kuroo | holly heights ic inbox 1436

Are you running this morning?

this is unexpected, how did you know?

Captain's intuition.

[he didn't know, he guessed.]

Is Kenma going or do you want some company?

[Acceptable.]

too many shocking things are happening at the same time, i must be dreaming.

Yeah, I'd rather be dreaming too.

If you don't want company it's cool, just wanted to ask.

i'm not saying no. where do you want to meet?

Entrance to the park. I'd rather run outside and the path's pretty clear by now.

meet you there! i'll be by myself, so don't worry.

[Daichi's there first--makes sense, he sent the invite--and he's stretching at a bench. No headphones today, but he is playing nervously with his phone in between stretches. He tucks it away when he spots Kuroo, though, waving with his free hand.]

Hey! Thanks for coming on such short notice.

[As promised, here he is, Kenma-free and sans any headphones of his own. He is wearing a tracksuit though, because it is fairly brisk in the mornings especially, even while running...which isn't entirely true, but sweat gets cold and it's just unpleasant over time.

Biology aside, he's dressed the part, fresh bedhead and all.]

Moooo~rning. It's about time you invited me to do something like this!

[He could have also done the same exact thing, but.]

[Daichi went a little less conservative--he got his Karasuno jacket back for being a good rose delivery person on Valentine's, but just long shorts for his legs. It's entirely possible he didn't think that through, but it's also motivation to keep moving. He won't notice the chill really unless he's standing still.]

Yeah? I thought so too, but I wanted to make sure you'd be able to keep up first.

[How has he determined this now? He hasn't, any more than he ever had anyway, but the spirit of mutual harassment is an important one. He's not as good at it as Kuroo or Bokuto, but he's trying.]

[Standing still like rn...does Daichi need Kuroo to warm his thighs...]

So you asked ahead of time?

[How thoughtful; Kuroo stifles a yawn against the heel of his palm, eyes dramatically glossing over in the process. He should've eaten a banana before coming out here. He'd suggest breakfast post-run if he hadn't been eating with Daichi at every opportunity ever.

And also, he left his wallet behind.]

[No, he needs to start running which he does as soon as Kuroo answers him.]

Well, yeah, but you'll have to prove it, too.

[Not that he actually has any doubts about it, but with a yawn like that maybe he should. Depending how they're feeling after, Daichi might see if he wants to grab a bite to eat and coffee. Especially coffee. They have some ground to cover before then, though, both through the park and otherwise.]

Is this too early for you?

[He'll be taking off after Daichi; it's not a race, he's just gotta keep level. Keep up the pace -- which isn't all that difficult, even at ass o'clock AM. He's been training like this for years. The same amount of years as Daichi, anyway, give or take here and there.]

We're right on schedule, actually.

[As proof, they'll probably see other athletes doing the same thing; just on the horizon, in the distance, little challenges everywhere...

Not that he needs more of a challenge; he's got plenty at his side.]

Are you worried about me?

[His legs are longer; odds are it'd be easy for him to leave Daichi in the dust, or at least make him work a lot harder to keep up. He'd do it either way. It's nice, though, just sharing the pace like this.]

Perfect. I've been running inside for most of the winter, it's good to be outside again.

[The question is unexpected enough to make him look over. Of all the things...

Or maybe Kuroo already noticed and this is his round about way of bringing it up.]

Should I be?

[Just let him warm up. Intense sprints are best saved for last, even if they're not competing. Not to mimic that shorty and his weird pal.

That alone is a deterrent, actually.]

It was safe to run out here when the sidewalks were shoveled.

[But uncomfortable. It'd always take a good twenty minutes just to warm up, too.]

Anyway, it's too early for that.

[He's not really in any hurry to push things. He's looking for more than just a jog, for sure, but outside means rises and falls and that's enough to get them both started anyway.]

As safe as it ever is here anyway. Twisted ankles aren't the only things to worry about. Besides, the sports center's nice enough.

[And warmer, and there're showers right there. Sure, it got a little boring, but that's where having the right company helped.]

Not really. Worrying about people's like a second or third job here.

[He faces directly ahead. This sucks.]

Suga's gone again.

[There's no argument to be had. Training indoors is definitely a lot safer when the seasons aren't cooperating, even if he's just arguing for the sake of doing so. Whatever stupidly smug expression he possesses falters slightly, though, as things progress. Worrying about people, that's suspicious. A sideglance suffices in place of an interjection, and then..]

-- Huh?

[He understands perfectly. Suga's gone; straightforward, cryptic..and while he was never particularly close to the guy himself, he's not an unfeeling asshole.]

Are you sure?

[He's never been on that side of being left behind, somehow. He was the one who disappeared last time and upon waking up, Bokuto had done the same -- but more efficiently.

The supplementary question, he already knows the answer to that too. It's more of an offering, inviting Daichi to confide a bit more if he so chooses.]

[Strangely, Daichi doesn't see it as cryptic. It's as straightforward a way of saying it as he can think of. Anything else might be misconstrued but 'gone' is a pretty pointed way to put it. Either way, though, Kuroo seems to understand.

He just nods when Kuroo asks if he's sure.]

It happened once before, too, with him, and he's hardly the only one. [Daichi's watched a lot of people come and go in the time he's been here. It's made it feel a lot longer than ten months.

He's quiet for a few more strides, waiting to see if Kuroo will ask and grateful when he doesn't. It makes it easier to want to talk about it, not having to couch it in terms of, 'are you all right?']

You can't ever really be ready for it, even though it happens all the time here. That sucks the worst. You never know when you're going to wake up without another chance to talk to somebody.

[And Daichi pauses again, gauging Kuroo's reaction.]

[Choice words are scant for this kind of thing. Sorry about that doesn't cover jack shit; when people take off, it's not necessarily something to mourn either -- other than the fact that all contact's been cut off until they decide to pop back in, or, theoretically, until it's time to go.

So he listens, quietly, though he feels like he's losing steam for this run, he presses on, hardly competing but remaining level. He's focused ahead, but attentive all the same. Daichi provides a few places for him to interject, but he relents.

You never know when you're going to wake up without another chance to talk to somebody.

That's really not so dissimilar from being back in Tokyo, back in wherever things were normal before this. He grins, but it lacks energy -- vivacity.]

All you have to do is wake up here and they give you a house. This place has been fishy right from the start. 'Your new home away from home', right? It's like we all signed up for some weird seminar, the lucky ones get to leave early.

[He offers a sideglance.]

Did you jack all his stuff yet?

[Step 1: be sad if you want. Step 2: take things.]

[Daichi's not fishing for sympathy with this, really. Waking up today and finding out Suga was gone again just drove something home that he's been thinking about for a couple of weeks now. He's thinking about it now too, aware of Kuroo running with him and of how he's slacked off a bit. It's not like Kuroo to go easy; he must be reacting to the change in atmosphere. Daichi feels a little bad about that, bringing the whole thing down, but he's not going to get anywhere by not bringing this up in the first place.

He nods when Kuroo talks about the weird nature of Holly Heights. It's never been normal here, never really been a place you could depend on. The comment about Suga's stuff makes him chuckle but there's little humor in it.]

He wasn't back long enough to get much stuff this time. His roommates can have it. It's not his stuff I'm thinking about, though.

[He's quiet while they round a turn, looking over at Kuroo when the path straightens again.]

This place lets you do stuff you'd never get to do at home. I fought a dragon with Suga. I'm living with Asahi. ... I made an ass of myself in front of you on Valentine's Day.

You took that seriously...

[It's mumbled, but audible. Now's a bad time to be fucking around, even if he's doing it with good intentions. Daichi mentions roomies, and he can only imagine them wanting to hand his stuff off to his teammates anyway -- unless the collection really was incredibly impersonal. Their eyes meet up until Daichi brings up Valentine's Day. Suddenly the path ahead is of utmost importance; it should've been in the first place anyway.]

Fighting dragons better not have a double meaning.

[What better way to pull away from the Valentine's Day subject and actually keep on track of Remembering Suga? By bringing up equally awkward implications that're focused elsewhere, obviously.]

[He knew it was a joke but Daichi's not completely in the mood to defend his dead-end sense of humor right now. He knows Kuroo didn't mean any harm by it, but he doesn't know what else to say right now other than to just answer honestly.

He's not surprised to suddenly be getting an eyeful of Kuroo's profile after he mentions Valentine's Day, but Kuroo's question actually earns a genuine laugh. Wow. Leave it to Kuroo...]

Nope. An actual dragon. Breathing fire and everything. I had a shield I could throw at it.

[Not exactly his fondest memory but also not something he's likely to forget, no matter how long he's here. This run isn't either, if he can just get himself through it.]

I wouldn't have gotten to share a Valentine's with you at home either, probably.

[~~it's so awkward when u have ur character sit out of fun events...why did i do that...i signed them up and everything~~.

You would think the dragon talk would be enough to draw the whole conversation into that direction; or at least keep things linear -- talk more about Suga, the inner-workings of Holly Heights and How Stuff Works. Philosophical introspection into the sunrise. Maybe if his bestie weren't so invested in video games and things of a similar nature, he wouldn't be so desensitized to talk of slaying hungry dragons.

He draws in a breath, unrelated to the run thus far, ambitious about pretending this is a normal convo.]

Wouldn't that have been better?

[For the better is what he meant, but uh.]

[Daichi'd like to pretend this was a normal conversation too. He's not about to drop all his thoughts on Kuroo because that'd be even worse than Valentine's, but when he woke up this morning and Suga was gone, the first thing he thought of was Rin's words. It was another reminder that even if this place is weird and has dragons and corgis in bowties and all kinds of other stuff going on, it's still a place nothing's permanent. It'll punish you if you waste time.]

Oh.

[Kuroo's answer gives him pause but Daichi's nothing if not determined. If this goes wrong, well, he already made a fool of himself once. At least it's under his own power this time.]

I don't know. Even if it wasn't how I would've wanted to say it, I still meant what I said.

b/d to march 1, early am

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