#kenmapining

Kenma shifted his eyes as little as possible, feeling uncomfortable with all the lights flashing above him. Much to his dismay, the couch was beginning to fill up as the rest of the spots became occupied by other people. The only empty spot remaining was the one beside him; he prayed it would stay that way.

But, just as his luck would have it, someone sat down, making him grumble to himself. Not that he wasn't used to things not going his way; his RNG had been bad recently; his recent plays would prove that.

His eyes avoided any eye contact; his body shifted to give him just enough space for no contact. The only remaining senses he had left that he couldn't shelter were his hearing. Amidst the chaos Kuroo had instilled earlier, with the male practically threatening to carry him out the door himself if it came to it, he had forgotten his headphones.

Now left to fend off the villains (small talk) that would fight him in battle, he braced himself for impact. Dramatic, I know.

Kenma had fully expected you to start a conversation with him, expecting you to be just like everyone else, so when his ears were met with silence, the only thing that echoed was the remix of 2000s indie-pop music. He was kind of taken aback, and somewhat glad, and at the same time curious. Kenma hadn't felt that much emotion since—well, since the 200-day Ayaka Banner.

His eyes widened when he realized the familiar soundtrack, fixing his posture almost—out of habit—just to catch a glimpse of what was in your hands. It was only your phone, but that wasn't what made him look; it was what was on your phone that caught his attention.

The familiar gateway arch, the soft hums of the soundtrack—oh yeah, he knew where that came from. He turned full geek mode the moment you pressed on your phone screen. You were playing Genshin Impact.

His eyes immediately locked on yours; his body subconsciously inched slightly toward you. Oh, how embarrassing it was; he looked like a kid watching someone play on their phone—except maybe for the fact that you were both adults, or in this case, overgrown children playing a gacha game.

You weren't oblivious; the moment you sat down and pulled out your phone, you knew he was hooked. A fellow player just like you—except maybe you did this on purpose.You were in a similar situation: a friend dragged you out of your shared apartment to go to a party with approximately 99% of people you didn't know—the 1% being your friend.

The moment you set foot in this place, you knew you couldn't leave for another hour or two, even if you had begged, not that you would have anyway, seeing as your friend knew all too well what things to bribe you with: a copy of a newly released game that  the shelves within the hour it was displayed.

You, being one of the unlucky few who couldn't manage to get your hands on it, your friend knew this, of course. Using it to their advantage, they pulled a couple of strings to get you a copy straight from the factory—or wherever games were made; you really couldn't care less.

As you continued to play the game, doing your dailies, you could feel the guy beside you lean his face forward. It was honestly kind of cute; from your peripheral vision, you could see he was watching you play while doing his best not to seem weird.

No words were exchanged until that point; you chose to play and let him watch in silence.

Sometimes you'd miss an attack and take damage, feeling irritated, and you could hear him wince—as if he were the one playing. You bit back the urge to laugh.

Finally defeating the boss, you relaxed your fingers and let out a sigh. Opening the chest to collect your rewards, your screen flashed with the list of items you received: 50 Primogems.

"How generous…" you groaned. You were doing this quest even before you went to the party, and only now did you finally finish it, and the rewards—you couldn't say you were surprised, honestly. You've been a player since the release, and this wasn't out of the norm for them.

You huffed, sighing as you exited the quest room, your character running around briefly before you opened the character menu. Kenma's eyes followed the screen, watching you switch between your characters.

Recently, you decided to build Kazuha, although you already had a build for him, you definitely could do better; his EM was too low for your liking—a measly 1,405 was good, but again—you could do better.

Enter. Fight. Collect. Repeat.

Your eyes locked on your phone as you played; your concentration wasn't gone unnoticed by Kenma. His eyes darted from your phone to you from time to time, convincing himself that it was out of pure curiosity.

Watching you so focused on a game he liked lowkey kind of made him happy—not that he'd admit it to you outright. It wasn't every day he'd meet someone as game-obsessed as him, and to find one at a party of all places. This was definitely a legendary find, probably a 0.003% chance. Maybe his RNG wasnt so bad afterall.

You stayed focused mid-battle, trying to fight off the stupid overgrown lizard for the third time now for the materials for his talents.Halfway through the fight, Azhdaha changed its element to Pyro. You shifted your body, positioning your elbows on your lap, your eyes locked on it—when suddenly your game paused.  Both of you let out an annoyed sigh, a little louder than intended.

Your phone was about to die.

Frantically, you checked your pockets for a charger. Your hands touched empty spaces as your hope slowly slipped away, like a dimming light—plop.

Your eyes widened at the charger thrown onto your lap. Your eyes darted to the boy next to you, who had his face turned away, his hands covering part of his mouth. He said, "You can borrow mine." As the words left his lips, the tips of his ears turned a slight shade of pink.

You looked back down at the charger; a small smile tugged at your lips. "Thank you."

During those two hours of gaming, you barely spoke—only grunts when your character was hurt, or a tiny chuckle when you outwitted the enemy.

The two of you stayed bunched together on one corner of the couch, sharing only that.

Kuroo managed to find Kenma on the couch, sitting close to someone other than him. The state his friend was something you'd only see when he was in his room. Kuroo's eyes remained fixed on you left.  The other guests started leave, but the both of you stayed comfortably on the couch in silence.

"Hey, is he your friend?" Your eyes remained fixed on your phone, not daring to look up, knowing would be a pair of eyes staring back. Kenma looked up, seeing Kuroo across the room, an unfamiliar expression on his face. Kuroo turned to his friend, smirking and giving him a thumbs-up, mouthing "Good luck," since they were too far apart to hear each other. "Nope."

Your head turned slightly toward the boy beside you, half-meeting his gaze. "Do you play...?" It was low and sounded hesitant, making you feel self-conscious. Kenma's eyes moved from the screen to you, a brief moment of eye contact before he looked away, nodding slightly.

Kenma grabbed his phone from his pocket—this was probably the longest he'd gone without using it. You watched as he unlocked his phone and loaded the game, bringing your focus back to your own screen as you waited.

After a couple of seconds, he nudged you slightly, sliding his phone toward you to show his UID. You scanned the numbers for a moment before furrowing your brows. A strange laugh escaped your lips as you scratched the back of your neck.

Kenma tilted his head, curious about what you found funny. His eyes darted to your phone screen, noticing your in-game username, then your adventure rank, AR 60, he noted, recognizing you'd been grinding on the game far longer than he expected you to—and finally, your UID.

"Ah."

He was in Asia; you were in America.

Your conversation fell silent when you both realized the obvious dilemma: your account was in America, meaning he couldn't play with you since his account was registered in Asia. Kenma's mouth opened to speak but fell short; his words wouldn't come out. You looked at his expression, your eyes dropping to his lips, which formed a scowl. You couldn't help but laugh.

The sound of your laughter echoed in Kenma's ears, which now colored a slight pink—he was doomed. Unable to help himself, he chuckled as well, despite not knowing why; he just did.

"Too bad, huh?" he replied, his voice slightly overshadowed by your laughter.

"No, it's—we can still play." You pointed, exiting the game as it loaded back to its home menu screen. Your fingers hovered over the button labeled 'America'.

"I have an account in Asia."

His eyes darted to your face as those words left your mouth. Those six words were like a gift from the heavens—like God himself had come down to earth and kissed him on the forehead. He didn't understand why, but hearing you say that made him happier than he wanted to admit. The opportunity to play with you was again made possible, and he honestly could thank his luck.

His eyes watched your movements closely as you brought your phone close to hide part of your face; your eyes looked away, seemingly embarrassed.

"...but I havent been playing on it, so im only on AR 55.."

Oh, he was doomed—so doomed.

Thats how you ended up here.

Before you could even react you character died and your screen flashed red.

You waited patiently, the buzzing in your headphones continued due to the lack of voices occupying it. Suddenly you heard him sigh—it was long and tired, you couldnt help but smile.

Were you secretly a sadist?

"..thats...okay..nice try."

You blinked once. Twice. Your hands gripped the mouse tightly "Seriously..?" You muttered, gritting your teeth in annoyance as you realized you failed, again.

"What?"

"Nothing uh.. sorry.."

He sighed deeply and—that was kinda hot.

"What?"

"...did you say something?"

Panic ran through your veins, eyes bloodshot—maybe due to the fact that you were playing at 3 AM, but still, did you say that out loud?

"No..?" You replied, trying to sound confused, but it just came off weirdly high-pitched.

Silence filled your headset, and your heart panicked; that was a mishap on your part—truly an unfortunate fate. It's been more than a month since you two became gaming buddies, and aside from trying to ragebait him, you sort of, kinda, maybe had a slight crush on him.

"...Let's do better next time.." you heard him say, his voice scruffy, and you honestly wondered how he looked like at this very moment—was his hair disheveled? How did he look—

"—[Y/N?]" He called out for the nth time before you finally heard it.

"—Huh? Oh uh, yeah.." 

Your screen flashed red, the title saying 'Defeat'. You sighed into your seat; as much as you wanted to see him rage—you hated as much seeing yourself lose. You were just as competitive as him.

"I'll cue again?" Kenma's voice filled your headphones; his tone was calmer this time.

"Yeah.. sure."

Kenma didn't press cue; instead, he waited—he was trying to think of what to say. Truth be told, he doesn't know what to say most of the time; his only hope was to rely on his little people skills.

"..Are you tired?"

You replied with a soft hum, the kind that didn't really tell him what your answer was. "Uh..." Your head turned to the direction of your wall clock out of habit.

3:24 AM

"Shit—I didn't realize it was that late." You cursed outwardly, slouching your back against your chair. You could hear shuffling through the headset, closing your eyes briefly as the noise lulled you to sleep.

"...you sleepin?"

His question woke you up, fixing your posture as you let out a small yawn. "Mm... dunno."

"You're tired. Sleep."

You let out an exasperated laugh; his comment wasn't really funny—but perhaps the lack of sleep was getting to you.

"What're you laughin' at...?"

"Hm... just found it funny how you say 'sleep' when... you won't even do that." Your words were starting to slur, and Kenma found it a lot entertaining how you were trying to stay awake just to play.

"..uh-huh... Just go to sleep [Y/N]."

You sighed, hearing his voice say your name in such a manner that made your knees feel like Jell-O already.

"..just one more round, I'll win it this time!"

You waited for his response—but it never came. The silence was suffocating; the only other thing you could hear was the soft buzzing of your computer.

"..hey.. Ken? You still there?"

"...yeah."

"...Are you mad at me for making us lose...?"

"..No... not really.."

You sighed more into your seat; your body practically turning into mush. This was hopeless; your plan on rage-baiting him isn't working—so time for plan B!

—

Plan #2: Mission Ragebait

Just act as clueless as possible; not the best plan—but it's worth a try!

"Then.. are you mad 'cause you died first?"

You heard a grunt through the speakers; it was small—but it was there. You smiled to yourself, thinking your plan was working; just a few more nudges, and he'll break.

"Eugh, no way! I only died because of—"

You.

It's always you, huh?

Kenma sighed into his seat, his shoulders slumped into a shape that resembled a crescent moon. His hands dug into his face as he tried to control his breathing. Once again, the two of you lost another round—it was a ranked match, too.

He practically babysat you the whole game; he wouldn't let you go watch a site alone—it was almost as if he was worried you'd die...because you did. Almost every single time, too!

Even when Kenma was there to help attack, you somehow managed to get killed. Every. Single. Time.

"..damnit... What am I gonna do with you [Y/N]?" Kenma blurted out, his eyes peeking through the creases of his hands, staring at the Discord call that started around 5-6 hours ago? Who knows? —Kenma for sure doesn't.

He pushed a button on the keyboard and his mic lit up, fixing his posture as he leaned in slightly. "I think I'm just rusty," Kenma replied back, his excuse wasn't convincing at all. Even he could tell it sounded fake. I mean, seriously? Who would ever believe that Kenma — The Kenma, would ever be rusty—

"Hmm.. Yeah, it really shows."

Kenma stuttered for a moment, his thoughts went on pause once he heard those words leave your mouth.

Were you seriously agreeing with him? This was driving Kenma insane; after months of playing together, he's never seen you this....bold— This straightforward before.

And in Kenma's honest opinion, he wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not. He noticed the difference last week, during another one of your late-night rounds of Valorant. Plays that should've been easy for you were suddenly difficult, every time you had to clutch, you always died.

"Anyways...maybe Valorant just isn't your game today," you replied, combing through the stray strands of hair that were on your face.

Kenma sighed into his seat, his shoulders tense as he fixed his posture for the first time in 3 hours. "Yeah.. sure.." he replied, exiting the game. You followed him and closed your own game, mentally taking note of the time again.

3:28 AM

The sound of your keyboard echoed around the room, the light of your computer being the only one that lit up your darkened room. Your eyes watched the side of your screen carefully, waiting for him to say something else.

You were just staring at your computer screen for a good minute or so, casually you'd drift off from time to time due to the lack of stimulation from the conversation. Honestly, you thought he must've died or something because you've never seen him be this quiet before.

Did your plan finally work? Could he be—

"..Aren't you tired?"

You hummed, the type of hum that didn't provide him with any answers whatsoever.

But Kenma knew, he always did.

You heard him let out a soft chuckle from your headset, sending chills down your spine. You wondered if it was because it was too cold in your room, and definitely not because of how attractive his voice sounded.

"You wanna play one last game? Or do you just wanna talk?"

"..talk."

"..hm, about what.."

"...dunno.."

—

This conversation was going nowhere, but you hadn't the energy left to actually make an effort to do so otherwise. So instead, the two of you just continued talking—if it was even considered that anymore.

"You know.. earlier this week, Kuroo made me do pushups five times.." Kenma complained, his voice grazing as you shuffled out of your seat.

"Ken, I'm gonna switch devices real quick." You replied before clicking exit call, hastily opening the Discord app on your phone as you made your way to your bed.

"Back.."

"Took you long enough.." He replied, voice low as he let out a soft chuckle. "I was gone for 30 seconds."

"Longest 30 seconds of my life...I missed you."

The call fell silent, your brain took its sweet, sweet time to register what he just said, because when you finally did realize it, he was already clearing his throat. Was it a slip-up, or on purpose?

You turned on your camera, your phone lying sideways as you used a pillow to help it stay up. On the other side, it looked completely dark, but if you squint—and look really closely, you could see the outline of a face, and eyes that stared back.

Kenma was a bit thankful he didn't turn on his camera, or else you'd see the obvious red tint that spread across his face.

Despite your sleepy state, you managed to grumble out a question. It was simple enough, but to Kenma it was everything.

Because to him, no matter how outrageous or how stupid the words that came out of your mouth were, he'd eat it up every time. He wasn't oblivious to his treatment towards you—not like he was trying to hide it either.

"What time is it?"

"...it's 3:29 AM." He replied, soft and slow, like he was scared that any louder, he'd wake the sleepiness out of you.

You hummed, closing your eyes, feeling a smile creeping up your face. Kenma watched you closely, his eyes studying your face like it was going to be an exam the next day.

The two of you stayed silent like this for around a minute or so, but to him it felt like an eternity. One he wouldn't mind staying in forever.

The clock on the bottom corner if his screen showed him it was 3:30 AM. How long were calling for? He'd guess it was around 7-8 hours, considering you were fast asleep, camera on and face still on call.