How We Began

Part Three (cont.)

"I think we should go..."

"No! No, wait," Kuroo interrupted him, looking slightly worried. Maybe a little scared, too. "Please don't say you want to go home."

Tsuki blinked. "I wasn't going to."

"Good." Kuroo let out a huge breath, as if he'd been holding it in. He looked relieved, too. Tsuki smiled.

"I was going to say I think we should go out for a late lunch, or something."

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh,'"

It looked like Kuroo was trying to shake off whatever mood he'd been wrapped up in.

"Any suggestions?" Kuroo asked.

"Well, there's a few places right around here. One of them would be okay."

"Sounds good. We could just go across the street..." his voice drifted off as a thought occurred. "Wait a sec."

Tsuki watched him as he picked up the envelope. He pulled out all the paperwork in there that remained: their tickets for the trip home, coupons, hotel receipts, and itineraries. Curious, he kept quiet as Kuroo picked up the coupons and the itineraries.

"All of these are for the biggest touristy spots in the city. We're not exactly visiting during the off-season, either, but it's somewhat less crowded..."

"I'll be fine," Tsuki assured him, touched that Kuroo was worried about him. "I'll bring my headphones, and I'll stick close to you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Part of that attack was my fault. I'd forgotten how crowded it could be at the station, even at that hour during the week."

"Still..."

"I'll be fine," he repeated. "If anything happens, you'll be there, right?"

"Right."

And for the first time since they'd arrived, Kuroo smiled. A genuine, happy smile. Tsuki had seen that smile so many times before in the last couple weeks, but this time, he helped put it on Kuroo's face. Kuroo's handsome as sin face, with body to match. Tsuki knew now, without a doubt, that he had it bad for this tall, dark-haired, gray-eyed sexy man.

One of their coupons was for a nearby restaurant that they could walk to. It was late afternoon, and the crowds had thinned even more, so Tsuki didn't bother to put his headphones on. They had to pass the Fushimi Inari shrine to get there, so they decided to stop and take a few pictures to send back to Aunt Yui. Kuroo even took a few shots of nearby torii gates, which he'd told her he would do.

At the little ramen restaurant they'd decided on, they sat at a table for two and ordered two bowls of Korean spicy beef ramyun, a plate of pork gyoza dumplings and egg rolls.

"So what did.."

"I want to expla..."

They both said at the same time, stopping and looking at each other awkwardly. Tsuki felt himself blush, and was captivated seeing a light pink hue appear across Kuroo's cheeks. Kuroo coughed and they both reached for their drinks in unison, too. Both of them started laughing.

"You first," Kuroo said as soon as he caught his breath.

"I was going to ask what your Aunt Yui told you before she talked to me. I mean, that is, if you want to talk about it."

"Confirmed setup," Kuroo replied with a smirk. He put his elbows on the table and crossed his arms. "She told me that it wasn't just her that put it all together, but also the other ladies in her club."