As the bus began to slow, Kei glanced away from the window, pausing his music before adjusting his headphones to rest on his neck. He supposed he'd been lucky, having managed to travel on a bus that wasn't overly loud or crowded, but the five and a half hour journey wasn't exactly ideal. As much as he would have loved to take the Shinkansen and been in Tokyo in under two hours, the cost of that was significantly more expensive than the fare for the highway bus, and the bus was a journey that didn't require changing trains four times (which he would have needed to do if he caught a regular train rather than the shinkansen.)

Despite that, the blond had finished his book cover to cover after the first three hours, which was much more of an annoyance than he wanted to admit. Normally he wouldn't have minded too much and moved on to staring out the window as the world went by whilst listening to music. Today was different; doing that only caused his mind to wander to things he didn't want to think about, such as the person who had invited him to Tokyo, because the thought of seeing said person caused his heart to beat just a little bit faster.

Trying to push those feelings aside, Tsukishima stood up, managing to hold in a groan as he leaned over in order to stop his head hitting the roof of the vehicle. Normally after a long journey he'd want to stretch, but the confines of the bus didn't allow for such luxuries as he let the other passengers exit before him. Once most of the other people were out, he took a step into the corridor of the bus whilst grabbing his bags from the seat, and swiftly exited.

It wasn't particularly difficult to spot Kuroo Tetsurou in the small crowd of people, the raven haired male grinning and waving the moment their eyes met. It didn't quite make sense to Tsukishima—how the other could be so excited to see him of all people—but his breath hitched at the sight all the same. In response, the blond scowled and gave a nod in greeting, slowly making his way over. (It didn't matter that from that distance, Kuroo never would have known that his smile had been cause for such a reaction. Kei knew it, and that didn't sit right with him.)

"Someone's grouchy today, huh?" Kuroo teased, an amused expression appearing on his face as once again their eyes made contact. This close, Kei could clearly see how excited the older teen was, and deep inside, a part of him ached at the sight, a part of him that he pushed even further down.

"I was stuck on a bus for five and a half hours. It's such a wonder that I'm grumpy after that," he said bitterly, rolling his eyes as he saw the way Kuroo's smile widened. "I'm beginning to question why I agreed to come visit."

The raven snickered, wrapping his hand around the strap of Kei's duffel bag. Their fingers brushed for a moment, and the blond looked down, briefly wishing that Kuroo's hand had lingered a little longer.

"Lovely, looks I'm not the only one who was wondering about that. I mean, a week with me is quite a long time..." Tetsurou trailed off, lightly nudging Tsukishima with his elbow and beaming. He was clearly amused by the way he'd caused Kei's ears to turn a shade of bright red, and when the taller loosened the grip on his bag, Kuroo took a hold of it. The grin on his face was victorious—apparently he'd intended to help carry his belongings—but the look shifted to something fonder as he began walking and gestured for Kei to follow him. "I'm just joking, Tsukki. I'm really glad that you would travel down here, especially for me, it does mean a lot."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he muttered, rolling his eyes and taking a deep breath to try and keep his nerves in check. "It's no big deal, Kuroo. I wasn't able to make it to your graduation even though you asked me to come, so I suppose this'll have to make up for it."

Upon hearing Tsukishima's voice, Kuroo turned back around, that fond smile remaining as he took a few steps back to where Kei continued to stand. The blond couldn't help but look down to avoid his gaze. If Kuroo noticed that he was beginning to become flustered, he didn't act on it, instead continuing to draw a little closer, placing his free hand on the blond's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Trust me, this more than makes up for it, Tsukki. Now come on, it looks like it's going to rain soon." After he'd finished speaking, Kuroo pulled away, once again indicating for them to start walking.

With a nod, Tsukishima began to follow behind the other, his heart still racing as he tried to maintain a calm composure, and tried to forget what had just happened. He didn't want to fool himself and believe that all had actually meant something. Kuroo was just affectionate with his friends, he'd told Kei that before—but there was something about the way that Tetsurou had said his name, the tenderness in his voice when he spoke, and that look in his eyes. It was soft and caring, and it made him feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Pushing that thought aside, Tsukishima picked up the pace somewhat, making sure he was keeping up with the other. It wasn't like it was unpleasant—with the other filling the silence with chatter about the different places they walked past—but the warmth of Kuroo's hand against his shoulder was a feeling that still lingered even after minutes had passed, and the moment seemed impossible to get out of his head.

Biting his lip, Kei couldn't help but find it all bittersweet. As happy as he was to be visiting, it was always harder to bear his feelings when talking with Kuroo face to face, and it seemed as if the older teen knew all the right buttons to press to make the walls he'd built up come crashing down.

For the majority of the walk back to the apartment, Tsukishima refrained from speaking, not that it seemed to bother the raven much. Kuroo had told him about every place he saw that had some sort of meaning to him, pointing out various buildings and stores and even telling a couple of stories about things that had happened. Just listening to him talk was nice; it didn't require Kei to hold up the conversation, and he'd be lying if he said the other male's stories weren't enjoyable. If anything, it allowed him to get to know a little more about Kuroo, and that was something Tsukishima wasn't going to take for granted.

After about half an hour, the breeze was picking up a little. The weather had been gradually building up and worsening, the darkening clouds painting the city in dull tones. Tsukishima noticed the light raindrops on his glasses before he or Kuroo felt them, and let out a sigh, gaining the attention of the other male.

"Is everything alright, Tsukki? You've been quiet pretty much the whole time," Kuroo said, stopping his story about the convenience store across the road that he'd been in the middle of telling. "If you just don't feel like talking, that's alright, I'm just a little worried."

Tsukishima shrugged, glancing up at the sky and then back at Kuroo. "I'm doing fine, don't worry. It's just started raining," he replied, "and even if it's only light, I would prefer not to end up completely drenched. Like I said, the bus ride was long and I'm not in the best mood."

Kuroo let out a soft sigh—was that relief?—before chuckling and pointing to an apartment block a few blocks further ahead. "Looks like you're in luck today, then! It's just up ahead, so we should be there before the worst of this rain arrives. I can start working on cheering you up when we're back and dry."

"When did I say that I wanted to be cheered up?" Tsukishima muttered, rolling his eyes and walking a little bit faster. As he looked ahead, he hoped that his ears weren't red, his heart beating unfairly fast. "Especially by you."

"You didn't. But since you're someone I care about, I don't want to see you all grumpy—well, more than usual, anyways—and since you're staying at my place, you don't have much of a choice. You and I are going to have a good week, even if the weather seems determined to prove us otherwise!"

"I, uh, okay..." The grin Kuroo was wearing was wide and kind, and as Kei's eyes met his, the blond's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink. It was so stupid, this crush of his, but at this moment he couldn't really care about appearances and fronts. Kuroo seemed to care, and that made everything inside of him feel all warm, a feeling he hadn't felt much, aside from when Kuroo did or said overly nice and caring things like this. "I'll try to enjoy it then. There are worse people to spend a week with, I guess."

For the briefest of moments, Tsukishima allowed himself to give in to his feelings, and for the briefest of moments, he gave Kuroo a small smile. A genuine one, that he didn't often share with other people, but had given to Kuroo three times now. There was a faint blush on Kuroo's cheeks, but the blond was focused on his smile, and the fact that once again his heart filled with warmth at the sight of it.

"Well, aren't I lucky? Though, to be honest with you, I don't think there are many other people that I'd like to spend a whole week with."

When they had stopped walking, and ended up looking into each other's eyes, he couldn't quite recall, but those words had simultaneously brought him in and out of reality. The tone of voice, and the look in Kuroo's eyes as he'd spoken was something else, and it was enough to make him feel like melting. It also make Tsukishima realise just how close they'd gotten, faces only mere centimetres apart, and no signs that Kuroo had been lying when he'd said that.

His breath hitching, Tsukishima found himself thankful for the rain. It was extremely quick to begin pouring down, dousing the streets in water, and inevitably the two of them in addition. As much as he didn't want to get wet, it meant he didn't have to respond to what it was that Kuroo had said. His heart was beating fast in his chest, the words still ringing in his head as Kuroo took his hand and started running with him towards the apartment.

Kei found it hard to see clearly out of his glasses, the water on his lenses creating spots in his vision, but sight wasn't exactly necessary when he had Kuroo leading him towards the apartment. Somewhere along the line, the other had started laughing, and Tsukishima could clearly imagine the smile that was on his face from the sound of it.

He was in way too deep, he cared way more than he should have allowed himself to, and he knew that his heart was in shambles just from about thirty minutes of actual interaction with Kuroo. The thought of spending a week with the other male seemed daunting, mainly because he knew that it would only cause him to feel so much more. And deep down, Kei was worried that if all of this didn't mean anything to Kuroo, which it probably didn't, it was going to leave him a wreck.

That didn't mean he wasn't laughing all the same, though. Tsukishima Kei was running in the rain with Kuroo, and it was nice. He was running, and he was laughing, and for the moment he was more than happy, because when Kuroo pulled him under the shelter at the entrance of the apartment, the raven was still laughing, and his hand was still around Tsukishima's.

"God, that was fun!" Kuroo exclaimed, grinning as he turned to be facing the blond. "I wouldn't want to get caught in rain like that again, but it was definitely fun."

"That's your definition of fun? Usually if people are rushing to get home in the rain, it's not fun, it's frustrating," Kei replied, finding his voice not sounding annoyed in the slightest. It was hard to be, when Kuroo was in such a good mood. Even though his laugh was rather unique, the blond found the sound comforting, because there was no way a laugh like that could be faked, meaning that the joy Kuroo was experiencing was completely real.

Chuckling at his words, Kuroo's laughter gradually became quieter as he began to speak. "You just need to learn to see the good in things, Tsukki. See, we started running from that lamppost back there, right? Now whenever I walk past it, it'll remind me of the time that we ran back home in the rain. It's hard to be frustrated at something if it leaves me with a good memory, you know?"

He could only bring himself to nod in response, a little taken aback by the genuine response to his grumbling. Kuroo always seemed to know how to say the sweetest things, and it seemed so effortless for him. It was one of the things that Tsukishima liked, even if it frequently left him a lovesick mess afterwards. The moment would have been better if Kei had actually been able to see clearly from behind his glasses, but he was almost glad for it. If he had to see Kuroo looking at him like that again, he was pretty sure he was going to spill and confess his feelings right then and there.

Still, there was no doubt that his cheeks were flushed red with how hot they felt, and his heart seemed to be even louder than the rain, even as the raven let go of his hand. "Now, let's head on inside, yeah? It's cold out here, and we both ended up drenched, even though I told you we'd be able to get back before the worst of the rain hit."

Rolling his eyes, Tsukishima began to follow behind him once again. "It's not like you could have predicted when the rain could have hit, Kuroo," he said, walking up the stairs with him to the third floor of the apartment building.

"I still feel bad about it though, especially since you already had to sit on a bus for hours because of me," the raven replied sheepishly, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door. "But I really am glad that you came. I've had a lot of fun already, Tsukki."

"Yeah..." As he took a step inside the apartment, even despite the blush on his cheeks and the dampness of his clothes from the rain, Kei knew he'd enjoyed it too, just a little bit. "Yeah, it wasn't too bad, running home in the rain, with you."