The Reckless & The Brave Book 1: Hold Me Tight Or Don't [Kurotsuki]

Chapter 6

Kei needs a break. It's been four days of constant Kuroo. He brings breakfast and lunch to the museum and stays to eat with him and he shows up at the apartment every night, bringing take-out food or groceries to cook. Kei probably hasn't eaten this well since the training facility. Kuroo is just like his old self, he teases and he makes jokes and he definitely flirts despite his insistence that he can handle just being friends. Kei knows that he could send him away. He knows that If he told Kuroo not to touch him the other man would respect that. But he doesn't, he can't.

The weekends are normally Kei's days off from the museum. He'll go on missions more often than not but with his knee still healing he's stuck at home. Which means he's still there Saturday morning when he's woken up by a knocking on his door. Kei groans and shoves his face into his pillow for a moment before dragging himself out of the bed. He pulls on the knee brace Oikawa had sent him and grabs a hoodie off the floor to slip on as makes his way to the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he calls out as he turns off the alarm and unlocks the door. Somehow he's not surprised to see Kuroo standing there. Kei squints his eyes and wishes he'd grabbed his glasses.

"Morning Moo-" Kei slams the door in his face before he can get the old nickname out. He counts to thirty before opening the door again.

"Try again," He says through a yawn.

"Good morning," Kei doesn't need his glasses to know that stupid grin is on Kuroo's face.

"There's nothing good about being awake in the morning on my day off," He walks over to the couch and faceplants onto it. Kuroo comes into the apartment and closes the door behind him.

"You were half asleep when I left last night," Kuroo says on his way to the kitchen. Kei had been tired, but after Kuroo had left he'd ended up staying awake for several more hours staring into nothing and finishing the bottle of whisky. Kei realizes he'd left the bottle out at the same moment that Kuroo calls, "Since when do you drink whisky?"

"Since I've had a reason to," He calls back, his voice muffled by the couch cushion. It's a little meaner than he'd meant to be but no one should be expected to be this nice when they don't need to be awake.

"I brought you coffee," Kuroo's voice is closer now. The couch dips under his weight. Kei lets out a long sigh and then rolls onto his back holding out his hand. Kuroo puts it in his hand. "Is that mine?"

"Is what?" Kei sits up and scoots away to sip at the latte. Kuroo tugs on the hoodie he's wearing. Of course, he'd grabbed the stupid red hoodie.

"Finders keepers," He swats the other man's hand away. "Anything left behind was forfeit."

"Fine fine, it looks good on you anyway."

"Kuroo it is way too early," Kei tries to glare at him.

"Glasses?" Kuroo asks.

"Nightstand," Kuroo gets up and ruffles his hair as he heads to the bedroom. Kei pulls his knees up and holds the coffee cup with both hands. He tries not to think about his bedroom and Kuroo at the same time.

"Your bedroom is a mess, do you ever clean?" Kuroo teases as he slips the glasses onto Kei's face and sits on the couch.

"On my day off, after sleeping in late," he's thinking about hitting him again. Being able to see helps him wake up a bit though. "Why are you here?"

"Because I want to be," Kuroo rests his hand gently on Kei's knee. "What happened here?"

"I hurt it at the gym. It's not bad but Oikawa insisted the brace would be better than just wrapping it," Kei shrugs and stretches the leg out, resting it across the other man's lap. Kuroo glances at him for permission and then removes the brace. He examines the injury and then gently massages it. Kei closes his eyes and lets his head drop against the back of the couch.