Home - A Kenma Kozume x Fem!Reader

Chapter 10

For a second you just stared at your phone screen. This was stupid, ridiculous even. Your thumb hovered over Kenma's name in your contacts. He put it in the first time he came over to your house but that wasn't what this was about. You never needed to text him so you didn't and now you plan to call him at 3:16 am out of nowhere for no particular reason. He was quite literally in the other room, surrounded by other sleeping boys. He's probably asleep. Despite all this, something in you tried anyway. You pressed the call button and held the phone close to your ear while you lay on your pillow. It rang for what seemed like minutes until you were just about at the very end of the ringing period.

I knew he was--

"Reader?" A voice came over at the last second. Kenma's voice. It was quiet and a little breathy...He sounded tired.

"Did I wake you up? I'm sorry it's so early…" You tried thinking of an excuse as you apologized.

"I wasn't asleep." His voice was a little muffled and you could hear a bit of shuffling in the background. "Is everything okay?"

"....Yeah." After a moment of debating you sighed to yourself. "It's no excuse but I just wanted to hear your voice…" What did Shakespeare say about honesty and self again?

Regardless, there was a pause on both ends, the stillness making you a little nervous until you heard a bit more shuffling on Kenma's end. The movement let you know he didn't just hang up on you. As if he brought the phone a bit closer you could hear his breathing on the other end more clearly, it was quiet and a little shallow. He wasn't quite panting but he sounded a little strained, maybe even labored.

"Do you want to talk about anything in particular?" He extended the subject offer to you but you didn't have anything specific in mind to talk about.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"What are you doing up so early?" He deflected the question back at you, making you giggle softly to yourself. There was a bit more movement on the other end.

"If I'm being honest…" You rolled over on your blankets, keeping the phone close to your ear. "I've been thinking of you. More than usual that is." When you said that you heard Kenma's breath hitch. Did you take him by surprise with that? Or was he doing something while he talked with you? Gaming maybe? "If you're busy we can talk another time. Or we don't even have to talk." You let him decide. You didn't want to interrupt his gaming or keep him from sleeping if he was trying to, it was quite early and there was still a long drive home in the morning.

"No, it's fine…" He finally responded. He sounded so close to you over the phone, like he was whispering in your ear or breathing on your neck. It made you feel a little warm, in all honesty.

"Just knowing you're on the other end is comforting." You decided to keep with your bold line of honesty, closing your eyes and listening to the shallow breathing on the other end. "Will you stay on the line with me until I fall asleep? I'm sorry to ask." You looked at the faces of the other girls sleeping around you, figuring he must be seeing a similar view. 

"....Sure." He sounded somehow different from his unbothered self. He sounded both like he was tired and wide awake at the same time. It was a little strange. There was still a bit of shifting on the other end, masked mostly by Kenma's breathing. He didn't talk much normally so not hearing him was normal but just listening to his paced breathing was starting to feel a little too intimate.

"Everyone did great at practice today." You decided to carry on the conversation on your own. "Your sets were amazing." As someone who used to set, you couldn't help but notice how Kenma always seemed to know what he was doing. He was a natural, making it look easy but it wasn't always like that. It was obvious he wasn't just born good at volleyball. He practiced and worked hard for a long while. He didn't respond to that though, making a soft noise instead like he would if he were shrugging his shoulders.