Haikyuu One Shots

Kuroken: Too Late

Kenma was trying to ignore all his feelings.

He was trying to ignore all the things he'd noticed.

He was trying to ignore how tall his teammate had become, how muscular he had become, how sharpened his jawline had become.

He was trying to ignore how utterly perfect his teammate and childhood friend, Kuroo Tetsurou, had become.

And it wasn't only his physical features either! That was what had been really bothering Kenma. Ever since they had gotten out of their weird middle school phase, him and Kuroo had been growing closer. Now Kuroo will regularly have his arm around Kenma, or his hand on his shoulder, or just be leaning up against him. When Kenma is sick Kuroo will bring him soup. Kuroo will regularly eat dinner at Kenma's house (one time he even came home from a late tutoring session to Kuroo eating with his parents! Without him!).

Kuroo pokes fun at Kenma, but only ever in a jokingly way. When their teammates are doing something stupid, Kuroo will lean in real close and whisper some snarky joke in Kenma's ear. Kuroo will walk home with him, just talking about anything that's on his mind.

Kuroo makes sure that Kenma eats enough, he makes sure that he gets enough sleep and doesn't stay up too late playing video games (Kenma gets a text almost every night telling him to go to sleep, he only listens sometimes). Kuroo even chastises his other teammates for giving Kenma a hard time.

These are all things that Kenma had been trying really very hard not to notice. He has been failing miserably.

Kenma leaves his house at the same time every morning to walk to school. He knows that his house is not on Kuroo's way to the school, but at that same time every day, Kuroo is rounding the corner and walking down the street towards Kenma's house. So Kenma waits for him, and they walk to school together.

"You look more tired than usual," Kuroo says. Definitely the observant type.

"Believe it or not, I actually was up late studying this time, not playing video games." It was true. Kenma tutored middle school students to make a little cash, and last night it had taken longer than he thought it would. He came home to an essay, a reading assignment, and two tests to study for.

"You know, if you ever need help with anything you can call me," Kuroo says. Despite his looks, Kuroo actually was quite smart. He had already passed his college entrance exams and had decided where he was going to go. He had taken all the classes Kenma was currently taking, but the information wasn't the issue for Kenma. It was focusing. He had never been that good at focusing on one thing at a time for long periods of time, so assignments always took him longer than usual. He had found that talking to someone while doing work did help, though. And Kuroo knew that.

"Yeah, I know. I just don't want to keep you up, you know?"

"Don't even worry about it! With all the school stress pretty much over for now, I have nothing to do with myself. I think I'm getting too much sleep! Is that a thing?" Kuroo asks. Maybe not the smartest at everything.

"Probably." Kenma spends the rest of the walk to school silently listening to Kuroo's stories and tangents. He likes this routine. He likes listening to stories and he likes the sound of Kuroo's voice.

Kenma hates being a year younger than Kuroo. He only gets to see him during lunch and practice and has to spend all his classes with people who either he doesn't like or who don't like him.

After practice, while Kenma and Kuroo were walking home, Kenma noticed that Kuroo was being awfully quiet. It's pretty unusual that the two take ten steps before Kuroo starts talking.

"Everything okay with you today?" Kenma asks, not looking up.

"Does it seem like it's not?" Kuroo responds flatly.

"Yeah, kinda. You aren't talking as much as you usually do, you weren't in practice either."

"Well, maybe I'm just tired."

"Are you?" Kenma finally looks up at Kuroo. They make eye contact and then Kuroo looks ahead again.

"Not really."

Kenma decides to say nothing. If Kuroo wanted to talk about it he would. However much Kenma cares about his friend, he knows that he can't make Kuroo say anything he doesn't want to say.

They walk in silence for a few minutes. It's a warm night, warmer than usual. This was Kenma's favorite time of day. The sun had just set, so there was still a warm glow over the horizon. It was warm and you could hear the cicadas and the frogs ((17 year cicadas 2020 babey)). It was a perfect temperature, a perfect night.

But something still felt off. 

"I'm barely going to see you after I graduate," Kuroo says finally. Kenma looks up in surprise. Kuroo laughs a little bit. "I got a bunch of stuff from college today. I have my own college email now along with a sweatshirt and a key chain. Somehow it all just feels even more real, now. And I just... I can't stop thinking about how..." Kuroo trails off.

"I dunno. You won't be that far away, but you'll be pretty busy, probably. You'll be on the volleyball team there, right?" Kenma asks, but he knows this isn't what Kuroo wants to talk about.

"Yeah..." Kuroo pauses. "I think I tried to ignore it for so long that I didn't realize how little time I had left."

Kenma knows what he wants Kuroo to mean with that. He wants Kuroo to be saying how he had been ignoring his feelings and that now was the time to come forward.

But he couldn't get his hopes up too much.

"I think we all do that sometimes. We think we can last another day, another week, maybe even another month before we have to acknowledge that something is happening, or that something is wrong, or just simply different. It makes it easier. But before you know it, everything comes crashing down right before your eyes," Kenma says. He's seen it happen before, he knows how much it can hurt a person. He just doesn't want that to happen to him. Or Kuroo.

"Things just never turn out the way you want them to, do they?"

"Not if you don't try," Kenma says looking up at Kuroo.

They had reached Kenma's house. Kenma turns to face Kuroo.

"Whatever is bothering you, I want to help. If it's just college, I don't know how much I can do about that, but if there is something else, I want to help." Kenma searches Kuroo's eyes for something, anything, to grasp onto. "Please, let me help."

Kuroo pauses, looking at Kenma. And in that moment, his entire friendship with Kenma flashed before his eyes. When they first met and Kuroo was too shy to talk to anyone. When they joined the volleyball team together. All the late nights playing video games. When Kenma came to high school and they had their first practice together as members of the Nekoma Volleyball Team. All the early mornings before school and all the dinners after practices and every moment he had ever spent with his best friend and favorite person.

Suddenly Kuroo wraps his arms around Kenma and pulls him into a hug.

"I can't imagine life without you. I don't know if I can do it." Kenma flinches in surprise, but quickly puts his arms around his friend in comfort. This was not what he was expecting.

"You'll be fine, you'll love colle-"

"No, Kenma!" Kuroo pulls back so he is facing Kenma but his hands are still on the other boy's shoulders. "I have loved you since we were little and I've been too much of a coward to say anything and now it's too late!" Tears start to well in his eyes.

"Oh, my Tetsurou. It's never too late," Kenma says softly. He puts his hand on Kuroo's cheek and slowly leans in, his lips softly touching the other boy's. Kuroo places one hand on the back of Kenma's head and the other on his lower back, deepening the kiss. After a few seconds, they pull away with quickened breaths.

"It's never too late for us."

lmao my writing skill has gone down so much and i'm STILL super fucking lonely

anyway i do enjoy me some fluff