#idektbh

In one sense, he wishes things could have continued the way they had. He wishes that Kuroo could have continued surprising him with things that seem mediocre or absurd and turning out to be some of the best days that Keiji has been able to experience. Still, he feels like his plan for a nice romantic date has fallen a little too close to being a cliche for the season. The only upside to it all is that Keiji has at least taken them out of the city for it. He's spent so much money and taken up so much of their time just to get here which is probably the main cause of his stress. If Kuroo doesn't like it, then here they are stuck two hours outside of Tokyo with nothing better to do. There are probably better things to do. Keiji is sure that with enough time Kuroo would be able to find something to do to make up for the time but he really wants this to be successful. He wants himself to be successful.

And realistically, taking Kuroo out for hanami seems is a pretty tame date. Keiji is worried and stressed but there's not a lot that can go wrong.

The sun is shining, the paths are crowded, and from where they look down over the city, the blossoms dance in the breeze to the tune of hushed voices and the shutter of cameras.

It's a bit more crowded than he would like, but Keiji is happy to be here, he's happy that he has Kuroo here with him. Hopefully, Kuroo is happy too because once they reach a break in the path Keiji is quick to drop Kuroo's hand to pull up his own camera and add to the noise of the day.

Kuroo doesn't mind. He never really minds. Since he was first the muse for one of Keiji's assignments he's enjoyed the few moments since where he gets to be seen through the lens. Sometimes Keiji has Kuroo help him with lighting or placement, sometimes Keiji even mounts Kuroo's shoulder to take a picture from a higher vantage point, something always met with you only like me for my shoulders and well, there's more than one good use for Kuroo's shoulders, the statement is not entirely wrong. If he had to pick something he usually focuses on other aspects of Kuroo's body with his shots, but his shoulders are still nice.

He smiles for the camera, and Keiji's own is hidden behind the bulky camera is his hands as he takes the picture. Kuroo surrounded by pink and white and Keiji holds his finger on the shutter. He waits for the smile forced on his face to settle into something more natural, softer. He keeps the shutter down even as Kuroo pulls away from looking back to look out over the view that they're offered. This is, after all, part of why they're here. It's meant to be one of the nicest places in the country for this season. It's a date on the surface, and beneath the surface, Keiji is hoping to get prints for their bare walls in their new home. Everything will be of Kuroo, which he will hate, but Keiji loves.

Keiji shivers as the wind picks up and with what can only be supernatural powers Kuroo is back at his side, seating him to a table, and buying the both of them tea to warm up.

"I don't like sakura tea," Keiji says, ignoring both the cup on the table and Kuroo's face at the words. Instead, he flicks through the pictures on his camera. Some of them are nice, some of them are not, a few of them show blossoms caught up in Kuroo's hair that he hadn't even noticed at the time. He notices them now, still there, trapped in the mess of Kuroo's hair, pulled into an even more ridiculous style now that it has been attacked by wind and petals. He doesn't pull them out. He doesn't say anything. He leaves them be. "Have you ever had it before?" He's curious as to why Kuroo bought it.

"I've never had it before, it sounded good." This sounds good. Keiji switches settings on his camera and shifts his hand to cover the flashing light to say that it's recording. He looks at the screen and mimics searching through pictures while he watches Kuroo sniff tentatively at the drink in his hand. He's curious now, Keiji knows, curious as to why Keiji doesn't like this thing. He keeps in his laugh at the face Kuroo pulls at the first sip and wonders what it is he sees in this person as despite the agony painted across his features Kuroo takes a second sip.

"Were you expecting it to get better?"

"No," Kuroo says, placing the cup back down on the table. The blossoms sit innocently atop steaming water and on his screen Keiji captures the accusing glare Kuroo casts the drink. "I thought maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but seriously, why does it taste like the ocean?"

It's difficult to shrug without upsetting the delicate balance of the camera but Keiji tries. "You're not going to waste the drink are you? It'll warm you up." Kuroo only shifts his glare from the cup on the table to Keiji.

"You're filming," he says, not a question, he kicks lightly at Keiji's leg beneath the table. "What do I get if I drink them both?"

"I'll buy you another."

"That's not much incentive."

Keiji half shrugs again. There's not much to give him. There's not much he's after. This is simply a game. He wants to see if he can bring out the playfully competitive side in Kuroo without needing a third party around to initiate it. "Dinner too."

"I thought you were already buying me dinner? Isn't this supposed to be a date?"

"It doesn't have to be a good date."

Kuroo huffs and eyes the drink again. "This better be the best date ever." It won't be, but Keiji is happy knowing that at some point in the future he will have this video to look back on - Kuroo's face full of pain to drink a simple two cups of tea. He probably shouldn't enjoy torturing Kuroo so much, but it's an innocent form of torture. Keiji knows that Kuroo has done much worse in his life. Comparatively, this is nothing.

After another nonseasonal cup of tea to cleanse Kuroo's palate they move up the path again. Hands clasped, it is Kuroo who leads the way this time. Parting the crowd with ease what with his tall frame and unfriendly appearance.

At the next break in the path, Keiji lets go of Kuroo's hand as soon as they can see the viewing area off to the side. 

It's beautiful. The mountains rise on the other side of the small city below them and here, now, with the sakura blooming all around them, the city is bathed in pastel. The soft pink of the petals, the new green of rolling meadows, growing deeper as it heads up the mountains to meet with the bright blue of the sky. His camera doesn't do justice to the world in front of his eyes, but he tries to capture it anyway.

"The countryside is nice," Kuroo whispers against his ear. The words tickle with his soft breath, matching the moment and their surroundings. All too pure to be real.

"It's beautiful," Keiji adds. All his life, all he has known are the steel towers and concrete buildings of Tokyo. They are his home, he can find his way through all kinds of back alleys and hidden passageways; sheltered always from the vast sky by the structures around him. To see so much space is almost foreign. The buildings he loves tell the stories of the people who live within them, the colours of the world before him here remind Keiji that the place in which they live is a part of something so much bigger, so much greater, than anyone can comprehend.

He's stuck staring. Trying to burn the image into his mind to remember even when he leaves, even when he's back home he wants this picture to come back and remind him that the world is so much more than the bubble he's willingly trapped himself inside.

"You're thinking too loud," Kuroo says, he twists them around and manoeuvres the camera withing Keiji's hands. He lifts both their arms and twists the camera from Keiji's grip. It snaps a picture that is sure to be a mess of colour. Kuroo knows Keiji will keep it anyway. The original as well as something that he will try to edit down to something that actually looks like them. "Let's go eat," an easy few words to get Keiji to follow him on and up towards the food stalls.

They stand at a stand for far too long deliberating what to get before Keiji points out the five pack of dango, seasonally flavoured once more, and carries the box over to an empty table to eat. Kuroo looks surprised when Keiji swipes the sakura jam dango from the box as soon as it's opened. This is different to the tea. Sakura dango is not salty, it's the sweet taste he expects with the aroma of flowers added on. This is different to the tea, in which it is actually nice. Keiji does hand the stick over for Kuroo to savour the last bite. After that, the other four sticks are quick to be consumed. Here they sit, and they watch, and Keiji lets Kuroo flick through the pictures, and Keiji lets Kuroo point the camera back at him, a taste of his own medicine.

Instead of walking back down the path, Keiji leads them into the cable car. This is nicer than the walk, almost, it's different. It takes them down the steep side of the mountain and they are submerged beneath a canopy of pink as the cherry trees loom above them. Keiji can only film the ride through the window, and in his ear, Kuroo remarks that it's a wasted opportunity for the car not to have a glass ceiling. Keiji agrees. It would really complete the experience. Almost three hundred and sixty degrees of petals dancing in the wind and waving through the air. It's more than nice enough already, but it's different knowing that there could still be more.

Lunch is one of the only things Keiji has booked for them. It's nothing extravagant. Just a full course late lunch at a local restaurant. That's what he's told Kuroo anyway. That way Keiji can enjoy the look on his face as each of the meals components are brought out. There are only two other places set at the restaurant, a divider separates them all from each other. It makes things more intimate. Romantic, is what Keiji is hoping for. They lock ankles under the table as they eat. It's not the most comfortable way to sit but Keiji enjoys the casual touching. It's not intrusive, nobody can see, it's only for them. It's what he enjoys.

They stop by a bakery on the way back to their room. Keiji doesn't have meal plans for later in the day. That's the point of the late lunch. Kuroo picks out bread and cakes and Keiji adds some of his own pastries to the tray to purchase. They get dropped off while they stop to change into warmer clothes for their nighttime outing. 

The colours no longer exist, but Keiji thinks this is nicer. There are fewer people around now, those who came just for the day have left and those who remain are the few who like them, have chosen to stay for the night. The path up the mountains is lit up with bright white lights and each tree is decorated with lights as well, some more than others. They light up the petals, they look like snow settled on the trees more than they look like flowers. With the cold, clear night, the stars shining brighter than he's ever seen above and the pale petals drifting through the night it no longer feels like spring. It feels like a different time, like the wrong season. Keiji feels like he should be counting bells in the distance not counting out the time it takes for the petals to fall. 

He stands with Kuroo at the top of the hill where it looks like half a festival. The stalls are lit up to match the view, but Keiji and Kuroo do not purchase anything this time. They find a quiet space to stand. Silence accompanies them, but it is welcome. The night is cold, but it's warm in Kuroo's hands, and Keiji appreciates the world he's been given on his own this time. No camera, no phone, only the boy he's brought with him. It's been a nice way to spend the weekend, and this is only day one. Tomorrow Keiji doesn't have plans but he is confident in their ability to find something else to do. He would be content to once more watch the petals fall through the sky, so much like snow, so different to the park he's used to viewing the blossoms from.

"Thank you for bringing me here, this was nice." Keiji leans back into Kuroo's weight behind him.

Keiji leans back into Kuroo's warm weight behind him. "That was the plan."

Kuroo huffs a breath and Keiji follows it's path as it fans out in front of him. "It's colder than I thought it would be, though."

"I'm not cold." Keiji isn't cold, but he's sure that evidence of the cold is present on him. In red cheeks, in frosty fingers, in the pale flecks that fall from the sky and settle in his hair only to be brushed aside by the warm hands of his own personal heater.