devil's advocate : ̗̀➛ kuroken

five

sadly, kuroo could tell they actually were.

kenma barely talked to him anymore. at first it felt weird to not have the blondie sleep over during the weekend, but now

no, now it felt weird too.

but, he could say he got used to only watching his best friend sneak into his house during saturday nights. he felt bad for kozume, just by looking at his miserable state, but what could he have done?

kenma pretended that nothing's happening. just as always, he was waiting for kuroo outside his house in the morning, just to go together to school, despite it being really awkward. maybe it was just for tetsuro though, because the other always tried to keep up a conversation and make his friend smile.

since when was he so chatty during mornings?

sometimes (lately even more) they were smoking together during their walk. kuroo hated smoking, but it felt like it was one of the things that kept their friendship together.

kozume looked... exhausted. his dark eye bags were even more noticeable than before, his cheeks had slightly sunken in, his hands were shaky and wounded.

,,hey, ken" kuroo had been building up the courage to talk for a while ,,you good?"

kenma peeked at him and smiled. tetsuro just noticed his reddish eyes. had he not slept at all?

,,yeah" he inhaled the cigarette and gave it back to kuroo ,,you're asking because i failed my literature midterm?"

,,actually, i didn't even know you failed" the ravenette frowned ,,you should have told me earlier. i'm pretty good at literature and could have help you" he actually wasn't, but it didn't really matter then.

kuroo inhaled the smoke just to let it out as a familiar car drove past them. he didn't think anything about it, until he saw the car pull up to the sideway they were walking at, and then he saw his mom coming out of the opened door. he quickly threw out the cig and prayed for himself as they made their way to his mom.

,,you left your volleyball bag at home and i thought i can still catch you midway" she explained in a dissappointed tone, extending her hand with the bag in it. kenma slightly bowed to her as tetsuro took his belonging ,,we will talk at home" she said, and then got into the car to drove off.

,,oh" kenma said, tapping his friend's shoulder ,,sorry, you might be in trouble now because of me" he lowered his head.

,,no, no" kuroo patted his head, just like the old times ,,it's okay and it's not your fault. she's probably not even that mad"

she in fact, wasn't.

it was a long day at school for tetsuro, thinking about how to explain himself. but, in the end, he didn't even had to do much.

,,sorry, mom" he looked down as soon as he met her in the living room after getting home.

the woman sighed and patted the couch, asking her son to sit down next to her.

,,listen, tetsuro. you're almost an adult. it's your own choice if you do things like that, even though you know how irresponsible it is. i'm not even angry about that. it's just, uh, listen" she shifted in her position to take a better look at her son ,,i'd like you to stop hanging out with kenma. i just know that it was his cigarettes and just, look at him. it's worrying me that he's taking a bad impact on you and i care about you, alright?"

it felt like his heart shattered hearing those words from his mother. stop hanging out with kenma? how would that be?

actually, it's not like they spend so much time like before. he could do that, right?