The Cat and the Crow

“I have an idea,” Kuroo said on the phone, almost a week later. “Why don’t I come up for a visit?”

Kei stopped in the middle of serving himself dinner. Akiteru paused mid-bite of his food when Kei suddenly reached over and grabbed his wrist.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. School is still out, so we have plenty of time. What do you think?”

Kei didn’t know how to answer that. Of course, he wanted Kuroo to visit. He’d actually been slowly telling his mom and brother about him, and they were curious to meet him. But he wasn’t sure...

“Surprised you, huh?”

“Y-yeah. Hey, hang on a minute, okay?”

“Sure.”

Kei put the call on hold, and looked at Akiteru. “Think mom would be okay if Kuroo came up for a visit?” he asked.

“I think so,” Akiteru answered, grinning. “We have a spare bedroom, so he could stay here. I could ask her for you, if you want.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Akiteru smiled gently. “You look a little panicked.”

“Only because I have no idea what we can do around here,” Kei hedged.

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” His brother rose from the table and started to leave. “I’ll go talk to mom.”

“Thanks.” He waited until Akiteru left before taking the phone off hold.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I just had to run it by my brother and my mom.”

“And the verdict?”

“Green light from brother. Waiting for mom’s answer as we speak. Akiteru went to ask for me.”

Right as he said that, the subject of their conversation came back into the kitchen. He gave a thumbs up, and whispered about what time Kuroo was going to arrive.

“Green light from mom,” Kei spoke into the phone, sounding a little more excited than before. “When do you think you’ll get here?”

“It’s only three, three and a half hours to Sendai station from here, if I take the train. I can leave whenever. I know you guys are practicing more, so I don’t want to interfere.”

“I’ll ask Coach if I can be excused for a day or two.”

“He won’t mind?”

“I mean, he might, but seeing as how we’ve been practicing everyday since winning the qualifiers, I don’t think he’d mind it if I took a couple days off. Besides, we’ll be at the training camp in another week, so I can make up for it, then.”

“Okay. Let’s make it a long weekend. I’ll come up Thursday evening, does that sound good?”

“Sure. Just let me know what time.”

“I will. Talk to you later. Love you.”

“Love you more. Bye.”

Kei hung up the phone and sighed. When he heard a chuckle from behind him, he nearly shot up out of his chair. Turning to look behind him, he saw both his brother and his mom smiling at him, and he felt his face grow hot from his blush. They laughed, and came to join him at the table.

“So tell us all about your Kuroo,” his mom said gently.

“Where should I start?”

She shrugged. “How about at the beginning?”

Kei smiled brightly, and he could’ve sworn both his mom and brother looked misty-eyed because of it. So, he opened the gallery and found a picture of Kuroo that he’d taken, and turned it so that they could both see.

“Well, we first met back in May…”

[Penalty: Extra Practice]

“Can’t say I’m thrilled about losing you for two days, but you can always make up for it with extra practice,” Coach Ukai said. “Starting Monday, until the national qualifiers, you’ll be here an hour before everyone in the morning, and stay an hour later.”

“Okay,” Kei agreed quickly. But then, a thought occurred. “Wait. Does that mean staying later than Hinata and Kageyama?”

“No, no,” Coach waved his hand and laughed. “Just an hour past regular practice.”

“Okay,” Kei said, relieved. At least until another thought popped into his head. He was about to ask, but Coach held up a hand to stop him.

“I’m not including the camps in your extra practice. All I ask is that you be on time for practice matches and any meetings we have. Any down time is yours to do with as you see fit.”

“Thank you very much!”

“Now, go get changed and join the others on the court.”

Kei bowed, and practically ran out to the club room. Behind him, Takeda came up to stand beside Ukai.

“You certainly made Tsukishima happy,” he said quietly.

“I just let him have a couple days off so he could be with his boyfriend.”

“If you think that’s okay…”

“Yeah. Tsukishima’s mom and brother are meeting him for the first time, so I couldn’t really say no.” Ukai shrugged and started making his way to the net. Takeda followed him. “He’ll be fine. He has a good head on his shoulders. Considering who his boyfriend is, and who his friends are, plus a competitive nature he tries to keep hidden… he won’t let us down.”

[Thursday Comes]

[I’m about an hour from Sendai station. Train should arrive around 7pm.]
[Okay. I’ll be waiting.]
[Not gonna lie; I was expecting a ‘we’ there.]
[HA! Well, they wanted to, but … I’ll explain when I see you]
[Rude. Way to leave me hangin’]
[Some things are better in person]
[Truer words were never spoken]
[I need to get ready]
[I can’t wait to see you]
[Yeah, same. Ttyl. Love you]
[Ttyl. Love you more]

“I’m home!” Kei called out as he walked into his house. He sat down to take his shoes off, when his brother peeped around the living room door.

“Cutting it kind of close, aren’t ya?”

“I had to stay and finish the game. I can’t just walk out in the middle.”

“Fair enough,” Akiteru grinned. “Better hurry, though.”

“I know, I know!” Kei said as he stood up and rushed to his room. He had a little less than a half hour to get ready, and another 35 minutes to get to Sendai station. Good thing Akiteru was driving; they might just get there with time to spare.

[Sendai Station - 7pm]

Kuroo adjusted his bag on his shoulder, stepped off the train, and immediately sought out his most favorite person in the world. It didn’t take long. Tsuki wasn't yet facing his direction, so he had a chance to simply stare at his love. He wore a slight variation of the outfit he’d worn when they’d first gone out in Tokyo: the stone-washed skinny jeans and red high-tops were the same. The blue striped plaid shirt was also the same, but instead he wore it open, over a black t-shirt. He also wore the squad's charm necklace, which made Kuroo smile. Tsuki looked so damned good that it took all his patience not to run to him. When he saw Tsuki pull out his phone and tap it, he pulled out his phone, too.

He answered before Tsuki could say anything. “Look left.” And he hung up.

Tsuki turned, and when their eyes met, it was like nothing else existed. Not being able to stand there a moment longer, Kuroo calmly made his way to stand as close as he could in front of Tsuki without drawing too much attention.

“Gotta be good,” he muttered, looking into Tsuki’s golden brown eyes.

“Nice to see you, too,” his love quipped.

“Gotta be good,” he repeated. “Can’t go crazy and kiss you like I want.”

“Not even a little one?”

“Gotta be … wait. What?”

Tsuki leaned in and kissed him; it was short, but oh so sweet. Unable to just stand there, Kuroo threw his arms around Tsuki and held tight.

“God, I missed you,” he said quietly.

“It hasn’t even been that long,” Tsuki replied rationally, yet he was also holding tight.

“Too long. Way too long. I didn’t want you to go.”

“I didn’t want to leave.”

They stayed that way for a little while longer before they let each other go. Then, Tsuki checked his phone. “We need to get moving. The train to Ogawara leaves in 10 minutes, and mom wants us home for dinner.”

“Hmmm… that sounds nice,” Kuroo said, taking hold of Tsuki’s hand and weaving their fingers together. “I think I like your family already.”

“I think they like you, too.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

As they walked to the gate for the Ogawara train, Tsuki told him how he’d asked his mom and brother to give them a little time alone before meeting. Akiteru agreed with a single condition: he’d be at the train stop and walk them home. After that, Tsuki went quiet.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, really. I just don’t know what we can do while you’re here.”

“Does it matter? We could do everything, or nothing. Anything goes, as long as I’m with you.”

Kuroo looked sideways at Tsuki, watching his face flush. He held in a laugh, knowing what was coming.

“Kuroo?”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

Kuroo burst out laughing, raised Tsuki’s hand to his lips, and kissed it. They boarded the train, found a place to sit together, and talked quietly all the way to Ogawara station.