#“WE LOVE HINATA SHOUYOU!!” we say in unison.

[lithalwrites]

Didn’t Know They Were Dating

For all his smarts and sharpness, Kuroo was sometimes unexpectedly oblivious. Or perhaps not so unexpectedly, Kenma supposed. Perhaps it was a remnant of his personality when he had been younger: shy and reserved, and generally not very confident in himself. Looking at him now, it was difficult to imagine the words shy and Kuroo in the same sentence. But Kenma had known him since they were young children, and he had seen him grow out of shy Kuroo into loud Kuroo. Some things, it seemed, had not completely been left behind.

“Kuroo-kun!” the vice-captain of the girls’ volleyball team called out to Kuroo as he locked up the gym after practice. Kenma hadn’t realized that she had stayed behind, but there she was, waving at Kuroo and jogging up to them. “Hi! Hi, Kozume-san.” Kenma nodded at her.

“What’s up?” Kuroo asked.

“Congratulations on making it through to the Nationals!” she said.

“Thanks. The team did great,” Kuroo said.

“Yes, but having a great captain like you helps,” she said. Kenma fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“Thanks,” Kuroo said. “Is there something you needed?”

“I was wondering if you’d be down to get coffee sometime?” she asked, shooting a quick glance at Kenma, as if to see how he would react.  

This ought to be interesting, Kenma thought to himself.

“Sure. We’re usually free after volleyball practice.”

There it was.

She blinked. “We?”

“Yeah. Kenma and I?” Kuroo said.

Sometimes Kenma wondered how someone so smart could be so stupid.

“Oh,” she said, and laughed awkwardly. “Okay. I’ll let you know when works for me. See you later, Kuroo-kun, Kozume-san.” She looked at Kenma again, and then jogged off. Kenma almost felt sorry for her.

“Kuro,” he said.

“What?”

“You realize she was asking you out on a date, right?”

“Wait, really?”

This time, Kenma did roll his eyes. “Yes, really.”

“Oh. Well, I went and made that awkward for her. Oops. But I guess it’s fine, since I’m not interested in her anyway. No point wasting her time.”

“Hmm.”

 “Where are we going?” Kenma asked as Kuroo led them downtown after school.

“It’s a surprise,” Kuroo said with a smirk. Kenma sighed and followed him without asking any more questions. When Kuroo got in the mood for surprises, it was best to go along with it. He knew what Kenma liked, so it was unlikely to be something that would upset him. They walked for a few minutes, and then stopped in front of what looked like a newly opened dessert shop. “Here we are,” Kuroo said proudly.

“A dessert shop,” Kenma said.

“Their apple pies are supposed to be very good,” Kuroo said. “So I thought I’d treat you to it.”

“That was nice of you,” Kenma said. “What’s the catch?”

Kuroo laughed. “Kenma, I’m heartbroken! Can’t I treat my best friend to some apple pie once in a while?” he asked.

Kenma shrugged. He didn’t mention everything else Kuroo did for him. He was just going to bide his time…as long as he could. Perhaps the waiting game would teach him where the limit to his patience was. In any case, he expected to be waiting for a while yet.

“How’s the pie?”

“It’s good,” Kenma said. “Not as good as yours, though,” he added. Kenma wasn’t afflicted by the need to flatter people, so what he said was the truth, surprisingly enough. He had genuinely not found an apple pie that tasted better to him than the ones Kuroo made. But he was biased, and he knew it.

“Aww, thanks,” Kuroo said, and dug into his own dessert. He had ordered some strange concoction that Kenma had never heard of or seen before. It looked interesting, to put it mildly. Kuroo offered him a spoon, but he declined, not wanted whatever it was near his pie.

They were seated in a booth, and he could hear the people in the one behind him. He didn’t pay much attention to them until he caught Kuroo’s name in the conversation. Kuroo remained oblivious, too focused on his monstrosity of a dessert.

“I guess that’s why he didn’t get it. I didn’t know they were dating,” Kenma heard one of them say. It sounded like the girls’ volleyball captain.

“I didn’t either,” said an unfamiliar voice. “But it makes sense, I guess. They spend a lot of time together.”

There was a sound like someone clapped someone on the back. “Don’t worry, Sachi, plenty of other fish.”

The conversation moved on to other things, and Kenma lost interest. He looked back up at Kuroo, who was staring dejectedly at his dessert. “I don’t think I can finish this,” he said sadly.

“Can you get it to go?” Kenma asked.

Kuroo shook his head. “This is so sad.”

“Oh hey hey hey!” a loud, overly enthusiastic voice announced the arrival of its loud, overly enthusiastic owner. Bokuto came into view, and slid into the booth next to Kuroo.

“Bokuto-san, I think we are interrupting,” Akaashi said, trailing behind Bokuto.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Kuroo said, waving at him to sit. Kenma silently moved to make room for him. Akaashi nodded in thanks and slid in next to him.

“Bokuto, fancy seeing you here,” Kuroo said.

“Someone mentioned that this place had opened up and we decided to check it out. Akaashi doesn’t look like it, but he actually has a sweet tooth,” Bokuto explained happily.

Akaashi shook his head. “That’s what he tells everyone, and then he finishes my dessert every time,” he said. “What are you eating, Kuroo-san?”

“The house special,” Kuroo said. “But it’s too much. You want it, Bokuto?”

“For real?” Bokuto asked, eyes sparkling. “Yeah, I’ll have it.” He pulled the bowl towards himself and dug in. “So good!” he said, mouth full. Akaashi looked at him, fondly exasperated.

They spent the next few minutes talking, and then Akaashi decided that he and Bokuto should leave Kuroo and Kenma to themselves. “Sorry for the interruption,” he said again.

Kenma sighed inwardly. “It’s fine,” he said. “It was nice catching up with you.”

“Should we head home now?” he asked Kuroo after they had left. “I have a bunch of homework I need to do.”

“Yeah, let’s go. Want to watch a movie after homework?”

“Sure.”

 “Hi Kenma! Kuroo-san!” Hinata waved enthusiastically at them. Kageyama awkwardly mumbled a greeting.

“Hi, Shrimpy, what’s up?” Kuroo said.

Hinata immediately put his hands in front of him as if gearing for a fight. “You wanna go, Bedhead-san?” he said as threateningly as he could, which wasn’t very.

“Kuro,” Kenma said. “No teasing the guests.”

“Aww, you’re no fun,” Kuroo said. Kenma leveled him a look. “Fine, fine. I won’t tease them. Much.”

“Hi, Shouyou. Kageyama. How was the train ride?” Kenma asked.

“It was great,” Hinata said enthusiastically.

“How would you know, idiot? You were asleep and drooling on my shoulder the entire time,” Kageyama said.

“Hey! I do not drool,” Hinata protested.

“Then how do you explain the damp patch on my shirt where your mouth was?” Kageyama retorted.

Kuroo and Kenma watched in amusement. Kenma pre-emptively nudged jabbed Kuroo in the side with his elbow so he wouldn’t jump in with a snarky comment.

“Kenma, you don’t trust me to not tease them?” Kuroo asked.

“No.”

“Okay, you’re right. But still.”

“So, how’s it going?” Hinata asked Kenma later. At some point, Kageyama had started talking to Kuroo about volleyball, and Hinata had fallen back in step with Kenma. He looked at him eagerly for an answer. Kenma sighed and shook his head. “Still no? You should just tell him,” Hinata said.

Kenma had never imagined that the day would come when Hinata would be offering him advice about this, of all things. “I actually might, if this keeps up. We’ll see.”

“Keep me updated! You know, I’m still surprised that it’s the way it is. Most of Karasuno thinks what I first did,” Hinata mused.

“They’re not the only ones,” Kenma replied with a sigh, remembering the dessert shop, and Akaashi and Bokuto.

 “Captain!” Lev yelled loudly at the end of practice a few days later.

“What?” Kuroo yelled back just as loudly, just to be obnoxious.

“Do you have a date for the Ball?” Lev asked, referring to the athlete’s dance that the school held, for some reason.

Yaku smacked Lev. “Lev! Mind your own business.”

“It’s obviously going to be Kenma or nobody,” Yamamoto said.

“What?” Lev and Kuroo said in unison.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Yamamoto said. “Isn’t it normal to go with the person you’re dating?”

Kenma closed his eyes and let out a breath. He slowly opened them again.

“I didn’t know Captain and Kenma were dating,” Lev said, his eyes round. The rest of the team had gathered closer for the drama.

“We’re not,” Kuroo said.

Silence. Kenma could feel the shock rippling through the team. Yaku was the first one to find his tongue again, unsurprisingly.

“What do you mean you’re not dating? You’re telling me that you very obviously love him and just do everything couples do without actually being a couple?”

“Are you sure you’re not just pulling our legs?” Kai asked. “We all thought you’ve been dating for a while now. Like, a while.”

“It’s not just our team,” Yamamoto added. “Karasuno’s captain and vice-captain think so too.”

“Kenma, do you know people who thought we were dating?” Kuroo asked, still surprised.

“Bokuto-san and Akaashi. Shouyou thought so too at first,” Kenma answered.

“Have we been dating?” Kuroo asked next.

“According to a lot of people, yes,” Kenma said. “I hoped you’d realize it soon.”

Kuroo laughed. “Kenma. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Kenma shrugged. “I was waiting to see if you figured it out. But I would have, soon. Probably.”

“Do you want to be dating?” Kuroo asked next.

“Yes,” Kenma said promptly.

“Well then. From now on, I won’t be the only one who didn’t know we were dating,” Kuroo said. He glared at his team. “Thanks for the help, guys. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, Captain,” Yaku said, grinning. “Remember to treat us to a thank you dinner.”

“You wish.”