Chapter Text
"Second law of thermodynamics: Every process occurring in nature proceeds in the sense in which the sum of the entropies of all bodies taking part in the process is increased."
Universities have always had that little thing were they completely disregarded the idea that students needed sleep or free time.
Kenma rubbed his eyes and tried to find his friends in the crowd of sullen and sleep deprived chemistry students that had the misfortune of having a preparatory class one week before the semester even started. He didn’t have a hard time spotting them. Lev, who is probably the tallest person Kenma had ever met, always stood out. After a few good mornings to fellow students and a bit of elbow shoving he managed to create a path through to them.
“Mornin’” he mumbled, his voice still a bit rough.
“Morning!” Lev greeted him. “Wow, the motivational aura around you is so strong, I can almost feel it in the air.”
Kenma rolled his eyes. It was too early to come up with a good comeback.
“Good morning. Have you already decided which group you’d like to be in?” Yamaguchi asked, his hands clutched around a cup of coffee.
They were here for the allocation of places for a lab. The longest lab for this semester, to be precise, since it was lasting for four weeks.
“I think the second group would be the best option. The first is already starting next week and I don’t want to spend the first month of uni at this lab”, Kenma said.
Yamaguchi nodded. “I thought so too. So let’s all choose the second one?”
“Yeah, sounds good”, Lev agreed.
The professor finally opened the door to the lecture hall and the students swarmed inside. There were surprisingly much more people than they had expected but they managed to get seats at the back of the room. After a few minutes the turmoil and chatting quieted down and the professor started the introduction speech.
It was around that moment that Kenma started to feel his heart rate go up. He always dreaded these preparatory classes. They went through the list of people that were accepted into the lab and they had to call out and state which group they’d like to be in. In these times of modern technology you would imagine that they’ve come up with a more efficient system by now but to Kenma’s misfortune that was not the case. He couldn’t get used to this, no matter what. Every time he was worried that he might miss his name or say the wrong group number.
As soon as they started reading out the first names the tension washed right over him. This was more nerve-racking than writing an exam. It was the anticipation that gnawed on his nerves.
Finally the professor read his name. “Kozume Kenma.”
“Yes!” he shouted, louder than necessary. “Number two, please!”
The professor typed something on his laptop and moved on to the next name. Kenma tried to wipe his hands on his trousers without being too obvious.
“Yes! We all got in!” Lev cheered after the class was over. “Not that you needed to worry, Kenma.”
He sighed. “As if any of you needed to worry either, you were right beneath me on the list.”
The rankings were based on how many exams you had already passed. Kenma was one of the few people that were granted a scholarship which you could only apply for if you had a certain GPA and amount of passed exams. His friends never passed up a chance to tease him about it but they didn’t mean anything they said seriously.
They met up with a few other people and went to get some food. Kenma was pretty pleased with the start of this semester, everything was planned out and his courses didn’t overlap. They sat there for a while and talked about what they had done during the semester break.
Only when Kenma checked his emails the next day his whole plan crumbled right in front of his eyes. He just stared at that one dreadful sentence.
“You have been enrolled for ‘Group 1’, please check the attachments for further information.”
He wrote an email to the professor in charge but of course he couldn’t switch courses anymore. Once all arrangements are made that was usually not possible. His last chance was asking another student if they would be willing to switch with him. Kenma made a facebook post in their chemistry group, probably the first time he had ever written something in there, but nobody wanted to change. Of course not, everyone had already planned their labs and exams out so nobody would want to switch now.
Kenma had once heard a story of someone accidently being put in the wrong group because a professor made a typo but he would have never thought that he’d share that fate with said student. Another reason why the system they currently had was outdated. Now he had four days to prepare for a whole months worth of lab. Fantastic.
On Monday morning, while everyone else was sound asleep in their beds, Kenma was given an introduction to lab safety that he only half-heartedly listened to. He used that chance to have a look around but he barely knew any of the students. Obviously most people had chosen the second group since you had more time to prepare but there was nothing to be done about this now. He had to make it work somehow.
“Please don’t forget to sign the sheet that states that you were present and have taken note of the security instructions. I assume you’ve all come prepared and know what you’ll be working on. You will be working in groups of two according to your last name. We have distributed your nameplates according to these groups to the benches.”
Kenma was suddenly struck with the urge to just turn around and leave. They had to work in pairs. He would rather work with a grizzly bear than with another student especially if he didn’t know that person.
Even so this lab had to be done and the sooner the better. Kenma reluctantly went on the search for his nameplate. The bench was empty when he got there, so he started to unpack his things. Right when he got his documents out someone put a bag next to his.
It was a tall student, probably older than Kenma. He held out his hand and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Kuroo Tetsurou.”
“My name’s Kozume Kenma. Nice to meet you.” He took the hand and it felt like he was sealing a contract for one month of exhaustion and irritation.
“Let’s work well together”, Kuroo added and started to unpack his things as well.
His hair was a mess. That was the first thing that caught Kenma’s eye. Had he never been introduced to the invention called hairbrush.
“So you’re the guy with the scholarship?”
“Whaw?” Kenma was just in the process of tying his hair in a ponytail and had a hair tie in between his teeth.
“I asked if you’re the guy with the scholarship.” Kuroo repeated.
“Yes, have we talked before?” This smalltalk while they got ready was already starting to bother him, what did he care? He wanted to get this lab done quickly, not find his soulmate.
Kuroo put his lab glasses on while he spoke. “I’ve seen you around campus sometimes. But I’ve only heard about it from some other guys, I’m two semesters ahead of you actually.”
“Oh really? I never noticed you before. Uhm, sorry I didn’t mean it that way...I just never saw you at a lecture...” Kenma wanted to bang his head against a wall. Insulting your lab partner on the first day: check. Maybe he should just stop talking.
Kuroo stared at him intently. “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”
“Why are you taking this lab only now?” Kenma averted his gaze and turned his full attention to his backpack. He couldn’t find his pair of lab glasses.
“It overlapped with another one last semester and I chose the other lab first. Trouble finding your glasses?”
Kenma started to empty the content of his backpack but his glasses seemed nowhere to be found.
“Tststs, so unprepared for the first day, Mr. Scholarship. Guess you have to use one that they provide here.” Kuroo opened the drawers and handed him an ancient pair of lab glasses with a thick black frame.
Kenma snatched them out of his hand, not oblivious to Kuroo’s muffled grin, and tried them on. They were so large they kept slipping of his face and he had to hold them to stay on.
“They suit you, you should keep them”, Kuroo said, still trying hard not to laugh.
Kenma huffed irritatedly but didn’t say anything. He forgot to pack his glasses so this was basically his own fault. But he only had to deal with it for the rest of the day, he’d pack them for tomorrow.
“Hey, don’t sulk. Give them to me and let me try them on, I’ll switch with you if they fit me.”
Luckily for Kenma they did fit Kuroo, not that they were any more fashionable but they stayed on his face, so they changed glasses for the time being.
When they started working Kenma hoped from the bottom of his heart that Kuroo knew what he was doing. His scholarship depended on his grades and they depended on the results they’d get from their experiments. He had high hopes since Kuroo was already one year above him but he was still concerned. Especially when he asked him to borrow him a few sheets because he had forgotten to bring something to write on.
Regardless of his lab partner, Kenma enjoyed being back at the laboratory again. The familiar smell of acetone in the air, the rattling of test tubes and other glass containers and the focused way everyone was working always made him feel comfortable. Of course not to forget the chinking sound of glass breaking, students swearing and the foul odour of sulphur that every lab brought along.
“You have to pour it in carefully. Slow down, you’re going to pour some next to it!” Kenma watched intensely as Kuroo tried to transfer a solution from one beaker into another. “I told you that we should’ve used the smaller one from the start.”
“Well, how about you do it if you know it so much better.” Kuroo put it down and handed the beaker to Kenma.
One of the things he had realized pretty quickly is that Kuroo had not so much consideration for their instructions as he wished he would. He knew how things were theoretically done but he didn’t pay attention to the details in their script. It was only the first day but his this-will-do-attitude was already starting to grate on Kenma’s nerves.
He shrugged and just started pouring it in himself.
“Hey hey hey! Look who we have here!” Someone boomed right next to them. Kenma flinched and almost dropped the beaker on the ground.
He looked up, ready to give whomever had disturbed him a disapproving stare but he stopped himself soon enough. The culprit was in fact the lab assistant - and you never wanted to piss off the lab assistant - who also seemed to be a friend of Kuroo’s.
“I’ve been waiting for you to finally show your face around here. Having fun?” He had large eyes and his hair was styled in a strange manner, almost as if he was trying to create two spikes with it. A weird hairstyle was already something that he had in common with Kuroo though Kenma assumed that it took a bit more time to achieve that kind of style.
“Sure, my lab partner is the cute scholarship junior that Tsukki told you about, can you believe that?” He was talking about Kenma as if he wasn’t standing right next to them.
Kenma rolled his eyes and ignored them. He wasn’t here to listen to their patronizing comments so he continued working while Kuroo was still chatting. If he wanted to waste time he could feel free to do so, but they had a busy schedule and if he missed something that they needed to protocol then it was his problem not Kenma’s. He wished he could measure, experiment and protocol everything on his own, he didn’t need a second person to meddle with his way of working.
He decided to share his pain with his best friend and quickly send him a text.
To: Shouyou
Ugh, my lab partner is so irritating, i’d rather do everything on my own...
Shouyou was amazing. He was the first friend Kenma made at uni when he had no idea what he was even doing. He accidently got the wrong lecture hall but when he noticed the professor had already started the course so he felt too awkward to leave. He remembered how helpless he felt back then because he was missing his own class but didn’t dare to get up. Shouyou was sitting next to him and just started talking to him. Even though they were from entirely different faculties he urged Kenma into giving him his contact information and they’ve been in touch since then.
Kenma was lost in his work when Kuroo nudged him in his side. “Hey, don’t just go on without me. What are you doing right now?”
He sighed. What a hassle.
Despite Kuroo always messing around and the lab assistant constantly interrupting them, they actually finished in time and got to go home in the early afternoon. The university provided them with locker rooms where they could store their belongings and change into their lab coat for the duration of the laboratory.
“For the first day it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Kuroo asked while unbuttoning his lab coat.
‘Not that bad’ wasn’t exactly how Kenma would’ve described that day but he nodded half-heartedly. “Yeah, it was alright.” He was already looking forward to going home and just sitting down for a while. His feet were killing him.
“By the way, let’s exchange phone numbers. In case one of us is late or needs something and we’re going to need it for the post-lab report later anyways.” Kuroo handed his phone to Kenma.
He was too taken aback to object so he simply typed his number in and saved the contact.
“Great, I’ll quickly send you a text with my name....there you go...” Kuroo put his phone back in his pocket. “So, do you want to grab something to eat and then have a look at the script together?”
They had an exam each Friday about the chapters they had been working on. Usually people underestimated all the work that came with a lab. You had exams throughout the lab, you had to write a post-lab report which was most of the time more work than the actual lab itself and you had to prepare yourself for the experiments you needed to get done the next day. Though Kenma wanted nothing more than to lie down and do nothing for a while he nodded. Doing this together was, though he admitted it only reluctantly, a bit easier than having to do it on your own.
They got sandwiches from the supermarket and Kuroo led him to a quiet corner around the library to study properly. Kenma had never wandered around campus that much, he preferred to study at his apartment since it was quiet and he had everything he needed there.
“So you’re always studying here?” Kenma didn’t care all too much but he tried to ask a few things as well so the conversation wasn’t too one sided.
“I share an apartment with four other people so it’s almost impossible to find a moment of silence. This is my secret spot so don’t tell anybody.” Kuroo’s usual grin changed to a serious expression.
Kenma didn’t know why he would want this to be a secret but he nodded earnestly.” Of course, I won’t tell anyone.”
Kuroo suddenly covered his hand with his mouth and his face was bright red. Was he feeling sick? Kenma was just about to ask him if he was alright when he burst out laughing. “Oh god, I can’t believe you took that serious right now! I was only joking around, that was just too good!”
Kenma looked at him with a deadpan expression. He couldn’t believe he was worried about that idiot even for a second. “Yeah, very funny, I can’t stop laughing.”
Kuroo wiped tears out of the corner of his eyes.”Come on, don’t be mad. I just didn’t expect that response. ”
When Kenma was not responding he pushed his chair back and got up. “I’ll go and get us some coffee, it’s on me. Do you want sugar in yours?”
“Yes please”, he mumbled.
When Kuroo was around the corner he leaned forward and buried his head in his arms. Now that he was alone he could feel his face heating up and the embarrassment floating through every inch of his body. He had treated him like a kid during the whole day, giving him that stupid nickname and all. Kenma had assumed that Kuroo finally thought he was reliable which is why he had responded so eagerly only to make an even bigger fool out of himself.
He checked his phone to see if Shouyou had responded. He carefully looked around before reading the message, not that Kuroo came back and saw what he had written about him.
From: Shouyou
that rly reminded me of something someone else i know would say. but u’re so awesome i’m sure u’ll find a way to get along, just think of it as a game^^
If only it would be that easy.
He just finished typing his response when Kuroo arrived with the coffee. He was holding the cups with his fingertips so he wouldn’t burn himself. “There you go, yours is the left one.”
“Thanks. Why is mine the left one?” Kenma wrapped his hands around the cup. He didn’t mind the heat, his fingers were constantly cold.
“I don’t add sugar, I think it takes a bit away from the coffee flavour”, Kuroo said.
Kenma narrowed his eyes. Wasn’t that exactly the point of adding sugar? He hated coffee. It was bitter and no matter how much milk and sugar he added he couldn’t get used to the taste. But since it was apparently social norm to drink coffee and also because he was tired of people acting like they couldn’t understand how he survived without coffee he had started to drink it anyways.
“So you’re telling me that it tastes good without sugar?” Kenma took a sip of his own cup. Ugh, was there even any sugar in it?
“Wait a second, I think I got them mixed up after all. I only took a small sip, it’s not like I have any contagious diseases”, he added when he saw Kenma glancing suspiciously at his cup after they exchanged them.
He was really opposed to drinking out of a cup that someone else has already used but on the other hand, Kenma couldn’t throw the coffee away because of that reason so he tried it. The sugar did improve the taste but it was still not much better. “So why are you leaving the sugar away again?”
“Actually there was a time when we didn’t have any sugar at our apartment because everyone constantly kept forgetting to buy some, so I got used to it”, Kuroo explained. “Oh, Bokuto – the lab assistant – is one of my roommates. He was the one who suggested that we’d all share an apartment, actually.”
Kenma couldn’t imagine how one could share an apartment with four other people. He lived alone in a small apartment, though Lev was living at the same apartment complex as him so he wasn’t completely on his own. Kenma had spent the first year of university in a dorm and he had counted the days until he could finally move out from there. There was constantly turmoil in the middle of the night, no matter what day of the week it was and people were so inconsiderate, he was glad that he got out of there.
“That sounds exhausting but I’m sure it also has its perks, your apartment must be really spacious if so many people share it”, Kenma said.
Kuroo hesitated for a second as if he was recalling something, then he smiled again. “Yeah, it comes with some trouble but it can be fun as well. Do you live at a dorm?”
“I did but I didn’t particularly like it, I have an apartment on my own now. It’s just one room and a small bathroom though, so it’s nothing special.”
“Wow, an apartment just for yourself. Sounds amazing.” He was still grinning but Kenma wasn’t sure if he might not have heard some bitterness in his voice. Kuroo looked at his watch. “So, how about we start working?”
They began with the results that they’ve gotten from this day’s experiments and worked all their way through, continuing with the preparations for the next day.
The sun was already starting to set when Kenma finally got home, hungry and exhausted. He texted Lev a quick “Pizza?” and lay down on his bed, not even minding the pile of clothes that he was laying in. All the tension he had felt during this day has been lifted from his shoulders and he finally allowed his distress to show. Kenma’s heart was racing and his hands were shaking. He might have acted confident during the day but deep inside he was still the anxious mess he had always been, he had simply gotten better at hiding that over the years. Kuroo was difficult to handle. He had this laid-back attitude and something that Kenma could only describe as natural confidence.
Now when it came to working in pairs there were usually two situations that occurred. Either you end up taking the lead but that means all the responsibility is on you or you are the one listening to the other person which means you have to do what they say. The ideal case would be working in equilibrium but that rarely ever happens as Kenma could tell from experience. Right when he was pondering which position would be wiser in his case he received a follow-up message from Lev saying that the pizza was here.
He groaned and got up from his bed. They often ordered food and usually they ate at Lev’s place. The main reason for that was because Kenma refused to call the pizza guy himself and always made Lev do it.
“So how’s the lab been so far?” Lev asked while they ate.
Kenma let out a huge sigh. “We have to work in pairs and we can’t even choose our partner, it’s sorted according to our last names.”
“Damn, sounds like a pain in the ass. So who’re you working together with?”
“His name’s Kuroo Tetsurou, I’ve never seen him before but he’s two semesters ahead of us. He’s very energetic and self-confident, I’m not sure if we’re going to get along.” Kenma rubbed the back of his neck. “He never pays attention to the script and acts so impulsive, he does things just out of a whim. On the other hand he is friends with the lab assistant so that might be helpful.”
Lev nodded understandingly. They had all gotten lab partners that ended up being a catastrophe so he felt with him.
“I think I’m going back to my place now and go to bed, I’m already pretty tired”, Kenma stated after a while.
“Sure, keep me up to date with the lab and have fun tomorrow.” Lev grinned and ate the leftover slice of Kenma’s pizza. He didn’t even accompany him out, they’ve gotten used to coming and going to each other’s places whenever they felt like it.
Back at his own apartment Kenma did end up in bed but along with his PSP which wasn’t such a promising combination. He had genuinely planned to go to bed early but he ended up playing until 1am after all. One day he’d make it and follow his own advice because he could already tell that he was going to hate himself for doing this in the morning.
“Are you sure you checked all the data? This doesn’t seem right somehow.” Kenma showed the two graphs to Kuroo and suppressed a yawn. It was already Thursday but time was everything but flying.
“Let me see.” Kuroo gave the sheet a sceptic look. “It does seem off, the last two measurement for the second graph are supposed to be higher according to the script. And I asked the other group as well and they got different results.”
Kenma stared at it one more time but there was no way around it, if those were their actual stats then they had to start over again. “I’ll ask Bokuto and see if he has some advice.”
“Yeah, but I think...Never mind, just ask him”, Kuroo said.
“No, you wanted to say something?”
Kuroo shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, really. We’re wasting time right now.”
That got Kenma back on his track. If they had to start over again then they had no time to lose.
Bokuto could, as usual, be found on the bench next to them, bothering Akaashi, whom Kenma had also gotten to know over the past few days.
“I’m sorry, I have a quick question about this experiment”, Kenma interrupted.
“Oh sure, what’s the problem”, Bokuto said.
Kenma could hear Akaashi mumble a quiet “Thank god.” which Bokuto apparently didn’t pick up.
“It’s these two graphs. I’ve only added them in as a scatter diagram but for the second graph are the last few results too low.” Kenma pointed at the red dots which marked the data for the second graph.
“What do you mean with the second graph? You only have some dots scattered everywhere, you haven’t connected them yet?”
“Well, these ones- ,” he pointed at the black ones” – are for the first graph and the other ones are for the second graph.” Why was that so difficult to understand?
Bokuto was looking more and more confused. “Yeah, but how do you distinguish them?”
Kenma looked at the diagram in disbelief. “What are you talking about? The black ones are from the first measurement series and the red ones are from the second measurement series?”
“Ohh, I get it now. I have protanomaly, that’s a defect of vision concerning the colour red. I couldn’t tell the difference between those small dots, I’m so sorry. “He made a dejected impression. “But if that’s the case then I guess you should do the second one again. I was just confused because your diagram didn’t really correlate with what you were saying.”
Kenma felt his cheeks heat up. There was no way how he could have known that. “No, I’m the one that’s sorry. I didn’t know that, it was not on purpose. “
“No, it was my mistake. I’m not fit to be a lab assistant if I can’t even manage this much. I’m not fit to help you out anymore.” Bokuto hid his face behind one hand and turned away.
Kenma stood there helplessly. Should he comfort him?
“Bokuto, we need some help with the chromatography and there’s no one who knows better how that works then you.” Akaashi saved him from this awkward situation after all because a second later Bokuto’s cheerful expression was back again. Kenma gave him a grateful smile and walked back to his workspace.
Kuroo was standing there, already waiting for him to return. “So how did it go?”
“You knew that! You knew and you didn’t tell me!” Kenma stared at him accusingly.
“I have no idea what you are talking about, what am I supposed to know?” He grinned and rested his arm on Kenma’s shoulder.
Kenma elbowed him in the side in an attempt to shake the arm off. “Don’t act so innocent, you knew about Bokuto not being able to see red colours and didn’t tell me. And you can wipe that smug grin off your face because we have to start over again. And take your arm off my shoulder! “
It was no surprise to both of them that they were the last ones to leave the lab on that day. Though they sat down and prepared for the next day as usual, Kuroo constantly stared at his watch and excused himself after one hour. Kenma, who had come to enjoy the quiet spot, stayed for a while and studied on his own.
On Friday you could, if you paid close attention, feel that the atmosphere has changed from the days before. Everyone was looking forward to the weekend and the slight relaxation it offered. Kenma planned to do nothing as soon as he got home and use the day to relay a bit. The post-lab report could wait for a day.
“So, any plans for the weekend?” Kuroo asked while Kenma added a few droplets of hydrochloric acid to their solution.
Usually Kuroo watched on the other side of the test tube in order to double check that the right amount of substance was added. Since it wasn’t that important how much they added this time Kenma looked past the test tube at Kuroo’s face, only to realize that he was gazing right at him. He quickly focused on the test tube again. “N-nothing particular. How about you?” Damn, what was he getting self-conscious for right now?
“On Saturday there’s a huge party at one of the dorms and everyone is invited. Do you want to tag along, Bokuto is coming as well.” Kuroo was still looking at him, Kenma could tell.
“No thanks, I think I’m busy with the lab preparations. It wouldn’t hurt you to do the same either, just saying”, Kenma mentioned.
Kuroo sighed. “It’s going to be amazing and you think about studying. It’s fine though but you’re missing out on a huge party. But you can always change your mind just so you know.”
Kenma didn’t care much for the party so he was sure that he wasn’t going to. But he did appreciate Kuroo asking him.
When they finally left the lab for good on that day Kuroo said that he had to get somewhere urgently and was gone within a minute. Kenma had actually expected them to go to their usual spot but he didn’t give it much thought. There was the weekend after all so they could do that on their own as well and he got to go home earlier which was fine by him.