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A few months after finishing high school, Tetsurou Kuroo chose the career he was going to study.
Entering university was easy.
Adjusting to university life, on the other hand... It was more difficult than he expected.
He should have expected things to be more complicated starting with the fact that it involved becoming an independent adult.
An independent adult who took his laundry home on weekends, but an independent adult nonetheless.
He had no choice but to do so, considering that college was at least four hours away from home. It was not a trip he could make twice a day.
Still, he tried his best to create a routine. He loved routines.
The first two semesters were a giant challenge: new people, ignorance about how university processes work, and the strange feeling of not quite fitting in.
However, despite the rough start, he managed to establish habits.
By the third semester, he had everything in order: He went jogging in the mornings, ate healthy meals, attended classes without fail, studied in his free time and had time to visit Kenma, his best friend, and his family on the weekends.
Achieving that balance had cost him blood, sweat and tears. There was nothing and no one who could shake the foundation of his routine, except for....
Kenma Kozume hated things about himself, like anyone else. But what he was most repulsed by was: The physical manifestation of his mental exhaustion.
So, on Friday after the last of his midterm exams at the university, he was bedridden. He was unable to move, use his cell phone, or play video games. In other words, unable to live.
He had managed to survive his first week of college midterms, but at what cost?
Kenma pondered the subject and how miserable he felt, in addition to the many classes he was going to miss. Because it usually took him at least four days to manage those emotions and that exhaustion.
It wasn't like he had a choice but to wait for it to pass. If he couldn't even move.
Part of Tetsurou's success in his college life was because he had a friend who was completely willing to listen to him at any time of the day. Be it achievements, ravings or existential crises, whatever he had to tell; Kenma was always there for him.
Likewise, he was always there for Kenma.
One random Friday, Tetsurou composed a message asking Kenma how he was doing after his first week of midterms at college. As well as, of course, to congratulate him on making it through. However, contrary to usual, the answer didn't come immediately... In fact, it didn't even come at all.
Tetsurou tried to remain calm.
Nothing bad could have happened, could it?
Kenma, for sure, was on his way home, which unlike him was close to home, and that's why he hadn't checked his cell phone... But how did that make any sense! If on the return trip was when he was most attentive to the phone.
Tetsurou tried to stay calm.
He didn't succeed.
Five minutes later he was calling Kenma's mother.
She didn't answer either.
Yes.
Something had happened.
He had to look for Kenma.
He couldn't look for Kenma.
Tetsurou had tried but... He couldn't miss the last class of the week.
Still, his mind kept thinking about Kenma.
Did it really make sense for him to be there in body if his mind wasn't there too?
The answer was obvious.
Before he took the time to mull it over, he slipped out the back of the classroom.
Minutes later, he found himself anticipating his weekend home visit.
He was writing steadily to Kenma's mother, who seemed to have no intention of even reading his messages. So he decided to call her, as many times as necessary.
“Hello?” replied the woman after a while of Tetsurou's constant insistence. “Tetsu-chan, did something happen?”
He wanted to shout that that was exactly what he wanted to ask her.
"Kenma doesn't answer my messages," he replied abruptly, contrary to his initial plan to remain calm.
"Oh..." the woman replied, seeming to be teasing him, "Is that why the desperation?”
"It's just that he always talks back to me and..." Tetsurou took a deep breath, "I just wanted to make sure he's okay.
He wasn't going to tell her he was on his way home.
"He arrived quite a while ago, I think he's sleeping," the woman recounted, “I'll go check if he woke up.”
Tetsurou waited in line.
"Guess what happened," said the woman when he returned. The young man wanted to squeal, the lady wasn't helping him, "He's running a fever, you know, it happens to him when he faces a lot of stress."
A light bulb seemed to go on in Tetsurou's mind.
He had forgotten that peculiarity of Kenma.
Almost three hours later, Tetsurou arrived at Kenma's house.
"Tetsurou-kun," his mother was surprised to see him standing in front of her doorway, "we weren't expecting you so soon. " Saori took a moment. "It's Friday." The woman checked her wristwatch. "It's nine o'clock at night."
Tetsurou scratched the back of his neck at the display.
"Is it too late to show up here?" the boy stammered.
The woman let out a chuckle, then pushed Tetsurou by the shoulder and as he entered, patted him on the back.
"Don't talk nonsense, please," the woman scoffed.
Tetsurou went up to Kenma's room and entered, trying not to make too much noise.
"Hello," he whispered after crossing the door, "I heard you're not well."
There was no response other than a hand peeking out from under a cluster of blankets and doing a little swaying.
Tetsurou cautiously approached the bed and sat down on a corner.
"You weren't answering me," he recounted in a calm tone, "You weren't even plugged in, so I figured something had happened to you.
A head peeked out from under the covers.
"Yeah, sorry," he said in an exhausted voice, "I don't even know how I got there, but I couldn't get back up."
Tetsurou stroked Kenma's hair.
"I'd forgotten how you get from stress," he smiled.
"Uh-huh," Kenma mumbled, then tucked his head inside the blankets again.
"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
Kenma's head popped up again to deny.
"Just lie down with me." The boy moved to the side. Tetsurou leaned back, "You know it's not contagious."
"That wasn't going to stop me anyway," Tetsurou asserted, settling in cheekily. "I took a four-hour trip to get here, you know."
"I know," Kenma replied, snuggling into the other man's side, "Thanks for that."
"Don't thank me for it," Tetsurou grumbled, "You'll pay me back with food and lodging anyway."
It sounded like a joke but it wasn't.
Of course he could lie in his comfortable bed but he hadn't spent the night with Kenma for a couple of weeks, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity.
He didn't wait for Kenma to say anything else, before taking off his shoes and settling in for good, he wrapped his arms around the exhausted Kenma who was wrapped in blankets and fell asleep.
Without thinking about the class he had missed, nor that it was her first non-attendance in his entire college life. But with the calmness that the uncertainty and worry he had felt finally disappeared, to be replaced by the deepest peace.
After almost three semesters of college, Tetsurou had managed to harmonize his life.
There was nothing and no one who could upset the balance he had worked so hard to achieve. Except for Kenma Kozume.
Without hesitation, on Sunday morning, Tetsurou Kuroo had offered to take charge of compiling the material for all of Kenma's classes during the two days that he would not be able to attend.
So, on Monday, Tetsurou found himself quickly leaving all his belongings in his apartment after a tiring day of classes.
Then he moved to Kenma's university, where he arrived in record time given the hour; there, Kenma's only friend provided him with all the resources for the day.
Afterwards, he went to Kenma's house, where he left the multiple files and went to bed to sleep in order to wake up very early the next day and be able to go to his study center before the traffic started.
That's how it was on Monday.
"This!" exclaimed Tetsurou on Tuesday night, still catching his breath after the bumpy ride, "This is the reason I'm your best friend in the world!"
Kenma, who was on his last day of recovery, bowed his head in confusion.
"Why do you say it like that?" he said.
"Like what?" questioned Tetsurou.
"Like this." Kenma waved his hands, something quite rare for him. "Just like that as if I didn't know. Of course you're my best friend in the world."
Tetsurou gave a huge smile.
"But don't make that face," Kenma scolded with a frown, "Or I'll be forced to kick you out of my house."
"Kenma," Tetsurou sighed, stepping closer to the boy then wrapping him in a hug.
Kenma struggled to pull away from the embrace until, as always, when Tetsurou made a gesture to let go, he clung to his arms.
Tetsurou didn't say it but Kenma was also his best friend in the world.
His best friend for whom he felt nothing but affection.
Wasn't he?