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“You've been eating a lot of these.
Are they good?”

Lev wondered as he joined
their setter on the bench,
inspecting the collection of
Pompompurin pudding chocolate
snack wrappings Kenma had
neatly put aside because yes,
you can't just throw them away.

Pompompurin doesn't belong
in the trash can.

“Yeah, they're great.”

The blonde answered before
he popped another piece of
chocolate in his mouth but
immediately slapped his
teammate's hand away at
light speed when Lev
reached out for one.

“Hey!”

“They're mine, hands off.”

“You're one grumpy cat lately.
Sharing is caring and I thought
I was your favorite teammate!”

“Yah, you know that I'm
Kenma's favorite. We kinda
have the same hairstyle!”

Yamamoto joined their conservation
on the bench as he grabbed his bottle
but Lev could only snort.

“Hairstyle? Have you looked
in the mirror lately? I think
Kenma's hair is a hundred
times longer than yours.”

The giant laughed,
resulting in Yamamoto's mood
to make a slight 180 degree turn.

“Hair color, you knew what I meant!
Whatever, since I'm his favorite,
Kenma knew what I meant, right?”

But the pudding head only blinked
up at his teammate with big eyes,
cheeks filled with chocolate and
his head empty because he tended
to stop listening whenever his
teammates would start bickering.

“You both really think you could
be his favorites when I exist?”

The blonde let his head fall back
when a big shadow appeared behind
him but sighed in relief when
Kuroo gave him a smile.

“Whelp, you can't win
against true love.”

Lev shrugged his shoulders,
making Kenma blush and
his boyfriend laugh.

“We should get going, the coach
will give some feedback soon.
Kenma?”

“Hm?”

The pudding head looked up
again when Kuroo placed his
hands on the younger's shoulder,
giving them a gentle squeeze while
waiting until Yamamoto and
Lev were gone.

“Everything good?
The chocolates won't upset
your stomach, right?”

“Of course not! I've been cra-
I really need some sugar,
practice is exhausting.”

“You can take a break and we'll
let Tamahiko take your spot

for the first set. It's the last day,
nobody would be upset if you
said you need a small break.”

“Hm..”

Having a little break while
everyone else was busy playing
could give him a chance to get
certainty without anyone
disturbing him in the bathroom.

He had been too scared to take
the tests at home, there was no
way he'd even take them out of
his backpack when his
parents were at home.

The chance of him forgetting a
package or even the test in the
bathroom out of overwhelming
nervousness was too high,
he wouldn't risk that.

And even if they turned out to
be negative, his parents didn't need
to know he had even considered
that he could be pregnant.

But what if…

What if they turned out
to be positive?

How would he survive the rest
of the day with all these people
around him, pretending that
nothing has changed?

“Take a break, I'll inform the coach.”

Kuroo smiled at his boyfriend and
suppressed the urge to peck his
forehead, instead he gave him a
gentle head pat before he made his
way over to the rest of the team.

It seemed as if the ravenette
had decided Kenma's destiny for
him so there was no way back now.

This couldn't wait any longer,
he needed to know.

“Okay, so.. I'm really going
to do this now.”

Kenma exhaled heavily as he
rummaged in his backpack,
fishing for the two little packages.

His whole body was trembling
from nervousness but he was
determined to use this chance.

After living with this unbearable
uncertainty and struggling with
all these ‘what if's the past days,
he couldn't take it anymore.

Whatever the result would be,
at least he'd finally have an answer.

The two tests were from different
brands to avoid getting a wrong
result but truth to be told, getting
two positive results sounded just
as scary as a wrong result.

And still Kenma knew that there
was no backing off now, he had
surpassed the point of no return

the moment he had opened
the packages.

Taking the tests and waiting for
the results to show felt unreal,
almost like a bad dream.

Two minutes had truly never felt
longer in the blonde's life but the
moment his timer went off,
everything had happened
way too fast.

Was he really ready for this?

To know what he..

“I knew it.”

Kenma bit his bottom lip harshly
but it was no use, his tears
immediately started to flow.

And he could only stifle his first sob
before he completely broke down.

The smiley face was grinning at
him almost mockingly as if the two
pink lines on the other test hadn't
been enough to make his
emotions overflow.

“Fuck..”

The small boy cried out through
gritted teeth, hand balled around
the positive tests while he slid

down on the wall to curl up
on the cold floor.

Maybe it was dirty,
disgusting even but he
couldn't care less right now.

“Hello?”

Kenma could feel his heart stop
at the sudden voice and almost
instinctively held his breath in
hope to go unnoticed by
the other person.

But apparently his sobbing
had been too obvious.

“Kenma?
Is that you?”

“Shouyou, how.. ”

“Your jacket.”

Ah, right.

He had been so fixed on his bag
and the tests earlier that he had
left his jacket on the counter
beside the sinks.

“Are you okay?”

No, not really.

Not at all.

Not even close.

But of course there was no way
he'd tell Shouyou, even if
they were friends.

So he took a deep breath,
hid the tests deep down in his
backpack, wiped his tears away
and got up to face his friend as
if nothing had happened.

“D-did you cry?
Was someone mean to you?”

Of course the tangerine boy had
immediately picked up on his state,
Kenma really didn't want to know
how red and swollen his eyes were.

“I uhm.. I had some bad stomach
cramps. They were very painful but
I took medicine. I'm better now.”

The pudding head tried to convince
his friend as he collected his jacket,
if Shouyou should believe his story,
he shouldn't see his face
while saying so.

Kenma was a bad liar,
his mimic always betrayed him.

“Oh, that sounds horrible.
Are you sure it's better now?”

“Mhm..”

“But you won't play anymore, right?”

Kenma tilted his head softly
at the other's words, not quite
getting what he meant.

Did he.. know?

“The last practice game later.
If you're not feeling well,
you shouldn't play.”

“I'm fine now, really.”

“You don't look like you are.”

Hinata said softly,
taking a step closer to his friend.

“Do you need a hug?”

And for the first time in his life
Kenma nodded without hesitation
and accepted the warm embrace
with tears in his eyes.

“N-no word to anyone outside
of this room. The moment we leave..
All of this never happened, okay?”

“I promise.”

Hinata smiled softly as he rubbed
the other's back comfortingly.

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The cuties