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Not Part of the Plan

Chapter 25: chapter 25

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

 

 

 

Blowing his whistle loudly throughout the gym, drawing the attention of all of his kids towards him, Kuroo said firmly, “Alright guys! Your parents are coming to pick you up soon so it’s time to start cleaning up!”

 

“Five more minutes, Coach Kuroo!” One of his students exclaimed, making others join in too with their pleading. “Please!”

 

“I know, I know.” Kuroo laughed as they all stared up at him with their big puppy dog eyes. “How about next practice we play a little longer, okay? Sounds good?”

 

When they all chanted out different forms of agreement, Kuroo grinned and sent them on their way to start cleaning up the gym. Helping the kids who had started collecting all of the stray volleyballs since they were still too small to carry more than one in their arms, they all quickly finished tidying up, finishing just in time as the first parent arrived at the gym to pick up their kid.

 

Playing games and giving piggyback rides to all of the kids who had still yet to be picked up, Kuroo still couldn’t help but find his new reality a little unbelievable. He was still only teaching little kids volleyball, but even that brought him an immense sense of pride. He didn’t care if he wasn’t teaching more advanced students or even kids completely new to the game, being able to see the look on their face when they received their first ball or hit their first spike was enough.

 

Sending off his last kid with a wave, Kuroo locked up the gym and headed towards the main building. Stepping into the empty staff room, Kuroo tossed his bag into one of the chairs lining the long table in the middle of the room and went to heat up his lunch. He was usually alone on the mornings during the weekends, but after lunch he had a student from one of the nearby high schools who had asked to shadow him during practices as well as another one of the coaches he worked with who would be joining them.

 

Scrolling through his phone aimlessly as he ate, Kuroo got a notification on his screen, letting him know that one of Kenma’s streams were starting.

 

A stupid smile formed on his face. So what if he was whipped? He didn’t care, he loved his boyfriend.

 

Kuroo paused.

 

Oh.

 

Nope, Kuroo thought as he shook the thought out of his head, he was just going to unpack that later. Preferably not in this ancient staff room where it smelt kind of funky and the ceiling tiles had suspicious stains on them.

 

Pretending as though he hadn’t just hit a major milestone in his relationship, Kuroo settled back into his seat and joined Kenma’s stream. 

 

“Hi guys,” Kenma said to everyone as they join the stream, flicking his gaze every so often between the chat and his game screen as he finished setting up. “I know it’s been awhile since I’ve been active on here so I was thinking we could just do something easy today and answer questions in the chat.”

 

A tiny smile formed on Kuroo’s lips as he watched all of Kenma’s fan’s comments whiz by. They were always so supportive of him. Kenma still worried that he would end up doing something wrong and end up disappointing his fan base, but Kuroo was pretty sure if they had stuck around this long after a multiple year hiatus when Eiko had first been born and then an even more infrequent posting schedule as she grew up, that Kenma would be perfectly fine.

 

Watching in content as Kenma went through all of the chat’s questions, Kuroo looked up in interest when he saw a fond expression wash over his boyfriend’s face.

 

“How has life been for me lately?” Kenma said, repeating the question for everyone before saying with a tiny smile, “Really good.”

 

“Why?” His tiny smile turned into something much sneakier. “It just has been, maybe because of certain people.”

 

Kenma goes silent for a moment as he finished a difficult combo in his game before returning his gaze back to the chat. The grin that took place on his face was probably earth shattering for his fans when he answered the next question. “Do I have a partner? Hm, I don’t know, but I do have lots of special people in my life right now.”

 

Kuroo felt a little floaty. He wasn’t even sure that Kenma was addressing him specifically, but seeing Kenma enjoying himself like this and messing with his fans made his heart soar.

 

In the corner of the screen, Kuroo caught sight of a moving abomination of wrinkly skin before moments later, Fluffy lept up onto Kenma’s desk, almost knocking over his microphone in the process. The look of pure exasperation in Kenma’s eyes was worth gold.

 

Trying to steer the cat off of his desk so he could finally get back to his stream again, Kenma sighed in resignation and let Fluffy climb on top of his lap, begrudgingly petting her when she demanded more attention with little head butts to his chest.

 

Once he had finally settled back in, Kenma rolled his chair up closer to the desk and squinted at the chat box, no doubt seeing all of the excited comments asking when he had gotten a cat and what her name was.

 

“Oh, yeah. I guess I never told you guys,” Kenma said with a shrug of his shoulders. “This is Fluffy, I got her from a shelter a few weeks ago so she’s still pretty new.”

 

“No, I don’t have allergies.” Kenma answered the chat in amusement.

 

Tuning out a little as he finished up the rest of his lunch while Kenma went through the rest of the chat’s questions, he perked up the slightest bit when he heard Kenma laugh.

 

“No, I definitely wouldn’t say I like Sphynx cats.” Kenma smirked in response, making Kuroo huff out a breath of laughter to himself. Sometimes Kenma still freaked out when the cat appeared out of nowhere, acting like she had just jump scared him in a horror movie.

 

“So why did I choose her then? Kenma said, repeating the comment and pausing in thought for the briefest of seconds before saying, “I didn’t choose her, my daughter did.”

 

Kuroo dropped his phone to the table and started smacking his chest when he choked on his food.

 

What the fuck.

 

Internally, Kuroo’s brain was stuck on a loop of endless keyboard smashing.

 

Scrambling to pick up his phone again, Kuroo saw how Kenma had gone back to the game he had been playing before the cat had interrupted the stream, completely ignoring the chaos that was ensuing in the chat.

 

If he had been anyone else, he probably would have thought Kenma seemed perfectly fine, unaffected even. He knew Kenma now though so he was able to pick up on just how anxious his boyfriend really was feeling at that moment.

 

He was good at hiding it, he wouldn’t have gotten this far if he hadn’t been. It was subtle, but his eyes would flick to the chat screen at lightning speed. He probably couldn’t even read what his fans were commenting like that, but that didn’t seem to deter him in the slightest. He seemed to be having trouble focusing too since he kept slipping up on attack combos that even Kuroo who barely knew anything about gaming knew he should have been able to execute flawlessly.

 

Chewing at his lip in thought, Kuroo weighed the pros and cons of contacting Kenma right now. He didn’t want to add more stress to what was already being piled up on top of him. Texting him was also risky since his fans seemed to be in an understandably curious mood after having that major bomb dropped on them. 

 

Kuroo frowned. He couldn’t just leave Kenma like this, maybe he could even use getting a text from him as an excuse to go on break or end the stream altogether so he could get a breather.

 

Exiting Kenma’s stream, Kuroo hovered his finger over his keyboard, trying to think of what he should say to Kenma. 

 

“Kuroo.”

 

Looking over his shoulder in surprise, he was met with his boss poking their head inside of the staff room. Pointing back into the hallway, they said, “Are you almost done in here? Because that kid who’s shadowing you is here now.”

 

“Oh, yeah!” Kuroo blinked in surprise. “I’ll be right there.”

 




Shutting the front door behind him, Kuroo kicked off his shoes into the genkan and made a beeline straight to the kitchen where he heard Kenma opening and closing cabinets. 

 

Not even bothering to announce his presence to his boyfriend, he came up behind him and wrapped him in a tight hug, squeezing the life out of him. 

 

“Hi, Kuro,” Kenma laughed though there was a hint of underlying unease in his voice.

 

Kissing the top of his head, Kuroo murmured into his ear, “I’m so proud of you.”

 

“For what?” Kenma asked, trying to address anything other than the massive elephant in the room.

 

Kuroo chidingly knocked his head against Kenma’s and said, “For telling them about her.”

 

“So you know too then, huh?” Kenma sighed tiredly.

 

Kuroo nodded. “I was watching your stream during my lunch break.”

 

The tips of Kenma’s ears turn pink as he grumbled, “That’s embarrassing.”

 

Ignoring his comment, Kuroo finally released Kenma from his death grip, instead loosely resting his arms on him now and asked him, “So why did you decide to tell them now?”

 

A tiny smile formed on Kenma’s face. “Eiko tried to make me lunch today.”

 

Kuroo blinked in confusion but still asked out of reflex, “Was it any good?”

 

“No,” Kenma laughed. “It was god awful, but she was so proud of herself and it was just so cute Kuro. I wanted to be able to tell them all about it. I guess I was just tired of hiding.”

 

“So you wanted to stop hiding Eiko because of Eiko,” Kuroo said slowly, the corners of his lips curling up in amusement at the irony of it all.

 

“I mean, when you put it like that,” Kenma said, huffing out a breath of laughter.

 

Kuroo grinned and leaned his weight even further against his boyfriend, saying in a slightly muffled voice as he rested his head on top of Kenma, “Hey, did I tell you I was proud of you yet?”

 

“Yes Kuro, you did,” Kenma said with fondness lacing his tone.

 

“Good." Kuroo nodded in satisfaction. “ ‘Cause I'm so proud of you. I know that this is really big for you.”

 

Kuroo felt Kenma nod his head up and down from his position on top of him. He didn’t say anything for a while. Once Kuroo took note of that he felt just how tense Kenma’s muscles had gotten underneath him and he could see him gripping the edge of the counter nervously. 

 

Peeking his head over so he could see Kenma’s face, Kuroo frowned when he was met with a blank look on his boyfriend’s face. That hardly ever meant any good.

 

But before he could get the chance to figure out how he should help with whatever his boyfriend was dealing with, Kenma met his gaze.

 

“I’m scared, Kuro,” Kenma said quietly. “I feel like I made a mistake.”

 

Kuroo’s heart wilted at the helpless expression on Kenma’s face. Pulling him back into his chest comfortingly, Kuroo murmured gently, “It’s going to be okay, Kenma.”

 

Kenma nodded silently in acceptance and then rested his head back against Kuroo’s shoulder with a heavy sigh.

 

“Okay, Kuro.”

 




“Kuro’s house! Kuro’s house! Kuro’s house!”

 

“Eiko,” Kenma chided. “I know you’re having fun, but we need to keep our voices down, we can’t be bugging Kuro’s neighbors this late.”

 

“Okay, sorry Daddy!” Eiko said at a much more acceptable volume before skipping off again and whispering, “Kuro’s house! Kuro’s house!”

 

Kuroo grinned to himself in amusement as he watched her skip down the hallway towards his apartment, glancing at Kenma and laughing when he saw the look of exasperation on his face.

 

Stopping before his door, Eiko watched him, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet as he unlocked the door. The look of childlike wonder on her face when he swung the door open and gestured for her to go inside made Kuroo’s heart soar. He hoped she never lost that quality about her as she grew older.

 

Flicking the lights on, Kuroo briefly felt a little self conscious of his tiny one bedroom apartment. He knew his worry was all for nothing considering Eiko’s reactions already, but compared to her and Kenma’s home, it really wasn’t much. 

 

His kitchen was unbearably small and the fridge was covered in tacky magnets and photos. He still had the dead plant his dad had gifted him as a house warming present on the far windowsill. And his tiny couch was second hand, barely large enough to fit more than two people on it at a time. It looked more like someone fresh out of university lived here than a grown man with a stable job.

 

He had forewarned Eiko that his apartment really wasn’t all that interesting, but she had insisted that she still wanted to visit it. She had actually been bugging them about this for a considerable amount of time, but their schedules just never seemed to line up perfectly for them to be able to make it happen.

 

“Daddy look! It’s Bokuto!” Eiko exclaimed, pointing with an excited smile up at the pictures on the fridge.

 

Kenma smiled in amusement and walked over to her side, hiking her up onto his hip so she could get a better look at all of the photos near the top of the fridge door. 

 

“And Kuro!” Eiko giggled, pointing at a photo of him during his teenage years, holding Bokuto in a headlock and grinning wildly at the camera. Roving her eyes over all of the photos, Eiko landed on his newest addition to the mix and parted her lips in surprise. “It’s us!”

 

When Kenma found the photo of them at the aquarium posted front and centre on his fridge for everyone to see, he looked over his shoulder at Kuroo with a shy smile. Kuroo perked up with a sense of giddiness rushing through his veins, he hardly ever got Kenma shy anymore.

 

“Eiko, you’ll have to help me pick out more photos of you and your Dad to put up there,” Kuroo said, grinning to himself in amusement when Eiko’s eyes lit up excitedly and Kenma flicked his gaze down to the tiles of his floor in embarrassment.

 

Kenma set Eiko back down on the ground so she could start exploring the rest of the apartment. 

 

Coming up to Kenma’s side, Kuroo wrapped an arm around him and said with a playful lilt, “You’re cute.”

 

“And you’re embarrassing.”

 

“What? Am I not allowed to appreciate my boyfriend and his wonderful daughter!” Kuroo said teasingly, smirking when Kenma turned pink.

 

“No, you’re not,” Kenma grumbled, though it wasn’t very convincing since the corners of his lips were curling up fondly.

 




Setting Eiko up on his bed for the night, Kuroo watched from the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest and a content smile on his face as Kenma tucked Eiko into bed. She was still trying to convince them that all three of them could fit on the bed, but Kuroo was almost ninety nine percent sure two grown men and a child would not fit on a double bed. He and Kenma were just going to have to camp out in the living room on his futons which thankfully neither of them seemed to mind.

 

“Kuro! Come here, come here!” Eiko called out, giggling to herself as he walked over.

 

“What’s up bud?” Kuroo asked, smiling down at her in amusement.

 

“Daddy keeps saying we all won’t fit on the bed, but I think we can,” She said, looking up at him with a determined look in her eyes. “We can, right Kuro?”

 

“Yeah, I don’t think so, Eiko,” Kuroo laughed.

 

Eiko looked up at him with narrowed eyes like she was trying to suss out a lie. “Really?”

 

“Really.”

 

“I don’t believe you,” She said with a tiny grin starting to form on her face.

 

A surprised bubble of laughter escaped from his lips. “You don’t believe me?”

 

“Mm mm,” Eiko said with two shakes of her head.

 

“Well, how ‘bout I show you then?” Kuroo said with a grin, scooping Eiko up into the air before she could process what he was saying, making her giggle loudly as she dangled in his arms.

 

Spinning around, Kuroo flopped flat onto his back on the bed, Eiko landing right on top of him with a shriek of laughter. Glancing up at Kenma with a crooked grin, he was met with an amused look from his boyfriend. Kuroo held out his hand for Kenma inconspicuously and then yanked him down with them the second he grabbed it, making him yelp in surprise.

 

Piled on top of the bed in a tangled mess of limbs that could barely stay contained on his mattress, Eiko propped herself up onto their chests and said with a wide grin, “See this works!”

 

Kuroo and Kenma shared a look of amusement with each other. They were probably going to be here for a while. 

 




Waking up to a bright light shining through the darkness of his living room, Kuroo blearily blinked his eyes open and propped himself up onto his elbow.

 

“Kenma?” He mumbled groggily.

 

When he finally started to wake up a little more, he saw Kenma sitting up against the front of his couch, staring with an intense expression on his face at his phone, scrolling through it at terrifying speed.

 

“Kenma,” Kuroo repeated after he gets no response the first time.

 

When he was met with silence again, Kuroo sighed and sat up beside him. Now that he could get a better look at what Kenma was staring so obsessively at, a ball of dread formed in his stomach when he saw all of the articles Kenma was flipping through. 

 

They were all about Eiko.

 

Thankfully it seemed like no one had been able to actually find any pictures or information on her other yet than the fact that she was Kenma’s daughter.

 

Taking the phone from Kenma’s hand, Kuroo leaned over his boyfriend and set it on the side table, switching on the lamp while he was there too.

 

Kenma didn’t look good. No longer having anything to occupy his hands with, he had resorted to twisting his fingers in seriously concerning directions. Kuroo frowned, he was going to hurt himself if he kept that up for any longer and he couldn’t let that happen, not when Kenma’s hands were an integral part of his career. 

 

Gently prying Kenma’s hands apart, Kuroo brought each palm to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against them and waited. He still wasn’t the best at figuring out what Kenma needed during times like these, but he found that waiting for him to come to never really hurt to try.

 

“I don’t want to do this, Kuro,” Kenma said quietly, staring down at his lap. “I want to take it back.”

 

Kuroo chewed at his lip worriedly as he studied his boyfriend’s features, trying to keep tabs on where he was at mentally.

 

“Kenma,” Kuroo said slowly. “I know this is scary, but we can’t take back what’s already been done.”

 

“I know, but- Kuro, they’re going to find her,” Kenma said, starting to visibly panic now, spiraling the more he spoke. “They’re going to find her and then I won’t be able to keep her safe- I can’t- she’s- she’s going to get hurt-”

 

Cutting Kenma off before he could send himself even further down the spiral, Kuroo cupped his face and made sure he was looking him in the eye. “Kenma, you need to breathe.”

 

“I need to keep her safe, Kuro,” Kenma stressed, eyes darting around the room like someone would appear out of thin air and come for his daughter.

 

“And you are,” Kuroo said firmly, deciding to go along with Kenma’s thought process. “She’s in bed and the front door and windows are all locked, no one can get in. No one even knows you’re here either so they can’t get to her.”

 

With every word he said, Kenma visibly relaxed. There was still a sense of underlying stress about him, but he didn’t look so jumpy anymore, like someone might smash through his windows and roll inside, ready to snatch his daughter away.

 

“No one’s going to hurt Eiko,” He murmured softly, thumbing over the slopes of Kenma’s cheeks.

 

Kenma chewed at the side of his cheek nervously before saying weakly, “You don’t know that.”

 

“I don’t,” Kuroo admitted. “But the odds of it happening are next to none. Nobody knows anything about Eiko other than the fact that she’s your daughter. They don’t know her name, her age, or what she even looks like.”

 

Kenma frowned, clearly struggling to accept these arguments. “I- but-”

 

“Kenma, you’ve kept your daughter a secret for six years and the public had no idea,” Kuroo said evenly. “If anyone can keep Eiko safe it’s you. No one’s going to find her and even if they do she has you watching over her.”

 

Kuroo waited patiently as Kenma processed this information, looking down anxiously at his lap as he thought things through.

 

“I hate it when you’re right,” He eventually mumbled.

 

“I know, I’m the worst.” Kuroo grinned in amusement.

 

Kenma snorted, but continued to stare nervously down at his lap.

 

“What should I do? About… you know, everyone.”

 

Kuroo paused in thought before saying slowly, “I know you won’t like this, but I think you should tell them about her.”

 

When Kenma whipped his head up in horror, Kuroo put his hands up in surrender and said hurriedly, “I know, I know, okay! But hear me out, the more you try to hide Eiko the more people are going to want to know about her. People like secrets. If you willingly give them a little bit to work with then they’ll get bored and this should pass over faster than if you keep hiding her.” 

 

“I don’t know,” Kenma said carefully, eyeing him cautiously from where they sat side by side.

 

“And that’s fine, it’s just a suggestion,” Kuroo said. “At the end of the day it’s up to you.”

 

Kenma nodded silently with his eyebrows furrowed together in thought. 

 

“Can I think about it?”

 

Kuroo glanced at the time before saying with a playful smile, “How about we go to bed first and then go from there?”

 

Kenma rolled his eyes in response, but seemed to be fine with the idea since he flipped off the lamp and moved to lay down again beside him. Curling up beside Kenma, Kuroo asked quietly, “You’re sure you’re alright?”

 

“I think so,” Kenma said after a moment. “I don’t really know what I’m feeling anymore.”

 

“That’s okay,” Kuroo murmured, holding out one of his arms, he said, “Come over here.”

 

Kenma easily obliged, settling in comfortably against him, but still voiced in concern, “You can’t sleep like this though?”

 

Kuroo smiled and pressed a light kiss to his forehead. “I’ll be fine.”

 

He may have spent all hours of the morning awake, watching silently as Kenma’s chest rose and fell steadily with sleep, the stress that had seemed to linger deep in his bones now gone, but despite the exhaustion he experienced the following morning it was still worth it in his eyes.

 




Walking hand in hand through the busy streets of Tokyo, looking through the street markets, Kuroo couldn’t help but let a fond smile take place on his face as he watched Eiko stare in wide eyed wonder at all of the brightly coloured stands and posters. 

 

Stopping at a food cart for a quick snack, they all headed over to the next booth that piqued Eiko’s interest. With her lips parted in awe, she looked over all of the items on display, occasionally pointing at the ones she thought were pretty or funny for them to see.

 

Holding onto Eiko’s hand while Kenma handed over cash to one of the vendor’s, Kuroo listened happily to Eiko as she talked enthusiastically about the game she had been playing in class the other day.

 

Out of the corner of his eye Kuroo saw something. Doing a double take, his happy go lucky mood was gone in an instant. Some of Kenma’s fans were here, no doubt trying to figure out if it really was the Kodzuken as they squinted at Kenma from across the street.

 

And then their eyes drifted towards the little girl standing right beside him.

 

In a split second decision, Kuroo swiveled on the heel of his foot and scooped Eiko into his arms, tossing her over his shoulder and ran.

 

“Kuro!” Eiko shrieked with laughter, clinging onto him for dear life as he sped through the crowded sidewalks.

 

Chancing a glance back at Kenma, Kuroo almost wanted to laugh despite the current situation at his boyfriend’s absolutely dumbfounded expression. 

 

Slowing down as they reached the edge of the market, Kuroo walked up to the nearest intersection and crossed the street, heading over towards the park nearby. He knew it was probably overkill, but he didn’t want to risk anyone finding Eiko so he was willing to put as much distance as possible between them and Kenma’s fans back at the market as needed.

 

Setting Eiko down onto the park bench, Kuroo immediately pulled out his phone and texted Kenma where he had run to. Not too long after that, he heard the sound of footsteps speed walking towards them. His adrenaline must still have been pumping through his veins since his first instinct was to reach out for Eiko’s hand and to hold on tight.

 

But then he heard a choked out, “Eiko?”

 

Eiko perked up in excitement at the sound of her father’s voice before getting swept up into the tightest hug of her life. It was a little stupid, but he almost felt like he was intruding on them as he watched Kenma cling onto his daughter.

 

Finally pulling away, Kenma cupped his daughter’s face and looked her up and down as if assessing her for an injury that obviously wouldn’t be there. “Are you okay, Eiko?”

 

“Mhm!” She hummed before looking up at him in genuine confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

Kenma just sighed in relief and shook his head in response. “It’s nothing.”

 

“Okay! Can I go play now?” Eiko asked eagerly after not having the chance to do so with Kuroo while he had watched over her worriedly just a few moments earlier.

 

Kenma seemed torn, like he didn’t want to even consider letting his daughter out of his sight for even a second, but he didn’t want to give Eiko any reason to worry so he nodded his head and said, “Okay, but you need to stay close.”

 

“I will!” Eiko said before running off with a wide grin on her face.

 

The second Eiko was far enough away from them, Kenma dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. Finally dropping his hands away, Kenma looked up at Kuroo and said with such sincerity, “Thank you.”

 

“You don’t have to thank me Kenma, it was no problem really,” Kuroo assured him sheepishly.

 

Kenma shook his head. “No, I’m serious. I didn’t even notice them there when you did. I wouldn’t have been able to have done anything by the time they came over to me to ask for photos if it hadn’t been for you.”

 

Kuroo nudged his side and said reassuringly, “I’m sure you would have figured something out.”

 

“Definitely not what you did,” Kenma said, the corners of his mouth curling up the slightest bit in amusement before laughter started bubbling from his lips. “I’m sorry, it’s just- you really went for it and ran.”

 

“Yeah,” Kuroo laughed sheepishly. “It wasn’t really my finest moment.”

 

Kuroo and Kenma shared a look with each other before bursting into laughter.

 




Sending Eiko off to play with the neighbor’s kid for the morning, Kuroo headed over to Kenma’s house so he could help him film.

 

After thinking long and hard about it, Kenma had decided he would take Kuroo’s advice and stream a Q and A video for his fans to ask all of the questions they desired about Eiko. After the incident in the market, news of Kenma standing beside a little girl had swirled wildly around the gaming community until it got to the point that he knew staying quiet about Eiko would only lead to even more invasive fans trying to figure out who she was. 

 

“Can you grab that ring light over there for me?” Kenma called out to him from underneath his desk as he fiddled with the tangled up cords there.

 

“This one?” Kuroo asked, holding it up for him to see and bringing it over once he got a nod of confirmation from his boyfriend.

 

Finishing the final details of his filming set up, Kenma stood back, double checking that he had everything before turning to face him. 

 

“Okay, so I’m just going to need you to stand over there behind the camera. I have it set up so that the chat will go slow enough for you to read, but I can’t promise it’ll stay like that if we get too many comments at once, if you can’t choose one fast enough I have it on my screen too.”

 

Kuroo nodded and fell into place. He already had gotten a run down of all the questions he was allowed to call out and the ones he was absolutely under no circumstances allowed to ask. For Eiko’s safety, Kenma was still adamant on keeping almost all personal information about her private and the one topic he wouldn’t budge on was showing her face to the world. At least not until she was old enough to decide for herself what she wanted.

 

“You ready to start?” Kuroo asked, hovering his finger over the button.

 

Kenma chewed at his lip nervously, but nodded along anyways. The second the stream started he switches in an instant from on edge to the passive Kenma his fans all knew and loved.

 

“Hey guys,” Kenma said in greeting, “This is going to be a bit of a different stream so I’m sorry to those who came here expecting gameplay today.”

 

Kuroo’s stomach did a backflip once he saw how many people had joined the stream and were continuing to join the stream. It had barely even been going for two minutes.

 

“I was thinking we would do a Q and A today considering everything that’s happened in the last few days since I’m sure you’re all dying to ask questions.” Kenma glanced at Kuroo briefly before saying, “I also brought a special guest to help with the questions today. Everyone say hi to my friend Kuro.”

 

A series of greetings flooded the chat, bringing an amused smile to Kuroo’s face. 

 

“No, he’s not coming on camera, he’s just going to be reading off questions for me,” Kenma answered the chat.

 

“So do you want to get started now?” Kuroo asked, already skimming the chat for viable questions he could keep in mind for later.

 

“Might as well,” Kenma sighed. “Do your worst, Kuro.”

 

Kuroo shoots him a playful grin before asking, “So, do you have a daughter?”

 

It may have felt a little stupid to ask, but even after Kenma had confirmed it on his last stream there still seemed to be people who thought it was up for debate.

 

“Yeah,” Kenma says with a fond smile. “I do.”

 

“Do you love her?”

 

“Kuro, I know that wasn’t a question,” Kenma grumbled, shooting him a look. “I can see the chat too.”

 

“I know, I know,” Kuroo laughed, giving him a teasing smile. “This is a me question.”

 

Kenma rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Yes, I love her.”

 

Kuroo huffed out a breath of laughter to himself when he saw the chat fawn over his answer.

 

“How old is she?”

 

“As of this year, she’s six.”

 

The entire chat blew up. Not just from the sudden bomb that had been dropped on their laps that one of the biggest gamers in Japan had successfully hidden his whole ass child for close to a decade, but also because some of them were picking up on certain time lines.

 

“Is that why you stopped streaming for a while?”

 

“Yeah, it’s a little hard streaming when you have a newborn crying in the other room,” Kenma said with a tiny nostalgic smile.

 

Kuroo paused when he saw the next wave of questions. “Did you not have help?”

 

“I did,” Kenma said slowly. “From my parents, but it was mostly just me. I’m a single dad.”

 

Kuroo gave his boyfriend a proud smile from behind the camera. After what that random lady had said to him all those weeks ago at the park, Kenma’s confidence in being a single father had drastically dipped. He had even had a hard time admitting that he was a single parent for a time. So seeing him being able to say it so plain and simple for all of his fans to see lit an immense sense of pride in him.

 

“And he’s a very good dad,” Kuroo chimed in, biting back a smile when Kenma gave him a look.

 

“I’m not that good,” Kenma grumbled.

 

Kuroo laughed and said playfully, “He is though! You wouldn’t think it, but he’s a major softie.”

 

“Kuro,” Kenma groaned, half in embarrassment and half in exasperation.

 

“Sorry,” Kuroo said with the least apologetic smile ever before continuing on with the questions. “Will you ever show us your kid?”

 

Kenma immediately hardened up. “No. I want her to have as normal of a life as she can so if that means never letting you see her then that’s what I’m going to do and you’re just going to have to respect that. If you ever see us in public please don’t come up to us or take photos of her.”

 

Kuroo quickly glanced at the chat. There were a handful complaints being thrown around, but the majority of the comments were understanding enough and sent out reassurances that it was alright.

 

“She’s very cute though,” Kenma added on in an attempt to lighten the mood.

 

“The cutest,” Kuroo grinned in agreement.

 

Skimming through the repeat questions, Kuroo was surprised to find that people were asking about him. He wasn’t really sure if Kenma wanted him to call out those questions, but his decision was made for him when Kenma started looking through the chat himself when he took too long.

 

“How long have I known Kuro?” He repeated, pausing for a moment to think. “I think it’s been close to a year now, right?”

 

“Yeah, in a couple months.” Kuroo nodded, feeling a little nostalgic as he looked back on how long they had known each other now and how far they had come.

 

“How did we become friends?”

 

Kenma gave him an amused look. “It’s kind of a long story, but to put it simply, Kuro used to work for me.”

 

“Very, very simple terms.” Kuroo nodded in agreement, his lips curling up into a smile.

 

“You’re a simple man,” Kenma said with a teasing smile.

 

“Am I?”

 

Kenma laughed and shook his head fondly. “No, you’re really not.”

 

“But you still like me,” Kuroo teased.

 

Under the colourful lights decorating the office walls it was hard to tell, but Kenma’s cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink when he said quietly, “I do.”

 

A pleased grin formed on his face before he went to look at the chat again for more questions, only to be met with thousands upon thousands of comments trying to agree or disagree on if they were flirting or not. 

 

Picking the first question related to Eiko that he saw, Kuroo hurriedly asked, “What’s your kid like?”

 

Kenma laughed and said with a soft grin, “The complete opposite of me.”

 

Steering the chat towards more Eiko related questions for the next little bit, Kuroo glanced at the chat as he readjusted one of the mics after Fluffy had barged into the room and knocked it over, saying the first non repeat question he saw distractedly, “Do you think you’ll ever date again?”

 

Kuroo and Kenma both froze. Shit. They couldn’t not answer it now or it would seem suspicious.

 

“Um, well…” Kenma started, scrambling to come up with an answer that would satisfy his fans and still keep their relationship private, “I- yeah?”

 

Kuroo wanted to bang his head against the wall.

 

When the chat exploded with more relationship related questions after that incredibly vague answer, Kenma grimaced and said, “I don’t know, I’m just not really looking for a new relationship right now. I’m happy as is.”

 

“No not in a relationship, I’m not dating- No, I don’t have a girlfriend- I, no-”

 

Kuroo physically cringed as he watched Kenma try to do damage control.

 

“I’m dating Kuro?” Kenma said awkwardly.

 

Kuroo paused.

 

“I thought we weren’t telling them that?” Kuroo said in confusion from behind the camera.

 

This time Kenma froze.

 

“Kuro,” Kenma whispered with a pained expression. “I was reading a question… not answering one.”

 

Kuroo blinked.

 

Fuck.

 

“Uh, that was a joke,” He said lamely and totally unconvincingly.

 

Kuroo and Kenma both stared at each other in embarrassment as the chat filled with comments and questions about their relationship and how long they had been together for and how they knew it all along even though Kuroo had only just been introduced to his channel.

 

He was almost positive Kenma’s face was going to burst into flames under all of the attention. 

 

Running his hands over his face probably in an attempt to momentarily hide himself, Kenma grumbled, “Yeah, we’re dating.”

 

There was really no going back after that slip up so they may as well own up to it and roll with it.

 

“Kuro, do you want to say hi to the camera?” Kenma asked, giving him a pleading look that let him know he couldn’t handle the pressure of being alone on camera anymore.

 

“Yeah, okay,” Kuroo sighed. He didn’t really mind Kenma’s fan base seeing his face, but that didn’t make him feel any less self conscious as he stepped into frame and gave the stream a tiny wave. “Hi.”

 

Rolling in one of Kenma’s extra gaming chairs, Kuroo sat down and gave Kenma’s hand a squeeze underneath the desk. 

 

“This has gotten way off track,” Kenma said, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

 

Kuroo huffed out a breath of laughter and said jokingly, “Two birds, one stone?”

 

“Yeah, I guess.” Kenma grimaced before gesturing at him and saying void of any emotion, “Everyone, this is my boyfriend Kuro. Please be nice to him.”

 

“You could at least make it seem like you like me,” Kuroo teased. 

 

Puffing out a breath of laughter, Kenma rolled his eyes and sayid, “So how about we get back to questions again, I guess they can be about my daughter or Kuro now.”

 

Picking the first question that catches his attention, Kuroo read out loud, “How long have we been dating?”

 

“A few months now, I think?”

 

Kuroo nodded his head in confirmation and moved onto the next couple of questions. “Who liked who first?”

 

Kenma elbowed him when he started laughing, an all to pleased grin on Kuroo's face. 

 

“Definitely Kenma.” Kuroo grinned widely before smirking at his boyfriend and saying playfully, “He had a crush on me.”

 

“Well obviously you did too,” Kenma grumbled in embarrassment, only serving to make his grin even wider.

 

Moving onto the next question, Kuroo said, “What do you identify as? Oh, I’m bisexual.”

 

“I’m pan,” Kenma answered nonchalantly.

 

Kuroo blinked in surprise, “You’re pan? You never told me that.”

 

“It never came up,” Kenma shrugged.

 

“I mean,” Kuroo grinned in amusement, remembering when he had accidentally come out to Kenma all those months ago. “It kind of did.”

 

Kenma narrowed his eyes at him. “Then you never asked.”

 

Kuroo laughed and they moved onto the next set of questions. 

 

“Who likes who more?” Kuroo gasped dramatically. “Now that’s a very unfair question to ask, we both like each other equally. But obviously it’s me.”

 

Kenma snorted and shot him a look of amusement. Kuroo grinned back at him, feeling all of his nerves about being on camera from earlier melt away into nothing. He was starting to have fun with this and it was showing. He actually wouldn’t mind doing this with Kenma again.

 

A couple hours later when they finally decide to wrap up the stream for the day, Kuroo leaned forward and clicked the end stream button before turning to look at Kenma with a dopey grin.

 

“Don’t look at me like that” Kenma laughed, the corners of his eyes curling up in amusement. 

 

Kuroo’s heart skipped a beat, leaning in closer to him, he asked playfully, “Like what?”

 

Kenma smiled softly. “Like you love me.”

 

For the briefest of seconds he froze, but then he tucked Kenma’s bangs out of his face, cradling the side of his jaw and said quietly, “I do love you.”

 

Kenma’s eyes lit up and then he asked hopefully, “You really love me?”

 

“I love you,” Kuroo repeated, his insides starting to feel all light and floaty, an uncontrollably fond smile taking over his face.

 

Surging forward and catching Kuroo's lips in a desperate kiss, making him let out a sound of surprise, Kenma smiled against his lips and murmured, “I love you too.”

 

Kuroo beamed and guided Kenma closer, closing the distance between their mouths once more. Kissing Kenma had never felt so good. They were hardly even kissing at this point either, they couldn’t really anyway, not when they keep smiling and laughing against each other’s lips, making it essentially impossible to continue the kiss. He wouldn’t have had it any other way though.

 

Pulling back from the kiss, Kenma’s gaze flicked over to his monitor and then his face paled.

 

“Oh my god Tetsurou, we’re still streaming.”

 

Well, Kuroo thought in disbelief, at least now they know who said I love you first.

 

 

 

Notes:

thanks for reading! let me know what you thought or if you see any mistakes

i couldn't not clown them one last time