⋆˚꩜。 botw run with kenma 🎮✩🎧
a/n: hi this oneshot is super self indulgent because I'm such a botw nerd and of course, we're going to write it on kenma! this is so dedicated to my beta-reader (you know who you are). so I hope I captured kenma's essence & character in this :) it's very important that canon characterisation stays in my fics :")
note: proof-read, but mistakes may still be present. you've been warned.
⋆˚࿔ tags: oneshot, nerds (botw fanatics), fluff, subtle yearning (but it isn't really there), more than friends/less than lovers, acts of service (AGAIN), light humour (from kuroo...)
✦ ݁˖ word count: 2.5k words
you lean to your plethora of pillows and plushies, blanket draped around your legs while your hands held your nintendo switch, moving the joysticks on either ends. you were going another hour of your new game that you bought on a whim (and kenma's encouragement).
at first, you were quite skeptical whether breath of the wild would appeal to you. after all, you were much more keen to get other switch games, but kenma managed to convince you with the open world mechanics.
here you were, heading straight to a bokoblin camp. you equipped the knight’s broadsword and a soldier's shield, pressing the left joystick to crouch. you sneak your way into an enemy camp, before switching to your stealth gear and climbing the skull above the mobs.
you switched to the bomb rune, dropping a round bomb on the skull's eyesockets. you pressed detonate, and an explosion shook the ground to the core. you hear groans and screams from the mobs and half their health bars diminished.
you were just about to glide down and enter bullet time, equipping your bow to shoot down the remaining enemies before the door behind you clicked open.
"hey," kenma called out. "can't believe this is the same person who claimed they wouldn't enjoy the game?"
you scrunched your face. "well, neither did I. but you were right. it is fun."
"mmm," he mumbled. "what part are you up to?"
"part?" you frowned. "oh, do you mean the quests?"
"yes," he replied, grabbing his switch and turning it on. similar to yours, he had a nintendo switch, but it was larger and had a sleek, charcoal-grey design to it.
"oh, I think I'm up to divine beast rudania," you said casually. "but, I'm not up to it right now. that's why I'm grinding out enemy camps."
"hmm," kenma nodded. "well, botw isn't a multiplayer game, so I can't help. but, I can show you some tips if you want."
"that'd be nice," you beamed. "do you know how to get more hearts? I keep dying to lynels when I try to grind them out."
you got out of bed, blanket and switch in hand, and sat on the wooden floorboards with kenma.
your eyes wandered over to his switch, which was loading up the game. breath of the wild's loading screen showed different pictures of link and the champions. then, kenma loaded his recent save file, which was in a random shrine location.
"a shrine in the middle of nowhere? really?" you asked in confusion. "I mean, wouldn't it better if you had loaded in a shrine near a stable or a city shop like hateno village.”
kenma frowned. "I was farming koroks near this area, and finishing up the shrine's puzzle before I got frustrated."
"oh sorry," you apologised. "just curious."
"it's fine," he replied. he inched closer and showed you the orange hue on his shrine. "see how it's still orange? that means I haven't completed the puzzle and got the shrine orb."
you nodded in response. "how much more do you have left?"
"only a couple of shrines, but a lot of koroks," he shook his head. "I've been trying to grind in between practices, but kuroo insists I could use that time to do something more productive."
"and that is?" you laughed.
"team-bonding..." he groaned. "I don't really mind, it's just I wanted to recharge. but, I try my best to be there for the team and kuroo."
"of course," you chuckled.
"what's there to laugh about?" his brows furrowed.
kenma sighed silently, fondling with the joysticks, moving link around.
you remained quiet, unsure how to break the awkwardness between the both of you. you decided to open your inventory and browse through it to look busy.
"to get more hearts, you have to complete your shrines." he said, breaking his silence.
"ugh," you groaned. "no other way? I don't have the time to grind them all out, kenma."
"yeah, but you have the time to grind out mob camps." he retorted. "sorry, didn't mean it to come off that way."
"all good," you replied, moving the joysticks on your switch, and shooting arrows at the remaining mobs of the monster camp you were trying to clear.
"you can grind out hearty durians," kenma explained, pressing the + button on his switch, opening his inventory. he swiped his right joystick, moving through his weapons, shields, and arrows before landing onto his material inventory.
you looked over at the material stats. it seemed that it only healed three hearts. you frowned in confusion.
"uh, if I cook this, how much would I get?" you inquired. "I mean, is this really efficient?"
"yes, it is," he replied bluntly. "let me check your inventory and see what dishes you have."
he placed his switch down beside him, and grabbed yours. he looked into your eyes, silently asking if it was okay. you simply nodded, and he opened your inventory, swiping until he reached the dishes section.
"have you been eating all your food raw?" he asked, eyes slightly shocked.
"yes? am I supposed to cook them? well, obviously, I cooked the meat, but for fruits, I simply just eat them directly."
"you can't be serious," he stared at you in pure disbelief. "that's such a waste. yes, eating it only gives you three full hearts. but cooking them gives you a full restore and adds temporary hearts."
he moved back to your material inventory, checking how many durians you have left. "you're throwing away free stats."
"sorry, expert," you retored. "sorry for being bad at the game."
kenma frowned. "you still have a couple. I'll show you what I mean." he pressed on the hearty durians, and an animation of link holding one, then two, then three appeared on your inventory.
"that's a cool animation," you murmured.
kenma silently nodded, putting the durians away. he opened your map, and fast travelled to a stable for a cooking pot. again, he opened your inventory and equipped one hearty durian. he exited out of the tab, and pressed a to cook.
you watched the cooking animation, seeing how link makes a happy expression after the dish has been cooked as well as a fun, little tune that played afterwards.
"I normally skip the animation," he stated. "but, since you normally don't cook, I thought I'd want you to see it."
you flushed, heat rising up in your cheeks. as the cutscene finished, kenma opened your inventory and clicked on the complete dish. your eyes sparkled in amazement as a full recovery with four extra golden hearts lining the top left of your screen.
"whoa," you gushed, genuinely impressed. "I didn't know you could do that."
"see? told you," kenma murmured, a tiny ghost of a smile appearing on his face.
"is that all we can do?" you asked, leaning closer to kenma. your shoulders brushed against his, but to your surprise (and amusement), he remained unfazed, still grasping your switch in his hand.
"there's other dishes that can boost your attack and defense," he replied. "but that can wait for another day."
he placed the switch on your lap gently, and grabbed his switch once more. you hear grunts and clicks beside you. it seemed that kenma was trying to clear his own mobs too.
you two sat in silence, only accompanied by link's grunts, screams from the mobs, clicks from your joysticks, and the chimes whenever a chest is opened or a shrine is completed.
how long has it been? an hour? two?
but, your eyes began to flicker shut. your switch began slipping away from your fingers' grasp. you yawned, leaning your head on kenma's shoulder before quickly pulling away.
"sorry," you stammered. "I know how you don't like physical contact."
kenma shook his head. "it's fine, you're tired."
"you sure?" you rubbed your eyes, the glare from your switch suddenly feeling too bright from the dim light surrounding your room. "the floor's cold. my legs are numbing."
you groaned, head leaning back to kenma's shoulder. he seemed unfazed, fingers clicking and moving at a steady pace on his joysticks. a bright flare shined on his face, and you could barely make out a figure holding a bomb rune over his head.
a quiet voice shook you awake the moment you tried to close your eyes.
"then go back to bed," kenma murmured, his fingers still rhythmically tapping against his pro-controller. "the blankets are up there anyway."
you didn't need to be told twice. your eyelids flickered, and you yawned over and over. you scrambled back onto your mattress, dragging your heavy duvet with you and nesting yourself back into your fortress of plushies. you propped your switch up against a stuffed animal, your fingers loosely hovering over the controls.
kenma watched you out of the corner of his eye before picking up his own switch and moving to sit at the edge of your bed. he didn't climb all the way in. he always respected people's boundaries, distancing himself, but if he feigned concern, he remains there at a distance. just like now, sitting close enough that you could vaguely hear the faint, ambient wind sounds from his game.
you blinked in and out of consciousness, before slowly and softly settling in your sleep. you enveloped your plushie between your hands, drifting away into your dreams. you don’t know if you imagined it as you slept, but you felt fingers run through your hair, tucking loose strands away, making sure you wouldn’t wake up with hair in your mouth. even so, it calmed you down and you slept as if there were no tomorrow.
your eyes fluttered awake. you don’t know if it was still the same day or the next day, but by the sounds of birds chirping outside and the soft sunlight streaming from outside your bedroom curtains, it seemed it was the next morning.
“mmm,” you mumbled. “what time is it, kenma?”
kenma? wouldn’t he go home by then after you had went to bed. surely, he didn’t sleep in.
you got up, not leaving your bed, checking for any signs of kenma. unfazed, he wasn’t there. you lay back on your soft mattress, gazing at the ceiling. you glanced towards the side of your bed, switch still atop your plushie.
you opened your switch, and you see that the game has been left open. curious, you opened and you gasped.
on your inventory, you see new weapons you haven’t seen before. lynel weapons, shields, and bows. your arrow inventory grew from only having regular arrows to having an assortment from fire, ice, shock, and bomb arrows. you couldn’t believe it.
you continued to explore your inventory, fingers moving the right joystick. your material inventory doubled in amounts. monster parts? you got them. your eyes widened, seeing lynel guts and hooves in your inventory. the very enemy you struggled to beat. swiping again, you moved to your dishes which had a plethora of different images of meals you hadn’t seen before.
attack up dishes? you had them. you checked what it was. obviously, you hadn’t seen these before. it read mighty simmered fruit. you saw it had three swords. “maybe the level of attack percentage?” you concluded. still curious, you clicked a and an option to 'eat' or 'recipe' popped up.
an echo of kenma's reminder and remark not to eat your food mindlessly repeated at the back of your mind, so you decided to brush your thumb on the left joystick and click a to check the recipe.
four mighty bananas and a dragon horn.
"a dragon horn?!" you froze in shock, dropping the switch to the floor. you didn't know if it was kenma's doing or you magically got better half-asleep.
even then, you swiped back to your material inventory and saw a stack of mighty bananas and dragon horns you'd never seen before. it seemed the attack boost also lasted thirty minutes. maybe it was the dragon horn?
even so, you continued to browse through your inventory. checking again, you had defense up dishes, plenty of elixers from attack and defense boosts, and roasted poultry and meat.
you heaved a sigh, confused but amused. you placed your switch down and walked over to your closet. you open the handles, and grabbed your jacket and placed casual wear on.
you placed your phone on your jacket pocket as well as grabbing your house keys and switch. you opened your bedroom door and ran down the stairs, nearly slipping in your rush.
your mum called out to you, asking if you wanted a quick bite for breakfast. you politely declined, saying you'll be back soon and just needed to run some errands (truth be told, you needed answers from kenma. and fast.)
her eyebrows furrowed in worry and curiosity, but she obliged. she reminded you that you needed to be back in an hour for something important. you nod frantically and absent-mindedly before pecking your mum on the cheek and running out the door, waving a goodbye.
you rushed out, looking left and right before running towards kenma's street. you desperately needed to know if he went through the extra mile for your gaming experience or someone (un)fortunately hacked your game. you hope it was the latter.
you burst kenma's bedroom door open. your eyes widened in shock, seeing kenma and kuroo on the floor, holding uno cards in hand.
"hey!" kuroo called out, grinning. "look what the cat dragged in!"
"hi," kenma said, fingers fidgeting between his cards, before placing a red card down on the deck.
"kenma, I need to talk to you." you urged. "it's important." you waved your switch, trying to call his attention.
"sure?" he looked confused, but you had a feeling he knew something about your switch. "let me just finish the game with kuroo and-"
"well, it can wait," kuroo chimed. "it'll be quick, right?" his eyes glanced towards you, sparkling. "I'll be waiting, you two."
"don't make this weird, kuroo." kenma said bitterly. "but yes, it'll be quick."
"you know I'm joking," kuroo chuckled. "well, off you go. I'll be rearranging my cards."
kenma frowned, but he chucked his cards in his jacket pocket and strided over to where you stood.
"let's go outside," kenma said casually.
once the bedroom door closed, you and kenma stood outside the door awkwardly.
"kenma," you broke the silence, flashing the switch's screen on his face. it showed your inventory, stacked with loot and meals. "did you do this?"
kenma looked away, flushed. "yes," he whispered. "I did."
"what?" you looked confused, but amused. "really? that's awesome. and sweet too. can't believe you'd do that."
"it's nothing," he said sheeplishly. "just wanted to help."
"it's not nothing. it's everything." you smiled. "thank you, kenma."
kenma remained silent, but a faint smile itched on his lips.
"show me your inventory again," he instructed softly. "I'll prepare you for your next lynel fight."
©️ divider cr anitalenia, pixopix, saradikagraphics on tumblr
please don't translate, repost, or feed my writing to ai!