#zackie

Kenma hated chocolate.

    It was a well-known fact among the Nekoma volleyball team’s constituents that their setter, Kozume Kenma, though he looked timid and quiet, was the most analytical person any of them had ever met, was capable of dishing out the coldest looks and the sickest burns on any damn day he pleased, and he hated, hated, hated chocolate.

    Kuroo knew this best, of course, having practically raised Kenma in primary school. A girl once approached him and Kenma and offered some beautifully wrapped chocolates in a little white box. Kuroo had graciously accepted. Kenma just hissed like an offended cat and ran away to hide under the playground slide. The girl ran away crying. It had been her birthday.

    Chocolate was off-limits around Kozume Kenma.

    When Hinata-Oblivious-To-The Problems-Of-The-World-Shoyou arrived at the Nekoma school one day carrying a heart-shaped Valentine’s Day box with tiny pictures of the candies inside, Kuroo and the others only shook their heads grimly. Lev wept quietly off to the side. Yaku patted his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Inuoka turned away, unable to look Hinata in the eye. Kuroo took Hinata by the shoulder and steered him toward the gym, where the others were warming up, where the Anti-Christ of All Things Chocolate himself was now stretching and getting ready for practice.

    “Let’s just get this over with,” Kuroo muttered to the others, and Lev, Yaku, and Inuoka fell in line like a procession of mourners.

    They liked Hinata. They really did. They’d all agreed he was good for Kenma, and Kenma was good for Hinata. But clearly, the gods had other plans if they’d inspired Hinata to bring chocolates to the one being on earth who despised them more than the devil despised newborn babies.

    “Kenma!” Hinata shouted when they were inside the gym. He was bouncing and red in the face and practically humming with trapped energy. His smile was like light breaking through the clouds, coming to rest on the face that turned to see him, the face that softened and smiled back, the golden, watching eyes, the analytical mind that turned to mush when Hinata Shoyou was around.

    “Shoyou,” Kenma called back, waving from the bench. He put down his water bottle and threw the towel around his neck to the ground, then he jogged over to them. Hinata beamed and jumped in place until Kenma was close, then threw himself at Kenma, laughing. Startled, but steady, Kenma caught him, letting Hinata wrap his arms and legs around him like a baby koala clinging to its mother. Kenma buried his face in Hinata neck, smiling into his soft skin while Hinata peppered the back of his own head with kisses.

    Behind them, Kuroo and Yaku watched the red box of chocolate devilry waving in Hinata’s hand. By this time, the rest of the team was watching the happy reunion too, and they all realized the mortal peril Hinata was in. They looked on in despair.

    Kenma and Hinata finally pulled away, and Hinata jumped down from clinging to Kenma. He thrust the heart-shaped box forward, his face as red as the wrapping. “I got you something, Kenma,” he stammered. Gifts on special holidays always embarrassed Hinata because he thought he was a horrible gift-giver, even though literally anyone who knew him would argue against that.

    Kenma looked down at the box and something flickered across his face. His smile slipped for a fraction of a second. The team held its breath, and collectively they waited for the awful rejection, thinking, here it comes.

    Kenma took the box from Hinata’s hands. He looked at it, studying every angle of it, his eyes narrowed. He turned his steady eyes on Hinata. “You got me…chocolates.”

    Hinata nodded, too bashful to look up and see the expression on Kenma’s face.

    Kenma dropped the box on the ground and the team gasped. Here it comes.

    Then Kenma reached out and pulled Hinata into his arms, enveloping him in a tight embrace. Hinata yelped, and he hugged Kenma back, laughing in relief. The others watched in dumb shock.

    Kuroo stepped forward. “Kenma… Wha—”

    Kenma whirled around, staring at him over Hinata’s head. He was still holding Hinata s tightly to him as possible. “What’s wrong, Kuroo?” His golden eyes flashed. “I love chocolate, especially from Shoyou.” He glared at Kuroo and the others, daring them to question what he’d emphasized. They backed away.

    Hinata leaned up and kissed Kenma’s cheek. “And this weekend, Kenma and I are gonna bake chocolate chip cookies!”

    Kenma’s eye twitched. “That’s right, Shoyou,” he said, and he glared at Kuroo who was now doubled over, trying not to laugh. Inuoka wiped a tear of joy from his eye. Lev and Yaku clung to each other, crying over their setter’s beautiful devotion to his boyfriend.

    “We’re going to bake chocolate cookies,” Kenma sighed, resigned to his fate.

    “And we’re going to eat all of them!” Hinata exclaimed. “And we’ll go to a movie and bring some cookies while we watch and then go get dinner and…”

    Hinata prattled on and on about their date. Kuroo cracked up, clutching his sides, braying like a donkey. Kenma picked up a volleyball and chucked it at his face. What was wrong with loving something you hated for someone you loved? Stupid Kuroo, couldn’t he see? Kenma loved Hinata much, much more than he hated chocolate.

    And Kenma hated chocolate a lot.