The Cat and the Crow

“Are you going to spend the rest of the camp avoiding him?” Suga asked gently. They had just finished dinner, and had decided to take a little walk around campus. It was almost sunset, two days after Kei had asked for some time to think.

“I’m not avoiding him,” Kei protested, fidgeting with the hand towel he still had from practice. “Not really.”

“No, you’re still talking, even if it is through text. But, I’ve watched how you act whenever you two cross paths.”

“How do I act?”

“Well, like this afternoon, for instance. You were passing each other in the hall. Once you saw Kuroo, you went completely stone-faced, and I could feel the walls you put up.”

“But, I wasn’t… I didn’t…” Kei tried to defend himself, until he really started thinking about it. Maybe he did what Suga said, but there were a few moments when he’d looked at Kuroo’s face, and into his eyes...

“Do you think I’m hurting him?” he asked, suddenly worried.

Suga thought for a few minutes. “Not really,” when he heard Tsuki gasp, he rushed in to explain. “You’ve kept a line of communication open, and you’re talking that way, so he’s at least got a little bit of hope to hold on to. I think, when it comes down to it, that he’s blaming himself for everything.”

“I told him it wasn’t…”

“You told him, and everyone else involved told him. But he’s convinced himself otherwise. We all agree that yeah, he did move too fast for the short amount of time you’ve known each other.” He paused for a moment, and then continued. “But I’ve seen the way you two look at each other when you think the other isn’t looking, and I know you love him.”

Kei didn’t say anything else, and they continued their walk. Maybe he had taken too long to think about things. Honestly, he’d wanted to find Kuroo and talk to him last night. Usually, once he’d made up his mind about something, he followed through. But this time... Now, he was the one stalling, and that wasn’t sitting well with him. Decision made, he walked a little further before realizing Suga wasn’t beside him. Looking behind him, he caught Suga trying to hide a ‘thumbs up’ signal, and he was looking ahead. Turning slowly, he first caught sight of Akaashi, who smiled gently and waved. Then he found Kuroo, who’d also stopped a few yards in front of Akaashi, and who was staring at Kei.

“Didn’t see that coming,” he muttered.

“Neither of you seemed to be moving toward any kind of resolution. I talked to Akaashi, and we both agreed that you two just needed a little… push in the right direction.” Suga came up and gave Kei a little push, as if to emphasize the point. “Don’t be too late,” he said as he walked back the way they came. A few moments later, Akaashi caught up to Suga. He’d patted him on the shoulder as he passed by, and Kei took it to mean good luck.

Well, I’m going to need it, he thought as he turned back to face Kuroo.

[Setter Sus]

“Are you really going to spend the rest of camp avoiding him?”

Kuroo glared down at his friend. “Is it really avoiding if we’re still talking?”

“Texts don’t count, Kuroo, and you know it. Besides, what have you really talked about? I’ve seen a few of those texts, and it’s all mostly small talk and a distinct lack of broaching true subject matter.”

“You’ve seen my texts?”

“Hard to miss when you’ve fallen asleep and left the phone awake.”

Kuroo said nothing, but made a mental note to put a pin on his lockscreen. They’d been walking since just after dinner, with Akaashi suggesting fresh air and a talk. Bokuto did his thing, and invited Hinata to practice with him. That sparked everyone else into practicing, too, and so no one would miss them. Besides, Kuroo had to get out of his head. He’d been blaming himself for chasing Tsuki off, even though he’d been told time and again that it wasn’t his fault, that he hadn’t chased Tsuki away. But he’d had a hard time believing that, especially when he’d see Tsuki in the halls, stone-faced and clearly putting up walls. Though, yesterday, he’d actually looked into his eyes… Maybe there was some hope.

“What are you going to do?” Akaashi asked quietly.

“Can I really do anything, though? Tsuki asked for a little time, and I don’t want to intrude.”

Akaashi sighed, and he could literally hear the facepalm. “Look, I’ve known you for a little over a year, so I know that when you truly want something, you go after it full speed. Once you have it, you don’t let go, and cling to it like a life-line. Best example I can think of is our squad.”

“You’ve never talked this much, before,” Kuroo remarked, sounding amazed.

“Usually, I don’t have to,” he retorted ironically. “Point is, you love Tsuki, and you still want to be with him. One of you needs to make the move to get back on track, but neither of you is moving. At all.”

As he was saying this, Kuroo caught sight of two people walking on the same path, and stopped dead in his tracks. One of those people was Sugawara, who was grinning and gave a ‘thumbs up’ signal to Akaashi. The other was… Tsuki.

“Setter sus,” he grumbled.

“Proof?”

“Sugawara wouldn’t have given you that thumbs up, otherwise.”

Akaashi shrugged. “Sugawara came to me and told me his plan. I agreed.”

“Curse your sudden, but inevitable, betrayal.”

He heard his friend chuckle. “TV quotes aside, it was obvious you both were being stubborn. We decided to step in and help.” Akaashi strode past him and waved at Tsuki and Sugawara. “Good luck. Don’t be late,” he added as he passed by.

Kuroo said nothing, but simply stared at Tsuki. I’m going to need lots of that luck, Akaashi.

[Are we doing this?]

They stood there, staring at each other, for what felt like hours. Kei knew he had to say something, and he wanted to… but he was at a loss. Why is it easier to talk when texting? he asked himself. Frustrated, he looked away for a few moments, and that’s when he heard it.

“I’m sorry.”

Kei quickly looked back at Kuroo. "For what?”

“For … everything?”

Kei rarely, if ever, lost his temper. In fact, he was known to be the most level-headed of the team. Kuroo was still blaming himself, and Kei was almost ready to snap, which would take things in the wrong direction. So, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Taking a deep breath, he strode towards Kuroo until he was within arm’s reach. And then, he took a step closer. It was the first time he’d ever done that, and Kuroo was surprised.

“Are you angry, Tsuki?”

“I’m not. Not yet, anyway.”

“Yet?”

“Kuroo?”

“What?”

“Shut up.”

It took a few moments, but eventually both of them chuckled, breaking the tension that had built up between them. Taking a deep breath, Kei started speaking again.

“Look, none of this was your fault. In all honesty, it was mine.”

“Tsuki…”

Kei reached up and put his hand over Kuroo's mouth. Another first, which did not go unnoticed by either of them.

“No, let me finish. I thought I could keep up with you. I tried. But then, it felt like things were spiralling out of control, and I panicked. I was so far out of my comfort zone, I didn’t know what to do. We met at Karasuno almost three months ago, but didn’t really get to know each other until Tokyo. My heart has been with you every step of the way, but my brain… my stupid, stupid brain…”

Kuroo took hold of Tsuki’s hand, and lowered it. “Stop that, right now. You’re not stupid, and I don’t ever want to hear you saying that again.” He tapped his temple, and then Tsuki’s. “We both got too far into our own heads that we let the ball drop on us. I think if we accept we’re both at fault, we can move forward. Sound good?”

“Yeah.”

They smiled at each other, and Kei felt Kuroo squeeze his hand. He returned the gesture. Then, Kuroo’s attention snapped to something behind them, and Kei turned his head to see what it was.

“We seem to have drawn an audience,” Kuroo said sardonically. “Well, sort of.”

Kei sighed. Suga and Akaashi had turned back around to watch them, making sure they didn’t need to intervene. They were far enough away that they hadn’t heard anything, but not so far that they couldn’t come back, if needed. But that didn’t quite explain why Bokuto and Kenma had joined them. They were the ones keeping everyone else distracted, weren’t they?

“Tsuki? I think I need a little exercise.”

“You read my mind, Kuroo.”

“Run?”

“Run.”

The moment he finished saying it, they took off, away from the others. But neither of them missed Bokuto’s loud cheering, and Suga hollering for them not to be late. Laughing, they ran a little faster, out of sight of everyone.