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Kenma woke up as he always did on normal occassions—slowly and begrudgingly. He blinked sleepily and his fingers and toes curled as he yawned. He pushed himself up slowly as usual and let his hair fall messily around his face as he gazed around the room slowly with drowsy eyes. As Kenma had observed with a blank expression, there were already a few deviations from his regular morning routine in these first few moments of consciousness.
Aside from the fact that it was three in the morning, Kenma had woken up alone.
It wasn’t as if Kenma never slept in his own room anymore or anything. Even after moving in with Kuroo, Bokuto, and Akaashi, he and Akaashi both agreed that the two of them needed their own spaces sometimes. Bokuto had felt a bit hurt at first, but when they explained it wasn’t anything personal, he was more than happy to just share a room with Kuroo. Regardless, more often than not, the four of them slept together in Bokuto and Kuroo’s large bed and the matter bedroom became less of “Bokuto and Kuroo’s room” and more of “everyone’s room,” especially on cold nights like this one.
The bed felt too big for Kenma’s liking and the room was much too quiet. He missed clutching onto Kuroo’s shirt with Akaashi’s arm around his waist and dozing off to the even tones of Bokuto’s loud snores. It was felt too… Empty. Besides, Kenma had never liked the cold.
“Kuroo?” Kenma called out softly to the empty room. There was no response and Kenma frowned. He crawled towards edge of the bed, stepping out onto the carpet immediately missing the warmth of the covers. “Kuroo?” he tried again as he shuffled towards the door with his hands stuffed in his shorts. On the way, he stumbled and tripped, he kicked aside a few things–his binder, Akaashi’s paperback collection, some video game consoles to name a few. He made a mental note to ask Akaashi to help him clean one day.
Kenma struggled for a moment, trying to open the door with his elbow, when he heard a loud shattering sound from outside.
“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi’s tired voice said distantly.
“Sorry! That was the last time I swear!” Bokuto promised in what seemed to be an attempt at a whisper right before Kenma heard the sound of what sounded like splattering on the floor.
Kenma gave up on trying to keep his hands warm and opened the door the normal way, shuffling down the hall of their apartment towards the kitchen, where he saw Bokuto, Kuroo, and Akaashi in aprons all staring at a carton of cracked eggs that had dropped on the floor.
Kuroo was the first to notice him. “Kenma!” Kuroo said, still whispering, but excitedly. He crossed the kitchen in large strides and, despite his apologetic expression, he seemed to light up as he looked at Kenma. “What are you doing up?”
“No one could sleep through all that noise,” Kenma answered drowsily. A shiver ran through his body and he let out the tiniest of sneezes.
“You must be freezing,” Akaashi said, appearing from nowhere with the blanket from their bed and wrapping it around Kenma’s shoulders.
“Thank you, Keiji,” Kenma said, taking the blankets and pulling it up to his neck.
Akaashi gave Kenma a soft smile that made Kenma’s heart skip a beat. No matter how long they’ve all been together, Kenma couldn’t help but feel that Akaashi’s beauty was something no one could really get used to—especially when he smiled so affectionately. Akaashi brushed Kenma’s hair out of his eyes the slightest bit with gentle fingers. “You should go back to sleep,” he suggested. “We’ll try to be quieter.”
Kenma shook his head, looking down at his feet. “It’s too cold without you guys,” he answered.
Akaashi nodded understandingly while Kuroo absolutely beamed at him. However, before Kuroo could open his mouth, Bokuto suddenly rushed towards them, giving Kenma a big hug. “Kenma!” he said, his voice returning to its regular volume. “You’re so cute!”
“Kou, you’re too loud,” Kenma protested, but didn’t pull away. In fact, he decided to lean into Bokuto’s embrace the slightest bit, appreciating his warmth. “What are you doing anyway?”
“We had a baking itch,” Bokuto explained.
Akaashi’s eyes narrowed into slits. “Bokuto-san” he warned.
“Alright, okay, I had a baking itch,” Bokuto relented, resting his cheek on top of Kenma’s head. “So we’re making some apple pie!”
Kenma’s eyes grew wide at the mention of his favorite food and turned his head quickly and instinctively towards Kuroo, who simply laughed at Kenma’s expression.
“Yeah, you can have some,” Kuroo said, answering Kenma’s unanswered question. “We’re making it for you, anyway.”
“‘For me?” Kenma asked, blinking in his surprise. “Why?”
“Apple pie is your favorite, right?” Bokuto answered. “What’s better than getting your favorite food on your birthday?”
Kenma stared at Bokuto for a moment, registering what he had just said while Bokuto grinned at him proudly. Kuroo was wearing a smirk of his own and Akaashi looked confused at Kenma’s expression. “Is it October 16th?” Kenma finally asked.
“Yes, as of three hours ago,” Akaashi said, frowning. “That is your birthday, right? I’m pretty sure we got it right.”
“Oh, you’re right,” Kenma reassured him quickly. “I was the one who forgot.”
“You must be pretty tired to forget your own birthday,” Akaashi said, his brow wrinkling in concern. He pulled the blanket higher over Kenma’s shoulders. “You must be exhausted,” he began. “Why don’t you go back to bed?”
Kenma shook his head. “I don’t like sleeping in the big bed by myself,” he explained. “I can just hang out with you guys—I’m awake.” Just as Kenma said so, he let out a big yawn that betrayed him and he blushed. Akaashi’s eyes softened and his smile was warming Kenma’s heart while Kuroo just beamed at him with a look of total fondness in his eyes that made Kenma want to burrow his head under the covers again.
“Kenma!” Bokuto tightened his hold on Kenma once more. “You’re too cute! I swear we’ll make you the best birthday pie ever!”
Kenma knew his face was turning horribly red at Bokuto’s statement and he tried his best to hide his face while in Bokuto’s warm embrace. "I-I’m not–”
“Don’t overwhelm him,” Kuroo laughed as Kenma shot him a glare. “Will you really be okay, though? Why don’t you sleep in your own bed?”
“C’mon, Tetsu, you can’t deprive Kenma of the sight of greatest baker alive in action!” Bokuto said, puffing out his chest while Kuroo shook his head behind his back and Akaashi mouthed 'no.’ “Hop onto the counter and I’ll show you how it’s done!”
“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi began, eyes narrowing at Bokuto as Kenma climbed up to sit on the countertop.
“Don’t worry, Akaashi! I’ve got it this time!” Bokuto said, grabbing a clean mixing bowl. He set it down next to Kenma with a dramatic flourish and a wide smile. “I messed it up the first three times, but I can do this!”
“Good luck,” Kenma said as he shifted in his seat to pull the blanket over his shoulders again.
Kuroo brought pushed the apples over to them. “These are the last ones,” he said. “Be careful.”
“No worries–peeling apples is easy,” Bokuto grabbed an apple and began peeling very slowly. His tongue stuck out a bit and his brow was furrowed in intense concentration. Kenma couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Kenma, why don’t you help out?” Kuroo asked, handing him an apple. Kenma gave him a look of total distress and Kuroo laughed. “C'mon, you want pie, don’t you?” Kenma pouted but took the apple and a small knife from Kuroo, who beamed at him.
Kenma just stared at the apple for a good minute. How does one even peel an apple? Kenma’s cooking experience mostly dealt with putting things in the microwave and reheating things on the stove. He cast a glance towards Akaashi, who managed to look beautiful as he was peeled his apple in a single clean strip. Bokuto was much more haphazard in his technique, hacking at the apple peel with vigor. Kuroo peeled his own calmly.
Kenma pressed the knife to the apple, trying to copy Akaashi when he suddenly felt the blade cut his finger slightly. “Ouch.”
“Do you want me to help you?” Kuroo asked, setting his own apple aside. When Kenma nodded and held out his apple and knife to Kuroo, Kuroo laughed. He moved over to lean on the counter next to Kenma, peeling his apple as Kenma leaned against his shoulder, stifling another yawn. “You really should head back to bed, you know.”
“No,” Kenma mumbled against Kuroo’s shoulder stubbornly, despite the fact that his eyelids were beginning to feel heavy and the sounds of the kitchen and his partners’ voices began to fade.
“Okay, whatever you say,” Kuroo said, chuckling as Kenma closed his eyes.
When Kenma had awoken again, there was sunlight streaming through the gaps in the blinds. His face was burrowed in Kuroo’s chest and back was facing Akaashi, who was still sleeping with an arm draped over Kenma’s waist. Bokuto slept sideways, snoring as loudly as usual with his body draped over everyone’s legs.
“Good morning,” Kuroo greeted him with a yawn.
Kenma wrinkled his nose at him and turned his head away. “You have morning breath.”
“Rude,” Kuroo scoffed, pressing his lips to the top of Kenma’s head. “Happy B–”
“Is Kenma awake!?” Bokuto suddenly sat up straight, scaring both Kuroo and Kenma.
Akaashi began to stir, moving his arm off of Kenma to cover his eyes with a groan. “Bokuto-san,” Akaashi scolded sleepily.
“Happy birthday Kenma!” Bokuto said, giving Kenma a wide grin, ignoring Akaashi’s reminder about his volume.
Akaashi sighed but turned his head to look at Kenma, giving him a soft smile. “Happy birthday.”
Kuroo frowned. “I can’t believe you guys would steal my thunder.”
“You snooze, you lose, Tetsu,” Bokuto said, crawling over everyone to squeeze himself between Akaashi and Kenma.
“It’s not a contest,” Akaashi said, smiling as he scooted over to give Bokuto space.
Kuroo pouted and wrapped his arms around Kenma. Bokuto attenpted to give them all a big hug at the same time, which proved to be impossible, but Kenma appreciated the gesture.
Kenma pulled the blankets up over his shoulder and sighed in contentment, thinking of the apple pie that awaited him when he finally woke up for real, and he felt warm.