#kept tryna come up with weapons yaku would use

[sophistired18]

The bristle of door chimes ring causing Kuroo to scowl.

"Oi, Kenma! I thought I told you to close up shop ten minutes ago!" Kuroo gripes.

To that, he only receives a quiet scoff from across the room, where Kenma's busy fidgeting with his new gadget Shoyo found at the dump the other day.

"Geez," Kuroo mutters under his breath as he drops his screwdriver, pausing on his current project. "Hey, just letting you know that shop's past closing hours already." Kuroo says aloud to the entering customer, rubbing his forehead as he makes his way to the front desk.

"Well, last I checked," a familiar voice drawls out, "the front door still says open." There's an annoying smirk that follows at the end of their sentence and Kuroo finds himself making a similar expression.

"Of course it's you." Kuroo groans. "And my day was running so smoothly too."

"Just our luck, huh?" The voice teases as they set down a busted piece of metal on the counter.

"Yakkun, as a regular, you should know when the shop's closed." Kuroo states with annoyance yet he's already taking a look at what Yaku's brought him.

"As a customer, I know how to read when a sign says open." Yaku jabs back, crossing his arms.

"Well, technically most customers can't read, so..."

"Kuroo, trust me, I wouldn't be here either if I didn't have to. It pains me that you're the only nerd I know who can fix this for me."

Kuroo gives him a pointed glance, but Yaku knows there's no real offense behind it. Kuroo's all bark, no bite. Well, with him at least, from what Yaku's deducted from the past three years of knowing the engineer.

"Plus you're the only nerd who I know will fix my shit even after their shop's closed." Yaku adds, a knowing grin plastered on his face.

Kuroo groans again. "Fine. What is this scrap metal you dumped here. Before I fix it, I gotta know what it is at least." Kuroo says as he analyzes the mess of bolts, steel, concrete powder, and the questionable dark crust that nondiscreetly resembles dried blood.

"It's my gauntlet." Yaku states. "Was. Was my gauntlet."

And a bold statement it was.

"WHAT? H-HOW?" Kuroo sputters, aggressively glancing at Yaku, then to the supposed gauntlet, and back to Yaku again.

"Chillax, the dude deserved it." Yaku shrugs. "I tried to clean most of the blood, but I didn't wanna break it even more. You can thank me." Yaku says flatly and even gives Kuroo a small bow as if he deserves such praise for his consideration.

"YOU WANT ME TO THANK YOU?" Kuroo gasps. "Yakkun. I am a scientist. An engineer. I'm not a fucking miracle worker. And this bloody piece of crap needs a miracle to even stay in one piece!! I'm not even sure you understand what my job description is!"

"Duh. You fix things. That is what you do, right? Or did you find a way to get paid by complaining all the time?" Yaku snipes. "Can you fix it or not?" He asks genuinely.

Kuroo glances at him for a moment before looking back down at the crushed gauntlet in front of him. A few seconds pass as Kuroo contemplates. He lets out a sigh. He already knew what his answer would be, he just didn't want to make it apparent how quickly he already decided.

"I can try." Kuroo says. "No guarantees, though. Might need a whole upgrade, honestly." Kuroo mumbles, his hand reaches his chin as he looks for what parts he can salvage.

"If you weren't covered in grease and oil, I might just kiss you."

"What?"

"How long you think it'll take?" Yaku leans over the counter, trying to see what Kuroo was looking at.

Kuroo feels his face heat. "Uh. I dunno, I'm not sure yet. A few months, a few more? Hard to tell based on how there's barely anything worth saving." Kuroo exhales, his hand rubbing his temples.

"That bad, huh?" Yaku hums, as if he isn't the culprit of the damages. "What about payment?"

Kuroo's mind jumps straight to Yaku's previous comment. "I-" Kuroo stammers and hates himself for it. "How about we wait on that one as well? We'll see how much I need to invest in these. When do you need it by?"

"Hm. How considerate. The next time I need to punch someone I suppose." Yaku chuckles.

"I do take good care of my customers."

"Well, don't worry about this one then. Just get them done whenever you have the time. I'm not gonna be wearing them for a while anyways."

"What's that imply?" Kuroo questions.

"Commander put me up as a probation officer. But honestly they're probably gonna put me on probation instead." Yaku laughs lightly, but there's a story here that Kuroo doesn't have all the pieces to. He's not sure if he's allowed to pry any further.

"I'll try to work on it in between projects then. Bring me your other one too." Kuroo decides to say instead.

"Why? Afraid I'm going to punch someone else?" Yaku chuckles.

"I dunno. Are you?" Kuroo jokes. "No, it's just that if I'm going to fix this one, I might as well tweak some improvements on your other one."

"Oh. No, you don't need to do that." Yaku says waving him off. "You're going to make a broke man outta me. I'm already getting paid less as it is."

"Yakkun, it's fine." Kuroo insists. "I won't add this in, it's on me."

"How come?" Yaku looks at him.

"Call it a favor." Kuroo shrugs. "Besides, I want to. So just let me, will you?"

"Alright." Yaku pauses. "Thanks."

"Anything for a regular." Kuroo smiles.

"I'm not a regular, Kuroo." Yaku scoffs. "Just because I know you, doesn't make me a regular."

"Yet you come by all the time. That makes you a regular."

"I come like twice a month. And I don't even buy anything most times!"

"Still a regular!" Kuroo muses. "And it's sweet to hear you admit that you just wanna hang out with me, even during work hours. You can come by more often if you want, I don't mind."

"I- That's not- What if I just wanted to see Kenma instead?" Yaku huffs.

A quiet voice from the corner of the shop rises. "Keep me out of this." Kenma interrupts.

Kuroo laughs and Yaku rolls his eyes. "Just admit you miss me." Kuroo taunts.

"In your dreams." Yaku replies, already turning for the door. "I'll see ya around."

"To check in on progress?" Kuroo asks, trying not to sound too hopeful.

A small smile forms on Yaku's lips. "Sure. To check progress."

He gives Kuroo a nod and leaves the shop. Kuroo chuckles to himself as he hears the door chimes ring and the sound of the 'Open' sign being flipped to 'Closed' outside.

"Your other customers already think you're biased." Kenma speaks. "Wait til they hear about this."

"You know, I hate it when you act like you're not in the room but you say shit like this." Kuroo scoffs. "C'mon. Let's go home."