Tetsurou has been meowing for hours. Kenma would never miss an opportunity to laugh at him. Morisuke’s been trying to convince Tetsurou that cats can’t laugh, but Tetsurou knows. At least, with Kenma it’s pretty obvious.

But even with his ridiculous meows around his apartment, he can’t hear any faint purring in response. Kenma’s usually pretty good at taking care of himself – in fact, sometimes when Tetsurou is an hour late in remembering when Kenma is supposed to eat, a Kenma ends up getting out his food himself. So Tetsurou’s not too worried. His landlord might kill him if she finds Kenma, though.

He pulls out his computer while he eats his lunch. He opens up a new document to make a missing cat poster, but gets distracted by playing with the word art. By the time he prints out the poster, he’s put most of his dirty dishes away and is chewing gum as he goes to his home printer.

Tetsurou spends most of his afternoon hanging the posters up. He hums as he does it. Kenma will come back sooner or later, but there’s certainly a possibility that someone’s found him. Kenma’s impossible if he’s not around Tetsurou for too long. One time he had Yamamoto pet-sit him for a weekend and came back to find Yamamoto covered in scratches and cat poo.

Tetsurou goes to the edge of the block, wondering if he should pin the posters beyond it. The neighborhood’s pretty small, but only because he’d picked a suburb of Tokyo to work after high school. He does work in the city during the weekdays, but it’s a less than thirty minute commute that doesn’t get too hectic on the road. But Tetsurou’s lucky a lot. Aside from days like these, when he can’t find his pet.

He tells himself not to worry, and starts back to his apartment building. Kenma will be back – he can never resist cuddling with Tetsurou in bed (though he never lets Tetsurou witness it – just sometimes in the middle of the night he’ll wake up with a cat curled up on his stomach), or the bomb ass food Tetsurou always feeds him. Kenma will be back.

The first thing he wakes up to the next morning is his phone ringing.

Tetsurou pries his eyes open. They feel like dead weight, but his stomach is cold and without cat and that makes him a little more awake. His phone is still ringing, the sound of a duck quacking that Haiba had thought was funny and changed to one day. Tetsurou seriously needs to remember to change it back.

He picks up his phone from his bedside and looks at the caller ID. The number is unfamiliar, and isn’t from Tokyo.

“Hello?” he answers, and yawns.

The voice on the other end is cheerful.

“Hello! I saw your posters about your missing cat this morning and I want to tell you that I found him! I’m actually a few floors below you, do you want me to come bring him up?”

Tetsurou sighs in relief that Kenma had been in the building the whole time, and that he hadn’t gotten a call from his landlord about anyone complaining about a cat being in the building. His mother would be disappointed, even though technically living with her would be a shorter trip to and from his work.

It’s eight o’clock in the morning and Tetsurou’s used to waking up no earlier than noon. Still, he says, “Yes, I – well, you know where I live,” and the voice on the other end chirps, “I do! See you soon,” and hangs up.

Tetsurou wonders who in the world sounds that bright this early in the morning.

The buzzer at his door goes off a few minutes later. Tetsurou opens the door to see a tall guy – almost tall as he is – in a t-shirt and very short shorts. He’s sweating, like he’s just gone to the gym or something.

Curled around his ankles is Kenma, who immediately leaps at Tetsurou’s foot when he sees him.

“Hey!” Tetsurou says, and laughs as Kenma purposefully tangles himself in Tetsurou’s shoelaces. Kenma stares up at him reproachfully, and Tetsurou bends down. “Where’ve you been? You could’ve hurt me. I missed you.”

Kenma turns his head. But his ears twitch when Tetsurou rubs behind them.

“I know you missed me too,” he says fondly.

“He was a bit of a hassle,” says the guy. He scratches his messy brown hair, and Tetsurou stands back up. His eyes flicker across this guy’s features – he looks about Tetsurou’s age, and he’s also kind of. Really hot.

“Was he.” Tetsurou chuckles. “Kenma’s like that. I’m Kuroo Tetsurou, by the way.”

“Oikawa Tooru.”

“Do you.” Tetsurou hesitates. He thinks for a minute Oikawa might be busy right now – but it is eight in the morning, and the weekend. “Do you want to come in?”

“Sure,” Oikawa says.

Tetsurou steps out of the way, and Oikawa enters his apartment. He gazes around as Tetsurou shuts the door. “I didn’t know there was another university student in this building.”

“What? Oh, I’m not a university student,” says Tetsurou as he picks Kenma up.

Kenma is fat, and snuggles himself in Tetsurou’s arms immediately. He places his paws on Tetsurou’s shoulder and purrs as Tetsurou strokes him.

Oikawa turns around and says, “You’re not?” but then chuckles at the sight of Tetsurou with Kenma. His gaze is weirdly fond for someone Tetsurou has just met. “I tried to do that this morning. But your cat wouldn’t let me.”

“He’s stingy,” Tetsurou agrees. “You just have to be around him enough and you’ll get on his good side.”

Kenma pulls away and pats his paws on Tetsurou’s face. It’s almost affection, until he unsheathes his claws.

“Okay, letting you down,” says Tetsurou, and opens his arms.

Kenma hops down. He’s usually good with keeping his claws in and Tetsurou never bothered him to get declawed because of that. But that weekend with Yamamoto and Tetsurou’s been threatening it to him whenever Kenma misbehaves. Still, Kenma manages to use it as a threat sometimes.

“He’s cute,” Oikawa comments.

Kenma’s tail twitches as he heads towards Tetsurou’s bedroom.

“He’s a piece of shit,” Tetsurou says fondly.

“But anyway,” says Oikawa. “You’re not a university student? You look young, could’ve fooled anyone.”

“Not looking into university right now.” Tetsurou waves a hand. “I’ve already completed my undergraduate program, I’m working in the city. I take it you’re going there for grad?”

Oikawa nods. “But only a few times a week. I’ve got work, too, closer to this building.”

“Lots of hard work?” Tetsurou asks. “Is that why you’re up at ass-o’clock on a Sunday?”

Oikawa laughs. “I wake up early every day anyway,” he says. “Just my morning jog.”

“So you’re one of those guys.”

But Tetsurou’s smirking, too. Oikawa’s leaning against his kitchen counter, short shorts actually slightly distracting now that Tetsurou’s had the time to admire his full lower half, and. It’s.

“I’m about to eat breakfast,” says Tetsurou. “If you want to join me, help yourself.”

“I’ve already eaten,” says Oikawa. “But I don’t mind staying a little longer.”

They talk about university and work and Tetsurou’s obscure paintings that he bought as decorations from secondhand shops the first time he moved into his apartment. Then Tetsurou discovers that Oikawa’s from Miyagi, and Oikawa asks him what his favorite sport is, and it evolves into a discussion where Tetsurou ends up saying, “Yes, international football is fun to watch, but basketball – “

“Basketball is trash,” says Oikawa.

“I bet you’ve never seen a real game live, haven’t you? I’ll take you to a real game sometime. I promise.”

“What if I don’t want to go?”

Tetsurou huffs. “I’ll make you want to go.”

Then Kenma comes over and pees on Oikawa’s shoe and sock because he has needs, or attention problems, or whatever. Oikawa laughs and Tetsurou apologizes and Oikawa says, “Well I should probably get going anyway.”

As soon as he’s gone, Tetsurou says, “Kenma, what the hell?”

Kenma pees on him too, in response.

But he sticks by Tetsurou through the rest of the week. When he calls Morisuke to tell him about the ordeal, he says, “He missed me, even when he tries to deny it,” and ignores it when Morisuke tells him that cats can’t deny anything if Tetsurou can’t understand them. Kenma jumps into his lap as soon as he gets home from work and stays curled up there as Tetsurou dicks around on his computer, every evening that whole week. It kind of reminds Tetsurou how much of a cat person he is and why he’d gotten Kenma in the first place.

(He’s in his second year of undergrad, and it’s his first time living on his own outside of the dorms. He, Morisuke, Haiba, and Yamamoto are at the pet shelter in celebration.

“I want a cat,” Tetsurou declares, as Yamamoto wanders over to the naked mole rats.

“Me too,” Haiba says eagerly.

He gravitates towards an energetic little ball of orange fur in a large litter. Most of the cats are loud and whiny, despite how small they are. Tetsurou notices a mostly yellow and white one with a dark patch by its eye sitting quietly on the side.

He tells everyone it’d been love at first sight, even though he’d ended up with a small scratch on his face and Kenma may have been pouting. But the shelter owner had said that no one had ever gotten that close to him with such a minor injury before, so Tetsurou had called it a good day.)

He gets home early on Friday, and Kenma pads over to him as soon as he opens the door. Kenma leads him to the living room, and tugs out Tetsurou’s one and only gaming system, by the tv. Tetsurou laughs and says, “Fine, fine, I’ll play.” He sets it up and then sits on his couch, Kenma crouching upside down next to him.

Tetsurou’s phone rings as he presses his controller buttons aggressively, trying to defeat his enemies. “Hello?” he says, putting his phone between his shoulder and his ear.

Oikawa laughs on the other end. “Is that gaming I hear in the background?”

“Shush.” Tetsurou sticks his tongue out and manages to kill his enemy with a bazooka on the television screen. “I’m surprised you kept my number.”

“Actually, I was calling to see how Kenma was doing.”

Tetsurou rolls his eyes. Kenma’s now leaning on his lap, trying to reach for the controllers. He’s tries to play Tetsurou’s video games before, but not having opposable thumbs or proper hand-eye coordination for a television screen kind of hinders a cat’s ability to play them.

“I can’t believe you’re only interested in me for my cat,” he says, and hears Oikawa chuckle on the other end. “He’s doing well. He’s actually the one playing right now, believe it or not.”

“I believe it,” Oikawa says seriously. “And. Well. Your cat’s not that interesting.”

Tetsurou scoffs, but he grins. “I beg to differ.”

“I tend to find humans more interesting than cats,” says Oikawa. “Bye, Kuroo-chan.”

No one really calls him that, but Oikawa makes it sound like he likes him, and. Tetsurou says, “I do the same. Goodbye, Oikawa,” and feels sort of giddy, sort of ridiculous, when he hangs up the phone.

This time it’s Wednesday. Tetsurou is by some miracle up at eleven thirty and making his lunch when his phone rings, and looks at the caller ID before he picks up.

He’d put Oikawa’s number in his phone, because it’d just be weird if Oikawa was the only one with his number. He’d told himself that if Oikawa didn’t call or text him by the end of the week, he’d do it himself. Oikawa’s actually texted him a couple of times after he’d called that one time, mostly with, This sports drama reminded me of you~ n_n and alright, but football will always be superior. Tetsurou’s glad that they can at least agree that baseball is boring.

He picks up and says, “Hello?” He continues to fry his vegetables.

“Hello! I’ve got some time between my classes so I decided to call you.”

Tetsurou laughs. “Wondering how Kenma is again?”

“Of course,” Oikawa says. Tetsurou doesn’t believe his tone of voice, but lets it slide.

He glances into the living room, where Kenma is perfectly balanced on a ball of yarn, staring intently at the television screen. Perhaps he’s trying to hone his sight skills so he can play video games properly. “He’s doing well,” Tetsurou says. “I wish I never taught him how to turn on the tv.”

Oikawa laughs. Tetsurou can hear the busyness of the city around him, on the other end. But he’s not out of breath, seems to be pacing himself.

Tetsurou asks, “How much time do you have between your classes?”

“About an hour or so,” says Oikawa. “Why?”

“Do you want to come over?”

Oikawa is in a jacket and a button-up t-shirt when Tetsurou opens the door, not at all like the t-shirt and shorts he’d been in earlier. Tetsurou has to give himself a second. Then he remembers he’s wearing an apron.

Oikawa doesn’t comment on it, but Tetsurou can see his eyes linger. Tetsurou says, “I don’t want to keep you,” as Oikawa takes his shoes off by the door.

“It’s alright,” says Oikawa. “I don’t mind gracing you with my presence.”

Tetsurou raises an eyebrow, but he laughs. “Right,” he says, and returns to his food.

Oikawa rests his elbows forward on the counter as he watches Tetsurou cook. He’s taken his jacket off and put it on the dining room chair. He looks comfortable.

Tetsurou says casually, “If you’re into me, you don’t have to ask me about my cat.”

He turns, and Oikawa blinks. Oikawa actually looks thrown off, and Tetsurou smirks to himself.

“Who said I was into you?” Oikawa asks.

His tone is lying. He’s as easy to read as Kenma, and Kenma’s a cat. Kenma’s also still staring at the tv in the living room, and Tetsurou says, “Turn that off, will you?” because his hands are oily.

Oikawa does, frowning as he comes back. Tetsurou washes his hands and says, “Do you want to go out for coffee?”

Oikawa is still staring at him.

“Unless you have to leave sooner than I thought,” says Tetsurou. “Then we can schedule some other time. If it’s during the weekday, I can’t go for any meal earlier than lunch. Actually, scratch that. Any day I can’t go for a meal earlier than lunch.”

Oikawa seems to have regained his composure. He pulls his arms back from Tetsurou’s table, but he smiles, like he’s won something.

“I’ve never met someone like you, Kuroo-chan,” he says.

“Please,” says Tetsurou. “Just call me Kuroo.”

“Kuroo,” Oikawa agrees. “And yes, I can’t stay for too long. But I’d love to go for coffee sometime this week. I’ll text you when I’m free.”

“Excellent,” says Tetsurou, and Oikawa smiles.

Oikawa is unsurprisingly a good kisser. Tetsurou suspects Oikawa thinks the same of him.

“Am I a good kisser?” he asks, when he has Oikawa backed up against his kitchen counter and they break apart from licking into each other’s mouths.

Oikawa grins and kisses the corner of his mouth. “Figure that out yourself,” he says.

Tetsurou laughs. He hears a meowing from somewhere below them, and glances down to see Kenma winding his large body around both of their ankles. He’s begging for attention. Tetsurou rubs his foot against Kenma’s side, and then against Oikawa.

“You’re just like him,” he tells Oikawa.

Oikawa pouts. “But am I better?” he asks.

Kenma snarls from somewhere below them. Tetsurou’s too busy kissing Oikawa to know exactly where, and starts dragging them away when he hears Kenma unsheathe his claws.

“We should probably head to my bed before I answer that question,” he says.

Oikawa’s laugh echoes around the apartment before Tetsurou shuts his bedroom door.

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keen on you

by aroceu

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© 2009-2026 aroceu