no refunds! || kuroken

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The dinner was not bad at all.

Because Kenma had gone down to the dining room with Kuroo, his extended family just kind of assumed who he was and didn't bother to ask when they got there. Kuroo introduced himself anyway, and while receiving smiles and appreciative looks from his family at how polite he was, Kenma couldn't help but feel misplaced.

It was just weird to remember this was all for show, despite basking in the normalcy that put his nerves at ease for the past week.

The more Kuroo pulled him along, held his hand and ran down those same roads that he was so afraid of, getting lost no matter how many times he's been down them with him, he couldn't help but look forward to the adventure. He was constantly anticipating the next adventure, to feeling like fireplaces despite the cold outside.

He didn't mind getting lost.

And that was the most troubling part.

"–long have you two been together? I don't think we've asked, yet." Kenma's eyes blow wide and the words are stuck in his throat as the question sinks into his head, his cheeks blazing as his mom's question feels too heavy to be asked in front of everyone here.

The only people that seemed interested were the adults, but still. This is embarrassing.

"Um...five months since the beginning of, um...o-of this month." Kenma feels flimsy, the lie struggling to come out, his head drawing a blank at all the things he and Kuroo had talked about to make this go smoother.

He was always so bad at it. It was annoying.

"And how'd you meet?" His aunt leans forward a bit, her dark eyebrows raised in curiosity and Kenma feels like neon strobe lights again under her gaze, the many conversations from his family loud and drowning out their own, but he still felt trapped and like they'd been screaming into the sky for the whole city to hear.

Kenma reaches down for his glass of water, watching the condensation weep down the sides, and subtly tugs at Kuroo's pants with his free hand, telling him to answer for him. He takes a sip of the water, the glass freezing against his fingertips.

Kuroo told them that terrible coffee shop lie, smiling and bright-eyed as if it were true, and despite Kenma's heart beating in apprehension, he is relieved when they nod and smile. They fell into smaller conversations that carried less weight than the last, Kuroo telling them stories of his favorite memories together at carnivals and of waking up within the early mornings with him.

As far as Kenma knew, he's never been to a carnival with Kuroo, nor have they spent a single early morning together before coming here, but as long as his parents believed it, then there was no harm in going along with it. Kuroo was good at bouncing off of Kenma's half-assed lies, making it slightly less obvious that he had no idea what he was doing.

But it was okay.

With the way he found himself smiling with his parents again, actually enjoying time with all of his family on one of the most dreaded times of the year for him, it felt like they'd really known each other for five months, rather than barely five weeks.

It just felt effortless.

Kenma still wasn't sure how he felt about how easy it was to pretend to be in love with Kuroo, either.

~❀~

They'd cleaned up after themselves, and the sun was beginning to sink again, filling Kenma's chest with dusk despite the incoming twilight.

They were getting ready to leave along with the rest of them — his parents opting to stay home, while his siblings wanted to go explore the festivals in the red light district a ways from here. Kenma had insisted on taking Kuroo to the labor festival that was near main street, and he'd agreed to go with him before he even finished his sentence, so it was a lot easier to plan than he'd thought.