Chapter Text
Hinata held his mother's book of contacts in his hand, and opened to the ‘U’ section. He’d been staring at Ushijima’s number for an embarrassing amount of time, with his phone gripped tightly in his other hand. Squeezing his eyes shut for a good solid ten seconds, he took a deep breath and snapped them back opened them. Still no bravery.
He sighed and opened the messaging app on his phone. He scrolled through his long list of friends, and eventually settled on Yachi, who gave very good advice (and was also the most likely of his friends to be awake at 6:30 in the morning).
From Hinata:
how do you force your body to move when there’s no volleyball?
He saved Ushijima's number as 'Japan' and put the contact book away while he waited for her response. True to form, she responded within a few seconds.
From Yachi:
What do you mean? Also, what are you doing up at 6:30, Hinata-san?
From Hinata:
couldn't sleep last night!!! when I'm on the court, I just move. I don't think about it, I'm not nervous my body just moves!!! how do I do that when it's not volleyball?
From Yachi:
Oh, I understand! I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer that though, I'm not so good at getting past my anxiety and doing things?
From Hinata:
but you confessed to Kiyoko didn't you???
To Hinata:
Well yes, but I didn't do it in person. I wrote her a letter. Are you trying to tell someone how you feel? Maybe you could do something like that?
From Hinata:
s orta . a nd im trying!!! but its not a letter, its a text, bc I want to see him in person, so im asking him out, or trying too?
To Hi nata:
Hmm. I'm still not sure how helpful I can be, but whenever I'm unsure of what to do, I take a deep breath, and jot down an outline for how I want things to go! First, you set your end goal. What do you want to get out of this? Next, you break that goal into small, simple steps. It helps to write down in detail how your going to execute those steps. I find that with each little step I tick off, I feel motivated to keep going, because I already made progress! I hope any of that was helpful! Good luck! Keep me updated!!!
From Hinata:
ok!!! i'll try that! thank you!!!
Even if it still felt a little like stalling, Hinata optimistically went back to his room and sat at his underused desk. Pulling out a pad of yellow paper and a pen, he got to work.
Goal: Get Ushijima to date me!!!
He stared down at it and frowned. That wasn't what he meant to write. He meant to write something like 'find out how Japan feels about me,' but his hand had a mind of it's own. Hinata went to cross it out but he hesitated. Was there a reason why that couldn't be the goal?
Maybe it's not all that realistic...but neither is Ushijima being my babysitter in the first place, so I'm keeping it , Hinata thought to himself.
Step 1: write down Ushijima’s number.
He put a little check by that.
Step 2: text Ushijima to go to the park. Be causal!
Step 3: pick outfit
Step 4: Get to the park
Step 5: Ask why Ushijima kissed him and left???
Hinata bite his lip at the last part. There wasn't a causal way to ask that. He couldn't think of any way, even a non-nonchalant way to ask, because, truthfully he was scared of Ushijima saying that Hinata misunderstood or that he was just curious. Maybe bedtime kisses were a weird regional thing in Ushijima's district? It seemed like someone would have mentioned that at some point, but he figured that people mentioned a lot of things to him, and he usually didn't remember them. He crossed that part out.
Step 5: Have a nice day in the park with Ushijima.
He sighed. That still felt off, but at the rate he was going, he was going to lose the sunlight.
Step one was already done, so next was step two. He looked at step two, notepad and phone in hand. He clicked on Ushijima’s number and stared at the blinking cursor. He placed the notepad down.
To Ushijima:
hi!!!
Nope, three explanation marks wasn't casual.
To Ushijima:
hey! do you want to go on a
He deleted that one very quickly.
To Ushijima:
hey! wanna go to park S today?
He read the message over. It sounded casual, and no dumb typos. His thumb hovered over the send button. Would Ushijima know it was him? What if he just deleted the message and blocked him because he didn't recognize the sender? He quickly erased that message too.
Looking down at his blank message, he watched the cursor blink. His heart beat seemed just as fast. Hinata took one last deep breath before squeezing his eyes shut and typing. Just like when he used to spike with his shut. That worked okay for a little while, didn't it? He didn't open his eyes before slamming his thumb down on the send button, he had to do it before he lost his nerve. After a few seconds, he slowly opened his eyes.
To Ushijima:
hey! ItsHinata! Do you want to go to th park S today?
He cringed at the typos. Actually, the whole message looked dumb; why did he think eyes screwed shut would be a good idea again?
Oh well. At least it sounded nonchalant. He sighed and slid off his bed to complete step 3. Rummaging through his dresser drawers, he managed to find a pair of plain, clean jeans; he tossed them on his bed. Next, he dug through his closet in search of a shirt. He pulled down a light blue t-shirt, along with a green tie dye shirt and the formal navy blue button down shirt his mom made him wear around relatives. He took selfies of him wearing all of them and sent them all to Kenma, who had surprisingly good fashion sense despite not having an interest in it himself. Also, he figured Kenma would also be up, not because he was a morning person, but he was a ‘stay up until 6:30 in the morning playing video games’ kind of person.
He got a response back quickly.
From Kenma:
Why did you send me these?
To Kenma:
bc I need help choosing one for a maybe date!
From Kenma:
A maybe date?
From Kenma:
Go with the light blue one. It contrasts with your hair color.
To Kenma:
kk! thanks!!!
To Kenma:
well. I don't know how he feels, but I'm going to try to find out, at the park today!!!
He dropped his phone on his bed and hung the other two shirts back up. His phone buzzed. Twice.
From Kenma:
Good luck.
From Ushijima:
Yes. What time?
His mouth popped open. He texted back! Ushijima texted him back!
He decided to respond with his eyes open this time. His fingers were just a jittery as his heart but he managed to slowly type out a typo free yet calm sounding message.
To Ushijima:
at 9? near the ice cream stand? :)
From Ushijima:
Okay. See you then.
Hinata’s eyes widened and he let out a out a mix between a ‘gwahh’ and a ‘whoop’! He said yes! For a second he considered sending another text back, but decided to play it cool instead and went to take a shower. He used his bubble gum scented shampoo for good measure and the soap that smelled like candy. Next he toweled his hair dry and then fluffed it back up with leave in conditioner. He quickly got dressed and went back to his room to check the time. 6:42.
Oh. Turns out it doesn't take 3 hours to get ready. Hinata pouted and flopped back onto his bed. He decided pass time with volleyball match videos on YouTube. It was a long three hours.
When it was finally time, Hinata got to the park an hour early, and it was probably the only non-volleyball thing he'd ever been early to. He was so sure getting there a whole hour early would guarantee him that he was there first, making him look cool and collected, which is why he almost had a stroke when he saw Ushijima standing at the ice cream stand. His back was to him, at least. Hinata froze for a second, then quickly grabbed fistfuls of his hair to fluff it up, and smoothed down his shirt. He took a deep breath. And then three more.
Hinata walked up and bounced onto his toes to tap Ushijima on the shoulder. He turned around suddenly.
Hinata’s heart stopped. He looked a little different than he did yesterday, his hair looked darker and a little shinier, which made his eyes look glow-y. He was dressed cool too, in a clingy forest green t-shirt and casual cargo pants that showed off his muscular calves. Hinata went red and dropped his eyes to the ground. Stunned, he wondered if he also asked a friend how to dress, and if so did that make it a date?
“ Hinata Shoyo. Hello,” Ushijima said, pulling Hinata out of his thoughts.
“ Japan Wakatoshi ! Hi!” he repeated back, then quickly wished he hadn't. “You’re really early! Wait, it is nine right?” Hinata said, twisting around to look at the fancy black clock tower at the center of the park.
“ I’m pretty sure it’s nine. Actually, I'm not great at telling time on those kinds of clocks.”
He clamped his mouth shut suddenly. Why did he tell Ushijima that?
Ushijima offered him a small smile. “It is nine. I wanted to be on time. You're here early as well.”
“ Oh. Well, yeah, I guess I am.”
Ushijima nodded once. “Do you want ice cream?”
“ Oh yeah!” he said excitedly, turning his attention to the cute little ice cream cart and the woman behind with shiny black hair. She smiled at them shyly.
There wasn't a ton of flavors or toppings, but Hinata still couldn't choose. All four flavors looked really good, and he didn't discriminate when it came to ice cream. Or food of any kind.
“ Gah, sorry, everything just looks good…,”
“ It's fine . Make sure you get what you want.”
“ Mmmph,” he mumbled, blushing and turning back to the glass ice cream cases. Ushijima was so nice, it just took a while to notice it. Were there signs before? “I guess I’ll have...strawberry with sprinkles?”
“ Two scoops or one?” the woman asked quietly.
“ T-,” he glanced at Ushijima nervously, “um, one please.”
She nodded and started scooping out the ice cream. “And for you?”
“ Just one scoop of chocolate please.”
“ That will be 848 yen,” the woman said when they both got their ice cream.
Hinata carefully held his ice cream cone out in front of him and started to fish through his pockets but Ushijima shook his head.
“ I'll pay ,” he said, swiftly pulling out his wallet from one of his many pockets.
“ Oh, it's okay, I brought money!”
He shook his head again. “I want to.”
I wish I could spike as fast as my heart is beating , Hinata thought, withdrawing his hand from his pocket.
“ O-okay. Thanks.” he mumbled.
He nodded and payed.
“ Do you want to go sit over there?” he said, sliding his wallet back into his pocket and pointing to a wooden bench a little ways down the park’s bike trail.
“ Okay !”
Ushijima immediately strode off towards the bench. Hinata paused for a second. He could’ve sworn that the ice cream lady gave him a quick thumbs up before turning to her new customer. Like, a good luck charm? Hinata blinked and then rushed to catch up with him. Since he got there first, Ushijima sat down, and Hinata unthinkingly sat down next to him. Gahh, that's too close! He didn't even notice how close he was to Ushijima until a second too late. Ushijima didn't say anything.
Neither of them did, for at least five awkward minutes while they ate. The silence felt thicker than the ice cream to Hinata.
“ Uhhm, thanks for setting up the wifi password,” he said, suddenly recalling the sticky note he found on the internet box earlier that morning. It read: password: ace10 .
“ It was no problem. You should have done it years ago.”
Hinata huffed and went back to eating his ice cream. They fell back into that awkward silence that made strawberry ice cream taste slightly more bitter than it usually did. He finished eating quicker than Ushijima did, so he did his best to wait patiently for him to finish, keeping his eyes straight forward and swinging his legs.
Apparently he only managed to do the last thing.
“ You keep staring at me. Again.”
Hinata jumped. “No! I wasn't.
“ You were.”
“ You didn't even look up! How would you know?” he said.
“ We’ve been over this before. I can feel it.”
“ Well then, your feeling was wrong!” Hinata said loudly, scaring away some near by sparrows.
Ushijima jaw tightened suddenly and Hinata swallowed. He never thought someone holding one third of an ice cream cone could look so intimidating. He was wrong. Staring at him in shock, Hinata wondered what caused the sudden gloomy atmosphere as Ushijima finished his last few bites of ice cream and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Maybe he hated being wrong?
“ Uhm, I was just kidding! You weren't wrong...it's just weird to see someone so scary eat chocolate ice cream, so I was staring, sorry, that's all...ahaha.”
His jaw didn't budge.
“ Uhh, are you,” he went to poke Ushijima's arm but froze for a second when he saw Ushijima’s closed fist. His hand was already in the air though, so he lightly tapped the edge of his shirt sleeve. “...okay?”
“ I’m fine. Thank you for asking me to be here. I have something that I want to say, and I wasn't sure if I would get the opportunity.” he said stiffly.
Hinata’s face heated up instantly. Were they really thinking the same thing?
“ Re-really? I have something to tell you too!”
He gave Hinata a weird look but didn't say anything.
“Let's say our things at the same time!” Hinata said, bouncing on his seat.
Ushijima shifted in his spot. “Okay, then.”
“ Let's do it on three!” he said, so quickly that the words blended together.
“ Okay, then . ”
“ One!”
The nervousness and the excitement was pumping through him. He felt braver than normal with the assumption in his head that Ushijima was going to say something similar, but at least 20% uncertain as to what was going to happen next. It felt like the first few seconds before he’d do a freak quick.
“ Two!”
He bounced out of his seat a tiny bit more when he said it; Ushijima was peering at him from out the corners of his eyes. It was an intense look, it made Hinata's heart beat faster. Any harder and Ushijima would be able to hear it, if he couldn't already by then.
“ Three!”
♥ ♥ ♥
“ I’m sorry about last night, it won't ever happen again.” he said, at the very same time that Hinata said “ This is a date, right?”.
Hinata blinked. What? What just happened? The giddy smile slipped off Hinata’s face.
“ Wait, what? Sorry?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry, I didn’t mean this as a date. I only wanted to apologize. Last night I thought,” he dropped his gaze, “never mind. Please except my apology.”
Hinata was completely still. What was Ushijima talking about?
“ You don't have to worry about it happening again.” he said, standing up abruptly.
“ Wha-what a-,”
“ I’ve said what I came to say. I’ll leave now.”
Hinata was still frozen as Ushijima turned his face away and took a few steps back. When he turned around completely and started to walk back to the parking lot, Hinata sprang back to life. He jumped off the bench and bolted up to Ushijima.
“ Hey!” he yelled, “ Wait!”
He turned around and arched an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“ What is the matter with you?” he called out while running up to him.
He paused. “Was it not enough to apologize?”
“ No! Why are you apologizing?!”
He furrowed his brow. “ When you regret doing something, you apologize as a way to say that you won't do it again.”
Hinata was overwhelmed suddenly with a wave of ‘thisisnotadateohmygodthisisnotadate,’. “Regret...won't do it again…,” he mumbled. He felt his heart sink into his shoes.
“ Oh. Okay then. Bye, I guess.”
Ushijima nodded, and turned back to the parking lot a few miles off. He only got a few steps before Hinata fully went over what he said. Within seconds his blood was boiling. It's not like Hinata made him kiss him! And it's not like he got yelled at after it happened! So why the hell did he regret it?
Running back up to Ushijima, he yelled “Why did you do it in the first place then?”, causing two passer-bys to turn their heads.
Hinata bit his lip and Ushijima’s gaze fell. “Why is not important. I…” he said distractedly, digging through his pant pocket for a small silver key, “...it was a misunderstanding. I'm sorry. I'm going home now.” He said, flashing the key at him like some kind of explanation.
Hinata got an idea. It wasn't a good idea, but that never stopped Hinata before. “ No, you’re not!” Hinata shouted, suddenly leaping up and snatching the key.
Ushijima froze, then his jaw tightened. “Hinata, give me back my bike key.”
“ No. Don’t wanna.”
He narrowed his eyes and then moved to pry the key out of Hinata’s hand.
“ Nooo! Just-,” Hinata wailed, clutching the key tightly, “ explain yourself and I’ll give it back!”
Ushijima responded by digging at Hinata’s hands even harder. He was seconds away from overpowering him, so Hinata yanked himself out of Ushijima’s grasp with all the strength he had and he stumbled backwards. Not even pausing, he sprinted away. The key clutched tight in his fist, he ran like he was racing Kageyama, which is to say, he went as fast a he possibly could. Unfortunately, Ushijima took off after him only seconds later. Heavy foot steps thundered right behind him, but Hinata wasn't about to let Ushijima escape without his answers, so he shifted into freak quick mode, and managed to put a few more feet of distance between them. Still, Ushijima chased after him, all the way to the edge of the park with no sidewalk, just old, towering trees. Suddenly, the footsteps behind him started syncing up with his. Hinata was already breathing hard but he strained and willed his aching legs to keep going. Keep going, keep going, keep going , he thought, but he was quickly running out of places to run as the edge of the pond was fast approaching. Did Hinata know how to swim? He was pretty sure he did, but he couldn't remember-something hard yanked him from behind, and he fell backwards.
“ Aarrgh,” he yelled, hitting the ground with a thud .
His back crashed against something hard. Thinking it was a tree, he twisted around. “Whhhaa!”
An equally surprised Ushijima let go of a fistful of Hinata’s shirt.
“ Did you yank my shirt down? That’s-that’s cheating!”
“ I didn't mean to pull you down. Sorry.”
Hinata glared for a seconded before noticing the genuinely sorry look on his face, then just as quickly becoming aware of just how close they were sitting. It was Ushijima that had landed with his back against a large sycamore tree, which meant that Hinata was propped up against Ushijima’s chest, with one of his legs on either side of him.
“ Uhm...okay! Can we stop sitting like this now?” he said, in a much more high-pitched voice than originally planned.
There was a beat of silence. “Give me my key first.”
“ No!” he yelled.
He tried to jump up again but this time strong arms wrapped around his torso. Ushijima immediately started prying at Hinata’s clenched fist with his left hand while managing to keep a squirming Hinata restrained with his right. Although Ushijima was strong, Hinata’s frustration and curiosity gave his grip extra strength; neither of them got very far in achieving their tasks.
“ It’s my key. Return it now.” Ushijima grunted eventually.
“ I-I will! Just-you kissed me then left then apologized and this is not date but we are sitting really, really close and touching a lot for it not being a date so just explain that and you can have it back!” he yelled in between gasps, the words running together.
Ushijima paused. “We are fighting over my key. That’s not…,”
“ And the other stuff? What about that?”
Ushijima gave him a hard look that annoyed the butterflies in Hinata’s stomach, but otherwise he said nothing.
“ I’ll swallow the key,” Hinata said, looking up at him defiantly.
He cringed. “Please don’t.”
“ Then…?”
“ Okay. I... it was...because I wanted to. I did it because I wanted to.”
Hinata froze. That was what he wanted to hear but hearing it out loud was different than expecting it. It felt like a volleyball to the face, except in a good way.
“ And...the other stuff? Why’d you apologize?”
He frowned. “ Because I made you uncomfortable? I...it wasn't my intent. I thought we were thinking the same thoughts; I was mistaken. It seems I misread your actions.”
Hinata dropped his gazed. “Hah. Uhhm. What....made you think that?” He said, picking at some grass.
Ushijima looked at him incredulously. “ You...afterwards your face was so red. You looked mortified.”
It took Hinata a second to register what he just said. And then he did. And then he started yelling. “ What? Wait, what? That was my first kiss, of course-of course my face was red! I was just shocked, that didn't mean I didn't like it, of course I-,” Hinata stopped short. “You didn't have to freak out like that and leave, you could have just asked me, y'know”
“ You...didn't hate it?” he asked slowly.
“ No. I hated...you leaving and apologizing and-and the idea that you might not come back or never talk to me again but I didn't hate the k-that.” Neither of them said anything for a second. “You could...even do it again?” he said, his heartbeat speeding up with each word.
Ushijima’s eyes widened. He didn't say or do anything moment-then two-then three, instead he just looked at Hinata. Then, slowly, almost unsurely, Ushijima lifted his hand up to tilt Hinata’s face up. He felt like all the oxygen was quickly being drained out of him, and being replaced with even more butterflies. So. Many. Butterflies. Their wings went beat beat beat as the seconds ticked by and Hinata tried to be a patient person. Or a calm person.
Ushijima leaned over him and he kissed him.
Oh. It felt different this time, since he was anticipating it. Ushijima’s lips were slightly chapped but tingly and warm, reminding Hinata of what it was like to play volleyball outside in the sunshine. The jittery, sparky feeling in Hinata’s lips was extending throughout his whole body as Ushijima's mouth moved with his, and suddenly Hinata was hyper aware of his loud heartbeat, and their awkwardly close sitting position, and Ushijima's hand around his waist and his other hand cupped under his chin.
“ Pwah,” Hinata gasped, pulling himself away from Ushijima and breathing hard.
He rose an eyebrow. “Did I-,”
“ No! It wasn't-um, thank you. For that. It's just-can we notsitlikethisanymore?”
He blinked, then gave Hinata a small smile. “ Oh. Right. Sure.”
Hinata awkwardly scrambled over Ushijima’s left thigh, but somehow that was even more embarrassing than how they’d been sitting; with Hinata trying extra hard not to touch Ushijima anymore than necessary but failing completely.
“ H-here. Here’s your key back,” he said, his face bright red when he got situated.
Ushijima took the key, his fingers brushing against Hinata’s palm. His face just kept on burning.
“ You can go home if you want,” he forced himself to say.
“ Go home?”
“ Yeah...since you explained and stuff…,”
“ I see. I...don't know much about the technicalities of dating. Still, is it not rude to leave 15 minutes into a date?”
“Gwah? D-date?”
“ Yes. That's what this was suppose to be, so. Let's go.”
“ Well, there was a misunderstanding so I dunno about sup-go? Go where?” Hinata said as Ushijima stood up.
He held out his hand for Hinata. Hinata hesitantly put his hand out and was pulled up to his feet. “For a walk,” Ushijima said, jerking his head towards the path through the park that they had abandoned.
Hinata was suddenly very sure that he wouldn't make it through the rest of the date without passing out.
Worth it, he thought to himself as they headed towards the path again and Hinata tried not to be too conscious of the fact that Ushijima still hadn't dropped his hand.
♥ ♥ ♥
It was the best date that anyone had ever had ever. Ever! They spent most of it walking, hand in hand, while Hinata told Ushijima all about the Little Giant and Karasuno and doing freak quicks with his eyes open and every other volleyball related thing he could think of. They had to take a break for lunch at a sushi stand but then went right on back to walking around. Hinata found that Ushijima was surprising talkative, at least compared to normal, when he asked about Ushijima's team (and oddly enough, about the Grand King? Hinata never knew he was suppose to go to Shiratorizawa). Then at dusk, the two of them, both thoroughly exhausted, sat in the grass and watched the setting sun reflect off the pond. Well, that was the plan anyways, but Hinata was fixated on the small bouquet of plum blossoms tied up with purple ribbon that Ushijima had insisted on buying him “because it's Equinox Day”. Hinata had completely forgotten about Equinox Day, (a.k.a, the reason they were off from school on a Monday), but now it was one of his favorite holidays. The flowers were so soft.
He quickly tried to think of something else before his face got too red and got stuck that way. (If eyes could get stuck in weird positions, then faces could get stuck in weird colors too, right?).
“ Hey!” he said suddenly.
“ Yes?”
“ You never answered my question by the way! I'm still waiting!” Hinata exclaimed, sticking his tongue out.
“ I'm pretty sure I did. That's why we're on a date right now.”
“ No!” Hinata said, blushing when Ushijima said 'date' in his husky voice. “I meant my question from yesterday! I asked, 'why are you here?' and you never told me!”
“ Oh.” He was quiet for a long time after that, but Hinata waited for his answer patiently. Semi-patiently. Not patiently at all, actually. Hinata bobbed up and down and stared at him expectantly while Ushijima thought about his answer, while tapping him on his hand every few seconds. Finally, Ushijima suddenly caught Hinata's hand in his and held it still. Then, he took a deep breath.
“ When Shiratorizawa faced Karasuno, I thought that the uncertain feelings I had regarding you would be resolved. I got my chance to play against you. We lost. That should have been the end of my feelings. But nothing felt resolved. Whatever it was that I wanted from you, I still wanted. At first, I thought things felt unfinished because we lost. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. But I thought less about the game and more about...you. You're unpredictable. Un-calculating. Loud. Un-reasonably optimistic. Overly energetic,” Hinata, feeling hurt, started to protest but Ushijima quickly shook his head and kept going. “Those qualities...they used to annoy me the most. After the match, I thought I kept thinking of you because I was annoyed by you. But I started looking for those qualities in the people around me, so I realized that that wasn't it. I thought maybe I admired you, but that didn't feel correct either. So, when I was offered the job, I thought that maybe if I was around you, I could figure out what it was I wanted from you.”
Hinata felt like he had the air knock out of him. He wanted to do a lot of things, all at once. Cry. Hug him. Kiss him. A lot. But Ushijima was waiting for him to say something, so he said,
“ Did you figure it out then?”
Ushijima smiled a relieved smile at him. “I did. A lot faster than you did, too.”
“ Hey!” Hinata yelled, but he was laughing. “It's not my fault my head's too filled with volleyball!”
“ No, it's not. It's one of the things I like about you.”
Hinata stopped laughing. It was unfair of him to say things like that, with no warning. But he wanted to hear more things that meant Ushijima liked him; he just couldn't help it.
“ So. Uhm. What was it that you wanted? Exactly?”
The dwindling light from the setting sun made it harder to see, but it looked like Ushijima's face was slightly red. He took a long time to answer, but Hinata really did wait patiently that time. After a while he said,
“ You should use my proper name from now on.”
“ You don't like it when I call you Japan?” Hinata said, trying to not sound hurt.
Ushijima shook his head. “That's not what I meant. Nicknames are fine. But you never use my first name.”
“ You want me to call you Wakatoshi?”
He didn't look at Hinata. “People in relationships use each other's first names,” he said, his jaw tight.
Hinata's mouth fell open. Did he just hear that? For real? He let something out like a squeak; Ushijima turned to say something, eyes wide, but Hinata cut him off.
“ Okay! Okay, I can do that, Wakatoshi!” It felt strange to say that, but also nice. “But you have to call me Shoyo too! Not Hinata-Shoyo or Hinata like you usually do!”
Ushijima nodded, and smiled. Not a small smile, but the broad smile he'd only seen once before. His heart skipped a beat. He could watch Ushijima smile like that forever.
They said nothing more after that. Instead, they went back to watching the sun go down. Hinata actually did watch this time, because it felt perfect for how he was feeling. It was pretty, and changing. The day was becoming the night, just like how Hinata's life was starting to shift too. There was nothing to be scared about though, and everything to be excited about, because as the sun went down, Ushijima's warm, rough hand stayed placed firmly on Hinata's, and soon the stars were going to come out.
A few minutes after the sun vanished completely, Ushijima's voice pulled Hinata out of his thoughts. “We should head home, before it's too dark.”
“ Aww,” Hinata said, pouting, “I don't wanna go.” He had a feeling Ushijima would scold him about safety or his parents worrying though, so he quickly added, “will you walk me to my bike?”
“ Yes.”
“ And give me lots of goodnight kisses?” Hinata said, feeling bold.
Even in the dim light, Ushijima's face looked red. “Hmmph.”
♥ ♥ ♥
When he got home that night, he could hardly get through the barrage of motherly “what are you doing back so late?” questions. Even Natsu was suspicious, (the flowers didn't help), but eventually he managed to make it safely back to his room. He immediately grabbed his phone; he already had a text from Kenma.
From Kenma:
How did the confession go?
To Kenma:
AHHH KENMA!!! IT WENT SO AWESOME!!!HE'S MY BOYFRIEND NOW!!! <3 <3 <3 :D :D :')
From Kenma:
I'm glad it went well.
To Kenma:
thanks! hey, I need to ask you something very important!!!
From Kenma:
Yes?
To Kenma:
how does Ushijima Shoyo sound? pretty cool, right???