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Akaashi and Kenma held hands as they followed their other two boyfriends through the hardware store. Kuroo pushed the cart down the aisle, pointing Bokuto in the right direction so he wouldn’t get too distracted.
After looking around for a bit, they eventually found what they were looking for – a fire bowl. When Akaashi had offhandedly mentioned that he wanted to try roasting marshmallows, the others had been excited to try it as well. Kuroo had suggested that they could get a fire bowl to set up in their small patio, and now here they were the next day looking for supplies.
Bokuto picked up the fire bowl and put it in the cart before they continued. The camping section was nearby, so they picked out four camping chairs and added them to the cart as well.
Next, they needed to find some firewood, so they went across the store to the lumber section. On the way there, they passed through the gardening section and something caught Bokuto’s eye.
“Oh my god!” he said, running ahead. “Kuroo, come look! This is so important!”
“What is it, Bo?” Kuroo got closer to see what Bokuto was pointing at.
“Look at this guy!”
It was a little garden statue of a man holding up a frog in one hand and pointing to it with the other.
“Okay, that is cute,” Kuroo agreed.
“Akaashi, Kenma, come and see!” Bokuto called the other two over.
“Very cute, Bokuto.” Akaashi smiled at him.
“Can we keep him?” Bokuto asked, looking hopefully at his boyfriends.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Kuroo said, looking back at Akaashi and Kenma who nodded in agreement.
“Yes!” Bokuto pumped his fist and put the statue into the cart. “We need to think of a name for him.”
“Froggy?” Kuroo suggested, pushing the cart towards the lumber section.
“That’s a shit name,” Kenma deadpanned. Akaashi stifled a laugh.
“What? I don’t hear you making any suggestions.”
“I don’t care what we call him.” Kenma shrugged.
“What about something that sounds like Koutarou?” Akaashi said, “We could name him after you.”
Bokuto hummed. “Maybe… I kind of want him to have his own name though. How about Kero-kun? Like the sound frogs make?”
“Yeah, I like that,” Kuroo said, making Bokuto smile proudly.
Once they had made their way across the store, they found a bag of kindling they could use for the fire. With their cart full of everything they needed from the hardware store, they headed to the checkout.
“Lucky I have enough boyfriends to carry all this stuff,” Kuroo remarked, reaching into the cart to divide everything up. Bokuto carried the statue and the firewood, Kuroo carried the fire bowl and Akaashi and Kenma each carried two camping chairs. It was a bit awkward taking everything on the train back to their apartment, but they managed it.
“We still need to get the marshmallows and some other things from the supermarket,” Kuroo said.
Kenma sighed, “Do we all have to go?” He was already making himself comfortable on the couch after dumping the chairs in the hallway.
“No, but it would be nice to have someone to help me.”
“I’ll go with you Kuroo,” Akaashi said, checking how well stocked the pantry was. “It would be good to get some groceries for the rest of the week as well.”
“I’ll keep Kenma company!” Bokuto sat down next to Kenma and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Okay, and can you put this stuff outside while we’re gone?” Kuroo asked, stepping over the camping chairs to grab some shopping bags.
“Yup! I need to find a place to put Kero-kun.” Bokuto stroked his chin, deep in thought.
“Very important stuff,” Kuroo chuckled, “We’ll see you soon then, love you!”
“Love you!” Bokuto chimed.
“Kenma?” Kuroo peaked around the corner when he didn’t get a response.
“Love you,” Kenma said with an eye-rolling tone and a smile.
Akaashi walked past on his way to the door, giving Bokuto and Kenma a quick kiss each. “Love you too.”
***
As the sun started to go down, Kuroo set up the fire bowl and camping chairs. The others joined him after they had finished cleaning up after dinner and sat around the fire bowl. Bokuto moved Kero-kun to the spot between him and Akaashi so he wouldn’t be left out.
“Alright, are we ready to light the fire?” Kuroo asked.
“Ooh, can I do it?” Bokuto asked excitedly.
“Sure,” Kuroo handed him the matches and Bokuto set one alight and threw it into the middle of the fire bowl. It didn’t catch very well though, so he lit up another match and carefully set some of the newspaper on fire.
The fire spread quickly along the paper and slowly the nearby wood pieces started to catch alight. Soon, the fire burned steadily in the bowl, emitting a warm glow across their faces.
Kuroo threw another couple of pieces of wood on to sustain the fire, causing a burst of flames to rise.
“Woah!” Bokuto laughed. Kenma flinched away from the fire.
Kuroo passed out skewers and marshmallows to each of his boyfriends and they held them up to the fire to start roasting.
“We’ve got some graham crackers and chocolate as well if you want to make a s’more,” Kuroo said.
While the others carefully watched their marshmallows slowly brown, Bokuto was much more impatient and stuck his directly in the flames. Sure enough, his marshmallow caught on fire and he had to quickly blow it out. With no hesitation, he turned the marshmallow over and stuck it back into the flames.
“Are you sure that’s the strategy you want to go for?” Akaashi asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, I want it to be crunchy! And it’s much faster than your strategy.” He blew out the other side of the burnt marshmallow. “Kuroo, give me the crackers and chocolate.”
Kuroo passed them over and Bokuto assembled a s’more, his face lighting up as he took a bite.
“Mmm this is good! Great idea Akaashi.”
“Thank you,” Akaashi smiled. “Can I have the crackers and chocolate please?”
Bokuto passed them to his boyfriend and started on a new marshmallow. Once his marshmallow was perfectly golden-brown, Akaashi carefully assembled his s’more.
Kenma inspected his own marshmallow, but it didn’t look much different from when he had started. “Mine’s not roasting like yours,” he frowned.
“Hold it closer to the fire, baby,” Akaashi said.
Kenma did as Akaashi suggested, looking back at him to make sure he was doing it right. Akaashi gave a supportive nod.
“Kenma,” Kuroo held out his hand, gesturing for Kenma to give him his marshmallow and swapped it with his own perfectly roasted one.
“Thanks,” Kenma smiled, taking the crackers and chocolate from Akaashi to make his own s’more.
“Kenken, you can have mine too!” Bokuto offered his charred marshmallow.
“I’m good, thanks,” Kenma chuckled.
They fell into a rhythm, sitting peacefully in the dark with the glow of the fire and the wood gently crackling as the marshmallows roasted.
“I feel like we should tell scary stories or secrets,” Akaashi said.
“Ooh yeah!” Bokuto agreed. “I don't really like scary stories, but I want to hear everyone’s secrets!”
“That could be fun,” Kuroo said. “Do you wanna start us off Akaashi?”
“Oh, I haven't thought of one yet, someone else can go first.”
“Okay, I'll go! Umm…” Bokuto tilted his head while he thought of something. “Oh, I know. I used to have a crush on Kuroo in our first year of high school.”
“Dude, that's not a secret. I knew that,” Kuroo said.
“It is a secret! I never told you.”
“I swear I knew that… Akaashi, did you know?”
“Well, I had a suspicion, but Bokuto never told me,” Akaashi added.
“See, it was a secret!”
“Okay, fine, I'll give it to you. But you weren't subtle about it,” Kuroo teased.
“Did you have a crush on me too?” Bokuto asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Kuroo hummed, “I don't know. I thought you were hot, but I was trying not to think about it because I was trying to get with Kenma.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Bokuto said, deflating slightly before perking up again. “I have another secret for you though,” he leaned in closer to Kuroo, “I still have a crush on you.”
“Really?” Kuroo leaned in too. “So do I.”
Bokuto grinned and closed the gap between them for a kiss. As they deepened the kiss, Kuroo put his hand in Bokuto’s hair and Bokuto tried to lean in as close as he could.
“Bokuto, your marshmallow is going to–” Akaashi tried to warn him, but it was too late.
Bokuto broke away from the kiss to find that his marshmallow had fallen off the skewer and into the fire.
“No! My marshmallow!” He watched sadly as it bubbled and burned in the flames.
Kuroo burst out laughing and Kenma and Akaashi soon followed.
“Hey! Don't laugh at my misery.” Bokuto tried to pout, but the laughter was contagious and soon a smile made its way onto his face.
“Bokuto, don't mind,” Kuroo said, putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a new marshmallow.
Bokuto solemnly accepted the marshmallow and started roasting again as the laughter died down.
“Does anyone else have a secret?” Bokuto asked.
“I've got one,” Kuroo said, taking a breath before he continued. “When I was 12, I wrote a cheesy love poem about Kenma.”
“Seriously?” Kenma scrunched up his face.
“Kenma, don't look at me like that! I was a small child with so many feelings about you. If anything, it's your fault.”
“I do not take responsibility for your cringe actions.”
Kuroo scoffed, feigning offence, “Rude!”
“How did the poem go?” Bokuto asked.
“I don't remember. It was a long time ago.” Kuroo waved a hand in front of him, trying to brush it off.
“Kuroo,” Akaashi stared intensely at him from the other side of the fire. “You remember some of it, don't you?”
Kuroo squirmed under his gaze. “Not really…”
“Come on, Kuroo,” Akaashi pushed.
“Tell us!” Bokuto said.
“Ugh, I shouldn’t have told you about it,” Kuroo covered his face with his hands. He sighed, giving in. “I really don't remember most of it, but there were a few lines like ‘when our hands touch, does he know?’ or ‘when I call out his name, does he know?’”
“I didn't know,” Kenma said. “I was totally oblivious as an 11 year old.”
“My poetic talents were wasted on you.”
“I shouldn't be surprised that you were such a sappy child,” Akaashi said.
“I don't know how to feel about that.” Kuroo folded his arms.
“I like that you're sappy!” Bokuto added.
“So we all agree that Kuroo is sappy,” Akaashi teased.
“Fuck you. No one appreciates my words of affection except for Bokuto.” Kuroo huffed. “Can we please move on? Somebody else tell a secret.”
Everyone looked between Kenma and Akaashi to see who would go next. Kenma stared at his marshmallow, twisting the skewer in his hand.
“I have something, but I don't know if it's a good one.”
“Go for it Kenken,” Bokuto encouraged.
“Um, sometimes I put my headphones on with nothing playing so no one will talk to me.”
“Oh, really? I never noticed that,” Kuroo said.
“Are we too loud for you?” Bokuto asked.
“You can be sometimes,” Kenma replied, “but it's okay, I have ways of dealing with it.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Kuroo touched his arm gently.
“You don't need to do anything, sometimes I just need to be alone or block out some of the noise.”
“Is that why sometimes you ask me to come and sit with you in a different room?” Akaashi asked.
“Um, yeah. If I still want to have someone with me but be in a quiet space, I like having you there. Do you mind it?”
“No, it's fine. I like sitting quietly with you too.”
“Aww, look at our sweet baby introverts.” Kuroo smiled.
“Aren’t you an introvert too?” Kenma questioned.
“Well, I guess I’m an extroverted introvert. I swing both ways.”
“Ayy, nice one Kuroo!” Bokuto gave him a high five and Kenma just shook his head with a small, affectionate smile breaking through his façade.
Quietly, Akaashi slipped some graham crackers from the packet and started making another s’more to stall for time. He felt everyone’s eyes on him, waiting for him to go next.
“Have you got a secret, Akaashi?” Bokuto prompted.
“I have. It’s kind of embarrassing though.”
“That’s the whole point of the secrets,” Kuroo pointed out.
“I suppose so,” Akaashi ran a hand through his hair. “I failed a test once.”
“Woah, Akaashi failed a test? When?” Bokuto asked.
“Is that it?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow.
“That’s not it,” Akaashi continued. “It was when I was in third year. Bokuto had come to visit, and we stayed up all night so I was sleep deprived the next morning and couldn’t concentrate.”
“You stayed up all night… fucking?” Kuroo asked.
“Yes,” Akaashi admitted, covering his face.
“What?” Bokuto exclaimed.
“Why are you surprised by that?” Kuroo laughed.
“Not that part, why didn’t you tell me you had a test?”
“You had come specially to see me; I didn’t want to cut it short. I thought it would be okay since I had already studied but the things I had focused on weren’t in the test. I didn’t tell you after because I didn’t want you to feel bad and I was embarrassed, and my mother was already furious with me for failing in the first place.”
“It’s okay Akaashi, I’ve failed plenty of tests before,” Bokuto tried to comfort him.
“But I’m not supposed to fail tests. I’m supposed to be responsible and work hard and not make stupid mistakes like that.”
“You are smart and responsible,” Kenma said, “but you’re allowed to make mistakes too. Everything worked out fine, didn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Akaashi conceded.
“And you got to spend some quality time with your boyfriend too,” Kuroo added. “But damn Akaashi, I didn’t know you had it in you. Maybe we should do that more often.”
“No, I’m not doing that again.”
Kuroo laughed. “I know, I’m just teasing.”
Akaashi sighed and smiled, feeling a little lighter after finally telling his secret.
They continued to roast a few more marshmallows and talk amongst themselves until eventually the fire started to die down. The remnants of the firewood glowed softly, barely emitting enough light for them to see each other anymore.
Kenma tucked his knees up in his chair, hugging himself to keep warm. “Can we go inside now?”
Kuroo smiled, “You can go inside baby, I’ll just put out the last of the fire.”
As he stood up, Kenma held out a hand to Akaashi. Taking his hand, Akaashi stood up as well and followed him inside to warm up.
Kuroo picked up a water bottle beside him and sprayed the fire to put it out. Bokuto stayed to watch as the water sizzled and the embers finally faded.
They packed up the remaining marshmallows and supplies and headed inside to see their boyfriends cuddled up together on the couch.
“Did you guys have fun?” Kuroo asked, sitting next to Kenma and kissing him on the cheek.
“Yeah,” Kenma replied.
Bokuto joined them on Akaashi’s other side and cuddled into him. “We should do it again soon!”
“We should,” Akaashi agreed. “We’ll have to think of more secrets to tell too.”