"𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀" - 𝗞𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻

"Page 19"

🛸Song recommendation:
I don't want to watch the world end with someone else - Clinton Kane

- a few months later -

The cheering was so loud it almost hurt his ears.
Kuroo's eyes were focused on the ball, hands sweaty as the setter passed it in his direction.
He jumped and hit the ball - a perfect point.

Again, the crowd began to scream.

Kuroo turned around, a wide grin on his face.
There, in the first row, sat the person clapping the hardest, though it still could barely be heard.

So this story ended exactly where it started.
On a volleyball court, a succesful game and people all around him.
Just this time his heart felt light and whole.

Kuroo looked over at Kenma at him, who smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
He had been watching every game this season, a quiet supporter, whose gaze Kuroo could always feel on him.

And there had been many matches the past months.
His university volleyball team was the best he had ever played with.

They were already a perfect team, even after just one semester.

Kuroo really liked studying here, though it meant he wasn't able to see Kenma every day.

Still, they saw each other multiple times a week. Kenma was in his last year of school and would go with him next year anway.
Thanks to Kenma, Nekoma had continued to be one of the best and Kuroo was overrun by pride everytime he thought of it.

All in all, life was good right now.
There was nothing he could complain about.
Kuroo was where he had always wanted to be in life.
And he and Kenma had a good, stable relationship without any missunderstandings or lies.

Once again, the only thing he felt about the future was excitement.
There were so many things he looked forward to.
Kenma moving into a dorm with him, pulling all-nighters, their first real apartment and their first pet.
There was so much to come.

A few points later the buzzer sounded and Kuroo's air got squeezed out of his lungs, as the whole team hugged him at once.

"That was great, dude!"
"Today was our day!"

Kuroo laughed and hugged everyone back, his ears almost numb from the loud noises all around him.

When he turned around, everything around him faded for good and there was only Kenma, standing next to the field, waiting for him.

His heart was overflowed with love and memories as these golden eyes met his.
Kuroo's mind immediately wandered back to the drawer in his dorm, to the carefully and folded note - and of course to the ring inside.

It wasn't a ring for proposal, it was far too early for that.
But maybe one day they would be ready and until then this little piece of metal should be the reminder of it.

Kuroo almost ran across the court to get to Kenma, his feet flying and arms reaching out to pull the other close.

He was walking right towards Kenma, his home and his future.

"

,Kuroo finished. He smiled melancholically for a moment, before he laid the book into his lap and looked expectantly at Kenma.

"I wrote it all down.", he added. "It took longer than expected, but I think it's worth it."

"You're so cheesy, you know? This sounds like something out of a horrible romantic movie.", Kenma laughed.

"Hey, shut up! I know it sounds like some dramatic love story out of some bad book. But it's us, isn't it? We're written on these pages. It's real.", Kuroo said softly.

The other nodded, gently squeezing his hand, his expression more serious than before.
"It's beautiful, Kuroo."

"This is the kind of cringey story you tell your grandchildren and that's wonderful."

"They will be so weirded out."

"I know.", Kuroo laughed.
And then they both laughed and laughed until everything else was drowned out and there were only faint happy noises left.

Or at least that's how their conversation would have went, if it wasn't just Kuroo turning the book in his hands, his voice sore from reading so long - to the boy in the hospital bed next to him with the blank expression, who hadn't opened his eyes in the last two days.