YEAR TWO.50 1/1 Duplicate Amaurosis
The most important thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. ~Warren Buffet
~Six Months Later, Early Autumn~
Kei Tsukishima eyes a high toss from the thrush, his muscles tensing to break at the precise moment to maximize the height of his jump in tandem with the strike.
A breeze preceding an impending mild storm off the water gives it a little extra lift and it's slipping farther outside than he'd like, but it's nothing that he can't adjust to. His limbs move on reflex and he's in the air, his hand connecting squarely with the ball. He sends it straight at Daichi where he waits on the other side alone, working on receives.
The thrush's tosses don't key him up the same way Kageyama's do— the avian prince's just piss Kei off with how freaking perfect they are. It's totally unnatural—as if the ball were being forcibly subjugated and enslaved to the crow's will. Next to that, Suga's high, floating sets are relaxing and he breathes out as he comes down. It's probably just his own inherent dislike for the crow setter bleeding through, but Kageyama's flawless tosses still drive him up a tree.
Since Yaku's arrival last year had unbalanced the teams, he's been playing far more frequently with the former Karasuno unit instead of the cats and owls to mitigate the power shift, and it has exposed him all the more to the young king's precision. And as far as he can tell, he's the only one who gets irrationally annoyed by it. But then, he gets annoyed by Hinata's baseless enthusiasm, too.
Seriously, the redhead had been running around without a shirt last week, and the bones growing in his back would pull his skin into creepy fleshy protrusions when he'd bend. When he'd found out it weirded Kei out, the shrimp had made a point to not wear a shirt the next three days with maniacal glee.
Freaking redheaded gremlin, he mentally grumbles at the last three days have been blissful without them.
Beside him, Tadashi and Bokuto also wait to hit at the large crow. Akaashi is working the docks alone today in a rare diverging separation from his leveler and the streaked owl has been far more moody than normal. Hitoka and Shimizu both went into Sheru Bay a while ago for supplies and Kenma is curled up on one of the chairs that have found a home on the porch for an afternoon nap while Kuroo hunts.
The lax afternoon practice is halted by the sudden onset of rain from the grey clouds overhead, cold and pervasive, an insistent herald of fall. When the sand starts sticking to the ball, the thrush apologetically begs off, not relishing the grains that drop into his face with each toss. Tsukishima moves to collect the net before a full downpour; it can use some mending before it gets cold enough that they move it back into the barn for the winter.
Their standby location when the world turns frosty has consistently been available since that first year, Takeda only too happy to offer it up after that first winter. Suga and Daichi had cultivated a mutual relationship by regularly bringing them goods from town in a show of gratitude, the owls pitching in now and then with a side of fish from the docks or once even a tool to replace one showing its age. They are on good enough terms with the guy that he and his family are aware of who Kageyama and the rest of the Karasuno group are, and they know who are levelers. Really, Takeda is amenable enough with them that Kei is pretty sure the man would readily offer up his own home if they somehow ended up losing theirs.
Yamaguchi releases the other end of the net and they quickly drag the net up onto the porch before they are soaked. One of Kenma's gold eyes slips open as they clatter by him, but the small cat doesn't move from his place in the chair. The ibis is positive that wouldn't have been the case if Kageyama and Hinata had been here.
The golden cat has been quite sullen since they left, actually. It's not that Kenma has said anything or made even a single remark… it's exactly the opposite. His naps stretch most of the day and all conversation is virtually nonexistent unless he's around Yachi. It's put Kuroo in a stormy mood and even Kei has to admit that his silence is grating.
Dramatic moody feline. He has the outward emotion of a rock; it should stay that way.
It pains him, but the slim crowd this late summer week at the beach house, while peaceful, has left an utterly perplexing and bitter taste in his mouth— it's almost eerily quiet without Kageyama and Hinata bickering away or the loud twins scheming some prank or Lev's babbling chatter wearing on Yaku's patience. It was probably Feathers' and the shrimp's last chance to take a trip before the cold started setting in… and Kei's last opportunity for a stretch of peace and quiet before the next four or five months of restless chaos. Kei frowns slightly.
He's even picked up that habit and started calling the avian prince by Kuroo's pet name for him like almost everyone else.
Oi. Freaking cat.
But as Kei picks up a tie and turns to the net, he can't fault him for the moronic nickname; whether Kageyama ever realized it or not, it's as much a tactical move as it is an excuse to rib the perpetually salty crow. The rest of the former Karasuno unit members might have been vague enough profiles such that most non-sentries would hardly look twice at them, but Kageyama was heir to arguably the most prominent group in the area. While most people outside the rookery wouldn't necessarily have known his face, his name was still something of a common bit of knowledge, and Kuroo's moniker provided him an alias around ears that might not mean them the best. He doubts Feathers ever picked up on that, though, what with the way his one-track mind was totally stuck on his leveler.
And it's gotten even worse since that run in with what Kageyama had called an 'asshole white wing'. Feathers and his idiot shrimp have been tiptoeing around each other in uncertainty ever since; for the life of him, Kei can't imagine what had to have happened, because while there has been this building tension, they've only increased their physical contact and stiltedly affectionate displays. They are always grabbing food for one another, they frequently get lost in intense staring contests, and skies, they cuddle… constantly. Just about every time they are together and not bickering or playing Volley, one of them has their arms wrapped around the other.
Because that makes perfect sense, his sarcastic monologue drawls at him.
And yet, it's ongoing. They've gotten as bad as Lev and Yaku, and Kei could swear that whatever is making them so familiar is maddeningly contagious, because the owls and Suga and Daichi have all been doing similar things lately. Even Kei had caught himself adding a few soggy potatoes to his plate to offload onto Yamaguchi's just last week.
"Tsukki, are you salty, today?" Yamaguchi had asked after a perfectly reasonable number of blistering remarks…okay, maybe a few more than normal. Either way, Kei had deadpanned, somehow mortified that the freckled crow had called him out. It had thrown him off badly enough that he'd had nothing to come back with and defaulted to his automatic response.
"Shut up, Yamaguchi."
The door opens, breaking his thoughts before he has a chance to scoff at them. Kuroo walks out, his hair dripping wet, and one of Kenma's ears twitches in his direction. The black cat must have just returned from his hunt, coming in through the back door to get out of the rain.
The large feline slips up behind the chair Kenma is curled in, and Kei isn't foolish enough to believe that he's still asleep as his closed eyes would suggest. The small cat's tail flicks and Kei's brow cocks, because he knows Kuroo didn't miss that either. The black cat smirks and Kei blinks with flat assessment.
I know you aren't that stupid, you idiot Furball.
Instead of heeding the slight movement for the warning it is, the black cat grins slightly and leans forward over the golden. His head tilts just so, and a drop of water from his sodden black locks hits one of Kenma's ears.
I take it back; apparently, you are.
The ear twitches and the small cat's golden eyes slide open to stare up at the black cat with apathy… and the slightest leap of a muscle at one of their corners that betrays his annoyance.
"I'm going to start a fire, want to come warm me up?" Kuroo solicits anyway. Without a word, the golden cat uncurls from the chair and slides out from beneath the wet feline.
"Aw, come on." Kuroo complains at him as he slips around him and heads into the house. "Kenma—," He scowls darkly, following the golden cat back inside.
The small cat's almost recalcitrant cold fish impression nearly surprises the ibis. Nearly.
Kenma is normally completely uninvested emotionally in most things, choosing to hang back as a wallflower and avoid all forms of confrontation. If Kei had to describe the cat with one word, it would be 'spectator'. Kenma is always watching everyone. Kei is sure the cat must truly find them all fascinating, because his eyes are always brightest when he can watch events unfold from a quiet corner undisturbed. Barring when he's in the company of the shrimp or Yachi, he only offers input when he deems it important—which it usually is. The ibis himself has probably exchanged all of three words with the small feline since they'd met, but Kuroo never seemed to need to, the black cat automatically knowing what he was always thinking.
But with the new bond between Lev and Yaku, Kenma had withdrawn from Kuroo, opting to spend almost all his time with the either Yachi or the shrimp— and Kageyama by default. His patience with the black cat had grown so openly thin, that he'd even managed to sandwich himself between the three avians four out of five nights in their sleep piles just before the freak duo had left on this last trip.
It had effectively succeeded in preventing Kuroo from curling up around him like he always had, and at first, it was something that could be overlooked. But after three days, Kuroo had been sour enough that he'd declared that he wasn't going on the planned trip. It had stopped everyone over their meal, the golden cat going rigid.
"Why not, Kuroo?" He'd asked with a frown.
"Because I don't feel like babysitting right now." His reply had been brittle at best and the silence had been palpable before the bald crow had awkwardly spoken up.
"Ah, that's fine, me and Noya and Asahi can go."
It wasn't that Kageyama and Hinata couldn't handle themselves just fine, it was simply that there was greater safety in numbers— and the trips provided them all with a dose of variety. Even Kei had to admit that the beach house could get outright boring when there was nothing to break the monotony of their days. Kuroo's refusal to accompany them was unusual and had spurred something of a standoff between the two cats, but Kenma hadn't gone without him.
That hadn't meant he was happy about it.
The small cat was ridiculously attached to the redhead and he'd been in a sulk since they'd left, with the focus of his rebellion being Kuroo as it was because of him that he'd been separated from him. Which meant everything had been strained between them the entire week so far, which had led to the large cat gravitating more toward either Bokuto or himself and Yamaguchi for company.
Another idiot mistake.
Kei pauses only a moment when the door to the house bangs loudly and Kuroo walks out with a stiffness to his steps that means the cat is once again in a black mood.
"Swing and a miss yet again, I take it." Kei murmurs dryly. The cat's uneven gaze snaps to him with crackling irritation.
"Definitely not in the mood, Blondy."
"Then you came to the wrong place." Kei says flatly. The cat doesn't have a comeback though and crossly drops beside him and picks up a net tie. He's quiet for several moments and the ibis feels the mood around the feline nosedive.
"I have no idea what is going through his head." He grudgingly admits and Kei has to consciously keep the surprise from his face.
The ibis almost huffs in amusement. Kuroo is sharp—disturbingly so, and armed with a frightening well of knowledge… but right now, Kei wonders if he's just being dense or if he's actually maintaining a willful ignorance to the situation. Really, he doesn't think the cat has been this blind—heh, blind—since he'd met him. Kei has to think that the avian prince's obliviousness has rubbed off on him.
"So, of all of us, the person you've been around far and away the longest, is the one you understand the least?"
"Shut up, moron. It's only in the last few months that things have changed." He says with annoyance before his face drops into contemplative melancholy. "Our thread has dimmed."
The words are barely a murmur, but they catch Kei's attention. The cat is genuinely distressed.
"Your thread."
"Yeah… it hasn't changed for over five centuries, but ever since Lev and Yaku became levelers, it's been wavering. I have no idea why or how to fix it."
He really is clueless.
Kei glances at him patronizingly.
"Would you like a hint?" He drawls.
Kuroo blinks at him and for a moment he looks like Bokuto with his wide eyes— if Bokuto were blind in one. But his brow drops down skeptically.
"Me, ever trust a hint from you. Fifty-fifty, you'd be just as likely to tell me something that will end up with me in some humiliatingly compromising position as you are to give me good advice."
"Tsukki wouldn't do that! If he gives it unsolicited, then you know he's probably mocking you for some stupid remark, but he offered first, so—"
"Yamaguchi." Kei cuts him off dourly.
"Right. Sorry, Tsukki."
"So, trust the cynical asshole's insight." Kuroo murmurs, his clear golden eye creasing with mirth at the freckled crow before settling back on him expectantly. Kei shrugs.
"He's envious." He says bluntly, wondering how in hell he wound up giving the black cat of all people, relationship advice in the rain over a shabby Volley net. Kuroo frowns.
"Why would he have any reason to be jealous of Yaku? He never once so much as glanced Lev's way before they became a pair."
Wow. Talk about the blind leading the blind.
"You are legitimately challenging the crow prince for the title of asinine idiot at the moment." He says with a light sigh.
"You cheeky brat." Kuroo scowls at him and one of Kei's eyebrows rises in challenge.
"Stupid cat." Kuroo rolls his eyes impatiently.
"Alright, you feathered freak, speak straight."
"Your insults lack originality. He isn't envious of either Lev or Yaku. He's envious of both. Which means I'm a threat, too." Kuroo stares at him, his baffled expression almost comical.
"What?" Kei levels a flat look at the black cat.
Come one, moron. Rub a pair of your brain cells together; I shouldn't have to spell this out.
"Who does your other thread run to, Kuroo?" He asks thickly. Kuroo blinks, his brow pulling down into a frown at the unexpected question.
"It goes to…" The cat's uneven golden gaze darts away, "you know it doesn't matter." He mumbles and Kei's head tilts.
"It doesn't? Who are you talking to, Cat?" He asks pointedly and Kuroo's gaze snaps up at him with dawning comprehension.
"Eh… how do you know about that?" He asks thickly.
Kei gets why he's surprised; Yaku'd given them the most basic breakdown of feline level pair bonds when they'd become one. None of the cats had really been forthcoming with anything outside that limited explanation… but one of them was easily pliable.
"Your gray cat has a mouth to match his size, and you'd be amazed what you learn when you distract his leveler muzzle." He drawls and Kuroo's jaw drops.
"Oh my— how much did he tell you?"
"More than we wanted or needed to know." He says flatly and Kuroo runs a hand through his hair before it finds its place on the back of his neck with exasperation. He looks up at the porch ceiling and blows out a sigh.
"Is everyone aware of this?" He asks, his expression pinching with annoyance.
"That depends. Which part of 'this' are you wondering about exactly? The part about whose threads go to who or the part about how those threads become wires?" Kuroo's eyes find him with large pupils yet again.
"He told you that?" He manages with strangled horror.
"In impeccable detail." Kei says flatly and the black cat's face smooths into a mask of incredulity.
"I'm going to skin that idiot."
"That won't solve your problem."
"Would ease my current embarrassment." He grouses darkly.
"No matter how entertaining that would be, patience is a virtue, and something your small cat is losing with you. Your connection has been stressed since they bonded." Kuroo cocks a brow at him warily.
"And?"
"You should fix that." A flash of annoyance slides through Kuroo's features.
"Because that's going so well. 'Giving him space' got me absolutely nowhere, but it doesn't matter because I can't even get him to talk to me when Yachi or the shrimp and Feathers aren't around. Taking him on a trip just the two of us would be a bust, too. Assuming he'd agree and I wouldn't be forced to kidnap him to get him to come along, where would I take him? The rookery isn't exactly a vacationing option for us, you know."
"You don't say." Kei drawls, but the cat doesn't even seem to hear him.
"That Iwa crow wouldn't appreciate it either— he was actually more peeved the second time I showed up. Can you believe that? And he was the one that sent the damn raven asking for advice on dealing with their blasted snake infestation in the first place."
"Are we still having the same conversation?" Kei asks, thoroughly entertained by the cat's frustrations.
But as amusing as his problems are, the ibis finds it irritating that he's become the conduit for them. He only volunteered his advice on the issue regarding the small cat, not the host of Kuroo's concerns in its entirety. He's most definitely not a psychiatrist. The cat blinks at him.
"I don't know how to fix this." He grumbles and Kei sighs slightly.
"Sounds about right. And they say cats are more intelligent than dogs. I'd almost say you are thinking on level with one of the crows." He says with amused fatigue, knowing Yamaguchi won't even be phased by the barb. The cat levels a flat look at him.
"Would you like to look like Feathers after a fight with the shrimp?" One of Kei's brows arches.
"Now you are sounding like an idiot crow, too." He says before waving off the cats impending scathing remark and turning a serious glance back on him.
"Your golden cat was probably put out that your thread has gone nowhere in centuries while Lev and Yaku managed to complete a full bond from nothing in a year. And you, the only one of us who really gets that apathetic golden furball, missed that. He and the redhead are so close because they share a common grievance… the person they want to connect with is failing to pick up the cues.
"And then you hang around me with whom you share a thread like Lev and Yaku's used to be, and he's already seen that turn into a wire when it's supposed to be highly unlikely. It's no wonder he's frustrated with you. Unless I'm misreading your position in all this, the number of colossal mistakes you are making is quite remarkable. Like I said, you clearly aren't doing your species any favors in the intelligence area."
Kuroo's jaw hangs loose. He looks as if all thought has been sucked from his mind, his uneven golden gaze empty.
Huh. So that's what a broken cat looks like. Amusing.
"That's…" His voice dies in his throat.
"You seem surprised." Kei remarks blandly and the cat blinks.
"Why are you implying I shouldn't be?" He says in a scratchy voice that sounds exhausted. Kei huffs through his nose, a condescending smirk tugging at his mouth.
"Because the young king isn't the only slow idiot and the shrimp isn't the only one waiting."
A/N: So, if anyone has ever tried playing sand VB with a wet ball, the setter struggle is real. Sand in the eyes is a bitch. Also, I'm pretty sure the quote at the beginning ACTUALLY pertains to money/debt, but I'm abusing it to fit my feeling on this chapter. But hey, who even reads those, lol
It felt like Tsukki departed a little from his cynical side in this one, but I also think Kuroo is one of the few people he genuinely respects, so he wouldn't be above offering his thoughts in an attempt to enlighten him- albeit in his typical caustic demeanor.
I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. Nyx had a blast snowboarding in like 12 degree weather and a steady 15mph wind and Nyx's fingers and toes are STILL froze... so please excuse any typo fails, lol. Have a great night, guys!