Get into the van, kiddo.

[captaincatblock]

[Peace is a funny thing. It's been teased and denied for so long that now that it's happening, it's almost weird. He'd missed most of the drama with the princess and her traitorous Terran Knight -- not that he's fully convinced of it, but if it gains them this peace, then he won't question it -- but he had been returned to his kin as Earth's first peace offering.]

[Kuroo hadn't been too happy about that, hadn't even had the time to say good bye to Tsukki after being whisked away by a couple of generals and then thrown into political chaos. But he had endured it, because he knew that eventually, the princess would get to the small issue of Kuroo's kataphrakt and how he intends to spend his time on Earth. He could be a diplomat, he'd offered, or teach his fellow Versians about Terrans, since he's learned a lot. Anything, he had added meaningfully, if he allowed him to keep his landing castle close to Earth if not entirely on its soil.]

[He'd gotten some leeway in the end, after weeks of endless talks, so here he is now striding into the hanger where they kept his mech, in full Count regalia. Oddly enough, he only has Terran escorts with him, and they back away well enough when he reaches his destination.

Tsukki? Oiii, I'm looking for your mechanic, Tsukishima Kei. [first he calls out, and then just outright asks someone to find Tsukki for him]

Comments

[hellacene]

[tsukki just gives him a look at his words and says nothing, but he does roll his eyes at the statement. considering kuroo went back for him just to show him the stars and to make him live with him, however, he's not discounting the fact that he's dead serious about what he said too.

akiteru and his mom are grateful and they go over the instructions for how this thing works. tsukki busies himself in the kitchen, setting the table for everyone and making coffee.]

[captaincatblock]

[Kuroo demonstrates how it works -- they end up making a call to, thankfully, Kai, who's polite and looks very reliable as always.]

[He sniffs the air in the middle of the last instructions -- ah!] It's that traitorous drink, isn't it? [And then he succeeds in making the other two laugh at his story of his first ever palpitation through caffeine.]

[hellacene]

I'll fill your cup with more milk than sugar instead of coffee.

[a bastardized version of a latte. it's not exactly something he approves of, but at least it'll get kuroo through the day.

the rest of the morning passes in relative calm, up to the point where tsukki has to leave and his mom starts crying again and akiteru tries not to cry and tsukki feels overwhelmed with all of them. there are more hugs. his mom goes to kuroo and gives him a nice hug too, and akiteru thumps him on the back with some reminders to tsukki about calling every now and then.]

[captaincatblock]

[Kuroo takes it all in stride, although he's a little energetic from the latte. He hugs Tsukki's mom nicely and thanks her for the books, and sincerely tells Akiteru that they should talk more, and then he bows to the both of them with a slight flourish, promising to call when they get back to the castle. All in all, it's something of an affair, leaving the Tsukishima household.]

I like your family. [smiles at Tsukki once they're in the car.]

[hellacene]

[tsukki just nods. he's a bit sad about leaving them, but he has to make a decision as to where he'll go - and he already has. leaving was always the hardest part of anything anyway.

he doesn't want to admit it yet, but he's had a lot of fun with kuroo in space despite the short time he was up there than the time he had been working in the military during the war. for someone who was never invested with a whole lot beyond wanting to be as close to the stars as possible and not wanting to be left behind anymore .... the whole thing is too much for him.]

[captaincatblock]

[Kuroo glances at him, then pulls him under an arm so that Tsukki is leaning on his chest.] You're quiet. Are you all right?

[Tsukki must be sad about leaving his home, after all, even with all the ways that he can still visit. Kuroo's never been really homesick in his life until after they took him away from Earth, so he can barely understand it. It's exciting, though, having Tsukki with him becoming a reality.]

[hellacene]

[tsukki nods.] It's just odd to leave them .... I've been with my family for so long.

But, well, it was a matter of time before I left I guess. So maybe I shouldn't be so surprised at how things ended.

I'm just glad things went well, in the end.

[captaincatblock]

[rubs his arm] I'm glad you wanted to stay with me enough to fight them for it. But they seemed like they were going to let you go for your happiness from the start, so there is that. They're good people.

We're going to have a lot of fun in space, I promise. [cheeky grin]

[hellacene]

[at least he'll have a decent wardrobe now. and if the acoustics in the castle are good, they'd have one hell of a video game night.]

After all you've promised them, we'd better.

[but he doesn't doubt that, not at all.]

[captaincatblock]

I only make promises I intend to keep. [but...] Is there anywhere else you'd like to go? Other people to call on?

[hellacene]

Maybe Yamaguchi, but .... out of all the people I know, he's probably the one who'll be the least surprised about everything else.

[a sigh.] He knows me too well.

[captaincatblock]

I'm kind of interested in meeting him. He sounds like a good kid, if he's taken care of you so well. [Kuroo's not as nervous about the prospect of meeting him at least. Surely Tsukki's friend would know better about their relationship? Any friend of Tsukki's must be very understanding.]

[hellacene]

He's put up with me since we were kids. [he tries to text yamaguchi to ask him where he is at the moment so they can drop by.] The general consensus is that he's too good for me.

[captaincatblock]

[laughs] I'm sure he has his wicked ways as well, if he's your friend. Besides, you're not that bad. A little prickly, maybe...

[hellacene]

[yamaguchi replies to him in a series of texts that he's more or less out to lunch and can meet with them for an hour in downtown. he shows kuroo the address of the restaurant he was eating at.]

We can stop for that, before we head off somewhere else.

[captaincatblock]

[Oh. Terrans are very spontaneous with their schedules, aren't they? Kuroo shows the direction to their driver, who inputs it into their version of a GPS device.]

Is there anything I need to know for this one?

[hellacene]

No. If you're with me and my brother thinks you're okay, then he's fine with it.

[annoyed - ] He's probably going to be happy.

[that he stopped complaining about kuroo leaving him without notice, or that he stopped taking out his anger on people about it.]

[captaincatblock]

[Raises an eyebrow.] Why do you look annoyed about that?

[hellacene]

Because he's known me since we were little.

[he knows too much and doesn't shut up, god.

they arrive in time at the restaurant. since they just ate, tsukki really isn't that hungry. yamaguchi welcomes them happily, taking a great interest in kuroo while tsukki orders a parfait for himself.]

[captaincatblock]

[Kuroo takes a healthy interest in Yamaguchi, too. Mostly he sizes Tsukki's friend up, as Yamaguchi lets him in his sweet, baffled way. Yamaguchi asks about their plans, Kuroo answers. While Yamaguchi seems surprised at the suddenness, he's more interested in the logistics of it. No protests at all, since it's not entirely unexpected. He had never seen Tsukki that way for anyone, after all, in the years they were friends.]

[They seem to settle into a silent, respectful, mutual understanding of each other's roles in Tsukki's life, which is to say, they get along fine.]

[Yamaguchi also introduces Kuroo to the idea of soggy fries. Kuroo doesn't really know what to think of this weird food, except it tastes good when dipped in Tsukki's parfait.]

[hellacene]

[which tsukki will take issue in. it's his dessert, dammit.

all in all, the conversation goes a lot better than the first time that things went in his household, which he re-tells again to yamaguchi for laughs, now, but during that time it was terrifying. yamaguchi stresses onto tsukki to take care - and tells kuroo to keep an eye on him, especially when he gets too quiet, because tsukki totally sucks at talking and is sometimes a lot more insecure about a lot of things than he should be. ("yamaguchi.") he talks a lot. he gets told to shut up a lot but he laughs it off and tsukki just shakes his head, but he wants to make sure kuroo knows a lot about tsukki too and it's all very friendly with him.]

[captaincatblock]

[All the bits of information Yamaguchi offers are very appreciated, although some of them Kuroo knows for himself as well. They did spend a lot of time with each other before, and Kuroo is the renown king of provocation.]

[Kuroo sort of wants to apologize to these people for taking Tsukki away, but then he doesn't really regret it. So instead, he's nice to Yamaguchi, and promises to send him his own tablet to talk to Tsukki with, and extends an open invitation to him to visit anytime (just send for someone to pick you up). He also promises to take care of Tsukki, again in that joking but serious way of his.]

[Kuroo at some point also makes his excuses to go to the toilet or talk to his men, so the two friends can have a few minutes alone.]

[hellacene]

[most of their talk ends up being terse and short - tsukki doesn't like talking too much about things, after all, he only goes in-depth in how he was kidnapped and what the people he's seen are like so far. yamaguchi teases him about having a super rich boyfriend. to which tsukki replies that, of course, he can only have the best if he's going all out.

when kuroo returns, tsukki's ready to go. yamaguchi gives him a hug, which he returns awkwardly, and then congratulates kuroo again.]

[captaincatblock]

[Kuroo learned this thing from Yamamoto called a high five, which he enacts with a fairly amused Yamaguchi, and then he's walking back to the car with Tsukki.]

I like your friend. He looks reliable. [leans back in his seat, as they head back to the base to get picked up this time.]

[hellacene]

He always is.

[when they're walking back, however, he tugs kuroo to the direction of a bookstore.]

Yamamoto would like those. [points at a rack of mags, filled with all the girls he could possibly think of. the high-five reminded him of that, because who else in the castle other than lev would know about that kind of thing?]