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“Are you ready?”

“Not really.”

“Hm, understandable.
But you know that it's the right
decision not to wait any longer.”

Kenma nodded softly in agreement
as he followed his boyfriend inside
the gym, hands buried deep inside
the pockets of his jacket to hide
how much they were trembling.

“And you really don't want
me to come with you?”

“No, I have to do this alone.
It's still practice for you
so go change, okay?”

Kuroo nodded but instead of
going upstairs to the changing rooms,
he stopped to turn to his boyfriend.

“It's okay if you only tell the coach
today and go home after that,
you know that, right?
I'm not going to say or do anything
if you don't want me to and I
don't want you to stress yourself
so much, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Great.”

And with that the ravenette only
placed a soft kiss on the blonde's
forehead before he made
his way upstairs.

What was the worst
that could happen?

Kenma remembered that
Shouyou had once told him to
just think of the scariest thing
that had ever happened to him
and he'd already feel much better.

It was true, he had already told
his parents and they had more or
less come to terms with it, there
had been nothing scarier
than telling them.

And unlike his parents Kenma didn't
depend on coach Nekomata as much.

Still he respected the
elderly man a lot.

Going to him to tell him that he'd
give up on volleyball because he
had accidentally gotten pregnant
didn't feel good at all.

He knew that the coach had big
expectations for him and he wasn't
part of the main team for nothing.

Telling the coach was the first step
of letting the whole world know
about part of him he himself hadn't
even fully accepted yet.

It was a matter of time until the
whole team would know, no matter
if he told them today too or not.

Even if he wasn't really close with
most of them, he still didn't want
to hear those judging words and
crumble under these judging eyes.

“Kenma.
I was waiting for you
to come to me.”

Coach Nekomata sat on the bench
and patted the free seat beside him
when he noticed the pudding
head in the doorway.

“Yeah, I.. I wanted to talk
to you about something.
I think it's time to..

Return these.”

Kenma avoided the coach's eyes as
he handed him the neatly folded
uniform and training jacket.

“You're leaving the volleyball club?”

“Yeah, I don't really have a choice.”

But coach Nekomata only frowned
at his student's soft words.

“You always have a choice, Kenma.
What makes you think you
don't have one?”

There it was.

The moment he'd have to say
the truth, the moment he'd reveal

it all and show his most vulnerable
side without knowing what
would happen.

“I'm pregnant.
I'm not allowed to do dangerous
physical activities anymore.”

If the coach was actually surprised,
he didn't show it.

And Kenma was glad for that.

“I see.. I won't accept those then.
If you really want to leave the club,
I'll let you return these. But only
after your baby is here.
You're not going to be pregnant
forever, right? And if you want
to play again after your pregnancy,
we'll find a way for that.
A solution that's good for you
and your baby. It's okay to me if
you don't want to play anymore
then but you being pregnant is
no reason to leave the club, okay?
You'll always be welcome
here, Kenma.”

Just hearing those calm,
reassuring words made
the blonde feel like crying.

So he did.

He allowed his tears to fall as
he pressed the clothes to his chest
and hugged them tightly.

“Thank you so much.”

But coach Nekomata
only smiled softly.

“It's going to be hard for the team
from now on, you can't be replaced.
I hope you'll cheer for them
from time to time.”

“How did it go?”

Kenma almost had a heart
attack when his boyfriend
suddenly appeared out of
nowhere in the hallway and
grabbed his shoulders.

“You talked to him, right?”

Kuroo tilted his head as he
motioned with his eyes towards the
uniform still in the younger's hold.

“Y-yeah. It went good.
He said I'm not allowed to leave
the team until the baby's here.”

“Huh?”

“He said something like..

Being pregnant is not a reason
to leave the club and that if I
really want to leave, I have to
decide when I'm not
pregnant anymore.”

“Ah. So you could play again
if you want, right?”

“Yeah, if I want.
I'll be so out of shape though and
it's not like you can leave a newborn
baby alone for hours everyday,
I don't think..”

“Hey. Stop right there.
We don't know how it'll be when
the baby's here so you shouldn't
close doors you haven't even
looked through yet. Also..
You have me, right?
Our baby has me.”

“But you're the captain..”

“But I'm a dad.
And my priorities are not
up for discussion.”

Kuroo smirked when Kenma
wanted to argue but couldn't
come up with an argument.

“You're really the cutest when
you run out of arguments.”

“Shut up.”

“Want to tell the others too today?”

“Mhm, might as well get this
over with too. But you'll answer
every question, I'm tired. And...
You won't let them make
fun of me, right?”

The ravenette's gaze softened
when Kenma looked at him with
big, exhausted eyes and Kuroo
couldn't help but pull his
boyfriend into a hug.

“I'd never allow them to
even think about it.”

He smiled as he nuzzled his face
in the crook of the younger's neck
and pecked the soft skin gently.

“Hey hey, love birds.
Get a room!”

Yamamoto laughed as he passed
the couple followed by a few other
teammates, making Kenma
blush brightly.

But his boyfriend didn't make
any attempts to let go and only stuck
his tongue out towards Yamamoto.

“You're just jealous.”

“He is, he's lonely.”

Lev added but whined when he
earned a slap on his back.

“Come on, kitten.
Let's get this over with before these
idiots make even more chaos.”

“Mhm.”

But when Kuroo tried to let go,
Kenma hugged him a little tighter
and buried his face even more in
the older's chest as if he was trying
to pretend that he didn't exist.

This was going to be stressful
and scary again.

And Tetsuro wasn't stupid enough
to address his boyfriend's need for
affection that had increased lately,
he was really enjoying it too after all.

“Okay. I'm ready to go.”

Kenma muttered softly despite
knowing that he'd never really
be ready for this.

But his boyfriend's words and the
hug had given him new strength to
survive the awaiting situation.

And Tetsuro couldn't stop himself
from smiling when instead of pulling
his hand away like Kenma normally
would do when facing the team,
he only grabbed a little tighter
onto the older's hand.

“Oh, it's the love birds~
Kenma, you're not joining us today?”

Yaku asked, gaining the
attention of the rest of the team.

“No. I'm here to..”

Coach Nekomata shortly looked
up at the trembling blonde to give
him a small, reassuring smile before
he returned his gaze to his notebook.

He knew that staring at Kenma
would only make the boy
even more nervous.

There were enough
curious eyes on him.

The pudding head really needed
to restrain himself from hiding
behind his taller boyfriend and
as if Kuroo could sense the

younger's nervousness (which
he definitely could, Kenma's
hands always turned cold when
he was nervous), he only gave his
hand another gentle squeeze.

“I won't be playing anymore
for quite a while now.”

Everyone was staring at him with
big eyes, mixtures of curiosity and
confusion written on their faces and
it was all thanks to Kuroo's strict
gaze that nobody dared to
interrupt the blonde.

“I'm not allowed to because I..”

Kenma dropped his gaze to his
shoes before he closed his
eyes and inhaled deeply.

Kuroo's hand was tightly holding
onto his and squeezing it gently again
to tell him that he wasn't alone.

It'd be just fine.

“I'm pregnant.”

Again it was so quiet in the gym
that Kenma felt like everyone
could hear his heart beating
so rapidly in his chest.

But he opened his eyes again when
his boyfriend let go of his hand
to wrap his arm around
the smaller's waist.

“And if you have any questions
or comments to make, I'll gladly
answer them in a few minutes but
first I'll send Kenma home
because he needs rest.
Thank you.”

Kuroo chuckled (even if he was
internally dying just like his loved. one) before he pulled his boyfriend
with him to the main door and away
from all the disbelieving stares.

Kenma had been so brave today,
Tetsuro wouldn't force him to
endure all the questions too.

Their teammates were just
teenage guys, there was no
guarantee that they'd handle
the situation as sensitive as
needed and after everything
Kuroo just wanted to make
sure Kenma could go home
with a calm heart, knowing
that everyone who needed
to know, knew.

If someone had anything to say,
Kuroo would deal with it now. 

“So you two really had sex?
Yamamoto, I get 2000 yen from you.”

“Lev!” 

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