Work Text:
Training camps were not something that excited Kenma Kozume.
Despite this, as time went by, he began to dislike them less.
Therefore, he was lying on the lawn of one of Fukurodani High School's yards, quietly eating watermelon.
"If it were to happen with one of them, I could indeed have a family!" said Taketora, one of his teammates, after hearing the managers of the other teams laughing.
Kenma decided to ignore him, nothing that might interest him was going to come out of that conversation.
"Stop looking at them," chided Yaku, their third-year teammate, "you're going to make them uncomfortable."
"It's not like they haven't already noticed," Kuroo said, gradually lowering the volume of his voice.
"If you go on like this you'll never have anyone to raise a family with," Yaku assured, looking disdainfully at Taketora.
Kenma thought it was audacious of Yaku to even consider that Taketora would be able to ask someone out.
"You don't look like you're going to be able to start a family either, Yaku-san," Lev, a first-year, said.
"Don't talk badly about my future family, Lev fool!" Yaku protested. "You won't even be able to have a family!"
"I don't want to start a family," Lev declared, changing his childish, lively expression to a serious, convinced face.
Suddenly, the light conversation turned into something deeper. A conversation in which the boys began to talk about what their expectations for the future were.
Kai wanted to focus purely on his career.
Fukunaga wanted to have a childless family.
Taketora, Inuoka and Yaku wanted to have a traditional family.
Lev, as he said, had no intention of starting a family.
"What about you, Kenma?" Kai asked with a smile.
Kenma, who was about to fall asleep, woke up.
"Me what?" Kenma said, rubbing his eyes, still fluctuating between sleep and reality. When he felt awake enough, he leaned his back against the tree behind him and began to look around.
"Nothing, Kenma," Kai replied, without losing his warm smile.
"What about you, Kuroo?" Yaku asked, at the boy's interest in being next. "What kind of family do you want to have, or don't you want to have one?"
"Oh," Kuroo replied, feigning surprise. "Thank you for asking, Yaku. Well..." he took a minute to think. "I'd like to have a family with at least two children, close-knit and as happy as possible," he decreed, then inhaled deeply.
Kenma caught a glimpse in the near distance of what seemed to be pots from the garden club.
"I don't know why we're talking about that," Taketora suddenly claimed. "I have no idea how to have a relationship..." he paused. "I can't even talk to girls," he whispered the last part. Kuroo laughed at the sad look on the other boy's face.
"It's not like I have it any easier," Kuroo said, through what Kenma perceived as a hint of insecurity. Kenma listened in a perfunctory way, never taking his eyes off one particular flower in the pots. It was two shades of pink and had six petals. "I really have no interest in dating, I don't even know if I have time to go out with anyone other than Kenma." The mentioned frowned. " Plus, to be honest, not a single girl is catching my eye at the moment."
"How are you going to like any of them if you don't even make an effort to get to know them?" Taketora complained.
"That's right!" Yaku agreed. "You have plenty of opportunities left over." Yaku waved his hands in a grand gesture. "I've seen all the girls who give you letters and you turn them down!"
"I can't force myself to be with someone I don't like!" Kuroo refuted, raising his tone of voice. "But that's not going to stop me. I have a plan for when I go to college."
"What the hell are you saying?" Yaku protested, then shook his hands in denial. "You know what?! Don't tell me."
"But my plan is very good, let me tell you," Kuroo requested.
"A plan to find love won't work," Lev refuted. "It doesn't work like that."
"Whatever," Kenma interjected, finally turning his concentration away from the plants. "If all else fails, let's just get married," he assured, focusing on the grass he was playing with.
"Something is going to go wrong," Tetsurou asserted. "See my ear?" he pointed to his ear. "It looks red, that can only mean something bad."
"You touch it every two seconds, of course it's going to be red," Tsukishima protested, arching an eyebrow.
"And I feel like I'm choking on my tie," Tetsurou complained, touching his neck.
"You don't even have your tie on," Bokuto said with a frown of confusion. "You need to calm down," he stated, fiddling with the tie in his hands. "Because you make me nervous too." Koutarou wrapped the tie around his neck pretending to hang himself.
"You're right," Tetsurou agreed.
He took a couple of deep, slow breaths.
He thought of the happy life that awaited him after that night.
"What if he regrets it?" he argued again. "It would be too sad..." He paused. "Would I get my wedding money back?" he asked to himself. "No, would they?"
Tetsurou began to ask himself questions that no one but him seemed to be able to answer.
"Should we call Kenma?" Koutarou inquired.
"I think he must be busy with his own affairs," Kei replied, lifting the bridge of his glasses.
They both looked worriedly at Kuroo, who seemed to have no intention of seeking logical or practical answers to his doubts for a while.
"This is going to end badly," Kenma enunciated, sitting in a corner of his assigned room.
"Nothing is going to get wrong," Keiji replied. "This was planned very well and long in advance."
"I don't talk about that kind of thing," Kenma said. "I talk about myself."
"You what?" Keiji doubted. "I feel like I'm missing something." He glanced in Shoyo's direction, who hadn't said anything for a few minutes.
"Keiji-san, please don't ask me to explain something, I've been feeling lost for quite a while now," Shoyo begged.
Keiji nodded silently.
"So..." he started. "What are you afraid of?"
Kenma raised his head and connected glances with Keiji.
"How about if I go blank?" Kenma whispered. Keiji and Shoyo squatted down, to be at his height. "When I'm really nervous I can't even utter a word." Keiji and Shoyo nodded. "What if they ask me the "yes, I do" question and I can't speak."
"I think if that were to happen, you might nod," Keiji claimed. "I'm sure the message would get through."
Shoyo made an approving expression.
"We can vouch for you even," he stated. "Can we do that? Do we need a power of attorney?"
Kenma laughed softly.
"Well..." Keiji hinted. "I want to believe that's not going to be necessary."
Emma wanted to pull out her hair one by one.
Never in her career as an event planner had anything like this ever happened to her.
Yes, she probably should have been more careful. Considering that it was the first time she was in control of an event for Japanese people and that her Japanese was playing tricks on her at times... But what was done had been done.
There was no use regretting it, she needed solutions.
Still, she would think twice the next time she was told about a wedding or event for Japanese people.
She knocked on Kenma's door, but got no answer.
She knocked on Tetsurou's door, but got no answer either.
She was going to tear her hair out and it would all be those two Japanese's fault.
She took a deep breath and headed back towards Kenma's room.
She stamped on the floor, to find calm, then knocked on the door, this time it opened.
"Yes?" inquired a blue-eyed man, he was very handsome.
No.
She had to concentrate.
After the ceremony she could focus on finding someone to help her practice Japanese... Or something else.
"Is Kenma in?" Emma asked, trying not to show her nervousness.
"I think he's a little busy right now," replied the man. "Did something too bad happen?"
"No, it 's just..."
"I understand," the man cut her off before slamming the door in her face.
Emma bit the inside of her cheek.
The Japanese were going to end her sanity.
If she let them, but she wasn't going to let them.
She walked to Tetsurou's room. A very big man opened the door.
"Hello," he said smiling. "What's wrong?"
"I need to talk with Tetsurou, please."
The man's expression changed. His lower lip tilted to the side.
"That won't be possible, he's busy enough," the man said, before slamming the door in her face.
She knocked on the door again.
She could only hear voices inside the room.
"Her insisting is getting on my nerves."
"She said she wanted to talk to Tetsu," the man who had just slammed the door on her said.
Emma knocked on the door again.
No one was going to open the door?
"Don't you think if she keeps knocking it must be something very important?" she heard before a very tall, blond man opened up to her. "'Afternoon, so what's wrong?"
"It's just that there was a problem with the arrangements," she blurted out, thinking that at any moment he would slam the door on her as well.
The man raised his eyebrows in surprise, snorted and closed the door.
Great. She knocked on the door again.
"Tetsurou!" she heard. "You have to get out!" There was a pause along with a babble that Emma failed in deciphering. "I don't care," the same man replied. "I told you I don't care, go out and sort that out."
A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing Tetsurou. He was getting married, but he really looked quite nervous.
Emma supposed she should say something, but decided to take the problems one at a time. He would eventually start to feel better when he realized he had another problem to deal with.
"Wait over here," the woman solicited.
She walked a few feet further, returning to Kenma's room.
She knocked on the door again.
"Shoyo, open up, it must be the planner," she heard the voice of the man who had answered her a while ago.
"But why me?"
The door opened, revealing a red-haired man.
"Tell me," he uttered.
"I need to talk to Kenma, please. There is a problem with the flower arrangements."
The man frowned and nodded slowly, started to close the door, but when he saw Emma's expression he stopped.
"Give me a moment, please," he asked, flashing a nervous smile.
The door was almost completely closed.
"She said the flower arrangements got lost or burned or something. I'm not sure, but you need to get out of here," she heard the man's heavy breathing. "Now."
Emma wanted to interrupt the hyperbole of the situation but, actually, if she could get Kenma to come out, she didn't care about the ways and means.
"What happened, what do you mean the arrangements burned?" the groom inquired as he emerged, as concerned as Emma knew he could be. That groom was not a very expressive man.
"They didn't burn," Emma stated, shaking her head.
Emma started walking, behind her were Kenma and Kuroo.
"This is definitely a bad sign!" Kuroo exclaimed, raising his arms nervously. "The grooms are not supposed to see each other before the wedding!" He then gestured to place his hand next to his face, to limit his peripheral vision.
Kenma laughed softly.
"If we are going to base it on those traditions, I think we were wrong since we were not a male and a female," Kenma remarked.
Kuroo laughed nervously.
Emma sighed in despair.
Would all Japanese couples be like that?
"This is the problem," Emma announced, gesturing with her arms to the large truckload of floral arrangements.
Arrangements made with flowers that were definitely not the pink, yellow and white tulips they had asked for.
"This is it!" cried Tetsurou in despair. "Just one more thing to go!" he wailed, pressing his hands against his head. "We have to delay the wedding!"
As Emma explained to Tetsurou that it was not possible to cancel the wedding without losing all the money invested, Kenma stared at the flowers. They had six petals, there were yellow, orange and pink, but they all seemed to have drops of other colors, they were beautiful.
He thought he had seen them somewhere before, then he remembered where. They were the same ones he saw one day in Fukurodani's yard; it was easy to remember, it wasn't like he had seen too many varieties of flowers in his life.
"And how are those flowers named?" Kenma inquired, in his calmest tone.
Kuroo and Emma looked at the man bewildered. Was that his concern at this moment?
Kenma kept his eyes focused on the gazes, until Kuroo laughed uproariously.
"This is excessive," he said between guffaws.
"Could you please ask for the flowers' name?" Kenma requested the planner.
"Kenma, I think we should handle something else at this point," Emma recommended. A vein about to escape from her forehead.
Kenma nodded and walked to the truck, where two men were standing.
"Good afternoon," he said to the driver. "Could you tell me how those flowers are named, please?"
The man hesitated for a moment, before asking his partner.
"Hey, do you know how these flowers are named?"
The partner, who was on a call, probably to discuss the maldistribution, took a moment on the line and placed the phone receiver on the side of his neck.
"They're Peru lilies," he answered, "they're beautiful flowers, aren't they?"
Kenma nodded.
"So what's their meaning?" he inquired.
"That I do know," the driver replied before giving the other man a chance, who retook his call. "They reference friendship power," he explained. "Each petal symbolizes a friendship pillar: understanding, patience, empathy." He took a pause to think. "And I don't know what more."
"Respect, humor and dedication," the other man complemented.
The groom smiled.
Kenma didn't believe in fate, but he did believe in coincidences. He felt his heart swell and walked in Kuroo's direction, who was still laughing.
He looked at Tetsurou and Tetsurou's laughter stopped.
"You want us to keep the flowers, don't you?" Tetsurou supposed. Kenma nodded excitedly.
"But I was already going to get them changed," Emma replied in a disappointed tone.
"It's just that we're like those flowers," Kenma said, looking convinced at Tetsurou. Tetsurou smiled.
“There's no need, Emma, these flowers came to us for a reason," Tetsurou assured as he stroked a flower petal. "It would be a pity if they died without being enjoyed."
Kenma didn't believe in fate, but Tetsurou did.
Whatever it was, whether it was coincidence, fate, the gods or whoever was responsible for people's lives.
They were both grateful to have each other.
On their wedding night it didn't matter that one of the cakes fell to the ground because of Shoyo's clumsiness, neither did it matter that Kenma found a couple being very affectionate in the gardens outside.
It didn't matter that Tetsurou forgot part of his vows because he was crying, neither did it matter that Kenma laughed at it.
On their wedding night, Kenma and Tetsurou only cared about the love they had built from the power of their friendship.
"Is that the picture you hung up?" Kei asked, trying to be as non-venomous as possible.
"It's just that it's perfect," Tetsurou and Kenma replied in unison, then both looked at each other and smiled.
Some of the others present frowned, regretting their decision to visit newlyweds.
"That's memorable," Shoyo said with his arms crossed.
"You're just saying that because you show up there," Kageyama protested.
"Only my arm shows," Shoyo contradicted.
Kenma and Tetsurou looked at the picture. It was the best way to sum up their wedding night.
There was a wedding cake on the floor, after being pushed over by Shoyo. Tetsurou in foreground laughing uproariously, Kenma amused trying to hold in his laughter and a waiter in the back, casually carrying a flower arrangement with Peru lilies.
They were right, it was perfect.
In short, it was the life of their dreams .