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Kuroo was a strong man. A strong man with big muscles and an iron-clad resolve, never backing down from anything ever at any point in his whole life. “Tetsu, I really think we can hold off the procedure,” Kei says from the seat next to him. He’s staring mock-bored at his nails while Tetsurou drives them to the hospital. At Kei’s last physical, the doctor had determined that he indeed would need to get his appendix removed because he had almost full-blown appendicitis, which he had avoided telling any of his boyfriends about despite immense pain and fever because he was stubborn and stupid (and afraid of the hospital like a big baby).
“Babe, we talked about this, it’ll hurt and possibly burst. You already put it off long enough,” Tetsurou repeats the same phrase that they’ve been practicing. Don’t look over, don’t look over, don’t look over . Tsukki was desperate not to go, he had given Bo the puppy dog eyes and almost got out of it which was only stopped by Akaashi, who shoved him into the car with a promise that it wouldn’t be that bad. Kuroo was the sacrificial lamb, meaning he had to actually pull through with getting him to the appointment while the other two prepared the house for the chaos that would inevitably ensue.
“It’s not even that bad,” Tsukki snapped at him, scowling and crossing his arm. The movement causes him to wince, which gives Tetsurou the energy he needs to move his journey onward. “Kuroo...Tetsu...please. Don’t make me.”
Ah. He was resorting to this. Kuroo was the best at handling Kei at his angriest and meanest moments, most of which had died down when his original defensiveness and lack of self-worth had evened out into their secure relationship. He was great at handling sarcasm, snappiness, crankiness, laziness. He was awful, absolutely atrocious, at sad Kei though. Sue him! Kei had great teary eyes and a soft voice that got Tetsurou in the worst of ways. “Baby, it won’t be that bad. It takes an hour and you get to go home the same day. I bet you’ll sleep through most of what happens.”
“I don’t want to,” Tsukki sniffles, staring out the window. He winces again, and Kuroo dejectedly sighs. He would feel like an asshole for the rest of the drive, but he’d feel like more of one if he let his boyfriend’s appendix burst.
“I know,” Tetsurou assures him. “C’mon, we’re here!”
“No,” Kei continues to look out the window. “I’m not leaving.” Kuroo stares at the sky, begs to be taken out by a stray burst of lightning, takes a deep breath, and unbuckles his seatbelt.
“Kei, please don’t make a scene,” Tetsurou begs, as a last-ditch attempt to not fireman carry a 6’2, 180-pound man up to a hospital check-in. “I will force you in,” Tetsurou warns, making his way to the other side of the car. Tsukishima pouts, it would be cute if Kuroo wasn’t ready to strangle him, and unbuckles his own seatbelt dejectedly. Tetsurou was still in his suit from work, and he really didn’t want to have sweat all over it from the exertion. Kei complies, exiting his seat and grunting when Kuroo links their arms together. “If you run, you’ll hurt yourself,” Kuroo reminds him gently. “I know you’re nervous but doctors do this stuff all the time. Plus, Kenma pre-approved this hospital for all of our possible surgery needs forever ago.”
“What does he know,” Kei grumbles, but he does ease up a little bit. He hisses when his body twists a bit, face flush from the fever and pain evident.
“It’ll be better before you know it,” Kuroo promises, leading Kei into the designated waiting area and checking him in. Kuroo goes back into the operation room with him, running his thumb over Kei’s knuckles in an attempt at comfort.
“Is this your driver?” The nurse asks, she greets him with a warm smile, and the scowl on Tsukki’s face deepens. “You can be back here in an hour. He should be pretty out of it still, but assuming everything goes well, he’ll be good to go.” Kuroo thanks her, waiting for the anesthesiologist to pop by before leaving Kei in their hands. He hoped that Tsukki didn’t give them any trouble. Back in the waiting area, Kuroo listens intently as the nurse walks him through the aftercare procedures, handing him some pain medications and anti-nausea as well as handing him a sheet with the normal progression of events post-surgery. “We’ll see you soon!” She promises him, waving Kuroo out of the room.
---
Kuroo managed to get a good amount of work done in the car on his phone, typing away emails and making sure to confirm his off time for the next few days to take care of his boyfriend while he recovers. The sheet the doctor had given him was pretty clear on its instructions, and he had sent a picture of it to Akaashi while waiting, stretching and checking his watch for the time. There was still 15 minutes before the hour was over, but Kuroo was nervous and wanted to see his baby right now. He walks into the waiting room, pretending to look casual. “He’ll be a few more minutes,” the receptionist tells him, barely looking up.
Tetsurou grumbles, wringing his hands and hoping for some kind of distraction. As if answering a prayer, his phone rings and he picks it up. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Kenma says on the other line. “Why are you at the hospital.” It’s not a question, it actually sounds like a threat.
“How do you even know that?” Kuroo hisses into the phone.
“You have your snap maps on,” Kenma answers. He sounds bored.
“I do not?” Kuroo immediately goes to check. “I literally don’t! Kenma!”
“I have your location services shared with me. I did it while you were drunk once, and you never noticed. Anyways, why are you in the hospital? You’re being too annoying to be hurt,” Kenma shows his concern in very odd ways. “Did something happen to Keiji?”
“What? No,” Kuroo sits down further into his chair. “Kei has appendicitis and he’s getting his appendix removed. He’s almost done.”
“Oh,” Kenma’s voice gets dim as he moves his mouth away from the phone. “Hey Shou? Did you know Tsukishima was getting surgery?”
“Wait, Kenma don’t-” Kuroo starts to say.
“What? No!!!” Hinata’s voice becomes loud, he assumes that Hinata has grabbed the phone from him, “Is he dying, Kuroo? Should I get there now? Oh my god, does Yamaguchi know? I’ll tell him right now-”
“No! Hinata, he’s fine, he’s getting a routine surgery,” Kuroo breathes in relief when Hinata lets out an ‘ohhh’ and Kenma laughs nearby. “Can you give the phone back to Kenma?”
“Next time tell me if something happens, idiot,” Kenma says into the phone, and then he hangs up. Kuroo sighs again, shooting up when the nurse gestured him towards her.
“He did very well,” She says, walking quickly. “The surgery went just as planned! He’s a little weepy, does he get like that when he’s tired?”
“Oh yeah,” Kuroo snorts, rolling his eyes. “He’s very whiny until he gets what he wants.” The nurse hums in acknowledgment, opening the door to his very high boyfriend arguing with a different nurse.
“Mr. Tsukishima, please stop pulling off the heart monitor,” She says patiently, “We need to track your vitals before you can leave.”
“I don’t like it,” He insists, slurring his words and trying to focus on her. He looks very disheveled, hair a mess and eyes blinking out of turn.
“Look who I brought!” The nurse coos, shoving Kuroo forward. “Distract him so we can get his vitals.” She hisses in a whisper behind him.
“Tetsu?” Tsukki cocks his head to the side, trying to get a good look at him. “Tetsu they took my lungs out of my body.”
“That’s not what happened, babe,” Kuroo tells him softly. He pulls up a chair next to him, letting the nurses do their thing.
“I know what they did, I was there,” Kei argues with him, he starts to tug at the wires on his wrist again, and Tetsurou links their fingers instead. “Stop, I want it off.”
“Baby,” Kuroo says gently. “Just a few more minutes and then we can go home, ok?”
“I hate it. They want to spy on us with the machine,” Kei explains to him seriously, pointing at the heart monitor. “I can’t let them. They might hurt you all, and then I’d be alone and no one would let me sit on their lap and I’d miss you.”
“Kei, it’s so they know you’re ok to go home,” Kuroo smiles though, grinning at his concern. He was so cute when he was too out of it to hold back. “You want to see Bo and Kaashi, right?”
“Are they here?” Kei asks, voice excited. He tries to sit up and whines when his stomach hurts. “Why’s my stomach hurt?” He looks at it curiously.
“They had to take out your appendix, it was infected,” Kuroo explains, waiting for the go-ahead from the nurse. They gathered a wheelchair from somewhere nearby so Kei could be transported easily.
“Is this real life?” Tsukki asks, leaning back. He pokes at Tetsurou’s cheek curiously, settling back on the bed. “You’re really cute. I like how your cheeks are always red.”
“Th-thanks babe,” Kuroo chokes out, watching as the nurses gasp and smile at them as if Kei wasn’t torturing them minutes before. “Is he ready to go?”
“Yes, sir!” The nurse moves to Kei’s side to try and help him up, but he flops uselessly against her.
“Kei-”
“Carry me,” he demands, holding his hands up to Tetsurou. He stares helplessly at the nurse, who shrugs. Kuroo sighs, and scoops his arms underneath Kei’s legs and around his back, gently lifting him up and onto the wheelchair. “No, the whole way.”
“Baby, Bo will carry you later,” Kuroo starts to wheel him away while he pouts. “C’mon love, don’t give me that. I brought your pterodactyl in the car?” He perks up at that, swinging his legs back and forth and leaning back.
“Thank you,” he drawls out, smiling up at Kuroo the best he could. “You’re so good to me. I love you so much.” Kuroo decides that this is the version of Tsukki that’s the most dangerous. He’s too sweet for his own good, and Kuroo could not handle direct compliments. Kuroo helps Tsukki get into his seat and buckles him up while Tsukki hugs his plushie to his face. “Tetsu?”
“Yes?” He responds, pulling out of the parking lot and making his way home. Thankfully, the drive wasn’t too long.
“I think we should all get married,” His voice is muffled into the dinosaur, but he says it pretty seriously for someone absolutely gone on pain medication.
“Oh yeah, baby?” Kuroo grins at the road, leaning forward on the wheel. “I think we should too. Why don’t you tell Keiji and Kou when we get home?”
“Then we can go to the beach for our honeymoon, and Bokuto can carry me around, and everyone can be jealous of me and my really hot husbands,” Tsukki continues as the car makes a sharp turn, letting out a soft oof.
“That sounds pretty great,” Kuro agrees, “Don’t move around too much, you’ll open your stitches.”
“My stitches?” Tsukki asks, pulling at his shirt. “Tetsu, I can’t see them.”
“They’re there babe,” Kuroo assures him. “We’re home! Look, Bokuto is waiting for you!” Kei’s eyes snap up, without his glasses he looks significantly younger than normal. Combined with his hair, which has grown out pretty long for him, he looks ethereal. Tetsurou wants to hold on and never let go. Bokuto waves excitedly at the car, pulling open Tsukki’s door as soon as he can.
“Hi, Tsukki!” Bokuto greets, smiling wide. “Need help with the seat belt?” Kei hums an assent, holding his arms up so that Koutarou can undo the buckle. Kei keeps his hands up until Bokuto scoops him out of the seat, pressing a loud kiss to his temple and trudging up the stairs of their home.
“Koutarou?” Tsukki asks groggily, head leaning on his shoulder. “So warm, make me feel safe.” Bokuto almost stops moving, pausing to shoot a teary glance in Kuroo’s direction.
“You’re always safe with me, babe!” Bokuto assures him. Kei giggles from his shoulder, and the noise makes Kuroo coo from behind.
“Would you fight a bear?” Kei asks absently.
“If the bear was making moves on you, I’d kick its ass,” Koutarou declares. “I would win in a fight with a bear!”
“Mm, you’d have to have claws,” Kei insists, bouncing lightly as Koutarou moves him up to their bedroom. “I’ll…” he pauses to yawn, burying his face into Bokuto’s neck. “I’ll make you claws at the museum, with the dinosaur bones.”
“So romantic!” Bokuto declares as Kuroo opens their bedroom door. Akaashi is laying on the bed reading a book - he puts it down when he sees them, undoing the covers so Bokuto could tuck Kei in.
Tsukki struggles to shift himself, putting his body on top of Keiji’s chest and pressing a soft palm into his cheek. “Pretty,” he muses.
“My cheek?” Akaashi laughs down at him, interlocking their fingers and pressing butterfly kisses to his fingertips.
“Whole thing,” Tsukki specifies. “Prettiest thing in the whole wide world.” Akaashi smiles, running his fingers through Kei’s hair trying to put it in some type of order. Kuroo grabs at his heart, fake swooning into Bokuto’s arms, only stopping when Keiji glares. “Sleep?”
“If you’d like,” Akaashi murmurs, continuing to comb through blonde curls with his fingers. “Anything you want, sweetheart.”
“Nooo, you’re sweetheart,” Kei slurs, finally getting tired. “Mm, I’m a mean jerk.”
“What! No way, moonshine!” Kuroo interrupts, he’s finally changed out of his suit into sweats and a t-shirt so he could climb into bed with them. “Hey, c’mon, don’t talk like that. You’re precious, so sweet, I could just eat you up.”
Kei giggles again, pushing away from Kuroo’s light kisses on his face. “Stop that, Tetsu!”
“Not until you say you’re sweet!” Tetsurou smiles, nuzzling into Tsukki’s hair.
“‘M sweet!” Kei swats at Kuroo before settling back onto Keiji’s chest. Keiji has gone back to reading, but Tsukki grabs at Akaashi’s hand, moving it back into his hair. “Hair,” he demands and Keiji rolls his eyes, but complies. Kuroo laughs, curling up on the other side of Tsukki while Bokuto clambers in next to Akaashi on the other side. “Kuroo?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Tummy hurts,” Kei tries to turn over but Akaashi tuts.
“If you move around, it’ll hurt more,” Akaashi reminds him gently. “Do you want to eat something?” Kei shakes his head, pouting and squirming.
“I want to sleep,” Kei whispers. “Bucket!” Bokuto rushes to action, grabbing the trash bin and thrusting it in front of Kei so he can throw up mostly bile. Akaashi helps him sit up, rubbing circles on his back.
“I know it sucks baby,” Kuroo murmurs, holding onto him from behind so he didn’t slip back. “Nausea is normal though, do you want something for it?” Tsukki nods, teary-eyed and Kuroo reaches for the medication, grabbing the right pills and handing one to him with a glass of water.
“‘M sorry,” Tsukki sniffles, leaning his head against the metal bucket. “So gross.”
“It’s ok, love, it’s not your fault,” Akaashi assures him. “Take that pill ok? Then I’ll pay as much attention to you as you want.”
Once Tsukki eventually does take the pill, it takes a while for it to kick in, Akaashi whispering comfort as he cries into Keiji’s side. Kuroo takes a quick call, stepping out of the room for a second. “Hello?”
“He got surgery and none of you told me!? ” Ah, so Hinata had told Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was freakishly protective over Tsukishima, in a way that reminded him of himself and Kenma if one of them had an undying bloodlust.
“Uh-”
“I thought you were supposed to be some type of genius Tetsurou Kuroo,” Yamaguchi was pretty scary, especially when he was angry. And the full name? Kuroo would have to wear a helmet the next time they saw him.
“Can we have this conversation when he’s not crying?” Tetsurou asks weakly. He could hear it from the hall.
“Why is he crying?! What’d you do?” Yamaguchi seems to be moving quickly. Oh god, was he on his way?
“He’s really nauseous from the medication I think,” Kuroo admits, “He took something for it, and it’s kicking in now. You don’t have to come over.”
“Kuroo!” Bokuto calls. “You’re being called for! He says he wants your smell?”
“I gotta go, Yamaguchi! I’ll keep you updated!” Kuroo hangs up without listening for a response. Yes, he worried about the state of his well-being, but more importantly, his baby needed him. He enters the room and the small sniffles have broken out into full-blown sobbing.
“Tetsu, why’d you leave?” Tsukki cries, moving over and clinging onto Kuroo like his life depended on it. “I missed you. You can’t leave. Do you think I’m too skinny? Or tall? Or rude? I’m sorry, I’ll be better-”
“Whoa, whoa, baby, relax,” Kuroo looked helplessly at Akaashi who seemed just as lost as him. “None of that’s true. Yamaguchi just wanted to check on you.”
“Tadashi is here?” He asks, looking around teary-eyed. “He hates me too!”
“Babe, nobody hates you. You’re wonderful!” Kuroo wipes the tears and snot from Kei’s face with a tissue. “I love you so much, and so does Bo and Akaashi. We think you’re just right.”
“Really?” Kei looks up at him with wide eyes, and Kuroo’s heart melts a little bit. The three of them nod, and Tsukki seems sated with that. “Ok...if you promise.”
“I promise,” Kuroo says seriously, linking their pinkies together. Finally, he’s calmed down enough to fall asleep, nestled in between Kuroo and Akaashi, with his head pressed into Akaashi’s stomach. “Bro, he’s gonna kill us when he wakes up.”
“Treasure it while you can,” Akaashi mutters dryly.
---
When his stomach healed, all that was really left was a scar. Even if Tsukki said he didn’t remember anything that happened, Kuroo was pretty sure that was a lie. “Kuroo! You said you’d make dinner! We didn’t want to get takeout, remember?” Tsukki crossed his arms at him, scowl on his face.
“But babe! I’m really cute! And you like my cheeks! How are you gonna say no to that?” Kuroo grins, mouth filled with the pizza he had grabbed on his way home from work.
“Shut
up
, Tetsu!”