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Kuroo and Kenma growing up so close together meant they never felt the need to define anything that happened between them.
Their friendship evolved from one thing to another without ever discussing it first, it always just… happened.
The first example of this was the night Kenma turned 12.
After the small birthday dinner in the Kozume household, Kuroo’s dad went home alone, allowing Tetsurō to sleep over with his friend.
After watching a movie, Kenma’s mom went up to Kenma’s room to tell them to go to sleep.
She flicked the lights off and left; when Kenma slid under the covers, Kuroo joined him in the same bed.
They’d had many sleepovers before, never sleeping in the same bed; yet neither of them questioned it when Kuroo huddled closer to Kenma.
After that, it was like something was set into motion.
They’d spend more time together than friends normally did; every now and then, one of them would surprise the other with a new, unexpected gesture.
Like when Kenma was laughing one Saturday evening and Kuroo leaned forward to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear.
Kenma blushed, ever so slightly, but he kept quiet.
Or when Kuroo forgot his water bottle one day in middle school, and the sight of him drinking from Kenma’s after practice was met with weird glances from their teammates.
“What?” Kuroo asked, a bit annoyed by the stares.
“You’re drinking from the same bottle as Kozume. It’s like an indirect kiss.” One of the second years was bold enough to explain.
Kenma scoffed and Kuroo shrugged.
“What are you on about? We’re just sharing a bottle. You’re making it out to be something weird.”
“Sure, I’m the one making it weird.” The guy muttered.
They both ignored him.
They kept sharing the same bottle whenever one of them forgot to bring his own even when they moved up to high school.
The other guys in the team were weirded out at first, but soon got used to their antics.
They were unfazed even the morning during Kuroo’s third year when Kenma showed up to the club room wearing what was unmistakably Kuroo’s hoodie.
It was too large on him and the sleeves reached well past his hands. Kenma didn’t miss the knowing glance Yaku and Kai exchanged.
He turned and sighed, mentally cursing Kuro’s obliviousness.
In the following years, they kept on overstepping, constantly blurring the line between friendship and… whatever it was that they had.
So it came as a surprise to nobody when Kuroo moved into Kenma’s house. Kuroo was looking for a new apartment after graduating from college, so Kenma had offered his house as a temporary place to stay, since Kuroo had to vacate his dorm room as soon as possible.
After that, Kuroo never left. Not that Kenma wanted him to.
But once his streaming career had taken off, Kenma’s viewers were quick to take notice of the guy that always appeared during the streams, bringing Kodzuken food or nagging at him for streaming for too many hours.
“ Who's that? ” one viewer had asked the first time Kuroo made his appearance on stream.
“He’s my friend. He lives here, for the time being.” Had been Kenma’s coy reply.
So naturally, when two years had passed and the guy hadn’t moved out yet, some of Kodzuken’s longtime fans started to ask questions about it.
“ Kodzu, is that guy your boyfriend? ”
“ Are you and your roommate dating? ”
“ Why hasn't he moved out yet? ”
“ Kodzuken, your roommate is totally in love with you! ”
“ Isn't that the JVA representative? I swear I saw him on TV. ”
“ How do you two know each other? ”
“ How long have you been together for? ”
Kenma always ignored those questions. It was none of their business, after all.
It took eight more months of living with Kenma; eight more months of cooking warm meals to make sure he ate during his streaming nights; eight months of spending their free nights on the sofa, Kenma’s head in Kuroo’s lap while they watched a movie; eight months of sleeping in the same bed, sharing their body warmth every night; only then did Kuroo start to suspect whatever was going on between them wasn’t, and had never been, quite normal.
And that left him more confused than ever.
So naturally, he phoned Yaku.
“What do you want?” Was Yaku’s way of greeting him after picking up.
“Wow. Rude.” He replied. “Yakkun, can I ask you something?”
He heard Yaku sigh from the other end of the line. “Yeah. Shoot.”
“Do you think I’m in love with Kenma?”
A few moments of silence passed. “I don’t know, do you?”
“I… I think I am.”
Another sigh. “Kuroo, listen. I can’t tell you how you feel about Kenma, but have you ever considered the way you two act around each other isn’t normal for any of us? I know you’ve always seen it as nothing out of the ordinary, but let me ask you this. Would you have let me wear your clothes, back in high school?”
“Um, no.”
“Why?” Yaku pushed.
“Cause you weren’t spending every other day at my house like he was.”
“Okay. Then, would you have drank from my water bottle back then?”
“Ew.”
“But it’s just water. That’s what you used to say. Why drink from Kenma’s but not mine or one of the others’?”
“Because… Because he’s Kenma.” a stunned silence followed.
“…Kuroo? Are you still there?” Yaku asked after a while.
“…Yeah.”
“This is Kenma we’re talking about. Whatever happens, you’re gonna be alright. If you haven’t realized this by now, you’re an idiot.”
“Thanks, Yakkun!” It wasn’t everyday that Kuroo thanked someone for calling him an idiot. “I owe you one.”
“Yeah, whatever. Good luck.” Yaku replied right before Kuroo hung up.
That evening, they were sitting on the couch, Kenma leaning on Kuroo’s body. It was only a matter of time before he’d move to a lying position, resting his head in his lap like countless other nights before.
Kuroo wanted to act before then.
After dwelling on it for half the movie, he figured being bold and direct was the best course of action with Kenma.
“Kenma.” He called out. Kenma averted his gaze from the screen and looked at him, waiting.
“Can I kiss you?”
Kenma simply leaned up towards him and closed the distance between them.
When they separated, Kuroo opened his eyes to the sight of Kenma’s sly grin.
“Took you long enough.” he simply commented.
Kuroo wasn’t surprised. After all, Kenma had always been more observant and cunning than he was, so him knowing about Kuroo’s long before Kuroo even realized was to be expected.
“Yeah. I know.” and with those apologetic words, he leaned back towards Kenma.
—————
A couple months later, Kuroo gathered enough courage to show up again during one of Kenma’s streams. He had been actively avoiding appearing alongside Kenma now that they were dating, afraid about the viewers figuring out they were together.
Little did he know the viewers had him figured out long before he even realized his own feelings.
As he got closer to the desk and placed a bowl of warm soup for Kenma to eat, he stopped to have a look at the comments flooding the chat.
“ He's back! ”
“ So they still live together. ”
“ Why did he disappear? ”
“ Kodzuken, your friend is so in love with you it hurts! ”
He turned to Kenma, who glanced at that latest comment, before smiling at the camera.
“Yeah. He is.”