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All it takes is the soft tingle of bells out in the hallway to get Hinata out of his seat and across the room. Kenma doesn’t even get a chance to knock before the door is thrown open and Hinata flings his arms around his shoulders with an enthusiastic shout.
“Shouyou.” Kenma’s voice is muffled against Hinata’s shoulder. “I can’t breathe.”
“Right, sorry,” Hinata laughs. Despite his words, it takes a while before he disentangles himself. Even then, he can’t seem to let go completely; he’s still holding onto Kenma’s sleeve with one hand, which he uses to pull the other in after him.
Tsukishima isn’t paying attention to this. He’s more focused on the cat that slipped inside moments after the door was opened. It approaches the table Tsukishima is sitting at. Before it can so much move another paw, Tsukishima closes his book and glares. “No,” he says, voice stern, only to have the cat completely ignore him as it jumps onto one of the mismatched chairs. A few seconds and a rush of magic later, the cat has been replaced by a grinning Kuroo.
“Don’t be like that,” he grins. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”
Tsukishima gives him a flat look. “I’d rather watch Hinata try a new spell for two hours straight than have to suffer through a conversation with you.”
“Ouch. You wound me, Tsukki,” Kuroo places a hand over his heart. “Right here.”
“I’m leaving,” Tsukishima says and stands up. Before he can get far, Kuroo catches him around the wrist and pulls him back into his seat. Tsukishima resists the urge to jerk his arm away. The touch of winter magic is always vaguely unpleasant to a summer being like him, and Kuroo is no exception.
Kuroo must be feeling it as well but, to his credit, he doesn’t show it. “Don’t interrupt them,” he says insistently.
Only then does Tsukishima bother to look at where Kenma and Hinata are huddled together on the couch. Their heads are bent together over Hinata’s laptop, closer than most people would be comfortable with. Occasionally a whisper passes between them, to soft for Tsukishima to make out any words.
“What are they doing?” he asks, a little hesitantly. It isn’t as if those two working together is guaranteed to end in disaster, but chances are pretty high.
Kuroo sighs. “Not something we can help with.”
Tsukishima studies him closely. He knows that Kuroo is only this vague when he has something to hide. “You don’t know, do you?” is what he eventually settles on, and Kuroo’s answering wince is enough to tell him he’s right.
“Not exactly,” Kuroo admits. “But I know enough to tell you that you’re not going to want to be here to witness it.”
Right at that moment, a loud giggle sounds from the direction of the couch. Tsukishima lifts an eyebrow. “It doesn’t really sound like there’s something sinister going on.”
Kuroo shifts uneasily. That small display of weakness is more than he usually shows, and it’s what eventually convinces Tsukishima that he’s being serious, even when his unease morphs into another unconcerned grin. “Well,” he says. “Since those two are cozying up together, why don’t we go have some fun as well?”
“Fine,” Tsukishima gives in. “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s go get ice cream,” Kuroo says, without even having to take a moment to think about his answer. “It’s hot as hell out.”
“It’s barely twenty degrees out,” Tsukishima counters. Not cold at all, but not hot as Hell either.
Kuroo gestures empathically out the window, which provides an excellent view of the cloudless sky. “Exactly. Way too warm out. How are you not—” He cuts himself off, rubbing his neck in embarrassment when Tsukishima raises an eyebrow. “Right. Of course.”
Tsukishima would have replied with something witty and sarcastic just then, if a wave of magic hadn’t made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It’s cold and unforgiving, but with a hint of something reminiscent of a lightning strike that he’d recognize anywhere. He’s felt it many times before, when Hinata is performing a spell, though the sensation is much stronger then than it is now.
A quick look at Hinata and Kenma tells him why. Kenma is cupping something in his hands, eyes closed in concentration. Hinata’s fingers are tangled with his, but it’s clear he’s only playing a minor part in whatever spell they’re performing.
As if the feeling of Kenma’s magic wasn’t enough to unsettle him already, a strange sound fills the air. It sounds like the beat of a heart, but there’s something distinctly off about it that has Tsukishima’s entire body screaming for him to run away.
For his part, Kuroo seems to be a lot less effected, but he still readily agrees when Tsukishima tells him he knows a place nearby where they can get ice cream.
“Okay,” Kuroo says when they’re finally outside. The magic is still present here, but it’s not as intense. “What the fuck was that?”
Tsukishima sets off down the street without responding and Kuroo falls into step beside him. They avoid the cracks in the concrete effortlessly; Tsukishima with an ease born of familiarity, Kuroo with the natural grace his cat form gives him.
“I mean, Kenma’s magic is never what I'd call pleasant,” Kuroo continues. “But it’s never been this bad before.”
“It was a powerful spell,” Tsukishima says, frowning. “Maybe you’ve just never seen him go all out before.”
“Yeah,” Kuroo hums. “Maybe.” He seems unconvinced, but doesn’t spend any more time on the subject. Instead, he starts asking Tsukishima all kinds of annoying questions, most of which don't get an answer. This is routine for them; Kuroo asks questions, and Tsukishima ignores or insults him.
He can’t help but noticing, however, that Kuroo keeps drifting closer to him. They never quite touch, though; Kuroo is careful to avoid the unpleasant sensation that would bring about. Still, Tsukishima thinks he wouldn’t really mind a little bit of pain if Kuroo was the one hurting him.
Kenma’s hands are cold, but not in a bad way. The sensation is actually quite soothing to Hinata’s skin, which is burning hot with magic. He’s not doing much aside from supplying power for Kenma to use, so there's a lot of power running through his body. Subtle spells have always been tricky for him - he has a tendency to use way too much magic, which is why he prefers using a conduit whenever possible - but he can handle something like this, which just requires a ton of raw power from his side.
Performing magic together with Kenma is nice; he can supply the power and Kenma only has to send it in the right direction. It’s one of the few times when Hinata can just relax while performing a spell, instead of having to strain to focus.
Kenma’s fingers twitching beneath his is the first sign Hinata gets that they’re done.
“Did it work?” he asks almost as soon as Kenma opens his eyes.
There’s a moment of hesitation, during which Kenma looks down at the pile of small bones in his hands. “I’m not sure,” he admits, biting his lip. Hinata has difficulty tearing his eyes away from the sight, but he eventually looks down at the bones as well.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Hinata tries to sound encouraging. Judging by the shuddering sigh Kenma lets out, he didn’t succeed.
The two of them stare at the bones for what seems like an eternity before something finally happens. A slight movement of the bones, slowly sliding around in Kenma’s hands and assembling into the shape of an animal. Hinata makes a little noise of excitement and starts to send power through his hands. He can feel Kenma take a hold of it with his own magic, wrapping around it and guiding it towards where it needs to be.
Flesh starts forming around the bones. The process takes a while, but afterwards a seemingly lifeless mouse lies in Kenma’s hand. Before Hinata can express his disappointment at having failed, the heartbeat hanging in the air fades away and the mouse lift its head. It blinks its tiny eyes before scuttling up to nestle itself in the crook of Kenma’s shoulder.
Hinata bounces a little on the couch. “We did it!”
“It worked,” Kenma whispers, staring ahead with a vacant expression. “It actually worked.”
“I know! It’s amazing right?” Hinata doesn’t bother waiting for an answer. “You're amazing, Kenma.” Without even realizing that he's doing it, he leans forward to place a quick peck on Kenma’s lips. He’s just so happy that it worked, that Kenma succeeded – he just can’t control himself. Though, admittedly, the large amount of magic he used might have him feeling a little delirious.
Kenma blinks at him, but says nothing. Hinata pulls away a little sheepishly. “You created life,” he says, partly as an excuse for his behavior and partly because he can’t get over how incredible that is.
“I did,” Kenma says. “I’ve done it before, of course,” he adds, like that’s not at all impressive. Hinata supposes that for a necromancer like Kenma it isn’t, really. “But never with something that’s been dead long enough for all the flesh to decompose.”
He absently untangles one of his hands from Hinata’s and uses it to stroke the mouse he just brought to life. He brings the hand that’s still holding Hinata’s up to his mouth to press a quick kiss to Hinata’s knuckles. “Thank you, Shouyou.” He breathes the words against Hinata’s skin, and the warmth from his breath is a nice contrast to the cold of his lips and hand.
“What are you thanking me for?” Hinata laughs. “You’re the one who did all the hard work.”
Kenma doesn’t bother denying this. He knows it doesn’t cost Hinata a lot of effort to let his magic flow. Instead, he smiles against Hinata’s knuckles and says, “For being there when I needed you.”
“Of course. You’d do the same for me,” Hinata responds. He leans his forehead against Kenma’s and they stay like that, content to spend some time in silence until Tsukishima and Kuroo return.