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Shouyou’s breath comes out in little clouds as he waits outside the house. He readjusts his bag on his shoulder, wiggles his fingers for warmth.
The front door opens to Kenma’s smile. “Hi, Shouyou.”
“Kenma!”
Shouyou grins his way inside, Kenma stepping back to let him in.
“Kuro’s not back yet. He got snowed in and bumped to a flight tomorrow.”
“Oh! That’s a shame, I hope he’s not stranded in the cold or anything.” Shouyou stores his suitcase and bag to the side and starts peeling himself out of his layers.
Kenma snorts. “Probably immediately charmed his way into a room at the best airport hotel. JVA’s paying anyway.” He scratches the fluffy black cat in his arms before turning and leading Shouyou down the hall.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving!”
“Pick something to order. I, uh, have a couple more hours of work to do.” Kenma looks a little guilty as he shows Shouyou into the living room, releasing the squirming cat from his grip.
“Okay! No rest for you, huh?”
“Mm, people love their holiday content.” Kenma takes his hair down to redo his bun. “What better way to avoid relatives than hole up in your old bedroom and watch gaming videos,” he says, fishing around in his hoodie pocket to produce a hairpin. Shouyou snickers.
“Make yourself at home and all that,” Kenma smiles, gesturing vaguely around the room, as if Shouyou wasn’t already fully intending on faceplanting onto the couch. It looks newer than the one Shouyou remembers being here, dark and plush and facing an absolutely massive TV. The cat has chosen to make itself comfortable on the back of the cushions.
“How long will you be? Can I watch?”
“Hm, it’s just boring company stuff. I’ll try to be quick. Bathroom stuff’s all in the cabinet in the hall. Guest room’s ready for you.”
“Cool!” Shouyou chirps. He doesn’t remember Kenma having a spare room, thinking he would be taking the couch. But admittedly, it’s been a while since he was here last.
“Come get me if you need anything,” Kenma says over his shoulder, heading down the hall. He pauses while opening the door to his office. “And, Shouyou? Welcome back.”
Shouyou grins, gives him a double thumbs up, and dives onto the couch. He swears he can feel the fluffy cat’s judgmental stare.
--
He doesn’t know how much time has passed when he’s being shaken awake.
“Shouyou. Did you want to eat?”
“Hmmrph?” His arms feel like lead. He scrubs at his eyes with his sleeve. It’s dark outside. “I fell asleep?”
Kenma drops the hand that was shaking Shouyou by the shoulder and moves to pet the cat, which is now curled up at the other end of the couch. “Guess it was a pretty long trip, hm?”
Shouyou sits up, cautiously reaching his hand out towards the cat. It looks fluffy and soft and warm all over as it gives his fingers an experimental sniff. “Yeah, it doesn’t really get any easier, no matter how many times I do it.”
They both pet the cat for a few moments. Its fur really is very soft.
“What’s its name?”
“Koubou.”
“Like Abe Koubou?”
Kenma huffs. “I picked the cat, Kuro picked the name. Book nerd.”
Shouyou smiles and stretches before taking a deep breath and startling both Kenma and Koubou with an enthusiastic chant of “Food, food, food!”
--
They go back and forth on what to order until Kenma insists on somewhere he swears has the best desserts.
“Trust me, their apple pie is like no other,” he says, eyes flicking up and down his phone screen as he scrolls through the menu.
“Oh my god! You weren’t lying!” Shouyou says happily around a mouthful of dessert an hour later.
Kenma smiles and scratches behind Koubou’s ears.
--
“So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?” Shouyou asks as they take their dishes into the kitchen. It’s a nice, open space that’s directly connected to the living room. Shouyou can easily picture Kenma and Kuroo lounging against the counter, watching Koubou play with a toy up on one of his dedicated “kitty shelves”, as Kenma called them.
“Mm, I have a stream from two to five, Kuro should be getting in at some point in the afternoon.”
“So that leaves the morning—” Kenma’s eyes narrow at the word, “—and the evening for hanging out!”
“Yeah. I thought we could all watch a Jackals game and look at their plays together and, like, think about how you’d fit in. Unless you’re sick of researching them already.”
Shouyou gasps, straightening up from loading a plate into the dishwasher and putting a hand to his chest. “Kenma! As if I could ever be! I would totally love your advice!”
Kenma lets out a little almost-laugh. “Want to get your ass handed to you in Mario Kart before you crash for the night?”
Shouyou is back on the couch with a controller in his hands in a flash.
--
He’s up early despite—or because of?—the jetlag. The door to Kenma’s bedroom is closed, so he tries to be quiet as he goes about showering and letting himself out of the house for a morning run.
He explores the neighborhood at a comfortable pace, reveling in how at home he feels among the narrow streets and blocks of houses and their stone walls. The air is crisp and cold, and the morning sun slants off roof tiles, making icy power lines sparkle.
He stops at a vending machine for a warm drink. The machine spits out his change with a series of clatters and clinks and he turns over the coins in his hands a few times, getting reacquainted with their shape and feel. Has the one yen coin always been this ridiculously light?
There’s not all that much difference between learning to see somewhere as home and remembering somewhere that’s still home, Shouyou thinks.
--
He gets back to a very groggy-looking Kenma sitting at the dining table with a giant mug of coffee and scrolling on his phone.
“Hey,” he croaks, looking up.
“Morning, Kenma!” Shouyou says, maybe a little too loudly for his friend. He can’t help it; he feels a buzz from his run and from seeing the signs of being back home in the daylight. He feels it right down to his fingertips.
Kenma seems to pick up on as much and points towards the kitchen. “There’s coffee.”
“Actually, I have some really nice mate buried somewhere in my stuff, mind if I make that?”
Kenma smiles. “Leave some out for Kuro if you can, he’ll be excited to try it.”
Shouyou retreats to the guest room and, sure enough, finds the little box of mate squished under a half-eaten bag of nut mix and some socks at the bottom of his backpack.
“What about breakfast?” he asks once he’s behind the kitchen counter, waiting for the kettle to boil.
Kenma gives him a look that says what about it, and sighs. “I guess I should offer you some. As a host and stuff.”
Shouyou shakes his head, “Nah, I’ve got it!”, and goes to check what’s in the fridge. A forlorn collection of dubiously aged ingredients looks back at him.
“Kenma, we need to go shopping! You don’t have any food!” he cries, turning to see Kenma with his head resting on his drawn-up knees.
“Kuro’s in charge of shopping,” he grunts into his pajamas.
“Then it’s up to us to make sure he doesn’t have to when he gets back home later! Come on, come on, come on, come on.”
Shouyou ends up shepherding Kenma up from the table, into his bedroom to grab clothes, into the bathroom and, finally, miraculously, out the door.
--
By the time they get back, Kenma’s nearly reached a state Shouyou would call “actually awake”.
“If you want to buy Koubou’s love,” Kenma says, holding out the bag of treats they picked up. “I’ll put all this away.”
Shouyou finds Koubou stretched out in a patch of sunlight by the patio doors. He goes from sleepy to fully alert in the blink of an eye once Shouyou gives the little bag an enticing shake.
--
Shouyou ends up making an omelet for them, Kenma flinging scraps of ham to Koubou from his perch on the counter and terming it “helping”.
“What’s the stream today?” Shouyou asks through a mouthful of egg.
“Wrapping up a playthrough and giving my initial review.”
“Cool! Show that boss who’s boss!”
Kenma grins. “You know it.”
--
Once Kenma has shut himself into his office, various snacks and beverages in hand (“You have to stay hydrated, Kenma!” “You sound like Kuro.”), Shouyou decides to tidy up some of his things. He’s mature enough to admit to himself that he maybe didn’t do the most efficient job at packing, resulting in every surface of the guest room looking decidedly too busy after just one day.
It’s when he’s fumbling under the bed for an errant sock that he remembers yesterday’s brief confusion about the rooms. Last time he was here, before he left Japan, he didn’t stay in this one. Was it an office before? A spare “let’s shove all our surplus things in here” room? Maybe it was reserved for all the cat stuff that has now been set up around the house? He wouldn’t put it past Kenma to have a dedicated Cat Room.
Shouyou ends up wandering down the hall, sock forgotten, peeking through open doors. Kenma and Kuroo have really made the house feel cozy, a little bubble to come home to and forget about the outside world. Probably more Kuroo, less Kenma, he thinks, standing in front of a series of photos and prints decorating the wall of what must be mainly Kuroo’s office.
One of Kenma at his graduation, his gaze into the camera steady and sure.
One of Kuroo and Bokuto at a dimly lit bar, wearing matching smirks and cocktail umbrellas in their hair.
One of Kenma and Kuroo sat at their kotatsu with what looks to be the rest of the former Nekoma team, Lev off to the side and trapped in a headlock by Yaku.
One of Kenma sat at a desk, face expressionless, flashing a peace sign and holding up paperwork with the Bouncing Ball logo.
A selfie of Kenma and Kuroo on the couch, Koubou stretched out long across both of their laps, Kuroo’s arm wrapped around Kenma, Kenma’s head resting on Kuroo’s shoulder.
There are so many memories here, and Shouyou’s heart warms at them. Sometimes he gets so wrapped up in his own obsessions that it’s easy to lose sight of how far his friends have all come, too.
The distinct click of the front door jolts Shouyou out of his reverie and he quickly leaves the room—the door was open and he didn’t touch anything, but he still doesn’t want his hosts to think he’s intruding.
Kuroo is bent over, taking off his shoes, when Shouyou reaches the genkan.
“Kuroo-san! Aww, it’s so good to see you!”
Kuroo’s mop of hair, looking only slightly more tamed than it did a few years ago, lifts up to reveal a huge grin on his face.
“Hey, Shrimpo! Long time no see,” he says, straightening back up.
“I’m not even that small anymore!”
“Still tiny to me,” Kuroo says, reaching out and catching Shouyou in a half-hug. He laughs and pats Kuroo on the shoulder.
“Kenma’s mid-stream, I’m guessing?” Kuroo asks while carting his bags down the hall. Shouyou makes to take one off him and is casually waved off.
“Yeah, until five, he said.”
“Mm. I need a shower and the biggest nap in the history of business travel,” Kuroo starts, but then his eyes light up when Koubou sticks his nose out of the guest room.
“My son!” Kuroo exclaims, setting down his bags to lift the cat up and shower his little head with kisses. Koubou doesn’t seem to mind being gently cradled and cooed at, and starts purring loudly.
“Have you got everything you need, Hinata? Please feel absolutely at home, I promise I’ll be a better host once I’ve conked out for a while,” Kuroo says.
Shouyou assures him he’s perfectly content and watches with a smile as Kuroo sets Koubou back down to take his things into the bedroom.
Aha, Shouyou thinks. The bedroom. Not Kenma’s bedroom or Kuroo’s bedroom. Just the. That’s what it was.
He turns back towards the living room, but doesn’t miss Kuroo coming back out and quietly cracking open the door to Kenma’s office, sticking his arm in to wave. He’s sure he hears a low chuckle float out from inside.
--
Shouyou is comfortable on the couch, leafing through an issue of Volleyball Monthly that promises “an exclusive interview with Bouncing Ball founder and CEO Kozume Kenma” inside (he’s seen the online version, but there’s a big difference between scrolling through a link someone sent on your phone and carefully turning the glossy pages of a real-life printed magazine) when Kuroo gets up from his nap at a little before five.
“Hi!” he says, setting the magazine aside.
“Hey again,” Kuroo yawns, moving into the kitchen. “All comfy over there?”
“Very,” Shouyou promises.
Kuroo pulls various things from cupboards before he pauses, spotting the little bundle of tea bags on the counter.
“That’s mate,” Shouyou supplies, “Kenma said you’d want to try it.”
Kuroo smiles and continues to spoon coffee into the machine. “That’s really thoughtful, thanks. You should see my tea collection. I’ll start with coffee for now, though, want any?”
“No, thank you! It’ll just make me all jittery and blegh.”
“Fair enough. Kenma will be wanting some in a few minutes.”
“Is it a post-stream thing?” Shouyou asks, hopping up from the couch.
Kuroo looks up from filling the water tank, considering. “Nah, I just think he’ll want some today.”
“You just know that?”
Kuroo smiles. “Yeah. And it’s more worth it to make a pot, so I might as well have some too.”
“You’re telepathic! That’s so cool!” Shouyou says. He spots Koubou jumping up his kitty shelves and goes over to get his attention. Kuroo chuckles.
The coffee machine gurgles to life and bubbles away happily for the next few minutes. Shouyou is in the middle of trying not to be scratched too badly by Koubou when both the cat’s and Kuroo’s heads shoot up in attention—Kenma has just come out of his office.
Shouyou watches as he pads the short way down the hall into the kitchen and is instantly swept up in a tight hug by Kuroo. Their ensuing conversation is slightly muffled.
“Flight okay?” Kenma asks into Kuroo’s shoulder.
“Yeah, lots of antsy people. Maybe they all had super hot Christmas dates to get to.”
A huff of laughter from Kenma. “Or maybe they’re really behind on cleaning and are just dying to scrub grout in the bathroom.”
Kuroo snorts into Kenma’s hair. A short pause. “Stream okay?”
“Mm, finished the playthrough on schedule.”
“Nice.” Kuroo sways them ever so slightly. “Coffee’s ready, but you’ll have to go milkless unless you want whatever sentient culture is bound to be haunting the fridge at this point.”
“We picked some up earlier.”
“Should’ve known Shrimpy would be able to drag you out of the house.” Kuroo presses a kiss to Kenma’s cheek.
Kenma tightens his arms around Kuroo’s neck before letting go, lowering back down from his tiptoes.
Shouyou doesn’t know if he feels like he’s invading or if this is possibly the sweetest thing he’s ever seen, even sweeter than that one time Natsu asked to braid Kageyama’s hair. He decides on a little bit of both and feels warm and buzzy and happy again.
--
Kenma’s gone back into his office to finish uploading files or something of the sort, so Shouyou’s attention is back on the magazine. Kuroo, having just loaded up his coffee with a shocking amount of sugar and no milk, comes over to sit down.
“Ah, the ‘world-famous Kodzuken interview’ issue?”
“Yeah! I hadn’t seen it like this yet, it’s so fancy and cool.”
“You should’ve heard him when he got home after that. Complained all day long about having to wait for them to set up their lighting so they could take ‘unnecessarily fancy pics’.”
Shouyou laughs and reads a few more lines. He doesn’t actually remember the interview itself—he probably tried to read it on the beach and forgot half of it and couldn’t read the other half from the glare.
Whoever wrote the piece has gone to great pains to describe Kenma’s outward appearance and the way he holds himself. Shouyou’s eyes catch on phrases like out of place?, the shy gamer-turned-CEO, and retreating in on himself at the question. “That’s silly,” he says.
“Hm?”
“All this stuff about how shy and awkward he is. I don’t think he’s shy.”
Kuroo looks up from his phone, his expression soft.
“He’s just…” Shouyou waves his free hand through the air, trying to distil the essence of an entire person into a few words. “He’s just quiet.”
Kuroo’s face breaks into a wide smile. “Yeah. They’re talking out of their asses. I get kind of jealous of how confident he is sometimes, to be honest.”
Shouyou laughs again, and then figures he’s safe to make a small admission. “I, um, saw all the photos in your office earlier, I hope you don’t mind I went in there.”
“I trust you to not suddenly produce a paper shredder and destroy all my documents, so no, of course I don’t mind.”
Shouyou grins. “He’s done so much. I mean, you both have, but wow.”
Kuroo’s gaze wanders down to the magazine, open in Shouyou’s lap. “Yeah.”
“I mean, um, obviously I don’t have to tell you that, but also, I’ll be the first person to sing his praises with everything he’s done for me.”
Kuroo’s quiet for a while before he says, “You know, you’re kind of the first friend he made on his own. Without me pestering him.”
“Really?”
“Mm. I was over the moon when he met you. Who knew he’d hit it off with a hyperactive pipsqueak with a volleyball for a brain.”
“Hey!” Shouyou nudges his elbow at a smirking Kuroo.
“You’re right, though. He’s always been amazing, but now everyone sees it,” Kuroo says, face soft again.
“I’m really glad you guys let me stop by,” Shouyou says. “It makes the trip a lot easier to have a few days to rest before I head up to Miyagi. But also, um, I’m happy to be here and see how…”
He falters a little and peeks over at Kuroo. “Um, I’m just really, really, really happy for you. Both of you.”
Kuroo’s answering smile, while far from the first one he’s given today, is what Shouyou thinks love looks like.
--
When Kenma comes back, Kuroo and Shouyou have found a recording of a Jackals game from the previous season and are, in Kuroo’s words, “absolutely ready to listen to Kenma analyze the shit out of it like the goddamn genius he is”. Kenma’s cheeks go pink as he sits down.
--
Shouyou doesn’t last long after they finish watching, his head full of ideas and strategies and potential plays, and excuses himself to bed right after dinner (made by Kuroo, who praises them both—but mainly Kenma—for having done the shopping).
It’s not really a surprise when he wakes up again just before midnight. The covers are kicked off of him and bunched up at the foot of the bed. It’s either the slight chill or his bladder that woke him up; either way, he’s awake now.
He lets himself out of the guest room, trying not to make any noise, to head down the hall towards the bathroom, and hears a voice coming from the living room. Well, no need to be too quiet, then.
“Come on,” it sounds like Kuroo is saying. “Sleepy time. Bed.”
Shouyou hears a soft harrumph.
“Come on, otherwise I’ll carry you to bed.”
There’s a rustle of fabric. “You wouldn’t dare,” comes Kenma’s low voice.
“Try me.” Shouyou can hear the grin in Kuroo’s voice.
There’s silence for a beat, then a loud squawk, followed by a muffled “Mmph”, followed by an “EW, KURO”.
Kuroo’s loud laugh rings out down the hall. “Your own fault for—GAH!”
“You lick the hand, you volunteer as the towel.”
Shouyou snickers to himself as he closes the bathroom door to the sound of two voices laughing.
This is, without a doubt, a beautiful home.