Chapter Text
Kenma hands Kuroo a cup of coffee
Kuroo blinks down at the cup.
“…You made me coffee?”
Kenma doesn’t look at him.
“No. I made coffee. For everyone. You just happened to be here. Here at my apartment.”
But Kuroo smiles into the mug anyway, because it’s the exact way he likes it.
Hinata walks out of his room and sees the smile and wiggles his eyebrows like he knows something.
He doesn’t.
…Probably.
Hinata sets up his little camera for a stream while Kenma adjusts his lighting.
“So,” Kenma says, “we’re doing a 3 playyer morning gaming challenge"
"Winner gets breakfast made for them by the losers!” Hinata jumped up
“You are not cooking for me,” Kenma says instantly.
Kuroo stretches. “Yeah, kid, we all know you’ll just microwave something on fire.”
Hinata gasps in betrayal. “Kuroo!! I can cook some things!”
“Name three,” Kuroo challenges.
“…toast. water.. precut fruit.”
Kenma: “Water is not cooking.”
Hinata: “IT CHANGES TEMPERATURE.”
The bickering fills the apartment, bouncing off the walls, light and yelling.
Kuroo feels himself relaxing despite the noise. Despite the weird, warm twist in his chest every time Kenma’s shoulder brushes his when they squeeze around the coffee table to set up controllers.
Hinata watches them both with a little too much interest.
Then he smirks.
“So… Kuroo. You stayed the night?”
Kenma freezes.
Kuroo chokes on his coffee.
“It was late,” Kenma says quickly, ears slightly pink. “The trains weren't running by the time we finished streaming.”
“Yeah,” Kuroo adds. “And Kenma would cry if I left.”
Kenma elbows him in the ribs.
Hard.
Hinata laughs like he just witnessed a sitcom.
During the game challenge, Kuroo and Kenma end up sitting too close. Not purposely.. Kenma’s couch is big but, Hinata keeps spreading out like a starfish, and cables cross everywhere. Their knees keep knocking. Their shoulders bump. Their hands brush reaching for the same controller wire.
None of it is anything.
None of it means something.
But Kuroo feels each touch like a spark.. and Kenma doesn’t move away, not even once.
Hinata pauses Kenmas straem, looks between the two of them, and says, “You guys play really in sync.”
Kenma shrugs.
Kuroo forces a casual tone. “We’ve been playing together like all night. Obviously we’d be in sync.”
“Yeah,” Hinata says, smiling too knowingly. “Obviously.”
Kenma kicks him under the table.
A Knock at the Door
Right as Hinata sets up for another round, someone knocks.
Kenma sighs. “I swear if that’s Bokuto-” He gets cut off as the door opens.
It is Bokuto.
He bursts in with Akaashi behind him, arms full of snacks.
“HEY HEY HEY! Kuroo! Kenma! Hinata! Surprise morning visit!! We brought— oh? Did someone have a sleepover?”
Akaashi gives Kuroo a calm, assessing stare.
“…You’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday.”
Kuroo opens his mouth.
Kenma opens his mouth.
Hinata raises Kenmas camera like he’s about to film a scandal.
And Kuroo realizes this is exactly how unnecessary rumors start.
Kenma sighs heavily and says, to everyone,
"The trains weren't running the time we got done filming last night.”
Kuroo shoots him a grateful look.
Kenma pretends not to see.
Akaashi nods. “Reasonable.”
Bokuto beams. “Group breakfast then!! Let’s cook!”
Hinata yells, “NO. I’M COOKIN-” but before he could finish, everyone yells, “NO.”
Kuroo watches the chaos unfold.
Kenma moves past him to grab more coffee beans, his hair brushing Kuroo’s arm.
Kuroo feels it.
Kenma probably does too.
But neither says anything.
Slow burn.
Slow steps.
Nothing obvious.
But something is shifting.
And Kuroo knows it.
---
