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"kenma!" the voice of his mother came from downstairs. the latter had heard it clearly because he had left his door open and it directly led to the stairs. his mother had told him so many times to leave his door open so he would be able to hear because he used to close it every time. and every time it only resulted in his mom shouting his name several times before he answered and it usually made her upset.
"coming..." he loosely and quietly answered yet it was loud enough for his mother to hear. he stood up from the bed he was laying on and shuffled towards the stairs. he crouched on one of the steps and leaned his head forward to peek at his mother in the living room. "what is it?" he tried his best to ask politely because he was too tired to do anything at the moment.
"come here" she turned her head to the voice and patted the seat next to her. kenma joined her in the room but didn't sit for that all, he just stood right next to her. "since your dad is at work, could you buy some groceries for me?" she asked and handed him a small piece of paper with a list of dishes. she had written the words so tiny that kenma wouldn't have been able to read them if he didn't already know her handwriting. he blinked twice before taking the paper and nod.
"did dad fix my bike?" the shop wasn't so close yet too close to go by car, the most convenient way, therefore, was either by foot or by bike. except that kenma didn't have a bike for the moment and though he wasn't that tall, kyouka was way smaller than him so it was impossible to use her bike.
"i asked him to but he probably forgot. oh well, you could do it yourself" she snuggled a little more in the couch and turned on the tv. "you can always ask tetsurou for his"
"he's not home" his mom raised an eyebrow at him, surprised that they had grown close. well, she was rather surprised that kenma talked to the boy. "don't even think about it" she smiled as she understood that kenma had figured her out. "i just saw him leaving earlier with his dad. and i also can't ask for him to lend me his bike every time, by then i will own it. i'll just go by foot, it's not that far anyway" he concluded.
"okay, be careful"
"no one lives here anyway"
when kenma opened the front door and slipped outside, he was startled at how chilly it was. it wasn't that cold for summer but as the boy only wore a shirt and shorts, he had still felt some shivers running down his spine because of the light breeze. he never checked the weather thus, he always jumped in the same clothes every morning, no matter how high the temperature was outside. he just worked on the basis that it was hot in summer, therefore, he never wore anything else than a tee and shorts.
some puddles remained on the grass of the front yard or in the spaces between the pebbles of the little path that led to the grid. it had stopped raining in the morning and it had been raining for the past three or four days so, as soon as he set a foot outside, his nostrils were overwhelmed by the scent of humidity and the perfume of the wet grass. kenma hoped it wouldn't start to rain again since he didn't think of bringing an umbrella with him. he could have just turned around and searched for one in the house but he decided not to.
it took him about half an hour to get to the grocery store and it could have taken him less time if only he remembered the way correctly. since he hadn't been to the shop in so long, he even began to forget how to even get there. kenma didn't really get out of his house unless his parents asked him so or if he had to go to school. because he couldn't admit that he had forgotten the path, after following it for so many times, as much by car as by foot or bike, he just put it on the fact that anyone could have been easily confused because of how every street resembled every other so much.
the store was surprisingly empty, the only people kenma encountered while crossing the different aisles were a young couple, a group of three or four ten-year-old kids and an elderly woman. it made the boy feel at ease, as he didn't feel comfortable in crowded places. here, he had enough room to move and breathe without having to meet with anyone. after a while, he began to think that it wasn't that bad that his mother had asked him to go. it made him go outside and breathe something other than the air in his room, in which he spent all of his days, cloistered like a monk in his chapel. it was agreeable to enjoy the scenery and it changed from what he saw every day from his window, in other words, kuroo's house, kuroo's garden, kuroo's room and -- kuroo himself.
it could have also taken kenma a lot less of time to go home if he hadn't passed twenty minutes searching for a dish on the list that was apparently not even sold in the store. once he figured he would never find what his mother had asked for, he went to the checkout and paid for what he had placed in the metallic basket earlier, with the bill his mother had also given him and shoved the remaining coins in one of the front pockets or his shorts.
he was about to head his way home before he heard someone hailing his name. he knew the voice for sure but only recognized it when he peered the matching face on the other side of the pavement. kuroo was standing in front of a store across the street, two bikes in hands, meaning he was probably waiting for his father to come out. he waved at kenma in a smile, though he had greeted him in the morning and without thinking twice, the latter crossed the street to join him.
"hey" kenma had spoken first. "what are you doing here?"
"my father wanted me to accompany him to the library" he answered and pointed at the shop behind him. the door was wide open so you could smell the heady scent of old books and yellowed paper. "you?"
"i bought some groceries for my mom" the blonde-haired boy raised the plastic bag he held in his left hand to emphasize his words.
"on foot?" he asked again as if it hadn't been obvious enough.
"i forgot to change my tire" the smallest shrugged his shoulders.
before any of them could add anything else, they were interrupted by kuroo's father who burst out of the store with several books in a bag. "oh! hi kenma"
"hi sir"
"do you need a ride home?" the man asked as soon as he saw kenma standing on both his feet. "you can climb on tetsurou's bike" he suggested and turned his head towards his son to ask approval. kuroo just nodded but kenma shook his head at the sentence, happy to see that his dad was concerned for him but also a little bit embarrassed. he shook off the proposition, explaining it was okay and that he enjoyed walking home. he immediately flushed at the idea, as he couldn't help but picture himself on the same bike as kuroo, facing his back while he bicycled and holding closer on the pannier rack every time the wheels hit the smallest rock. it would have been fine if it had been any other girl or boy but here, it was all about kuroo.
"it's okay i don't you climbing on it"
"no, really it's fine" the youngest insisted as much.
"then i'll walk with you" kuroo smiled and got off the bike he had hardly gotten onto. "you can go ahead, dad" it was even more awkward for kenma to hear the tallest say that, rather than hearing him ask him to climb on his bike. he quickly felt his cheek flush of embarrassment. he could have stood it if only the tallest's dad wasn't here, now he just wanted to burry himself for bothering them but instead, he grew unbelievably quiet. "let's go" kuroo flashed another warm smile at him and began to walk as he held his bike on his side with both his hands.
