Notes

Every person had an era. While most lasted shorter, Kuroo's era didn't grow off him. Rather, it infected Bokuto like a virus. A virus he couldn't fight off. However, he can't say Kuroo didn't help him live out the last sane year of his life. Though, he could've gifted Bokuto with hours of sleep.

Reaching his precious REM sleep, Bokuto's eyes almost vibrated under his eyelids. His dreams were undefined, though he had the privilege of controlling them to an extent. As a consequence, the man was easy to awake. To his dismay, Kuroo took this vulnerability and used it to his advantage.

As vibrations traveled through his pillow and reached his cheek, Bokuto got the urge to smack someone. If it weren't his alarm, he knew very well who'd call at this hour.

"What?" Bokuto didn't bother concealing his groggy, aggressive tone. However, Kuroo's light laugh caused his disappointment to rise. He felt his body fill with massive annoyance but refused to open his eyes. He'd never let Kuroo wake him up that successfully.

"So, I'm coming over, can you let me in half an hour?" Kuroo announced, to which Bokuto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Whatever. Bokuto didn't give a shit. He had a guest bed available and would let him in through the other entrance. He'd abandon Kuroo there, and sleep in his room.

"Whatever, bye,"

"Wait-"

"Yes?" Bokuto sounded as if he was crying, which in return made Kuroo laugh at the deadly reaction. Being best friends with an unhinged man was cursed. Cursed.

"Your parents won't be mad?" Kuroo seemed to ask genuinely, which made Bokuto surprised to witness him use braincells.

"I'll sneak you in through the second entrance. Just don't make noise, don't knock, don't ring the doorbell," Bokuto informed him, feeling his aggression dissipate and replace itself with sleepiness. Anything to just fulfilling his sleep.

"You are not sleeping. We're going to watch our series, and have a boys night," Kuroo insisted, but Bokuto's head was already protesting. Hell no,

"Oh, I brought drinks. Wine! It's all I have though," Kuroo sing-songed. Bokuto wanted to smack the living shit out of him but didn't bother commenting. He didn't feel urged to drink at three AM on a Wednesday night.

"Whatever, just call me when you get here," Bokuto begrudgingly told him. Despite hating his guts, Bokuto would never let Kuroo meet a closed door.

The pair of best friends already joked about how Kuroo's single uncle-looking ass, would bust open Bokuto's door and sleep on the couch at three am. Their future vision also included Kuroo sneaking his kids out of school, and Kuroo purposely keeping his kids' secrets about their love life from him because Bokuto apparently would be strict. The predictions were already coming true, with Kuroo quietly approaching his home at two am.

Nevertheless, Bokuto did everything to speed through sleep to reach his previous REM sleep. Controlling his dreams was no hard task. He imagined stabbing Kuroo in his dreams, satisfied with having Kuroo suffer only in his dreams. There was a reason Kuroo was single.

Only half an hour later, Kuroo announced his cursed entrance. Bokuto's controlled self knew how to get out of bed to unlock the door. To his surprise, Kuroo was quiet as he made his way to Bokuto's room. He dropped his bag on the floor and made Bokuto's room, his home.

"Drinks?" Kuroo requested in a whisper, to which Bokuto ended up giving him a Pepsi along with a cup. He questioned his best friend's sobriety, though Kuroo seemed pretty composed.

Indeed, he brought out the silver bag of white wine. The bag was taken out of the wine carton and placed in Kuroo's bag. While Bokuto hugged his duvet, Kuroo lay sprawled on his carpet with the silver bag on top of his face. The bag of wine had a tap-like device. You pushed a button to pour its contents.

Bokuto admitted he was intrigued by how he aimed the bag atop his mouth. Knowing very well that Kuroo set himself up for failure, he watched Kuroo choke on wine and cough. The moment of joy was celebrated with laughing at him, knowing very well it was karma hitting him.

On the other hand, Kuroo read Bokuto's mind like a telepathic reader. To keep his interest active, or keep him awake, Kuroo cleared his throat to share new information.

"Oh, by the way," Kuroo sat up and used the cup to fill up his cup with shitty-tasting wine. Bokuto had brushed his teeth and didn't even bother accepting it. More wine for his best friend, he supposed.

"What now?" Bokuto sighed, wondering what kind of bullshit he got himself into.

"You remember Kozume Kenma?" Kuroo chuckled nervously, feeling something. Quite quickly, he willingly chugged a sip of the wine. He was tipsy enough for it to taste better because Bokuto was impressed by the smooth ingestion.

Secondly, Bokuto remembered the entire context with Kenma. Knowing very well they were childhood best friends gone practically strangers. Well, they fell out due to the one-year gap.

"Oh?" Bokuto indeed felt himself getting more awake, to listen to the continuation of his life events.

"Well, I kind of went to his place after a long time. Long story. VR place, he works there part-time apparently, I see him. He sees me. We talk. We meet up after work. I go to his place," Kuroo summarized directly without going around the topic for an hour. The pause continued, Bokuto nodding to signal Kuroo to continue.

"We kinda made out," Kuroo finished, with Bokuto widening his eyes and jaw physically descending at the rapid turn of the story. What the,

"How? Did you drink or something?" Bokuto nearly screeched, not understanding how a reunion turns that way. How the hell?

"Well, things got emotional. We fought over whose fault it was for falling out. First, we were awkward and formal, you know. Ahh, how are you? What are you studying? How's your year been, and whatever. It felt fake and forced as hell. We know each other, the way you and I know each other. So, the facade dropped. He mainly blamed me, I defended myself and blamed him. Then we got to the topic of why it was so deep, and why we couldn't just have a nice time catching up. Then he just ended up confessing in a yell. Long story. Shit went down. We ended up crying a little and just making out for like an hour I guess," Kuroo shrugged his shoulders. The emotional toll was definitely drowned by the stupid wine, but Bokuto saw through his calm demeanor. However, he didn't have the energy to fight Kuroo either.

"Okay. So, you fought, and impulsive, wild, angry make-out session. Hell no it wasn't for an hour. Okay, what now?" Bokuto questioned, wondering what the hell was happening in Kuroo's life.

"We haven't talked about it. I don't know what to do," Kuroo chuckled to himself. He ended up sighing and filling his half-empty cup before sipping it again. Kuroo sat up at the corner of Bokuto's single bed. Right, there was no double bed available.

"Bruh," Bokuto croaked out, nearly speechless at the situation. It didn't make sense, nor did it seem like a rational thing to act upon. He wasn't surprised, knowing Kuroo. Also, Kenma liking Kuroo wasn't a shock either.

"Doesn't the Tokyo girl like you too?" Bokuto asked about Kuroo's platonic friend who ended up confessing while drunk every time they hung out. Kuroo sighed heavily before nodding as if he were tired of her. He was because he didn't feel anything for her. Yet, she did pretend like nothing while they were friends and confess while drunk.

"You already know she's not my type. She's cute, and a good kisser, but no. Also, guess who I matched with on Tinder" Kuroo opened his phone to find the conversation. Bokuto raised his eyebrow and watched Kuroo's grin widen.

"The middle school girl who practically drooled after you?" Bokuto guessed, knowing Kuroo wouldn't respond without having him guess.

"No, the secondary school dude who pushed me into a locker to rile me up," Kuroo snorted so loud Bokuto shushed him frustratedly. However, Kuroo didn't stop laughing.

"Thing is, he didn't realize we went to the same school. I did," Kuroo began, shortly finding his conversation from a few days ago.

"Hi, I’m an astronaut, and my next mission is to explore Uranus," Kuroo read aloud from his Tinder conversation. Bokuto squashed his face deeper into the pillow to face the cringe.

"Oh my god," Bokuto dragged out each vowel, groaning at the intense cringe.

"I know, look, look!" Kuroo showed the screen to prove the shitty event was true. As if Bokuto hadn't heard enough, he read the conversation.

"Didn't we share classes?"

"Oh, Tetsurou. You've sure changed a lot,"

"Oh my fucking god," Bokuto repeated, visually cringing until his head fell upon the pillow again. Kuroo's love life was just cursed.

"Anyway. I'm not thinking about anything with anyone. I'm staying single. You know me. I'm not planning on a relationship yet," Kuroo deadpanned. Yeah, his best friend went through a dumb breakup a while back. His ex was trash, and Bokuto wanted nothing but happiness for him.

"You're leading Kenma on?" Bokuto raised his eyebrow, wondering what the hell he was planning to do as his next move.

"That's the thing! I felt something when we kissed, you know? The mmm, you know," Kuroo was very precise to demonstrate the consonant with his lips pressed to one another. Bokuto knew the translation with Kuroo's definition of "mmm".

"So, are you only sexually attracted to him then?" Bokuto inquired, needing Kuroo to just continue and clarify what exactly he was getting to.

"No, that's also the thing. I didn't see Kenma that way, you know. We used to be like you and me. Childhood best friends, right? But like, I swear I forgot my ex that second. I was like, revived. I don't even know. I just want to drink right now, though. Come on, one glass?" Kuroo spiraled off the topic once he actually got vulnerable. Of course, this was his shitty coping mechanism. Only under Bokuto's influence, did he drink less. According to Kuroo, it was boring to drink alone.

"No," Bokuto denied the offer and watched Kuroo chug a sip after a small pout. However, he wasn't done talking.

"Also, you know me. I'm not the one to catch feelings fast or for anyone. I have high standards," Kuroo gesticulated with his hands as he spoke. Bokuto almost rolled his eyes.

"You need someone to deal with your stupid ass," Bokuto translated, to which Kuroo couldn't protest. His drinking only got slightly bad if he was sadder than usual. It was a relief because he didn't drink like this otherwise. Also, he would force Kuroo into therapy if this continued for longer.

"I just, he knows me inside out. It's so natural with him. I never thought I would see him that way," Kuroo confessed with a hand running through his hair.

"What's the issue?" Bokuto asked as directly, clean-cut as he could. He didn't understand the problem of this situation. Kuroo unexpectedly got quiet, before his eyes showed the vulnerability he would often conceal. Bokuto was wide awake and willingly sat up next to his bestest of friends.

"He said he had feelings for me. Past tense," Kuroo recalled in a low voice, with his cup still in his lap and supported by his hand. Bokuto empathetically softened his gaze and fell silent.

"You guys made out though," Bokuto tried to comfort him, attempting to see a hope of Kenma feeling the same. Both of them were willingly intimate, which should signal something.

"It was spontaneous, it doesn't have to be meaningful. Maybe it was satisfying to finally have a kiss with his past crush," Kuroo voiced his irrational thoughts. Firstly, it didn't make sense. Secondly, even Bokuto knew Kenma wasn't the type to pull a stunt like that.

"Tetsu, we both know damn well Kenma isn't the type to make out with anyone either. Okay, he did say past tense. And? Shit happens, your feelings for him happened out of nowhere. He's able to feel shit for you too," Bokuto shrugged his shoulders, actually having positive prognoses of his situation. Kuroo was just being insecure, rather than thinking rationally. Bokuto understood that, though.

"I don't even know what to do. What do I do, Koutarou?" Kuroo turned to him and looked at his best friend in pure desperation. He hopefully stared at Bokuto as if he had the answer to everything.

"Talk to him. Call him. Meet him again. Talk about it." Bokuto deadpanned without hesitating. It was nearly three am, and Bokuto wanted to die. However, he shook it off by prioritizing Kuroo's situation. His university could just die too. Fuck it, he could skip as well.

"I know," Kuroo mumbled, and tiredly placed his cup on Bokuto's side table. Good, he didn't even finish it.

Kuroo's plans were changed from watching the series to dominating Bokuto's bed with his sleeping position. He hadn't changed outfits, brushed his teeth, taken off his socks, or anything. Bokuto didn't get to offer a toothbrush, spare clothes, or anything. However, he understood the need to just sleep and stop thinking. Bokuto lay down next to him, admittedly being crushed into a wall.

Kuroo instinctively moved away from him to give Bokuto more space. He also remembered the last time he had spooned someone, suddenly thinking of both his ex and Kenma simultaneously. It was unbeknownst to Bokuto, as he felt Kuroo's arm around his waist. He didn't mind. While most wouldn't do it with their siblings, both of them shared the same thought.

Both of them would rather jump off a plane without a parachute, rather than date one another. However, these gestures and moments brought them close as best friends. As much as Kuroo told Bokuto to fuck off, and as much as Bokuto glared at him, they had an unbreakable bond. Most of their brotherhood consisted of stealing a random shopping cart and naming it Uno. Actually, they'd earn a lot of coins in Uno, only to lose everything because of Kuroo.

One could definitely wonder whether they hated each other, from how they acted sometimes. Only the two of them experienced security in their best friendship. They shared a bromance unlike any other.

A bromance,