The Cat and the Crow

Tsuki's Move

"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.