The Cat and the Crow

I Needed To See You

"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?"