The Cat and the Crow

The Plan (Early July)

[I CAN'T BELIEVE KARASUNO IS JOINING US AT CAMP!]

[Bokuto, you said that already.]

[He's clearly still in shock.]

[I KNOW YOU AIN'T TRYIN TO PLAY IT COOL, KUROO!]

[Seriously, is your phone set to all caps?]

[I don't know what he did, but I can't fix it back. That said, he's right, you know.]

[I'M ALWAYS RIGHT!]

[You switch sides so well, Akaashi.]

[Is he wrong, though?]

Kuroo dropped his phone on his chest and chuckled. It was the night before the weekend practice camp, and he was supposed to have been asleep hours ago. It was a good thing his friends were also awake, otherwise, he'd have to go wake up Kenma, and that would likely be an unmitigated disaster. Just to make sure, he rose up to look out the window at Kenma's house. The curtains had been left parted, and he could easily see Kenma sprawled on his bed. Yeah, just like he thought. Out cold. Sighing, he settled back down, picked up his phone and reopened the chat.

[HE COULDN'T HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP, AKAASHI.]

[Bokuto, you're an owl. Not everyone can stay up as late as you.]

[Kenma can. But he's already asleep. As we should be.]

[KUROO, YOU ASS! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!]

[I was only gone for five minutes, good grief.]

[Five minutes equals five years for him.]

[AKAASHI!!]

[For the sake of at least attempting some kind of sleep: No, Akaashi. He's not wrong.]

[I'M NEVER WRONG!]

[I appreciate your answer, Kuroo. You go get some sleep. I'm going to get the owl out of the rafters, and then attempt the same.]

[HEY! STOP IGNORING ME!]

[See both of you tomorrow.]

[You mean later.]

Kuroo muted the chat and then checked the time. It was almost 2am, and camp started at 830am. Karasuno was due to arrive around 7am. He knew he'd have to meet with Sawamura first to explain how camp worked, but after that, he was going to meet up with Bokuto and Akaashi. He had an idea he wanted to run by them, concerning a certain blonde middle blocker. Also, he needed to get Kenma to run interference with the weirdo duo, if needed. Though, if he remembered correctly, those two would be more concerned with their game than with anything going on around them.

Rolling over, he smiled as he looked out at the moon and stars. Running on a few hours of sleep before a full day of practice wasn't new to him. He'd done it countless times in the last couple years. But this year, things were a little different, and he wanted to see where this would lead him.

5am [alarm goes off]

Kuroo grabbed his phone and shut off the alarm. It felt like he'd only just shut his eyes to sleep a few minutes ago, and now he had to get moving or be late. In one motion, he threw the blanket off and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He'd purposely set the alarm for as late as possible, and still be on time to meet the team at school. Kicking his legs off the bed, he stood up, scrubbed a hand through his unruly hair, grabbed a towel and a change of clothes. Just thinking about camp, and who was going to be there, motivated him to get moving. A cold shower would definitely help wake him up, too.

6am [Nekoma High]

"Glad you could make it, Cap," Yaku said sarcastically as Kuroo entered the club room. "Thought you'd be running late."