Conquering the Great King

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵 50

Oikawa peered out from under his comforter with one eye.

There was clinking in the kitchen.

He had slept like shit, felt like shit, but there was the smell of coffee and that was promising.

Hopefully someone hadn't broken into his apartment to steal some coffee. That would be really disappointing.

Oikawa stepped out of the bedroom with one of his blankets still wrapped around his head.

"Oh, you're up!" Kuroo said, leaning backward to cast a quick glance over at him. "And you look like hell."

"Thank you," Oikawa grumbled before flopping on the couch.

"How was the night without Iwaizumi?"

Oikawa didn't say anything. He just stared miserably at the coffee table.

"Yeah, I thought that might be it."

Kuroo came out into the living room carrying a plate and a cup of coffee. He set them down in front of Oikawa.

Oikawa stared down at the plate. It held two pancakes with winking faces cooked into them. Oikawa raised his eyes to look at Kuroo, "You've gotten weirdly good at that."

Kuroo shrugged, "I can cook like six things and they're all breakfast foods."

Oikawa still didn't say anything, but he reached for the coffee. He took a sip, grimaced, and looked up at Kuroo, "This tastes like piss water."

Kuroo gave a big shrug with his grin and said "Ah well, I tried," as he reached down next to him and pulled up a premade latte from a coffee house and set it in front of Oikawa.

Oikawa almost snorted.

"You have way too much going on in there," Kuroo said, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Creamer, sugar, I couldn't figure it out."

Oikawa smiled as he took a sip of the latte, "It's fine, even my coffee tastes like garbage now compared to when Iwa-chan makes it."

"Oi," Kuroo said, eyes level and entirely serious, "don't you think you're being a little pathetic?"

"Yes," Oikawa answered honestly. "I can't help it."

"You can't keep dragging yourself down like this."

"I just said. I can't help it."

Kuroo lowered his eyes to Oikawa's food, "I'm going to get offended you know."

Oikawa picked up his fork and stabbed the pancake in the eye.

"Hey!"

Oikawa smirked a little bit, "Thank you."

Kuroo sighed as he leaned back against the couch. He watched Oikawa eat for a little bit, gold eyes staring at him as he pulled syrup soaked pancakes into his mouth. It was good. Kuroo was good at breakfast.

"I still think you should tell him."

Oikawa paused in bringing a bite to his mouth. His eyes flickered up to Kuroo.

"It's kind of screwed up," Kuroo said, eyes clear and raw as he looked across the table, "to hear you make excuses for keeping your feelings to yourself after everything you preached to me."

Oikawa felt his head tilt and his voice go venomous, lip hooking into a sneer, "And it's kind of screwed up to hear you of all people say that when you realize it's never that simple."

Kuroo and Oikawa stared at each other.

"You shouldn't worry about him returning your feelings," Kuroo finally broke the thick silence.

Oikawa scoffed, "I don't want to hear if Iwa-chan loves me."

Kuroo's eyes narrowed into a disbelieving stare.

Oikawa blinked, and he could feel all the hostility melt off his face, "Well, that's not... entirely true. I care about his feelings, obviously."

"Do you really think it would feel like blackmail to him?" Kuroo asked, "Or do you think he would rather know everything before he makes his decision?"

"Whether he thinks it's blackmail or not, doesn't matter to me. I don't want to force him or try and persuade him one way or the other. I want him to do what's best for him. Because that's what you do, when you truly love someone."

Kuroo looked irritated, "Oikawa--"

"But it's more selfish than that," Oikawa said, interrupting him and shaking his head. His voice was rising with emotion. "If he's just going to leave, I don't want to hear that he loves me," Oikawa locked eyes with Kuroo and his words were going unsteady in his throat, "I don't want to hear 'Oikawa, I love you. But not enough.'"

They were back to staring at each other, but this time there was no heat in Kuroo's eyes. In fact... he might have actually looked a little sad.

"Are you getting emotional about my life Kuroo?"

"Shut up and eat your fucking pancakes."