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It’s November 17th (Kuroo’s birthday), and his nose is still (relatively) broken.
“No,” Kuroo tells Kenma, who is trying to help him plan his birthday party, “I’m not going to have a party with a broken nose. And if we were going to have a party, whe should have planned it earlier.”
Kuroo doesn’t know why Kenma is trying to plan him a birthday party anyway; Kenma was never one for parties.
Kurro is laying on his couch with his head elevated. The pain from his broken nose has considerably lessened over the last few days, but he will not be quick to say that it has stopped completely. Kenma is sitting on the floor hunched over his laptop, scrolling though the local bakery’s list of cake flavors and frostings.
A few minutes of silence later, the front door bursts open, “KUROO!”
It’s Bokuto and Akaashi.
Kurro closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep. It isn’t that he does not enjoy spending time with his friends, it’s that he’s very tired today and Bokuto tends to drain his energy, which can be fun, you know? But he doesn’t have any energy to be drained today.
However, Kuroo’s feigned sleep does not stop Bokuto from dragging him off of the couch and into a very warm, and very tight, hug.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRO,” he says, at full volume.
“Hello, Kenma. Kuroo,” says Akaashi.
“SO,” Bokuto asks excitedly, “when’s the party?”
Kuroo groans and goes limp in Bokuto’s arms.
“You’re being a drama queen today,” Akaashi says in a matter of fact voice.
“Kenma!? You’re planning the party?” Bokuto says in confusion.
“Yes,” Kenma says simply, “Kurro has been moping around for the past two days. I think that a party will cheer him up.”
“Okay, here’s an idea,” Kuroo says, standing up straight and making a wide gesture with his hands, “We go to McDonald’s.”
Bokuto thinks deeply, “Hm… A good suggestion.”
“We’re not going to McDonald’s for your birthday,” Akaashi says firmly.
“I could spend the day studying. College is hard , you know,” Kurro says wisely.
“It’s already three in the afternoon,” Kenma says, “You should’ve studied earlier.”
“My head hurt then,” Kuroo counters.
“Awh, yeah!” Bokuto says, “Dude, how’s your face?”
Kuroo points at his eyes, “Well, I do have this sick bruise still.”
Bokuto nods, “Yeah, it does look pretty sick,” he agrees.
“They have really good red velvet cake there,” Akaashi tells Kenma, crouching down so he can see the screen of Kenma’s laptop.
Kurro glances over, “Okay, let’s have a party.”
Akaashi looks surprised, “You were convinced that easily?”
“Yeah,” Kenma says, clicking the image of red velvet cake, “He really likes red velvet cake.”
“HELL YEAH!” Bokuto exclaims, “What time?”
“Well,” Akaashi calculates, “It will probably take them a little over an hour and a half for them to make the cake; I’d say we’ll start having people come over around 5. We can order pizza after we eat cake.”
“Pizza?” Bokuto asks excitedly.
“Yes,” Akaashi confirms, “and I don’t think we really need to decorate… We can go pick up some snacks in a little while too.”
“Can we have alcohol ?” Bokuto asks.
“A majority of the people we’re inviting aren’t legal,” Akaashi says, “Kenma, you can start sending emails. Invite whoever you think should come.”
“But it’s Kuroo’s twentieth birthday!” Bokuto complains, “And I like alcohol!”
“No. If you really want to, you can got to a bar tomorrow,” Akaashi says.
“Okay, let’s go pick up snacks,” Kuroo says as Bokuto pouts, “Do you want to come, Kenma?”
Kenma closes his laptop, “I just finished ordering the cake. We can pick it up around 4:45.”
They file out of the house, Kuroo locking the door behind them.
“I’ll drive,” Akaashi says. When does he not drive? He doesn’t really trust anyone else to drive when he’s in the car, anyway.
It takes them a while to get to Seiyu.
“I’ll ride in the cart!” Bokuto says.
“You’re too heavy, Bokuto,” Akaashi replies, pushing his cart away from him.
“You monster!” Kurro cries, covering Bokuto’s ears, “Why would you say that!” he uncovers Bokuto’s ears, “ I’ll push you in my cart, Kou.”
“Yes!” Bokuto cheers, clambering into Kuroo’s cart.
Kenma has one earbud in, and is walking next to Akaashi as Bokuto and Kuroo follow closely behind.
“Okay,” Akaashi says, “what do we want.”
“Like, every type of Kit-Kat they have,” Kuroo says, “also, Cheetos.”
Bokuto gives Akaashi a look , “chocolate covered gummy worms.”
Akaashi sighs and nods, smiling fondly to himself as he turn away from the two boys, Kenma has his hood pulled up over his head, and he looks half asleep, so Akaahi nudges him.
Kenma startles and glances at Akaashi, “yeah?”
“We’re going to get candy and whatnot while Kuroo and Bokuto do… whatever it is they do,” Akaashi relays, and Kenma nods, watching as Kuroo and Bokuto speed down the aisle and out of sight.
Bokuto hoots with laughter, “Faster, Tetsu!”
Kuroo grins and runs faster, before realizing that there’s a turn coming up, “Sharp turn here!” he tells Bokuto, who nods enthusiastically.
The turn is, how would you say it, wicked . The cart almost falls over but Kuroo holds onto it with his super strong muscles and shoots down the next isle.
It’s all going great, until both Bokuto and Kuroo fail to notice a display of toilet paper, and they barrel straight into it.
“Fuck!” Kuroo says loudly, as the cart tips over and Bokuto crashes to the ground.
“Fuck!” Bokuto yells, much louder than Kuroo.
Akaashi looks up, “Do you think that was them,” it sounds more like statement than a question.
Kenma shrugs, “Who else would it be?”
There’s a clattering of things falling from their shelves a few aisles over, before they see Bokuto and Kuroo making a bee-line for the automatic doors (Bokuto runs into them before they make it through, running out into the parking lot).
“Fuck,” Akaashi says flatly.
Roughly ten minutes later, Akaashi and Kenma pay for their things and roll out to car, but they see neither Bokuto nor Kuroo inside.
“Where are they?” Akaashi asks.
There’s shuffling from other side of the vehicle as Kuroo stands up and peers at them through the windows, before he lets himself stand as his full height and looks at them from over the car,
“It’s safe,” he says to Bokuto, who also stands up.
“Akaashi!” Bokuto cheers, dashing around the car and sifting through the cart before pulling out the chocolate covered gummy worms, “you’re the best!!”
“Why aren’t you in the car?” Kenma asks.
“We don’t have keys,” Kuroo says.
“Yes we do?” Bokuto replies.
“What.. the fuck?” Kuroo starts, “What the fuck? Then why didn’t you unlock the doors?”
Bokuto looks down at his hands, “I… don’t know…”
“What the fuck.. We sat out here for like… an hour… playing sticks in the cold… when we could have been playing sticks... in the car,” Kuroo says, breaking down their experiences.
The line of Bokuto’s lip wobbles, “Sorry, bro.”
Kuroo looks up, “Oh, dude! Kou, I’m not that upset about it. Nothing to shed tears over!”
Bokuto nods to himself and opens the door as Akaashi unlocks the doors to the car.
“You can sit in the front, Kenma,” Kuroo says, climbing into the back seat next to Bokuto.
“I was going to anyway,” Kenma says blandly, buckling his seatbelt.
The drive back is just as long as the drive there was, and it’s in silence.
“Hey,” Kenma says as they pull into Kuroo’s driveway, “They’re both asleep.”
Akaashi looks back, and sure enough, Bokuto is asleep on Kuroo’s shoulder, Kuroo resting his sleeping head on Bokuto’s.
“That’s adorable,” Akaashi says flatly, though Kenma can hear a twinge of jealousy in his voice.
“ Too adorable,” Kenma agrees as Akaahi pops the trunk.
They take all of the groceries inside before Kenma takes on the task of waking them up, whereas Akaashi begins picking up odds and ends that are laying around in Kuroo’s kitchen and living room.
He glances at the clock, seeing that it’s… no fucking way. It’s 4:19. Akaashi stares at the analog clock, willing the two minutes to pass faster.
At exactly 4:20, two things happen. One, Akaashi hears teh words ‘smoke weed everyday’ begin blaring from somewhere in the vicinity of Kuroo’s bedroom, and Kuroo’s front door bursts open.
“HELL FUCKING YEAH!!” Bokuto screeches, and Akaashi sits down on the couch, covering his face with his hands.
“Bokuto,” Kuroo asks, his voice barely audible over the music coming from down the hallway, “Did you set my alarm again?”
“I saw him do it,” Kenma confirms, walking down the hallway and turning off the alarm.
“Now that that’s over” Akaashi says, “the cake will be done soon. Kenma and I can get it ourselves. Bokuto and Kuroo, you two can do whatever you’d like.”
Akaashi and Kenma are relatively quiet on the car ride to the bakery, though Akaashi can hear some music coming from Kenma’s earbuds.
“Akaashi?” Kenma asks.
“Yes?” Akaashi returns.
“Are you ever going to tell Bokuto?”
“Tell him what.”
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“No, I’m not going to,” Akaashi says firmly, “Maybe someday, but not anytime soon.”
“Why not?”
“You know he’s crushing on Kuroo. I don’t want to make him feel like he has to date me just because I’m in love with him.”
Kenma is silent.
“Never mind,” Akaashi says quickly, his cheeks flushed.
“Kuroo likes him back,” Kenma says, “they just need to get their shit together.”
Akaashi nods his head, keeping his eyes on the road in front of him, “They’ll make a good couple.”
“Aren’t you jealous?”
“Of course,” Akaashi says, then pausing, “but I want Bokuto to be happy. I’m not going to say ‘if I can’t have him, then nobody can’. That’s selfish. And I know that he and Kuroo will be very happy together.”
Kenma hmms, “Yeah. Thank you, Akaashi.”
By the time they pick up the cake, and then head back to Kuroo’s house, it’s 4:45.
“You’re back!” Bokuto says excitedly, dropping a bag of Cheetos as Akaashi and Kenma enter in through the front door, the cake in a box that shrouds any view of the contents.
“Can we see the cake?!” Bokuto asks excitedly.
“Yeah, sure,” Kenma says, putting it down on Kuroo’s kitchen table.
Bokuto opens the box, and reads the iced words staring back up at him from the surface of the cake, “It says ‘Fuck You’.”
Akaashi lifts a hand to cover his grinning mouth.
Kenma snorts and Kuroo crosses his arms, “Really, Kenma?”
A tiny laugh escapes Kenma’s mouth and he closes the box, “People are going to start showing up soon.”
Just as he finishes saying this, there is an excited knock at the door.
“Who is it?” Kuroo calls, approaching the door.
“It’s me!!” calls an excited voice.
Kuroo opens the door to reveal Hinata, barely containing his excitement, and Kageyama, who looks considerably uncomfortable.
“Wow, Kuroo-san! Your eye looks really bruised,” before he spots, “Kenma!” Hinata cheers, brushing past Kuroo to envelope Kenma in a very tight hug.
“Hello, Kuroo-san,” Kageyama says, stepping over the threshold and smiling awkwardly.
“You can drop the titles, Kageyama,” Kuroo says, “So, you’re third years, huh?”
“Yeah!” Hinata says, still holding onto Kenma, “Yamaguchi is the captain! He’s super cool!”
Kuroo nods, side stepping so that Kageyama can get inside.
“Kenma, Kenma, Kenma!” Hinata repeats, “It’s so nice to see you!!!”
“It’s nice to see you too, Shouyou,” Kenma replies, smiling softly.
Hinata finally lets go of Kenma after squeezing him tightly.
“I didn’t think anyone would show up early,” Kuroo says, sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV.
“I really wanted to see Kenma!” Hinata explains, before turning to Bokuto, “Bokuto-san!!”
Bokuto opens his arms as Hinata rushes forwards for what is probably the best hug in the world. Hinata and Bokuto are two of the best huggers Kuroo knows, so when the hug each other… That’s probably a really good hug.
Kageyama sits down on the couch next to Kuroo, trying to appear relaxed.
“Hinata hasn’t changed that much since the last time I saw him,” Kuroo says, watching as Hinata hugs Akaashi.
Kageyama nods, not saying anything. Kuroo frowns at the younger boy. Hopefully he’ll cheer up.
It’s about 10 minutes before other people start to show up, and no one really comments on the faded bruising around Kuroo’s eye.
First, it’s Yaku and Lev, who both look pretty excited to be there. Then it’s Daichi and Sugawara (though, they’re only there just to say hello, and then they leave). After them it’s Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. It seems Kema mostly invited people that he knows, but a few of Kuroo’s classmates (by ‘a few of Kuroo’s classmates’, I mean one of them: Oikawa) join them as well.
“Tsukki!” Kuroo exclaims as Tsukishima walks in through the door. He has let his hair grow longer, and so has Yamaguchi by the looks of it (his hair is tied back in a ponytail).
Tsukishima reluctantly hugs Kuroo and Bokuto, both of them at the same time.
“Where’s the cake,” Tsukishima says flatly.
“Straight to the point, I see!” Kuroo teases, before looking back at Kenma, “is this everyone you invited?”
Kenma nods.
“Bokuto, you can give people cake if they want it,” Kuroo says, and Bokuto gives him a thumbs-up.
They make banter and eat cake for a while, before Bokuto orders pizza and they all congregate in the living room. Sadly, Lev and Yaku leave after taking a few pizza slices (an entire pizza).
“We should play… truth or dare!” Hinata suggests excitedly.
“What are we, 12 year old girls?” Tsukishima asks, rolling his eyes.
Bokuto completely ignores his remark, “Yeah! Okay, who wants to go first?”
“I think we need to establish rules first,” Akaashi says, “you don’t have to answer a question or comply to a dare if you don’t want to, but if you choose to answer a question, it has to be a truthful answer.”
Everyone nods and mumbles in agreement.
“I’ll go first!” Oikawa volunteers, “Kuroo! Truth or dare?”
Kuroo shrugs, “Uh, dare.”
“I dare you,” Oikawa starts dramatically, “to kiss Bokuto .”
Kuroo glances at Bokto and smiles flirtily, and Bokuto wiggles his eyebrows.
“No tongue,” Kuroo says, before grabbing Bokuto by the back of the neck and kissing him full on the lips.
“AHH!!” Hinata crows, “IS HE A GOOD KISSER?”
Kuroo isn’t sure which one of them he’s talking about, but when they break away after about three seconds of their lips being pressed together, Bokuto answers, “the best,” he says very seriously, before bursting out into giggles, “dude,” he says, looking at Kuroo with glittering eyes, “what flavor of chapstick do you use?”
“Bubblegum,” says Kuroo, leaning back against the couch, “Okay, my turn.. Hinata! Truth or dare?”
“Dare, duh!” Hinata says.
“I dare you… to lick my couch,” Kuroo says.
“Aw! That’s so lame!” Hinata says, turning to lick the couch anyway.
“Do you have any idea how many germs you just swallowed?!” Kageyama says in disgust, scooting a few inches away from Hinata.
Hinata grabs Kageyama’s arm and licks a long stripe across his wrist.
“FUCK YOU!! WHAT THE FUCK!!” Kageyama screams, jumping up and sprinting to the bathroom to wash off Hinata’s couch germs.
“Okay!” Hinata says cheerfully, “Kenma, truth or dare?”
Kenma blinks slowly, “Uh, truth,” he says, choosing the ‘safe’ route.
Hinata thinks about what he’ll say for a second, “Who do you like?!!?”
“That’s the most cliche truth or dare question-” Tsukishima starts, but Hinata puts his hands over his mouth and looks at Kenma intently.
Kenma blushes and looks away.
“Awh, you don’t have to say if you don’t want to!” Hinata adds.
“No, it’s fine,” Kenma says, “Uh, it’s…” Akaashi knows the answer as Kenma blushes even harder looks dazedly straight into Hinata’s eyes, “It’s you..”
Hinata stares at him for a solid ten seconds, which are accompanied by an uncomfortable silence, and then realization explodes in his eyes, “KENMA???? YOU-” then, in a barely whisper, “you like me?”
Kenma blushes harder, “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“KENMAA!” Hinata wails, pulling Kenma into his arms, “why didn’t you TELL me?”
“I just did,” Kenma retorts, a smile creeping onto his face.
“Get it, Hinata!” Bokuto exclaims.
Yamaguchi grins, “You guys have been crushing on each other since high school!”
Hinata hides his face in his hands, “Was it… was it super obvious?”
“Yes,” Tsukishima says, as Kageyama walks back into the room.
“What did I miss. I heard Hinata yelling,” he says, sitting down.
“You’re never going to believe this, but ,” Kuroo says gravely, “But Hinata and Kenma are gay for eachother. And it’s the purest love story ever.”
Kageyama looks back and forth between Kenma and Hinata, mumbling something that sounds like ‘what the fuck’ before smiling awkwardly, “Good? Uh… what am I supposed to say here?”
“Tobio! Don’t be rude ,” Oikawa complains.
“This is… too good… too pure…” Yamaguchi whispers, wiping away a few stray tears.
“I don’t know why Kenma would want to date Hinata ,” Tsukishima says generously, before being shushed my Hinata himself.
“We all know that you’re just jealous because you and Yamaguchi will never have a relationship as cute and as pure as ours,” Hinata says solemnly.
Tsukishima rolls his eyes, “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“Kenma, it’s your turn,” Kuroo says, and Kenma nods.
“Uh… Oikawa. Truth or dare,” Kenma says.
Oikawa lights up, “Dare! Obviously. I’m not a weenie.”
Kuroo chokes on a bite of pizza, “Did you just say weenie ? What the hell?”
Oikawa ignores Kuroo, staring intently at Kenma.
“I dare you…” Kenma says, “to tell us how you’re doing with Iwazumi.”
“Lame!” Oikawa complains.
Tsukishima gives Kenma a weird look, “You could have made him… leave or something. You could’ve dared him to leave. Why would you waste your dare.”
Everyone ignores Tsukishima; waiting excitedly for Oikawa to speak.
“Okay, ok ay ,” Oikawa drawls, “If you must know, we’re doing pretty well. He took me on the best date last weekend…” Oikawa goes on to describe the date in scrupulous detail.
“Okay! Tobio, truth or dare?” Oikawa sings.
Kageyama glares at him, “Dare.”
“Uwa!” Oikawa exclaims, “I dare you to go get me another piece of cake.”
Kuroo raises his eyebrows and Bokuto snickers.
“What!” Oikawa exclaims, “I don’t want to get up!”
Kageyama gets up off of the floor and walks into the kitchen. They can hear him exchange a few words with Akaashi (at some point, Akaashi slunk away to be alone in the kitchen) before he comes back out with a slice of cake that has the letters F and U on it.
Oikawa takes it happily, “Fuck you too, Tobio!”
Oikawa sticks his fork into the cake and takes a bite before beginning to talk with his mouth full, “Alright, Tobio. It’s your turn.”
Kageyama frowns and looks around the room, “Tsukishima.”
“Truth,” he says automatically.
Kageyama takes his sweet time thinking of a question to ask Tsukishima before telling him, “Who was your first romantic partner?”
“That’s kind of a lame question,” Hinata says.
“Shut up!” Kageyama fires back, “I’m not good at this, as you can tell.”
Tsukishima answers promptly, “Yamaguchi.”
“You’re dating him right now!!” Hinata says, stating the obvious.
Kuroo coos at the blond boy, “You mean you’ve only ever dated Yamaguchi? That’s precious!”
Tsukishima blushes, but not as hard as Yamaguchi does.
Bokuto makes a happy noise and gives a thumbs up to the two of them. He cannot speak, as there is pizza in his mouth.
“Okay, I suppose it’s my turn now,” Tsukishima says, “Yamaguchi, truth or dare?”
Yamaguchi has to think about it for a second before saying, “dare.”
Tsukishima smiles at him before saying, “I dare you to kiss me.”
Yamaguchi guffaws before smooching Tsukishima on the cheek, “I would’ve done that even if you hadn't dared me.”
Kuroo is crying because of how pure Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are, and Hinata is crying because now he’s going to have to work extra hard so he and Kenma’s relationship is more pure that their’s.
“My turn!” Yamaguchi says, “Bokuto! Truth or dare?”
“Dare!” Bokuto says, “bring it!”
“Let Kuroo write anything he wants on your forehead… in permanent marker,” Yamaguchi proposes.
Kuroo whips a jumbo sized sharpie out of his pocket, “I always carry this around with me in case of emergencies.”
“Do your worst, bro,” Bokuto says as Kuroo scoots closer to him.
Kuroo kneels in front of Bokuto, writing carefully.
When he moves over, they can all see the writing on his forehead.
It says, ‘CUTE OWL’, which is probably the truest thing anyone can say about Bokuto, even though he doesn’t constantly wear his hair up like he used to.
“What did he write?!” Bokuto asks excitedly, pulling out his phone and switching his camera so he can see his own face, “Bro! That’s…” he wipes away a nonexistent tear, “that’s so sweet…”
Eventually, everyone leaves and the house is occupied again by only Bokuto, Kuroo, Kenma, and Akaashi.
“I’m tired ,” Bokuto groans, “Parties really take it out of me.”
“We barely did anything,” Kenma comments.
“Stop invalidating him,” Kuroo shoots back.
“Please be quiet,” Akaashi calls from the spare room, “I’m sleeping.”
Bokuto and Akaashi had decided to stay the night at Kuroo’s place, as it was pretty dark outside by the time the party ended.
“So,” Kenma says, looking up from his phone where is is undoubtedly texting Hinata, “how is everyone doing?”
Kuroo looks at Kenma strangely, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You guys kissed,” Kenma continues.
“Bros kiss all the time!” Bokuto explains, and Kuroo nods along.
“But… what if you were more than bros…” Kenma says achingly.
Kuroo and Bokuto look at each other, and Kuroo hums, “What do you think, bro?”
“I don’t know, bro,” Bokuto replies
“Bye guys,” Kenma says, leaving the room and walking down the hallway, leaving Bokuto and Kuroo alone with whatever feelings they are harboring.
“Kenma, don’t leave!” Kuroo complains, but Kenma ignores him.
“So,” Bokuto says, looking slightly nervous.
Kuroo inhales deeply, “Okay, I know we’re bros, and I know I acted like it was nothing when we kissed at the party, and I know I’ve never shown any romantic interest in you, and-”
Bokuto puts his hand over Kuroo’s mouth, and says, “Skip to the important part,” before removing his hand.
“Uh,” Kuroo looks around desperately, though for what, no one is quite sure, “I’d like to date you?”
Bokuto grins, and then it softens to something more shy, “Yeah, bro?”
Kuroo nods, “Yeah, bro. I’ve kind of been crushing on you-”
“Oh my God! We get it! You’re in love!” Akaashi yells from the other room, “I’m trying to sleep !”
“The next time you’re trying to confess your love to someone, I’ll make sure to tell you to shut the fuck up!” Kuroo retorts, then turning to look back at Bokuto, “Like I was saying-”
“You’ve said enough, bro,” Bokuto tells him, “I totally want to date you. We can work out the specifics later, because I’m tired.”
Kuroo laughs in relief, “Thank God,” he says, standing up and turning into the hallway towards his bedroom, “I almost thought you were going to reject me.”
Bokuto, however, doesn’t move.
Kuroo looks at him with his eyes, “Why aren’t you coming? Do you not want to sleep in my bed? Oh, dude, I’m sorry I assumed-”
“Pick me up,” Bokuto says seriously.
Kuroo’s eyes sparkle, “Of course, bro… Ooh, I can call you babe now.”
“You could’ve called me babe before and I wouldn’t have thought twice about it,” Bokuto confesses as Kuroo slips his arms under Bokuto and lifts him bridal style, carrying him into his room any laying him onto the bed.
Bokuto sheds his shirt (but not his socks. He’s that type of person) before pulling Kuroo’s blanket over his head. Kuroo does somewhat the opposite, taking off his socks but not his shirt. He snuggles into the bed next to Bokuto.
“Dude,” he whispers, looking at Bokuto’s sleepy face in the dim light, “why do you keep your socks on?”
“Because, dude,” Bokuto returns sleepily, “I get cold.”
“Wouldn’t you get really cold without a shirt?” Kuroo counters.
“My muscles keep me warm,” he mumbles.
“That sounds fake,” Kuroo says, and Bokuto doesn’t reply, save for a mumble of something that sounds suspiciously like ‘do you think pigeons have feelings’ before his breathing begins to even out.
Akaashi has, of course, been listening to this entire encounter from his bed in the guest room. There is an unpleasant look on his face.
“You don’t own him, Keiji,” he whispers to himself, “you don’t have the right to be jealous over this.”
He only sheds a tear or two before falling asleep.