mai writes, sometimes

his low, husky voice, rough from hours of talking, reads your comment aloud. shame lights your face on fire, squealing like a panicked schoolgirl whilst hiding behind your hands—peeking through the gaps with bated breath.

"for free? nah, it'll cost ya."

the chat spirals into a frenzy—donations flying in as a means to bribe the streamer— much like your own heart, beating sharply against your ribcage.

you're almost certain that kenma hasn't connected the dots. that the girl in his computer science class is a viewer. your username wasn't obvious, knowing better than to use your own name. rather it's based on a niche interest of yours, not easily identifiable.

one in a million chance of being discovered.

the screen of your laptop goes dim, proof that you haven't written a single word in the last ten minutes. with a sigh you save the document, praying that later you'll find the strength to finish it before midnight tonight.

(newsflash: it never got completed.)

a break is in order.

you sink further into your pillows, scrolling on twitch aimlessly in the search to watch something, leads you to stumble across kenma's channel—newly made that day—as he fumbled with his camera, the lights in his game room too harsh and washing him out. turning him into a highly reflective ghost. his voice comes out scratchy and loud through your earbuds causing you to yank them out to save your eardrums from permanent damage.

his rising panic wasn't a laughing matter.

to him.

to the fellow classmate whose day had been the embodiment of taking one beating after another, it was just the remedy you hadn't known you needed.

tears welling in your eyes as you clutch desperately at your stomach, laughter gone utterly silent as you gulp down breaths between fits.

kenma still hasn't figured out why his cam was glitching out.

like the kind, caring individual you are, you offer a solution.

it was a one off.

a chance that it may be the issue he was facing, you didn't think it would actually work.

but the genuine relief and joy on his face afterwards had you hooked. in the spur of the moment you hit subscribe, a fleeting gesture of your faith in him to go far. though you didn't truly believe you'd tune in again next time.

(how very wrong you were.)

and there weren't many people watching that first stream, a handful of people.

what you didn't count on was being memorable. for making a lasting impression.

just one person in the crowd, is what you thought.

you were banking on that fact.

clips from that stream went viral. fangirls and fanboys alike losing their minds over the potential.

imagine the chaos that would ensue if kenma went through with it? the world might implode from pure, unhinged horniness levels.

you scroll the threads, giggling to yourself, sharing a few of the links to a couple of friends—online friends, other fans of kodzuken met through a discord server.

on campus you'd never dare breathe a word of this.

your friends here wouldn't get it. to them he's just a guy, not even an athletic one at that.

in their opinion there's plenty of better options, in frat houses, clubs, or best yet, on the sports teams.

"ew, you watch that guy?"

the moment those words register you're shifting, whipping around, ready to defend kenma against the slander, "sounds like jealousy. mad that he's making a name for himself unlike—"

you turn fully to meet this strangers eyes when your mouth dries up, his eyebrow lifts, a curious tilt to his head waiting for you to continue berating him.

"unlike?" kenma urges, resting his chin on his wrist as you flounder.

you swear he wasn't there a moment ago.

"un—" you close your mouth, tongue tied.

the silence stretches, deafening in comparison to your pounding heartbeat. or maybe it's just the sound of blood rushing in your ears.

"must really like him," he muses, gaze fixed on your phone where the incriminating evidence resides. twitter feed filled with nothing but him.

the speed in which you flip your phone face down is impressive if nothing else.

"not really," you lie, or attempt to. "i just happened upon..."

the click of his tongue disrupts your poorly fabricated misleading.

kenma leans in closer to whisper in your ear, breath ghosting through the loose strands of hair. mirth and a dastardly amount of smugness shine in his eyes, lips curled into a knowing smirk,

"you are still interested in that planking video, right?"

emi's notes: not proofread, chopped this up in an hour in pure spite.

☒ next chapter →

“anyway, lesson learned. won’t happen again. scout’s honor. mostly.”

chat scrolls so fast it almost looks like static.

spectatingmyhusband: CAP apple.creampie: SEE YOU NEXT WEEK ROUND 2 AFTER BAN LIFTS hiswifiwife: most believable kenma apology ☠️☠️ ilovegamerhands: top 10 worst apology videos to have ever surfaced the internet

kenma watches the messages for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly before the faintest, most unhelpful smile appears.

“you asked for it.”

and when the stream cuts to black, kenma’s friends— who had very fortunately missed last night’s late-night stream— are finally introduced to the clip currently circulating across the internet.

kuroo finds it first.

mostly because the moment he sees kodzuken trending, that's not new, but his curiosity immediately overrides his better judgment.

it starts innocently enough.

he’s sprawled across his couch, half scrolling through twitter with the kind of idle interest people reserve for internet drama that definitely isn’t their problem, when kenma’s username pops up in the trending column.

not just trending.

trending with the word “scandal.”

kuroo squints at his phone.

“…what did he do,” he mutters.

a few taps later, he’s deep in the tag.

most of the tweets are some variation of:

BREAKING NEWS: KING EXECUTED BECAUSE HE FED HIS PEOPLE I CANNOT BELIEVE HE DID THAT ON STREAM FREE BRO HE'S INNOCENT WE ASKED AND HE DELIVERED IG

kuroo frowns slightly, interest sharpening.

“there’s no way kenma of all people—”

then he finds the clip.

for a brief moment, the room is completely silent except for the faint audio from his phone.

then kuroo chokes. violently.

whatever drink he had just taken immediately goes down the wrong pipe as he coughs into his sleeve.

“…no way,” he wheezes.

he rewinds it.

watches it again.

the second viewing somehow makes it worse.

kuroo slowly lowers the phone from his face, blinking at the ceiling like he’s reconsidering several life choices.

“that little dog.”

his first instinct, naturally, is to share the suffering, because his thumb is already flying across the screen.

NEKOMA GC (revived)

kuroo: guys i regret to inform you kenma is trending

yaku: for what

kuroo: live porn.

yamamoto: WHAT

lev: ?????!?!?!???

fukunaga: link

yaku: please tell me you're joking

kuroo: i wish

lev: wait hold on KENMA KENMA??? OUR KENMA?? KENMA KOZUME??????

yaku: WHO ELSE WOULD HE MEAN LEV

lev: I DONTKNOWW MAYBE ANOTHER ONE??

fukunaga: unlikely.. also hello?? link?? asking for a friend

kai: kuroo explain...

kuroo: nah i'm not explaining let the man himself do it [1 link attached]: "we need to talk."

the chat goes quiet.

a full twenty seconds pass.

then—

yamamoto: OH MY GOD

lev: WAIT WAIT WAIY SO HE WAS LIVE STREAMING AND THEN PEOPLE SAW THAT???/

fukunaga: yes

yaku: i hate all of u i swear on everyone's life except mine kenma will stop trending

fukunaga: but he said oopsie daisy polite king

kenma: don't believe everything you see on the internet that clip was clearly ai

yaku: end convo

but that's not the end— because meanwhile, several thousand kilometers away in brazil, hinata shoyo is sitting on the beach after a game of volleyball, legs stretched out as he scrolls through his phone.

oikawa is beside him, laying on the sand with a towel around his shoulders, lazily checking twitter between sips of his drink.

hinata suddenly perks up.

“oh!”

oikawa glances over. “what.”

hinata tilts his phone toward him.

“kenma’s trending.”

oikawa immediately narrows his eyes. “for what?”

hinata squints at the screen.

“uh… it says scandal.”

that makes oikawa sit up straight.

“what kind of scandal.”

hinata taps the tag.

the first tweet loads.

THIS CAN'T BE REAL UNBAN KENMA HE ONLY WANTED TO FEED HIS FANS

oikawa frowns. “did what.”

hinata scrolls a little.

THE CLIP IS REAL???

“oh there’s a video,” hinata says brightly.

he presses play.

for a few seconds, both of them watch silently.

then—

“WHAT THE FUCK.”

oikawa bolts upright.

“WHAT THE FUCK??? WHAT THE FUCK????”

hinata blinks at the screen.

“…oh.”

oikawa whips his head toward him. “oh???”

hinata watches the clip again, humming quietly in thought.

“kenma has a girlfriend,” he says, sounding impressed.

oikawa stares at him in horror.

“THAT’S YOUR CONCLUSION???”

hinata nods happily.

“yeah! good for him.”

he scrolls down the replies.

“wow, people are really talking about it.”

oikawa drags a hand down his face.

“shoyo this is not gossip this is a disaster.”

hinata tilts his head.

“…why?”

oikawa points violently at the phone.

“because he did that on stream!”

hinata looks back at the screen, studying it again with mild curiosity.

“ohhh.”

he pauses.

“…so everyone saw.”

“YES.”

hinata nods slowly.

“that makes sense.”

oikawa stares at him like he’s losing sanity by the second.

“why are you so calm.”

hinata beams.

“i think it’s nice he likes his girlfriend.”

oikawa chokes.

“THAT IS NOT THE POINT.”

hinata continues scrolling.

“chat seemed really excited about it.”

oikawa turns toward the sky like he’s asking the universe for patience.

“i cannot believe this is happening.”

hinata taps his screen again.

“should we send it to kageyama.”

oikawa slowly turns his head.

“…absolutely."

IM SO GLAD U ASKED BECAUSE I WAS AXTUALLY WRITING IT BEFORE UR REQUEST CAME IN HEHEHE