Work Text:
Kenma's lips turn downward as Kuroo incessantly taps his fingertips on the arms of the gaming chair. He turns a mean glance to him and hisses out a “Stop.” Immediately Kuroo lifts his fingers and smirks, although Kenma could see the unease underneath it.
“Stupid Kuro,” he mutters, just loud enough for him to hear but he leans forward and starts the stream before Kuroo can rebut further than an offended groan.
Kenma had set the camera in such a way that Kuroo couldn't be seen even though their chairs were practically touching. Kuroo stalled his nerves as Kenma greeted the early viewers in chat.
(Chat:
kodzuken im literally hiding in the bathroom at school why are you live so early
early kodzuken stream LEGGOOOO
^^ two types of people)
He'd done press conferences before, he'd done plenty of speeches to large audiences before even, but something about being on camera to Kenma's entire audience made him, not nervous but uncertain. It was a different feeling.
However it was one Kenma thrived in, monotonous voice thanking people for joining and reading messages out loud, responding to any possible questions he saw but never quite addressing the reason for the stream.
Kuroo smiled at Kenma as he went on for another five minutes, donations seeming to roll in endlessly even though he hadn't done much. It was nice to see Kenma so relaxed in front of people, even if they were virtual.
He had an urge to reach out and hold his hand, rub his thumb against his boyfriend's knuckles as a silent way of thanks, however he refrained and waited to be addressed.
Finally, Kenma cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. Kuroo glanced at the chat and saw that a few eagle-eyed commenters noticed the second chair, asking about it in all caps.
“If you saw my post, yes, today is a special stream. We have a guest for the first time in a while.” Kenma adjusted the camera then and Kuroo, after seeing himself in the viewfinder, smiled and waved a peace sign. “There's a slight delay between what we say and when their comments come in, so just introduce yourself.”
As he finished talking, the comments seemed to have caught up and were now flying by, all emotes and capital letters that Kuroo could hardly read. He caught a few of them calling him handsome and yelling about his voice but he wasn't sure if that was what he was actually seeing or what his ego wanted him to see.
He got an elbow to the side and whipped his gaze from the screen to Kenma, furrowing his brows at seeing Kenma's pinched expression, “Introduce yourself.”
“You invite me on your stream and can't even introduce me?” Kenma kept looking at him with the same expression and Kuroo rolled his eyes fondly, turning back to the camera. “I'm Kuroo, Kenma's childhood best friend.”
(Chat:
His voice and looks are so perfect, he needs to start streaming too
Kenma how could you hide such a perfect from us?
Is he single? I could change that
Have some shame?? He's reading chat)
Now he knows he wasn't imagining it when he saw the many variations of “Are you single?” floating in the speeding chat. He chuckled and formed his hands into an X shape, taking on a teasing tone, “Ah sorry but Kenma is the only one for me.”
(Chat:
WHATTT
OMGGG???
what?? did?? he?? say??
Are he and Kenma dating??)
The named boy was used to his constant stunts and glared at him when he wrapped an arm around his shoulder, shrugging it off, “Can you not say unnecessary things?”
“Don't let his mean words confuse you, Kenma loves me, really.”
The streamer just rolled his eyes and muttered “Whatever”, leaving Kuroo to read the blazing comments.
(Chat:
HE DIDN'T DENY IT THO
KenHina nation how we feeling?
we’re in shambles, over to you AkaKen nation
it's never been more over, signing off)
“Have you never told your lovely viewers about me before? Wow, Ken, I'm really feeling the love.”
(Chat:
he calls him ken?? stop that's so cute wth
what if I cried? what then??)
Kenma ignored his dramatics and moved back to addressing chat, already fiddling with the settings of his stream, “I'm gonna put it on sub-only now before you overwhelm Kuro.”
(Chat:
kenma hates broke people pass it on
NOO MY SUB JUST EXPIRED RAAHH
farewell o7)
The comment section finally started slowing down and Kuroo blinked, once, twice then sat back, elbow brushing against Kenma's as they both sat there. He unconsciously licked his lips and stared at Kenma, waiting for him to announce what they were doing today.
“This probably won't be a gaming stream since Kuro is bad at games-”
Kuroo felt a tick appear on his forehead and grumbled, “You're right but I still feel wronged.” Kenma ignored him, continuing.
“So, Q&A stream? I guess? Since I'm already exposing my friends, I may as well talk a bit about my past.” Kuroo watched as chat blitzed past, questions coming so quickly he was amazed by how fast some of these people could type. “Alright, first question, how did you two meet?”
A wolfish smirk appeared on Kuroo's face and before he even turned to Kenma, the younger male just sighed and said, “Yes, you can tell it.”
“It's a really long time ago now but I think I was like 8?” Kenma hummed in confirmation, “Kenken was 7 back then. What was he like? Would you believe if I said he's the same person then as he is now? Just as adorable and just as cold-hearted.”
Kenma's cheeks flushed a pink so faint it could easily be blamed on the room's lighting and he bit the inside of his cheek, “Don't say anything unnecessary.”
Kuroo squashed his cheek and moved his hand just in time before Kenma could bite him. “He's so mean. But yeah, I moved into the house next door from his and our moms introduced us. ‘Show a pic of young Kenma’? Ah, I wish I had them but that's probably at mom's house.”
Kenma mumbles, “I keep telling her to block you.”
“She'd never do that. I'm her favorite son.”
“I'm her actual son. I think I rank above you.”
Kuroo smirked and decided to rile Kenma up, “Do not.”
Kenma bit the bait, his response flying out instinctively, “Do too.”
“Do not.”
“Do too.”
Kuroo didn't respond instantly and Kenma went back to checking the chat, fiddling with his headphones. Then, quietly, “Do not.”
Kenma rolled his eyes without facing him, “Do too. This is why Keiji thinks you're a pain in the ass.”
“At least Ko thinks I'm cool.”
Kenma just hummed dismissively, eyes flitting through chat almost as fast as the questions were coming in. “‘You guys have such different vibes though’. Yeah, we didn't always get along. For the first few weeks especially, it was really awkward. We didn't really know how to speak to each other.”
Kuroo chipped in then, a wistful look in his eyes as he recalled memories of their shared youth, “We actually started getting along because of video games. I found out one day he had a copy of my favorite game, then from there we actually had a reason to hang out together. We were practically glued to each other's side until my last year of high school.”
“Then you went off to a university and moved away.” It was a topic that was still hard for them to talk about even now, almost ten years later. They'd just sorted out their feelings for each other and confessed about a week before graduation, making the distance even harder for them.
Kuroo frowned at the underlying bitter tone of Kenma's words, “It was for a year and we texted most days.”
Kenma opens his mouth to respond, then shuts it, not wanting to have this argument again live. Kuroo picked a random question to answer to distract from the tense air, “Why'd Kenken say I'm bad at games then? Well, truth be told, we used to have pretty much the same personality.”
Kenma pursed his lips and turned his heas to the side, placing his chin in his palm and muttering, “He was worse.”
Kuroo looked at him betrayed, “Kyanma! You're the one who said not to mention any unnecessary things.”
The long-haired male simply shrugged, tongue slightly poking out and Kuroo had to make a conscious effort not to kiss him. He continued his retelling of the story nonetheless, “When I got to around fourth grade, I learnt about volleyball and got really into it. I started spending more time playing volleyball, making new friends from it and studying and I guess I just… grew out of games. Nothing too special. I'll still play if Ken asks me to.”
“Tch, why would I do that?”
“We were literally playing Super Smash Bros yesterday?”
(Chat:
they're so cute, who else is getting cavities
my feet walked themselves over to the middle of the road
the rope suddenly got in my hands)
Kenma ignored him again and this time he wasn't surprised. Kuroo just flicked his earlobe and laughed at his subsequent indignation, “‘Did Kenma play too?’ Of course he did! I taught him everything he knows. I convinced him to join our middle school team with me and to try out for the setter position.”
“By lying to me.”
“I didn't lie. I thought I was telling the truth. We both found out I was wrong at the same time.” Kuroo said, lying.
“‘What did he lie about?’ He told me I should be a setter because I wouldn't have to move around a lot. Turns out, I was the one who had to move the most.”
“Why complain now? You told me you had fun playing!”
The two bickered aimlessly once more with Kuroo purposefully trying to get under Kenma's skin.
(Chat:
I feel like im intruding
should we not be here
is it too late to tell them to get a room?
^ yes
mom, dad, this is where my money goes each month)
Kenma hissed at Kuroo, “Stop distracting me.”
“You distracted me! I was still talking.”
Kenma, unable to deny that, seeing as Kuroo was actually right, just pointedly did not look at him. “Whatever.”
A mischievous glint appeared in Kuroo's eyes then as he glanced at Kenma's fingers twisting through the strands of his long hair that managed to escape the loosening ponytail at the base of his skull.
“Did Kenma here ever tell you the story of why his hair is dyed?”
(Chat:
there's a story?
he didn't just want to dye it?
what's the story??)
“Oh you bet there's a story. So our little Kenma here,” he stretched his long arms across the chair to throw them around Kenma, quickly pulling the now squawking man into a headlock, playfully mussing his two-toned locks, “used to have a lot more colour in his hair. All of his cute little head was blond. ‘Do you have pictures’? Of course I do.”
Kenma finally managed to push him off and pouted a bit as he looked at himself on the stream and thought he looked like he was shocked by lightning. Kuroo didn't pay much attention to that however, already picking up his phone from where it lay forgotten on the desk before them, opening his gallery and folder marked “Nekoma 2010-2013” with a reminiscent smile already touching on his lips.
He chose a picture with both of them in it, both in their practice clothes, he had his elbow on top of Kenma's head and was using that same hand to shoot a peace sign at Yaku behind the camera while Kenma's head was down, his focus entirely on his game. He turned his phone to the stream and frowned as comments came in about how the screen was too bright.
Kenma tapped him, then took the phone when he lowered his guard. Instinctively, Kuroo was about to fight for his phone back before seeing that Kenma was looking at the picture that he had chosen, hummed and then turned the phone to the camera, holding his palm sideways behind it.
It took a bit to focus but when it did, the two waited for the comments to inevitably explode. As they did, Kuroo was handed back his phone.
(Chat:
I bought a sub just now to comment on how cute high school Kenma is <333
WOAH?? okay that is a LOT more blond
you two are so cute I wish I still talked to my childhood friend
What high school is this??)
“He didn't dye his hair until the middle of his first year at high school so he had really long, black hair. Combine that with the fact that his natural state looked sleep-deprived and his head was always down in his games-”
“You lecture me about video games more than my own mother.”
Kuroo soldiered on with no sign of acknowledgement but a brief pat of Kenma's head, “Turns out our Kenma is plenty scary. He kept scaring the other first years because of how sharp his eyes were and how quiet he was. There was even a whole rumor going around about how Sadako was haunting our club room. Of course, for me, I've seen him in his room with the windows drawn and doors closed, hiding under a blanket with the only light coming from his game, kinda hard to be afraid of a basement-dweller.”
“You suck.” Kuroo barely bit back the intrinsic response of “And you swallow”, capturing his bottom lip between his teeth instead, quickly opting to continue.
“So one day I'm walking Kenma home and he has fully black hair then the next morning when I get to school and enter the clubroom, Yamamoto's yelling at me to look at Kenma's hair.” Kenma flushed at the reminder of his impulsive hair decision and its consequences, “The entire team was so shocked that practice was delayed for a few minutes because we kept staring at him and asking him questions.”
“Please stop.” Kenma's annoyed voice barely filtered through the thick material of the hoodie he had his face down in, his ears flaming red as he refused to look at the chat. Kuroo smiled fondly and ran a hand through the multicolored strands.
“Turns out, he dyed his hair because Yamamoto said he stood out too much. But then, with blond hair, he only stood out more, especially since the only other people with colored hair on our team at the time were Yaku, who's always been like a brownish-blond and Yamamoto who dyed his hair before starting high school.” Kenma just huffed and rubbed at his face, remembering how stupid he'd felt for not considering that. “Luckily, by next year, Chibi-chan took all the attention off you.”
He snickered like it was funny and finished off his story “Ever since then, he hasn't dyed his hair again, he's just been waiting for the color to fade out cause he was too lazy to dye it back.”
“I'm never bringing you on my stream again, you're so annoying.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Am not.
“Are too.”
The two were facing each other now and Kuroo just gave Kenma a smile, the loving gaze in his eyes that couldn't be hidden causing the younger male to fluster a bit. “Whatever.”
(Chat:
they bicker so cutely
I feel like im intruding
should I give them room or tell them to get a room
^ yes.)
Kenma began looking through the comments once again and when his index finger came up to his mouth he began teething at the short nails, not hard enough to bite them off but just enough to bend them. Kuroo, of course, noticed.
“Kenken?” He got a short hum to notify that his boyfriend was listening, “I'm gonna go get something to drink, do you want anything?”
Kenma looked up at him, eyes wide in confusion and, when he spoke, his finger still in his mouth, “Just an apple will be fine.”
“Hm, alright, so apple chips and a box of milk?”
He received a soft smile in return, “Yeah. Thanks, Kuro.”
Instead of kissing his forehead, like his instinct was yelling at him to do, he used one hand and brushed a few unruly strands away from Kenma's eyes, hand lingering on his face for longer than he probably should and patted him on the head with the other. Then he stood up and pulled his headphones off, leaving the room after seeing how red Kenma turned.
He smiled as he closed the door behind himself, the sounds of Kenma quietly talking to his stream, pretending as if nothing had happened, being shut out with the soundproofing they had installed their first week after moving in.
Kuroo quickly busied himself with flitting around the kitchen, taking out a sports drink for himself and a small box of milk for Kenma. He then looked through the cupboards for the apple chips.
He hummed a random tune, belatedly realizing it was the theme for a game his boyfriend was playing on his phone this morning, and found the last bag of chips they had, holding all three in one hand and going back upstairs.
Without knocking, he used his free hand to open the door, the sounds of Kenma playing a game meeting his ear as he stepped in. He could hear his boyfriend still talking to the stream.
With how the room was set up, Kenma's streaming desk was on the other side of the room, with his side facing the door and Kuroo could see the lights coming from his monitor but couldn't quite make out the game.
“...Kuro takes care of me a lot. For a long while, he was the only thing that could've gotten me away from my games.” He cut himself off and swore loudly when he got hit in-game, turning around and running his best combo, killing the poor fool who had killed him. “He would take me to school most days too. Honestly, it was really hard when he left. They made me vice-captain and I overslept for pretty much the entire first week. Yamamoto told Kuro and then every morning after that, I got a message at 6am exactly just to ensure that I woke up. Stupid Kuro.”
The last sentence was said fondly, like how one would say “I love you” or “My everything belongs to you”. Kuroo couldn't wait for the stream to end to finally shower his boyfriend with kisses like he deserved.
The monitor turned blue, the loading screen most likely and Kenma spoke again, “Yeah, I can't imagine my life without him.”
Ah, really, Kuroo couldn't fight the smile off his face and put down the things he had brought on the table. Kenma tilted his head up and smiled at him, a slight, dazed thing that lit Kuroo's nerves on fire.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and wrapped his arms around both the chair and Kenma, rubbing his face on Kenma's own hoping it was done obnoxiously enough for it to not be seen as him fighting back every urge in his body. “Kyanma! I love you too.”
“Tch, whatever.” But there was still a smile on his lips and Kenma took up the box of milk quickly, diverting his attention back to the monitor with his game. “I'm gonna stream some games, are you still staying?”
As much as he'd love to, it was getting late and he really felt like he needed a shower so he declined Kenma's offer. “Tell me when your stream is finished, okay Kenma?”
His boyfriend hummed and Kuroo watched him queue up for another game before leaving the gaming room for good this time.
Later that night, or early the next morning, Kuroo didn't quite know since it was still dark outside, he'd awoken to the sound and shaking of the sheets as something crawled in beside him.
“Hm? Kitten?” He asked, quite disgruntled with his eyes not quite adjusted to the dark.
“Go back to sleep.” Kenma muttered and made his home with his face to his boyfriend's chest, pulling the large arms around him.
Kuroo smiled and placed a soft kiss on his lips, then another on his forehead. “I love you.”
Kenma shifted a bit and pulled his forehead down to the taller man's chest, his “I love you too” a lullaby rocking Kuroo back to sleep.
(The next morning they wake up only to find themselves, entirely unsurprisingly, trending.)