euneirophrenia* kozume k.

Nemophilist,, 9

Nemophilist; the one who loves the forest, it's beauty and solitude.

Maybe this could describe you, but you weren't sure. Did you love the comfort and beauty of the forest, or the person you shared it with?

Thinking about your feelings in a situation like this was so frustrating. One wrong move, one slip up and Kenma could retreat again. You knew you'd made progress, but that also progressed.. your feelings. So technically, you'd made no progress at all.

Not knowing where Kenma stood on the topic of "us" made it so much harder, having to hold back, having to be cautious of how much you touched him, and how much you said, but it was worth it.

He trusted you, that much you could tell, and you trusted him. You were close, how close was hard to tell, considering you've never seen him interact with anyone but you, but you figured you were pretty high on his list of affection. You took that as a huge win.

You weren't greedy or discontent, of course not, you'd come a long way from chasing him around this forest, and you took pride in that. He was precious to you, and you were precious to him. That was enough.

~~~~

Sitting in class, you tapped your pencil in rhythm to the song playing through your wireless earbuds. You had bought them just for this, so you could listen without getting caught by the teachers. Jolting slightly when your classmate poked your back, furrowing your eyebrows you turned around.

They handed you a small piece of paper, pointing over to your cousin who was already staring at you, giving you a thumbs up with a solid blank face.

'the fuck?' You thought, looking up to make sure you wouldn't get in trouble before opening the folded paper over your notes.

"Coming to our game tomorrow?" You scanned the paper, turning it over, wondering if it was just that one sentence. It was. You were going to make Akaashi eat the paper after class was over.

Sure enough, the bell rang and you were already up, trying to force the paper into your cousins mouth as he shook his head rapidly, pursing his lips and turning his head the other way.

"Eat the fucking paper! All that work for one sentence." You snarled, poking at his lips with the crumpled paper. Nobody paid the two of you any mind, overlooking it since it was you, who sneezed loudly during lessons, screamed in the cafeteria, runs onto the volleyball court to spin your cousin around after wins (even if he didn't play much), and listens to music in class, a little too loud.

You gave up after a few seconds, Akaashi sure knew how to clench his jaw.

"I would've forgotten if I didn't tell you soon." He said flatly, blinking up at you.

"Bokuto sure as hell wouldn't have. All that work for nothing."

He just shrugged at you, climbing out of his seat and over your legs that were stuck on either side of him while you sat on the table.

"Let's go eat." He murmured tiredly.

"It's not even lunch yet."

"Who says?"

"The school???"

~~~~

Making your way to the lunch table after your first classes ended, you saw Bokuto and Akaashi already there. Sitting down across from them, you overheard them talking about their upcoming match.

"Mmh," you pitched in, crossing your arms over the table. "These neko-neko folks, they strong?"

The two of them shrugged, Akaashi swirling his food around.

"I think they were. I don't know about now."

"Well we're awesomely strong so it doesn't matter!" Bokuto cheered, showing off his muscles.

"Yeah, heres to hoping!"

Akaashi dropped his utensil, pulling his hands next to his face, imitating cat claws again.

"Mraaa mraaa." He meowed, scratching his hands forward.

"Mraa mraaa!!" Bokuto followed, the both of them meowing in front of you while staring you dead in the eyes. You hoped you'd be dead in the eyes soon. This was a horrendous sight.

~~~~

"And they wouldn't stop fucking meowing!" You ranted to Kenma with a disgusted face, leaving out the part about the team and the match as he giggled in front of you, covering his face with his hands.

"It's not funny, they're actually idiots. Like- my cousin looks cool and aloof- and sometimes he acts like it- but then he pulls shit like this! That's totally the other idiots job."

Kenma just continues cackling in front of you, throwing his body backwards, laying in the grass as he catches his breath.

"Really sounds like something you would do."

You frowned, pouting. "Kenmaaaaa!" You cried, "you don't actually mean that do you?~~"

He burst out laughing again, covering his face while tears formed in his eyes, giggling so hard he starts coughing, sitting up as you start patting his back, laughing with him.

"Was that funny babygirl?" You wiggled your eyebrows the best you could, watching him hide his face in his knees and suppress his giggling.

"You're gonna- you're gonna kill me!" He giggled, coughing in the middle, expressing his point.

"True loves kiss would bring you back."

"Wanna test it out?"

"Kenma... smirking face emoji.."

Kenma squawked and wheezed, turning over to bury his face in the ground, kicking his feet and grabbing fistfuls of the soft grass in his hands.

"Oh- oh my god!" He giggled, turning back over once he started to calm down, huffing loudly. You couldn't help but admire him, his golden hair framing his face, sticking to his cheeks from tears of laughter, his grin accentuating a small dimple, eyes squeezed shut, watching his chest rise and fall quickly. You grinned, giggling softly with him, reaching over to push his hair off of his face.

His eyes opened, peering up at you as you chuckled at each other. Flopping down next to him, you turned your head to face him, watching him do the same with his body. Your smiles gradually fell, falling from the high, staring at each other with red faces. From the laughing or the close proximity? Neither of you knew.

You glanced down, keeping eye contact with him as your hand tenderly came to hold his, giving him enough time to move away. Your confidence rose when he didn't, holding his hand tighter, and seconds later you began to wake up. It would be a good day tomorrow as well.