heart-shaped space || kuroken

how to find

Kuroo Tetsurou had always really liked the sea.

He is reminded of exactly how much as he descends the stairs with Bokuto following behind him, the older taking two steps at a time and hoping not to trip because he knew Kuroo would laugh at him.

That would be terribly embarrassing.

The lights are still just as dimmed as he remembered, the cave opening still painted the same way with the vines and the cracked green paint. The fish tanks were still just as big and blue and limitless, except there were many colors on scales and the rhythm in which they pouted back at him through the glass was different, too.

"Why are we here again?" Bokuto asks, his voice slightly rough against the murmurs of the water and people around them, their footsteps silent among the quiet.

"To look at the fish. Isn't that what you wanted?" Kuroo asks, running a hand through his black hair and spotting orange coral, the vague memory like smoke at the top of his head.

"No. I wanted to do something fun. This is science. Only you and Keiji would like this." Bokuto bends over slightly once they stopped in front of the coral, golden eyes brimming with a curiosity Kuroo knew he'd never admit to him, fish swimming past his nose and trying to find something else to be interested in.

"You liked it when we came here last time."

"I was also eight and found everything fun." Bokuto pouts, standing with his hands on his hips as he looks at Kuroo. "Of course you'd wanna stop here first. Big nerd."

"That means your precious fiancé is a big nerd too, since he would also like this, just like you said," Kuroo says, and Bokuto's eyes widen a little at the realization before Kuroo even tells him the last part. "And I'm gonna tell him you said that."

"This is such an interesting place to be!" Bokuto smiles wide, fake, staring at the fish in front of him. "How lucky am I to be at a fun science museum! So not nerdy!"

Kuroo hums in response, happy that he got Bokuto to agree to stay here with him, even if it wasn't wholehearted.

He would accept it.

"Oh! Let's go see the seahorses!" Kuroo pipes up, remembering one of the reasons why he came back here in the first place. "They might have put new ones in the exhibit."

Bokuto pouts slightly in thought, sliding his hands in his pockets with a shrug, the fleeting glint of the silver band around his ring finger winking at Kuroo before being hidden away in the denim.

"If you want. I wanna see the flowers after."

Kuroo nods, not really finding anything better to do beforehand, and makes his way over to where he last remembered. There were jellyfish to the left, the same napalm ones from when he was eight, white plumes floating in the water like fog.

They swam away from them as they passed it.

Kuroo bends down slightly as he sees the familiar sea creatures, floating among the green seaweed, like lost rubies. They were not in pairs today, mostly by themselves, their tiny fins flitting wildly behind them as they clung to the green arms of the seaweed.

There were orange and yellow ones among the red that Kuroo spotted, thinking the colors were pretty in this little corner of the tank.

"You wanna get yakiniku for lunch?" Kuroo asks absentmindedly, knowing that Bokuto mostly thought with his stomach and heart and every other organ save for his brain, hoping to entice him to stay here a little longer.

"Do you even have to ask?"

Kuroo listens to the sound of the underwater currents, hushed as they dance noisily among the corals and seaweeds. There are sounds of footsteps and people having conversations behind them, a lot louder than what he remembered from coming here last time.