metamorphosis

Title: you'll know it
Characters: Kuroo Tetsurou, Kozume Kenma
Rating: G

meandering. thinking about things. the day kenma found out that liking volleyball and liking kuroo coincided more often than he thought they would.

i.

The first time it happens - and “it” is a lot of things, but it’s not the thing - Kuroo stares at his hand for a long time, mouth open but as quiet as Kenma on his worst days. Kenma watches him, then goes to get the volleyball bouncing away from their makeshift net. When he returns, the ball clasped in his arms like some sort of treasure, Kuroo’s looking at him like he’s made of gold.

"That," he breathes at last, "was awesome."

Kenma stares at him, frowning, and wonders how. All Kuro did was hit a ball he threw — and when he tells him this, Kuroo’s smile dips and his eyebrows press together.

"That’s what makes it so great, Kenma." But his heart isn’t in it; the enthusiasm that’d been filling him to the brim is gone, replaced by something else, and Kenma sets his chin on the volleyball when he realizes it’s his fault.

ii.

The drive and the passion Kuroo dives into volleyball with never quite reaches Kenma's shores, but it ebbs long enough that he smiles when they win their first match in junior high and buries his face in Kuroo's shoulder. His teammates clamor about them, hands on his back and his shoulders and fleeting, always moving, as excited as the pitch of their voices rising high above the cheers.

Even though it's just one game, and they lose the next one, and the cheers for their school turn into their opponent's name, and even though it's just a game (just a game, just a sport, just a club) they cry and they go home with slumped shoulders. Kenma feels heavy, arms clasped around Kuroo's neck. It's just a hobby, but the determined set of his best friend's mouth makes something quiver in his chest and he thinks that maybe, next time?

He'll try a little harder, too.

486;