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In their last summer before university, four high-school friends decided to go on a camping trip in the south of France. What could possibly go wrong?
A lot. There was a lot that went wrong. Honestly, they really shouldn’t have gone there.
₪
“Are we lost?” Kenma asked, seeing how Kuroo was manically fiddling with the map.
“No, we are not lost. I know what I’m doing” Kuroo retorted, having a closer look at the map.
“Even if we are lost, we’ll find our way back eventually” Bokuto reassured the group.
“But we’re not – “ Kuroo tried to say; he took a deep breath.
“Keiji, you’ve been kind of quiet. Everything alright?” Bokuto spared Akaashi a worried glance.
“Oh, I’m alright, love. I was just thinking about the best course of action. It’d be exhausting to walk all the way back –
“- yeah not happening. That was a four-hour hike. We are so not repeating that.” Kenma interrupted.
“As I was saying, even if we were to turn back, that wouldn’t necessarily guarantee that we’d find the trail again. We’ve been walking around without a path for quite some time now.” Akaashi sighed. “I think it might be best to get the police involved.”
“What? But we haven’t done anything wrong?!” Bokuto insisted.
“Oh, honey…”
“I sometimes can’t tell if you’re actually stupid or just pretending. They would come to save us, not put us in jail. Heesh.” Kenma chimed in.
Bokuto pouted at being called stupid but forgot about it when Akaashi took his hand and squeezed it lovingly. Kuroo let out a shout of frustration.
“Fine, okay. I yield. We’re lost” He shoved the map back into his backpack.
“Congrats, you’re officially the last person to know” Kenma deadpanned. Kuroo sent him a death glare.
“Anyways, I agree with Akaashi’s idea. Calling the cops is at least better than getting even more lost” Kuroo stated.
“The only problem is, I don’t know the number” Akaashi tried to remember if he had seen it somewhere but couldn’t.
“What are you talking about, it’s 110. Always was and always will be” Bokuto said innocently. Kuroo full on cackled at that.
“Boy, I swear to God, how did you even survive without us.” He opened his backpack and rummaged through it.
“Hang on, I think I got this emergency thingy here somewhere” Kuroo had never particularly been good at explaining things. He could understand the hardest concepts but had trouble verbalising his thoughts.
“An emergency contact list?” Akaashi asked, stunned he hadn’t thought about bringing one.
“Got it. Here you go” Kuroo handed it over to Akaashi. Akaashi typed the number into his phone.
“Are you sure it’s only two digits?” Akaashi closely inspected the piece of paper Kuroo had given him.
“That’s what it says. 17. Now call. You’re the only one of us who took French. What are you waiting for?” Kuroo pushed him.
“Chill. This is difficult. They don’t exactly teach you what to say when calling the police. I could gladly write you a 300-word essay about the pros and cons of nuclear energy though.“
“The educational system has failed us yet again.” Kenma joked.
₪
Akaashi took a deep breath and called.
“Ici les urgences, j’écoute.” [Emergency services, I’m listening.] said the rough voice of an irritated police officer.
“Bonjour. Nous sommes perdus, dans une forêt. La forêt s’appelle “La Grande Chartreuse”. [Hello. We are lost, in a forest. The forest is called “La Grande Chartreuse”.]
Noticing the accent and uncertainty in speech, the police officer sighed but started speaking slower and more pronounced.
“Combien de personnes?“ [How many people?] the man asked.
“Avec moi, nous sommes quatre personnes” [With me, we are four people.] Akaashi responded.
“Pouvez-vous décrire la région dans laquelle vous vous trouvez ? ” [Could you describe the area you are in?] Another groan sounded from the phone.
“Un moment” [Hold on] Akaashi put his hand on the phone’s speaker and turned to his friend group.
“He wants us to describe this place.” he explained.
“Well, there’s trees” Kuroo said.
“Fuck you”
“Could you be any less helpful?” Kenma asked him. Kuroo huffed and wandered off.
“Anyone else?” Akaashi asked.
“I think I saw a squirrel earlier” Bokuto said.
“That sounds lovely, but it’s also not the information we need. Any signs, big clearings, rivers?”
They shook their heads. Akaashi relayed all the information that they had – like the name of the hiking trail – to the officer, who said he would look into it.
The call ended and Akaashi put his phone away. He was shaking a bit but Bokuto took his hands into his own. “You did great, babe.” Bokuto said and kissed his cheek. Their moment was ruined by retching noises coming from Kenma. He and Kuroo would always let them know when they were being too affectionate. Akaashi rolled his eyes.
Kuroo emerged from behind some trees. He looked surprised.
“Hey, I’m sorry for swearing earlier. Phone calls just stress me out.” Akaashi apologised before Kuroo could get a word in.
“Huh? Oh, no worries. But guys, you’ll never believe what I just found. There’s a wood house down there” Kuroo turned back and gestured to the others to follow. They shared a look and joined him.
“A wood house?” Kenma asked raising an eyebrow.
“You know, a house made out of like blocks of wood and stuff” Kuroo tried to explain.
“So, like a cabin?” Kenma asked.
“Oh, hell no. I have seen enough horror movies to know that it is a horrible idea to stay at a cabin in the middle of the woods!” Akaashi argued.
“Listen, yes, cabin in the woods sounds creepy. But call it cottage in the forest and it sounds just lovely. It’s all about connotations.” Kuroo tried to convince him. Akaashi crossed his arms over his chest and kept a stern look on his face.
“We are not getting murdered by a creep living in the middle of the damn forest” he said.
“Would you prefer sleeping outside with who knows how many dangerous animals?” Kuroo complained.
“It’s better than sleeping with the fishes” Akaashi stated matter-of-factly.
“Fish? Where?” Bokuto’s idiocy was ignored.
“First of all, who knows if that cabin is even inhabited? Secondly, forest animals are just as likely to kill us. We stand a better chance with the cabin” It did sound reasonable. The others were all on board with Kuroo’s idea. Akaashi sighed.
“Fine”
“To be honest, I don’t mind who or what kills us. Let’s just get it over with” Kenma mumbled under his breath.
“Kenma, no.” Akaashi warned him.
“Just saying.” Kenma shrugged and walked ahead of the group.
“Alright. So, we agree, staying in the cabin for the night would be safer than camping out here.” Kuroo stated.
They nodded.
It was not in fact safer.
₪
When they reached the cabin, the four of them decided to walk around it and look in from the windows to see if there was anyone inside. They couldn’t see or hear any movement so they knocked on the door. It wasn’t locked and instead creaked opened a bit. They pushed it open further when a voice called out from behind them.
“Hé, mais qu’est-ce que vous faites là ?“ [Hey, what are you doing there?]
They all startled when they saw a man, presumably in his 50s, coming towards them with an axe over his shoulder. Bokuto protectively pulled Akaashi closer to him. Akaashi reassuringly smiled at his boyfriend, squeezed his hand and went over to the man. Bokuto only reluctantly let go.
“Désolé, nous sommes perdus. Nous ne savons pas quoi faire.“ [Sorry, we’re lost. We don’t know what to do.] Akaashi tried to explain.
“Ah, zut. Êtes-vous touristes ?“ [Oh, damn. Are you tourists?] the man asked. His demeaner completely changed from frightening to kind of sympathetic.
“Oui, nous sommes travellé ici pour deux semaines.“ [Yes, we travelled (wrong verb) here for 2 weeks] Akaashi told him.
“Ben, vous pouvez rester ici pour la nuit si vous voulez.“ [Alright, you can stay here for the night if you’d like] the stranger offered.
“Cette maison était une maison de vacance il y a je ne sais pas depuis quand, mais je l’occupe pendant les mois d’été. Donc, il y a beaucoup d’espace et des chambres libres dans lesquelles vous pouvez vous reposer. C’est un peu poussiéreux, mais je crois que ça va.“ [This house is a holiday home, no idea since when, but I’m staying here during the summer months. So, there’s lots of space and available rooms where you can rest. It’s a bit dusty but I think it’ll do.] he added.
“Poussierau, c’est quoi ?“ [“Poussierau“, what’s that?] Akaashi asked.
“Poussiéreux ? Ha, ça veut justement dire que je n’ai pas eu envie de nettoyer.“ [Dusty? Ha, it just means I didn’t find in in me to clean] the man responded.
“Oh, vraiment pas de problème.“ [Oh, that’s really no problem.]
“Alors, suivent-moi. Je vais vous montrer les chambres.“ [Alright, follow me. I’ll show you the rooms] The man went inside and Akaashi gestured to the others to follow. Bokuto stayed close to him, the abrupt invitation of the stranger worrying him.
“Et vos amis … ils ne parlent pas ?“ [And your friends … they don’t talk?] The stranger tried to engage in small talk to make the situation less awkward. He wasn’t very good at it.
“Ah, um ils ne parlent pas le français.“ [Um, they don’t speak French] Akaashi explained.
“C’est dommage. D’où êtes-vous ?“ [Too bad. Where are you from?] he wanted to know.
“Ahm, nous sommes de Japon, de Tokyo.“ [Um, we’re from Japan, from Tokyo] Akaashi answered politely. The others perked up at the mention of their hometown.
“Je n’ai jamais visité le Japon, mais on entend souvent dire que c’est un pays très beau avec une paysage céleste et des habitants gentilles.“ [I’ve never been to Japan, but you often hear that it’s a really beautiful country with a heavenly landscape and kind people] Akaashi smiled at the stanger’s praise. He wanted to confirm it but his vocabulary range was less than adequate.
“Merci. Moi, je crois aussi que c’est vraiment beau. Il y a tant de choses à faire et c’est justement … beau.“ [Thank you. I also think that it’s nice. There’s lots of things to do there and it’s just … nice] Akaashi managed to say.
The man lead them through a kitchen and down a hallway. There were three doors, two at either side of the hallway and one at the end. The man explained that they could stay in the rooms to their left and right, but the room at the end of the hallway was his study and would remain locked.
“Ben, je vais ramasser le bois que j’ai coupé, allumer un feu et faire du thé pour nous.“ [Alright, I’ll go and collect the wood I’ve been chopping, I’ll make a fire and some tea for us.] the man said.
“Oh, ce n’est vraiment pas nécessaire !“ [Oh, you really don’t have to!] Akaashi tried to reason.
“Ce n’est rien, laisse-moi le faire.“ [Nonsense, let me do that] the man insisted.
“Merci, c’est très gentille de vous !“ [Thank you, that’s very kind of you] Akaashi told him and bowed to show his gratitude.
“Le temps que je prépare le feu et le thé, vous pouvez explorer la maison un peu ou vous reposer, comme vous voulez. Mais, s’il vous plaît, n’entrez pas dans le cabinet de travail.“ [You can rest or explore the house a bit while I prepare the fire and tea, whatever you prefer. But please, don’t go into the study.] the man told them and explained that the room was very messy and he didn’t want things misplaced in the organised chaos.
“O… okay.“ Akaashi nodded, about 80 percent sure he had understood the instructions.
“Alors, à plus !“ [Alright, see you later] The man turned to leave.
“À plus !“ [Bye, see you later] Akaashi said.
Then the man left.
₪
“So, what did he say?” Kuroo asked.
“Where should I start…”
“You said something about home, right? You mentioned Tokyo” Kenma chimed in.
“Right. He asked if you guys spoke French and when I said that you didn’t, he asked where we were from. Gosh and I forgot the word for travelling. It’s voyager and I know that but apparently my brain wasn’t working fast enough and I said travellé. Stupid” Akaashi chastised himself.
“Neologisms are proof of your interlanguage brain working” Kuroo reassured him with a pat on the head.
“Keiji, you’re not stupid. We wouldn’t have been able to talk to him at all without you here” Bokuto reassured him. Akaashi smiled at the comment.
“Quit being all couple-y.” Kenma groaned. “So, did he say that we can stay here?” he asked.
“Ah, yeah. He said that this is a holiday home, like, you can rent it and stay here for a bit. And well, he said there’s more than enough space for all of us. We can stay in those two rooms - ” Akaashi pointed at them.
“- and that room over there is locked cause it’s his study. I think that was it. Oh, right. He said he’d prepare some tea for us. He seems really nice” Akaashi told them. Bokuto looked sceptical.
“I don’t know. I don’t think we should trust him that much. He is a stranger. We don’t even know his name” Bokuto evoked.
“True, but we’re also strangers to him. And he was so kind as to take us in without a second thought” Kuroo reasoned.
“10 bucks says he’s a killer” Kenma said.
“Kenma!” they shouted in unison.
₪
After resting up for a bit, the friend group decided to explore the house. The kitchen and living room area seemed well cared for but the rest of the house was covered by a thick blanket of dust. There was not much to look at and the friends quickly got bored. They went back into one of the rooms and sat down.
“He really has a lot of cleaning to do before he leaves this place” Kuroo joked.
“Yeah…” Akaashi looked pensive.
“What is it?” Bokuto nudged him gently to look up at him.
“Oh, it’s probably nothing –“
“God, I’m bored!” Kuroo whined and flopped onto the floor dramatically. Then an idea struck his and he shot up.
“I know, why don’t we have a look into the only room we haven’t been in yet” he suggested.
“Not happening. That man was kind enough to let us stay here and you want to repay him by doing literally the only thing he didn’t want us to do? Besides, what if you break something?” Akaashi said.
“What? I won’t break anything” Kuroo looked shocked at the implication.
Akaashi fixed his with a questioning stare.
“Probably. Bokuto?” He looked at him with the best puppy eyes he could muster.
“I also don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m getting weird vibes from the place. I think we should just touch as little as possible and get out of here. The sooner the better” Bokuto admitted, looking a bit on edge.
“Pussies. Kenma?” Kuroo looked at him hopefully. He’d do anything to not die of boredom.
“I’m fine with whatever. If it gets us killed, that’s just a bonus.” Kenma said, not looking up from his phone. He had been going through pictures he had taken a couple of hours prior.
“I’ll pretend not to have heard the last part.” Kuroo said and ruffled Kenma’s hair.
“But seriously, if there’s anything you wanna talk about” Kuroo added in a whisper.
“Relax, I’m fine.” Kenma whispered back, waving him off.
“Wait! What if there’s something terrifying in that room?” Bokuto asked.
“Huh, that actually reminds me of something. There’s this story, you know, the guy with the beard” Kuroo mimed stroking a beard for emphasis.
“Could you be any less specific” Kenma said.
“He had like a mansion and behind one of the doors were dead bodies or something and his wife wasn’t allowed to look but she did anyways and then he killed her” Kuroo did a poor job at retelling the story while widely gesturing with his hands. This did not help.
“Wait, Kuroo, do you mean Bluebeard? The French fairy tale?” Akaashi asked. Bokuto and Kenma finally understood as well.
“Yeah, that’s the one!” Kuroo pointed at Akaashi.
“So, you think he hides bodies in there and if we go look, he’ll kill us too?” Akaashi asked.
“I don’t know, maybe. Only one way to find out” Kuroo stated.
“How would you even get inside? It’s locked.” Akaashi said, trying to get him to stay here and not follow through with his idea.
“Oh don’t worry. I know how to pick a lock” Kuroo retorted, smiling.
“Why on earth would you know that?” The others looked baffled.
“Spy movies make it seem cool” He defended himself quietly.
“How did you even –“
“YouTube. Now come on” Kuroo said, pulled some hairpins out of his backpack and got up. Kenma shrugged and followed him.
“We really shouldn’t let them go on their own” Bokuto said.
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go” Akaashi agreed.
₪
It took three tries, but after a couple of minutes the door was unlocked. They carefully pushed it open and stepped inside. They did their best to be quiet. The room was filled with all kinds of odd trinkets. There were drawings and notes taped to the wall with duct tape, a few small models of different types of animals and lots of books – some on shelfs, others lying haphazardly on the floor. In the middle of the room stood a big writing desk that was almost overflowing with pieces of paper, most of them seemed fairly old. Lastly, to the far end of the room there was another door that was slightly ajar. Careful not to step on anything, they made their way through the room. Kenma had a closer look at the drawings, Bokuto was fascinated by the little animal figurines and Kuroo’s gaze lingered on that other door. Akaashi looked at some book covers and saw that the pages on the writing desk seemed to be old letters. Kenma went over to him.
“Are those letters? What do they say?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, they’re from the early 20th century, the 10s and 20s, to be exact. It’s really hard to read, the handwriting is so messy and I don’t recognise most of the words. Judging from the drawings, I guess it has something to do with anatomy or biology in a broader sense? They don’t really teach you that in French class. I could tell you though that this phrase, nous parlâmes, means we spoke. It’s written in the passé simple which, contrary to its name, is not simple at all. Also, it can only be used in written language and not in oral contexts and nowadays no one really uses it anymore. Is this knowledge useless? Very much so. Did we still learn it in school? Of course.” Akaashi sighed.
“Anything else?” Kenma brushed Akaashi’s passive-aggressive comment aside.
“Well, other than some high frequency words like “have”, “get”, “be” and personal pronouns, I could identify the words “body”, “smile” and “blood”. At least I think so. This handwriting really is hard to decipher –“
There was a loud gasp from Kuroo. They all turned to face him.
“Oh. My. God. Guys, look!” he whispered loudly.
“Is it a body?” Kenma joked.
They made their way over to Kuroo and into the adjacent room, careful not to step on anything. It was far less spacious, but not in any way less interesting. To the right, there was a big aquarium with jellyfish – they were transparent except for a red mark in the centre of their head – and to the left stood a terrarium with mice. Another thing that was peculiar about this room was that it didn’t have any windows.
“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder” Kuroo said absentmindedly. Bokuto squealed and rushed over to the aquarium.
“Oh my God! They are sooo adorable!” There was a sharp intake of breath.
“Look! That one’s watching me! It likes me! Imma call him Jerry!” Bokuto stared at the many jellyfish in fascination. His nose was almost touching the glass.
“Do they even have eyes?” Kenma asked, turning to Kuroo for answers. The latter was looking intently at the cage the mice were kept in.
“Kuroo?”
“Hm? I’m sorry, what?”
“The jellyfish. Can they see?” Kenma asked again.
“Oh, yeah. They actually have 6 eyes.” Kuroo told them. Kenma stepped back a bit, creeped out. Bokuto, on the other hand, found this information fascinating. He had decided that all of them needed names and while he was busy thinking of suitable ones, the others were gathering around the mice. Looking at them reminded Akaashi of something, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Something about them seemed a bit off. Kuroo pointed out that they were only moving very slowly and genuinely looked disinterested. Upon hearing this, Kenma just replied with mood. Meanwhile Bokuto was telling them a made-up story about all his new jellyfish friends, about how they met and ended up here. Before Kenma said anything depressing about how the tank is probably too small for them or how they’d be happier in the ocean, Kuroo slightly smacked him.
“Hey, I didn’t even say anything” Kenma hissed.
“But you were thinking it” Kuroo whispered, so that Bokuto wouldn’t hear.
Before the two could throw hands, they heard the front door fall closed. They all paled and looked at each other, eyes wide. Granted, you couldn’t see the study from the living room or the kitchen, but if he went to check up on them, they were screwed. They had to move quiet but fast. They tiptoed back to the door of the study, trying to leave the place exactly as they had found it. Bokuto almost knocked a small coral to the ground but Kenma caught it. They quickly made their way back to their rooms. Kuroo closed the door to the study as quietly as possible when he noticed something. Kenma stood near the other end of the hallway where he had a view of the kitchen. He kept an eye on the stranger. Kuroo hurried to get to the others, but Kenma stopped him from opening the door. He startled.
“Kenma what –“ Kuroo hissed and Kenma shushed him.
“Let’s go to the other room for now” Kenma put a finger to his lips to signal Kuroo to be quieter. They could hear sobbing from inside.
“Oh, is he-“
“Yeah, understandably so. It was a really stressful situation. Let’s give them some privacy” Kenma said.
Kuroo nodded and followed him without another word. Once the door had shut, Kuroo told Kenma about his worry. The door of the study didn’t instantly lock when it he shut it. It had to manually be locked with a key they didn’t have and had no idea where to find. If the man were to go into his study, he would instantly know they had picked the lock. Kenma looked worried for a moment.
“Well, but even if he did find out, we would probably get away with a lecture and a stern look. I mean, we hadn’t found anything too disturbing, let alone, dangerous or illegal in there” Kenma reasoned.
“True, true” Kuroo didn’t look convinced though.
“The man probably only locked his study so that no one would unintentionally organise his mess” Kuroo snickered at the statement, but worriedly glanced at the door a second later.
“I hope Akaashi is okay” he worried.
“Bokuto is with him, I’m sure he’s alright” Kenma reassured his.
₪
Akaashi had been the first one to enter their room. Bokuto had been close behind him, but Kenma had held him up, telling him that he’d act as a lookout until Kuroo returned. When Bokuto turned back, he saw that Akaashi had sunken to the floor, clutching his shirt and breathing hard. Bokuto’s inner monologue of shit, shit, shit didn’t do him any good. He rushed over to his boyfriend and wanted nothing more than to hug him and reassure him that everything was fine. But he knew better than to touch him when he was in such a state. Akaashi was prone to anxiety attacks. He tended to stress and overthink a lot and hectic situations just made everything worse.
Bokuto walked over to Akaashi and sat down in front of him, trying to get his attention.
“Hey, it’s alright. Please, baby, look at me” Bokuto spoke softly. He noticed that Akaashi hadn’t dissociated but reacted to his words.
It broke Bokuto’s heart when Akaashi looked up. His face was tear-streaked and he looked so scared.
“Don’t worry baby. I’m here. Tell me what’s wrong”
Akaashi choked out that he was scared and Bokuto was trying his absolute hardest not to let his façade of calmness shatter. It was a good sign that Akaashi could talk though. This meant that it wasn’t a particularly worrisome anxiety attack. Nonetheless, Akaashi was still gasping for air and clutching his shirt. Bokuto inched closer and hovered a hand over Akaashi’s.
“Is it okay if I touch you?” he asked cautiously. Instead of nodding, Akaashi just let himself fall forward into Bokuto’s chest. Bokuto instantly hugged him tightly and whispered sweet nothings into his hair. He breathed slowly and loudly to help Akaashi stabilise his own breathing. He also took Akaashi’s hand in his and squeezed it, indirectly telling his boyfriend that he had nothing to be worried about because he would protect him. It was a non-verbal signal they had decided on for situations like that.
After a little while Akaashi had stopped hyperventilating and hugged Bokuto back. He looked up at his boyfriend and mouthed a thank you. He even had a slight smile on his face. Bokuto cupped Akaashi’s cheeks, wiped away any stray tears and leaned in to kiss him. Akaashi closed the distance between them.
“I love you” Akaashi said softly.
“I love you too” Bokuto responded in kind.
Bokuto then pulled away to pepper Akaashi’s face with chaste kisses. This never failed to make his boyfriend giggle. Bokuto held him tight and kissed his forehead before leaving for a minute to get the others. Akaashi had to assure him countless times that he was alright. Bokuto booped his nose before he left. Akaashi watched him with a lovesick look on his face.
When Bokuto went over to fetch the other two, Kuroo let him know about the door and they collectively decided to withhold this information from Akaashi. They all went back and Bokuto instantly engulfed his exhausted-looking boyfriend in a hug. The friends talked about everything and nothing, and even though Akaashi assured them he was fine now, they didn’t mention the study.
₪
A little while later they heard a knock on the door. The stranger informed them that the tea was ready and led them back to the living room. Akaashi acted as their translator once again, but this time the conversation wasn’t so one-sided. Kuroo had Akaashi ask the stranger’s name. They learned that he was called Dr. Survie and that he worked as a biologist. When asked about their future plans, Akaashi told him that they had just finished high school and we’re all planning to go to university. Bokuto wanted to be a professional volleyball player, Kuroo was going to study either physics or chemistry, Kenma would do something that involved photography and Akaashi himself wanted to study literature.
Dr. Survie seemed to be fascinated by their different goals and Akaashi clarified that they had known each other for a long time already. He was telling them a story about his days at university and Akaashi stifled a yawn. He was about to apologise and say that he was not bored but just tired when he saw a slight smile graze the doctor’s lips. Then he heard a muffled swear and turned to Kuroo who was clutching his head. Kenma was asleep on an armchair and Bokuto was dozing next to him. Kuroo fell off the living room couch and Akaashi also found it harder and harder to focus. He cast one more look at the doctor who was smiling eerily at the tea kettle before his vision went black. Fuck.
₪
Kuroo was the first to wake up. He looked around but didn’t recognise the room. How was this possible? They had inspected every corner of this house. The room was completely bare except for a few cartons and a small, sealed window. Apparently, it was already dark outside, but the moonlight was enough to see by. He walked over to the door and found it locked. Great. He tried to think about what happened when he heard Bokuto stir. Kuroo got Bokuto’s attention by shaking him a bit and quietly chanting bro. Then he lightly smacked him on the back of the head.
“Wake up” he hissed and Bokuto startled.
“Where –“
“No idea where we are, but probably still in the house. Dr. whatever-his-name-was isn’t here right now but could be close by. There’s a window over there, but it doesn’t open. Same with the door” Kuroo told him.
Bokuto’s mind was still hazy but he did his best to take Kuroo’s words in. When his brain had caught up with the situation, he frantically looked around for Akaashi. He rushed over to him and shook him gently and called his name but he wouldn’t wake up. Bokuto looked up at Kuroo with tears in his eyes.
“He’s not waking up” he sniffled. Yeah, no shit Sherlock Kuroo wanted to say but held himself back.
“Hey, don’t worry. Kenma is also still dozing over there. They’ll wake up eventually” Kuroo assured him. Bokuto nodded slightly and cradled Akaashi in his arms.
They were silent for a long time. Then they tried avoiding the situation by talking about new songs they liked and a TV show they both watched. But they couldn’t fool themselves.
“So, do you think he’ll kill us?” Bokuto asked after a while.
“I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t know, but it is a possibility.” Kuroo sighed.
“Called it” They both jumped.
“Kenma!” they yell-whispered. Kenma sat up slowly, clutching his head and groaned.
“Damn. Whatever was in that tea, it sure knocked us out good. Best sleep I had in a while” he joked and actually managed to lighten the mood a bit. It was enough for Bokuto to regain his usual cheerfulness. They talked about what they would do when they got out of here and made a list of things they wanted to do before the summer ended. They waited for Akaashi to wake up and join their discussion.
But when he finally did wake up, the mood changed. They hadn’t expected him to hyperventilate again so shortly after his last anxiety attack. Bokuto said that it was far worse than last time. He held him close, but Akaashi wouldn’t acknowledge his touch nor look at him. Akaashi was shaking badly, kept his eyes firmly shut and took ragged breaths. Bokuto tried his best to calm him down, tracing lines on his arms and breathing slowly himself. Again he squeezed Akaashi’s hand tightly to show his love and support for his significant other. However, Akaashi was just too overwhelmed this time and he ended up passing out after a short while.
Bokuto was full on crying now.
“This is all my fault. If we had just gone someplace else, this wouldn’t have happened.” Bokuto sobbed. He hiccoughed every now and again and clutched Akaashi closer to his chest.
“Hey, hey. Don’t cry, you’re making me cry too” Kuroo sniffled.
Kenma walked up to them flicked both their foreheads.
“Guys, look. We can’t change what’s happened.” Kenma said matter-of-factly.
“Aren’t you scared?” Bokuto asked.
“In this economy? Always. But talking about “what if” situations isn’t going to make anything better. And Bokuto, you are not at all responsible for how things turned out, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Honestly, you were the only one of us who considered that there might be something sketchy going on. We could’ve trusted your instinct. But like I said, talking about possibilities on how we could’ve avoided this mess isn’t going to help us now. So let’s come up with a plan that’ll actually get us out of here.” Kenma told them.
“Think of a plan? Us? The last time Bokuto and I planned something, we had to call the fire brigade. Twice” Kuroo reminded them.
“The cookie incident, I am aware…” Kenma said.
“Akaashi was so mad, he scolded us for over an hour” Bokuto reminisced. “He would’ve known what to do” Bokuto gently stroked Akaashi’s cheek.
“Sleeping beauty isn’t going to be of any help. Now, I am aware of the fact that Akaashi has the best ideas out of all of us, because, unlike us, he actually thinks them through. But we can just as well come up with something. Our ideas might not be good ones, but at least it’s better than nothing.” Kenma told them.
“Yeah, you’re right. We can definitely figure out a way to escape” Bokuto said, cheering up considerably.
After dismissing many farfetched ideas, they came to the conclusion that it would be best to somehow shatter the window. They should be able to reach it and climb out. They didn’t know where they would run to, but anywhere was better than here.
Kenma chuckled a bit when Kuroo went over to inspect the window.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that the unlocked door to the study seems so insignificant now”
They all shared an awkward laugh. They then decided to set their plan into action. Bokuto wrapped his shirt around his fist and shattered the window. He somehow avoided getting cut. After carefully brushing away shards of glass, he helped Kuroo out. Bokuto climbed out after him.
He turned to Kenma to get him and Akaashi out, but he didn’t budge.
“We should stay here for now” Kenma said.
“What? No! Are you crazy?!” Bokuto retorted.
“Bokuto. It’s dangerous to move an unconscious person too much and we could hurt him by trying to get him through that tiny window” he gestured to Akaashi.
“And we should get someone to arrest this guy. We don’t know if he’s taken anyone else captive” Kuroo added.
“Besides, we’d only slow you down.” Kenma continued. It was true, he really was a slow and unwilling runner.
After a lot of convincing, Bokuto reluctantly agreed.
“See you soon” Kuroo said.
“Jup, stay safe” Kenma responded.
₪
The silence was deafening. It had only been a couple of minutes since Bokuto and Kuroo had left, but it was getting unbearable. To keep himself occupied and to lighten the mood, Kenma started reciting vines half to himself and half to Akaashi who was still unconscious, resting his head on Kenma’s thigh. Kenma gently ran his hand through the other boy’s hair. He remembered that Bokuto had once said that it calmed Akaashi.
When Kenma couldn’t think of any more vines, he confessed to Akaashi that he didn’t even like camping. But Bokuto insisted that it’d be fun, Kuroo loved to go camping and Akaashi thought going to France would be nice in general.
“Let’s go camping they said. It’ll be fun, they said” he mumbled to himself.
Just before he wanted to rant about how going to the beach or an amusement park would’ve been so much better, the door creaked open and the scientist entered. His demeanour had changed completely. He stormed up to them, screaming something Kenma didn’t understand. He was so scared that he was frozen in place. The scientist gesticulated wildly, but Kenma just didn’t understand a word. Akaashi had taught them to say je ne sais pas [I don’t know] when talked to in French, but that just seemed to anger Dr. Survie further. He punched Kenma hard in the face to let out his anger, before draping Akaashi over his shoulder and pulling Kenma along with him into another room. That was when it dawned on Kenma that the scientist had most likely wanted to know where the other two of them had disappeared to and upon noticing the broken window, he had lost his temper. Lost in his thoughts, Kenma hadn’t realised where they were. The scientist tightened his grip on Kenma’s wrist and threw him into the backroom of his study. He then threw Akaashi down from his shoulder who groaned upon hitting the cold floor. Kenma rushed over to him, to see whether he was hurt, when the scientist slammed the door behind him. The room was instantly engulfed in darkness, safe for the small lights from the aquarium.
Kenma felt like crying. Sure, death itself wasn’t something he feared. Sometimes he even thought it’d be easier and genuinely just better to be dead. But getting there was the problem. He hated getting hurt and feeling scared. And now, he just felt helpless, his cheek throbbing painfully and tears forming in his eyes. But before he could cry himself out, he heard Akaashi stir beside him. Kenma called out to him.
“Bokuto?” Akaashi answered unsteadily.
“No, just me” Kenma sighed, glad that Akaashi seemed less anxious than before.
“Kenma? Where are the others?” Akaashi asked worriedly. He tried to sit up, but could only proceed slowly, clutching his left side in pain and leaning heavily on Kenma. Once they got Akaashi to lean against a wall, Kenma explained everything that had happened, including their plan.
“Well that’s a stupid idea” Akaashi deadpanned.
“Hey! It sounded good when we came up with it!” Kenma sounded offended.
“What would you have suggested?” he demanded to know.
“It would’ve been far safer to just go with Bokuto and Kuroo. Yes, we might’ve been slower, but we would’ve been outside. It would’ve been good to clear our head.” Akaashi told Kenma. He wasn’t being reproachful though.
“But you were still unconscious” Kenma insisted.
“Kenma, moving an unconscious person is only unwise when they have a physical injury, like after a car crash. Because if you move them while unconscious, their body is laxer and you could worsen the injury. But in our situation, it would’ve been fine to move me” Akaashi continued. Kenma facepalmed and groaned.
“And that is exactly why you are in charge of our group. We really shouldn’t be left alone to make decisions.” Kenma said, exhausted.
“Yes, I remember the cookie incident.” Akaashi chuckled a bit, holding his side.
“I’m just glad you’re so relaxed right now. I don’t know if I could’ve helped you through an anxiety attack.” Kenma told him earnestly.
“Honestly, my side just really hurts. The pain gives me something to focus on and lets me push my negative thoughts away. It’s not a good way to think like this though. My therapist told me that thoughts like these could easily lead to glorifying self-harm. So yeah, not great, but it helps in this situation” Kenma was about to express his concerns, but Akaashi went on.
“But hey, don’t worry. What’s done is done and all we can do now is plan our next steps. Honestly, it could be worse” he added.
“Well, it could also be a whole lot better” Kenma muttered.
There was a brief moment of silence before Akaashi asked how they even broke the window.
“Oh, that. Bokuto broke it with his fist”
“With his fist?!” Akaashi asked incredulously.
“Well, he had wrapped his shirt around it beforehand. What?”
Akaashi sighed heavily.
“The elbow is the strongest and sharpest part of your body. He could’ve seriously injured himself fist-fighting the window” he shook his head. Kenma was speechless for a bit.
“Well, but it did work” he countered.
“Teaching a penguin to fly doesn’t mean you should throw it” Akaashi said.
“What?”
“It means that even if there’s more than one possible solution, there are better and worse ways to go about things. Even if something works, it might not have been the best solution” Akaashi explained.
“So, like with your injury and the anxiety? It’s a solution, but not a good one” Kenma pondered.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Akaashi was quiet for a bit. “Oh and by the way, I was right” he added smugly.
“Huh?”
“I told y’all it was a cabin in the woods kinda situation” Akaashi stated proudly. Kenma snorted.
“Being right won’t do you any good when you’re dead” he jokingly argued.
“True, but it’s still nice. Now, considering this to be a horror movie type situation, how should we go about not getting killed. Any ideas from the horror genre?”
“I’m not such a fan of creepy movies, but I’ve played some horror games. Hm…” Kenma tried to remember all the games that he had played.
“Same here, with the films, and I don’t think my knowledge of Gothic literature will be of much help” Akaashi mumbled.
After they had racked their brains for a bit, they decided on two important things: don’t split up and never assume the killer to be dead. The latter was mostly based on horror movies, dealing with the supernatural. They also decided that they had to find a way out of this room. Kenma opted for trying to pick the lock on the door with bobby pins he had in his hair.
“I mean, I’ll do my best, but I honestly have no clue how Kuroo did it” he admitted.
“We should try nonetheless” Akaashi said.
“Once it’s open, we should run. Can you stand?” Kenma held out a hand to help Akaashi up slowly. Akaashi was still wobbly on his feet and clutched his side, but he would try to subdue the pain and run when he had to. Just when Kenma walked up to the door, they heard footsteps. Two sets of them.
Akaashi pulled Kenma towards him and they stumbled backwards. Harsh light flooded the room when the scientist entered. Akaashi and Kenma shielded their eyes and it took them a while to adjust to the brightness. Once they could see more clearly, they were shocked to face what the scientist had brought along. In front of them stood a creature that looked like a zombie-robot hybrid. The creature had greyish, slightly translucent skin that peeled off at some parts and was sometimes stapled back into place. It had metal rods through its neck to keep its head in place, knee braces and a prosthetic leg to support its body. The lanky figure took agonisingly slow and stuttering breaths and seemed to be in pain. You could see its body pulsating, the veins firmly protruding and underneath dead eyes it had such severe eyebags that could rival Kenma’s after getting a new game or Akaashi’s during finals week.
Akaashi managed to snap out of his trance and tear his eyes away from the poor creature when he noticed that Dr. Survie was rambling about something. Kenma just kept staring. The scientist talked to no one in particular and it seemed like his whole demeanour had changed yet again. He was happily talking about his experiment and waving some of the papers from his study in the air. Upon seeing that Akaashi was paying him attention, he sat down next to him and continued to explain in detail what he was doing, thinking that anyone would find it fascinating.
Dr. Survie told him that when he had been a student, he had this professor that had been enamoured with the idea of immortality. However, the professor had let his morality restrict and impede him from achieving greatness. So he had taken it upon himself to look into mortality and how to stop it, or rather how to slow it down. After years of research, he had found some answers. For some years he had closely observed a cult that claimed to extend their lives by drinking human blood. After trying this method for a few years and concluding that their practices did not in fact make them stop aging, Dr. Survie had gone back to his own studies. However, the thought of injecting the blood of another human into his own body wouldn’t leave him alone. One day, a thought had struck him. If you could combine human blood cells with some type of cells that had the ability to regenerate, it might extend your life. So, he had looked through encyclopaedias and had spoken to fellow biologists about animals with a regenerative ability until finally someone had told him about the Turritopsis dohrnii, also known as the “immortal jellyfish”. After a few trial runs with both humans and non-humans, the scientist had perfected the mixing ratio of human blood and the jellyfish cells so that his test subject no longer died but lived on without aging. Certainly, he had been unable to make anyone younger, but he had succeeded in halting the aging process. He had been using this formula on himself for close to a century now and had seemingly stopped aging at age 47.
In pursuit of this great achievement, he had wanted to attain an even bigger goal. His next step was to be resurrection. For some years, when he hadn’t been living in isolation, Dr. Survie had taught classes on biology and anatomy. One of his students had reminded him an awful lot of himself. That student had met an untimely end, but instead of mourning, the scientist had started to conduct research on how to bring him back to life. It had taken him years to figure out a way but combining the jellyfish cells with the deceased’s organs and fresh blood of another human before putting them into the body of the deceased, had proven to be effective. Naturally, the newly resurrected could not live like this and had to be sustained by transfusions of fresh blood mixed with these jellyfish cells.
A recently conducted study had given him even more insight into immortality and rejuvenation. Experiments on mice had shown that when injecting the blood of young mice into old, unhealthy ones, the organs of the latter would be revitalised. They seemed to age backwards, regaining their youthful strength. Dr. Survie conducted his own experiments with the mice, making sure that this theory was not a hoax. He achieved similar results and concluded that it is entirely plausible that, in regards to humans, the blood he received from younger people would potentially be more efficient for his immortality research than that of the elderly. He flicked through some papers he still had in his hands and spread them out on the floor. He continued to talk about how the mice had always been great test subjects, so he gladly kept them around.
Akaashi frequently responded by nodding his head and answering with oui [yes] and j’ai comprends [I understand]. He managed to understand bits and pieces of what Dr. Survie had been saying, mostly aided by the gestures the immortal man used.
Then he spaced out again, lost in his own thoughts. Akaashi realised suddenly that the letters he had seen in the study had to have been written by Dr. Survie himself. Akaashi could imagine the scientist writing about bodies and blood, but what was the other word he had deciphered? Smile? And then it dawned on him. It was so obvious and literally right in front of him, he hated himself for not noticing it sooner. Souris. God damn it.
When Akaashi looked back up at the scientist, he had seemingly finished talking to get up and leave, assuring that he’d be right back.
Akaashi turned to look at Kenma, hissing when his left side acted up. He almost instantly forgot about it, astounded to see that Kenma had struck up a conversation with the post-corpse.
“Kill me” the creature croaked. It had a very raspy voice.
“Mood” Kenma responded.
“Existence is pain” it complained further.
“Tell me about it” Kenma said, matching the zombie’s vibe.
After a brief moment of bewilderment, Akaashi called out to Kenma. Both Kenma and the creature turned to him. Akaashi hesitated for a moment after seeing a purple bruise form on Kenma’s cheek. He felt sorry for his friend getting hurt and wanted to make sure nothing worse happened to them. His brief pause went unnoticed.
“I was wrong” Akaashi told them. Kenma looked baffled.
“Are you alright? That’s not something I’m used to hearing from you” he responded with feigned worry. Akaashi looked unimpressed and Kenma repressed a chuckle.
“Okay and what were you wrong about?” he asked.
“The letters. Well, a word I saw. You see, they weren’t talking about smiles, they were talking about mice” Akaashi explained. That explanation could’ve come from Kuroo, it was so nonsensical.
“What?”
“The two words are homonyms, well homophones to be exact” Akaashi went on.
“And now in English” Now it was Kenma’s turn to look unamused.
“The words sound the same. Souri is the past participle of smile and souris means mouse. God, I’m so stupid” Akaashi told him, as if that made any more sense. He then went on to describe his thought process and how the scientist used mice for his research and wrote about them in his letters, when Akaashi confused the two terms and thought he was writing about smiling. Kenma still looked disinterested and Akaashi just told him to forget about it.
They then got back into conversation with the creature that surprisingly spoke English. It told them that it had had an English father when it had been amongst the living. Before its death, its name had been Jonah and he had studied biology because he had been fascinated by the differences and similarities between species. Although he had only lived for 25 years, he had accepted his death when it had come and he never wished to be reborn. He didn’t want to live this second life and was constantly on the lookout for ways to end it. He stated that he did not truly feel alive and that he had found solace in death, even though he could not remember why. He was a very interesting fellow to talk to. Very polite.
Akaashi noticed the scientist returning and taking a sieve to fish out one of the jellyfish. He then cut it into pieces, throwing most of it away but keeping some small parts in a bowl. At first Akaashi couldn’t figure out what irked him about this, but then he remembered how the scientist had told him about using fresh blood for his tonic and it clicked. Dr. Survie was walking over to Kenma, who was still in conversation with Jonah, but Akaashi protectively stepped in front of him. He thought he might be able to reason with Dr. Survie who had talked about his research so enthusiastically merely a few minutes prior, but he was mistaken. The scientist did not care who had to suffer for his well-being. He grabbed Akaashi’s wrist and cut his forearm open. Akaashi screamed in agony while the scientist dragged him to the bowl to bleed into it.
Kenma stood up unsure of what to do and glanced at Jonah. The creature looked sad. It did not have the physical capacity to stand up to its creator, being too frail to intervene in this horrid process. He had witnessed it time and time again and could not convince his creator to stop. Kenma wasn’t strong either but he couldn’t sit around and do nothing. He saw that Dr. Survie had dropped the knife after wounding Akaashi, so he picked it up and ran up to the scientist, who swiftly blocked his attack, kicking him so hard in the stomach that he let go of the knife and fell to the floor, gasping for air.
₪
After smashing in the window, Bokuto and Kuroo were quietly moving away from the wooden prison and more or less towards the direction they had come from.
“What now?” Bokuto whispered.
“I have absolutely no fucking clue” Kuroo responded.
“Great, me neither.” Bokuto told him. They stopped for a bit, not knowing if they were actually heading in the direction they had come from.
“Okay, stay calm.” Bokuto said after a while.
“I am calm” Kuroo answered.
“I was talking to myself” Bokuto took some deep breaths but he still felt terribly uneasy.
“Let’s head back” he said, about to turn around when Kuroo stopped him.
“Bro, we can’t abandon the plan halfway through” he argued.
“But we only just started and I already miss Keiji” Bokuto pouted.
“Boy, I swear to God…” Kuroo sighed at Bokuto’s whining.
“What if he’s hurt, what if he needs me. Bro, we gotta go back. This was a stupid idea” Bokuto was about to start sobbing again, but Kuroo comfortingly pat him on the back.
“Look. the sooner we get help, the sooner we can get back to them. Okay?”
That seemed to put Bokuto in a better mood. He was determined to get back as soon as possible.
After a long time of wandering around, with their phone’s flashlight on the ground, they saw another light in the distance. They reached a clearing, most likely the place they should have ended up in after the hike and spotted some police officers with big flashlights. Kuroo was uncertain about how to best approach them, not knowing how they would react to two young adults rushing towards them out of the forest in the middle of the night. But Bokuto had apparently had no such thoughts, running towards them without hesitation. Kuroo followed him.
The officers took notice of them and a young man came over. Bokuto and Kuroo looked at each other, not speaking a word of French but desperately needing him to follow them. However, they had thought themselves immensely lucky to have run into the police at all, not realising that the officers had been out looking for the four of them because of Akaashi’s phone call a few hours ago. Trying to speak with a French accent, pointing and gesticulating wildly they deeply confused the man. Then he suddenly looked up and waved one of his colleagues over.
“Alice! J’ai oublié, ils sont des étrangers. Je ne les comprends pas du tout. Tu dois m’aider” [I forgot, they are foreigners. I don’t understand them at all. You have to help me] he told her. Another police officer strolled over with a second woman in toe.
“Do you speak English? How can we help you?” officer Poirot asked. Instantly, relief washed over Bokuto and Kuroo. They quickly explained the situation as best as they could. They were close to tears at this point. The other policewoman, Natalie Dubois, stated that he had never heard of anyone living in these woods. Her colleagues agreed. They decided to have officer Robert wait for them in the clearing while officer Poirot and Dubois suited up and followed Bokuto and Kuroo into the forest.
They almost got lost once when Bokuto and Kuroo disagreed on which way they had come from, but one of the police officers spotted a faint light in the distance. They made their way towards the cabin and officer Poirot knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked two more times until they decided to just go in. The door was unlocked.
Officer Poirot had suggested that Bokuto and Kuroo stay behind, but they wouldn’t budge. They argued that they knew which room their friends were in and after a small dispute, they all went inside. It took a while to locate the room again, since it was fairly well hidden. But based on their escape route, Kuroo had deduced that there had to be some kind of secret door in the kitchen. And he was right. Behind some curtains there was not a window, but a door. The officers told Bokuto and Kuroo to stay back and this time they reluctantly agreed. Officer Poirot drew her gun and barged into the room. Officer Dubois followed with a flashlight. They looked around but found it to be empty and called Bokuto and Kuroo to join them.
“What? I don’t understand. We broke that window over there to escape.” Kuroo pointed to the only window in the room.
“They should be here. It doesn’t make any sense” he added pensively.
“I knew we shouldn’t have left them behind. Kuroo, what if something happened?! What if they’re hurt? What if …” Bokuto spiralled and Kuroo slapped him.
“Get a grip! They’re fine. And we’re gonna find them” Kuroo said without a doubt, contradictory to his real feelings. Bokuto rubbed his arm but calmed down a bit. Kuroo apologised for slapping him. The officers had been inspecting the room and were about to walk back into the kitchen when they heard the scream. Bokuto recognised his boyfriend’s voice instantly and sprinted in the direction it came from. Kuroo yelled at him to slow down, but he couldn’t. Not when his lover was potentially hurt. The two officers were close behind them.
What he saw when he opened the door made his blood run cold. Kenma was on the floor, trying to get up with someone or something next to him and Akaashi, his beloved, was bleeding profusely, desperately trying to get out of the scientist’s grip. How dare he lay a hand on his boyfriend. Bokuto was going to kill that bastard. But before he had the chance, Kuroo rushed past him and punched the man straight in the face. No hesitation whatsoever. Bokuto was baffled for a second.
The scientist staggered backwards, malevolent eyes on Kuroo. He let go of Akaashi who slumped forwards, clutching his arm. Bokuto rushed over to steady him.
“Keiji! Please baby, hold on, you’ll be okay, I promise.” Bokuto tried to keep his voice steady but failed miserably. Akaashi breathed in deeply a couple of times before gently kissing his boyfriend.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be alright” he reassured him, but looked as if he were about to faint.
Officer Poirot walked up to them and told the friend group to follow her outside. Her colleague, who was helping Kenma up, would handle the rest. Akaashi and Kenma breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the two policewomen come to their aid. Officer Poirot said she would drive them to the edge of the forest where ambulances were already waiting for them to bring them to the local hospital for treatment. It was reassuring to hear that this nightmare was almost over and that everything would be okay.
The officer then tore a piece of a nearby curtain off and wrapped it around Akaashi’s arm to try and stop the bleeding. Bokuto tried to help him up, but Akaashi could not manage to stand upright, so he decided to carry him instead, carefully lifting him up. Kenma had already gone ahead, stopping briefly to gather their backpacks before heading outside. Bokuto followed closely behind, making sure that he wasn’t hurting his love by constantly inquiring about his well-being. Akaashi kept on reassuring him that he was going to be alright. They heard two gunshots and sped up.
₪
After Kuroo had landed that punch on Dr. Survie, he noticed his eyes landing on a nearby knife. However, before he could reach it, he tackled him and punched him in the throat. The scientist managed to throw him off but he grabbed the knife before he had the chance to. He tried to take it from him and he did eventually lose his grip but kicked it away. It landed near the creature that lunged at it without a second thought and stabbed itself in the heart. It sunk to the ground, a puddle of reddish-brown sludge slowly forming beneath it. At last it died, wearing a smile on its face.
They were all stunned to silence. This turn of events angered the scientist so much that his face turned crimson. He removed the knife from the re-corpse and moved to attack Kuroo, but before he could grab him, the police officer acted and shot him twice in the stomach. He gasped for air and looked both offended and frightened for a bit, until he went still.
Kuroo swayed a bit.
“You okay?” officer Dubois asked. Kuroo took a while to answer. It was the first time he had seen someone die.
“I guess… Ahm, what… what now?” he was overwhelmed by the situation, his only thought having been to defeat the scientist.
“Go and join your friends, they’re heading out now. There should be an ambulance waiting right outside the forest. I’ll take care of the rest here. I wish you all the best” he said. Kuroo thanked officer Dubois for her help and ran after Bokuto.
Once outside, they hurried after officer Poirot to where the cop cars stood, Kuroo taking most of their belongings off of Kenma. They reached the clearing and got into a car with officer Poirot. Meanwhile, officer Robert had received back up and the cops headed towards the cabin.
Bokuto was still cradling Akaashi in his arms and turned to Kuroo, asking why he had attacked the scientist when he had been just about to do so himself.
“Bro, as much as I love you… in a platonic kind of way, ya know, best bros and all…” Akaashi rolled his eyes at the bad explanation.
“You cannot hurt a fly. Boy you are softer than a teddy bear. Your muscles are just for show. I’m sorry, but you would not have landed that punch.” Kuroo rambled and the friend group laughed. Bokuto feigned offense, but he knew it was true.
“I on the other hand…” Kuroo continued, proudly pointing at himself.
“…grew up with 4 brothers and if you wanted something, you had to fight for it. Favourite spot on the couch – fight; the last slice of pizza – fight. You get my point.” Kuroo told them and they all nodded. Kenma then asked what the gunshots had been about and Kuroo informed them of what had transpired, in a way that they more or less understood. It was weird to think that a man that had lived for over 150 years had been killed so easily. They fell into silence, the events of the evening slowly catching up to them.
Bokuto leaned down to his boyfriend and gently kissed his head. The other two had to restrain themselves not to say anything about this public display of affection. They could continue their nagging once this was all over. Akaashi still felt a bit uneasy and weak, but feeling Bokuto holding him, squeezing his hand tightly, he knew that everything was going to be alright.