Chapter Text
“Hey hey, hey, I found some batteries!”
Bokuto laughed as Kuroo literally let out a cheer on the other end of the walkie-talkie. “Alright Bo,” he congratulated, his voice crackling slightly over the receiver. “Are they the same kind we need to repower these walkie-talkies?”
Bokuto flipped over the device in his hand and shrugged, clicking a button to reply. “Ahh I don’t really know…”
“Hopefully they work,” Kenma’s soft voice came out this time, making Bokuto frown. He looked around the abandoned drug store he was in. Some of the shelves were knocked down but overall, the place didn’t look like it was destroyed that much. Shoving the batteries into the backpack he had on, he responded. “Hopefully, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t.”
Kenma huffed. “Water damage, they could be dented, they could be the wrong size, they could be dead.”
“Don’t be so negative Kitten,” Kuroo scolded lightly as Bokuto made his way through the store, searching for any other materials that were salvageable and could be useful to them. He found a couple bottles of unopened water, some stale snack food, a blanket, and a couple bottles of pain relievers to add to his backpack.
“Being overly optimistic won’t help anything,” Kenma mumbled, but his voice was drowned out by Kuroo, calling out “Hey Bo, I’m coming to meet you in that store. Stay where you are and don’t be alarmed because it’s just little ol’ me.”
“You got it,” Bokuto responded cheerfully, moving out of the back of the store but still staying away from the large windows at the front of the drugstore.
He was glad Kuroo warned him of his approach because it was growing darker out and the less visibility they have, the more dangerous it gets to be wandering around looking for supplies. Plus, it wasn’t just Bokuto out on this run. Kuroo and Kenma were with him and he was always much more worried when there were other people involved. Travelling with a group had its benefits but it also meant that Bokuto had to be concerned for not only his safety, but his friends as well.
It wasn’t long before he caught sight of Kuroo running across the parking lot and heading towards him. He was noticeably out of breath, which was rare for Kuroo since he was in pretty good shape. He wretched the door open quickly and immediately hunched over, resting his hands on his knees.
“The dead,” Kuroo panted out before Bokuto was able to ask his question. “Around the side of the building. I tried to lure them away from here but I don’t know if I did it. We should probably hurry.”
“Alright,” Bokuto said, keeping any amount of fear out of his voice. He knew that if Kuroo knew he was panicked, he would absolutely lose his mind. It was bad when both of them panicked at the same time. He was clearly worried about something other than a couple of zombies roaming around though, and Bokuto had a pretty good idea what it was but he wasn’t about to ask. “That’s fine. We can finish up gathering supplies here and then head home.”
Kuroo nodded tensely as his breathing returned to normal. “Okay,” he mumbled as he passed Bokuto in search of food. Bokuto ran his fingers up through his hair instead of releasing his sigh as he followed his friend down the aisle.
They had managed to find a significant amount of supplies, so much so that the bags they had were packed pretty full. There was more supplies that was available to take but they were unable to carry it. “We could bring the van around,” Kuroo suggested. “And then just throw it all in there.”
Bokuto nodded his agreement. “Sounds like a plan.”
Reaching in his pocket, Kuroo pulled out his walkie-talkie and clicked the button. “Hey Kitten, we need to bring the van around and load some stuff into it. Can you drive it over here or should I come get it?”
His finger left the button and he waited for Kenma’s response. Bokuto could see the exact moment that the panic set in and he prepared himself to chase after Kuroo.
“Kitten?” Kuroo tried again, his voice only shaking slightly. “Kitten what’s up?”
“Kuroo,” Bokuto started but his friend only held up a hand as he brought the walkie-talkie closer to his ear. Bokuto fell silent and stopped himself from mentioning from how pointless the action was.
“Kenma answer me,” Kuroo demanded. He was already shouldering his bag and heading towards the exit with a hand resting on the machete attached to his belt.
“Kuroo,” Bokuto tried again, and when he wasn’t interrupted, he continued. “There’s a ton of reasons he isn’t answering right now so don’t think it’s the worst.”
“Like what Bo?” Kuroo spit out as he wretched the door open and checked for any zombies.
“Like his batteries could be dead?” Bokuto suggested. “Or maybe he’s looking for something or accidentally broke it?”
Kuroo nodded jerkily but Bokuto could tell that he didn’t really believe him. Kenma was Kuroo’s weakness; he completely lost his mind whenever the small boy was involved. This wouldn’t be the first time Kuroo freaked out over a situation only for them to find out that Kenma was perfectly fine. Bokuto had seen it plenty of times over the past few months since he'd been with them.
If he was being perfectly honest with himself, Bokuto didn't really think any of his suggestions were what actually happened either, but he also didn't think that Kenma was hurt or dead; the kid was far too smart for that to happen and Bokuto maintained his belief that Kenma would be the one to outlive them all.
They exited the store and paused before turning the corner, not wanting to accidentally run in to any of the zombies Kuroo initially tried to lead away.
A loud crack suddenly sounded, startling the two friends.
“Did you hear that?” Bokuto asked, craning his neck around the corner. “That sounded like a gunshot?”
Kuroo’s face twisted in confusion before falling back into a look of increased panic. “Kenma,” he mumbled before sprinting out from around the corner.
“Shit, Kuroo, wait!” Bokuto exclaimed, scrambling to run after him.
When the van came into view, both of them froze. Zombies had surrounded it, clawing uselessly at the windows as they attempted to get inside. Bokuto also noticed a couple of unmoving bodies on the ground, supposedly from Kenma’s self-defence. Bokuto wasn't particularly bothered - he knew that Kenma was relatively safe in the van and now that he and Kuroo had showed up, the zombies would be no problem. Kuroo didn't seem to share his view though, as he let out a growl and raised his arm, aiming his gun and preparing to fire.
“Kuroo, wait!” Bokuto yelled again but he was a bit too late as Kuroo fired off a shot. Bokuto’s eyes widened in horror as the bullet missed its target and embedded itself in the metal of the van. He gripped his friend’s wrist and jerked it down, earning him a death glare from Kuroo.
“Use your blade or else you risk shooting through the truck and hitting Kenma,” he snapped, pulling his own knife out of its holder. The loud noise from Kuroo’s gun had drawn the attention of some of the zombies and they were now headed towards the two of them. Ignoring Kuroo’s look of horrific realization, Bokuto surged forward and plunged his knife into the brain of the closest zombie. He did his best not to wince at the blood the flowed over his hand.
There was slight growling next to him and he prepared himself to whip to the side to take out another zombie but before he was able, Kuroo flashed by him, swinging his machete cleanly into the undead, easily killing it for good. Satisfied that Kuroo was now aware and paying attention, Bokuto moved forward.
They were able to quickly dispatch of all the zombies roaming around, effectively emptying the parking lot and making it safe for them to approach their van.
“Kenma,” Kuroo called out, desperate to ensure that his boyfriend was alright. Bokuto hoped that Kuroo didn’t notice the bullet hole he made in the van with his shot. The doors squeaked slightly as Kenma pushed them open, his face peeking out. If he hadn’t known him for so long, Bokuto would be surprised that his face looked more like he was simply bored as opposed to the fear most people would probably have felt at being surrounded by zombies while trapped in a van. But Bokuto had seen Kenma appear pretty unshakeable, even in very dire looking situations, so he wasn't surprised by the lack of emotion Kenma was showing now.
“Kenma,” Kuroo said again, this time his voice soft with relief. Bokuto smiled and tactfully averted his eyes to check and make sure they wouldn’t be attacked again as Kuroo rushed forward, gathering Kenma in his arms in a rough hug. “Gods, are you okay?!”
“Which one of you idiots shot at me?”
The question snapped Bokuto's gaze back to the two in front of him and he had to hold back a laugh at how quickly the look of relief dropped from Kuroo’s face. It wasn't really a funny thing - it was possible that Kuroo could have hit Kenma and that would have caused about a million different problems - but the apocalypse and zombie outbreak has an uncanny way of turning very dangerous and serious situations into something to laugh at. Besides, he figured if Kenma was able to be this calm about it, he must not have been in any real danger of being hit. Gripping him by the shoulders, Kuroo pushed Kenma back in order to look at him more fully.
“I’m so sorry Kenma,” Kuroo said as he shook his head. “I – I saw they were around the truck and I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t hit you or anything, right?”
“No,” he mumbled in response. “You missed.”
Bokuto held back his groan. If Kenma had just denied it, then maybe Kuroo could forgive himself, but by saying that he missed, that implied Kuroo had been close to hitting him in the first place, which meant that he would feel even worse about himself.
As expected, Kuroo’s face dropped into a look of horror and he swallowed hard, pushing Kenma away from him gently. “I’m so sorry.”
Kenma shrugged in response, apparently unshaken by the experience. “It’s okay.”
Before Kuroo could snap “It seriously is not okay, Kenma!” like he so obviously wanted to, Bokuto cut across. “What happened Kenma?”
He shrugged again. “Nothing," he answered, ignoring Kuroo's look of annoyance and outrage at being ignored when he was being so sincere. "They started swarming so I shot a couple of them but then I thought the noise would just attract more. They can’t open a van so I closed the doors and waited for you guys.”
“Those were your shots we heard?” Kenma nodded. “Well that’s good,” Bokuto said. “That means there’s probably nobody else around here, but we should still probably head back.”
“Daichi will be worried,” Kenma agreed. He looked over at Kuroo, who had been unusually silent during their conversation. Nudging him with his foot to get his attention, he asked “Can we go?”
He nodded stiffly and moved to go towards the front of the van but Bokuto stopped him. “I’ll drive,” he told him softly as Kenma crawled back into the van. Kuroo just nodded again when Bokuto handed him his bag, wordlessly telling him not to argue.
As they pulled out of the parking lot they were in, Bokuto’s eyes shot the rear view mirror, where he could see Kenma crawling over to curl himself into Kuroo’s side.
“I’m okay,” he said softly, but not soft enough for Bokuto not to hear him. “You don’t have to pout about it.”
Kuroo glared at him. “I could’ve shot you Kitten,” he replied just as quietly.
“Yeah but you missed,” Kenma said again. Kuroo made a “Tch” sound and Kenma rolled his eyes. “Look, it’s not like the bullet just missed me or anything - you were a ways off. I wasn’t in any real danger.”
“Okay but what if I had shot in a different area?” he asked desperately. "There's enough things in this world trying to kill us right now, I don't need to be classified as one of them."
“You didn’t kill me though, so there’s no point in worrying about it.” Kenma’s tone was still soft, but there was an element of finality that Bokuto rarely heard. Kuroo recognized it as well because he just sighed instead of responding, leaning his head down to rest against Kenma’s. Bokuto was surprised that Kenma didn’t pull away, but he supposed he was able to recognize how upset Kuroo was and he knew that staying close to him would calm him down. It usually did.
Bokuto was terrible at keeping track of time so he didn’t know how far out they were from their base, but it was totally dark by the time they got back there. He pulled the van slowly around to the back of the motel, parking it so it was partially hidden from view if anyone came by. It was rare for there to be people around their base area, but Daichi was always really cautious.
Kuroo seemed a bit more like himself as he climbed out of the van. He tossed Bokuto his bag and sent him an easy grin as Kenma hopped out behind him, grabbing on to the sleeve of Kuroo’s jacket.
“Kuroo?” Daichi’s voice called out softly. “Bokuto? Is that you?”
As they approached the doors to the motel they saw Daichi standing out front with Asahi behind him. “Yeah Daichi, it’s us,” Kuroo confirmed. Asahi breathed a sigh of relief as they all headed inside.
“Hey hey hey,” Bokuto greeted as the door shut behind them. “Are we later than expected?”
“Not really,” Daichi answered. “Is anyone hurt?”
“Nope,” Bokuto answered cheerfully, but he didn’t miss the way Kuroo’s eyes flickered over to Kenma, seemingly checking to make sure he actually was okay.
Asahi breathed another sigh as Daichi said “Good, Asahi was worried.”
“Asahi is always worried,” Kuroo said, waving off the concerned look the man still wore. “We’re all good. Besides, you’re the one who’s hurt. Shouldn’t you be resting?”
Daichi narrowed his eyes as Asahi piped up from behind him. “Yes! Thank you! See Daichi, even Kuroo thinks you should be resting.”
“Were there any problems?” Daichi asked instead, turning his attention to Bokuto, clearly wanting to talk to somebody that wouldn't bring up his injury.
“Nah everything was pretty abandoned, we barely even ran into any zombies,” Bokuto added.
Daichi nodded as his eyes travelled to the bags that Kuroo and Bokuto were both carrying. “Did you find any useful supplies?”
Bokuto nodded enthusiastically as he launched into his description of all the stuff he was able to collect from the abandoned store. As he pulled out the medicine and blankets he found, Daichi’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“This is great,” he said with carefully concealed enthusiasm. “It’s starting to get colder, so we’ll definitely be needing stuff like this.”
“There might be more places in that area that have food and stuff left,” Kuroo said as they all began to head deeper inside the motel towards where their rooms were. “If we send more people then we’ll be able to bring more stuff back.”
Daichi nodded. “Alright. We’ll set up another run soon then.”
Bokuto perked up. “Can I go?” he asked immediately.
Daichi gave him a funny look. “Sure you can, if you want.”
It was weird, Bokuto supposed, that he was always so enthusiastic about going out on supply runs. It was dangerous and it wasn’t guaranteed that you’d come back. But Bokuto found being stuck in the motel just as bad sometimes. Sure, the element of danger was eliminated, but there wasn’t much for him to do. He didn’t like to complain, because being bored usually meant being safe, but he couldn’t help it.
Daichi informed him that he would tell him about more details later once he sorted everything out as he finally relented to Asahi’s pestering and disappeared into his room. Bokuto followed behind Kuroo, who still had Kenma gripping onto the sleeve of his sweater, down the hallway to their rooms. He split off from Kuroo and Kenma as he reached the door to his room, throwing his bag down next to his bed and closing the door behind him.
His room was pretty empty, the only thing that was really distinctively his was the couple of volleyballs he had collected from his trips and the collection of knives he had in the drawer of the bedside table.
Carefully pulling off the knives he was holding, Bokuto shrugged off his sweater and relaxed against his bed. Picking up one of the volleyballs and laying back down on his bed, Bokuto began his nightly routine of keeping the ball up through carefully controlled tosses. Every now and then, a group of people would use one of the large conference rooms this motel had as a make-shift gym and would have volleyball games. It gave them a sense of normalcy and something to look forward to. Although he wasn’t really setter material, tossing the ball every night helped to lull him to sleep.
As his arms began to feel tired from being raised so much, he let the ball tumble softly to the floor before closing his eyes and easily falling asleep.