Work Text:
“Do you feel like a guy or girl?”
Kenma’s eyebrows furrowed, his nose scrunching slightly.
“Neither.”
Sighing, Kuroo took a seat in front of the desk, pulling open his laptop and logging on, pulling up his browser. Kenma took a seat on his bed, playing with the hem of his hoodie.
“Oi, Kenma.”
Kenma looked, getting up and walking to stand beside where Kuroo sat. Looking at the screen, he saw Kuroo had searched ‘no gender’ in the top search bar.
“Is this what you feel?”
Kenma leaned in closer to the screen, reading the results.
‘Agender (from 'a-', meaning "without", and 'gender') people, also called genderless, genderfree, non-gendered, or ungendered people are those who identify as having no gender or being without any genderidentity.’
“Kenma?”
Kenma nodded, his shoulders hunched slightly as he scanned over the information on the screen, feeling a tinge of excitement blossom in his chest and stomach.
As Kuroo scrolled down, Kenma scanned over ‘Related searches’, making a small “nn” sound and gesturing to a link that said ‘no gender pronouns’.
“What are pronouns?”
Kenma fiddled with his sleeves, pulling them closer to the edge of his fingers. “They’re what you call somebody aside from their name. He, him, she, her. That sort of thing.”
Kuroo made a noise of acknowledgment, clicking the link and watching as the results came up. Clicking on the first link, Kuroo scrolled down to see a list of pronouns, an abundance of pronouns; so many he wondered how there could possibly even be that many.
He was scrolling silently and almost didn’t notice how Kenma’s eyes were trained on the screen, making his way around the arm of the chair and taking a seat on Kuroo’s knee, elbows resting on the desk. Kuroo grabbed his hip to balance him.
After nearly an hour of reading the list of pronouns, reading the history and origin of them, and trying them out and seeing how Kenma liked them, they agreed on they/them.
“Is that all?”
Kenma was about to agree but a word caught hir eye. Ze pointed, a soft noise coming from hirs throat as Kuroo clicked.
“Seems rather odd.”
“I like it,” Kenma said, a sliver of joy making hirs heartbeat speed up.
Kuroo stayed quiet for a minute, looking from the screen and back at Kenma.
“Should I call you that now?”
Kenma tilted his head. “I still have an actual name. It just means that I would prefer if you didn’t call me a boy to other people.”
Kuroo slowly nodded, the concept still swirling around his head, trying to get a grasp on it. But then again, maybe he didn’t have to fully understand; as long as Kenma was happy.
“Alright, Kenma.”
Kenma narrowed hir eyes. “Don’t.”
Kuroo let out a huff of a laugh.
“So… When I say ‘he’... then I should actually say ‘ze’? ”
“Yes.”
Kenma stayed quiet for a second.
“You don’t get it do you?”
Kuroo ran his hand down his face. “I’m trying.”
“I’ll give you sentences to practice with.”
“Alright.”
Kenma leaned forward, thinking.
“He likes himself.”
Kuroo squinted as he tried remembering the correct words.
“Hir likes...hirself?”
“Close. It’s ze like hirself.”
“Holy fuck this is confusing.”
Kenma smiled, subtly, looking at the time on the screen and looking back at Kuroo.
“I have plenty of time to teach you.”