Cattail
A person's life is nothing but the accumulation of the choices he makes. Kenma's mother had told him that many times during his childhood and the aphorism had become something of a code for him. His mother had chosen to move to Tokyo, had chosen Mr. Kozume one day when their gazes met down the length of a bar counter, had chosen to have the baby that she hadn't planned, and had chosen Kenma over her job when he was sickly and in need of constant care. She chose many things and for all those choices Kenma had nothing but respect and love for her. Proud and unwavering. If he had to sum up what her life had been, those words seemed most appropriate and he desired nothing more of his own mundane existence than to be able to live with the choices he made.
Which was ironic given the place and predicament he now found himself in. Cattail was the place. A small dive in some back alley of Kabukicho. A dingy sort of place that you wouldn't know was there unless someone told you. The sort of place that no one in their right mind would test their luck by entering even if they did have the misfortune to stumble across. The predicament? Well that was a bit more complicated.
The resounding clack of a clean break echoed through the sparsely occupied bar. Not a sound out of place in a bar, yet for one anxious ombre haired young man it was severely jarring because it meant that devilishly handsome, non-human idiot he'd become acquainted with over the past few weeks had decided heeding his warning of the impending danger to his being was not on his list of things to do for the evening.
"Do we really have time for this?"
Kenma's voice trembled with a mixture of impatience and irritation, fingers tugging restlessly at the hem of his hoody.
"Hmm?"
Unearthly yellow-ocher eyes gleamed in the dim bar light as they settled with easy amusement on Kenma. Lips drawing up into a sultry goading smirk.
"Hunters Kuroo, people trying to kill you… Remember?"
Thin brows furrowed, Kenma's eyes darting back and forth between Kuroo and the stairs that led down from the street into Cattail's musky booze saturated air. But Kuroo's amusement only seemed to grow, lips splitting to reveal elongated incisors as he leaned up against the pool table, setting up his next shot.
"Is that what you've got your briefs all in a bunch over? You're human so there's no way you could understand, but when you've lived as long as I have there are few things that still elicit pleasure. For me that would be a good lay, the robust sound of a cello and a perfect game. Now since you've politely declined all my advances, and we're in a bar with nary any music save that stuttering jukebox – to which that racket I use the term music very loosely – this right here is likely going to be the highlight of my evening."
Anxiety gave way to anger, sure he was human – only human – but he hated that Kuroo constantly used that to draw a line between them. Always baiting, enticing him with those smooth dulcet tones, yet those words never held any substance. Cocky. Evasive. Impertinent. And the idiot had the gall to act offended when Kenma spurned his advances. Still this was the man that had picked him up when he'd been distraught over his mother's death. That had with his wit and immense willfulness drawn Kenma back from that dark despairing place. Kenma wasn't about to stand by and just let this callous and aggressively destructive behaviour continue.
"If you don't put that damn cue down right now Kuroo, so help me I'll-"
Kenma startled something bad, voice jumping a couple octaves in nonverbal surprise, finding Kuroo's face a hairs breadth away from him, leaning heavily on the cue, irises glimmering with excitement.
"You'll…?"
A single word. Intrigued. Kuroo's breath ghosting across the minute distance. Expectant.
"I-I'll-" Kenma stuttered lost for words, brain working overtime to find coherency.
"Y-you'll what, Kenma?" Kuroo hummed in that infernally patronizing sing-song tone of voice that just made Kenma seethe.
"I'll superglue your hair into an even bigger mess than it already is."
Kuroo blinked uncomprehending at the evenly delivered statement, blanching and dropping the cue immediately as the prospect of his punishment properly registered.
"That's what I thought, now put that inhuman speed of yours to good use for once would you? Get out of here," Kenma huffed, arms crossed as he nodded to Cattail's only exit.
"You're not coming with me?"
A smile. The barest lilting of lips. Considerably more tame than anything he'd seen cross Kuroo's face to date. Appreciative. Adoring. A genuine little quirk of a smile that made Kenma's breath catch in his throat and rethink the course of his life's choices and how they led him to this place and this peculiar predicament. Beautiful.
"I'll meet you."
He would've taken that outstretched hand had he not been concerned about slowing Kuroo down in this crucial moment. A difficult choice to make.
"Is that so? Until later then~"
Kuroo turned, Kenma facing that mess of unruly inky spikes that he knew were softer than they looked.
"Kuroo!"
Dilated irises met his. Ready to run. To vanish in an instant of speed Kenma's human eyes couldn't perceive.
"Show me that smile again later."
A promising smirk and a feathered kiss against Kenma's lips were the only show of acknowledgment as he found himself standing alone. We are nothing but the choices we make. Kenma idly wondered what these choices made him, fingers brushing his lips wantonly at the already faded warmth.
End
A/N: So there's this thing on tumblr right now called hqhalloweeny week that purports to combine inktober, haikyuu and halloween. There are a bunch of prompts and the first one was vampire!au so kind of in the middle of working on the sketch, I had this idea tumbling about as a story to go with it~ I might elaborate on this idea at some point 'cause I kind of like vampire!kuroo ^^
Oh and if anyone would like to check out the inktober piece that goes with this, you can find it over on my tumblr - post / 131922365770
As always thanks for reading, all comments are welcomed and appreciated :)