A/N: I know this chapter is a few hour late, you can blame my wifi for that. I apologize.

"I'm sorry I called you. I know we're in a fight, but you were the only person I could think of to call," I sighed as Tetsu-nii picked up Kenma.

"You're lucky I had my cellphone laying around," he replied as we walked to the infirmary. When we reached there, Tetsu-nii placed him down in the bed and tucked him in. "So, what even happened?" he asked taking a seat in the chair besides the bed and facing me. Sighing, I sat down at the foot of the mattress and ran a hand through my hair, not looking at my brother.

"Believe it or not I confessed," I frowned looking over at the unconscious man. "I think you were wrong; I don't think he feels the same way," I murmured softly.

"Why do you say that?" he huffed in annoyance slouching back into the chair with his arms crossed.

"Look, I know you've been with him longer than I have and I get that you two understand each other better, but he literally shook his head and passed out when I confessed," I glared getting to my feet.

"Keiji—"

"You know what? Maybe you're right. Maybe love just isn't worth it. Like you said, we're still just kids," I scoffed. "I'm going back, I'll tell everyone what happened," I muttered walking out of the room before he could say anything. When I returned to the gym, I told Nekoma that Kenma had passed out and that Tetsu-nii was with him. A commotion was made and soon enough all the team's heard about what happened.

"You okay?" Bokuto asked patting my back.

"Yes, he has my brother. He'll be fine," I replied nonchalantly.

"Well, I mean, I know you like him," he frowned. "You can go wait for him to wake up if you want to. We have back up setters," he offered. Shaking my head, I began walking to the rest of the team.

"It's no big deal, I've moved on. I just want to play some volleyball," I stated.

"But!" he shouted, grabbing my wrist. "What happened?" he frowned, genuinely concern.

"It's nothing—"

"Akaashi! You're my friend! I'm going to continue to worry until you tell me what's wrong," he declared. Sighing, I pried his hand off of me.

"I got rejected, that's all. Let's just go," I hummed motioning him to everyone. Sadly, Bokuto shuffled over to everyone else as I followed close behind. The next several practice matches were slow paced and dull; everyone was put off by what had happened. Tetsu-nii eventually returned, informing everyone that Kenma was fine, he just needed more rest. My ace turned to me somberly and I looked away.

Rejected or not, I still cared for Kenma; I still liked Kenma. My feelings wouldn't evaporate just because he didn't like me back and I hated it. I just wanted to move on—to get on with my life. Tetsu-nii was right; high school relationships were meaningless. Look, at my parents; they thought that they had loved one another, yet now all they felt towards each other was spite and regret. I wanted everything to be okay, I wanted to make up with my brother, I wanted to forget that I even liked Kenma; I just wanted to feel okay.

Practice came to an end and everyone headed to the cafeteria for dinner. Right away, Bokuto ran up to Tetsu-nii asking him if Kenma was okay. The two of them began talking with serious expressions, before suddenly smiling and lighting the mood. I watched them as they had their arms thrown around one another, cheerfully grinning and yapping away about who knows what. "They're suddenly close," I muttered to myself.

"Nah, those to have always been like that," Komi replied taking a seat beside me. "They've always gotten along since our first year here. Had a sort of rivalry between them, you know," he explained.

"That's what sparked his interest in Nekoma and the reason we started teasing him about it and calling it an obsession," Sarukui chuckled.

"Still can't believe he's your brother though," Konoha laughed.

"Yes," I replied apathetically. Realizing something might have been off, the three changed the subject, taking about volleyball strategies and idle things. Silently, I watched Tetsu-nii and Bokuto talk. They looked happy with one another and they seemed to complement each other well, and not in a romantic "they-seem-destine-for-one-another" kind of way. Just in the simplicity of their personalities.

Both of them were very outspoken people, but in different ways. Bokuto had a one track mind and wouldn't know shame even if he had any. Tetsu-nii, on the other hand, was just a frank person who believed that criticism and critique was the easiest way to help a person out. They were both dreamers, who had an imagination that could hold the universe. Tetsu-nii was actually intelligent though, he knew and understood the world and everything around him. Yet, he wasn't the type to conform to society's bidding. Then there was Bokuto, who—although not the brightest academically—had a knack for knowing exactly what to do in any moment of time. They just fit, and I couldn't see what Tetsu-nii was so afraid of. What doubts did he have?

When dinner ended, several people got together to work on individual practice. As I headed back to the room, Bokuto pounced on me. "Akaashi! Practice with me!" he chirped jubilantly. "I want to work on my spikes!" Sighing in defeat, I followed him to one of the back gyms. Suddenly, my eyes met with hazel.

"Bokuto—"

"I need someone to block against me!" he pouted. Sighing again, I nodded. Several other people were in the gym with us including the Russian, the libero, the substitute libero, and the maneki as well as Konoha, Sarukui, and Washio. We played a few practice rounds, switching out every now and then, Nekoma giving their first years pointers. At some point, the maneki laughed and Konoha's face seemed to shimmer bright red. After an hour or two we all retreated back to our rooms, the third years getting ready to go shower. Before I left, Tetsu-nii grabbed me by the shoulder.

"I want to talk," he stated. Frowning, I followed him to the side of the gym. The sun had set for the day, but the air was still heated and moist. "I'm sorry for how I acted the night before," he sighed. "I know you meant well and I—"

"Please, stop," I sighed.

"What?" he murmured, surprised.

"I forgive you. I just want to put this passed us. I'll stay out of your love life, I just want my brother back," I admitted.

"Keiji," he whispered as he drew me into a hug. "Don't blame yourself," he muttered pulling back and holding my shoulders. "Are we good now?" he asked sincerely.

"Of course," I smiled warmly. "But I do have one favor to ask of you," I added.

"Sure, what is it?" he chimed, putting his arm around my shoulder as we approached the main building.

"Can you lay off how close you are to Bokuto? I know it's not in my place to limit your relationship with your friends, but I've been in his care for more than a year—actually he's been in my care," I muttered to the side before shaking my head. "What I mean is, I don't want you to be leading him on," I stated.

"Oh… well," Tetsu-nii frowned as he tighten his grip around me. "The truth is, I think I may go for it," I turned to him in shock but didn't speak a word. "I want to get to know him more first though. I don't want us to be together on just a hunch," he shrugged. I bumped him with my shoulder and smiled.

"I'm happy for you," I hummed.

"I'm happy for myself too," he chuckled. "But you should really talk to Kenma—"

"Don't," I sighed. Tetsu-nii nodded his head, changing the topic as we continued walking. Eventually, we split off, Tetsu-nii going into the shower room while I went to the classroom. When Bokuto returned, he flopped on top of me. Groaning, I pushed him off and sat up. "You're getting everything wet," I frowned.

"Kuroo confessed to me!" he squealed grabbing me by the shoulders and starting to shake me.

"He did?" I said in disbelief. "What do you mean? What happened?" I practically shouted.

"Akaashi, shh," he hushed putting a finger in front of his grinning lips. "I mean what I said. After we showered, we were walking down the halls together and he told me that he liked me! We're not really dating yet, though. He said he still needs time to figure out if he's ready for a relationship, but I told him it was totally cool, I was just happy being with him!" he glistened.

"I'm happy for you," I smiled. He giggled childishly and nodded his head with enthusiasm.

"I'm happy for myself too!" he cheered. They were already beginning to sound like one another and they weren't even dating. With a sigh, I got up and left to go shower. I stood underneath the running faucet and frowned. I was genuinely happy for the two of them—there was no way I couldn't be—yet I was still bummed out by the failure of my own. Maybe Tetsu-nii was right. He didn't need help with his love life; I did.

In reality Kenma didn't reject me; I know that. But what if he does? Would I actually be able to handle him telling me that he didn't feel the same way to my face? Even worse, what if he tells me my feelings are misguided. That I'm confusing the joy of reuniting with my childhood friend with the yearning of a lover. The exact lie I had been telling myself when I first moved back, I recalled with a slight scoff.

Even though Tetsu-nii now believed that love was worth it, I began to lose faith. I didn't know what to think anymore. Even if by some miracle Kenma felt the same about me, would pursuing a relationship be worth it? If we broke up—which would be practical considering our age—would our friendship remain intact? Was I willing to jeopardize a lifelong friendship in return for some futile moments as lovers? Who decided that platonic relationships meant less than romantic ones anyways?

With a heavy sigh, I turned off the water and dressed myself. There was no reason for me to worry about all that anyways; Kenma probably didn't see me like that to begin with. As I walked down the hallways, I came to a sudden stop, my eyes laying on Kenma at the end of the corridor. "Kenma! Are you okay? Should you really be moving around?" I asked walking up to him casually.

"I'm fine," he nodded. "I've actually been awake for a while now. Supposedly I passed out from the heat; I was dehydrated or something," he explained.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I frowned.

"I'm sure… I can say the same to you, though," he muttered looking up at me with his face still tilted down.

"I'm alright," I replied walking passed him. Kenma grabbed my hand causing me to stop.

"Look at me Keiji," he ordered. As I turned to look at him, he grabbed my other hand and held them both in his. "When I woke up, Kuro told me some things. Why didn't you ever tell me your dad disowned you? This whole time I just figured you wanted to be with your mom and brother," he inquired.

"It's embarrassing to admit that I was disowned," I sighed, looming my head.

"Is it because you didn't want to admit that you were gay?" he questioned bending forward so that he could see my face. "You know, I would've accepted you no matter what," he frowned.

"I know," I breathed closing my eyes. "I didn't want to tell you because… because…"

"Because I was the one you liked?" he stated when I couldn't continue.

"Yea," I murmured opening my eyes. "But it's fine, if you don't. I get it," I added taking a step away from him. Kenma held onto me tightly and took a step forward in my direction.

"Why are you making assumptions that I don't feel the same way?" he asked.

"Well when I confessed you kind of shook your head and passed out," I chuckled gingerly.

"That was unrelated. I shook my head because I was trying to get rid of the dizziness and I faint because I was dehydrated. It had nothing to do with you confessing. To be honest, I thought you confessing was just a hallucination of mines until Kuro explained everything to me," he clarified. "You had nothing to do with it," he emphasized.

"Why would you hallucinate me confessing to you?" I asked. Kenma scoffed and shook his head gently.

"Take a wild guess," he mocked. "It's because I like you too; I always have. And I've honestly known that you've liked me, up until you came back. When Kuro would constantly bring you up, I kind of put things together that you liked me and he was trying to help you out. But you were gone and I didn't know how to contact you, so I just kept everything buried inside of me. When I first saw you again during a volleyball tournament, you seemed so different. I was too anxious to approach you and you never attempted to approach us. When you came back, I was relieved and happy, but you were distant. You literally called me Kozume," I chuckled and nodded. "You acted like those years of childhood didn't matter, that the years in between were too big for us to continue acting like friends. Why do you think I wanted to share a bed with you so badly? Why do you think that every morning you found me turned over on my other side clinging to you? Those weren't accidents! I—"

"I get it, Kenma," I whispered tenderly. "I'm really happy, but we still can't be together," I sighed.

"What? Why?" he frowned squeezing my hands.

"Because we're in high school. We still have our whole lives ahead of us. We still have people to meet and things to try. Who knows how long these feelings we have for each other will last? I don't want to destroy our friendship under the guise that a romantic relationship is more important—" Suddenly Kenma punched me in the chest his fist laying over my heart.

"Since when did you become a skeptic of love?" he frowned lowering his hand and grabbing mines again. "Keiji, I have loved you, literally from the first day I can remember. I am an anxiety riddled no-life who's only able to make friends through my only other preexisting friend. I will never, ever find someone else to love besides you. I know that relationships are complex and messy, but we're not—we're simple. I will never get tired of you, not even on the day I die. And if you never get tired of me, than what's stopping us?"

"Kenma—"

"Keiji, I love you. And I don't mean I have romantic feelings for you. I honestly, love you with all my being. You're the only one I need. I know we're not dating and I know people say that it takes a while to know whether you actually love someone, but I had seventeen years to realize that I loved you. If you honestly don't love me, it's fine. I can handle us just being friends. But if you do love me, and are willing to stop lying to yourself, then hurry up and be my fucken boyfriend, because goddamn it, love is worth anything," he smiled.

"I've honestly never heard you talk this much," I hummed with a smile. "Kenma, I love you. Will you go out with me?" I asked bring his hands up to my lips. Kenma smiled triumphantly as he nodded his head.

"Of course, you idiot," he smirked.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading this! I'm so sorry if the ending seems rushed or abrupt. I was going to continue writing more about each couple and them actually being together, but due to medical problems I decided to end the story early. If people are still interested, I would be more than willing to continue it. There will be a mini bonus chapter upload this Thursday.