of nervousness sitting at the back of his throat, but he was good at ignoring it by now.

Kozume Kenma: do you care if I call you right now or are you busy

Kenma inhaled sharply, reading his own message over and over. He didn’t want it to see pushy or rude.

Kuroo Tetsurou: I’m not busy

Apparently, it didn’t come off as pushy or rude. And so, Kenma called him.

Kuroo answered after the first two rings, though Kenma could feel the reluctance just as the video window for Skype popped up.

Kenma felt his throat go dry.

“Holy shit,” Kuroo muttered, though it was loud enough for Kenma to hear.

“…What?” His own voice was quiet, but that was how it always was.

The other male was squinting at him. “What is up with your hair?”

Kenma was silent for a moment. He blinked once, twice, and then tilted his head to the side, unable to comprehend Kuroo’s words for a long time. Then, he finally responded. “Are you really one to talk?”

Kuroo’s response was a really loud, really deep laugh, and then a snort. “The sarcasm never leaves you, does it?”

“I use sarcasm as much as you ignore your hairbrush.” Kenma hummed.

Grasping his shirt over left side, Kuroo gasped as though he had been attacked. “Oh, god. Shot to the heart, Kozume-san—”

“I told you, Kenma is fine.”

Kuroo grinned, clutching the spot over his heart. “Shot to the heart, Kenma.”

“And I’m to blame,” he responded in a woe is me voice.

He heard Kuroo laugh again, and that make him flash the smallest of smiles. It went away faster than it showed up, but Kuroo saw it. He also felt the need to point I the fuck out.

“Saw that.”

“Huh?”

“Smile again.”

“Ummm, no.”

“Okay, that’s fine too.” Kuroo threw his hands up defensively as though Kenma were threatening to shoot him (again). “Don’t go crazy, Kenma.”

“The only crazy one here is that homeless cat sleeping on your head.”

“WOW! Rude. His name is Spike and I’d appreciate if you respected that.” Kuroo pretended to look hurt as he lifted a hand to his hair and smoothed down one of the rather large cowlicks, only for it to spring right back up again.

“Oh, forgive me.”

“I don’t think I can.”

Kenma shrugged. “Hm, oh well.”

“That reminds me!” Kuroo suddenly shouted, startling Kenma and making him jump slightly. “I’ve been meaning to ask you: why do you use a girl character?”

Both of Kenma’s eyebrows pulled down into a confused, unsure furrow. “How did that remind you of—”

“It’s not important.” Kuroo waved his hand back and forth like he was shooing the statement away.

With a sigh, Kenma sat back in his desk chair and shrugged. He looked down a bit and a few strands of hair drifted into his face. “I dunno, really. I’ve just always liked girl characters. They’re prettier and it’s more… fun? I guess.” Kenma brushed the hair out of his face, tucking it behind his ear. “Like, a videogame is something that takes you away from reality for a while, right? It’s all about… pretending. And I like the girl characters for that reason, I guess. Because it’s easier to pretend.”

Kuroo was staring at him, eyes slightly wider than they were before Kenma gave his explanation. The younger of the two scratched the back of his head.

“Sorry. It didn’t make any sense.”

“Taking you away from reality?” Kuroo repeated after a moment. “What, you’re telling me you don’t like the real world?” He said it jokingly, but realized how mean it sounded coming out of his mouth. “I mean… I didn’t mean that in a mean way.”

“I know.” Kenma assured him quietly. “But… yeah, I guess I am telling you that. I’d rather be someone completely different in another world than be myself in this world.”

The look in Kuroo’s eyes was nothing more than holy shit, this got deep, and he swallowed down the lump that had started to form in his throat. “Why’s that?”

He had many answers for that. There was the obvious answer, but he didn’t like to think about that. He would rather stay as far away from that than tell someone that he just met. But, as he looked at the concerned face of the messy haired male on his screen, Kenma felt a sense of… trust. He didn’t quite understand why, but he trusted Kuroo Tetsurou. And so, he told him.

“I don’t have many… friends.” Kenma explained softly, averting his eyes. “And, it’s because I’m… I don’t really know why. But I don’t have a lot of friends in real life, so… it’s easier to pretend I’m someone else in a different world where I do cool things than be someone who does…” his voice dropped lower. “…nothing but play videogames…”

“What about me?”

Kenma didn’t understand the question. “What about you?” He repeated.

“I’m your friend. And fuck that ‘in real life’ bullcrap, Kenma, I’m a real person so we are real life friends. Okay?” Then Kuroo’s eyebrows rose and he smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I don’t know how you stand on swearing—”

“It… doesn’t bother me.” The other promised. Kuroo’s smile became that big dumb grin, and Kenma gave a small, almost unnoticeable smile in return. Then, it went away just as the first had, and he brushed the hair out of his face again. His hand lingered in front of his face for a moment as though he were hiding behind it. “…Do you really mean it, though?”

“Mean what? That we’re friends?” Kuroo asked. Kenma nodded. “No, I totally lied. We’re not friends. Yeah, of course I meant it, Pudding Head.”

“Pudding Head?” Kenma’s expression held a mixture of confused and unamused, and Kuroo laughed.

“You called my hair a homeless cat. Besides, yours looks like flan, or something, Pudding Head.”

“Creative, aren’t you.”

Kenma and Kuroo talked well past midnight. Not about anything big or important, just random things and tidbits, and occasionally Kuroo would poke fun at Kenma only to be showered with sarcasm. Kuroo caught Kenma smiling a total of six times, and told Kenma it would be his personal record of making him smile to beat. Kenma rolled his eyes, as that was just before their final goodnight, and gave Kuroo his farewell before they ended the call.

6 hours. They had been talking for 6 hours, 19 minutes, 42 seconds. That was more than Kenma had ever spoken to anyone in one sitting, even Shouyou. And staring at the “call ended” beside those numbers made the nervous feeling sitting at the back of his throat extremely noticeable.

“That’s a long time…” He said to himself. He then stood and pushed in his desk chair before changing into some pajamas. Kenma was about to shut his laptop for the night when the little blup noise Skype’s messages made caught his attention. A message from Kuroo.

Kuroo Tetsurou: nighty night, sleep tight, don’t let the homeless cats bite

And Kenma laughed at this. Perhaps he laughed because Kuroo’s sense of humor was subtle and stupid and enjoyable. Perhaps it’s because of the joke he made about Kuroo’s hair being used against him in a silly way. Perhaps it was because of a lot of dumb factors.

(Perhaps it was just because he liked Kuroo.)

When Kenma woke up he had 3 texts from Shouyou. The texts were asking him if he wanted to get together sometime in the next week, if he’d rather Shouyou come to him or if he’d rather visit Miyagi, and then just a bunch of smiley emoticons. He rubbed his eyes after reading the texts and yawned. It was too early in the morning to deal with Shouyou’s energetic rays.

Except that it wasn’t early in the morning. It wasn’t morning at all, in fact, it was 1 in the afternoon. Kenma had slept 12 hours, and as much as he enjoyed sleeping, he was surprised to see he slept that long. When he sat up and prepared to respond a “sure, doesn’t matter to me” to Shouyou, he saw it from the corner of his eye.

Skype was still open. He’s got no messages waiting for him, but he saw that he never signed out or even minimized the window, and it was still on that last message Kuroo had sent him. And for some reason, that made his chest tickle a little.

He never typed out his response to Shouyou. Instead, he left his phone on his desk and laid in bed for practically the rest of the day, except twice to use the bathroom and once to get something to munch on. He couldn’t believe he had spent nearly 6 and a half hours talking to Kuroo. His first video chat with Shouyou only lasted about thirty minutes, and half of that was Shouyou’s younger sister coming in to his room and talking to Kenma while Shouyou did chores.

Kenma didn’t like the fluttery feeling in his chest at all. Maybe he was sick? Was that it? That had to be it, because he’d never felt such a weird feeling like this, and the last time he felt weird (though not like this) was because he was sick with a cold.

He wanted to talk to Kuroo again, but maybe that wasn’t a good idea. So instead, five hours later, he texted Shouyou back and asked him if he was available to get together on Tuesday. Shouyou responded with a message made primarily of emoticons and a “yes” sprinkled somewhere in there. Kenma sighed loudly, making sure that it was actually okay, and once he received another YES, he put his phone on his desk and turned his back to it.

The fluttery feeling wasn’t going away, even when he stopped facing his desk. He needed to talk to someone about this, because maybe he wasn’t sick and this was something else that he didn’t entirely understand. Shouyou was the only person he could really go to because A.) Shouyou has never judged him for anything, B.) his mother will think he’s sick regardless and take him to the hospital to get checked out, and C.) Kenma hated hospitals so clearly option A was the only suitable one.

When he got out of bed to grab his 3DS for entertainment, he paused when passing his desk again. The message was still there, and it was still from Kuroo, and it still made him feel weird. Kenma disregarded the idea of playing Animal Crossing now and sent Kuroo a message on Skype before realizing his bedheaded friend wasn’t online. And that fact left him with a horridly empty feeling that he had to wait for Kuroo to answer him. Again. Just like the day before.

I’m just sick, Kenma told himself. That’s all this is. Shouyou will say the same thing on Tuesday.

At least, that’s what he hoped. And all he could do was hope.

When Tuesday rolled around, Kenma had talked to Kuroo almost all night again the two nights between Sunday and Tuesday. He didn’t understand what it was about Kuroo that made him want to stay up and talk. Talking was not Kenma’s strong suit… but Kuroo made it feel like it was starting to be.

Shouyou met Kenma at Miyagi’s train station five minutes after he had gotten there. All he had with him was his phone and a handful of cash that resided in his pocket. That caught Shouyou off guard because Kenma always has some sort of portable gaming device on him (aside from his phone) when they hang out because Shouyou won’t be offended if Kenma starts playing. Just as Kenma wouldn’t get offended if Hinata brought someone along with him and make Kenma the third wheel.

Which is what he did.

“Oh.” Kenma stared at the tall boy standing beside his friend. His eyes drifted to Shouyou. “I didn’t know you’d be bringing someone else.”

Shouyou just beamed, excited to introduce one friend to another. Though, the way Shouyou was holding this boy’s hand made it look like they were much more than friends. Kenma didn’t say anything about it.

“Kenma, this is Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama, this is Kenma. He came all the way to Miyagi to visit me, how cool is that?”

“Hello,” Kageyama said, and he looked as though he were having trouble processing all of the information Shouyou had just given him.

“Anyways, Kenma!” Hinata took Kenma by the wrist and started to pull both of them out of the station. “What’er we gonna do today? Do you wanna go to the Recreation Center with us for a one on one—or maybe even a two on two?! I think Noya-san might be there—he’d probably like to meet you in person…”

Kenma shut Shouyou’s excitement out and began to think. No, overthink. He was definitely overthinking everything that was happening. He was just sick, right? A weird cold or something, and that’s what Shouyou would tell him anyway, so really all he did was waste money to get on the train to Miyagi just to hear what he already knew.

“…because who doesn’t like ice cream? And then we can go to the park or something and feed the ducks—”

“Hinata,” Kageyama spoke up, louder than necessary, and Shouyou stopped talking to look at him. Kageyama nodded his head in Kenma’s direction, just to have Shouyou’s gaze follow the gesture and lock onto Kenma.

“Are you okay, Kenma?” Shouyou’s voice lacked everything it had held before and was now nothing but concerned. “You look like you’re about to throw up or something.”

“Can we sit down?” Kenma’s voice was small, but Shouyou still heard it and lead them to a bench near the outside of Miyagi’s train station. Kenma sat down and held his head in his hands, taking a breath. When he looked up, he saw Shouyou and Kageyama staring at him, eyes full of worry. He didn’t like when people worried over him. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be! Are you sick? If you’re sick we could have gotten together another time!” Shouyou assured him as though that was the problem. He patted Kenma on the shoulder with his free hand. “Do you want to go home?”

Kenma shook his head, and then admitted “No… I need to talk to you.” He paused and looked at his lap. “It could probably wait, but I’d really rather it not.”

While he stared at his lap, the other two were silent. Or maybe they were talking and he began to overthink everything and shut whatever they were saying out so he could analyze what the fuck was going on better.

“…talk about?”

He looked up again, and Shouyou was sitting beside him. Kageyama wasn’t standing or sitting near them, and Kenma’s brows pulled together in confusion. “Where did Kageyama go?”

“I asked him if he’d go buy you a bottle of water from the vending machine inside of the station, and while he’s gone we can talk.” This was the calmest and most serious Shouyou that Kenma had ever experienced. He wasn’t sure whether to be proud of bothered. “So, what’s up?”

“I… don’t exactly know.” Kenma began. “I needed to get out of my house because I’ve been feeling really weird lately, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m sick or something else.”

Shouyou’s full attention was on Kenma, so he continued.

How else would he word this? Kenma took in a breath and looked back at his lap, allowing his hair to fall into his face. “How do you... know... if you like someone?

“Does my hair look like a homeless cat is sleeping on my head?”

Bokuto raised an eyebrow while Lev just stared at Kuroo. He had never asked them such a strange question before. They assumed Kuroo knew he had wild hair. Everyone knew he did, actually, because it was hard to miss. So Kuroo asking them this question was… kind of off-putting.

Lev, spinning a volleyball in his hands, grinned at Kuroo, disregarding the question as a silly joke, like the banter the three of them often shared, and Bokuto spoke for the two of them. “Is this information new to you or something?”

“I’m serious,” Kuroo blew a hard breath out to push his bangs away from his eye without touching them, but they just fell back into place. “Homeless cat?”

“Maybe a dead cat,” Lev poked, tossing the ball up for Bokuto to volley back.

Bokuto caught the ball instead of tossing it back. “Something on your mind, bro?”

“Kinda, but it’s not important.” Kuroo shrugged. “Never mind, let’s play.”

“No way! What’s up?” Bokuto said, both he and Lev staring at Kuroo with intent. “You can tell us whatever you need to, dude. You know we’re here for you.”

And Lev was completely serious now, too. “What’s going on, Senpai?”

The dark haired boy elicited a long, dramatic sigh. “I swear it’s nothing. It’s dumb actually, and I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just play. Yaku was supposed to come, wasn’t he? So we could do two on two?”

“He said had other plans,” Lev pouted. “So it’s just us three—also! Don’t avoid telling us what’s wrong, because it’s written all over your face, Senpai!”

“Shut up, Lev.”

“No, he’s right.” Bokuto conformed, bouncing the volleyball against the pavement. “Not sure what it says, but it’s written all over your face and you need to enlighten us.”

Kuroo groaned. “It’s literally nothing, okay? I’m not like you two. You guys just talk about Yaku or Akaashi with that look in your eyes, but I can’t just—” he stopped himself. “…wait.”

But there was no waiting. Lev had the look of an overexcited puppy, rushing up to Kuroo’s side with green eyes full of glee. “Did you meet someone? Oh! Oh!!!!”

“Lev—”

“That’s exactly what happened, isn’t it! Oho ho ho, Kuroo Tetsurou, you dog—oh man, that’s ironic!” Bokuto laughed at his own joke. “Okay, okay, okay! What happened Where’d you meet ‘em?”

“Oh my god you guys are like First Year girls, calm the fuck down.”

“NOT UNTIL YOU TELL US!” Lev basically screeched, making Kuroo jump.

“Tell us everything.”

Kuroo bit the inside of his cheek and looked away before speaking. “There isn’t much to tell. There isn’t really much there, to be honest.”

Lev was practically vibrating. “Still, there’s something to tell, even if not much!!”

“Alright, okay, shut up.” The dark haired teen sighed for what was probably the umpteenth time and gave an unimpressed gesture with his hand, waving it slightly as though telling Lev to back up some. “His name is Kozume… um, Kenma. There’s nothing really other than that, he’s just… cute. And really sarcastic.”

Bokuto was grinning ear to ear, while Lev looked as though he had just seen a ghost. Kuroo ignored Lev’s expression—he was probably just having a rough time translating all of that information into Levspeak.

“Boys with ‘K’ names sure know how to steal hearts,” Bokuto hooted, tossing the ball to Lev. “What’s he look like?”

“Your first name starts with a ‘K’; isn’t that a little nar—”

“What’s he look like?” Bokuto repeated quickly.

“His hair looks like flan.” Kuroo snorted.

“How’d you meet this Kenma, anyway?” Lev piped up when he nearly got smacked in the face with the volleyball.

Kuroo cringed at the question, which only gained more interest from Bokuto, who was exceedingly curious. “Actually… I met him through that game you gave me, Lev.”

“YOU HAVE AN INTERNET BOYFRIEND?” Bokuto straight up screamed, getting them strange looks from some of the other people in the park. “HOLY SHIT KUROO, HO—”

“SHUT the fuck up,” Kuroo slapped his palm to Bokuto’s mouth and pinched the bridge of his own nose with the other hand. “This is another reason I didn’t want to tell you guys, my god, you’re so loud.”

“Mmm hm mm nmmmm mmoyfmmmm!!” Bokuto tried beneath Kuroo’s hand before shoving it away.

“What?”

“You have an internet boyfr—”

Kuroo cut him off by slapping the same hand to his mouth a second time. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“You didn’t deny it the first time!” Lev hummed and clapped his hands together, looking livelier than he had before.

Retracting his arms and folding them over his chest, Kuroo gave them both very disapproving looks. Bokuto sighed and Lev’s smile faltered at Kuroo’s expression. When Kuroo spoke, his tone was serious. “Kenma isn’t my boyfriend. We’re just friends.”

“So then why was that so hard for you to tell us? Nothing hard about saying ‘I made a friend’… unless you wanted to warn me he’s taking my place as best bro?” Bokuto gasped. “I’ll fight—”

“I think,” Lev interrupted Bokuto, his voice still quite bubbly but thoughtful all the same. “Maybe Kuroo-senpai likes him, and that’s why it was hard for him to tell us.”

“On the fucking nose, Lev.” Kuroo grumbled. Lev was smiling wide, while Bokuto just stared at him with those big owl-like eyes of his. “Kinda. I mean… I think I might like him. But I’m not sure.”

“How are you not sure?” asked Bokuto.

“Not everyone has a moment like you did, dude.” Kuroo replied flatly. Both his friends gave him confused looks, so he explained. “You know, your ‘Akaashi Moment.’ You knew right the fuck away that you liked him, Bokuto.”

“I don’t see your point.”

Lev was glancing back and forth as the conversation carried.

“My point is that you knew your feelings from the get-go. Right now, I don’t know if I like Kenma or if it’s just because he’s a new buddy and I’m starting to… or, I mean, I’m getting… I don’t know—”

“Getting attached?” Lev offered.

“That’s worded awfully, but yeah, whatever.”

The three of them were quiet for a bit. Lev tossed the ball to Kuroo, he tossed it to Bokuto, and Bokuto tossed it back to Lev. They kept this rhythm going for a bit, never speaking, until finally, Lev couldn’t take it.

“You definitely should try liking him!”

Kuroo stared at him, letting the ball fly past him. “Excuse me?”

“I mean… Who knows?” Lev began, running after the ball. He picked it up once it had bounced off of a tree and rolled back near him. He turned back to Kuroo and Bokuto who were watching him now. “You may be… ignoring your feelings? Maybe it’s that.”

“Why would—”

“Senpai, please listen for a moment.” Lev had lifted his left hand, causing Kuroo to stop talking. “…Because you don’t know him in person, maybe it’s weird for you to think you can like him like that? I don’t know really, but that could be it, or something like it.”

“Actually…” Bokuto spoke up before Kuroo could shoot Lev’s theory down. “That sounds like that could be it. You could be confused because you’re not actually physically with him when you guys talk.”

“Yeah!”

Maybe they were right. Maybe he did like Kenma but he was too hung up on the fact that he had no idea where Kenma lived or what kinds of things he liked besides videogames and sarcasm. That last thing surprised him a bit. They had talked 6, nearly 7 hours every night for the past three nights, and he didn’t know anything more about Kenma than what he learned the night of their first video chat.

Did Kenma like sports? What would he think of Volleyball?

What was his favorite color?

Favorite season? Favorite food?

His favorite school subject? His least favorite?

Kuroo didn’t even know how old Kenma was.

“…Keep talking to him to figure out if you do actually like him or not,” Lev said out of nowhere. “That’s the only way you’ll really know for sure, ya know?”

How long had Lev been talking? How long had Kuroo been spaced out thinking about how little he knew about Kenma? He cringed inwardly. Maybe he did like him since he was thinking so hard about this. He still wanted to try out Lev’s theory, though… it made more sense than he wanted to admit.

“Yeah,” His voice felt small to his own hears when he spoke this time. He wanted to ask them for help because Bokuto had Akaashi and Lev had Yaku, and they knew what it was like to like someone and he wasn’t quite sure that’s what he even felt toward Kenma. But then again, that’s why he was going to test Lev’s theory, and he couldn’t have any assistance on that. Besides, if he asked for help, they could accidentally fuck up whatever might become of him and Kenma, and he didn’t want to loath them if things went downhill fast. So he just repeated his “yeah,” and then the three of them started tossing the ball in their rotation again.

Lev was grinning like an idiot when the ball came back to him. “Senpai, if you and Kenma-san become a couple, wouldn’t it be cool to do three on three’s this summer?”

“What does Kenma have to do with volleyball?” Kuroo asked in return, catching the ball Lev tossed at him.

“Nothin’,” the youngest admitted, his eyes following the ball as it went to Bokuto. “But, like, then there would be six of us, and we could do a proper three on three. Six as in us, Akaashi-san, and Yaku-san, I mean.”

“Speaking of Akaashi, how are you doing?” Kuroo asked Bokuto, ignoring Lev’s statement past that. The younger pouted even when the ball came to him, and Bokuto just shrugged, gaining a strained look from Kuroo.

Then Bokuto smiled. “Everything’s good.” He said it sincerely, which was good, because otherwise Kuroo knew he’d have to have Lev help him pester an answer out of his owl-eyed friend.

His two friends has weird relationships, to say the least. Bokuto was his best friend, but he honest to god had no idea what Akaashi saw in Bokuto. And the same went for Yaku with Lev. Kuroo would never really understand what went on between those couples other than what he was told, and believe it or not he wasn’t told a lot. Don’t get him wrong, he’s a million percent happy for both of his friends and their successful relationships, but he just didn’t get it.

Or, maybe it wasn’t their relationships he didn’t get, but relationships in general. He’d never really dated anyone, so he had no idea what he would be getting himself into. And that was only if he did actually like Kenma, and of course if Kenma liked him, too.

The rest of the week went by with very slowly. The first two days, Kuroo and Kenma spoke quite a bit, but about nothing important. Kenma seemed to be quieter now, and Kuroo wasn’t sure if he was just distracted or if something was wrong. But he never asked, because he figured Kenma wouldn’t tell him whatever it was if there was actually something. They ended up playing free PC games together while in their Skype calls to liven things up (it was Kenma’s idea).

Kenma introduced him to the world of free online games. Oh, the variety! Oh, the quick downloading speed! The games were multiplayer and ranged from tiny chibi character’s killing grossly proportioned giants (Kenma quietly informed Kuroo that he liked this game mostly due to the customization features and the widely available features, but disliked it because of the texture regardless of what level the quality was set to), and a game called Agar.io, where you’re just a colorful dot feeding on other dots to become the largest dot.

The third day, which was Friday, was the most silence Kuroo had ever experienced from Kenma. He spoke two words the entire three hour call. When asked why he wasn’t talking (not that Kuroo minded, he quite liked Kenma’s overall quietness because it contrasted greatly to Lev and Bokuto’s loudness), Kenma simply typed out that his throat was feeling a bit sore.  Kuroo suggested that they end the call so Kenma can tend to his throat, and the other looked hurt that he would even offer that as a solution. But he did agree, very hesitantly, and they ended the call.

Saturday and Sunday, Kenma and Kuroo did not talk. Saturday, there was a storm and Kuroo did not think it would be wise to leave his electronics on. It rained all fucking day and night. Sunday, Kuroo was busy running errands and then got dragged along by Yaku and Lev to see a movie that he didn’t know was playing. They treated him to dinner and he got home late just to see Skype was waiting for him with a single message from Kenma earlier that day.

Kozome Kenma: i dont really think your hair looks like a homeless cat

For some reason, that message bounced around his head the entire night. And then the next day, when he was out at the park smacking a volleyball against a tree. And then later that night. And the entire week he didn’t talk to Kenma because that message was just so prominent in his head and he could not figure out why the fuck he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Why on earth had Kenma brought that back up? It had been a week since he had actually said that to Kuroo, and it hadn’t been brought back up once between the two of them in that week. There was no reason for him to say that…unless he was thinking about it, too. Maybe Kenma thought he had offended Kuroo when he said what he did. But, Kuroo knew better. He knew Kenma wouldn’t think that, whether it had bothered him or not (which it didn’t borrow Kuroo at all, honestly).

That Wednesday was full of volleyball. Kuroo had taken the trip with Lev and Yaku to meet up with Bokuto and Akaashi and play a two on two with a special rotation. Since there were five of them, whoever missed a receive got replaced by whoever was sitting out. Most of the game was Cats verses Owls because Lev still needed a lot of practice.

The three Tokyo boys ended up staying over at Bokuto’s house, and Akaashi accompanied them, to have a big, noisy sleep over where there was no sleep. Kuroo didn’t mention Kenma once, though Bokuto and Lev both brought him up (which made Yaku and Akaashi curious), but there was nothing much to say. Kuroo didn’t bring up the single message from Sunday.

Thursday when he was home, he had 0 messages from Kenma. In fact, Kenma wasn’t even online when he got home. It left Kuroo feeling a bit guilty. He hadn’t talked to Kenma since that Monday, and even that instance was lacking any significant conversation. So really, the last time he actually talked to Kenma was… last week.

It hit him like a sack of bricks. It had been nearly a month since he met Kenma. He stood in the middle of his room, letting this realization take its toll on him. It honestly wasn’t that big of a deal, and it wouldn’t have been to anyone else, but to him it was. It was. And he still knew so little about Kenma.

He finally snapped himself out of it and sat at his desk chair, and stared at the blank bubble beside Kenma’s name on Skype. Glaring at it wouldn’t change anything, he knew, but he still hoped maybe he’d force it to turn green, or yellow (or even red) if he just watched it long enough. Nothing changed, of course, so Kuroo took it upon himself to send Kenma a message.

Kuroo Tetsurou: We should vid chat tonight

And then he sent another, because he felt as though that one was too pushy.

Kuroo Tetsurou: if you want to I mean

With a huff, he sent another just for good luck (to who? Nobody, just in general).

Kuroo Tetsurou: if nah that’s cool

And so he waited. He would be patient and wait all night for a response if he had to.

…But he really wanted to take a shower. And eat dinner. And watch the new episode of that one anime that Lev showed him that he would never admit he liked…

So that’s what he did. He ate dinner first—something quick and instant with veggies because that was the first thing he grabbed—and then showered. He’d watch the anime on his laptop when he got back in his room while he waited for Kenma’s answer. However that’s not what ended up happening, at all.

He stepped into his room, having just gotten out of the shower, in the middle of towel-drying his unruly-even-when-damp hair, when Skype sounded off the incoming call noise. He was unnaturally excited that Kenma was initiating a call again. He almost forgot he lacked pants and only adorned a towel around his hips, so before accepting the call he quickly pulled on a pair of gym shorts he had lying around and then slid into his chair.

Kuroo accepted the call after the fourth loop of the call jingle and then there was Kenma’s face, staring sleepily at him from the screen.

“Kenma!”

“…Kuroo.”           

They talked for a few minutes, Kuroo telling Kenma about what he did all week, Kenma humming to acknowledge that he was listening. Kuroo stretched his arms up mid-sentence, arching out slightly like a cat to get his spine to pop, and then when he dropped his arms, he saw the gentle pink sprinkled onto Kenma’s cheeks. Along with that, his eyes were slightly widened.

“What?”

Kenma looked somewhat uncomfortable before his eyes darted away from the screen. His pinked cheeks were getting darker now, and Kuroo swallowed hard at the sight of Kenma blushing. Wow. Holy shit. Oh my god.

“Please tell me the sight of my bare shoulders isn’t going to make you throw up,” he offered in a joking tone, hoping it would get Kenma to look at him.

And not only did Kenma look at him, he smiled and laughed at his joke. And he was still blushing. And Kuroo’s body was suddenly on fire as though he had just fallen into hell because Kenma was so fucking beautiful when he smiled.

“Hold on, I’ll have to call you back.” Kuroo spoke quickly, barely waited for Kenma to give him a confused but approving nod, and ended the Skype call. He threw on a sweatshirt hanging off of his desk chair (it was too fucking hot for it, but oh well) and swiped his phone from the edge of his bed where he’d left it before going to shower.

There was no time to waste, but Bokuto sure was good at wasting it anyway and not answering his most urgent phone call in the history of his entire existence.

“A warning would have been cool—”

“Shut up—I like Kenma.”

“OOOOOOOOHOOO HOOOO HOOOO!!” Bokuto screeched into Kuroo’s ear. “GO ON??”

“So we were in a Skype call, and he blushed and smiled AND LAUGHED at the SAME time, and I swear to god I’m going to die Bokuto, he’s so cute and I’m so fucked.”

“KUROO MY BRO, MY DUDE, HOLY SHIT, YOU LIKE HIM.”

“Yeah! I already said that!”

Bokuto continued to screech incoherently before his mother shouted at him to quiet down. Then he was silent for a minute, until Kuroo heard a door shut on Bokuto’s line. The screeching was considerably quieter now, and he spoke. “So when did all that happen?!”

“Literally five minutes ago,”

“Are you still in a Skype call with him? Did he hear you say all of that!?”

“No, I told him I’d call him back, then I called you.” Kuroo explained.

“…you stopped talking to Lover-boy so you could tell me that? I think it could have waited, man! You left him all by himself, my god, are you stupid?”

“What?”

Bokuto groaned. “You’re so hopeless, dude! You don’t just hang up on someone to call someone else just to TELL that person you’re in love—”

“OKAY,” Kuroo cut him off, waving a hand around as though to wave the statement away. “Listen, for one, that’s basically what you did when you first met Akaashi, so don’t even start. Secondly, I never said I was in love!”

“Okay, but you are though.”

“Don’t make me hang up on you.”

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t be rude! But, seriously, you need to do that and call Kenma back!” Bokuto practically hissed. “You can tell me about your emotional boner later.”

“What the fuck is an emotional boner—”

“Dude, Kuroo, I’m hanging up now. Call Kenma back.” And for the first time ever, Bokuto kept to his word and actually hung up on Kuroo.

Kuroo stared at his phone for a moment, still trying to figure out what the fuck an emotional boner was, then put his phone down and turned his attention back to Skype. Kenma’s status was set to Do Not Disturb, making him sigh. It didn’t stop him from sending a message anyway.

Kuroo Tetsurou: Sorry about that do you wanna call back?

Kozume Kenma: no

His heart shattered into a pile at the pit of his stomach. Oh. That was fine, Kenma has every right to refuse a second call after Kuroo had left so abruptly. Then again, if Kenma hadn’t looked so beautiful in that moment, Kuroo never would have had to call Bokuto. Then again (again), he had called Bokuto to ask for advice (I think? He thought; Kuroo couldn’t actually remember why he called Bokuto) and never got any other than to call Kenma back… which he couldn’t…

So in retrospect, this was all Kuroo’s fault.

Kuroo Tetsurou: Oh okay

Kozume Kenma: not because I don’t want to

Kozume Kenma: i just don’t feel well right now so

And just like that, Kuroo’s broken heart was mended. Kenma did want to talk to him. He just wasn’t feeling well. Kuroo breathed a sigh of relief.

Kuroo Tetsurou: summer flu got you down?

Kozume Kenma: it is definitely some type of virus or bug

Kuroo grinned stupidly to himself, setting his chin in the palm of his left hand while he typed with the other hand. Yeah, he hummed to himself, picturing Kenma’s cute blushing face and soft smile and gentle laugh, letting it replay in his head. The love bug…

…God, never let Bokuto or Lev know I thought that just now.

Kozume Kenma: i just don’t feel well right now so

It wasn’t a lie, exactly.

Kuroo Tetsurou: summer flu got you down?

Kozume Kenma: it is definitely some type of virus or bug

Kenma had never felt so uneasy before. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but he wasn’t used to it, so he didn’t like it regardless. He knew Kuroo had seen his blush, and that had embarrassed him. And that stupid comment about his shoulders made Kenma laugh, and he didn’t know why he laughed, because it was stupid, and this feeling making his chest hurt was also really stupid.

10PM wasn’t late, but Kenma was ready to sleep for the rest of his life. He wanted to talk to Kuroo some more, but he also didn’t because of reasons he couldn’t fathom, and on top of that he felt ill and warm.

…Shouyou will know what to do.

He kept his eyes on the Skype window incase Kuroo responded while he searched down his contact list for Shouyou’s number. He didn’t want to be rude and take forever to answer if Kuroo messaged him, so he tried his best to multitask.

(What had become of him? He’d never been one to worry about timely replies before…)

“Kenma?” Shouyou sounded sleepy. Kenma frowned at himself. He hadn’t meant to woken his friend up.

“Sorry, I can call back tomorrow—”

“No, it’s okay,” a long yawn came from Shouyou’s line. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes. Something is very wrong.”

That seemed to surprise Shouyou. “Oh. Okay, one sec.” On his line, Kenma heard shifting and static, assuming Shouyou was adjusting. Probably sitting up in bed and stretching. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m… sick.” Kenma continued to stare at the Skype screen. Kuroo had been typing for a long time… “I lied, I’m not sick. Or, at least, I don’t think I am…”

“Okay,” Shouyou was waiting for an explanation that Kenma didn’t have the words for. Or, if he did, he had no idea where he put them. So, Shouyou offered a bit of help. “Is it about what you told me last Tuesday? About, uh… Kuroo?”

Kenma’s chest felt tight. “…Yes.”

Kuroo Tetsurou: I kept erasing and rewriting what I wanted to say, sorry this took so long also I have a question

“Shouyou, he says he has a question, and I feel sick trying to figure it out.”

Kozume Kenma: ok

“Sick how?”

“Like my heart is going to explode.”

“Anxiety?”

“Maybe…”

Kuroo Tetsurou: how old are you? That’s like the creepiest thing to ask someone im sorry I know but im 17 almost 18 if that helps

“Oh. He just wanted to know how old I was.”

“Isn’t that a little creepy?”

“He told me his age, too.”

“Is he a gross oldie?”

Kozume Kenma: its ok there are always worse questions. im 16, almost 17

“He’s seventeen.”

“That’s two years older than me, so he’s old!!!”

“Shouyou, please.”

Shouyou laughed. “It’s true though! What’s he saying now?”

“It’s saying he’s typing… Shouyou, I need your advice.”

“Wait, huh? Advice? Kenma you’re like a bazillion times smarter than me.”

“That isn’t a real number.”

“See!! But maybe I can help. Do you need—” Shouyou snickered. “—some love advice?”

“I… yes?”

“Oh.”

And so Shouyou began attempting to list off things he thought would help Kenma with the possible crush he could possibly have on Kuroo, but the other stopped paying attention because Kuroo had sent him a long message.

Kuroo Tetsurou:I think i like you and i know thats super straight forward and im sorry but I have to know if you might like me too and yeah I realize how fucking dumb it is to ask this after a month but listen ive never really liked anyone so i have no idea if this is actually what im feeling so its really confusing and my friend said I should see if i actually do like you and well it fucking turns out I do so wow i feel like it’s Valentine’s Day and im a school girl that just got done just confessing up a storm

“—and you could also try—”

“Shouyou, hold on.” Kenma breathed out after reading the message a third time over. “Shouyou.”

“What! What did he say?”

Kenma’s voice caught in his throat for a moment. “He… said he liked me. Er, well, that he thinks he does.”

“IS THIS GOOD OR DO I GOTTA FIGHT HIM!!?”

“Please don’t shout.”

“Do you like him back?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t.”

“Well, from what you told me on Tuesday… it seems like you do.” Shouyou began carefully. Kenma noticed Kuroo was typing again and he swallowed hard while Shouyou spoke. “I mean, you can never really be too careful, ya know? It might just be a weird friend-love situation, or you might actually like him and just not know how that feels. I think you said you’ve never had a crush before right? So this could be your actual first crush and you’re having trouble figuring it out.”

“How do I know if I have a crush?”

“Uhh, well… Kuroo makes you smile a lot, right?”

“Smiling is a just a thing people do—”

“No, seriously. He makes you smile a lot more. You told me that yourself. And… you also told me you get kinda nervous when you guys video-call on Skype, and that he has a really weird smile that makes your chest hurt, yeah?”

Taking in a deep breath, Kenma nodded. “…Yeah.”

“Okay, so, that could be signs of a crush. But I don’t know. That’s kinda how it was for me and Kageyama, but… also not. So, I really can’t be the judge of this.”

Shouyou was right. He couldn’t be the judge of Kenma’s feelings (if any) toward Kuroo. But he was also right about all of those things being possible signs of a crush. Kenma didn’t know any of that could’ve revealed his feelings. He honestly just thought he was ill.

“Do you think…” Kenma started softly. “…it would be dumb of me to ask him if we could meet in person?”

There was silence on the other end for a while

Shouyou was the first person Kenma had ever gotten the chance to meet IRL, and it was one of the best decisions of his life. The chance for him to meet Kuroo face to face may be the one thing that could distinguish his feelings from platonic to… crushing. But whatever Shouyou said, Kenma would have to take into account. After all, Shouyou was better at this whole crush thing than Kenma by a long shot. And maybe asking your not-quite-sure-if-they’re-a-crush-or-not to meet you in person wasn’t a good idea. He really had no clue.

Kuroo Tetsurou: is the silence your answer? Did i cross a line?

“Shouyou, please, tell me what to do. I don’t know what to do.” Kenma whispered when Shouyou still hadn’t said anything. He didn’t want to leave Kuroo with no response, but he didn’t know what to do or say back. “Please.”

“Okay...” Shouyou’s voice was quiet. “I think… you should.”

“Why were you so quiet?”

“I was thinking about it. There’s a lot of stuff that could go wrong, but also a lot could go right. So, I think it’s okay to take the risk… but don’t go by yourself. He might be a creepo liar.”

Kenma knew Kuroo wasn’t lying, but Shouyou had a point. It would be wise to bring someone along.

“I’ll ask him.”

Kozume Kenma: no the silence isnt my answer

Kozume Kenma: i was just thinking a lot about what you said

Kuroo Tetsurou: It was a lot of info im sorry

Kozume Kenma: dont be sorry.

As he started typing out his idea to Kuroo, Shouyou waiting (somewhat) patiently on the phone for Kenma to inform him of what was happening, Kuroo sent him another message.

Kuroo Tetsurou: im still sorry

Kenma’s heart went out to him. He wish he could tell Kuroo he liked him back, but he honest to god was not sure how he felt.

Kozume Kenma: i honestly don’t know how i feel toward you because ive never had a crush before and im being serious about that. so ive come up with a possible solution but only if its okay with you

Kuroo Tetsurou: Im listening

“How’s it going?” Shouyou asked sleepily.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll tell you what happened tomorrow.”

“No, I can wait!”

“Okay, hold on then.”

Kozume Kenma: if its okay with you id like to meet you in person. Internet safety proclaims if you want to meet someone you met online in person you should go to a busy place with lots of people and to bring someone with you just to be safe.

Kozume Kenma: not that i dont trust you its just a precaution

Kozume Kenma: and we could talk in person that way. figure out if this… is actually what you think it is for yourself, and same for me if that makes sense.

Kuroo was typing back after Kenma had sent his last message, and he felt a ting of anxiety shock its way down his spine. “Shouyou, I’m sick.”

“You’re not getting out of this that easy, Kenma!”

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

“Now you just sound like me.”

“I’m… just nervous.” Kenma concluded, out loud rather than in his head like he intended.

“Yeah! That’s all it is.”

Kuroo Tetsurou: that’s ok with me

Kenma’s breath caught in his throat and he nearly choked.

Kuroo Tetsurou: if you live near Tokyo we could meet at the station its pretty busy there

Kozume Kenma: i can take the train there and meet you at the front

Kuroo Tetsurou: that works for me. when do you want to do this?

“Shouyou, what days are you busy next week?”

“Ahhhmmm,” He was in the middle of yawning. “Wednesday I have to watch Natsu for Mama, and Thursday I’m gonna go visit my senpais with Kageyama. Why?”

“He asked me when I wanted to meet him,” Kenma explained, voice gentle. “And I want you to go with me, if that’s okay.”

“HECK YEAH THAT’S OKAY, GOTTA MAKE SURE THIS GUY AIN’T SOME BIG WEIRDO! OF COUrs—Sorry, Natsu,” Shouyou’s voice grew quiet, having just been scolded by his younger sister for being too noisy. He continued, “Of course I’ll go with you.”

“Is Tuesday okay?”

Kozume Kenma: is next tuesday ok

Kuroo Tetsurou: sounds good to me. what time?

“Tuesday works! What time?”

“Umm… we’ll have to leave early if we’re going to meet up and then get to Tokyo Station before it’s late… so maybe we should meet around 10 and get on the next train?”

“Mhmm!”

Kenma had to factor all of the time in his head. Shouyou lived closer to Tokyo than he did, so he’d have to take the train to Miyagi, and then meet Shouyou, and they’d have to get on another one headed straight for Tokyo which would take several hours. Basically, he’d be on a train most of the day. But that was fine.

He just wanted to meet Kuroo.

Kozume Kenma: if I did the math right we should be there around 15:30 give or take

Kuroo Tetsurou: Perfect

“You could just sleep over Monday night so you don’t have to wake up super early on Tuesday. And we can leave at 11,” Shouyou offered. That wasn’t a bad idea.

“Okay.”

“If you need anything else, text me. I’m gonna go back to bed if you’re okay now…?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Goodnight, Shouyou.”

“NiiiiiiIIIGHT~!!”

Shouyou hung up. Kenma hadn’t realized Kuroo was waiting on a reply.

Kozume Kenma: ok see you Tuesday

Honestly, he wanted that to be the end of it. He wanted it to end right there so that the tightness of his chest and the buzzing of his fingertips would cease. But he knew better. He knew Kuroo would respond, and that he would reply back, and it would go on like this until one of them went to bed. And that was always Kuroo.

Kuroo Tetsurou: Im excited ive never done something like this before am I edgy yet?

Kenma laughed a bit. Then he frowned because why did I find that funny?

Kozume Kenma: edgy as a cliff

The two talked until 2AM and, of course, Kuroo was the one to say goodnight first. Kenma read over their conversation a few times to make sure he hadn’t imagined it. Sure enough, he hadn’t. There it was, staring him in the face: plans to meet Kuroo Tetsurou in Tokyo Station on Tuesday afternoon with Shouyou.

Pinkness found its way onto Kenma’s cheeks and he groaned, looking away from his laptop and pressing his hands to his cheeks. He didn’t like how Kuroo made him feel. However, at the same time, he did. And that was driving him crazy… And he didn’t quite like that it was driving him crazy.

(But he didn’t quite hate it either.)

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday.

All Kuroo could think about was TUESDAY.

When he called Bokuto the morning after Kenma had given his solution, his friend didn’t even have a chance to greet him before he went off.

“Tuesday, Bokuto. Tuesday.”

“Tuesday?” Bokuto repeated as though he hadn’t heard correctly. “What happens Tuesday?”

“Everything. Everything happens on Tuesday.”

“Care to enlighten me?”

Kuroo took in a breath. “Kenma wants to meet me face to face on Tuesday. In person. At Tokyo Station.”

“Oh my g—”

“And you’re coming with me.”

“Asking for a wing man?” If Bokuto wasn’t suddenly so serious, he would have laughed about how owls have wings and he was Kuroo’s wing man.

“Uh, kinda, but no. Shi—t.” Kuroo started and then swore. He was in the middle of making breakfast and almost burned himself badly on the stove. “Fuck. No, but uh, he said that I should bring a friend just to be safe. Internet rules dictate if you plan on meeting someone you met online for real then you should probably bring someone with you.”

“And you want ME to go? Ha, man, Lev’s never gonna let you live it down! …HE’S NEVER GONNA LET YOU LEV IT DOWN.”

Kuroo snorted. “Shut up, oh my god. I can’t bring him anyway. I’d never hear the end of it if I brought him, he’d probably talk the whole time about how he accidentally played match maker. Kenma probably wouldn’t appreciate it, either.”

“Yeah, I guess it’d be pretty rough to spring your kouhai on Kenma on the first date, eh?”

With a sigh and a pointed look directed at the stove but aimed at Bokuto, Kuroo corrected him. “Let’s get one thing straight right now—”

“That you are not?”

“Hardy har har. But seriously, this isn’t a date.”

“So you’re not dating him yet? God damn it Kuroo, I have money on this.”

“Really, dude?”

“No, not fucking really, what the fuck.” Bokuto barked out a haughty laugh. “I’m not a douche, what kind of person bets on their friends’ relationships?”

“A douche.”

“Yeah. Okay, so, not a date, huh.”

“Not a date.”

“What brought that on, though? Him suggesting you guys meet up, I mean?”

“Well,” Kuroo switched his phone to the other hand and moved his breakfast from the stove after turning it off. “I decided to use the Fuck It adjustment and just tell him that I’m pretty sure I like him.”

Bokuto was hooting. “Ooooh, nice, very nice. What did he say?”

“That he’s not sure if he likes me back. Not exactly in those words…” Kuroo paused, grinned, and slid into a chair at the kitchen table with a plate of his still lava-hot breakfast. “Which isn’t exactly a rejection to my feelings, ya know!”

“Yeah, nice, bro!”

“Thanks, bro. Anyway, he suggested that we meet in person and talk and hang out to figure out if we really like each other or not.”

“I’m excited to meet Lover-boy. Buuuut probably not as excited as you, eh?”

“Please don’t call him that when we meet him. I want to make a good impression, not scare him off.”

“Oh please, if your face didn’t frighten him during your first video chat, I can guarantee you that nothing I do or say will scare him off.”

“Um, have you see your hair? Do you own a mirror?”

“Oho, hmm, that reminds me, have you brushed the homeless cat today?”

“Touché.”

Friday went by slowly and Kuroo did practically nothing but laze around. He played a bit of the FPS on his own; story mode was a breeze with the hints and advice Kenma had given him their first week playing together, even though he had to unlock a bunch of shit in story mode that the co-op and verses already gave him. He wanted Kenma to get online and play with him, but the other was apparently busy so there was really nothing he could do about it.

Night rolled around eventually and Kenma still wasn’t online, which gave Kuroo the chance to actually go to bed before midnight. That didn’t mean he wanted to, though. He waited until 12:03 before actually leaving his laptop to get into bed. Possibly liking Kenma (possibly meant ‘most likely’ in this scenario) had really taken him by storm. He had never expected this to happen.

But one never really expects to obtain a crush, do they?

A dull Saturday and mostly uneventful Sunday followed. He would have gone to hang out with Lev, but Lev was gone visiting relatives in Russia apparently. Yaku was gone to take another tour of his future Uni campus that resided somewhere near the Miyagi Prefecture (“I don’t get why he doesn’t stay in Tokyo for college!” Lev whined for 3 hours after practice was over once), so hanging out with him was out of the question. Along with that, there was no point in making a surprise visit to Bokuto’s house because Kuroo figured Bokuto was A.) with Akaashi, B.) with Akaashi, or C.) with Akaashi.

Three days of practically nothing that he couldn’t handle because of the pending excitement of the upcoming Tuesday. All that stood in his way was Monday. And that Monday, he decided that visiting the Rec Center would do him some good—he needed to get out of the house anyway.

When he got home, he showered right away before checking any of his electronics.

Kozume Kenma: sorry i havent been able to talk

Kozume Kenma: we got a big storm that knocked the power out for like 2 days??

Kozume Kenma: i dont think its moving toward tokyo but be careful just in case

Kuroo smiled at the three messages from Kenma when he got out of the shower.

Kuroo Tetsurou: how considerate

The response was instant.

Kozume Kenma: would hate for you to get struck by lightning

Kuroo Tetsurou: death would be awful to experience before the big day ;)

Kozume Kenma: a tragedy

Kuroo Tetsurou: But if I survived it i would be a hero

Kozume Kenma: there’s a very slim chance of you getting struck by lightning though so we will never know if youd survive or not due to the odds

Kuroo Tetsurou: slim doesn’t mean 0! Theres still hope

Kozume Kenma: I can see the headline now “local man gets struck by lightning and survives, says he was waiting for it”

Kuroo laughed. He liked this banter going on between them.

Kuroo Tetsurou: no more like “local man gets struck by lightning, survives, datemate rolls his eyes in disgust at the electrocuted mess he has to deal with”

And then there was regret inside of that banter. Why, oh why, oh why had he just referred to Kenma as his—

Kozume Kenma: datemate?

Kozume Kenma: thats cute

Kozume Kenma: but you know it isnt a date right

It hurt, but at the same time it didn’t. Kuroo knew it wasn’t a date. Hell, he still wasn’t completely sure he liked Kenma (though he was almost positive he did). But that didn’t stop the statement from leaving a slight sting. Metaphorical salt to the wound otherwise known as having a crush.

Still not entirely sure about that last part.

(But mostly.)

Kuroo Tetsurou: i know.

Kozume Kenma: ok

There was tension, but there wasn’t. Kuroo felt like Kenma knew the “datemate” thing was just another playful poke into the banter. Even knowing that, he still felt like maybe he shouldn’t have said that. But it was in the past now, so there was nothing he could do about it except attempt to lessen whatever tension was there.

Kuroo Tetsurou: so are you excited for Tuesday?

Or, and this was more likely: he could just keep talking about the thing that had caused him to create tension in the first fucking place.

Kozume Kenma: yeah

Oh. Okay. Good.

Kozume Kenma: are you

Of course!

Kuroo Tetsurou: Yeah

Sunday finished off just like that, with Kuroo and Kenma talking into the late hours of the night. Kenma told Kuroo he was going to be sleeping over at his friend’s house, so if he was unable to talk to him Monday night that was why. The plan still remained the same though; they’d meet at the front of Tokyo Station by or before 3:30PM.

Thanks to Kenma, Kuroo decided he wanted to invite Bokuto to sleep over. It would just be easier to get out of the house the next day and just head straight to the station rather than meet Bokuto there or detour all the way to his house and then walk all the way back. And Bokuto, as expected, said yes, and was at Kuroo’s house before he knew it. Kuroo explained the plan in further detail to what would be happening on Tuesday. Bokuto was hyped up, but not more than Kuroo was.

Monday night, Kenma was unable to talk to Kuroo, but that was fine.

Kuroo sat cross-legged on his bed and Bokuto was beside him, on his back and hanging halfway off of the bed, arms folded over his chest. They were talking about the last years of High School, reminiscing. It took Kuroo back to his first year, back when he had just joined the Volleyball Club, and he snorted when Bokuto brought up the normal state of his hair from three years ago. Kuroo reminded him of how everyone on both Nekoma and Fukurodani gave him that weird look when Bokuto had showed up to a practice match with those signature long kneepads.

“When I was in my second year and Keiji had just joined the team, he was the only one who ever said my kneepads were cool.”

“He was just trying to impress his senpai.” Kuroo teased, smacking his friends’ knee.

“Well, it worked.”

All the memories of practice matches and training camps and joined-practices came flooding back. Bokuto got sad a handful of times when it hit him, again, that he wouldn’t be Fukurodani’s Volleyball Club’s caption anymore, and Kuroo had to comfort him while ignoring the empty feeling in his own chest that Nekoma was just something to look back on now.

They dug up their old Nationals matches somewhere deep on Sendai City’s news website to watch their wins and their losses, and to make fun of each other’s antsy movements during volleys.

It was late when Kuroo noticed they had stayed up longer than they should have

The two ended up going to bed at 4AM. Everything would be fine though.

…Even if they did sleep in a little.

Shouyou had his hand on Kenma’s shoulder as the train from Miyagi pulled out, on its way to Tokyo Station. Kenma was jittery and on edge. Kenma hadn’t slept well that night either, even after drinking the tea Shouyou said would help relax him.

There was no reason to be nervous like this. It wasn’t like Kenma had never met one of his internet friends before, it wasn’t like this was something new to him. But, then again, he never had a possible crush on one of his internet friends before Kuroo, so it would make sense to be nervous. Right?

“It’s too late to change my mind,” Kenma sighed, placing his gently shaking hands on his lap. “But maybe you could still try to talk me out of this?”

“No way!” Shouyou looked offended as though Kenma had just insulted him. “If you don’t show up, Kuroo-san’s gonna think you bailed on him!”

“Well, technically, yeah… that’s what I would be doing.”

“That’s not like you Kenma.”

“That isn’t entirely true… I’d like to be sleeping right now instead of being on this train.”

Shouyou’s attitude matched that fiery hair of his. His brow furrowed and he was glaring at Kenma now. “You’re not allowed to give up on this.”

“I’m not giving up.”

“It sounds like you are! You were so excited about this yesterday, and you really like him—well, okay, that part we’re still not sure about, but it still shouldn’t stop you from wanting to meet him! You guys are still friends, after all.”

Kenma sighed, staring at his hands. “That’s what I’m worried about, though.”

“What’d’ya mean?” Shouyou retracted his hand from Kenma’s shoulder and tilted his head.

“What if it turns out I don’t like him that way, but he likes me, and it gets too awkward? And he starts to despise me for not feeling the same?”

“I, uh… don’t think that’ll happen, Kenma.”

“Okay, well, what if hypothetically I liked him that way and it turns out he doesn’t actually feel that way about me and that he was just… confused, or something. And then it’ll be awkward that way too.”

Shouyou shook his head. “I really don’t think that’ll happen.”

“But what if?” Kenma muttered, glancing at his ginger friend.

“I really don’t get you right now.” The younger boy admitted. Kenma raised an eyebrow slightly at this, so he started to explain. “You’re never like this. You never overthink stuff, especially not when it comes to people, ya know? If it were someone like me or Noya-san, or anyone else you wouldn’t be second guessing yourself.”

“The situation was entirely different with you, though.”

“Pretend it’s the same.” Shouyou offered with a smile. “It is pretty much the same anyway. You’re meeting your online friend for the first time. Leave it at that.”

Kenma gave Shouyou a quizzical look. “I don’t think it’s that simple. When I see him, I know I’ll still feel that annoying feeling in my chest. I can’t pretend that it’s not there.”

“Sure you can! I ignored my feelings around Kageyama for almost a whole year. And you know how bad I am at pretending things that bother me don’t bother me.”

“We’re different people, Shouyou… I just don’t think it’ll work.”

The redhead groaned. He really was trying his best to help his friend out, and Kenma knew that. “You gotta try! Otherwise this whole thing would have been completely for nothing, and we would’a wasted a whole day of hanging out.”

Another sigh. “I’m sorry, I know I’m being difficult right now.”

Shouyou shook his head. “No, it’s not that. Your feelings are just being dumb and it’s making you dumb.”

Kenma knew better than to be offended by something like that, especially coming from someone like Shouyou. “Apparently.”

“How long until we’re in Tokyo?” Tried Shouyou, attempting to change the subject.

“Probably an hour and a half, two hours…”

Shouyou was grinning now, slipping his hand into the pocket of his shorts and then pulling out his sleek, black 3DS. “Wanna battle?”

“…Yes.”

“I’ll win this time for sure!”

“You promise that every time,” Kenma hummed, pulling his 3DS from the small backpack he had brought with him to Shouyou’s house the night before. “Yet you never live up to it…”

Shouyou had, in fact, lost that battle. And the next five afterward. He even took a time out to switch out his team to hold Legendaries in hopes of beating his friend, but he still didn’t have enough strategy to win. Kenma offered him some secrets that he refused, and the two spend the last bit of their train ride playing separately.

When the train was slowing and pulling into Tokyo Station, Kenma felt his heart stop. Shouyou was pushing his 3DS back into his pocket when he noticed the sickly look on his friend’s face.

“Kenma, it’s okay!! Don’t worry, I’ll be beside you the whole time, okay?”

“I know you will.” The older boy answered.

When the train came to a stop, he didn’t move. Even when Shouyou stood to join the other passengers getting off of the train Kenma didn’t move. So Shouyou sat back down with an interrogative look in his eyes. Kenma didn’t look at him.

“Kenma?” Shouyou’s voice was gentle. “It’s time to get off the train. We’re here.”

Kenma turned his head away from Shouyou’s view and stared at the empty seat beside him. “I know.”

“Come on then.” Shouyou didn’t move, though.

“Just a second.”

Silence. Then, from Shouyou, “okay.”

Kenma had to clear his mind. He was going to take Shouyou’s earlier advice and pretend that it didn’t feel like he was taking a sledgehammer to the chest. …It seemed fruitless. But they couldn’t stay on the train, not when its next stop was Osaka.

When he stood, Shouyou followed him, and they were within the last few passengers off of the train. Shouyou stayed beside him as he had promised, which gave Kenma just a bit of relief to this otherwise extremely stressful situation.

“So, where are we headed?” Shouyou piped up. Kenma just barely heard him over the roar of the station.

“The front entrance is where we agreed to meet.”

And so, they excused their way through a multitude of people for what seemed like an eternity until the entrance was in sight. Shouyou cheered, pumping his fist into the air before grabbing Kenma by the wrist and running straight for it.

“Shouyou, slow down,” Kenma faltered, trying to keep his voice away from becoming a yell. “Don’t run, people will get mad.”

“We’re almost there though!” Shouyou turned his head in Kenma’s direction as he ran, and grinned widely. “Get excited, you’re about to meet—”

“Watch where you’re going Shou—”

Shouyou slammed directly into someone’s back, causing them to stumble forward a bit before regaining their balance. Shouyou on the other hand was now flat on his ass, still gripping Kenma’s wrist tightly in his hand.

“S-sorry! I’m sorry!” Shouyou blurted out loudly, still sitting, bowing his to the person he had nearly knocked over.

The other person turned toward them, large, golden eyes like an owl staring down at Shouyou. Kenma saw Shouyou peak up at the stranger from beneath his crazy bangs, and then the stranger spoke.

Well, first, he laughed. “OH! No, it’s okay, it’s my fault for jus—HEY, don’t I know you? …Hinata!” He held out a hand to help Shouyou to his feet. “Right?”

“Bokuto-san!?” Shouyou gasped loudly. “What are you doing here!?”

Kenma noticed the other kept glancing from Shouyou to him for some reason.

“Waiting for someone, actually! And I heard your butt collide with the ground. Sounded like it hurt!” The stranger laughed a bit.

“I’ve had worse!” Shouyou laughed too.

Now the stranger was looking right at Kenma. His eyes went from playful to intent, and then to surprise and joy in a matter of seconds.

“Flan!” He gasped. “No way, you’re friends with Hinata? This is kinda cool!”

“Um—” Kenma looked away and pulled his wrist from Shouyou’s loose grip.

“Oh, god, he’s gonna be so mad that I saw you first!” The taller boy laughed. “Hold on, just a sec.”

Bokuto was on his phone now. “Get your dumb ass back here, I—wow, the line was that long? You’re kidding. When a guy’s gotta pee he’s gotta pee though… No, wait, but listen, hurry up for real! What do you mean why? I found Lover-boy, you moron.”

Lover-boy?

“Well, technically he found—okay, okay! Wash your dumb hands and hurry up. Bye.” The golden pair of eyes was back on Kenma and Shouyou again. “Sorry about that. Anyway—”

“Wait, is Kuroo-san the one you’re waiting on?” Asked Shouyou. He didn’t give the other a chance to answer. “He is! And that’s who you called!” Honey-colored eyes turned to look into Kenma’s. Shouyou’s expression could only be described as fifteen enormous red exclamation points in a row.

“So sharp, Hinata,” Bokuto snickered. “And you,” he now pointed a finger at Kenma. “Gotta be Kenma. Right?”

“Yeah, he’s Kenma!” Shouyou beamed then turned his gaze to Kenma. “I can’t believe your Kuroo-san is Nekoma’s Kuroo-san! This is so exciting!”

“Hey, hey, hey—” Bokuto began but stopped mid-sentence, then lifted his left arm high in the air and waved it around frantically. “Took you long enough!”

“At least have enough restraint to not shout in a public place!”

Kenma didn’t have to turn to know who that was. The hammer was pounding away and he swallowed hard. Kuroo stopped a few feet away from them, leaving Kenma and Shouyou between him and Bokuto. Shouyou’s was the first one of the pair to turn and face the tall Nekoma captain.

“Just… Breathe, okay?” Shouyou whispered.

He hadn’t realized he had stopped breathing. Slowly, Kenma turned to face Kuroo, and Shouyou let go of him. There he was. He was there. Right there. In front of him. And that shouldn’t have made the hammer bust through Kenma’s chest, but it did, and he had to grip onto Shouyou’s shoulder to make sure he wouldn’t fall over.

There was a gentle air about Kuroo that Kenma couldn’t feel over video chats. Seeing him in person was somehow starting to turn into the most calming moment of the last month Kenma had spent talking to Kuroo, which felt somewhat ironic. Kuroo was tall, and his hair was just as crazy in person. His eyes were sharp, his brows were up, and his smile was… soft. Kuroo paid no mind to the small decoy shouting beside Kenma.

“Hi, Kenma.” Kuroo all but whispered.

“Hi,” Kenma could barely speak himself.

They just stared at each other for a long five minutes. Kenma eventually took his hand off of Shouyou’s shoulder. He took in a deep breath when doing so. This is fine. You’re fine. It’s just like meeting any other friend for the first time. It’s just like meeting Shouyou. You’re fine.

“…It’s nice to meet you.” Kenma added quietly.

Shouyou had been to Tokyo several times before, but to Kenma he still seemed to be amazed by the city. At one point he had pointed out an electrical tower to Kenma and told him that it was, in fact, not Tokyo Tower.

“Where do you guys want to go?” Bokuto hummed. He and Kuroo had been leading them around for about twenty minutes, though Bokuto was speaking like a tour guide and Kuroo had been mostly quiet and sneaking glances at Kenma. “There’s so much stuff to do and see for tourists, so—”

“I’ve been here before, though!” Shouyou grinned widely and proudly placed his hands onto his hips.

“I know, I know. I’m asking Kenma!”

Kenma looked up to see that Shouyou and Kuroo had traded places. Shouyou walked beside Bokuto and threw his arms up, talking excitedly about something (volleyball) or other (more volleyball), and Bokuto was snickering at whatever he was saying (about volleyball). To his side, Kuroo’s expression was neutral and he was looking forward. His hand brushed against Kenma’s.

“Hey!!! Let’s go eat somewhere,” Shouyou said suddenly, turning his back to face Kenma and Kuroo. He did his best to keep up with Bokuto’s stride while walking backwards. “You guys hungry?”

“We ate before we left…” Kenma murmured, still distracted by the warmth he felt from Kuroo’s hand. And he wasn’t exactly hungry. In fact, his stomach was doing all sorts of flips and he figured if he ate something it would just come right back up.

“Yeah, but just breakfast bars! And that was HOURS ago!!” Shouyou cried out. He turned his attention to Bokuto. “Can we stop somewhere?”

“If Kenma doesn’t mind,” Kuroo spoke for them.

Bokuto nodded. “There’s a little corner store just up ahead that has candy and stuff for cheap, and there’s always venders by it with meat buns—”

“MEAT BUNS!” Gasped Shouyou, clutching onto Bokuto’s arm. “MEAT BUNS, KENMA.”

“I heard him, Shouyou.”

Shouyou ran ahead but came back to avoid getting lost, and the four of them went on to the corner store. Bokuto and Shouyou stood by the bun vender while Kuroo and Kenma wandered inside the store, on a mission to find some candy (“grab me a box or two of Strawberry Pocky, please!” from Shouyou, and a “box of those weird lemon candies for Keiji, if you know the kind I mean,” from Bokuto).

Staring down a heart-shaped box of chocolates, Kenma began to contemplate. Do I like Kuroo? Do I actually like him like that? Shouyou said this would be easy to figure out. I feel so sick.

“Oh, nice choice,” Kuroos said out of nowhere, tapping the box Kenma was looking at. He brought Kenma out of his thoughtful daze, and smirked playfully when the younger boy was looking at him. “Thinkin’ about getting ‘em for me? How sweet.”

Kenma exhaled loudly and looked away from Kuroo, then completely turned his back to him. “Don’t say weird stuff like that.”

He felt Kuroo’s hand on his shoulder and flinched slightly at the unexpected contact. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Kuroo’s smirk was gone and replaced with a gentle expression. “Hey, sorry. I was just joking.” Kenma didn’t respond, so Kuroo continued. “Ah, did I make you uncomfortable? My bad. Won’t happen again.”

“Can you take your hand off my shoulder?” Kenma asked quietly, and Kuroo complied. Then he sauntered off to find Shouyou his Strawberry Pocky. When he found himself in the correct aisle, he peaked out from behind the shelf of various Pocky to see Kuroo looking down at his hand. It only lasted a second before the taller boy wandered into another aisle.

Kenma grabbed a box of Strawberry Pocky off of the shelf for Shouyou and then a box of the green tea kind for himself. When he walked out of the aisle, he hesitated when passing the heart-shaped box of chocolates on his way to the register. Perhaps he should consider…? No. He shook his head and continued to the register.

After his purchase, he walked past Kuroo and told him he’d be outside with Bokuto and Shouyou. When he got outside, Shouyou was thrusting a meat bun out to him.

“It’s pork! Mmmmm!” His mouth was full.

“No, thank you…” Kenma leaned away from Shouyou’s offer until the shorter boy pulled it back and dropped in into a paper bag. “I didn’t know you liked Strawberry Pocky, Shouyou.”

“Eh, it’s okay. Kageyama likes it a lot though, so I wanted to get it for him,” replied Shouyou after swallowing. He shoved his hand into his pocket. “Here, I’ll pay you back—”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Bokuto slid over to them with two bags presumably filled with meat buns and he was grinning. Nearly drooling, too, Kenma noted. “Kuroo sure des take his sweet time in there.”

Shouyou laughed. “Ha! I get it! Sweet—cause it’s a candy store!”

“I didn’t even mean to make a pun!” Bokuto hooted. “Nice one, Shouyou.”

These two… Kenma reached into his candy back and pulled out the box of Green Tea Pocky. It was his favorite, even though he wasn’t really big into candy (he’d rather drink real tea anyway, but that was beside the point).

Kuroo came out of the store moments later, bag of candy in tow. He reached inside the bag and pulled out a yellow box, which he promptly tossed at Bokuto and hit him in the face. “Oops.”

“You did that on purpose!” Bokuto snorted.

The four began back down the street; Bokuto, Shouyou, and now Kuroo eating their meat buns happily, and Kenma trying to stay behind them. Kuroo slowed his stride to walk beside Kenma, but he didn’t speak to him.

And suddenly, Shouyou stopped. “I gotta pee,”

“Corner store’s got a bathroom,” Bokuto hummed, glancing back at the end of the sidewalk where the store sat. “The rest of the ones down this line do too, but you gotta buy something or they won’t let you use ‘em.”

“I’ll be right back!” Shouyou promised. He sped off down the sidewalk back to the corner store.

Kenma sighed while Kuroo and Bokuto laughed. Then, Bokuto turned to Kenma with a smile. “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking, how’d you become friends with Hinata? I mean, kid lives and breathes volleyball, and you don’t seem…” He paused briefly. “Not that you don’t seem athletic, but… you know?”

“I met him the same as how I met Kuroo.” Kenma kept his eyes toward the corner store, deep in thought. “Through a game.”

“Nice, nice.”

Kuroo’s eyes were still on Kenma as though he were expecting something. Silently, Kenma took his phone out to distract himself from Kuroo’s gaze while he waited for Shouyou to come back.

Bokuto was talking again, but Kuroo wasn’t hearing him. He was too busy thinking about what happened back at the corner store. Sure, maybe Kenma didn’t enjoy the teasing, and Kuroo hadn’t meant to upset him if he actually had.

He needed to figure out how Kenma ticked, what he surely liked and what he surely didn’t like. At this point, Kuroo was positive he liked Kenma, so understanding how to make him comfortable would surely be helpful.

Kenma was in the middle of a text when Kuroo started to focus on him again. The way the sun shone on his two-toned hair, the way his half lidded eyes stayed glued to the screen of his phone, the way his lips parted just slightly more than once as though he were reading the text to himself. Everything about Kenma was beautiful, even when he wasn’t directing that beauty in a way Kuroo would notice if he wasn’t straight up staring.

“—Oh, and you know, you’d probably like Keiji—” Bokuto announced, his voice ringing in both Kenma and Kuroo’s attention. How much time had Kuroo spent away from his friend’s conversation? Kenma obviously hadn’t been paying attention either. Bokuto didn’t seem offended even after realizing, by both of their mildly confused expressions, that they hadn’t been listening. He just kept on talking. “You’re both pretty quiet, but I feel like that would come in handy. Maybe you’d have some weird friend telepathy since you wouldn’t talk out loud! That’d be cool, yeah?”

Kuroo snorted. Bokuto was never capable of saving a conversation, but he sure could ramble. “Telepathy? Why do that when they could just text each other?”

“’Cause texting isn’t nearly as cool, duh.”

Kenma gave Bokuto a gentle half smile, kind of saying he was sorry for not paying attention, and went back to his text. Kuroo wondered who he was talking to so intensely. Also, why was Hinata taking so long? It had been nearly ten minutes. Who takes ten minutes to pee, even if the bathroom they’re using is at the corner of the street?

“Should I go make sure Hinata isn’t getting robbed by gunpoint in the candy store?” He joked flatly, folding his arms. “He’s taking a while.”

“He’s fine,” Kenma muttered quickly, looking up from his phone. “He’s probably got a nervous stomach or something. Since you two know him from playing volleyball, you must know he gets sick easily when he’s nervous.”

“That’s the most you’ve said all day, and it was about Hinata. Should I be jealous?” Oh, how Kuroo wish he could shut the fuck up instead of.

Oh, how he wish Bokuto wouldn’t laugh in his time of need. “Oh. My god. Wow? What even was that?”

“That’s cute,” Kenma’s voice was soft. His phone wasn’t in his hands anymore, and he was looking directly at Kuroo. What the fuck was cute supposed to mean? “You should definitely be jealous.”

Bokuto was laughing even harder now, and Kuroo wasn’t sure if it was because of Kenma’s low-key sass or because of the face he was making. He knew he must be red, he felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment and he turned away. “Pff. Wow. Okay.”

They waited mostly silently from this point on, and eventually Shouyou returned. He had a bag from the corner store in his hand, something quite large hidden inside. “Sorry I took so long!” He apologized to Bokuto and Kuroo as he handed the plastic bag to Kenma.

“Thanks,” Kenma whispered at the same time Bokuto bellowed out an “it’s fine!”

Kuroo was curious about what was in the bag, watching as Kenma pushed it into his little backpack without checking what was inside.

“So! Now that we’ve eaten and taken our bathroom breaks,” Bokuto clapped Kuroo on the shoulder and leaned in toward their two smaller companions. “It’s time for the best experience of your lives!”

Hinata gapped, staring at Bokuto excitedly, and Kuroo snorted knowing that something stupid was about to come out of Bokuto’s mouth. “What is it! What is it!!” Hinata begged the question.

“Time for a tour of Tokyo… a Bokutour!”

“Oh my god. That’s not even groan worthy.” Huffed Kuroo.

Bokuto sure did know how to give a tour. A grand tour. It was obvious that Kenma’s feet were killing him within the second hour. Kuroo walked beside Kenma like he had been doing before while Hinata kept strides with Bokuto in the front.

They had checked out the gardens, the parks, the more traditional stores, the bigger malls, and whatever else in between. It this point. Kenma and Hinata had been in Tokyo for three hours, and Kuroo knew their time was running thin, and he wanted to spend more time with Kenma… but he still had no idea if Kenma liked him back that way.

And that sucked.

On the way back to Tokyo Station, Kuroo offered to buy them dinner so they wouldn’t be starving on the train ride back to Miyagi and beyond. Kenma looked like he was going to protest, but his stomach growled before he could open his mouth. He looked defeated, which had Kuroo smiling as Bokuto lead the way to Tokyo’s best stop-and-go restaurant.

A quaint little ramen shop stood just off the main pathway toward Tokyo Station, Bokuto stating he and Kuroo stopped by all the time and the soup was top-frickin’-notch! Kuroo grinned when Kenma (and Hinata) were entranced by the scent of the ramen wafting around the small shop. They all sat in a row at the counter with their backs to the door, the order: Bokuto, Kuroo, Kenma, and Hinata.

Both Bokuto and Hinata ordered a bowl of setagaya, Bokuto explaining to the how it was absolutely the best, and though Kuroo scoffed in disagreement, Hinata took it upon himself to order the same. Kenma meekly asked Kuroo what he’d recommend, which came between kichijoji and hirugao.

While they waited for their food, Kuroo couldn’t help but stare at Kenma. He didn’t mean to come off as creepy if he did, but Kenma just looked so pure and cute and sleepy and cute. Pursing his lips, Kuroo turned his attention to Bokuto who was talking around him to Hinata. He got a glance from this golden eyes, a flash in them that told him to just fucking go for it.

“Kenma,” Kuroo began. Kenma looked at him for just a second to let Kuroo know he was listening before turning away again. “Uh, so you’re going into your thir year?”

“Mm,” Kenma hummed. “It’s going to be stressful and I’m not looking forward to it.”

“SPEAKING OF THIRD YEARS!” Hinata screeched. He was shushed by a few people sitting behind the counter beside him. “You guys graduated, didn’t you? This was your last year!”

“Yeah!” Bokuto’s eyes looked watery suddenly and Kuroo inwardly yelled. “College is going to be so freakin’ rough without Keiji!”

“Akaashi isn’t the only one being left behind,” Kuroo sighed, waving Bokuto away. “But stop blubbering about it already. You’ll still get to see him.”

“It’s not the saaaaaaame,” sighed Bokuto. “Your Third Years are leavin’ too, yeah? All of them, even the Ace?”

Hinata looked devastated at the mere mention. “Yeah, yeah all of them are leaving! Suga-san is really upset about it…”

This got awkward really fast, mused Kuroo, bringing a hand to his face. Bokuto and Hinata continued on their conversation about graduation, Bokuto literally almost started crying at one point, but then their ramen showed up and they stuffed their faces.

“It might as well be them on this date,” Kenma mumbled, pulling his chopsticks apart. He hesitated then and looked over at Kuroo to see if he’d heard him. He was. And Kenma’s face reddened. “I mean—”

“So this is a date.”

“I misspoke…”

“So then it’s not?”

“It kind of is!” Hinata spoke up around a mouthful of ramen. Kenma turned his head quickly toward his small friend who gave him an innocently look in return. “Mmn??”

Sighing, the Second-turning-Third year turned his attention back to Kuroo, who was grinning stupidly at him. “It… kind of is.”

Kuroo’s grin got wider. “Okay, I’ll take that.”

He took his eyes away from Kenma to indulge in the perfection that was the bowl of hirugao in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kenma smile.

When the time came for the four boys to head over to Tokyo Station and depart, Kuroo was a mess. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He definitely liked Kenma. He was head over heels about Kenma, and the past few hours they were together really made that clear to him, almost as though a big neon sign flashed in his head and spelled out “You Are Really Gay For Kenma.”

Thankfully the train had some time before it was to leave for Miyagi, so Kuroo had just a bit longer to be with Kenma.

He pulled Bokuto to the side, asking him if he’d give him and Kenma a bit of space so he could talk to him, and of course Bokuto obliged, hauling Hinata off to tell him his endless list of owl facts. They weren’t far enough for it to seem suspicious, but Kuroo knew Kenma was smart enough to see through his little alone time ruse.

However, if he did see through it, he didn’t say anything about it.

“So,” Kuroo tried, unsure of where to start. He bit at the inside of his cheek when Kenma looked at him, giving him his full attention. “Did you, uh, have fun today? Do you like Tokyo?”

“Mmm,” the shorter boy hummed. His golden eyes held so many more words than Kenma himself would speak—if only he were easy to read. “Did you? Have fun, I mean.”

“Yeah,”

And then things got awkward. Kuroo wished some otherworldly force would pull him away for just a moment to teach him how to talk to Kenma. Maybe it was the fact that he and Kenma were, for the most part, alone (alone in the sense that Bokuto and Hinata weren’t 2 inches away from them and talking over them), or maybe it was the fact that Kenma’s golden eyes were locked on to Kuroo’s with such an intensity that it made Kuroo feel…

“I like you, Kenma.” Kuroo all but barks, startling the younger teen just a bit. “..Er, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that so suddenly.”

“How do you like me?”

The question caught Kuroo off guard, but he answered immediately. “In the… romantic kind of way.”

And then, Kenma’s smiling again. But it was a very small smile, just the smallest upturn to the corners of his mouth. And yet, it still meant everything to Kuroo.

“Okay.” Kenma replied.

“…okay?” Kuroo repeated. What was that supposed to mean? Did Kenma like him back? Or was he just accepting Kuroo’s confession? Was he just confirming that he knew how Kuroo truly felt now? Kuroo flinched inwardly at the theoretical rejection he pictured in his head. “What’s ‘okay’ mean?”

Kenma pulled off his backpack in the middle of Kuroo’s question and the taller boy stared at him, dumbfounded, as he pulled a plastic bag out of it. The bag from the corner store…? He thought to himself. Reaching inside the bag, Kenma pulled out a red object shaped like a heart, and he looked away awkwardly when extending his arm to Kuroo.

“This is for you…” His voice was soft. Kuroo gapped at the heart-shaped box of chocolates Kenma was holding out to him. “I like you, too.”

Kuroo didn’t take the box just yet, and his hesitation to take it had Kenma looking at him again. He looked a little confused, but didn’t voice it. So Kuroo spoke instead. “It didn’t seem like you did. I’m honestly kind of surprised.”

Kenma’s cheeks pinked at this. “I wasn’t sure that I did at first. So I bought those—or, well, had Shouyou buy them for me—as… incentive? I guess?” Kenma let his arm fall after Kuroo finally took the box. “I, um… I’m not very good at naming my feelings. So I wasn’t really sure if I liked you that way or not.”

“But now?” Kuroo egged him on.

“I think it’s obvious.” Huffed Kenma.

That had Kuroo grinning that big dumb grin of his. “Only because you said so.”

It was silent between them again, not uncomfortably so, and then Kenma was pulling out his phone and looking at Kuroo expectantly.

“Hm?”

“Can I have your phone number?” The younger male’s voice was a bit quiet and it made Kuroo’s heart flutter a bit seeing Kenma even the tiniest bit flustered. “So, you know… we don’t have to wait for the other to get on Skype to talk later… or anymore.”

The two exchanged numbers, and then as if on cue Bokuto and Hinata showed up. Hinata was saying something about being fast and jumping high and flying, but Kuroo really wasn’t paying attention. He just stared down at his phone, eyes locked on Kenma’s name and number in his contacts. He almost didn’t realize it was almost time for Kenma and Hinata to get on the train.

He and Bokuto walked Kenma and Hinata to the platform as others going to Miyagi began to crowd with them. Kuroo held the box of chocolates tightly so that he wouldn’t get bumped and drop it. Finally, just before the doors of the train opened for its passengers to board, Kenma turned to face Kuroo.

“I’ll text you in a bit, okay?”

Bokuto shot a look at Kuroo, whose eyes remained on Kenma. “Sounds good.”

And then the crowd took over, shoving one and other into the train, and as Bokuto and Kuroo scurried out of the way, Hinata and Kenma disappeared into the train with the rest of the boarders. Neither of them said a thing as the doors had shit and the train had started to pull away.

The train had been gone for five minutes now. Kuroo was still clutching the box of chocolates as though his life depended on it (and it might fucking just). Eventually though, Bokuto had to break the silence.

“Sooo tell me bro,” Kuroo felt an elbow jab his side and he looked over to see a grinning Bokuto with an eyebrow raised. “How’d it go? D’you confess?”

“Yeah.”

“!!” Bokuto beamed. “And? Aaaand???”

Kuroo looked down at the heart shaped box in his hand and smiled, whereas Bokuto just ogled at him waiting for a response.

“He likes me back.”

Bokuto was talking excitedly but Kuroo wasn’t really listening to him. He had a lot of other things on his mind, such as Kenma, such as Kenma’s confession, such as Kenma giving him chocolates. His mind raced, until something in particular stuck in and worried him.

He slapped his free hand over Bokuto’s mouth, his eyes still on the box. “Kenma’s only just going into his Third year.”

“Mhmmm? Muuu?” Kuroo pulled his hand away and Bokuto repeated himself, less muffled by a hand now. “Soooooo?”

“So, I’m going to college. And Kenma’s still going to be in high school…” He stopped when he noticed the look Bokuto was giving him. “…What? What’s that dumb face for?”

“You know, we basically had this same talk when I was freaking out about having to leave Keiji for college. Take your own adrice.”

“Eh…?”

Bokuto sighed. “I’m paraphrasing here, but you guys are pretty into each other. At least now you know that for sure. So don’t act all like a baby.”

“But it’s different,” Kuroo stated slowly. “You and Akaashi are able to see each other every day.”

“That doesn’t make a lick of difference actually.” Said Bokuto, folding his arms over his chest. “You and Kenma can keep on like you’ve been doing, talking all the time. You being in college won’t change that. And besides, you’re not even dating him—yet. So you don’t have a lot of shit to worry about as it is.”

Kuroo flinched. Bokuto was rarely serious outside of volleyball matches, but the tone he had and the air about him in this moment was almost frighteningly so. There was also sincerity in his words. So he nodded.

“Okay, yeah… sorry. You’re right. You’re right, man.”

“I know I am! I’m right a lot of the time! You’d think I’d hear that more often though.” And then, Bokuto was back to his goofy ‘ol self, smiling stupidly at Kuroo. “But back on the subject at hand… are you and Kenma gonna date~?”

Kenma’s ride home was longer than Shouyou’s, though the younger did offer to let him spend the night so he wouldn’t have to sit on the train any longer. Kenma had declined his offer, and when the train pulled out of Miyagi to its final destination of the day, he took to his phone.

Kenma [7:46PM; TUES]: hello

Kuroo [7:47PM; TUES]: Yo

Kenma smiled at his phone. Kuroo was fast.

Kenma [7:47PM; TUES]: today was fun
Kenma [7:47PM; TUES]: I enjoyed hanging out with you. we should do it again some time

Kuroo [7:48PM; TUES]: Hell yeah!! That’d be awesome

Kenma [7:49PM; TUES]: did you get home safely

Kuroo [7:50PM; TUES]: Yah did you? or are you still on the train?

Kenma [7:51PM; TUES]: train

As a minute passes, and that minute turns into two, and then to five, and then to ten without a response, Kenma wonders if Kuroo fell asleep. It wouldn’t surprise him really; they had done a lot of walking and he was ready to knock out as well.

Except Kuroo hadn’t fallen asleep. He was just writing a long message.

Kuroo [8:02PM; TUES]: (1/3) so I’m not sure if this is a thing I should just know so im going to ask you are we like dating now because we both pretty much confessed and you even gave me
Kuroo [8:02PM; TUES]: (2/3) a gift so maybe im just dumb?? But I need to know so that I don’t make an idiot of myself and also Bokuto keeps pestering me about it so are we dating now or a
Kuroo [8:02PM; TUES]: (3/3)re we just gonna see how long we actually like each other haha im fucking stupid im sorry Kenma

Kenma snorted in amusement. Kuroo was… cute. But, as he read over the texts, he realized that he hadn’t really thought about confessions leading to dating. Not that he would necessarily mind dating Kuroo, even if it was long distance. Then again, he had no idea how to date in general. He was clueless in the dating department.

Kenma [8:04PM; TUES]: i wouldn’t say no if you wanted to try dating.
Kenma [8:04PM; TUES]: but I hope you don’t mind that i don’t really know much about dating
Kenma [8:05PM; TUES]: im dumb too

Kuroo [8:07PM; TUES]: we can be dumb about this together then

How sweet.

Kenma [8:08PM; TUES]: okay

Kuroo [8:10PM; TUES]: so………..can I call you my boyfriend?
Kuroo [8:10PM; TUES]: Only if you’re comfortable with that

Kenma felt his cheeks redden as he tapped his reply.

Kenma [8:11PM; TUES]: im okay with that.

Kuroo [8:12PM; TUES]: Okay cool nice nice

The topic of dating dropped after that. The rest of Kenma’s train ride home was filled with a conversation about volleyball and videogames, alternating between the two because Kuroo didn’t know much about videogames and Kenma didn’t much care for volleyball (though, like Shouyou, Kuroo vowed to change his mind next and have him play at least once).

When his stop finally came and Kenma got off of the train with the last of the passengers, he thought about Kuroo’s dumb grin when he had told him he liked him back. That smile was on his mind during his walk home and even after he had been home for a while. His mother was already in bed (if not asleep) when he had gotten home, so he didn’t have to deal with ten thousand plus questions about his day in Tokyo.

Kenma flopped down onto his bed stomach first, holding his phone out in front of him as he read Kuroo’s last message to him.

Kuroo [8:56PM; TUES]: So we should plan another day for you to come here. Or I visit you
Kuroo [8:57PM; TUES]: either or really

As Kenma curled up on his bed, reading through their texts, he felt a sense of calm wash over him. It’s the most relaxed he’s felt since he started thinking about his feelings for Kuroo. However, now, he’s enjoying the calm after the storm (though, there wasn’t really much of a storm to begin with).

Kenma [9:04PM; TUES]: maybe we can meet up again soon.

Kuroo [9:06PM; TUES]: Maybe it can be just the two of us? Not to be creepy I swear but you know
Kuroo [9:06PM; TUES]: Like an actual date. If youre cool with that

Kenma [9:07PM; TUES]: that sounds nice

And when he began to doze off, after typing out a goodnight message to Kuroo, Kenma smiled into his pillow. An actual official date did sound really nice.

Being Kuroo’s boyfriend sounded really nice, too.