I laid wide awake as I listened to Kenma breath. At some point in the night, he rolled over. His hands were pressed against my back, one of them clutching onto my clothes. I had been lying in bed for over an hour in hopes of him waking up on his own, but to no avail. Honestly, I was surprise I was able to fall asleep at all last night.

"Kenma," I coaxed. The blond mumbled, his head slumping forward until he rested his forehead in between my shoulder blades. "Kenma," I repeated.

"Don't," he muttered stirring a bit. Sighing, I laid there a little longer. "Promise you'll come back," he stated still fully asleep. "Promise," he repeated in a slow exhale.

"Kenma," I said patiently awaiting some sort of response. "I promise," I stated softly as I turned around to face him. Grumbling in his sleep, I rearranged his head to a more comfortable position. Slipping out of bed, I walking into the hallway were Tetsu-nii was.

"Morning, Casanova," he greeted a cup of coffee in his hand.

"You're supposed to be my wingman, yet I seem to be doing all the work by myself," I sighed heading to the bathroom.

"Well, you are an owl. You got your own wings," I glared at him from over my shoulder and he put his arms up in defeat. "I know, I know," he chuckled as I left to get ready for club activities.


"Practice is really uneventful without Bokuto," Komi frowned from the other side of the net as he received everyone's spike.

"It's actually quite sad," Sarukui added slamming down the ball as I set it.

"Since when did we pick chaos over peace," Konoha sighed as he readied to spike the next ball.

"Well, he is our captain," I hummed. Suddenly the whistle blew.

"Quit talking," Coach Yamiji shouted.

"Sorry," we all called back. We played several practice matches with one another, yet everything felt off without Bokuto.

"No Bokuto is almost as bad as no Akaashi," Sarukui snickered as we all changed in the club room.

"Really? What's it like without me around?" I asked as I finished up tying my tie.

"Bokuto is depressed twenty-four seven," Konoha whistled before chuckling. "As much as we can cheer him up, nothing gets him back on his feet faster than a good, clean spike," he explained buttoning up his shirt. Smirking, I nodded my head.

"He may act like a child, but he certainly is our captain," I chuckled.

"And we all love him for it," Komi chimed in.

"And for everything else about him," Konoha added nudging he shorter male. After leaving the club room, I returned home. When I arrived, Tetsu-nii and Kenma were still out with the rest of their team.

"Welcome home," Mother chimed when I walked in.

"Thanks," I replied walking into the living room where she sat on the couch once again reading with the TV running as background noise.

"Any plans?" she asked.

"Just gonna wash off," I shrugged.

"Once you finish showering, keep me company," she grinned. Smiling back I nodded my head.

"Of course," I replied before walking away. As I washed myself, I thought back to this morning. Kenma was muttering in his sleep and I was curious to know if it really was me he was talking to in his dreams. The first time I caught him asleep in the dining room, he was talking to me about returning. He mentioned me promising to come back, just like how he mentioned it once more this morning. If he really was referring to me; why was I in his dream and what was it about? As I dried my hair I looked into the mirror and frowned softly. The only person getting my hopes up, was me. If Kenma rejects me, could I handle just being friends? I returned to the main room, Mother still reading her book.

"How was practice?" she chirped putting a bookmark in and setting it down on the table in front of her.

"It was fine, kind of quiet since Bokuto wasn't there," I replied taking a seat next to her. The two of us talked for a while until she suddenly sighed, cupping my cheek in her hand. "Is something wrong?" I asked putting my hand over hers.

"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had kept you both," she answered with a sigh, kissing my forehead.

"It's not your fault," I smiled taking her hand from my face and holding it in between mine. "To be honest, my upbringing wasn't the worst. Father wasn't a bad man; he still isn't one. Yea, he did some cruel things to me near the end of it, but honestly—with all my heart—I don't hate him for it. They say it takes seven good things to counteract one bad, and I can say, with complete confidence, that he was a good man. You shouldn't judge him for how things ended," I stated sincerely.

"You're a good boy Keiji," Mother hummed softly as she closed her eyes. "But you're not the only reason why I dislike your dad so much. We were divorced for a reason," she opened her eyes, a sad smile painted across her aging face. This was the first time I was realizing the bags and wrinkles she accumulated over the years. She had looked so timeless, as if permanently stuck in this age of beauty. Yet here I was, close enough to see every pore on her face and I still thought she was gorgeous.

"Why did you guys even split?" I questioned.

"Your father didn't tell you?" she scoffed. I shook my head in response. "Well, I'm not surprise. Your father and I had never really been happy with one another. When we were young and more carefree, things seemed to have been going great. Then one day, I got pregnant with your brother. The two of us decided to keep the baby, thinking that the power of love would keep us together. But it obviously didn't. Not long after having Tetsurou, I got pregnant with you. Once again we fooled ourselves into thinking that we could've worked it out. As you guys began to grow, we came to the realization that we weren't happy with one another; that we weren't really in love.

"Nonetheless, we stayed together for you two but decided to have an open married. Everything was going fine, we had no troubles with each other dating someone else—in reality it made us happier knowing that we could still find happiness even if it wasn't with one another. One day though, your father caught me with a women. As you know, I'm bisexual, so being with a women really didn't mean anything to me. But your father was rather—well, let's just say that he wasn't happy with it. We argued and decided that it would be better if we just divorced. And we did. And he took you with him," she explained her thumb rubbing back and forth against the back of my hand.

"You guys had been unhappy for so long?" I hummed softly.

"Oh please, don't blame yourself for this. We were young and naïve. Young love makes you wild sometimes, nothing more," she smiled. Eventually Tetsu-nii and Kenma returned. The four of us had dinner, happily taking about our day. Once again, Kenma and I fell asleep with our backs toward each other, although this time they were touching.

The following morning, I woke up to the sound of the front door being slammed shut and somebody shouting. I groaned softly burying my face into something soft. The shouting continued and Kenma sighed. "Let's go," he muttered. I opened my eyes and noticed that my arms were wrapped around him as he cuddled into my chest. The two of us looked at each other before quickly pulling apart.

"Sorry," I stammered getting out of bed.

"Its fine," he replied shaking her head. "Let's just see what the noise is all about," he suggested. The two of us walked out of my room and down towards the entrances.

"What's with all the noise—?"

"Akaashi!" I put a hand to my head as I finally remember that Bokuto was coming over.

"Good afternoon to you too, Bokuto," I sighed as Kenma sneaked away into the bathroom.

"Why didn't you tell me Kuroo was your brother?" he shouted in disbelief. I looked up at the two of them, their faces brightly red, and my brother topless.

"Up until I moved, I wasn't really in contact with him, so I didn't feel like it was right to parade that information around," I replied.

"You guys have different surnames!" he yelled.

"Like I said, we hadn't been living together. I use my father's surname and he uses our mother's," I explained. "Now please calm down, while I go brush my teeth," I stated turning around. As I left to the bathroom—Kenma walking out and agreeing to make me coffee—Tetsu-nii hurried to grab a shirt and followed after me.

"Why didn't you tell me Bokuto was coming over?" he hissed in a hushed voice. Brushing my teeth, I shrugged.

"Didn't realize I had to," I replied spitting into the sink and gargling.

"The Bokuto Koutarou is in my house," he practically shrieked grabbing ahold of my shoulders.

"Does it matter? I thought you guys got along?" I questioned as my brother vigorously shook me.

"He's the fifth best ace in all of Japan! Of course I'm going to fangirl about this!" he snapped his face practically glowing.

"Fangirling, huh?" I smirked. Tetsu-nii let out a frustrate roar as he shook me wildly before storming out. Chuckling I walked into the main living area after him. Bokuto sat at the dining table with his bag set down beside him. Kenma was on the couch trying to play his games, his eyes darting across the room where the ace sat. I walked over to the blond and he handed me my cup of coffee. I thanked him and moved over to Bokuto.

"Why didn't you tell me Kuroo was your brother? I've literally talked about him in front of your face so many times," he cried out quietly so that my brother wouldn't hear from the kitchen.

"Why does it matter?" I frowned.

"Cause he's hot!" he whimpered covering his entirely red face.

"Kenma, do you still have homework you need to do?" I called looking over at the setter. He looked at me and turned back to his games. "Kenma, do your homework," I lectured. Grumbling softly, he got up and the two of us grabbed our things from my bedroom. "Kenma, Bokuto. Bokuto, Kenma,"

"Hi," Bokuto muttered still hiding behind his hand.

"Hi," Kenma mumbled as well scratching the back of his head and looking away.

"Nii-chan, if you have homework, you should do it with us," I stated. He glared at me but immediately stopped when Bokuto turned to look at him.

"Might as well," he replied heading to his room. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" he texted.

"I'm being your wingman, because—you know—I'm an owl," I mocked.

"Fuck you Keiji" I chucked and placed my phone back into my pocket. When Tetsu-nii returned with his material, we all began doing our school work.

"Hey Tetsu-nii, since you and Bokuto are in the same grade why don't you help him?" I suggested. "I'll help Kenma out instead," I added.

"Sure," he shrugged nonchalantly, suddenly returning to his cool non-expressive self. I smiled back and nodded my head. Quickly, Bokuto turned to me with a worried glance, but I patted his shoulder reassuringly. As we continued working—I helping Kenma, Tetsu-nii helping Bokuto—I realized that the two third years were getting off topic, suddenly becoming buddy-buddy with one another.

"Get to work or else I'm going to start tutoring you again. If you fail you won't be able to go to the summer camp," I taunted. Bokuto gulped and nodded his head.

"Right, work!" he shouted as he stared at his papers.

"You won't be able to go to the summer camp?" Tetsu-nii questioned shuffling in his seat to better see Bokuto's textbook. Bokuto sighed and shook his head.

"I'm kind of stupid," he hummed softly. I turned to him, about to say something encouraging when Tetsu-nii cut me off.

"Nonsense! I've seen you play volleyball, you're a genius!" he chimed with a wide grin.

"Really?" he replied in awe. "I just play by instinct, so I can't really say I'm a genius," he gushed modestly scratching the back of his head.

"That's even better! Don't you see? That means you got a killer gut instincts," he pointed out. Suddenly, Bokuto shimmered just like when he hits a perfect spike.

"Thanks bro!" he shouted enthusiastically.

"Of course! I got your back, bro!" I sighed and turned to Kenma who had a look of disgust on his face.

"Come on," I chuckled as I helped him out. Several hours had passed, before Bokuto and Kenma collapsed from mental exhaustion. "We'll take an hour long break," I declared. Kenma lit up as he scurried to the couch and began playing his games. Longingly, Bokuto watched from the dining room.

"Hey Kenma, why don't you let us play to?" Tetsu-nii asked plopping down beside him. The blond eyed my brother and then my captain before sighing.

"Fine," he whispered. Bokuto cheered as he fell into the seat beside my brother. With a small smile, I moved over onto the other side of Kenma and watched in peace. Throughout the game, Tetsu-nii and Bokuto bantered, Kenma silently pulverizing them. At some point they convinced me to play as well. The four of us played several round, one half of the couch screaming and yelling with every action on the screen, while the other half just watched in anticipation.

Eventually, we returned to studying, much to Bokuto and Kenma's dismay. Bokuto ended up staying for dinner before returning home, actually having learned a lot from my brother. Before he left, the two exchanged numbers under the guise that if Bokuto needed additional help he could always just message him. As we all readied ourselves to go to sleep, I walked into my brother's room. "So Bokuto, huh?" I teased.

"What are you talking about?" he scoffed.

"Different schools, not really friends, but becoming super friendly when around one another. I don't know, the flustered mess you two were in," I smirked.

"Out," he ordered. Nodding, I turned away. "Thanks for being my wingman," he stated motioning to his phone. When I returned to my room Kenma was already lying in bed.

"If we end up hugging each other, let's not make it weird," he muttered closing his eyes. Blushing, I smiled a bit and turned off the lights.

"Goodnight, Kenma,"

"Goodnight, Keiji,"