Chapter Text
It’s still new, new enough that Kuroo fears losing it. Kenma sleeps curled up on his side, his fingertips just barely touching the bare skin of Kuroo’s shoulder, his breath ghosting gently against him. They’d forgotten to draw the blinds last night, but as Kuroo blinks awake there’s no light yet filtering into the room. He turns slightly to one side, glancing at the flashing red numbers of his alarm clock—5:25. It’s still early, too early for him to be awake at all. And yet Kuroo gently nudges Kenma away and slips out of bed, pulling the covers up to Kenma’s chin afterward. Kenma murmurs something in his sleep, turning towards the lingering warmth on Kuroo’s pillow. Kuroo trails his fingers gently through Kenma’s hair, lingering on the curve of his cheek for one infinite moment.
He pauses in the bathroom to splash water on his face and brush his teeth, a little more awake once he’s returned to the main room. His schoolbooks are stacked in a corner in neat piles, and he grabs a slim volume off the top of the pile. By the time he settles himself on the foot of the bed, soft lavender light spills into the room through the window, the sun yawning as it prepares to rise. Kuroo sits cross-legged on top of the covers, opposite to Kenma’s curled form on the bed. Facing towards the soft light, he flips open his book and begins to read.
It’s easy to lose track of time as he gets lost in the text, occasionally pausing to scribble notes in the margins or flip back a few pages. The light in the room shifts from lavender to dusky rose, then pale orange. Just as golden, true light begins to hit the pages, Kuroo feels a sudden weight against his back.
He turns his head halfway to see Kenma, curled up once more with his head and half his weight set against Kuroo’s back. The sunlight hits the crown of his head, and for a moment his dark roots don’t show at all—he’s all gold. His eyes are lidded more than halfway, and he yawns like a lion, every one of his teeth visible.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Kuroo whispers, keeping his index finger between the book’s pages to mark his place. “You should go back to sleep, it’s early.”
“I am sleeping,” Kenma says around another yawn. He fixes Kuroo with his typical state, but its undermined by the haze of sleep, the fluttering movements of Kenma’s lashes as his head lolls.
“If you say so,” Kuroo agrees, turning back to his book. For a few moments the room is silent except for the rustling of book pages and Kenma’s soft breathing, more audible at intervals.
“Kuro,” he says a little later, eyes still closed as he leans against Kuroo’s back, a familiar warmth, “You should have told me if you had too much work to do, this weekend.”
It’s difficult for Kuroo not to feel the pang of guilt, the familiar sensation of being pulled in multiple directions and not giving enough to any one of them. Given the choice, he’d give all of himself to Kenma.
“It’s no big deal,” he says softly. “I still wanted to see you.”
“Mm,” Kenma says, and if he’s still trying to sound chiding the tone is lost in another yawn. He shifts a bit on the bed, wrapping one arm around Kuroo’s waist and settling against him again.
In a few hours, Kenma will be back on a train home before his school week starts, entrance exam preparations and volleyball practice overtaking his schedule again. And Kuroo will have a few hours at most to catch up on all the things he hasn’t done, because he begged Kenma to come spend time with him so he wouldn’t face another weekend in his empty apartment with only his coursework for company.
Now, he takes the time to read through another few pages as Kenma stumbles restlessly from sleep to wakefulness, his nose tickling the hairs on the back of Kuroo’s neck as he moves. A minute later it’s Kenma’s fingers running through Kuroo’s hair, though it’d be impossible to say whether he’s trying to tame the wild locks or make them messier. Kuroo doesn’t mind either way; the motion itself is soothing and welcome, and he leans into the touch as he turns the page in his book.
He’ll get up soon, he promises himself, and make breakfast. He and Kenma will have a few more hours together, and when he faces down another week he won’t feel alone.