Chapter Text
"So," Kenma begins as he sits down at the table across from Kuroo, "what's with the surprise visit?" He chose not to bring up the fact they hadn't seen each other in nearly three years. Or the other elephant in the room.
Kuroo clears is throat before he takes a sip of the tea that Kenma had handed to him moments before. It's been prepared for him just the way he likes it and he can't help but smile that Kenma had remembered.
"Kazuko left me. Well, left us." He nods towards the baby that's sitting on his lap, who is currently preoccupied with chewing on the teething ring in her hands. "I should've seen it coming," he continues on, running a free hand over his face. "She'd been distant for a while, would always come home late, and then I came home today to both mine and Akane's things sitting in the living room."
Kenma gulps. He's tempted to tell Kuroo that he knew Kazuko wasn't good enough for him, but he doesn't. Instead, he bites his tongue. Him not being able to accept Kazuko as Kuroo's girlfriend had been one of the main reasons they stopped talking.
"I'm sorry, Kuro," he offers. He takes a sip of how own tea. "Do you have anywhere to stay?"
"Yeah. Ended up getting a room at one of the hotels not far from here."
"Stay here," Kenma says without even missing a beat. He isn't sure what came over him, but the idea of Kuroo, and Akane, living out of a hotel room for who knows how long didn't sit right with him. Plus, he had more than enough space. "I have an extra room. I mean, it's my studio, but my bedroom is big enough to move it in there."
"What? Kenma…no. I couldn't impose on you like that. This is your space."
Kenma shakes his head. "Kuroo, it's fine. I promise. It's not that big of a deal."
"If you're sure…then okay, alright. Thanks, Kitten." Kuroo offers him a smile and Kenma finds himself smiling in return, cheeks red from the old nickname. How did one word still have such a hold over him?
It wasn't like Kuroo hadn't been calling him that since high school.
"You're welcome." He takes another drink of tea, letting the room envelope in silence. He'll have to do a bit more than just moving his setup to make the apartment a bit more livable, especially for a baby, but he'd make a list later. For now, he'll just let himself enjoy Kuroo's company, as well as just let himself relax. He loved Hinata, but sometimes his energy just sucked Kenma's own right out of him.
"You know," Kuroo begins, shifting a bit in his seat, "I really missed you."
"I missed you too, Kuro." He bites his lip, hesitating on the next part. He knows he should just let it out, but he really isn't sure if now was the right time, but it was better now than never, right? "Listen…I'm sorry about back then. I shouldn't have said everything I did, I wasn't being a very good friend."
"Kitten, no. No, it's alright," Kuroo responds with a soft sigh. "I should be the one apologizing. You were just being a good friend, trying to stop me from getting hurt. I should have never walked away from you, from our friendship. I'm so sorry I did."
Kenma feels himself gulping again, this time trying to get rid of the knot that had formed in his throat. Tears were burning his eyes and he did his best to blink them away. "I mean, I kinda forced you into it," he tries to joke, but his voice ends up cracking. It causes Kuroo to move quickly, placing Akane in her car seat before he's pulling Kenma into a hug, arms wrapping around him tight.
"No, I was an idiot. Don't blame yourself," the alpha says softly. Kenma only buries his face into his neck, inhaling the warm scent of nutmeg that he'd missed so much. It was oddly calming for him. He guesses it was because it'd been a scent he's known since childhood, the scent of someone who took care of him for so long.
He isn't sure how long it's been when he finally pulls away from Kuroo, gently wiping his eyes with the back of his hand as he did. "Alright?" Kuroo asks and Kenma nods in response. "Good."
"You should go get your stuff." Kuroo just waves him off.
"I'll get it later. I want to catch up with you."
"Kuro…we have forever to catch up. You're about to move in with me."
"You make a good point."
Kenma laughs softly, shooting him a slight smirk. "I always do."
_________
"Okay, that should be the last of it," Kuroo announces as he sets a large, red duffle bag on the floor of what used to be Kenma's office. He takes a deep breath and looks around the room. It was bare, aside from the various bags, but he knew that he'd be able to make it look livable once he got the aforementioned bags unpacked (and some furniture).
"We can go and pick a crib up for her tomorrow?" Kenma asks, almost as if reading his mind. "Until then, I've got a playpen that's used for when Hinata and Ren come over." He glances over at the nine month old who is currently busy babbling to herself as she plays with a few toys that Kenma had dug out of the closet for her.
Kuroo sighs softly. "I should probably go and pick up the last of her things, honestly."
"Don't worry, we'll replace them. It's no problem." Kenma knows that his friend would rather not deal with his ex-girlfriend right now and he can't blame him at all. And he was more than happy to get them both whatever they needed if it saved his best friend from more stress.
"You're sure?"
"How long have you known me, Kuro?"
"Yeah, alright, you're right. Thanks, Kitten." Kenma chooses to ignore how the nickname made his cheeks flare up with heat. He simply clears his throat and turns to leave the room.
"You're welcome."
Kenma takes a deep breath after stopping in front of the closet. He urges his cheeks to go back to normal and his heart beat to slow to a slower pace. How does Kuroo still get to him like this after all these years? It didn't make any sense to him. Sure he was still just as handsome, but he should have gotten over him by now, especially with how bad he'd hurt him when he had left.
He quickly grabs the playpen once he's calmed down and makes his way back to what has now been dubbed Kuroo's room. "Alright, here's the playpen. After you get situated, we can look into ordering some furniture?"
Kuroo gives a nod. "Sounds like a plan. Got a futon or am I taking up the couch tonight?" Kenma snorts and rolls his eyes playfully.
"Too good for the floor?"
"Me? No. My body at this age? Absolutely. Not as young as I used to be," he jokes.
"In that case, I've got a futon. I'll go look for it here soon."
"Thanks, Kenma."
"It's no problem. I mean it." Kenma freezes when Kuroo walks over to him and hugs him. The hug is tight and warm. It would be easy for Kenma to melt into it, but he doesn't. Instead, he gives him a quick squeeze before gently pushing him away.
"You're such a softie."
"Never heard you complain back when you were constantly asking me to keep you warm with cuddles." Kename sticks out his tongue, face scrunched up in faux anger.
"That was back then. A lot has changed in the last few years."
"Yeah, I can see that." Kenma doesn't miss the way that Kuroo looks him up and down. He also doesn't miss the faint scent of arousal coming from the older male. He gulps and quickly turns towards the door.
"I'll see you later. Just let me know when you're done setting up and we'll look at furniture." He doesn't wait for Kuroo's response before he quickly leaves the room, heart pounding wildly.
Shit.
_________
There's a gentle knock at Kenma's door. The blond pauses his stream and mutes himself, letting his viewers know he'll be right back. "Come in," he calls, turning so he's facing the door.
"Hey, sorry to bother you," Kuroo says as he peeks his head inside the room, giving Kenma an apologetic look.
"Don't worry about it, you're not. What's up?"
"I was just wondering if I can sit in here with you? I can't sleep."
"Sure," Kenma responds, doing his best to conceal his surprise. Kuroo hadn't asked to join Kenma since before they'd quit talking. He had always told him that there was something else he needed to do or he had to be somewhere else. At some point, Kenma had just stopped asking him. "I put my extra chair by my closet.”
“What’s tonight’s game?” Kuroo asks once he’s grabbed the chair. He sits beside Kenma, just out of sight from the camera.
“Animal Crossing. I’m fucking around with my island again.”
“Guess some things never change.”
“Nope,” Kenma responds, putting emphasis on the ‘p.’ He turns back to his screen and unmutes himself. “Sorry about that.” He leaves it at that, not wanting to explain things at the moment. And he was sure Kuroo didn’t want him throwing him right back into the chaos so soon.
They fall into a comfortable silence. The only noise is the sound of the game, the pings from stream, and the occasional comment from Kenma to his chat. Kuroo just sits back and watches him, just like he used to do. He smiles at Kenma's commentary and the little quips he shoots the chat. It almost makes it seem as if nothing had changed at all; as if Kuroo had been here all along.
But he hadn’t been and he would be doing his best to make up for it. Not just to Kenma, but to everyone else he had left behind. He’d make everything right again.
“What type of island are you planning?”
Kenma looks away from his screen, glancing quickly at Kuroo, then looks back to the screen of his switch. He doesn’t speak for a couple moments and Kuroo wonders if maybe he’d made a mistake by talking, but then Kenma shrugs in response.
“Dark cottage core won the vote over on Twitter, so I’ve been planning some thing around that.” His eyes move to his computer screen and he snorts in amusement. “No, that’s not my boyfriend,” he responds, rolling his eyes in the process. ”No, not tonight. Maybe next time.”
Things fall near silent again and at some point, Kuroo finds himself being lulled to sleep by the calming music of the game. He doesn’t remember dozing off, honestly. He knows he had though, because when he wakes up fully, the lights are off and the computer has been shut down. Kenma is also no longer in his gaming chair, but when Kuroo turns around, he sees him curled up in bed on his phone.
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
Kuroo blinks a couple of times before it registers in his brain that Kenma is talking to him. He shakes his head.
“It’s fine. Sorry that I passed out.” Kenma just shrugs in response.
“It’s fine.”
Kuroo nods in response, then stands and stretches. “How long was I out?”
“Not long. A couple of hours. I stopped streaming about half an hour ago.” Another nod and then a yawn. “You should go to bed.”
“Probably. Akane likes to get up early.” He chuckles softly at the way Kenma wrinkles his nose. He guesses he’s still not much of a morning person. “Good night, Kitten
“Night, Kuro.”