Though it's only technically been a little over four weeks since Kuroo's first official stay at the Kenma household, it would be a blatant and obvious lie if he were to say that he doesn't enjoy the time he's spent here so far. A lot of that time has been spent with a certain owl haired familiar and that familiar's partner, but even more so that time has been spent in a certain pudding head's company. A pudding head who he's grown quite informal to quite quickly; in other words, he very much so appreciates Kenma's company— even if he's usually doing most of the talking.

Kuroo kinda forgot that Kenma has a life— albeit not a very large one— outside of sitting at home all day. He forgot that Kenma most certainly has friends from school and that Kenma's a student, and it's only summer break; which is why he's a little surprised when Suga offhandedly mentions that two of Kenma's friends are coming over to hang out today as he helps Suga and Daichi with the dishes from breakfast.

If Kenma's having friends over that means Kenma's probably gonna have to keep all his attention on them, which means that his attention wouldn't be on Kuroo as it usually has been since Kuroo got here. Kuroo outwardly appears to be unaffected but his shoulders slump a little as he scrubs tiny pieces of burnt pancake off the pan he's holding, not noticing the other pair of familiar's knowing smiles that seem to be aware of something he isn't. Kuroo truly does act like a needy cat at times.

He unconsciously tries washing the dishes faster.

When Kuroo finishes washing his share of the dishes he bids a good natured, "see ya later," to Suga and Daichi before he heads up the stairs. As he makes his way up the stairs, Hinata— in his familiar form, which is the smallest, fluffiest, orange dog Kuroo's ever seen— speeds down the stairs, running right in between Kuroo's legs while letting out tiny yaps that only a dog as small as him could make. Barely two seconds later a predominantly black German Shepard— aka Kageyama's familiar form— barrels through the door Hinata had come from, growling and proceeds to also run down the stairs, following the route Hinata took once at the bottom of the stairs. 'Having so much energy, ah to be young again.' Kuroo thinks semi-jokingly to himself.

As per usual he gives Kenma's door three consecutive knocks before he hears Kenma call, "come in, Kuroo," from the other side. Kuroo doesn't bother to ponder on how Kenma already knew it was him.

Kuroo opts out of playing video games along with Kenma for now in favor of just watching Kenma play as he lays next to him, belly down on Kenma's bed; Kenma's playing a rather beautiful yet simple game called Journey on his PS3.

"So I've heard you've got friends coming over soon?" Kuroo asks after roughly an hour of their banter plus Kuroo's commentary on the game.

"Yep," is all Kenma says.

"I wasn't aware you were actually somewhat social," Kuroo teases, feinting a surprised tone.

"I do only have a small circle of friends, but at least I'm not desperate enough to be friends with someone like you." Just a hint of a smirk plays on Kenma's lips as he makes the hooded and nameless character within the game hide in the ruins of some structure, out of sight from the large creature and it's glowing, searching eye.

"Ouch." Kuroo holds one hand over his heart and says it with a tone of voice as if he's genuinely offended. "That stung, a lot."

Kenma playfully rolls his eyes. "You're a big kitty, you can take the pain."

"Wh— this big kitty is an absolute blessing to be around, you should be thanking me every time you're in my vicinity," Kuroo says with dignity, turning up his nose away from Kenma.

"Right, sure," chuckles out Kenma. Kuroo silently smiles as he continues to watch Kenma play.

A few minutes before midday Kuroo hears the doorbell. Kenma has surely heard it too as he pauses and saves his game.

Kenma makes his way down stairs, Kuroo's form shifts into it's feline shape as he trails behind Kenma. Kenma reaches the bottom of the stairs, he moves to continue walking forward but his feet stutter to a halt mid-stride; Kenma's pure anima reaches out beyond the door to sort of scout out who's there, he'd rather be completely sure it's who he thinks it is at the door. Kuroo watches in slight fascination as Kenma's anima is able to easily feel the familiar anima of his friends, Yaku and Lev, through the front door that's a few yards away.

Kuroo hasn't put much thought into the extent of Kenma's magical capabilities, but he now sees that there seems to be some hidden and untapped potential, considering he was able to pass his anima through a solid wall without the slightest sign of difficulty— now that he thinks about it, that's probably how Kenma knew it was him when he first knocked on his door. Most wizards and witches can only do that after some practice, not terribly too much mind you, but an amount that's nothing to scoff at for sure; Kuroo files away that information for later.

Kenma walks over the rest of the way and opens the door to greet his friends. Before Kenma or Yaku can speak a word of greeting Lev— who Kenma specifically referred to as, "unnaturally tall," when describing his friends to Kuroo an hour ago— immediately shouts out an enthusiastic greeting, "hey Kozume-san!" Making both Kenma and Yaku flinch, Yaku more so with a face of annoyance.

Yaku jabs Lev in the side with his elbow, "don't yell so loud, the whole neighborhood could practically hear you," he scolds.

Lev lightly rubs where Yaku hit, barely lowering the volume of his voice, "Sorry Yaku-san!"

Yaku sighs and turns his head back to Kenma with a light smile. "Hey Kozume-kun."

"Hi guys," Kenma greets as he steps aside so the two can come in.

Lev has to slightly tilt his head downwards as he walks in so as to not knock the top of his head against the door frame. It looks to be almost second nature to Lev so it's safe to assume he's accidentally knocked his head against them frame of the door plenty times.

Kuroo's eyes narrow a little as he assesses Yaku and Lev from a few feet behind Kenma. By looking at their anima Kuroo can tell that Yaku seems to have a more strengthened anima than Lev— though Kenma's anima is still stronger than the both of them.

The three of them stand together talking for a few moments before agreeing between the three of them to head up to Kenma's room to further catch up with each other. Yaku's eyes land on Kuroo and almost seem to do a double take as he follows Lev and Kenma to ascend stairs.

Kuroo stands to follow but his paws hesitate for a moment as he quickly debates on whether to follow them or not. It could be seen as rude to simply follow them and and just listen to their conversation when he hasn't even introduced himself to Kenma's friends.

Kuroo sinks his claws into the carpet beneath him without too much force as his tail swishes back and forth with a bit of annoyance, curse his still relatively new conscious.

Kuroo opts to instead head to the training room, where it seems Bokuto somehow managed to drag Tsukishima to come along with him and is probably forcing him to practice, much to Tsukishima's annoyance. Akaashi sits on a bench, seemingly there just to watch Bokuto.

Kuroo shifts into his humanoid form with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Well look what the owl dragged in, a pair of glasses on a pole," he teases Tsukishima with a grin.

"I bribed him with an extra slice of strawberry cake," Bokuto explains proudly, a broad grin on his face as if that makes him incredibly cunning.

Tsukishima makes a "tch" noise, secretly highly disappointed in himself for giving in that easily.

"Care to join us?" Bokuto asks, wiggling his eyebrows with a grin.

"Oh yeah," Tsukishima cuts in before Kuroo can speak, "show us that power that apparently had sent your attackers running in that story you told us when you first got here." Tsukishima smirks, and Kuroo inwardly growls a little, of course Tsukishima could tell that Kuroo had been lying through his teeth when he told him.

Kuroo hasn't really gotten much practice with his pyromancy techniques but that doesn't stop him from smirking confidently. "I'd be glad to join in on a little sparring session." His eyes slide over to Tsukishima, "I'll be sure to give you some real good tips, Glasses-kun."

Bokuto first wants a spar with Kuroo though, just to see what he's made of— Kuroo is more than happy to oblige.

Bokuto and Kuroo both position themselves opposite of each other— both of them have a more physical fighting style that's enhanced by their magic. Kuroo pushes up his long sleeves before he wraps his hands in the flames that merely tingle as they emanate from his palms, "don't worry," he begins teasing, "I've turned down the heat of my flames— don't wanna end up with roasted chicken when we're done here."

Bokuto's own hands are engulfed with soft white orbs of light, only for the orbs to be quickly tainted with unfriendly looking deep purple colored veins. "Kitty can roar like a lion, but can it actually bite like one too?" throws back Bokuto.

Kuroo has never seen magic like that face to face but it looks familiar, he's heard of it; it's an ancient magic that stings when it touches you— which puts you at a disadvantage in the long run if you can't finish off the user quickly— and when it touches certain points on the body— pressure points, to be exact— it can paralyze the foe.

Bokuto grins back, "don't worry, I turned down the toxicity levels just for you."

Kuroo shifts his weight onto his left foot, 'who knew he had a trick up his sleeve like ancient magic?' Kuroo thinks to himself.

"Our handsome faces and chiseled jaws are off limits by the way, but everything else is game," Kuroo chimes in at the last moment.

They're both still and quiet for a few seconds before Bokuto charges like a bull, Kuroo's a heartbeat later than he would like but he still manages to sidestep in time and whirls around to face Bokuto. Bokuto lunges again, his fist this time flying faster towards Kuroo's chest than he expected.

Kuroo's eyes widen he drops to the floor before the hit can land on him. He growls under his breath as he pops back up, 'he's makin' me play defense,' he thinks to himself.

Kuroo jerks in the opposite direction as Bokuto throws another punch, though it's not where he originally planned; Bokuto's fist manages to strike against the inside of Kuroo's arm. Kuroo quickly jerks his arm away because man those older demons were not kidding when they told him that that magic stings like a bitch.

Bokuto grins in satisfaction at finally landing a hit— even if it's not where he hoped for while Kuroo grits his teeth and finally makes a move of his own, he goes straight for the lower part of Bokuto's sternum.

Bokuto's immediate impulse is to block, which results in Bokuto hissing out in pain when Kuroo's fiery fist hit his forearms.

Using the opportunity to his advantage, Kuroo quickly slides around Bokuto enough to land a strong swing with his left leg against the back of Bokuto's knee; immediately causing it to buckle.

Kuroo grins as now the spar is finally turning in his favor.

Now down on one knee and struggling to get back up Bokuto's back is completely exposed, Kuroo slams his left hand down against Bokuto's shoulder blades and he feels them flex inwards, Bokuto lets out a small groan of pain.

"They're really going at it aren't they?" sounds Kenma's voice from the benches.

Kuroo's head snaps up in surprise, looking at Kenma who's seated with his two friends, when did they get here? Turns out, that was a bad idea. In fact, very bad idea, because before Kuroo knows what hit him Bokuto uses his adrenaline to his advantage and whips around, landing a hard blow right below Kuroo's sternum. The air is sucked right out of his lungs as he lands on the hard floor, his chest stinging awfully and lungs burning.

Kuroo sucks in breaths desperately, trying to get the sweet oxygen he's suddenly been starved of; he's trying, he's really trying to get back up on his feet and start breathing somewhat normally again but damn if Bokuto isn't a strong puncher.

Bokuto's chuckling and is probably about to claim the win for himself any second now but Kuroo'll be damned if he lets Bokuto make that much of a mockery of him.

With a sly grin on his face he quickly swipes his right leg out and knocks Bokuto off both of his feet; now they're both on the ground.

"I think it's safe to call it a draw," Akaashi says, quite amused.

Both Kuroo and Bokuto huff in defeat before looking at each other, the magic draining away from their fingertips.

Kuroo holds his usual smirk on his face, the hoarseness of his voice due to the blow to his sternum plus the sweat on his brow and the rest of his face betraying his demeanor. "How about we call it a truce, my dude?" Kuroo asks, outstretching his hand.

"For now," Bokuto affirms with a grin as they shake on it.

"You two need some water?" Kenma asks.

"Sure!" Bokuto affirms as he gets up.

"I'll come with." Akaashi stands to follow and Lev jumps at the chance to enthusiastically talk with Bokuto about his fighting skills; he'll no doubt raid Kuroo about it too later.

Tsukishima somehow managed to sneak out undetected so for the moment this just leaves Kuroo to finish fully catching his breath as he tries to ignore the sharp eye of Yaku not so subtly staring him down. Kuroo just continues to look off in the opposite direction.

Yaku cuts through the silence. "You're the cat that was behind Kenma at the door, aren't you." It's not a question.

Kuroo hums in confirmation anyways, the sweat on his skin beginning to cool.

"I knew I wasn't mistaken when I first saw you, you're not just a regular familiar based on your anima; so what are you?"

Kuroo looks at him with a lazy smirk. "You're more clever than you look, aren'tcha?" This seems to just rile up Yaku, as Kuroo can see his shoulders visibly tense from where he sits.

"What are you?" he says sternly with narrowed eyes, "tell me now, because I swear if you hurt anyone here—" Kuroo cuts Yaku off as he rises to his feet and approaches him, his face now serious.

"I'm not gonna tell you what I am, and if you don't think you can trust me because of that, fine by me. However, make no mistake," Kuroo's voice gets more gentle than before as he sucks in a little air, "I'm nothing that would ever hurt Kenma— or anyone here. They've treated me so well— he's treated me so well. Too well. Better than I deserve," Kuroo admits as his eyes look to the side.

Yaku gives him a long look, though it's much less hostile than before. "Okay. Okay, I believe you," he says quietly.

Kuroo sits down on the bench next to Yaku with a sigh. "Well thanks." A few heartbeats of silence later and Yaku speaks again.

"Yaku Morisuke. We never got to formally meet, so, my name is Yaku Morisuke."

"Kuroo Tetsurou. Pleasure to meet you, Yaku-san." Kuroo gives him a small smile and Yaku gives him one in return.

Lev bursts through the door, immediately hurling himself towards Kuroo, sending out his barrage of questions about fighting and what it was like to fight Bokuto, effectively ruining the nice and calm moment; much to Yaku's annoyance.

Yaku makes his annoyance known when he smacks Lev's shoulder, scolding him on how impolite it is to barge into a room yelling so loudly. Kenma passes Kuroo a cup of water and Kuroo thanks him before he downs it all within moments.

After Lev gives himself a formal introduction to Kuroo— not wanting Yaku to keep on pinching him— Kenma invites Kuroo to come play video games with them. Bokuto assures Kuroo that it's fine for him to go and so he joins the trio in their trek upstairs to Kenma's room.

Lev suggests the four of them play Kirby Air Ride with excitement, green eyes shimmering; ah, poor, poor Lev, he never stood a chance against anyone in that game. Kuroo and Kenma are constantly battling for first place and Yaku is right on both of their tails, but poor Lev can barely even get his character to move without running into the wall every five seconds.

After eight rounds ultimately ending in a tie between Kuroo and Kenma, Kenma suggests they play Mario Kart, to which all three of his friends say a unanimous, "no way." The three of them know the dangers and humiliation that comes alongside playing Mario Kart with Kenma all too well. Instead, they play Bomberman together, and Kuroo is absolutely bursting with pride when manages to get Kenma to laugh, it's not super loud or anything, but it certainly sounds cute.

Though Kuroo's body is a little sore from his sparring session with Bokuto, he pays no mind to it.

As midday darkens to evening both Lev and Yaku have to head home. Lev steps out of the house still waving goodbye and of course accidentally knocks the top of his head against the door frame, making Kuroo and Kenma snort in amusement while Yaku scolds him about paying attention to his surroundings as they leave.

After dinner Kuroo spends the rest of the night helping out around the house.

<h/r>

A week later Kenma's carrying out his usual nightly routine of putting on his oversized pajamas, scrubbing his face, and brushing his teeth in the bathroom while Kuroo dozes off in his familiar form at the foot of Kenma's bed, except, Kuroo seems to be wide awake tonight, as he has recently been this week.

Kenma knows Kuroo won't admit it but he knows that Kuroo's been having nightmares, he just doesn't know why.

He's tried everything from simply asking Kuroo how he slept the night before to straight up confronting Kuroo saying that he knows the Kuroo's been having nightmares, but no matter what Kenma tries Kuroo still keeps a his lips shut tight and tries to change the subject. And every time, Kenma lets him.

Akaashi tells him that Kuroo will tell him when he's ready. But when will he be ready? Because Kenma can't help Kuroo if he refuses to even admit there's a problem in the first place. He doesn't like seeing Kuroo tired in the mornings because of a bad sleep and wide awake at night because he doesn't want to go to sleep for fear of what he'll see as he sleeps.

Kenma sighs as he steps out of the bathroom and heads towards his bed, for now he guesses he'll just have to wait for Kuroo to talk about it to him; whenever that may be.

Kenma turns off the lights with a wave of his hand as usual and gets comfy in the warm sheets. "Goodnight Kuroo," he speaks into the darkness of the room. A cat's meow is his response.

<h/r>

Smoke, curling through the air, it's ashy tendrils festering with toxicity ready to poison the lungs of the innocent in a moment's notice.

Kuroo hadn't had this dream in nearly 300 years.

Yet, here it is again for the sixth time this week, back to haunt him.

He's 19 again, returning from a midnight walk through the forest when he sees a haunting orange glow emanating from the village ahead and smells the faint foul scent of smoke. Immediately panic and dread swallow him whole. He's running towards the village as fast as he possibly can, feet tripping up over large roots and deep blue colored yukata snagging on low hanging branches.

He doesn't bother to notice how he gets to the village much quicker than he should've.

It's doesn't matter to him, because his fears are true, the village is burning.

The intense heat emanating from the fires all around him, hissing and spitting in their orange and yellow shades, make Kuroo want to throw up. He wastes no more time and bullies his paralyzed legs into motion, bolting towards his own home, the screams of frightening lovers and crying children all around him. And just barely audible, a hissing voice is heard, "it's your fault."

Anxiety swells in his throat.

And as Kuroo sees the crackling flames licking hungrily at the wood of his own home he really feels like he's gonna throw up.

Oh god. What about his mother? What about his little sister? Again, the accusing voice hisses within his ear, a little louder than before, "all your fault."

Kuroo's charging into his burning home before he realizes what's happening. His nose is immediately hit with the thick acrid smell of smoke but he braves on, he first sees his mother's room, through watering eyes he can see that it's been completely consumed in the inferno, no way anyone in there is alive.

Bile, warm and putrid rises up his throat, this time, Kuroo hunches over and throws up.

Heart pounding wildly, lungs burning, eyes too dry for comfort, and mouth tasting bitter and acidic, he heaves himself back up, unseeable shadows giving him accusing stares. "You could've saved her, your precious mother," they hiss.

Kuroo's breathing devolves in a coughing fit as the putrid smoke circles through his lungs, but he still runs, desperate to see his sister alive.

'She's so young... please,' He desperately prays in his head to any deity willing to listen.

Kuroo lets out a choked noise of relief when he sees his sister alive and sitting on the ground, letting out strong coughs.

Kuroo sprints to her and picks her up with ease, she clings onto him for dear life, her face buried in his now dirty yukata, now stained with soot and ashes.

Kuroo whirls around to escape but the noise of something snapping is the only warning he gets as a part of the room caves in; they're trapped.

Kuroo doesn't know what to do, there's no way out of the burning room now. And the roof above their heads is creaking and groaning, it's gonna collapse any second now.

The accusing shadows previously kept to the corner of his eyes are now circling him. "She's so young," they whisper, "she was gonna turn six in two days," they feint pitious voices, "she's going to die and it's all. Your. Fault," they hiss out, progressively getting louder as they chant, "all your fault. All your fault. All your fault."

Kuroo lays his sister on the ground with her back to him, instructing her to tuck her knees in and hold her hands over the back of her head through feverish coughs and stinging eyes.

Then, Kuroo gets into the same position, huddling over her and using his back as a shield.

The roof is creaking and groaning loudly, it's gonna give out any second now, the chanting of the incriminating shadows is now deafening.

Kuroo's heart is pounding wildly but he still tries to sooth the crying of his little sister, and as he hears the final resistance of the roof giving up and the crashing above him sounds loudly, he wrenches his eyes closed and steels himself.

<h/r>

When Kenma wakes up he's very frightened, but even more than that, he feels a terrible loss within his chest, and he's crying.

Kuroo is hardly aware of his surroundings as somebody shakes him, making him arise to consciousness, his disgruntled and drowsy feline eyes have trouble adjusting to the darkness of the room at first. Kuroo's sure it's no earlier than 3am at this point.

However, as soon as Kuroo hears the broken sobs of a bleary eyed Kenma trying to call out his name he immediately jerks himself awake.

Kuroo shifts into his humanoid form, panicked and slightly jumbled words flow out from his mouth, the waning moon being the only source of light. "K-kemna? H— w-what happened? A-are you alright!?" he asks with urgency.

Kenma just grabs the fabric of Kuroo's loose black sweater and bunches it in between his fingers as he buries his head in Kuroo's chest.

Kuroo blinks twice in surprise before tentatively wrapping his arms around Kenma's smaller body.

Kenma's sobbing slowly winds down to gentle hiccups as he breathes in the scent of Kuroo's sweater; a scent that he didn't realize until now is actually quite comforting. Kenma's heartbeat quickens.

Kuroo rests his chin on top of Kenma's head, he certainly doesn't mind hugging, the warm feeling in his chest is actually a wonderful contrast to the despair and guilt that had been swallowing him whole during the nightmare.

Kenma's muffled voice sounds, "Kuroo?"

"Yeah?"

There's silence for a few heartbeats, like Kenma's debating at the last minute if he should say what he has in mind. "...can you promise me something?"

Kuroo's reply is instant, "yeah, of course."

"...c-can you promise me you won't leave me?"

It's quite a sudden thing to ask, but Kuroo doesn't care, it's the least he can do for someone who's treated him so much better than he deserves. "I won't leave, I promise."

Kuroo closes his eyes and sits still for a few more precious seconds before he gently pulls away, just enough to look Kenma in the eyes, his hands are still resting on Kenma's back. "What was that? Why were you crying?"

It is literally impossible for it to have being a nightmare that brought Kenma into the frightened and bleary eyed state, the presence of a pyromancer— aka Kuroo— prevents any nightmares from surfacing— unfortunately it doesn't affect the aforementioned pyromancer, much to Kuroo's dismay.

Kenma's eyes trail off to the side, "I'm not sure, I don't know if I want to be sure anyways. It was all happening so fast that I could hardly see any of it, just bits and pieces, a-a cloudy sky with the wind whipping wildly around me one moment a-and two guys I have never seen before in the middle of the forest next. Falling asleep in a library like I haven't slept in a week a-and..." Kenma's voice gets much softer, "you, you leaving in the dead of night with some stranger without so much as a goodbye...." His grip on Kuroo's sweater tightens.

Kuroo holds Kenma close once again. "That won't happen, I promise." Kenma's pulse grows quick again.

Kuroo used to think humans were weak because all they could ever do was live in fear. Just sit together in circles and cover their eyes as they described the monsters that were plaguing their lives like that would make it any less terrifying or real.

Kuroo used to be one of those things that would make people join circles as they trembled in fear, remembering the demon with the wild hair and the sly, twisted smile.

Now? Now Kuroo's also scared of the demon with the wild hair and the sly twisted smile, because that's not him.

Now, Kuroo's also willing to sit in the circle and describe the monsters that plague his life. He doesn't want to or feels like he's ready to talk about the monster with the wild hair and the sly twisted smile yet, but baby steps, right?

"I was having a shitty sleep too," Kuroo finally confesses. Kenma pulls away from the hug enough to look at Kuroo. "I was having a nightmare of a long ass time ago, almost 300 years ago; because before everything else, I used to be human. I-I used to have a family, a loyal father who went off to war, a mother with calloused hands, soft black hair, and even softer eyes, a-a sis—" Kuroo's voice cracks a little, nearly 300 years of buried emotions are finally surfacing. Kuroo takes a deep breath before continuing, "a sister who was five. Five. Oh god s-she was only five—"

Kenma places his hands on either side of Kuroo face, effectively stopping Kuroo from no doubt spiraling into a rant of self hate. "And what happened to them?" Kenma asks lightly, staring into Kuroo's eyes with his own golden pair; his voice surprisingly steady.

"My father was called to go to war and refused to let me go take his place, and I was young and stupid and got unnecessarily upset. A month after he was gone I was still stupid and upset so I took a walk in the middle of the night... and when I got back... everything was burning. I-it was too late for my mother, h-her room was completely engulfed with the flames when I got there," Kuroo's voice wavers, "I-I found my sister alive, b-but the room collapsed and we were trapped. The roof caved in and fell on us. I survived, she didn't." Kuroo leaves out the part where he died from smoke inhalation two days later, mind full of hate, regret, and anger.

Demons are either born or created. You have a gathering of strong negative emotions and a demon is created. You have that gathering of strong negative emotions confined to the body of one person, and when they die a demon is born. "It was all my fault. If only I had been a little quicker, if only I had been there from the start, if only I hadn't—" Kenma cuts Kuroo off.

"It wasn't your fault, Kuroo," Kenma says, quietly but with emotion. Whatever self deprecating thing Kuroo was gonna say next dies on his tongue, "you couldn't have known, how could you?"

"But I wasn't there, I should've been there," Kuroo insists.

"You can't blame yourself forever, Kuroo. It's already been two centuries, you have to forgive yourself."

"...I know." He's not ready to forgive himself just yet, but he's going to stop constantly blaming himself, for Kenma.

Kenma's eyes look at the clock and jump to the waning moon, now noticeably higher in the sky than before, it's late. "We should go to sleep," Kenma says, finally letting  his hands fall from Kuroo's face and to his sides.

"Yeah."

Kenma crawls back over to the front of his sheets and slides in, he speaks before Kuroo can shift into his familiar form, "Kuroo?"

Kuroo lets out a questioning hum.

"Can you sleep up here tonight?" Kenma asks tentatively.

"Yeah Kenma, of course," Kuroo mumbles out, finally letting a week worth of missing sleep catch up with him as he shuffles up to where Kenma is.

Kenma can feel the bed dip with Kuroo's weight as Kuroo gets under the covers.

It's only once Kuroo wraps his arm around Kenma his heartbeat quickens again for the third time that night that he realizes there must be something wrong with his heart, because his pulse shouldn't be spiking every time Kuroo Tetsurou, his friend, hugs him.

Not like Kenma minds the hugging. He doesn't, at all. It's welcomed, in fact.

Kenma falls asleep in the warm arms of Kuroo, and neither of them have a single dismaying thought float through their sleep.