Work Text:
"CUT! Alright guys, I think that’s good for this scene. Kenma, can you come over here for a second?"
Kenma walked over, his shoulders hunching slightly as they did whenever the director called him over. He always thought the director wanted to reprimand him, or correct his posture, or his characterization. He never did, but Kenma constantly worried.
"Kenma, I wanted to formally introduce you to one of the guys you'll be playing against. You hadn't had a chance to really meet up since the read through with how busy everything's been, but your chemistry together is really important to the overall mood of the next few scenes we're doing. So, Kenma this is Hinata Shouyou, he's playing Ishikawa Taiga. Shouyou, this is Kozume Kenma. You probably know this by now but he's playing the title character Ishizaka Wataru. Begin socializing!" With an exuberant flourish of his left hand - clipboard grasped so firmly between his fingers the knuckles had turned white, the director left, leaving the two actors alone in an uncharacteristically deserted corner by the snack table.
Kenma tried not to let his discomfort show. He was an actor for God's sake, he could act comfortable.
He took a moment to look over the man in front of him. He noticed first that he was really only a boy - probably right around his own age of 19, and second that he was nice looking, nice being the operative word. He - Hinata - had wavy hair, a bright shade of orange that looked so unnatural Kenma couldn't help but find it endearing. He felt a weird sense of camaraderie between himself and Hinata in that respect, his hair was a bit unnatural as well. Hinata was short, but not too much shorter than Kenma himself, and he looked unbelievably energetic. He was bouncing back and forth on his on the balls of feet (whether it was from excitement or nervousness Kenma wasn't sure) and smiling. Kenma inspected Hinata's face and came to the decision that the smile was genuine.
A gentle cough broke his focus, and Kenma glanced up to Hinata's eyes and saw a slight crinkle in the corners. It made him feel warm inside, oddly enough.
"So Kozume-san" Hinata started.
"Just call me Kenma. Kozume-san is my father."
Hinata had the audacity to giggle.
"Okay Kenma!"
"So, Hinata, um."
"Kenma wanna get coffee! The stuff here is kinda gross if I'm being honest."
"Yeah, that sounds nice."
"I only have sex with a guy for money."
"Yeah, I know."
"And two guys can't love each other."
"Yeah."
"Well, I don't know. I mean... I mean, for me, I could love someone even if I, you know, wasn't paid for it... I. Oh my God Kenma I can't" Hinata broke into giggles.
"Hinata we have to be able to get through this!"
"I know! It's just, why on earth are you wearing that?!?"
'That' being an oversized sweatshirt he stole from Kuroo, green sunglasses and an ostentatious woven sunhat.
"Well you wanted to run lines in public and I didn't want us to be disturbed! I figured this would make us less noticeable." Kenma mumbled a bit towards the end of his thought.
"Did you say 'less noticeable'? Kenma, you look like a blind tourist on crack."
"On crack? What the hell?"
"Yes. On crack."
"Alright Shouyou we really need to get back to this!!"
"Yeah, yeah."
They had only met up the first few times out of cautious accordance to the director's wishes: he wanted chemistry, they would try their damnedest for chemistry. But after the third trip to Starbucks, they found they kind of enjoyed one another's company. Kenma loved the exhilarating atmosphere Shouyou brought with him. Hinata liked having a person he could rely on. It helped that said person was also caring, adorable, and a sarcastic little shit when he wanted to be.
"Shouyou."
"Hmm?"
"What are you staring at?"
"Nothing."
"Wanna practice some more, or?"
"Kenma, let's go get dinner, yeah?"
"Kenma! Glad I caught you. Say, you and Hinata have really good chemistry. I'm happy to see you both took my advice. What's good for the production is good for everyone, yeah?"
"Yeah."
It was the first time Kenma had brought anyway to his house in a while. Well, anyone excluding Kuroo, who despite living a block away in his own apartment rarely ever opted to go home when staying over at Kenma's was a viable option.
So yeah, it was the first time Kenma had brought someone who didn't reek of expensive cologne and whine about the hot intern at work who hated his guts over to his house in a long time.
Kenma had spent at least two hours cleaning prior to the event as he had dubbed it in his mind, despite the fact that most likely Hinata would be over for ten minutes tops before they came up with a better place to practice their blocking.
But he still cleaned. He unconsciously wondered when he would admit to himself he was nervous.
When the doorbell rang, Kenma practically jumped out of his skin.
"Kenma open the door!!! I brought a surprise!"
"I'm coming Shouyou, one sec." He opened the door and found a giant box floating two feet off the ground.
Well not really floating, since Kenma could see eight fingers and two thumbs supporting the bottom of the box.
"Kenma did you open the door? I'm coming in!" a voice from behind the box called out.
"Shouyou what is this?"
"Direct me to a table first. This shit is heavy as hell. Okay. So you know how your favorite movie is Rashomon for reasons I'm unbelievably unaware of but whatever."
"It's one of the greatest movies of all time." Kenma muttered indignantly. Hinata smirked.
"I know I know! So! Since I recently came into possession of this outrageously gigantic old record player - yes the thing in the box I labored to bring over! - I figured we could play it in the background while we run our scenes. It'll be hilariously suspenseful and heartwarmingly cheesy all at the same time. The perfect way to spend our night together."
"I don't even have a record of that score. Who even has records anymore its 2016?"
"Oh! I have it. Here you go. It's for you as a birthday present."
"It's not my birthday."
"Then it’s a Star Wars Day present. May the fourth be with you. Let's start!"
In the end, they didn't leave Kenma's place until the next day.
"Hey Kenma wanna get lunch?"
"Yeah."
"Kenma! So we only have a few scenes of you and Hinata left to shoot and then we're practically done with the production of this film. My boss wants to get you started on his next pitch. It's a locational shoot, but what's a few months you know? Will you think about it?"
"Yeah."
"I want to do it."
"No you don't."
"Yeah I do."
"No you don't"
“Yes I do."
"No Ken, you really don't"
"Kuroo you don't get to decide this for me."
"I'm not deciding anything for you. I can see it in your eyes. I know you, Ken. I know you way to well to let you run off to halfway across the world for a movie shoot you don't even want to do when the only thing you want is here, at home, probably staring at his phone and wondering why you've been ignoring him for a week and a half. You're thinking that you only have one scene left, and that if you can hold off seeing him and hold of telling him till the last day that everything will be honky dory and you won't have to deal with the fallout. That's not how it works Ken. You're too invested to just let go. You're going to get hurt if you just leave right now."
"Kuroo what if it doesn't work out. I don't want to go."
"I know."
Hinata lives three blocks away, in a modest apartment building that seemed too shabby for an actor of his ability. The light outside the door was flickering erratically, a poor imitation of Kenma's beating heart.
Looking at the stairs, Kenma wondered if there were any incentives to actually walking to the top of them.
Except he knew there were. Hinata was at the top. And Kenma wasn't going to stall any longer.
"Shouyou." Kenma whispered as he knocked on the door. It helped to ground him if he reminded himself why he was there every few minutes.
"Shouyou" he repeated, raising his hand to knock again only to have the door fly open under his palm.
"Kenma. Why are you here?"
"Shouyou I'm sorry for everything. For ignoring you, and stuff. I missed talking to you, I was just running away. But, not anymore. So I'm uh-"
"Kenma! Wanna get dinner?"
"Huh? Um sure?"
It only felt right when Hinata held his hand the whole way there.
Kenma turned down the movie deal the next day.
"I only have sex with a guy for money."
"Yeah, I know."
"And two guys can't love each other."
"Yeah."
"Well, I don't know. I mean... I mean, for me, I could love someone even if I, you know, wasn't paid for it... I love you, and... you don't pay me."
"Taiga..."
"I really wanna kiss you, man... Well goodnight, man... I love you though... You know that... I do love you."
"Alright guys! That's a wrap!"
Neither Kenma nor Hinata heard the final cut, or the cheers from the crew. They were preoccupied with plans for grabbing lunch today, and breakfast tomorrow, and mapping the feel of one another's lips in the moments between.