"Kenma! You need to get up! You'll be late for training camp!" his mother called up the stairs. Kenma groaned and only rolled over. Why did he have to sacrifice his sleep just so he could get bruised and sweaty and even more exhausted? It was definitely not worth it. He should just text Kuroo and pretend to be sick for at least the first day. Then he could appear later after the other teams had lost some of their high energy levels. Yes, that was an excellent idea. He would do that. Athletic people were so much more tolerable when they were exhausted and he was not. He tiredly patted around for his phone without opening his eye. He wondered how accurate his texting would be if he did it without looking. After playing so many games on his phone he was familiar enough with the keypad that it would likely be fine… Or at least vaguely understandable.

He heard foot steps in the hall and assumed that it was his mother coming to bother him for not getting up. Kenma probably should have been suspicious that she wasn't talking to him as she walked or that her tread was so light and smooth, but his sleep addled brain wasn't up for complex analysis at that moment. His hand landed on the edge of his phone, which only succeeded in knocking it to the floor. Kenma sighed and let his arm fall limply off the bed as he contemplated just leaving the device there.

"You are a truly skilled creature in the mornings Kenma." Came a deep chuckle from the doorway that was definitely not his mother. Kenma snatched hand back under the covers so fast he probably startled Kuroo. Good, then they'd be even.

"What are you doing here?" Kenma glared up at the tall boy from over the edge of his blanket as he cradled his arm against his chest out of Kruoo's sight and tried not to look like he'd nearly had a heart attack.

He should start locking his door or something.

"I am here to make sure our wonderful setter makes it to practice without any mysterious illnesses or accidents befalling him." Said Kuroo looking far too cheerful and awake for any sane human being at this time of morning. Kenma groaned. Well there went that plan. He turned and buried his face in his pillow with a stream of unhappy sounds.

"Come on grumpy, your mother already has breakfast on the table and we've got to go." Kenma decided not to grace that with an answer, despite knowing that it would be impossible(and unadvisable) to try and go back to sleep now that Kuroo was here. Rolling so that his left arm remained trapped and hidden under his body, Kenma attempted to subtly drift back off. His best friend knew him too well apparently though, for the next second his covers were rudely ripped off of him and a grinning Kuroo attempted to drag him up and off the bed by his arm.

"I'm up! I'm up!" protested Kenma yanking his arm away in what he hoped looked like an indignant manner but was really slightly panicked. He glared at his friend to compensate. Kuroo was predictably unruffled by the display.

"Your hair looks cute when it's all messed up Mr. Pudding-head." Kuroo teased leaning back against the wall. Kenma didn't think that dignified an answer.

"Go eat. My mom loves feeding you. I'll join you in a second." Said Kenma wandering over to his dresser.

"Too true. However, how do I know you won't just go back to sleep? Maybe I should stay and stand guard." Teased Kuroo.

"Kuroo, I have to get dressed. Get out." Groaned Kenma.

"So?" Kenma threw a pillow at him from the bed, "Hey, hey, no need to get violent. You haven't even packed yet, right? I can help, and if we get done sooner then you can nap until its time to go."

"…fine." Sighed Kenma at last. There was really no point in insisting that Kuroo leave when he really would like his help packing. Kuroo always helped him pack, and Kenma was sure he'd forget half the things he'd need if he ever tried to do it without him… and probably bring way more video games than were probably best to be playing at a training camp.

That didn't mean he was going to do his morning routine in front of Kuroo though. Throwing his duffle over to his taller friend, Kenma snatched up his cloths and made for the bathroom, perfectly content to ignore whatever teasing comment that action gained him. Not that he particularly cared about Kuroo seeing him change(they did share a locker room after all and they'd been friends even longer then that, it wasn't like they hadn't ever seen each other without clothes before) but the idea that all the taller boy's attention would be on him while he changed without the other team members distracting him was an uncomfortable one. Not to mention that it was during Kenma's morning routine that he hid… that.

In this world there was a bothersome reality of "soulmates". Or rather, the name of the person most suited to be with you would appear somewhere on your body. Some people never had a name, never being perfectly suited to anyone or just fairly suited for a lot of people. Some had more then one name on them. Some would have a name, but the person that they were best suited for, was better suited with someone else. Some never even met the person whose name they had. People who had each other's names were called truemates. Everyone was different. There were theories as to why names would appear on different parts of the body… according to one it was supposed to say something about your personality/disposition depending on where it appeared. In that case, Kenma thought, it would make sense that his soulmate's name had appeared on his wrist; a place in clear sight for both him and the rest of the world to see that would be impossible to ignore. Yet ignore it he did. And more then that, he hid it from everyone as well.

Hiding it would have been easier if he weren't in volleyball; he could have just worn a watch over it or something. Figures the one sport he chose would be the type you had to keep your wrists completely bare for, not even a sweat band. So he had sacrificed some of his precious game money to get some expensive waterproof make-up to paint over and blend away the elegant script on his wrist. He never told his parents(although he thought his dad might know or at least suspect considering he was a lot like Kenma in many ways) or even Kuroo. Especially not Kuroo.

Part of it was that he thought that the whole thing was over-romanticized by society. People seemed to think that meeting your soulmate somehow was equivalent to suddenly getting hitched. Like bam, 'oh we just met but we're apparently destined for each other so let's fuck each others brains out because why not? We're pretty much married anyway'. Kenma had observed a lot of relationships- that could have been almost perfect- completely fall apart because the couple had jumped to try and fulfill what they thought a soulmates relationship should look like in all its stereotypical glory and never bothered to try and properly get to know each other(because if they're "destined" then everything about that other person should work perfectly with everything about them right? Wrong, stupid; no human was perfect so it would be impossible for two humans to work "perfectly" together. At least that was what Kenma thought anyway) then they got confused and angry when they got caught in a dysfunctional relationship. Or often times the opposite was true, where people were so afraid to get into a serious or committed relationship with someone who's name was different then the one written on them that they missed a lot of chances for what could have been really healthy and fantastic relationships.

It was rather like cooking, Kenma mused, just because you had the best raw(organic- whatever) materials, most food wasn't going to taste as great unless you put the proper amount of time into preparing it. Food that's ingredients were only so-so was still going to be whole lot more enjoyable if you worked on it then food you just left sitting around and did nothing to. It would rot- and so did a lot of soulmate relationships.

Not that Kenma really wanted to work on a "proper" relationship with anyone, let alone his "soulmate" but that was entirely another issue.

"Kenma! I've got all your stuff together, check through it when you come out to see if you need anything else, okay?" called Kuroo with a quick rap on the door startling Kenma out of his thoughts.

"Thanks," Kenma called softly back, he didn't have to say that he knew Kuroo would have chosen everything that he might have wanted or needed, but he rather liked that Kuroo always checked with him anyway. Kuroo had once joked that they might as well be soulmates with the way they seemed to fit together. Kenma had ignored him, because any other reaction would have aroused suspicion.

Carefully, Kenma checked that the characters 黒尾鉄朗(Kuroo Tetsuro) were completely concealed on his wrist before heading out.