#fbmstar

           Kuroo had been a police officer fora long time.

           He’d gotten hired on when he wasstraight out of school, young and fresh and ready to make a difference. It hadn’ttaken long for him to realize that maybe he’d been misinformed about what thejob was really about. There were only so many battered victims who refused help,drug addicts who were killing themselves, and unsolvable murder cases that anofficer could handle before getting a little jaded.

           The job had worn him down a little,but he’d stuck with it. He’d thought that if he could help someone – anyone – then it would be worth it.

           He supposed it was that attitudethat had gotten him promoted to captain at a shockingly young age.

           Now he was quickly approaching thirty,with a decade of experience under his belt, and he’d finally found the casethat might break him

           It wasn’t even the case itself thatwas so traumatizing. A few months before, he’d been on scene after scene ofyakuza-related murders, documenting blood patterns and photographing deadbodies.

           The thing about this drug case thatwas particularly exhausting was trying to deal with his fellow officers. Oneofficer, in particular.

           It was nearly eight p.m. and Kuroowas still at his desk, flipping through a file that was completely unrelated tothe drug case that should have demanded his focus. It was an employee file, onethat had been created nearly eight years before when the officer in questionhad been a new hire.

           Kuroo was looking for notes fromsuperiors, or reprimands that had been issued, or literally anything that wouldsuggest the officer had a history of insubordination.

           There was nothing. Iwaizumi Hajime,on paper, was a model officer.

           Kuroo had already known that. Evenso, the lack of explanation was frustrating.

           He’d chosen Iwaizumi to help him onthis case for a reason. Kuroo was always on the lookout for officers who hadpotential, officers who would make worthy additions to his investigations team.He’d been watching Iwaizumi for a while, and he’d thought that once they solvedthis case together, he would extend the offer for Iwaizumi to transfer.

           That wasn’t going according to plan.

           Kuroo flipped the file shut andslumped back in his chair with a sigh. He didn’t understand why Iwaizumi had tomake things so difficult. He’d been through the evidence over and over again,especially after Iwaizumi had voiced his concerns. All of the evidence said thesame thing. Semi Eita was the most likely suspect.

           That also meant that Oikawa Tooru,who had old ties to Semi, was also blatantly suspicious.

           Kuroo supposed that had been the realproblem.

           “Captain?” Yaku paused in the opendoorway, frowning at him with a touch of concern. “You heading home sometimetonight?”

           “Yeah, I’m leaving soon,” saidKuroo. It was a lie. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

           “Of course,” said Yaku. He steppedinto the office, casting a critical glance at the debris of files and paperworkcovering most available surfaces. “What is it?”

           “It’s about Iwaizumi,” said Kuroo.

           Yaku’s brows dipped lower. He lookedguarded. “What about him?”

           Kuroo frowned, puzzled by thereaction. “He’s being difficult. I thought he’d jump on the chance to work thiscase but every time we get a lead he shoots it down. We’re onto something with Semi’shistory, and the connection to Oikawa, but Iwaizumi just flipped his shit andsaid I’m wrong. What’s his deal?”

           “I don’t know.”

           Kuroo raised a brow, waiting.

           Yaku didn’t say anything else.

           “Okay,” said Kuroo slowly. “He wasfurious when I questioned Oikawa without telling him. I knew they were friends,which is why I did it, but… Do you think maybe they have, like, a thing?”            Yaku’s stare was flat. “Athing?”

           “Yeah, you know,” said Kuroo,gesturing vaguely. “A thing. A relationship sort of thing.”

           “I wouldn’t know, captain.”

           Kuroo sighed. Usually Yaku at leasttried to be helpful. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

           Yaku nodded and retreated. He lookedrelieved to be excused from the conversation.

           Kuroo thought maybe he knew somethingthat he didn’t want to talk about.

           He stood and stretched his arms overhis head, muscles screaming from hours of immobility.

           Kuroo liked talking through hisproblems with Yaku. The detective had been a member of investigations longerthan any of the others, Kuroo included. He was smart and perceptive and an extremelygood investigator.

           But if he wasn’t going to behelpful, Kuroo would take his problems elsewhere.

           Typically when the clock struckfive, Kenma was out of the office so fast that no one saw him leave. Tonight,though, he had a quick undercover job to do at a bar on the east side of thecity, so he was still there.

           Kenma was curled up in his chair,knees tucked against his chest, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled low over hisforehead. His eyes were on his computer screen, reflecting the bright light inthe otherwise dim office.

           Kuroo flicked on the overhead lightsand Kenma glared up at him.

           “What time are you leaving?” saidKuroo.

           Kenma checked the time. “Half anhour.”

           “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

           “You’re my boss,” said Kenma. “Iguess you can do what you want.”

           Kuroo snorted and sat in one of thechairs facing Kenma’s desk. Unlike Kuroo’s office, this one was organizedneatly, not a single sheet of paper out of place. “What do you think aboutIwaizumi?”

           Kenma heaved a heavy sigh and turnedaway from his computer. “He needs to sleep more. He has a lot of tension in hisshoulders. Last time I saw him, he was overdue for a haircut.”

           “Your powers of observation are veryvaluable for the job, but they’re also creepy as hell.”

           Kenma’s face didn’t change. “Thanks.”

           “Why’s he being so difficult aboutthis case?” said Kuroo. Specific questions were more useful. “You weren’taround, but he was pissed when I brought Oikawa in here. It was part of the investigation.There was a good reason for it. It’s like he’s taking it personally orsomething.”

           Kenma tipped his head to the side,pressing his cheek against a kneecap. “I don’t know about that,” he said, “butobviously you’re taking this personally, too. I doubt Iwaizumi is doinganything just to spite you.”

           “I know that,” said Kuroo, though itwas a slight relief to hear it. “I just don’t understand. He’s a great officer,he just got promoted, and I had high hopes for him, you know? I think there’ssomething going on with Oikawa that he’s not talking about. He didn’t getdefensive about Semi until Oikawa was brought up.”

           Kenma just listened, piercing goldeneyes taking in every shrug of Kuroo’s shoulders and twitch of his mouth.

           “Do you think maybe they’re… youknow. Together?” said Kuroo.

           Kenma’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Wouldit bother you if they were?”

           “Well, yeah.”

           Kenma’s eyes narrowed even more.

           “Not because of that,” said Kuroo,shaking his head. “Because Oikawa might be involved with this case. He’ssuspicious as hell. If Iwaizumi’s too involved with him then that sort of makeshim suspicious too. I don’t want to have to investigate one of my own officers.”

           “Do you really think Iwaizumi wouldbe involved in something like this?”

           “No, but I could be wrong.”

           “You could be,” agreed Kenma, “butyou’re usually not.” His eyes flicked back to his computer screen and thensettled on Kuroo again. “What are you going to do about it?”

           “I don’t know,” said Kuroo. Hesighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to confront him because Idon’t know if I’m right. I don’t want to take him off of the case either, butif he keeps this up I might have to. I’d really rather not. I’ve worked withIwaizumi for years. He’s a good guy, and a good friend, and I just wish he’dstop being do damn shady.”

           “Do you trust him?”

           “Yeah. Well, I did. I still do, toan extent, but the way he’s acting lately isn’t building up my confidence inhim.”

           “He hasn’t really done anythingwrong,” said Kenma. “He’s getting defensive about Oikawa, but that doesn’t meanhe can’t still do his job. If it becomes a problem you’ll have to deal with it,but I think it’s okay for now.”

           Kuroo nodded. His tense musclesunwound a little, loosened by relief. “Yeah, you’re right.”

           “I know.”

           “Maybe I’ll get you to go scope outShiratorizawa sometime soon,” said Kuroo. “You can keep an eye on Semi andOikawa, and maybe watch out for Iwaizumi, too. I know he goes there a lotlately. If he’s being sketchy you’ll know.”

           Kenma breathed a quiet sigh. “Iguess if I have to.”

           Kuroo grinned. “Thanks, Kenma.”

           He made a small noise of assent.

           “Be safe tonight, alright?” saidKuroo, standing and moving toward the door. “Call if you need anything.”

           “I’ll be fine. Goodnight, Kuro.”

           Kuroo paced the hallway back to hisoffice, his mind still on Iwaizumi.

           Kenma was right. Iwaizumi hadn’tdone anything that would damage the case. He certainly wouldn’t be allowed tohandle any of the case files related to Oikawa, but Kuroo could work aroundthat.

           As long as Iwaizumi didn’t doanything else suspicious, maybe everything would be fine.

           Kuroo hoped it would be fine. If itwasn’t, he would have to kick him off of the case; or worse.

           He didn’t want it to come down tothat. He wanted them to team up and solve this case together.

           Iwaizumi was a good friend, andKuroo hoped nothing would happen to change that.

 Thisis just sort of a snippet from earlier on in the fic. As time goes on, Kuroogets more and more uncomfortable as he realizes that Iwaizumi’s involvementwith Oikawa and Semi may be more serious than he thought. When he finds outthat Semi had met up with Iwaizumi at Oikawa’s apartment, he’s almostcompletely convinced that Iwaizumi is playing a part in the drug case and he’sdevastated. Yaku is the one who manages to talk him down from that, although hecan’t completely convinced Kuroo that Iwaizumi is wholly innocent. When theysearch Oikawa’s apartment and Kuroo suspends Iwaizumi, he’s still somewhatsuspicious, but he’s mostly decided that Iwaizumi probably isn’t guilty of thecase. Oikawa, however, has his full suspicions, and Kuroo thinks Oikawa is justusing Iwaizumi to keep himself safe.

Hestill wants to be Iwaizumi’s friend, but he’s really conflicted about it. He’safraid that if they remain on good terms, he’s more likely to trust Iwaizumiand potentially miss something about the case that Iwaizumi is hiding, whetherintentionally or not. Although Kuroo didn’t want to suspend him, and he wasextremely upset after he did it, it’s also sort of a relief because he nolonger has to worry about juggling Iwaizumi’s friendship and the need to beimpartial toward the case. But even after that when Iwaizumi continues to beinvolved, despite the suspension, things get a little more difficult for him.