Work Text:
Sirens.
They fire louder than he had ever heard them. Sure, he'd heard them before, but they were just drills for the guards. They weren't as loud. They would ring. But at that moment, they were blaring. Even as he covered his ears, they were deafening. His ears would be ringing for weeks if they got through this.
This clearly was no drill. Every guard ran from their posts in a hurry. Running towards the source of the interference. They weren't even bothering to bang the bars to stop the little kids from crying. They just ran.
They yelled, called, screamed, all drowned out by Sirens.
The halls are flooded with red lights now. This was no mere breakout attempt as some of the kids with him suspected. No. This was a break in.
The kids around him began to tremble, some clinging to him. He was the oldest. Some kids started having bubbles, plants, or fire appear around them. They couldn't control the results of their tests. They weren't there yet. They weren't at his level. He had full control. The younger kids knew this. Finding comfort in him as the ones without control scared them.
There was a loud bang, and a yell. Someone appeared in the doorway.
"I found the kids!" This person wasn't a guard. They didn't wear the uniform. The person locked eyes with him. They called a name. Something about ages.
More strangers pulled in, walking backwards, shooting guns at someone. He presumed the guards.
Were they here to kidnap them? Take them away to a place where testing would be worse? Or were they there to save them? Believing they were there to save them was foolish. If they knew what he and the other kids could do, they would be there to take them so they could use them as weapons to kill.
All of a sudden, the lights and sirens stopped. The strangers cheered and yelled "they did it". They cheered more when the doors between them and the kids opened.
Maybe they weren't there to rescue them or take them to a worse place. Maybe they were there to molest them. But they didn't have expressions of lust. Either way, he couldn’t let them get close.
He felt himself get angry and let electricity run through his veins. A feeling he knew all too well. Before long, blue lightning surrounded him. Flickering and jumping from one area of his body to the next. He made sure it wouldn't hit the kids next to him. He would keep them safe.
One guy stepped in.
He prepared to attack him.
But to his surprise, he didn't do anything. He just got down on his knee to the kids' levels.
The cage was dark with only light filtering in from the hallway. The man would have been completely dark had his electricity not been illuminating his face.
The man had black spiky hair, some of it fell over his right eye, covering it and the bottom half of his face was covered by a mask. Or, it was till he pulled it down to reveal a gentle smile. It matched his hazel eyes perfectly and for some reason. The man looked like he was the same age as him, if not a year or two older. Maybe 17.
He felt he could let his guard down a little, and so he did, but just a little. The electricity became less abundant.
"No need to be scared," the stranger locked eyes with him. "My name is Tetsurou Kuroo. My friends and I are here to help you guys out. There are families anxiously waiting to adopt you guys and give you the homes you deserve, doesn't that sound great?"
All the little kids immediately perked up. They seemed to trust him so fast.
"Families! Families! Families," They chanted getting up and jumping up and down, running to the man named Kuroo.
They started asking him questions, and telling him their names. The slightly older kids looked at each other and walked up to him, much more hesitant than the small ones. They introduced themselves too and the others joined them in doing the same thing. He was the only one who kept his distance. The electricity around him sparking up again.
Kuroo looked towards him, his hazel eyes staring into his gold ones.
"So, what's your name," he asked.
He didn't respond.
"I promise, I don't bite."
He hesitated and let the electricity fall. Kuroo just watched him as his friends came and started making friends with the other kids. The others quickly warmed up to them. Kuroo stayed still, keeping a smile on his face, keeping eye contact, and staying patient.
He glanced at Kuroo's hair.
"It looks stupid, doesn't it? This is my natural bed head. I'm stuck with it."
He nodded.
"You see I sleep this really weird way with my head between my pillows and-"
"Kenma."
"Huh?"
"My name is Kenma."
He smiled a little bigger. A kind smile. A smile of adoration one might call it.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kenma."
~
That day had been a blessing to Kenma. It had started as a normal day of testing, and working on his ability. Then, right as the day was beginning to end, as he began to prepare himself to sleep for the next day of the same thing, he and the other kids had been rescued from their hell.
They had been rescued by an organization that knew of experiments on kids to make a generation with superpowers that would one day be used to take over the world. They had gone to rescue them and Kenma couldn't be more grateful. Especially because he met his best friend that day.
Six months had gone by since the rescue and life couldn't be better. Kenma had a loving family who didn't care that he could shoot electricity from his body, or that he had sleeves of tattoos because of pain tolerance tests. They didn't care that he wasn't social or that he had PTSD centered around tests and medical equipment. They loved him for him.
And Kuroo was the same. He loved him for who he was and just recently did he find out Kuroo loved him as more than just a friend. After getting to know each other, they found they were only a year apart and became the best of friends, and a week ago they went on their first ever date. They both genuinely loved each other. They showed it differently but they loved each other.
They went to high school together - Kenma had to hide his tattoos or he'd be expelled - and Kuroo convinced him to give volleyball a try. It was a fun game. An obnoxiously active game, but fun.
Speaking of games, he found an interest in video games. They were a lot of fun. So much so he began to stay up late to play them. Kuroo had to stop him though because it was becoming a health issue for Kenma.
Everything was perfect. Kenma loved his new life. He didn't think anything could go wrong. That is until one night…
"See you tomorrow, Ken. Don't stay up too long." It was the weekend and Kuroo had just spent the whole day at Kenma's place and now it was time for him to head home. It wasn't a far walk but he had errands to run for his father before he actually returned home.
Kenma nodded. Over the months he had dyed his brown hair blond and it made him look like a pudding.
"See you tomorrow, Kuro." Kuroo kissed his head then left Kenma's room bowing to Kenma's parents before leaving.
It was 17:30 when he left and he had two errands that would take him at most 2 hours and the latest he'd be home was 20:00. The phone call came at 21 hundred hours..
They had just finished dinner when the house phone began to ring. Kenma's mother answered as Kenma began to his room till he heard his mother say, "Good evening, Mr.Kuroo."
Kuroo's dad was calling. Why? Did Kuroo leave something here and he couldn’t come get it for some reason? He didn't recall seeing anything of Kuroo's property left in his room aside from himself.
He stopped to listen in. His father too seemed intrigued by the conversation.
"Yes, he left at 17:30."
…
"No, he didn't come back for anything."
…
"I don't think so. Kenma's father and I would have heard if they had a fight."
…
"He seemed perfectly happy when he left. I doubt that's the case."
…
"No he hasn't visited in the last hour. He left at 17:30 and we haven't seen him since. Is everything ok?"
There was a long pause.
"Hey, listen to me. He's a very happy and kind boy, I doubt he holds any grudge against you. He has no reason to run away."
…
"It might be a horrible conclusion to come to but I believe it might be possible. Especially considering 6 months ago. They might hold a grudge against him."
…
"I don't know why. The best we can hope is that that's not the case and that he's just playing a prank on you. He's still got two and a half years before he's an adult so why don't you go to the police and file a missing child report?"
…
"Alright. Take care of yourself. He'll come back."
…
"Yup. Goodbye Mr.Kuroo."
She hung up the phone and turned to face her family. They couldn't hear what Kuroo's father had said, but based on her responses, they could only come to the conclusion that Kuroo went missing sometime in the last 3 and a half hours and never returned home.
She nodded, confirming their fears.
Kuroo was missing, and was either playing a really unfunny prank, kidnapped, or dead. They all hoped desperately that neither of the last two were true and lord would they pray for them not to be.
~
"We'll find him," They say. That's what they've said all week, they still hadn't found him. He hadn't come back. He was still missing.
The police were useless. They didn't actually care that a member of society was missing. If they did, they would have found him by now. But no.
Kenma was getting tired of nothing being done. His best friend, and boyfriend, was missing. He couldn't be reached through texts, the people who worked at the places he went to that night had no memory of anyone seemingly following him, and security cameras had caught nothing. Nothing but a clip of Kuroo going down an alley and never exiting. That was the only lead they had.
They inspected the alley way but found nothing useful. They found Kuroo's jacket, and signs of struggle, meaning he was kidnapped, but nothing that led to who the captor was.
Kenma spoke to the police about events from 6 months ago, and gave them physical proof that what he was saying wasn't a lie. He told them that Kuroo was the only one to say his name and that he believed that whoever kidnapped him was someone that worked for where he was rescued from and recovered the clip of Kuroo speaking his name. The police had said they'd look into it, and they did, but every officer that went to check it out ended up dying.
There was clearly something up with that place. Kenma just knew it. He was gonna take matters into his own hands. So he got in contact with the organization Kuroo worked with to help him and they agreed they would go check it out themselves, instead of leaving it up to the police.
3 people went to the building and got in successfully without setting off alarms. They were surprised to see guards there, but not as many as they had expected. They tried to find Kuroo but were almost caught and knew if they tried to take him they would end up dead and ultimately failing. They had managed to find proof though Kuroo was being held there.
While they had been looking for him, they came across a couple of guards who were talking. They had talked about how their boss's new test subject was so strong willed he had managed to avoid "the shot" for four days and refused to eat anything given to him. They also described how terrifying his height and eyes were. His pupils reminded them of a cat's.
They knew immediately, based on the description, that they had Kuroo there to try to perform experiments on him. Likely as revenge for taking their original test subjects.
All three spies had successfully made it back and now it was time for planning.
They would do the same thing they did last time. They would send a couple people in disguised as guards, which Kenma had been unaware they did last time, they would find where Kuroo was being held, find the control room, find the nearest entrance, then allow easier break in and during the commotion they will run to the control room to take hold of the alert and door systems. Once inside, the rescue team will shoot down any guards they find while following the directions they'll be given via communicator by the ones in the control room. After they get to Kuroo, they will carry him out of there and return him to where he belongs.
There was one problem in Kenma's eyes. They were gonna wait two - five days to hold the rescue mission. 2-5 days. Kuroo had already been there a week and they wanted to make him be there for almost two? Had they gone nuts?
Unfortunately, no matter his protests, they would not change the date. He would go rogue if he could, but as a single person he'd be taken down easily. He obeyed the heads of the organization and waited while they gathered all the materials they would need for this rescue mission.
Everything was in place 5 days later. They would execute the plan the following day. Again, it was protested by Kenma, and again, he was shut down.
They all tried to rest well that night but the upcoming attack made it hard to do so. But even with that, the rescue mission commenced the next day, starting at 7 hundred hours.
Everything started wrong with the imposters. They got in but there wasn't a single guard in sight. It was odd. They had managed to find Kuroo's location fast and found him unconscious on something like a hospital bed. The control room was deserted with all cameras focused on the room Kuroo was in, and the door they would use to get in was already unlocked. Something was definitely fishy.
The infiltration team informed the attack team of this, telling them to be careful. Kenma was a part of the attack team, and he had been impatiently waiting too long for this damn mission.
They entered the facility and were met with no opposition whatsoever. Those who had their guns up, lowered them, but stayed on guard incase of an ambush which they were all expecting at this point. Kenma had his electricity fired up, prepared to zap anyone that dared to keep him from rescuing his boyfriend.
Suddenly a tortured scream sounded through the halls infront of them. They followed the scream despite whatever protests the infiltration squad was trying to make. They made it to the room and burst the door down, rushing to Kuroo's side. However, they were met not by a teenager boy in pain, but an unconscious one.
He lay asleep in a large, circular white room with nowhere door opposite of the one they just came in through. Kuroo was on a surgical table in the middle of the room. Up above them, there was a glass window in the wall.
It didn't male sense. If Kuroo was unconscious, how did they hear him scream? Why were there no guards? Where was the opposition? Their questions did not go unanswered.
Without warning, a shower of bullets rained down on them. They had ceiling guns.
Kenma covered Kuroo but the firing stopped, leaving both of them unscathed. The others in the attack team? Not so much.
12 bodies littered the floor, blood spilling from each and every one of them. Their faces were paralyzed in shock, never to move again. Some of their eyes rolled back into their heads, some were gurgling, blood spilling from their mouths. They all were punctured with bullet holes. There were at least 3 in each body. Everyone had been shot in the head, heart, and stomach, everywhere else the shots were scattered. Their blood pooled everywhere, staining the white floor red and gathering at Kenma's feet.
It was a truly disgusting sight. It took everything in him not to add puke to the blood pool.
A short Beep sounded through the room.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Kenma. I see you found your little friend." A familiar voice sounded through the speakers.
Kenma knew exactly where he'd be, and looked up at the window, pulling Kuroo close to protect him.
"Or at least, you found the decoy." One final shot fired and hit Kuroo in the heart.
Kenma looked at Kuroo in disbelief but there was one thing wrong, there was no blood. There was no heart where the heart should have been.
"Wha- what?"
"That's right, dear Kenma. That was never your friend to begin with." The man Kenma knew too well stood on the other side of the glass window.
He couldn't see the man's face but he didn't have to. He knew by the white lab coat that it was the doctor who performed experiments on him everyday till 6th months ago. He hated him. He held a burning hatred for the doctor even more so now.
He felt the electricity run through his veins once again, forming around him like a barrier, sparking flickering here and there, making controlled, yet unpredictable movements.
"Where is he?! What did you do with him and the others?!" If he knew to keep him alive in the attack team, he was sure he knew about the infiltration team.
The man's laughter echoed in the room through the speakers.
"Oh, don't worry," He said. "Your infiltration team is just fine. They escaped before my men could get to them. As for your friend, he's right here."
The doctor pressed some button, and closer to the floor, on the other side of the room, part of the wall opened to reveal a window to another white room. But this one was box shaped with a man running into a wall over and over. It was Kuroo.
Upon seeing his spiky haired friend, Kenma rushed to the window, slipping and falling into the pool of blood only to get up and continue running to his friend. He reached the window, beginning to bang on it. He was leaving bloody hand prints but he didn't care.
"Kuro! Kuroo! Kuroo, look at me!"
"It's no use, the other side of the glass is a mirror and the room is soundproof. Nothing can get in but you're more than welcome to listen to his struggle as he and I converse." Suddenly, Kuroo's grunts could be heard throughout the room.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing," the doctor asked.
"What does it look like? I'm trying to get out of here. Agh! Fuck you!" The area Kuroo had been running into on purpose became covered in spikes.
Just then did Kenma notice Kuroo was covered in burn marks and forming scars. What were they doing to him? He had been there for 16 years and he only had one scar. Kuroo had several.
"You'd want to go back to those traitors? It's been almost 2 weeks and they still have come to save you. They don't care for you."
"That's not true," Kuroo and Kenma yelled in unison but Kenma stopped to listen to his friend.
"They do care. They're coming! I know they are! Kenma is coming. The police are looking."
"No they're not. Your father rejoiced when you went missing. He was so happy, he drank that night. Drank so much he died."
"No! He only drinks once a month. He already drank this month."
"I would disagree. " Suddenly on the wall in Kuroo's room a projection of a tombstone appeared.
Everything on it matched information on Kuroo's father. That picture was fake. Kenma had just talked to Kuroo's father the previous day. He was overcome with grief, but he wasn't dead. Kenma watched as Tetsurou stared at the picture. Tears forming and slipping down his face. He sat on the floor.
More pictures appeared, pictures of Kenma celebrating, kissing another person and people Kuroo held close, looking happier than ever that he was gone.
"Don't you see? None of them care."
"No…"
"They never did. Kenma never loved you."
"No no. He loves me."
"He simply used you to get over his trauma. No one cares."
"No, they all care. The pictures are photoshopped."
"They're not."
"They don't care. They're not coming. They hate me." Kuroo began to repeat himself.
He curled into a ball and began crying. The speakers must have changed to just the ones in the room Kenma was in because the next thing Kenma heard was aimed at him.
"I have to give your friend props. I originally brought him here just to torture him and then intended to leave him in the woods for the wolves, but he proved to be a vessel for something great." Watching Kuroo, Kenma noticed feathery wings of light forming around him.
"What did you do?"
"We found a way to give someone heavenly powers but it could only be carried by someone with a strong mind that was still fragile; it could break at any second. Someone who followed both emotion and logic. They also needed to be physically strong. He fit all the criteria. So when he stopped fighting the shot, however injected the proper solution and trained him vigorously till we saw if truly would get the heavenly powers or he'd die just like the others. As you can see, he lived. He's just like you Kenma, an experiment."
"NO!" Kenma started zapping the glass separating him and Kuroo. He would save his boyfriend and prove he was cared about.
By the second, the feathery wings became less light and more solid. He had to get to his friend. Eventually the shaking of the glass caught Kuroo's attention. He looked over. His whites, irises, pupils, they were all gone, replaced with a gold light. His tears weren't water, but gold. His hands and neck had gold cracks running along them. He walked to the glass and put a hand to it.
Kenma knew the doctor said the other side was a mirror but the least he could do was hope Kuroo could see him. Hear him. Anything would do. Just something that would tell Kuroo he was there.
"Kuroo! I'm right here! I haven't replaced you! I do care! We all do! We miss you! I'm gonna get you out!"
Kenma put his hand over where Kuroo's was and rested his forehead on the glass. He will get him out of here. He's going to, no matter what.
Blue electricity started once more. Maybe this time it would break if Kenma used the glass as a circuit. He aimed the electricity towards the glass to use it as a conductor bututo Kenma's dismay it didn't work. He tried again, nothing.
"Good luck with that. Glass is an insulator. It can't conduct electricity."
Kenma couldn't believe it. All his attempts, all the power he has, and it's useless? He banged the glass. Kuroo was taken aback as the glass shook.
Kenma look up noticing the movement. Kuroo knows Morse code. He knew it because of Video game what if he…
Kenma started banging the glass in a pattern he knew Kuroo would know.
Kuroo banged back.
They could communicate.
Kenma banged again. Kuroo smiled. Then again, kenma hit the glass. Kuroo stopped for a second and then replied.
"Stand back," is what he told him, and that's what Kenma did. When he did so, however, he noticed Kuroo looked a little different, a little smaller, and younger.
Kenma looked up at doctor.
"Oh, you just noticed, did you?" The doctor cackled. "As your power nips away at your energy to stand, his nips at something more… life threatening, I guess you could say. It's the reason we needed a physically well vessel. You see his power reverses time for him. He'll get younger and younger and lose his memory along with it. We know that from a vessel we thoughtnwould work."
Just then, the glass between Kuroo and Kenma shattered. The shards of glass were accompanied by Kuroo's stature getting smaller he was his size now. If being in the powered stated affected him, he wasn't surprised using any kind of the power would do more at a quicker rate.
At this time Kuroo had to be 14 or something, which meant he knew nothing of Kenma. As expected, Kuroo seemed hesitant of Kenma. He didn't know him and was older, why would he trust him. It didn't help he was covered in the other's blood. A shot rang through the speakers. Loud as ever.
Kuroo's eyes were still glowing and the tears of gold came back, likely fear of the gunshot.
Kenma looked and up to find the window to the room where the doctor was bloody. Then the speakers came on.
"Sorry to scare anyone in there. We had to kill him quickly." It was a member of the infiltration team. He recognized the voice. They were ok. "Did anyone survive?"
"I apologize, it's just you and I." He felt saddened to tell them that. One of the infiltration team members had a sister in the attack team. It hurt to inform them that their sister was now dead.
"It's fine, we expected this." There was a small muffled cry. "Did you get Kuroo?"
"Yes, but he's not himself."
"How do you know my name? I don't know you. Where's my dad?" It was little Kuroo. His emotions seemed to be in overdrive, giving strength to his power and quickening the rate of the drawback. He looked to be maybe 10 or 11, now. The clothes he wore weren't shrinking with him, making them big on him.
"We're not here to hurt you. We'll take you to your dad. He misses you very much. Ok?"
"We'll meet you down there, Kenma."
He simply nodded. Kuroo looked at him scared.
"What's my dad's name?"
A reflex to detect a kidnapper. It was something Kuroo told him was drilled into him at a young age. If anyone says they know his dad, to ask them what his dad's name was. Then if they said they knew his mother, to just walk away. He didn't need clarification if they mentioned his mother. So, to get the young version of his friend to trust him, he said his name, and Kuroo accepted his help.
As they waited for the others, Kuroo's emotions calmed down but his wings weren't going anywhere. It made Kenma worry. He was still getting younger he was 9 by the time the others got to him.
They left the building and walked to the vehicles they arrived in. They only needed 1. There were three people in the infiltration team and then there was Kenma, and Kuroo, who, at this rate, would need carried.
The infiltration team asked him what was happening and he explained what he knew. They wondered when it would stop or if it would go till it got to a point when he was a mere egg and sperm cell. They all tried to laugh at that, but laughter was hard. Instead they drove.
It took an hour to get to civilization. By then, Kuroo was less than a year old and he was fast asleep in Kenma's arms, wrapped in the clothes he had worn when he was 17. Anything about his power was gon and it had been 5 minutes since he stopped shrinking. Kenma was thankful to see the effects stopping. He wondered if he would grow with the power and then have to go through a similar process in his life. Would he be immortal? Aging, but never dying?
Their first stop was the police station, they would tell the police what happened and they would contact Kuroo's father. The police were understanding and didn't question anything further than the need to knows for the case. The bad guy was dead and Kuroo was home. They questioned the infiltration team a bit but only got what the needed to keep everyone safe. A medic that was at the police station checking on a criminal took the time to make sure Kuroo was healthy, and he was.
When Kuroo's father arrived he cried to see his child and made promises to raise him again just as well as he did before. It was a sweet sight to see.
Kenma was there to watch trying everything he could not to cry.
"I hate to make this request Mr.Kuroo, but could I still be in Kuroo's like as an uncle or something? Hes still my best friend." Kenma couldn't look at his friend's dad.
He nodded. "Of course. He talked about you almost daily, you deserve it."
"Thaank you."
And with that, that's Kenma was known as a Kuroo grew. By the time Kuroo was 2, Kenma had graduated highschool and was gathering a following on YouTube and streaming as he played video games. When Kuroo was 10, Kenma was well known and had won various gaming tournaments.
At 17, Kuroo had come to Kenma, who he knew was 16 years older than him but wasn't blood related and confessed to holding feelings for Kenma he knew were forbidden. Kenma had laughed, and found it funny that he fell for him at the same age he did 17 years ago. He declined his feelings and let him down as he was not one to date someone younger than him. Kuroo understood and their family like relationship continued.
Eventually, Kuroo found himself a woman that loved him and understood that there was a risk that what happened could happen again. She didn't care anyway.
Throughout growing up, Kuroo showed signs of the power not leaving him despite the fact he reverted back to such a tough age. It acted up whenever his emotions were heavy but they made sure that his emotions weren't heavy for long. Of course, Kuroo was informed of his condition and he understood that he had to keep his emotions at a minimum.
He managed to keep it that way till he was 35. He had a 5 year old kid with his wife at that point and they were lucky that the condition was not passed to his child. But his record was broken when his father died. He had fallen into a deep depression that had locked him in his room for days and when his wife found him, his condition had acted up and reverted him back to a child.
As Kenma feared, that became a thing for Kuroo. He would grow old but anytime someone he held close, died, he fell into depression. After his father's death, the next time anything happened was when he was 40. This time, it was Kenma who died at the age of 41. It broke Kuroo to pieces as he had been there even after he had regressed a second time.
This happened again and again. Each time with someone's death. The next time was his wife and son and it just continued to happen.
Eventually he lost the ability to grow attached to people and actually died after going through generations of loses. A broken heart actually caused his death, who would have known.
He was warmly welcomed by everyone when he joined them in the afterlife, and there, with all he cared for, he enjoyed the rest of eternity.