[ s ᴇ ᴍ ɪ • ʜ ɪ ᴀ ᴛ ᴜ s ]

     He'd gotten over being upset at his father a while ago. Or maybe that wasn't the right word for it, but being upset at his father was far too tiring. Especially when all things considered, his brother was a cool dude. Even if they did share the same birthday, what the actual fuck was that. Anyway, he'd decided to spend the weekend with his mother and his friends, got permission to end practice early and so he took the train over to the Seido dormitory without much pause, still in his uniform. He'd given Miyuki a text earlier but had never gotten a response, figured that he was busy as hell but hopefully he'd get to break away for the night. Even if he couldn't, Kuroo would at least see him for a couple of minutes, give him the present in his sachel. 

After asking and saying, 'yes, it's important' and 'family' too many times to count, he was led to the batting cages just as the sun started to make it's way down. Used to being around athletes he didn't feel too uncomfortable, but it was still so different from the way his team was. Once he finally say the other boy, he raised an eyebrow and quirked his lips. 

     It was probably a fruitless endeavor. If anyone should know by now that Kuroo was horrible in the kitchen, a fact as indisputable as the sky being blue or Gintama being the best anime series, it should've been Jun. Beyond that, it was his birthday. Wasn't the whole thing supposed to be something like her making a cake for him, rather than teaching him? But here they were, Kuroo lining the ingredients out and looking at her dubiously, one of her own frilly aprons over his clothes (was that even necessary, really). 

Maybe it was a little ridiculous, but Kuroo thought that it was okay to be a little ridiculous. Especially on your birthday. If there ever was a day to be self-indulgent and get away with it, it would be that day. It wasn’t even technically his birthday yet, they were still at his house right after Bokuto and Akaashi had left, and still had to take the train to their apartment. ( Their apartment, he’d never get sick of saying that, hearing it, thinking it.) But if they were going to spend the night over there, that meant—

“Hey there, buddy. Buddy Ichi, Buddy One, Buddy Uno, Buddy Un, Buddy Yī!” he stood right next to the fish tank, still putting his jacket on and motioning to Daichi very seriously. “Sing happy birthday with me, it’s their birthday.”

They never seemed to meet at the right time, did they? Perhaps they were forever destined to be omens of bad luck for each other, or maybe they both could never be at the same place and time without something terrible happening, but—

      It wasn't even his cat, Kuroo was allergic to cats for heaven's sake, but he figured helping Bokuto look for it was less annoying than having him pester him to death. Which was how he found himself on the other side of town one Sunday afternoon, annoyed and cold more than anything.

He wouldn't have approached the girl had it not been for her camera—he gave up asking strangers for help after a particularly rude person—but maybe she had seen the stupid thing while she was taking pictures, or she at least had to have been looking at the scenery more than the casual passerby.  

      Maybe laser tag at Joypolis wasn't the most conventional date (if this even was a date, really one day they'd have to get to that question), but Kuroo figured it was good enough. Especially since he had school the next day. He figured he could spend his birthday eve with Ayu, bending down to strap the girl's vest on securely, a smile despite his serious intent to play.

    The path wasn't unusual, but perhaps the timing could've been better. Even if Kuroo was used to being awake and consequently going running at all hours of the night (even if it was a decent enough suburb, it wasn't exactly the wisest thing to do, considering) the same couldn't be said for Yaku. Yet there he was, dialing the other boy's number as he leaned on his front fence, eyes lingering on the bright Nov 16, 11:54 PM on his screen. 

      All he could do was sigh. Granted, it was a deep sigh and a shake of his head, but, really now. He started to push Kenma back through his front door, hands firm on the other boy's shoulders as he let out a simple, 'pardon the intrusion!' before pushing him in the direction of his room.

    "Of all days," he said, rather dramatically, "of all days you choose the day we're skipping, my birthday, to actually be ready on time and have your tie done correctly. Do you hate me, is that it? Do you hate me, Kenma?" he asked, a pained expression on his face before it turned into a grin as he started to dig through Kenma's closet.

( AY HELLO HELLO first off, thank you so so much if you left a comment/liked my previous post. second! i'm gonna be here a little bit tonight and replying to a couple shorter replies that are like a week old and then start slowly working my way back.

i'm fine! alive and such. i've been sick, but more than that i've been in a really bad headspace. i had to unplug for a bit.

i will be back soon-ish. get some stuff replied to before kuroo's birthday, promise. 

i probably wont be on skype/kik for a while, i'm sorry. 

i hope you are well! please drink some water and take care of yourself and know that you are very special.