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Love is a funny thing. Even if Kenma himself is in love (with the best person he, his parents and Kuroo could ever dream), it’s hard to fully comprehend this complex feeling. When he thinks he finally understood, Shouyou ends up doing something, usually unconsciously, and makes Kenma fall in love with him all over again as if it was the first time. How is that possible?
He probably fell in love at first sight, but didn’t really realize until later, during their game in nationals back during his second year. The way his heart skipped a beat when Shouyou flew couldn’t be ignored even if he was in the middle of an important game.
But they didn’t start dating until he was already a third year, too many things happening in their lives and no time to visit each other until a practice game was marked and they couldn’t push aside those feelings. Shouyou was actually the one to confess, pulling Kenma to a more empty corner of Karasuno’s school court while everyone else talked between each other after so many sets and before cleaning started.
Shouyou was so nervous and looked so cute rambling forever about his feelings and how it’s ok if Kenma couldn’t answer him or just reject him in that moment, and in a moment of impulse it kind of shocked him for a brief moment, Kenma just kissed him to shut him up.
“I like you too.” he said with a tiny soft smile, highly amused and even more happy with the situation.
Those who looked at them at that moment were just shocked speechless, staring with their mouths open and widened eyes, making the others confused.
“Really?” Shouyou asked in a too loud voice, eyes shining brightly and cheeks getting redder.
“Hm.” Kenma nodded.
Shouyou made a funny noise, trembling for a moment before grabbing Kenma’s hands, looking extremely happy.
“Are we boyfriends now?” his voice was softer, his brightness dimmed a little.
“I hope so.” Kenma chuckled, “Is it ok for you to date someone from far away…?”
“I can do it!” Shouyou puffed his chest before looking a bit embarrassed, scratching the back of his head with a small smile “I’m going to try, at least.”
Kenma nodded again, “We still have the training camps, and I can probably come over more often after graduation.”
Shouyou looked at him with intensity, before smiling even more brightly than before “Yes!”
And only hours later, when he was on the shinkansen playing a casual offline game beside a sleeping Tora, he realized what made Shouyou look like that. Kenma just casually and unconsciously made a promise to be with him, as a couple, in the following year.
Feeling embarrassed and probably blushing, he let go of his console to cover his face with a soft whine.
Years later, now both in their twenties, they’re still very much a couple and very happy to be living together after two years apart in different countries.
Kenma even streamed Shouyou’s welcome home game, not really in the mood to take the train to Sendai that day, and made some of his viewers want to follow the volleyball season, which was the point of doing the stream - make everyone like his boyfriend.
Now that Shouyou is being acknowledged by the japanese public and getting popular by each MSBY Black Jackals games, Kenma started to formulate a complex three step plan to not only do a boyfriend reveal on his channel, but also to change their relationship status to something more flashy like fiancé or husband.
Kenma feels so smug thinking about putting a ring on Shouyou’s finger.
It’s been a few years since he came out publicly on a Q&A video he uploaded as he visited Shouyou in Brazil a couple of months before he came back to Japan. It was the usual questions about him having a girlfriend, or to talk about past girlfriends, and etc, and he just straight up looked into the camera and said he had a boyfriend since highschool with no more context than that.
His fans and casual viewers were in uproar for a week, many “leaving” him or sending him petty to horrible messages that were each dealt with by his team accordingly, until he streamed again (in Shouyou’s bedroom during the morning as his boyfriend went out to go on with his routine) and answered a few questions while playing an RPG game.
“Yes, what I said in the video is true. I’m actually in his room right now.” Kenma smirked, looking at his chat going hundreds of comments a minute and barely readable “He lives overseas, actually, so I’m visiting him. That’s why we didn’t have a stream last time.”
Another hundreds of comments.
“No, I’m not going to tell you where.” Kenma chuckled “But it’s very far. I had to change planes three times.”
People commented in shock how exhausting that sounded.
“Yeah the jet leg is no joke, I passed out for a whole day when I arrived.” he paused to pay attention to his game for a moment before going back to read the comments “I’m staying here for three weeks, but he’s coming back to Japan soon.”
And then a chant of “boyfriend reveal” was spammed in the comments.
“No boyfriend reveal videos in the future.” Kenma shrugged “Maybe one day, but it’s not on our plans yet. He wants to do things back home that are not so friendly to same-sex relationships so it’s better to keep things under the rug.”
The disappointment and sadness from his chat could be felt through the screen.
“Maybe you’ll meet him in a “we got married!” video in ten years.” Kenma chuckled.
That ended up being an inside joke between him and his viewers that was constantly used against him or his chat, and there wasn’t a Q&A video without a question about it.
And so, after overcoming the first step, Kenma had to wait for the second one.
He had promised himself that when they call Shouyou to play in the Olympics, regardless if he was a starting player or not, he would definitely not only do a boyfriend reveal, but also propose to him. From that he started to plan the perfect way to do it as it shouldn’t be at the same time or the same video, he had to ease both Shouyou and his viewers into it.
It’s not like he wanted people to accept them, Kenma really didn’t give a shit, but he wanted to make everyone’s life a little easier, especially Shouyou’s.
Shouyou is, after all, a public figure from the athletic side, a place known for its toxic traits in many ways, and really not welcoming to people like them. They wouldn’t lose too much money coming out as a couple, and, probably, not many opportunities as Kenma was already out and Shouyou was thinking about going back to Brazil in the future. Kenma was, and is still going to be, Shouyou’s main sponsor.
(although that video from an old game between two brazilian teams where the crowd yelled a homophobic slur to one of the visiting team’s player was engraved in their memories, something Heitor told them when Shouyou was asking about LGBT players in the country and they decided to search and watch. Kenma cried with pure hate after his boyfriend gave up halfway to get a bit of air)
(he wanted to protect Shouyou from this, but it was impossible, he can’t control a crowd. At the very least, he could pay a real good lawyer to take care of this for him in the most brutal way possible)
And, luckily, he didn’t have to wait for too long. It seemed like Kenma only blinked and Shouyou went from the black and gold jersey from his team to the red one of their national team. And that was the kick off of his second step, a plan already formed long before in his head and already in motion as Shouyou jumped to spike the ball and get another point to Japan.
Kenma had talked in lengths with both Shouyou’s soon-to-be former team and the his next one about what he wanted to do, his boyfriend sitting with him in most of these meetings, never backing down no matter how many time the executives tried to make them give up on this “stupid” plan that would probably ruin the young man’s sport career.
They were both stubborn, though.
KODZUKEN @kodzuken 40 seconds ago
The video everyone’s been waiting for is here! kodzuken’s boyfriend reveal video!
Thank you everyone who’s been so supportive since I came out. I'm glad to give you this present, although it is late. But because I know this is going to get reactions, me and my boyfriend will go on hiatus for a while, so I’ll see you guys when I see you.
https://youtu.be/xxxxxxxxxx
A year after the Olympics and a few weeks after the Nations League, during a sunny summer day, a new video was uploaded in kodzuken’s YouTube channel. It wasn’t a vlog like everyone expected, nor was he streaming. It was an animation about his love story, since they first met until that moment, with Kenma’s voice narrating and Shouyou not showing his face until the end.
If you knew about Shouyou’s volleyball career you would catch who it was from the middle of the 10:05 minutes video, but even so, at the end, they put pictures of when they were teenagers, young adults and one from the Olympics. Shouyou all sweaty in his red jersey kissing a laughing Kenma’s cheek somewhere inside the arena where the athletes and people with credentials could walk through.
They made news with that.
As their friends shared pictures and videos and showed a united front in support of the couple - most of them known volleyball players - the news channels and journalists were scrambling around to make their own report, having to pick their jaws from the floor.
The general public was also shocked, and the opinions were divided between acceptance and the opposite. On the other hand, Kenma’s viewers were a crying mess, all sincerely wishing good things to them, glad that this moment finally arrived after so many years of jokes.
Bouncing Ball’s stocks took a dive for a while before steadily going up again, getting even higher numbers than before. Kenma’s channel also welcomed new members and both of their social media accounts got good numbers of new followers, a great diversity of locals and foreigners.
Discussions online went on and on, a never ending fight.
All of these happened quite fast, more so than they expected, probably because almost all current V League players were supportive (and they all loved Shouyou). The results were better than they thought it would be, but within Kenma’s own personal expectation.
This was all timed in the time they should’ve been getting ready to move to Brazil together so they weren't much online unless it was to talk to someone, and kept away from their social media. That way they could be sane and safe from the shitshow going on. Kenma’s team did compile some good and supportive comments to give them through their boss’s email.
Their first official public appearance, not counting the airport pics going around, was a vlog Kenma uploaded on his channel with the title “We moved to Brazil!”.
“As is probably common knowledge,” Kenma said to the camera while his boyfriend slept on the airplane seat beside him in executive class “Shouyou decided to sign with a Brazilian team and no longer plays for the Jackals. That has nothing to do with our last video, I know you guys were probably worried. Because Shouyou decided to come back to Brazil, I talked to him about coming out as a couple and we talked with both team’s PR people, it wasn’t an impulse. Also, thank you everyone for the messages, Shouyou was really happy when he read. We kept off from social media these past month but we received some screenshots and lovely compilations. We’re really glad.” Kenma smiled softly before the scene was cut off to them arriving somewhere and getting on another plane.
This time, it was Shouyou looking at the camera as Kenma slept.
“I have no idea what time is right now, but we’re flying through the Atlantic Ocean. As you can see, Kenma is sleeping.” he turned the camera to focus on his sleeping boyfriend half buried on a blanket “I’m feeling really excited to come back to Brazil and to play with new people. It’s been on my plans for a while now. Am I going to miss Black Jackals? Of course, but with the power of the internet I can shorten the distance for a while.” he chuckled softly “I’m glad I can see my friends from Rio again, also. Hopefully, Kenma will like it there too.” Shouyou looked at the sleeping form of Kenma with the softest expression, before the scene was cut.
That was the second most popular video currently on kodzuken YouTube channel, losing only to the boyfriend reveal video.
The sports commentators talked about the videos almost constantly when the season started in October, and they were always followed around when out together, people wanting to take pictures of and with them. Some even thanked them.
Kenma never felt so welcomed in his life.
Shouyou’s new colleagues were either supportive or indifferent, very few people were rude within the staff, but there were some. Other team’s fans were the worst, though, with their homophobic “jokes” or straight out slur and curses, although they weren’t the majority. Kenma worked with the team’s lawyer squad to get some punishments going, but it was slow and sometimes not worth it.
They were invited to talk shows, but declined politely. A sunday night show asked if they could do a special about them and they reluctantly said yes.
Kenma streamed both Shouyou’s first game and the TV special with amusement. The comments were pretty entertaining, they were turning into Shouyou enjoyers, making their own little stickers to use when he was mentioned or appeared. Kenma always laughed when they used the frog with sunglasses when Shouyou smiled brightly.
“The sun is here!” was the chat's favorite chant when Shouyou was part of the stream, which happened sparsely.
It was also the title of his latest video, another Q&A, the first with both of them together, a special thing for Christmas.
“Do you get along with each other’s family? Did you have any hardships?” Kenma read out loud and then looked to Shouyou beside him “Shouyou’s family was pretty accepting since the beginning. His sister was the happiest, I think? Such a cute kid, looked like a mini version of Shouyou.” he chuckled.
“And she’s an awesome player too!” Shouyou said proudly “I talked to my mom first, because I was confused for a while about my feelings. She didn’t look very happy at first, but came around later and then I told everyone else and then I confessed to you.” a soft blush bloomed on his cheeks “My sister asked a ton of questions, it was so embarrassing…”
Kenma laughed, eyes closing.
“Kenma’s parents were a tough nut to crack, though. I think they were the biggest hardship we ever went through.” Shouyou looked at his boyfriend with a hum.
“I didn’t come out to him until graduation.” Kenma nodded “I was afraid of their reactions and I thought it would be better to do it after I left home. They were shocked, of course, and asked me some prejudiced things and said some other things that made us fight. I didn’t talk to them for a while, but they came around, got to know Shouyou before he went to Rio…”
“Your father is pretty cool.” Shouyou said, smiling softly.
Embarrassed, Kenma looked down at his phone to read another question “How did you deal with a long distance relationship?”
“Our relationship began as a long distance one.” Shouyou laughed, “I lived in Miyagi and you in the Tokyo area.”
“Hm.” Kenma nodded “I honestly thought two years wouldn’t be much, when Shouyou said he was coming to Brazil, but it actually felt like a really short time.”
“It really did.” Shouyou nodded back.
“Are you both going to get married? Yes.” Kenma read.
“Yes.” Shouyou said at the same time, before turning to look at his boyfriend with shock.
“Why are you so surprised?” Kenma asked, almost offended.
“I always thought you'd say no.”
“Why would I?”
Shouyou fidget a little “You’re always so logical, you know? We can’t legally get married in Japan, and they have this partnership kind of thing that is like marriage but isn’t, so I always thought you’d say no because of that!”
“Oh.” Kenma was now the one surprised.
“Yeah.”
They looked at each other for a moment before letting out a snort in unison.
“But we can legally marry here.” Kenma said, grabbing Shouyou’s hand and kissing his ring finger.
“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be acknowledged by the Japanese government.” Shouyou sighed.
“We can always move here after retiring.” Kenma shrugged.
Shouyou laughed loudly “We can, we can.”
Half of the comments under this video were crying emojis, for Kenma’s amusement.
They didn’t appear together in a video for a long while as Shouyou was busy with the end of the volleyball season, but when the finals arrived, Kenma made sure to have a free night to be there in person instead of streaming or vlogging. He wanted the full experience of seeing Shouyou fly, it was something he never got tired of watching. His heart was always skipping one or two or three beats every time it happened, like the fucking simp he is.
Nevermind the endless screams around him in the packed arena, all of him was solely focused on Shouyou. And of course the media and the fans lashed on it with both greed and appreciation, if not with envy.
Oh, how much he loves this man.
And when Asas got the match point an eternity later, Shouyou ran to where he was in the stands and jumped on the railing to grab him by his Hinata jersey and kiss him - a loud, messy peck - before going back to his team, smiling as brightly as the sun. Kenma could only laugh softly, clapping not loud enough to be heard above the screams (and goddamn how brazilians are loud).
Later, Kenma was invited to go down on the court, congratulating everyone around either verbally or with a slap somewhere around the arm and the shoulder. They were all so happy, speaking loudly, and there were so many cameras around it was kind of suffocating. And without realizing, Kenma was led to where Shouyou was doing an interview for a big sports channel, speaking Portuguese fluently and looking gorgeous even if he had sweat running down his face.
Kenma wanted to wait for the interview to end, but as soon as Shouyou saw him nearby, he ditched the journalist and jogged up to him, grabbing him by the waist and spinning around.
“I love you so much.” Kenma mumbled against Shouyou’s ear, kissing his cheek multiple times “So, so much.”
Shouyou laughed and got him back on the ground but never let him go. Nothing else existed at that moment beside them. Kenma held Shouyou’s face between his hands, caressing the warm skin softly before kissing him on the mouth. Like this, their slight height difference was clear, as Shouyou looked up to Kenma with the eyes of a man deeply in love.
“Congratulations. You deserve this, Shouyou.” Kenma said, before kissing him again “This and everything else. Everything you want.”
He was so deeply in love with this man.
“I love you so much.” Shouyou said, voice trembling, but he wasn’t crying “Thank you so much.”
Someone tapped Shouyou’s shoulder and they broke apart, still smiling. One of Shouyou’s teammates smiled at Kenma and they shook hands, before he pushed Shouyou to where the award ceremony was going to start.
On the videos and pictures that circulated later that night and the next day, Kenma looked so in love and so proud of Shouyou. They ended up trending worldwide with the video of them kissing and talking to each other on the court, even appearing on the Japanese sports news for a moment.
Their lives continued to be busy even after ending the season, with the Nations League kicking off soon after and Kuroo’s dream team game happening back in Japan.
A trip to Rio de Janeiro was on their plans, traveling to see Shouyou’s friends and to receive some guests from Japan, too. Kenma made a special stream playing beach volleyball with Shouyou, inviting everyone to go to the game or to watch online. And although he was exercising almost daily in their building’s gym, the heat still got to him and he felt like dying after three sets, both Kuroo and Nishinoya snickering at him. How on earth was he going to complete his third and last step like this?
But everything’s going according to his plans so far (the reactions to that stream being the most hilarious) and soon he was flying back to Japan with Shouyou after the national team lost the quarterfinals in the Nations League.
The first thing they did after arriving home (because now Kenma’s big old fashioned house was their cohabitating home) was to sleep for 14 hours straight. It was somewhere between morning and afternoon when Kenma woke up briefly and shot a message to his parents, Kuroo and Natsu, his boyfriend still dead asleep beside him, half out of the bed.
Kenma ended up dozing off again after putting his phone down, pulling the blanket up to his nose and letting the aircon hum lull him. It was already early afternoon when he woke up again, this time because of the far away sounds of someone cooking something in the kitchen. With a yawn, he stretched until his bones popped and sat on the bed, realizing he was alone in the bedroom - Shouyou was a morning person after all, even though he definitely had jet lag.
After a trip to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth, Kenma dragged his feet to the dining room table by the kitchen island, where his father and Shouyou were talking while Kuroo cooked.
“Morning.” he mumbled, sitting beside his boyfriend.
“Good morning.” his father chuckled “How are you feeling?”
“Like I should go back to sleep.”
All the other men laughed at that and Shouyou put a glass of water in front of him.
“This time you only had one layover, right?” Kuroo asked, looking over his shoulder and turning off the stove.
“Yeah, in Germany!” Shouyou happily answered.
“We had a few hours there, so we rented a room in the hotel inside the airport to sleep until we had to board.”
Kuroo walked to the table with two plates, one in each hand, and with a flourish, put it in front of the couple. Shouyou let out an impressive sound and his father chuckled, taking a sip of his warm coffee, and Kuroo sat on the other side of the table with a laugh.
“Oh, curry.” Kenma observed, “Thank you.”
“You’re the most welcome, mister sponsor.” Kuroo smirked and Kenma kicked him under the table.
“Are you meeting your friends before the game?” his father asked, more than used to their interactions.
Shouyou nodded, gulping down his food as Kenma had just put a mouthful of curry inside his mouth and wouldn’t be able to answer.
“Yeah! We’re doing it here in Tokyo first and then we’ll go to Sendai. Most of our friends live around here or are coming to see us or to play.” Shouyou said with excitement “And I can finally show the tanabata festival to Kenma! I’m glad we came earlier.”
Kenma’s heart skipped a beat hearing that.
“It’s the first time you won’t be playing, eh?” Kuroo smirked “Our chibi-chan is such a popular player each year~”
Shouyou laughed with embarrassment but then politely bowed “I’m very grateful for every opportunity I received all these years, and the precious advice everyone gave me along the way.”
“We are very proud of how far you’ve come, Shouyou-kun.” Kenma’s father said, patting the younger’s head, sounding earnestly sincere “I should also thank you for taking care of my child when he’s living so far away from us.”
“I’m not a kid.” Kenma grumbled, aggressively eating the last of his curry and making everyone else laugh.
“Excuse me~” came the sound from the front door.
“Ah, mom’s here.” Kenma smiled, getting up to greet her first.
“He ran away.” Kuroo snorted.
They had a week until the players would have to meet and practice together for the first time, before the big game on the 14h, enough time to travel around a bit and relax. But also the perfect time to shoot some videos for Bouncing Ball and meet his subordinates.
With the heat outside, they never really left their home during the day, preferring to receive their friends in the comfort of their air conditioned living room or just popping into an izakaya at night.
Unsurprisingly, they were recognized every time they went out, with people either going up to them to say something nice or to ask for a picture together or an autograph (Kenma always refuses this), or a picture of them walking around or eating together would appear on the internet with fans gushing about them for this and that.
“I feel like a celebrity.” Shouyou said once, when they were walking back home after a round of pictures with some volleyball fans.
“Aren’t you?” Kenma smirked “Olympic athlete Hinata Shouyou?”
Shouyou whined and Kenma laughed loudly.
A few days later they hopped onto a shinkansen (Gran Class because Kenma is going to give his boyfriend the best experience) bound to Sendai with an overnight bag on their shoulders and equipped with hats and sunglasses so as to not be bothered while traveling. Kenma really wanted to post a notice on his socials asking people to not take pictures or approach them during this trip, but Shouyou would definitely read and think it was odd, asking too many questions that Kenma didn’t want to answer yet.
He had a plan and he wanted to follow it step by step (with plans B to E just in case).
The complimentary food offered was tasty and Kenma was delighted with the beverages options available, it was really better than he expected. He should definitely travel by Gran Class only for now on. And no one bothered them inside the train! Kenma was really happy.
Sendai was, for the lack of words, the same as he remembered.
They made their way to the hotel they booked and quickly checked-in. Their room was big, with a king-sized bed, and the view from the big floor to ceiling window was incredible, probably even better at night, and the amenities were great. A really good choice, Kenma bragged to himself inside his head as he saw Shouyou fawn over almost everything inside the bedroom and bathroom.
Because he came so many times to Sendai over the years, and Shouyou lived nearby almost all his life and was every now and then here, they didn’t really go out sightseeing, choosing to walk around Jozenji-dori. It was somewhat cool and breezy under the trees and they weren’t afraid of holding hands in such a popular public space.
Shouyou decided to enter a few shops and buy some trinkets, before dragging Kenma inside one of the many coffee shops lined up on the avenue. It was nice to see Shouyou so excited and feeling good, it made Kenma happy in return.
At sunset, they went back to their hotel room and, after a long bath, sat on the floor by the window watching the clouds thrift through and the sky colors slowly changing. There were many kisses involved and both were rather happy and content, and as soon as the sun disappeared over the horizon, they started to get ready to go out to have dinner with Shouyou’s family.
“Kenma-kun!” Shouyou’s mother greeted him with a bright smile. At times like these Kenma realized how similar mother and son looked like.
“Mom.” he greeted back, accepting her hug with a smile.
She was always bright and warm, just like her children were, and always welcomed him. Never judging, never disappointed, always happy and proud. He loved her.
“I’m here, too, you know…” Shouyou whined behind him, having greeted his father.
“Ah, yes, you.” his mother rolled her eyes, but her smile was still there. “The child who ran away from home at the first opportunity.”
“Stoooop~”
“Where’s Natsu?” Kenma asked his boyfriend’s father after greeting him and receiving another hug. All the Hinatas were such warm people.
“Late practice.” he shrugged with a sigh. “She’s so much like her brother, I thought she would go overseas after highschool, too.”
“Don’t say that! I can’t have both of my children so far away from me!”
They all laughed and went inside the restaurant.
“By the way, this is a souvenir from São Paulo!” Shouyou said, remembering the paper bag in his hand “It’s coffee, chocolate and some other things I hope you like!”
“Oh, we definitely will!” his father said “Is there alcohol?”
“Of course!” Shouyou grinned.
Dinner with family was nice and the food was good. Natsu arrived just in time before the food was served, looking sorry and hugging her brother for a long moment, Shouyou laughing as she cried a little. Kenma was also hugged and was asked to pose for a picture with the three of them - something about her friends or teammates or something asking for it.
Shouyou was the one to post on his social media a picture of the food on the table, all of them doing a V with their fingers, talking about how glad he is to see his family again and how proud he is of his sister, and tagging Kenma with a heart emoji.
They bid their farewells with more tight hugs and well wishes, a special kind of sadness making their heart beat.
“Want to get something from the konbini?” Kenma asked after a while, both of them still in front of the restaurant.
“Sure.” Shouyou’s smile was a soft, sad thing, and it made Kenma’s own heart hurt.
Kenma held his hand and mostly guided him around for a while until he decided to enter the third convenience store they walked by. Shouyou tried to hide his amusement, but he was a really honest person in the end so it was impossible.
“How much crap food can you eat today?” Kenma asked “Can you still drink alcohol?”
“Just for today.” Shouyou shrugged “I really held back before we came to Japan. But I should probably stop when we go back to Tokyo.”
“Ok.” Kenma hummed and then proceeded to pick a couple of beers and a few snacks “Anything else?”
With a smirk, Shouyou picked up a small box from the shelf right beside him as they walked to the cashier “What about this?”
Kenma looked at him and shook his head with an amused sigh as he recognized the box of condoms they favored during their teenage years.
“That bath wasn’t enough for you?” Kenma joked back.
“I can never have enough of you, meu amor .” Shouyou looked deep into his eyes with intensity, making Kenma’s heart skip a beat and his stomach do a somersault.
A shiver ran down Kenma’s spine with that affectionate way Shouyou called him. My love. Yes, he definitely is Shouyou’s love as much as he was Kenma’s.
“Are you Ninja Shouyou?” a voice asked suddenly, startling them both.
Looking at where it came from, they saw a girl no older than eight years old looking at Shouyou with sparkling eyes of innocent hero worship. The ginger immediately crouched down to the child’s level and smiled, ruffling their hair.
“Yes, I am! How did you know?”
“I saw you! On the TV!” the child said loudly, looking very much excited “You’re amazing!”
“Really? Thank you!” Shouyou’s smile brightened.
With a chuckle, Kenma used his hand to tell his boyfriend he was going ahead, receiving a discrete nod back as the little girl started to talk excitedly about the match she watched on the television with her mother. It was always nice to see how the children loved Shouyou and how sweet he was with them.
There wasn’t any line when he arrived at the cashier, which he was glad for as it was still early night and there were a lot of people walking around the streets for the festival. Kenma silently put his basket on the counter and searched for his wallet without a word to the young man behind it only realizing later that he was being stared at.
“...Yes?” he asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.
“Oh!” the young man blinked rapidly, cheeks coloring with clear embarrassment “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s ok.” Kenma shrugged.
“It’s just…” he let out a weird noise “I’m sorry, it’s just I’ve been following your YouTube for a while and… I was really happy when you came out public. It made me hopeful, you know?” his eyes started to shine in a way only tears could do “I’m also… Like that… And I always thought it was something wrong and I should change, that my parents would stop seeing me as a son… When you and Hinata Shouyou came out public as a couple and had so many people supporting you that now it is just normal to see you two together… It helped a lot of people to see this kind of thing in a better way, and that includes my parents.”
The man bowed deeply, almost disappearing behind the counter and Kenma had to bite his lip to prevent his own tears from falling.
“Thank you.” he said, in a wavering sincere voice “Thank you so much.”
“You… You’re welcome?” Kenma felt unsure, it wasn’t the first time someone approached him saying something similar to that and he never knew what to say “I’m glad things turned out well for you.”
“Thank you!” he smiled brightly, even if his face was wet with tears.
Kenma smiled back, feeling a warmth in his chest.
“Kenma?”
Turning back, he saw his boyfriend approaching with a confused smile “Ah.”
“Hello!” the cashier greeted excitedly “I’m a fan of yours!”
“Oh, nice to meet you!” Shouyou waved “Do you want a picture?”
They ended up leaving the convenience store later than expected, having so many distractions on their way. But they felt happy to experience that human warmth in such a positive manner. They bid a farewell to the cashier with good wishes and the man bowed to them deeply as they exited the store.
Feeling bold, they walked all the way to their hotel holding hands, ignoring every stare, sneer and happy little noises from the people around them on the street. They didn’t care at that moment, at that night - nothing really mattered when they were happy together.
Back at their room, they sat by the window, slowly drinking their beers and watching the fireworks illuminating the sky far away, symbolizing the official beginning of the festival. It was pretty, all the colorful rings of shining dots illuminating the night sky, and it really felt like a Japanese summer for them. Kenma laid against his boyfriend’s chest, feeling lazy under the hum of their room’s aircon and the tingling of the alcohol inside his body.
“You’re comfy.” he mumbled, sighing in content.
Shouyou chuckled deeply, and Kenma could feel it against his back “You always say this.”
“It’s true, though.” he shrugged.
They stayed like that for a moment, in the dark watching all the lights and movements and fireworks going on outside. Drinking the rest of his beer in one go and calculating he didn’t have much time until the fireworks stopped, Kenma turned and looked at his boyfriend with a determined expression and an intensity in his clear cat-like eyes.
The third step on his complex long term plan. Third point one, actually.
“There’s something I want to ask you.” Kenma started, feeling his cheeks warm a little and his heart racing inside his chest.
“Yeah?” Shouyou looked intrigued and a little surprised.
“Close your eyes.”
“Ok!”
Shoving his hands inside his hoodie’s pocket, Kenma took a small black box from it and, with a deep breath to calm himself, he picked Shouyou’s right hand and opened the lid. Two thin silver bands sat in the cushioned inside of the box, and Kenma used the tips of his thumb and index fingers to fish one out and, with trembling hands, slide it on Shouyou’s ring finger.
An audible gasp was heard inside the silent room and immediately, Shouyou opened his eyes.
“Yes!” he said loudly, grabbing Kenma’s hand with fervor.
Kenma startled for a moment before laughing loudly “I didn’t even ask yet.”
“My answer is still the same!” Shouyou looked determined, proud, smug and on the verge of tears, all at the same “Yes, marry me!”
“Yes, I’ll marry you!” Kenma laughed again, blinking the tears out of his eyes.
They smiled brightly with happiness, foreheads touching and holding hands, the little box with the other ring long forgotten. Lips touched, as if sealing another promise together.
“To be honest.” Shouyou started, picking up the discarded box and then taking another one, very much similar to the other and opened, showing another set of rings “I was suppose to take you to Aomori tomorrow to go on a apple pie pilgrimage and then I would ask the staff to give you a plate with a “Will you marry me” written with sauce and the box in it.” he looked proud of himself instead of embarrassed.
Kenma snorted loudly, shoving his own right hand to his fiancée’s face “Marry me.” he demanded.
“Of course.” Shouyou grinned, putting one of the rings on Kenma’s finger and kissing it softly “We can use the others on our wedding.”
“A good idea.” Kenma nodded “I love you.”
“I love you.” Shouyou answered almost immediately, putting his fiancée’s palm to his warm cheek “At fifteen, at eighteen, at twenty one, now, tomorrow, forever.”
“Forever.”
They kissed again, longer and deeper, pouring all their feelings into it.
“Wait!” Shouyou said, suddenly “We need to take a picture!”
“You should probably hold off telling everyone besides your parents, they’re all really bad at keeping secrets this big.” Kenma chuckled, watching his fiancé (gods, how much he loves saying that) search for their phones “Especially Bokuto!”
“Oh, yeah. Bokuto-san really can’t hold on to a secret for long, huh.” Shouyou snorted a little “But that’s just because he’s a really happy person!”
“Too happy, I’ll say.”
“Shut up~” Shouyou came back with both phones, laughing happily “I’ll tell my parents, you tell yours, and then I’ll tell Tsukki, Yamaguchi and Yacchan! You can tell Kuroo.”
“I’m fine with that.”
“What about your channel…?” Shouyou pulled him closer so they fit in the frame, both lifting their right hands to show their rings.
“I’ll do a video later. We can tell everyone else at the post-game dinner and then we can do a video when we go back home.” Kenma lifted his right hand in front of the wide window, kicking Shouyou to do the same thing, and took his picture.
“Hmm~ Make it another Christmas Special.”
“Too far.” Kenma whined a bit.
They typed away in silence, sending messages after messages and getting either happy or amused by some of the answers they received.
“Should we stay awake all night using that little condom box, Hinata-san?” Shouyou asked, smirking a little behind his phone.
Kenma smirked back, “That sounds lovely, Kozume-san, but we have to wake up early to meet your parents to see the fukinagashi.”
“Oh, yeah! We got tagged on a post, apparently our names were written in one.”
“...Why?” Kenma’s expression made Shouyou let out a loud laugh.
“It’s something the LGBT community here did. There are a lot of names in it. But I don’t think it's downtown.”
“We can go there, still.” Kenma hummed, getting up, leaving his phone on the nightstand and sitting on the bed “Come, let’s celebrate.”
Shouyou got up quickly and walked to him, holding Kenma’s face between his hands and making him look up “Two times in the same day? Hinata-san, you’re getting bold.” he chuckled, leaning down to kiss Kenma on the lips.
“Shut up.” he complained jokingly, making himself fall back on the mattress and pulling Shouyou with him.
They woke early the next day, which made Kenma grumble for a while until Shouyou pampered him enough to mellow his mood down. The town was still asleep and there was almost no one outside, so they could take pictures and film without a crowd around for now, even with the workers still putting up the decorations.
Shouyou’s parents (without Natsu this time, as she had early morning practice in university) met them at edamame flavored sweets shop to eat a second breakfast and then walk around the festival’s stalls, stopping at some gift shops to buy souvenirs.
By afternoon, they hopped on a train to Hirosaki city to have the apple pie pilgrimage Shouyou had promised, but without the apple sauce propose. Kenma could only eat three different shop’s apple pie, feeling too full to even think about food, but going to another three cafés to buy something to bring back to Tokyo.
Then, they went to Aomori city, seeing the sunset from A-FACTORY to buy all the apple flavored anything that Kenma wanted. Shouyou laughed when he had to carry two giant bags of stuff while Kenma had another three smaller ones. They would definitely come back to buy more another time.
KODZUKEN @kodzuken 1:02 AM
Safely arrived in Tokyo after two days out. Thank you Tohoku, I had fun.
[first picture of the tanabata decorations; second picture is Kenma and Shouyou in front of a rainbow fukinagashi; third picture is of a happy Kenma with the apple pie map from Hirosaki; fourth and last picture is a laughing Shouyou showing off his oversized A-FACTORY bags]
As soon as they got back to Tokyo they got busy, each going to their respective meetings for long hours, and Shouyou had practices every day with his temporary teammates. They saw each other at breakfast and late at night, with Shouyou having dinner with his team that Kenma refused to be part of. What a nightmare to get surrounded by extroverts every night.
The match day arrived quicker than they realized and soon Kenma was sitting by his former highschool coach’s side on the stands wearing Shouyou’s jersey from the national team, not so discreetly getting photographed by fans and media before the game started.
Watching Shouyou fly, as always, was the most interesting, and Kenma loved to do so up close, it was almost like a hobby by now. He filmed a bit and mostly paid attention to the game, his fingers not even missing his gaming console for the whole couple of hours there. The vibe of the arena was the most positive he ever felt, as this wasn’t a competition, but more of a friendly match - with a pinch of highschool reunion.
The after party was at a hotel venue, big enough to have all players, their families, the sponsors, and some guests, with dinner and live music, with some important people making speeches. Kenma very politely declined all invitations to go up on the stage, even kicking Kuroo under the table. Shouyou was as always a social butterfly, apparently knowing everyone inside the venue by name.
“Don’t you ever feel jealousy?” a voice beside him asked with an amused curiosity.
Kenma turned to see who it was just to get face to face with lazy eyes and an even lazier smirk.
“Osamu-san.” Kenma greeted “Not really.”
“How so?” Miya Osamu sipped his drink, staring at him with a strange intensity.
“Is this just curiosity or you’re just too much of a coward to ask for advice?” Kenma smirked, almost snorting when the other man choked on his drink “When we were younger we were definitely jealous of the people around us. We could barely see each other once a month or so. I was bad at texting, so Shouyou ended up feeling insecure a lot of times.” he sighed “We don’t really like to talk about it, you know.”
“Sorry…”
Kenma shrugged “You’re probably going through a rough patch now. Akaashi isn’t that different from me.”
“Yeah… I know he’s swarmed by work, but…” Miya Osamu looked at the ceiling with a heavy sigh.
“We can’t really control our feelings.” Kenma nodded in sympathy “In the end, it all comes to trust. And communication. If Shouyou wasn’t so good at that, we probably wouldn’t be here, not like we are now. Because when we’re being swallowed by our own fears and insecurities, sometimes, the other person is in the same situation and we just don’t realize.”
“...Oh.” Miya Osamu looked extremely taken back at that, eyes unfocusing as he thought deeply before chuckling and drinking the rest of his drink in one go “I guess it really is as simple as trust and communication. Thank you, Kozume. I should’ve known that chibi-chan had good taste.”
With a snort, Kenma raised his glass in a mock toast and finished his own drink.
“Oh, my, oh my.” came another voice, very similar to the one he was just talking to “I saw the ring on Shouyou-kun’s finger and came to see if it was real.”
“Atsumu-san.” Kenma greeted “Shouyou wanted to be the one to tell, this time.”
“Because you made that boyfriend reveal thing? Lucky him.” Miya Atsumu snorted, using his twin as an (annoyed) armrest.
“Lucky me.” Kenma corrected.
“Both of you are lucky.” Miya Osamu said, slapping his brother’s arm away.
Kenma did not deny “Osamu-san is also very lucky.”
“That I am.” he smiled almost brightly.
“Ugh. I hate you both.”
“You’re just jealous because you never dated anyone.”
“Hah?!”
“Do you ever grow up?” came a new voice from behind the twins “You’re at an official event, you know.”
“Omi!” both twins exclaimed in different tones.
“Kozume-san, congratulations.” Sakusa bowed slightly, “Hinata is getting on the stage soon, he asked me to tell you.”
“Thank you.”
“Ah, yeah, I wanted to consult you about business.” Miya Osamu turned back to him.
“Oy, why don’t you ask me?” Miya Atsumu nagged.
“Because you don’t own shit.”
“Chibi-chan is going up.” Kuroo said behind him, slapping his shoulder with more force than he should.
Everyone around the table stopped talking and turned to look at the stage where a head of orange hair was walking to the microphone with a nervous expression.
The people present who had to hear Shouyou’s entire volleyball story to end with him thanking a lot of people including his fiancée, did a good job of holding back for a long while until they had to come out once again to have a reveal - this time with a lot of more rumors around them.
Shouyou had an interview scheduled for the week before the Brazilian volleyball tournament started in October, something serious by one of the national private sports channels where he would talk about his life, career, experiences, the national team, living in Brazil and his relationships with other players and Kenma. It aired a few days after, the editor team doing a great job - even Kenma felt impressed.
“Can we talk about your long-term relationship with streamer and YouTuber Kodzuken?”
“Sure! We’ve been together for ten years already. We met because we had a practice match against each other, but we only started dating a year later. Our schools are rivals since our old coaches were students themselves, but we never played against each other during an official match until that year, when we both went to nationals. This rivalry exists to this day, but the schools ended up being friends.” his eyes shined with excitement.
“There is a video online, on Kodzuken’s account telling the story of your relationship. Did it tell everything?”
“Not really? Volleyball was always a big part of our relationship, it was what made us meet and get to know each other. We spent summers and holidays together training or playing against each other. Kenma was, and still is, the biggest supporter I have. He believed I could do better, that I could be an amazing player, and if he wasn’t for him, I don’t know where I would be now.” Shouyou looked embarrassed saying that.
“He did stop playing after high school, were you disappointed?”
“No. I knew he would do it. He was never as interested in volleyball as me or our other friends, so it was a given he would stop. All I ever wanted for him was to have fun while playing, and he’s the happiest when he’s playing video-games, instead!” Shouyou’s laugh was full of sunshine and amusement.
The journalist laughed with him and they joked a little, talking briefly about the games they like to play.
“And what is it like to date someone known worldwide on the internet?”
“Oh, we’re not only dating, we’re getting married next year!” Shouyou proudly showed his right hand, where his engagement ring shined.
A few hours later, Kenma’s own hour-long vlog video from their trip to Japan was uploaded on schedule, surprising fans and letting their friends know they were free to talk freely.
[VLOG] Trip to Japan | Tokyo nightlife | Overnight trip to Tohoku | Volleyball All-Star Special Match | Relationship upgrade (feat too many people and Shouyou)
Kenma’s three step plan was completed and he was the happiest man on earth together with his soon-to-be husband.
Love really is a fun thing, and as he said his yes, at a beautiful beach at sunset in northeast Brazil, and later at a shrine in northern Japan, he felt like he was, once more, falling in love with Shouyou.