𝐓𝐊𝐎 (𝐓𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐎𝐔𝐓) • kuroo x reader

012 | 𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑

ROOM TOUR

Kuroo can't imagine the amount of stress that you're feeling. For this being only your second day knowing him, it was understandable that everyone would break out into conversation, purely for their concern.

"Hey," trying to distract you from the gossip, he leans close and whispers, "Wanna see upstairs?"

Not wanting to spend another second in the living room, you let him lead you up the stairs. It's hard to keep their voices out, especially when you know that they're talking about you. A few words are thrown around, like betrayal and trust and—

"I hope I'm not losing you," Kuroo says, keeping his hand on your back when you reach the top of the stairs. "You okay?"

You inhale deeply. "Yeah." A half-lie. "Just worried that everyone will think differently of me now."

He shakes his head, a crooked grin growing on his lips. "Don't worry about that," he reassures, "remember what I told you? As long as you're with me, you have nothing to be scared of." When you raise a brow, questioning his promise, he pats your back. "Just relax a little."

Not knowing how to respond, you take a moment to look around the loft. It's spacious, with a white desk facing a single window showcasing the midday sun. There's large dual monitors, paired with a gaming setup that looks like it's worth hundreds of dollars. Different headphones are hung above the computer, but the one that catches your eye is a pink pair, with cat ears and an attached microphone.

"That's all Kenma's stuff," Kuroo says, nodding his chin to the setup. "He doesn't like it when the other boys use his headphones, so I got a few others." He watches you admire the computer, a colourful see-through machine with a matching light-up keyboard. "If you want, I can get you your own headphones for whenever you wanna game."

"No, it's okay," you say, touching the rainbow letters on the keyboard. They fade into the different colours, adding a bit of contrast to the empty looking loft. "You must love Kenma a lot if you bought him all of this."

Kuroo chuckles through his nose. "He's like a little brother to me." He waves the computer mouse back and forth, letting the screen wake up. Kenma's Twitch page fades into view, his profile picture and banner catching your eye.

"His username is ApplePi?" you ask while taking a closer look at his profile picture. It's set to a photo of Kenma wearing his pink headphones with his hands covering his face. And for his banner, it's a picture of a traditional apple pie. "That's cute."

"I told him to have a cooler username that will attract viewers, but he said that he will, only when he has a bigger audience," he closes his eyes briefly, letting a nostalgic memory revisit him. "I've known Kenma ever since we were children. His family moved into the neighbourhood, and believe it or not, I used to be quite the shy kid myself."

"You're kidding."

He shakes his head, his smile never faltering. "When I heard that someone near my age was moving in just a little down the street, I was eager to meet them. Found him in the same school the next day, and then I made him my friend.

"I got him into volleyball, and he introduced me to this," Kuroo says, waving a hand to the gaming setup. "Kenma has a very imaginative mind. Probably explains why he's so intuitive. He can basically read people's moves on the court and in the boxing ring, like it's a simple code in a video game... Anyway," he gestures to the screen again, "Kenma streams every now and then. He doesn't have many subscribers, for now."