Archive of Our Own ^beta

Yachi is going to cry.

It’s been the worst day.

First she woke up late because she somehow forgot to set her alarm. (Which she always, always does right after switching it off in the morning. Was it broken? Did she just forget?) Then her mother was upset with her over waking up late and running around panicking and snapped at her to calm down and that just made her anxiety shoot up that much higher. (She apologized so many times for being such a mess and all her mother did was sigh.) She made it to school on time, but then realized she forgot to bring her homework with her. (The teacher was nice about it, but Yachi just wanted to cry because god everything was just going wrong.)

Things were better around lunch, but then she accidentally stepped on a scary third year’s foot and got snapped at. (She had to hide in the bathroom after it; she was so embarrassed and her heart was beating so fast and she was so clumsy and, god, she just couldn’t do anything right.) It was a relief when school ended but then volleyball practice started and it was so loud and- even though everyone was nice as always- it just did nothing to soothe her frayed nerves and she ended up flinching at a too enthusiastic yell and made Yamaguchi look at her with a concerned face when he noticed. (For some reason it just made her want to start bawling when he asked if she was okay and she couldn’t even pinpoint why.)

And now...and now she’s gone and made this guy angry because she bumped into him and he spilled coffee all over himself and it is her fault and she knows that, but if she opens her mouth to apologize she’s going to start crying and she doesn’t want to cry in the middle of town and oh no her lip is wobbling and this is too much and she just wants to go home and hide and-

“Is he bothering you?”

Yachi jumps at the new voice, slides her eyes over to the side and lets out a little squeak because oh no that’s the scary blonde from Seijoh and he has such a dark scowl on his face and oh no she’s bothering other people now with this and she should have just apologized to the guy already and booked it home and-

“She got coffee all over me! And she won’t even apologize for it!”

Yachi’s shoulders shake and she tries to open her mouth to apologize, but she can really only sniffle instead and this is just the worst. It’s so embarrassing and she should be able to say she’s sorry, but she just can’t without crying and she’s gotten so much better about being sensitive since last year but today has just been too much and oh god she’s going to cry right in front of the Mad Dog of Seijoh and disgrace Karasuno.

“Piss off. It’s not like she killed your cat.”

Oh god he’s not- he’s not defending her, is he? He sounds so annoyed and she’s being such a bother and- god why can’t she just get it together?

“I-I’m s-sorry,” she manages to stutter out, just barely.

The angry guy scowls at her and mutters a “whatever” before turning around and stomping off. She wants to sigh in relief but, really, she also wants to melt into the sidewalk because scary blonde- god she can’t even remember his name; she’s the worst- does sigh and it sounds so irritated and she’s such an inconvenience and she’s still so close to crying and-

“You okay?”

Yachi squeaks and jumps again, turns to face the scary blonde, the scary Mad Dog of Seijoh. He doesn’t look that upset, really, but she still thinks she’s an annoyance because he has a little scowl on his face and his eyes are squinting a bit, but oh maybe his face is always kind of like that because she doesn’t think she’s ever seen him smile and oh his eyeliner is really sharp and oh he has such pretty honey-bronze eyes and oh his lashes are so long and-

Oh, she’s supposed to say something.

Yachi flushes and nods, ducks her head and brushes some hair behind her ear. She still can’t really speak and her heart is still pounding, but now that the angry guy is gone she feels a tiny, itsy bit more calm.

Yachi peeks her eyes up, looks at him through her bangs and catches him rubbing the back of his neck and wow he has really nice biceps; no wonder his spikes are so scary and strong. She has to tilt her head up to look at him fully (he’s so, so tall and that’s so, so intimidating. Why is she so short?) and there’s an almost awkward expression on his face and does he remember her? Recognize her? Oh god, she doesn’t even remember his name. She’s the worst. Just the worst.

“You’re the Karasuno manager, right?” he asks, voice kind of gruff.

Oh no, he does remember her. For some reason that makes her a little anxious and all she can do is nod again, bite on the inside of her cheek and look at him with too wide eyes.

He’s a bit different from what she remembers. Tall, yes. Grumpy looking, yes. But his hair is a little grown out from the year before and it looks nice like that and he’s a bit more tan than she remembers and it’s weird seeing him in something that isn’t teal and white, but the band tee and black skinny jeans fit him really well and he looks intimidating and her mother would click her tongue and call him a punk but it’s not a bad look at all and- oh now he’s looking kind of awkward and is he blushing just a tiny little bit? Why would he be blushing? Oh, wait, oh no she’s just staring at him and being so rude and she’s so awkward and embarrassing and-

“Ya-Yachi Hitoka,” she blurts out, words finally coming and halting her thoughts for just a moment. She gives a quick bow of her head and flushes furiously, peeks up at his face again. “I...you’re from Seijoh. The- the ace? Right?”

He rubs his neck again and the teeny, tiny flush seems to recede a little as he nods.

“Kyoutani Kentarou,” he rumbles out.

Oh, oh that’s right. How could she just forget his name? It’s such a nice name, so easy to remember. She’s so awful to forget it and oh dear he’s looking a little more awkward and she needs to say something and make a quick escape home so she can curl up in bed and forget all about this awful day and-

“Kyou! Kyou!”

Yachi blinks at the sudden voice and jerks her head to see a cute little girl bounding toward them and someone with curly, dark hair that’s so, so tall following after her and- oh he has the same pretty eyes as Kyoutani and the tiny, tiny eyebrows and oh is that his dad? Is that his little sister?

Yachi stares wide-eyed as the little girl launches herself at Kyoutani, makes him stumble to the side a little as she laughs and wraps her arms around his waist. The man walks over and kind of smiles at Yachi, smirks a little at Kyoutani and Yachi just flushes furiously, tries to figure out how she can leave without seeming rude.

“Didn’t know you had a girlfriend, Kyou,” the man says, voice teasing.

Yachi is quite sure her face is just a solid scarlet now. Her eyes feel impossibly wide and she finds herself gaping a little and oh nononononononono. That’s not- she’s not- how can she-

“Knock it off, old man,” Kyoutani grumbles with a small huff.

He doesn’t look offended by the teasing but Yachi just can’t stop blushing over it and the man is laughing and, oh goodness, she just wants to go home.

“Well, who is she then?” the man- Kyoutani’s dad? Uncle?- asks, smiling over at her. “That’s not your school uniform, right?”

Yachi blinks and looks down at her uniform, feels her face turn a little bit more red. Does she look okay? She must look awful, so tired and ragged. Oh dear, she’s probably making the worst first impression.

“I’m the K-Karasuno volleyball manager,” she squeaks out with a quick bow of her head. He doesn’t need to know she’s the volleyball manager; oh why did she blurt that out? “Ya-Yachi Hitoka, sir.”

The little girl gives a giggle, flashes her a sweet smile that makes Yachi just want to squeeze her into a hug. She’s just such a cute, sweet little thing and she has such an adorable smile and oh goodness she has dimples. How sweet.

“She’s cute, Kyou,” the little girl twitters, making Yachi flush even darker.

Yachi’s eyes widen so much that they almost hurt when Kyoutani Kentarou, Mad Dog of Seijoh, shrugs and nods his head.

For once her mind is shocked into silence.

“I think you broke her,” Kyoutani’s uncle- dad? Cousin? Much older brother?- comments with a little laugh.

Yachi reddens even more and very nearly covers her face with her hands. Oh, this is just too much and so embarrassing and she just wants to run home and hide in her bed.

She’s so lucky that it’s at that moment her phone decides to ring.

“I, um, should take this,” she squeaks out. “But it was nice meeting you all!”

She bolts before they can say anything, answering her phone blindly and pressing it to her ear. She almost laughs in quiet relief when it’s a telemarketer and hangs up even though she usually tries her best to listen to them ramble on. (It’s their job and she couldn’t possibly be irritated over them doing it.)

Yachi stuffs her phone back into her purse and hurries the rest of the way home as fast as she can. She’s stopped by her sweet neighbor before she can slip into the apartment and very patiently waits for ten minutes as the elderly woman chatters on about how her grandson is visiting her soon and how he’s such a nice boy and would she like to meet him?

Yachi ends up politely telling her neighbor yes instead of no like she wants and ends up scolding herself for how weak she is in social situations. (She really should be better about saying no already.)

She’s released after a bit and Yachi stumbles into her apartment with a sigh of relief, happily takes off her shoes and walks to the kitchen with a pleased hum.

Her mother isn’t home, of course, but she’s not too upset or lonely over it. She’s not quite sure if she would be able to handle the company right now anyway. Yachi just really wants to curl up with a few snacks and finish off her homework before flopping on her bed and having a nice sleep.

With that in mind, she makes herself a little plate of treats to eat. The last of the banana nut muffins she made a few nights ago, a small little handful of strawberries, a little bowl of lemon pudding- it’s all just what she needs to power through her algebra homework and the reading she needs to do for her literature class.

Yachi takes her bounty of snacks into her room and strips off her school uniform in exchange for her favorite, comfy Karasuno sweatshirt, a pair of sleeping shorts, and ridiculously bright and fuzzy polka dotted knee high socks.

With a little smile on her face and a pen in hand, Yachi sits herself at her desk and cracks open her notebook.

...her head hits the desk fifteen minutes later.

It’s not that she’s being lazy. Algebra is just hard for her. She’s so much better at her language classes, at history and art. Math and science have always been a bit beyond the realm of easy understanding to her.

Yachi sighs to herself and decides to take a break, slides her laptop over to her and pops a strawberry into her mouth as she waits for it to boot up.

She’s not being lazy, she tells herself. She’s just taking a small break to work on something else before going back to it. She’ll finish it.

(Not that Yachi would ever leave homework undone. The thought of it makes her panic so, so much and imaging her teacher’s disappointment and the scolding that would come makes her want to squeak and hide.)

Instead of maths, Yachi concentrates on her manager duties instead. After their little stint at the Spring High Nationals the year before, she proposed the idea of running a social media account for the team to help keep interest in the club going. Takeda sensei happily approved it and it’s honestly become one of her favorite duties. It’s fun for her, easy and enjoyable. She keeps the fans of the team informed about upcoming matches, gets to show off photos and videos of the boys working hard, and gets to show the team the encouraging little messages that some of the students send their way.

It’s so much more fun than algebra.

Yachi smiles to herself as she queues up some posts, almost lets herself fall into a bit of nostalgia as she scrolls through the account and looks over old photos. She has to scold herself to get back to work, but gets completely distracted when she notices that in the recommended accounts to follow, there’s one for Aoba Johsai.

Huh.

She clicks on it curiously, feels a little guilty for scrolling through it. For some reason it almost feels like spying.

Yachi swallows that misplaced guilt, though, and peeks at their posts, idly wonders who is managing the account. She can’t recall the team having a manager and they haven’t played against the school yet to learn if Seijoh gained one with the new year.

Maybe their captain runs it, she muses to herself as she clicks through different photos.

She’s trying to recall their captain’s name when she lands on a photo of Kyoutani lifting his shirt up to swipe off some sweat from his brow.

“Vice captain is hard at work!” reads the caption.

“Oh god he’s really fit!” squeaks her mind.

Yachi flushes and reaches over to shut the lid of her laptop, feels her face flush scarlet and drops her head in her hands with a tiny little groan.

It’s been a really long day. There have been far too many surprises.

Yachi takes a deep breath after a moment and rolls her shoulders back, forces her attention from a flash of abs and the squirmy feeling that runs through her when she remembers running into Kyoutani earlier.

She needs to focus on her school work. It’s much more important than...well, any of that.

If Yachi just so happens to follow the Aoba Johsai account later through the Karasuno one, it’s only for club purposes, only for better ease of keeping track of the team so her team can strategize better to take them down.

Yachi completely forgets about the run in with Kyoutani until they have their first practice match of the new school year with Seijoh.

She doesn’t even remember it when they’re scheduling it, when the team is busy preparing for the match. It takes her accidentally stumbling into him while carrying in the box of practice bibs for her to remember the incident.

She ends up landing on her butt when she runs into him, ends up blinking up in apology and feeling her eyes widen as the memory flashes through her mind like a bolt of lightning. She jumps up from the floor before he can say anything and gives a little bow of apology, cheeks flushed and lip bitten.

“S-sorry,” she squeaks, peeking up at him and then dropping her eyes again when she catches the little frown on his face.

(Oh, he must be so annoyed. She’s such an irritation. She should have been watching where she was going. She can’t believe she ran into him. Oh, he’s going to yell at her and then she’s going to cry and the team is going to get mad and it’s going to be such a big fuss and-)

“’S fine.”

Yachi’s shoulders jump at the grumbled words and she peeks at him through her bangs, tries not to get too nervous when his little frown dips a bit deeper.

“...Yachi, right?” he asks, voice almost uncertain.

Her eyes widen a bit more at that and she gives a small nod, feels her flush flare up brighter.

She can’t believe he remembers her name.

There’s a moment of silence that Yachi doesn’t realize is awkward until Kyoutani rubs the back of his neck and looks away from her, the smallest, lightest tint of pink to his cheeks. She flushes even darker and dips down to pick up the box that had tipped out of her arms and the bibs that had slipped out of it.

She feels like she should say something to him, feels like she wants to say something to him, but really doesn’t know what it could be until her mind plays their last run in like a movie reel and her mouth opens to blurt out-

“Thank- thank you!”

When Yachi looks up at him, she finds his brows knitted together in what she thinks is confusion and ducks her head to hide her embarrassed flush, hugs the box to her chest in nervousness.

“Um, for- for the other day,” she mumbles. “With the guy. I never thanked you.”

“It’s fine. It wasn’t a big deal,” Kyoutani tells her.

Yachi bites her lip and looks up at him, notices that he’s eyeing the box in his arms. Before she can think of anything to say, he points at the box and offers to carry it for her.

The offer floors Yachi for some reason and she ends up blinking a few times, opening her mouth in some sort of shock before handing it over to him.

The Mad Dog of Seijoh is carrying her team’s box of practice bibs for her.

It feels decidedly surreal.

Yachi flushes and grips the hem of her shirt, murmurs a quiet “thank you” to him and tries not to look too stunned as they walk together toward the gym.

It’s just...it’s just that it’s really such an unexpected thing and she never thought she would be walking side by side with Kyoutani Kentarou of all people and it’s twice now that he’s been sort of nice to her and her mind is wanting to flash the photo of him she had stared at maybe a bit too long and it’s just- it’s just so strange to her.

Strange but...not bad? It’s not unwelcome. He’s still a little scary, yes, but now Yachi can’t help but think that maybe he’s just intense and awkward and quiet. He’s not a monster or a mad dog. He’s just…

She doesn’t even know.

Yachi walks quietly beside Kyoutani, peeks over at him and darts her eyes away before he can catch her looking at him. It’s quiet and she’s not particularly good at quiet so she’s really unsure what to do as she just tries her best not to flush with embarrassment or nervously knead at the hem of her shirt.

She searches for something that she could say, something that wouldn’t be too weird or off the wall. Maybe she should wish him good luck with the match? Sure she manages the opposing team, but it’s nice to wish the other team good luck right? Surely he won’t think she’s being sarcastic or anything...right?

Yachi bites her lip and opens her mouth to wish him good luck, but somewhere between thinking about how to put it and actually saying it, “good luck” turns into, “Was that your sister the other day?”

Yachi groans internally as soon as the question is blurted out, flushes and cringes to herself because that is not what she wanted to say at all. He’s probably going to think she’s being nosy. And, yes, she is curious about the sweet little thing but that doesn’t mean she has the right to ask and-

“Uh, yeah.”

The confirmation makes Yachi blink in surprise and she looks over to him, finds her lips curling into a shy, nervous smile when her gaze meets his.

“She...she was cute,” Yachi mumbles before looking away, ducking her head again.

Kyoutani lets out something between a hum and a grunt and Yachi thinks silence will fall between them again when Kyoutani surprises her with a, “She’ll be happy to hear that.”

She honestly didn’t expect him to say anything more, but it sort of gives her a tiny bit of encouragement, bravery. She hesitates for a moment before asking about the man that had been with her, asking if he was an older brother.

It turns out that the man was actually his uncle, that his little sister takes dancing classes near Yachi’s apartment complex. Apparently his uncle had decided to pick his little sister up and surprise the both of them by taking them out to eat.

It totally throws Yachi for a loop when Kyoutani tells her that, makes her quiet with surprise because she never, ever thought she would be having an actual conversation with the scary ace from Seijoh.

It’s nice, though, and Yachi finds herself smiling a tiny little bit as she listens, feels something warm run through her when Kyoutani tells her that he usually picks his little sister up. Something about that is so, so sweet and she finds her nerves receding ever so slightly as she stores the information away.

They hit her with full force once again as soon as they walk into the gym and Yachi finds both teams staring at her and Kyoutani.

Yachi can feel the color in her face draining and then rushing right back in to turn her cheeks scarlet, tenses up and tries not to panic when Tanaka and Hinata wander over to them.

“Oi oi oi. What’s this?” Tanaka asks, voice gruff and face pulling into that patented “intimidation” sneer of his. “You messing with our Yacchan, punk?”

“Tanaka senpai!” Yachi squeaks, stepping forward and waving her hands out in front of her, nervous and suddenly filled with way too much energy. “Kyou- Kyoutani-san is just helping me carry the bibs!”

Tanaka just scowls a bit more, leers at Kyoutani over the top of her head. Hinata imitates him, scowling up at Kyoutani from beside Tanaka and Yachi finds herself wishing she would just melt into the floor to save herself from the embarrassment of it all.

“You take the box if it’s such a big fucking problem,” Kyoutani grumbles behind her.

Yachi jumps at his voice, at the cursing and squeaks when the box is suddenly pushed into Tanaka’s arms, groans when Kyoutani begins to walk away. She stutters out another “thank- thank you” to him and then drops her head in her hands, flushes furiously when she peeks through her fingers and finds Tanaka and Hinata making faces at Kyoutani’s back.

“That’s enough you two.”

The sound of Ennoshita scolding them floods Yachi with absolute relief and she smiles at him gratefully. Ennoshita returns it with a small smile of his own before grabbing both Tanaka and Hinata up by their shirt collars. He begins to drag them off as he scolds them and Yachi puts a hand to her chest, sighs quietly.

She hadn’t even thought that her team might react like that.

Yachi quietly makes her way over to the bench, smiles weakly at Yamaguchi when he raises a brow at her.

“You know the Mad Dog?” he asks.

Yachi shakes her head, tries not to flush when Yamaguchi looks at her a bit skeptically.

“We just ran into each other,” she mumbles to him, peeking over at the Seijoh side of the court. She catches the sight of Kyoutani being seemingly teased by his team, the blonde snapping at them and their captain grinning. She ducks her head when he glances over at her and returns her attention back to Yamaguchi. “He was just being nice.”

“Nice,” Yamaguchi repeats, voice a bit dubious.

He seems to let it go, though, and asks her instead if she has her little notebook of stats handy, asks if he can peek at it so he can try to decide how he wants to serve. That fills Yachi with such relief and she hands it over happily, chatters quietly with him about the opposing team and tries to shake off her lingering anxiety.

They have a game to play and Yachi needs to be ready to fulfill her duties, not stew in embarrassment.

Yachi takes a deep breath and forces a smile to herself, a little bit of cheer.

She can’t wait to broadcast about her team winning.

Her team does win and Yachi finds herself grinning proudly as they all clamber back onto the bus.

She loves it when her team does well.

When they get back to the school, Yamaguchi slides over to sit next to her as they all listen to Coach Ukai and Takeda Sensei review the match, talk about what needs to be improved, and what new things they learned about Seijoh’s playing style. With new players on both teams, they’re going to have to adjust the way they play against the power house school.

Yachi has all the confidence in the world that her team will adjust accordingly, that they’ll kick the other’s team butt when it’s time to square off against them officially.

After the meeting is over with, Yamaguchi tugs on her sleeve to grab her attention, smiles at her.

“Tsukki’s ditching me to meet up with Akiteru for practice,” he tells her with a sigh and a small pout. “Wanna come over in his stead? I need someone to keep me on track with homework.”

Yachi tries not frown, knows that Yamaguchi is probably a little lonely with his mother being gone for work. She smiles instead and gives him a little nod, feels a bit of fondness when her friend lights up just a bit.

“Thanks, Yacchan,” he tells her. “I might need you to read over my essay, too.”

“I can do that,” she reassures him. “Do we need to stop anywhere beforehand?”

Yamaguchi shakes his head and they fall into a peaceful little silence as they walk off the school grounds together.

It’s a quick walk to Yamaguchi’s home and Yachi finds herself smiling a bit as she walks through the now familiar front gate to the house, finds herself bending down to coo at her friend’s dog and scratch at its chin.

She almost wants to giggle when she thinks about how nervous she had been coming over to Yamaguchi’s the first time. She had been so stiff, so tense. It had taken Yamaguchi’s little mutt jumping in her lap and licking at her cheek to calm her down and let herself relax.

Yachi hums when she thinks about it, takes off her shoes and pads after Yamaguchi as he heads into the kitchen.

“You want a snack?” he asks.

“Do you have any juice?” she asks him, peeking under his arm and into the fridge when he opens it.

“Uh...we’ve got apple juice?” Yamaguchi offers.

“That, please,” she tells him, eyeing the fridge. “And maybe one of those apples?”

“You got it, Yachi.”

Yachi smiles and steps away, gives a little stretch and glances around the room. Tsukishima must be sleeping over a lot, she thinks as she spots not one but two sweaters that she knows belongs to the blonde.

It makes her flush a little because she’s maybe a bit too well aware of how far the couple has gone, knows that they take advantage of Yamaguchi’s mother being away on business to spend quality time with each other.

Yachi flushes and physically shakes her head to keep her mind from wandering, jumps when Yamaguchi says her name to get her attention and lets out a tiny little huff when he laughs at her.

“Yacchan, you always have your head in the clouds,” he teases.

Yachi huffs again, sticks her nose up a bit primly and takes the juice from him. She ends up smiling, though, and giggling because she can’t even really fake pretending to be annoyed with Yamaguchi.

“How much of your essay do you have left to write?” she asks as they head off to his room to work.

“Mmm, I think I’m almost done?” he tells her, scratching at his cheek and sighing. “I’ve got that to finish and then I need to do a bit of reading for literature. What about you?”

“Just reading,” she says with a happy little smile. “I have a book report due on Friday.”

“Lucky. You want the bed or the desk?” Yamaguchi asks as he pushes open the door to his room.

“Bed,” she says firmly. “We both know you’ll just fall asleep if you try to work from it.”

Yamaguchi lets out a pouty little whine, but Yachi just smiles and pushes him over to his computer desk.

“You can read in bed when you’re done with your essay,” she allows.

“Yacchan, when did you get so stern with me?” Yamaguchi teases.

Yachi flushes a little but grins, ducks her head and allows a pleased laugh slip from her lips.

“When I found out just how easily distracted you are when you try to study,” Yachi teases right back. She eyes him when he plops into the chair with an exaggerated groan and holds her hand out sternly. “I’ll be taking your phone.”

“But what if Tsukki texts me?” he whines.

“Then you can message him back when you take a break,” Yachi tells him firmly.

“Such a taskmaster,” Yamaguchi huffs with a tiny, not quite hidden smile.

He hands his phone over without a fuss, though, and Yachi smiles at him before curling up in his bed and pulling out her assigned book to read.

It only takes fifteen minutes for Yamaguchi to flop down on the bed next to her.

It’s a new record, really.

“Yacchan, do you really not know the Mad Dog?” he asks.

Yachi flushes and shakes her head, mumbles that they’re just acquaintances. She realizes, though, that she never told Yamaguchi about her first run in with Kyoutani and ends up telling him about it. Yamaguchi’s eyes go a little wide as he listens, but then his expression turns a bit thoughtful, pensive as she winds the story to an end.

“Huh,” he murmurs once she’s done. “I guess he’s a bit nicer than I thought.”

Before she can say anything in response, Yamaguchi’s lips tilt into a sly little smile and he nudges her with his elbow.

“He thinks you’re cute,” Yamaguchi teases. “Wonder if the Mad Dog might have a little crush on you.”

Yachi squeaks and shakes her head, immediately denying it. She huffs when he laughs and smacks him gently with her book, feels herself blush positively crimson when he snickers again.

“You need to get back to work,” she scolds, almost a little desperate to deflect the conversation.

She’s really not ready to think back on the memory of Kyoutani nodding in agreement when his little sister called her cute.

That’s just a bit too flustering.

“Ah, c’mon Yachi,” Yamaguchi coos, voice lilted as he teases her softly. “There’s nothing bad about it. Do you think he’s cute too?”

Her mind immediately fills with the image of Kyoutani with a tiny, awkward flush on his face and then melds into the image of the photo she had maybe secretly liked before shifting to the way Kyoutani had looked when he gulped down a bottle of water at the practice match earlier.

Yachi hides her face in her hands and squeaks out a high pitched little “no,” pushes Yamaguchi out of the bed when he gasps and starts teasing her.

“Get back to work!” she insists. “You’re supposed to be writing an essay!”

“How am I supposed to work on my essay when I’ve just learned that one of my best friends thinks that Kyoutani Kentarou, the Mad Dog of Seijoh, is attractive?” he teases, standing up and rubbing his tailbone where he fell on it. “Come on, Yacchan, this is important news!”

“What’s important is your grade,” she huffs, refusing to look at him, trying to hide her embarrassment with scolding because oh god he’s right. He’s so, so right. She does think Kyoutani is a tiny, little bit attractive in his own way and that’s so, so embarrassing and so, so unexpected. “Don’t make call Ennoshita-san.”

The light threat makes Yamaguchi’s laughter cut off, but he stills grins at her, waggles his brows a bit.

“Yacchan thinks the Mad Dog is hot,” he sings out in a tease.

Yachi huffs but doesn’t say anything, reaches over for a pillow and buries her face into it once Yamaguchi sits back in his desk chair, chortles to himself and gets back to work.

She hides her face, her blushing cheeks and groans very, very quietly as she tries to shake away the embarrassment.

Yamaguchi is such a butt.

The next time Yachi runs into Kyoutani Kentarou is when she’s walking on her way home. Unlike the first time, there’s no scary guy yelling at her. Like the first time, however, he’s not wearing a uniform she’s familiar with and she finds herself trying not to stare a little at the skinny jeans and band shirt, the combat boots and the leather jacket.

It’s a really, really good look on him.

Luckily his little sister is with him and Yachi almost gratefully directs her attention to the little darling, smiles when the girl looks at her and brightens up, tugs on Kyoutani’s hand.

They get about half-way to her when all of Yamaguchi’s teasing flashes through her mind. She has to bite the inside of her cheek so she doesn’t turn and flee, takes deep breaths and fights her hardest against the blush that threatens to creep up on her face.

“Uh, hey,” he greets, voice a little gruff as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Hey- hey,” Yachi tells him, cringing inwardly at her stutter and the way her cheeks flare up to pink against her wishes. She bites her lip and then glances at his little sister, offers the girl a smile. “Um, picking up your sister?”

“Yeah,” Kyoutani mumbles. “Are you...going home?”

He sounds so uncertain when he talks to her and Yachi has to wonder if he feels as awkward as she does.

The thought helps relax her a little bit and Yachi glances up at him, smiles maybe (definitely) a bit shyly and nods.

“Yeah,” she tells him. “I live nearby.”

Kyoutani just hums and Yachi thinks they’re going to fall into awkward silence when Kyoutani’s sister pipes up, catches her attention.

“Kyou, you’re being rude,” the little girl whines. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to the pretty girl?”

Yachi lets out a surprised laugh at that, hides her smile behind her hand and giggles when Kyoutani glances over at her. He just raises a brow at her laughter, sighs a little bit and raises a hand to run through his hair.

“Uh, this is Ami,” he says quietly, almost a little clumsily. “Ami, this is Yachi.”

“Nice to meet ya,” Ami says sweetly.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Yachi tells her in return, sincere with it. She really is a cute little girl. “Your brother told me you take dancing lessons nearby. Did you have fun?”

Ami nods and smiles, holds onto Kyoutani’s hand and then eyes Yachi a little bit.

“We were gonna go get ice cream,” Ami announces. “You should come with us.”

“Ami,” Kyoutani says, voice holding a bit of warning.

Yachi almost flinches at that, but manages to check the impulse. Ami huffs a little bit and tugs on Kyoutani’s hand roughly, almost seems to pout.

“I’m bein’ nice,” Ami protests. There’s a sweet smile flashed Yachi’s way after that, something that Yachi returns almost a little nervously. “She’s your friend, isn’t she?”

Oh. Oh.

Oh now it’s really awkward.

She panics and scrambles to find something to say, tries to figure out how to nicely say they’re just acquaintances without coming off as rude or offending him.

Before she can figure anything out, Kyoutani sighs and looks over to her, rubs the back of his neck and shrugs.

“You wanna go then?”

The question both relieves and shocks Yachi and she swallows back the nervous laugh that threatens to slip from her.

She’s never really been good in situations like this so she ends up blurting out a “yeah- um, sure?” before she can even give herself time to think about it.

Kyoutani raises a brow at her and Ami lets out a little cheer and all Yachi can really do is follow helplessly as they begin to walk away.

“You did what?!”

Yachi ducks her head and hisses at Yamaguchi to quiet down, flushes so brightly when the people at the nearby table look over at them.

She really didn’t expect Yamaguchi to be that surprised.

“You’re telling me to be quiet when you went out for ice cream with the Mad Dog?” Yamaguchi hisses at her, earning a stare from the people at the next table over again. “What the hell, Yachi? How did that happen?”

“Kyoutani and his little sister,” Yachi corrects, cheeks flushing. “And he has a name. You don’t have to call him that.”

Yamaguchi raises a brow at her, eyes her from across the table before squinting his eyes.

“Yachi...are you...friends with him?” he asks.

“I...I don’t know,” she mumbles, fiddling with her pen and looking away. The question confuses her a little bit and she bites her lip, frowns a tiny bit. “We just...hung out? His sister was the one to ask and...it was sort of...fun? We’re just, um, acquaintances. We’ve only talked, like, three times.”

When Yachi dares to peek over at Yamaguchi, his eyes are narrowed in suspicion, one brow raised up high.

“He’s an acquaintance that you think is hot,” he says, almost sounding accusing.

“I never said that!” Yachi protests, her voice pitching higher and louder than she meant it to. The table nearby glares at her now and she ducks her head down, covers it with her hands and lets out a tiny moan. “We’re just- he’s just nice to me. That’s all. It was nothing.”

She can feel Yamaguchi staring at her, but refuses to lift her gaze to him, flushes darker and bites at her lip.

All she had wanted to do was share that she went to the ice cream parlor with Kyoutani and his sister. It was just...it was just such an unusual event for her, something so unexpected that she needed to share it with someone. Nothing bad happened during it or anything. In fact, she rather enjoyed herself. But. It was still a bit of shock, still a bit of surprise.

She should have known that it wouldn’t be taken with ease.

Yamaguchi lets out a sigh after a few moments and Yachi peeks up at him, almost a bit nervous when she sees the pensive look on his face.

“Well. I’m glad you had fun,” he tells her, sighing again. “I hope he keeps being nice to you.”

Yachi bites her lip and nods, turns her attention back to her neglected essay.

She hopes Kyoutani keeps being nice to her too.

Running into Kyoutani picking up his little sister from dance practice becomes a common occurrence.

One that she finds herself starting to look forward to, surprisingly enough.

It’s just that...it’s just that Ami is so adorable and really such a sweet child to her. And it’s amusing seeing Kyoutani be pulled around by the much smaller girl, fun getting to see them interact. Ami pulls her brother out of his quiet state and Yachi finds herself actually getting to know Kyoutani Kentarou.

Which is something she never, ever expected to happen.

She never expected to learn what his favorite band is, how he prefers action movies to comedies, that he has a soft spot for animals. She never expected to learn that he knows sign language and that’s he’s partially deaf in one ear, that his grandparents are from Morocco and that he’s fluent in Arabic. She never expected to learn that he wants to own his own pet clinic when he’s older, that he has a hard time with English but is surprisingly good at math.

She never expected to learn any of that.

What she expects even less, though, is running into Kyoutani outside of the little moments with his sister, stumbling into him while shopping for new shoes and getting invited to go to lunch with him.

Yachi blinks up at him after the invitation is muttered out, opens her mouth and closes it, some sort of confusion running through her.

She must have misheard him.

“I...I’m sorry, what was that?” she asks.

The tiny, tiny barely there flush that she’s learned to associate with Kyoutani feeling awkward appears on his face and he rubs the back of his neck, glances to the side.

“Lunch. Do you...wanna get lunch?” he asks again, voice all unsure but somehow still rumbling and low.

Yachi blinks again and stares even though she tries really, really hard not to.

“I...ye-yes?” she tells him, voice uncertain. She is hungry, she tells herself. And. Well. He’s good company even if he’s all gruff and grumbly and quiet. And she likes spending time with him. And she sort of maybe, kind of, really wants to spend more time with him now that she’s gotten to know him. “Um...where...I don’t really come to this area that often…?”

She lets it trail off as almost a question and tries not to duck her head when he looks back over at her.

“There’s a diner nearby,” he says, voice less unsure now. “It’s not bad. That’s where I was gonna go.”

Yachi just nods and mumbles out a little, “That- That sounds nice.”

She finds herself being a bit frustrated that she’s feeling a bit shy now, uncertain and almost nervous as he nods and begins leading her to the diner. She’s been able to relax around Kyoutani, has sort of been able to start considering him something more than just an acquaintance.

But now...but now that she’s alone with him, now that there’s not the buffer of his sister, Yachi finds that she has the desire to curl into herself, hide a little bit. She feels shy despite her desire to spend time with him and it’s really ridiculous.

It’s not helping that Kyoutani looks really, really good today. Yachi doesn’t know when she started finding herself attracted to the punky, bad boy look but she feels a little weak looking at the charcoal skinny jeans, the worn leather boots, the black shirt advertising some band she’s never heard of, the leather jacket she’s gotten so accustomed to seeing.

She feels overly conscious of her pleated skirt and cardigan, the pastel colors she’s wearing and her smart little oxfords.

She wonders what they look like walking side by side.

They walk quietly to the diner and Yachi really hopes that Kyoutani doesn’t feel as awkward as she does. She just doesn’t really know what to think of this new development, is unsure if they’ll be able to talk to each other without a third wheel helping them out, is worried it’ll be awkward and strange and he’ll end up not wanting to talk with her anymore.

It’s almost a relief to slide into the booth just because she can hide how shaky her fingers are.

Yachi busies herself with looking at the menu, running her eyes over it and pretending not to feel shy, nervous. When she works up the courage to ask what he likes, he tells her that he usually just gets a burger. There’s just a moment of silence and then he surprises her by saying very, very quietly that the milkshakes are really good, too.

That surprises Yachi enough that she blinks and looks up from the menu, finds Kyoutani pointedly looking out the window with his chin in his hand and his mouth hidden by his fingers.

Yachi swallows back a small giggle at the image of Kyoutani Kentarou sipping on a milkshake and smiles, bites her lip to hide how pleased it is and hums that a milkshake sounds really nice.

Yachi ends up ordering a salad. Kyoutani ends up ordering a burger.

They both get milkshakes.

That’s the turning point for Yachi and she finds herself relaxing, ever so slowly sinking back into the state she had gotten used to being in around Kyoutani. She asks him how his day has been and he tells her it’s been fine, that he just got back from visiting his uncle when they ran into each other. He asks her about her day in return and Yachi ends up telling him about how she was looking for new shoes, that her mother is taking her to the ballet soon and that she wants to look nice for it.

Kyoutani eyes her at that, shocks her by rumbling out that she looks really nice today.

Her silence and her flush that follows are both equal parts embarrassed and pleased.

She’s lucky that their waitress swoops by with their milkshakes then, happily grabs hers and sucks down on it so she doesn’t mutter something confused and embarrassing.

She stills embarrasses herself by giving herself brain freeze.

Yachi groans and grasps at her head, pouts when Kyoutani lets out a quiet chuckle. If her head didn’t hurt from the brain freeze, she might have been able to be surprised that she heard Kyoutani laugh.

But her head does hurt and she huffs, rubs at her temple and squeezes her eyes shut.

They snap right back open when she hears Kyoutani chuckle again, when she hears him mumble a little “cute.”

She doesn’t get the chance to be too embarrassed by that because he asks her about the ballet almost immediately after. Yachi looks at him with wide eyes and gapes for a moment, flushes and drops her hands to her lap to knead at her skirt and squirms in her seat before mumbling about how it’s a production of Swan Lake, how her mother’s boss gave her tickets for it.

Her mumbling slowly becomes rambling and Yachi doesn’t realize how much she’s gone on about it until she’s almost a third of the way into her salad. She quiets herself immediately and flushes, mutters an embarrassed apology for talking so, so much about something that must bore him.

He just shrugs and tells her that he doesn’t mind, that he likes listening to her. She’s clearly excited about it.

That sends something pleased running through Yachi and she bites her lip before smiling shyly at him, takes another bite of her salad and quietly picks up from where she left off.

Having lunch with Kyoutani turns out to be so much more pleasant than she expected.

She’s surprised to find herself a little disappointed to part ways with him, holds back a sigh when they step out of the diner together and tilts her head back to look up at him, thanks him for inviting her. He just shrugs a little, eyes her when a little whip of wind makes her shiver.

Yachi nearly dies when he takes off his jacket and drops it on her head.

“I, um, wha-what?” she asks weakly, gripping at the jacket and peering up at him with wide eyes.

Kyoutani just shrugs and mumbles that she looks cold, asks her if she’s done shopping for the day before she can protest to him handing over his jacket.

She doesn’t want to be rude and, truthfully, she is a little chilly. But Yachi’s never really had someone hand over their jacket like that before and it’s Kyoutani’s jacket and for some reason it makes her feel a bit odd and fluttery and warm and she thinks she might like the fact that he gave it to her, is seemingly looking out for her comfort, but she has no idea how to handle it.

Yachi feels a little confused and overwhelmed, but ends up quietly wrapping it around herself, flushing and softly mumbling that she’s finished for the day, that she probably needs to head on home.

Kyoutani just nods and asks if she knows how to get back to the station, if she wants him to walk with her. Yachi hesitates and bites her lip, accepts his offer with a little nod.

They’re both so, so quiet as they walk to the station together. Yachi just can’t say anything, is too dumbfounded by the fact that she’s wearing Kyoutani’s jacket, that she had lunch with him.

It’s completely bewildering, almost feels like some strange dream.

She’s not quite sure, but she thinks it’s a dream that she really, really enjoys.

When they get to the station, Yachi tries to give back his jacket. Kyoutani just shakes his head, though, and mumbles that she can give it to him another time, reminds her that they have a practice match coming up later that week and tells her that she can just give it to him then. Yachi tries to protest but then her train pulls up and Kyoutani gently nudges her toward it, his hands so light on her shoulders.

(For some reason she wants to push back against them, lean into his touch and shiver. It just adds to her confusion, her uncertainty and she wonders if he would be bothered by it if she did lean into his touch.)

The train doors start to close and Yachi lets out a little yelp, shouts a goodbye over her shoulder as she slides into train at the very last possible second.

Yachi Hitoka ends up going home that day wrapped up in Kyoutani Kentarou’s worn, leather jacket.

“Hitoka? What’s this?”

Yachi blinks and lifts her head from her book, frowns a little because she didn’t even realize her mother had walked into her room. She looks over to her mother and immediately bites her tongue to keep from inhaling too sharply when her mother picks up the leather jacket draped over her computer chair.

“Oh, um…” Yachi clears her throat and forces a carefree little smile. “Ya- Yamaguchi let me borrow his jacket to wear home. I forgot to bring mine with me today.”

Her mother hums and and eyes the jacket, lets it drop back down onto the chair and sighs before putting her hands on her hips.

“Make sure to give it back to him,” her mother tells her. Yachi nods weakly and her mother smiles a little, moves to fold her arms over her chest. “I’m going to the store to get groceries for the week. Anything you want that wasn’t on the list?”

Yachi shakes her head, manages to mumble out a “no, thank you.” Her mother just shrugs and leaves the room, leaves Yachi to let out a nervous, deep breath.

That was close.

It’s not that- it’s not that she’s embarrassed to have the jacket or anything. It’s just that she’s really not sure how her mother would react hearing it belongs to someone Yachi has never talked about to her before, some older boy that comes off so gruff and grumbly and dresses like a punk when he’s not in his private school uniform or volleyball jersey.

(He’s also very attractive- but that’s beside the point.)

Tomorrow is the day of the practice match and she’s really so, so flustered about the prospect of handing the jacket over, of seeing him again.

(It’s terribly embarrassing, but she really enjoys the jacket, has maybe worn it once or twice or three or four or more times, has maybe quietly snuggled into it at night while she’s studied and flushed because it smells really good)

(It’s even more embarrassing that now she really wants to know if it’s Kyoutani’s cologne that smells good, if that’s what he smells like, what it would be like to enjoy it in person. Those thoughts make her fling the jacket away from her, bury her face into her pillows and squeak.

It’s really nothing she should be curious about.)

Yachi sighs to herself, drops her book to rub at her temples and groans a little.

It’ll be good to give the jacket back. She feels guilty for having it so long, hopes he hasn’t been too inconvenienced by it.

(She’s also maybe, sort of, kind of a tiny bit reluctant to give it back.)

(But only just a tiny bit.)

Yachi huffs to herself and plucks her book back up again, focuses her attention back to reading.

Yachi realizes that she’s really not sure how to give Kyoutani his jacket back at the practice match.

It hits her in the middle of listening to Hinata ramble on about how he’s so excited to take down Seijoh again that her team might react...well, rowdily if they see her passing off the jacket to Kyoutani.

The thought fills her with so much anxiety that she flinches when Hinata crows about how he can’t wait to spike past Seijoh’s blockers.

It’s really, really, really not that she doesn’t want her team to know that she hung out with Kyoutani. It’s just that she doesn’t want the fuss of it all, the teasing, and the puffing up of her team, them leering at Kyoutani. He’s...he’s her friend (she thinks, she hopes. Does Kyoutani think they’re friends?) and she just doesn’t want it to be a big deal.

Yachi ends up frowning for most of the day, is overly aware of the leather jacket stuck in her book bag, the way time ticks by so, so fast as she nervously waits for Aoba Johsai to show up, for the practice match to start.

She feels almost a little faint when the opposing team swaggers into the gym.

Yachi watches Kyoutani glance around the gym, smiles weakly when he spots her and gives a small nod. She feels lucky that Tanaka is too busy trying to stare down Yahaba to notice it, feels a tiny bit relieved that the coaches pull both teams away to have a pre-game chat almost immediately.

Maybe she can sneak it to him after the matches?

Yachi busies herself with her duties so she doesn’t have to think about it, snaps a few photos of the team when she can and tweets them out as the team amps themselves up, as Coach Ukai encourages them.

When the first match starts, she almost feels herself a little compelled to be happy when Kyoutani scores.

It’s a shock and Yachi feels so, so guilty but also somehow not at the same time. He’s...well...she enjoys his company so...so it’s not that bad, right? It’s not like she wants his team to win, but....

Yachi really doesn’t even know what tell herself and ends up getting a little upset and frustrated.

She tries to distract herself by taking her notes, talking with some of the bench players. It doesn’t really work, though, and her nerves get keyed up tighter and tighter as they play another match once the first is finished and then another once the second comes to its close.

She still doesn’t know how to give Kyoutani his jacket by the time the coaches finally put their feet down and firmly tells the teams that they’re done for the day.

Kyoutani looks tired when she peeks over at him, all sweaty and breathing hard through his nose. Even though she’s used to seeing tired, sweaty boys, something about it makes her squirm and she has to look away before the blossoming warmth in her belly confuses her too much.

It’s when she watches the Seijoh team file out of the gym to board their bus that Yachi catches Kyoutani looking at her before stepping out of the door, lagging just a little bit behind his team. She takes that as her cue and slips out as quietly as she can, grabs the leather jacket from her bag and hurries after him.

“Thank- thank you,” she mumbles to him once she catches up to where he’s stood paused in the courtyard. She’s not really quite able to look up at him as she clutches the clothing, has to stare down at the leather as her heart does an odd little flutter. “I, um, I really appreciate you letting me use it.”

There’s a tired hum from Kyoutani and Yachi scrapes up the bravery to peek up at him, gets rewarded with a glimpse at a small, almost satisfied looking smile on his face.

“No problem,” he mumbles to her. Kyoutani eyes the jacket in her hands, how her fingers are clenching it maybe a bit too tight. His head tilts and there’s a moment of pause before he continues with, “You can keep it, if you want.”

Yachi blinks at him, stares a little bit.

What...what? He...he’s offering to let her keep his jacket. His jacket that smells so, so nice and is so big on her but so comfy and so cozy and oh goodness she didn’t expect this. Does it mean anything? Why would it mean something? Does she want it to mean something? No, no. Maybe? Maybe just- maybe just as an indication of friendship? Or- or-

Yachi curls her fingers tighter into the jacket and blinks up at him again, swallows back some soft sound that wants to escape her.

The thought of keeping the jacket is incredibly pleasing to her and she’s really not sure how she feels about that.

She gives a tiny little nod after she realizes she’s just been staring at him and mumbles a “thank you” to Kyoutani, flushes and tries not to smile too big down at the jacket. One of his teammates calls to him and Kyoutani lets out a sigh, gets Yachi peeking up at him again.

“See you around.”

She just nods again and bites her lip, hugs the jacket to her chest when he turns to join his team again.

Well. That was unexpected.

Kyoutani’s jacket quickly becomes one of Yachi’s favorite possessions.

It’s embarrassing how often she wears it when she’s home alone, but it’s just- it’s just comfortable and so, so big on her and it makes her feel cozy, safe.

(She wonders way too much about how nice it would be to wear something else of his, wonders way too much about what it would be like to wear one his hoodies, fall asleep in one of them.)

(It’s so, so embarrassing finding herself thinking about it late at night when she’s drifting off to sleep. When did those thoughts ever start creeping into her head? She can’t ever admit them out loud.)

Yachi’s wearing the jacket right now, staring at her phone and trying to work up the nerve to text Kyoutani.

She still can’t believe that she has his phone number.

She’s just as dazed as when he had given it to her earlier, still dealing with a too fast beating heart and flushed cheeks and nervous fingers.

She really hadn’t expected it.

They had ran into each other again while she was walking home, of course. And that was fine, that was nice, that was something she was almost a bit too happy about. But it was just- it’s just that she has fun talking to sweet little Ami and it’s nice hanging around Kyoutani. She’s even got used to his silences, how he rarely shows his emotions, how his expressions are so much more muted than anyone else she knows. She enjoys hanging out with Kyoutani.

She enjoys hanging out with him and she had maybe been thinking about what it would be like hanging out with him outside of the run ins with his sister, grabbing lunch with him again, maybe going on a walk.

But she had never expected it to happen, never expected him to ask about it.

So it stunned Yachi when he asked if she wanted to grab a bite to eat, had made a shy but pleased smile break across her face when he had mumbled about how he was dropping Ami off at a friend’s house, about how he had planned to grab something with her but then plans got changed. Sure, he was asking so he wouldn’t eat alone, but Yachi had been so secretly thrilled, had smiled and nodded almost immediately.

She had even walked little Ami to her friend’s house with him, held his little sister’s hand and talked to the girl about her lessons, smiled with pride when Ami told her she was getting a solo spot in an upcoming show. It had been fun and nice and even when Ami drifted into the house, it was still fun and nice walking with Kyoutani. She was maybe a bit more pink cheeked and quiet than before but it was still so, so very enjoyable.

And so was the ramen they grabbed, the time they spent with each other. It was peaceful and, yes, she was still nervous and flustered but she was more relaxed around him than she imagined she would be, even managed to coax out a chuckle or two from him.

It was fun and it was fantastic and she had been pleased when they stepped out of the ramen shop, happy and relaxed. She was just thinking about asking if he wanted his jacket back yet when he had casually said they should hang out again, that he has fun with her.

It had knocked her speechless.

She could only turn her head and blink up at him, could only blush a bit and let out a quiet, surprised squeak and duck her head. It’s something that she wanted, though, something that she had been secretly hoping for so really all she could do was nod and mumble that she would like that. A lot.

Yachi still isn’t sure if the satisfaction in his eyes she had seen when she peeked up at him was something she had imagined or misinterpreted.

He had smiled when she nodded, one of his tiny little smiles, and then told her that they should trade numbers then.

That’s where her memory sort of blanks. She thinks she remembers shoving her phone at him, thinks she remembers him giving a little chuckle as he typed his number in. She remembers a goodbye and a pat to her head, sort of remembers stumbling home and sitting on her bed in a daze.

Yachi Hitoka has Kyoutani Kentarou’s number and she’s really not sure what to do about it.

She wants to text him, wants to talk to him.

But she doesn’t know what to say.

...maybe she should ask Yamaguchi.

Yachi shoots the idea down almost immediately, flushes with the nerves that comes with it and shakes her head.

No way. She’ll just get teased then and she doesn’t want to be teased, doesn’t want there to be a fuss or anything over it. She likes hanging out with Kyoutani and she...she…

She wants to do more with him.

Yachi lets out a tiny groan and drops her head, clutches her phone tighter and feels herself flush darker.

Why is this so hard? He’s just...he’s her friend, right? She hadn’t been this nervous about Hinata or Yamaguchi when she first got their numbers. She had been able to text them just fine, had been able to shoot off a chirpy little text first without any problem. So why can’t she…

(Because he’s hot. Because Kyoutani is really, really hot and she doesn’t know what this step in his direction is going to lead to, is so uncertain what she wants with all the talking and slowly getting to know each other.)

Yachi chews on her bottom lip and nervously eyes his number, the little text box that she’s filled with so many greetings only to erase them.

She takes a deep, deep breath and draws on all her courage to type out a simple “Hey! It’s Yachi!” to him.

It takes her five minutes to work up the bravery to send it and she immediately throws her phone away from her with an embarrassed squeak right after she does.

She can’t believe she’s texting Kyoutani Kentarou.

Yachi alternates between nervously peeking at her phone and squirming in place, has to actually leave her room to keep herself from getting too worked up.

She’s right back in it a minute later when she hears her phone go off.

Some sort of nervous, giddy laugh escapes her when it dings again before she can peek at it. Yachi has to force herself to grab her phone, squeeze her eyes shut and take a few deep breaths before she can look at it.

(She’s being ridiculous and she knows she is but it’s so, so nerve wracking and what if they’re not able to talk via text and what if she’s boring to him and what if he ends up not wanting to talk to her and what if she comes off as clingy and what if-)

Yachi takes a shaky little breath and opens her eyes, slides her finger across the touch screen and peers down at her new messages.

From Kyoutani: Hey

And then-

From Kyoutani: Ami says hi

Attached to the second one is a photo of Ami and Kyoutani, the little girl hunched over his back and waving at the phone with a big grin. Kyoutani looks annoyed, but Yachi has been around him long enough by this point to spot the faint smile, the barely there flash of adoration in his eyes.

She saves the photo immediately.

Yachi frets for a moment, tries to think what to say back and settles on “oh, tell her I said hi!” After a moment she gets brave and shoots off that it’s a cute pic, fumbles over herself and thanks him again for inviting her to eat earlier.

He tells her it was no big deal, that he enjoyed it. She’s not sure if the conversation will continue, but then he asks her about an animal shelter she mentioned she was thinking about volunteering at. That turns to talking about animals in general, which turns into her learning that his mother is a vet, which turns into Yachi telling him about her mother.

They talk. They actually talk.

Yachi falls asleep that night with a smile on her face, her phone clutched in her hand and a goodnight text from Kyoutani flashing on her screen.

They keep texting, they keep running into each other, they keep getting to know each other.

Yachi finds herself really liking Kyoutani. It’s not unexpected after the random moments they’ve spent together, but if someone told her just last year that she would be looking forward to texting Kyoutani Kentarou, looking forward to the chance to hang out with him, she wouldn’t have believed it all.

But it’s a thing that’s happening and it’s a really good thing and Yachi is so happy that she’s gotten to know him, so happy for all their run ins and the time they’ve spent together.

It would be nice to have a few more meetings with him, though.

Both of them are busy with school and volleyball and she finds herself disappointed that they don’t get to spend time with each other outside of running into one another when he picks up Ami, when their teams have a practice match together.

Yachi almost thinks hanging out with him again isn’t going to happen, but he completely surprises her one day by asking if she’d like to go see a movie with him.

She drops her juice box as soon as she sees the message and gets a look from a nearby classmate, ends up flushing and ducking her head.

A movie. Kyoutani asked her if she wants to go see a movie with him.

Yachi stares down at her phone in shock, wonders if she’s maybe hallucinating the words. A second text comes in before she can reconcile it and Yachi finds the classroom growing much too hot and much too loud in her sudden spike of anxious energy.

From Kyoutani: U wanted to see it, right?

She does want to see it. He remembered that. He had listened to her.

What is she supposed to do? What is she supposed to say? She does want to see it and she does want to see him and she doesn’t have any plans that day but a movie? Isn’t that- would that make it- does he-

Yachi lets out a quiet noise of distress and doesn’t bother to be chastised by the look her classmate gives her, shoots up from her chair and practically bolts from the room and toward Yamaguchi’s classroom. She walks in without hesitation and without notice to the looks his classmates give her and just shoves her phone in Yamaguchi’s face when she reaches him, looks at him with wide eyes.

Yamaguchi squints at the phone and they both ignore Tsukishima’s “nice to see you too, Yachi.” Yamaguchi’s head tilts to the side and then he slowly looks up at her, eyes her with an expression she can’t quite place.

“Is that…?” he asks, trailing off. Yachi nods and Yamaguchi blinks at her, astonishment quickly taking over his face. “Holy shit. Holy shit.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Yachi moans, clutching her phone tight as she pulls it to her chest. “I want to, but I don’t know if he means as friends or if it’s supposed to be- supposed to be-”

She cuts herself off with a frustrated huff, but Yamaguchi doesn’t have much pity for her, his lips pursing as he eyes her.

“You didn’t tell us you were on texting terms with Kyoutani,” he tells her, a little accusing.

“That’s not important!” Yachi insists, flapping her hands at him. “We’ve been texting, yes! He has really cute dogs and I like talking to him and I’ve been wanting to hang out with him again, but I don’t know what to say!”

“Just say yes?” Tsukishima says, clearly a little annoyed. “You want to so what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that Yachi think he’s hot,” Yamaguchi informs his boyfriend before Yachi can think of an answer. A squeak leaves her and she sends him a pout that he ignores. “So, you know, she’s flustered. She thinks she’s hot and she probably has a crush on him and movies are for dates so she’s not sure how to handle it.”

Yachi nods despite her huffiness with Yamaguchi and looks at Tsukishima almost pleadingly, begging for some sort of an answer to her mental turmoil. All she gets is a pale brow raising, though, and a soft scoff.

“He asked you, right?” Tsukishima asks, vaguely impatient. “So he probably thinks the same. Just go and see what happens.”

“But what if it isn’t a date?” Yachi protests, nearly moaning it out. “And what if it is?! I’ve never been on one! I don’t know what to do or wear and what if I make a fool of myself and what if I do something stupid and he ends up regretting asking me and what if-”

“Hitoka,” Tsukishima snaps, cutting her rant off and drawing a whine from her. “Just do it. Don’t talk yourself out of it. You’ll regret it more that way.”

Yachi whines, again, and slumps into a nearby free seat, buries her head in her arms. “I just don’t want to mess things up.”

“You’re not going to mess things up,” Yamaguchi tells her, reaching out a hand and lightly patting her hair. “It’s just a movie. You won’t even be talking to each other for most of the time. There’s no need to worry.”

Yachi squirms, distressed, and peeks her head up from her arms, bites her lip and then huffs at the amusement on Yamaguchi’s face.

He’s right and she knows he’s right. She’s terrified of making a mess of things, though, and even more terrified of admitting a crush and letting it blossom and grow. She’s never been in this position before and relationships are so complicated, feelings are so difficult. She’s already so fretful- there’s no need to add worrying over first kisses and holding hands and trying to keep a partner happy to her pile of nerves.

…even if she maybe, sort of, kind of wouldn’t mind kissing Kyoutani, holding his hand and doing her best to make him smile.

“You’re thinking about this too much,” Tsukishima tells her, shaking his head. “It’s either a date or it isn’t. If it is, that’s great. If it’s not, that’s fine. You still want to be friends with him, right?”

She does. Of course she does. Kyoutani is quiet and easy to talk to, admirable in his strength and his gruff adoration. She likes the time she spends with him and she likes the time she spends with his little sister. She wants to keep learning about him, keep worming into his life and finding out all there is to know.

(And she still really wants to wear his hoodie, see if his hand would be rough in hers, if his lips would taste like cinnamon gum he likes to chew on.)
(Embarrassing, embarrassing, embarrassing. She has a crush on him, doesn’t she? What is she supposed to do with that? She’s only had crushes on people that were unobtainable before- Daichi and Asahi and Suga and that third year that works in the corner store now and always smiles at her. She’s never had crush that could be returned. Could it be returned? What is she going to do? It’s presumptuous to think he might, maybe, possibly have a crush in return, right? Oh, what is she-)

Yachi is jerked from her worried thoughts when she feels her phone being taken away from her, snaps her head up and gasps when she finds Tsukishima tapping quickly across the screen.

“What are you doing?!” she demands, lunging for it and letting out an anxious whine when he raises it over his head and out of her reach.

“What you should be doing,” Tsukishima huffs out in reply, fingers moving quickly before he pushes it back in her hand. There’s a faint smug look on his face and Yachi wants to pinch him. “You’ll thank for me this.”

Horror rips through Yachi and a shriek leaves her before she can think to restrain it, her anxiety rearing its head with an ugly noise that makes the whole class stare at her. She barely notices, though, as she eyes the words Tsukishima sent, feels apprehension and the slender, quiet bit of relief that snakes through her.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Yachi whispers, eyes wide. “I can’t- oh my god. You- you-”

Yachi struggles to get the words out, but she is so flustered and overwhelmed that she can’t do more than let out tiny, indignant noises that make Tsukishima smirk. Yamaguchi smacks his arm for Yachi, but that doesn’t help matters and Yachi slumps in the seat, stares blankly at the floor tile.

(He did what she wanted to do and, oh god, she’s happy she didn’t have to drum up the bravery for it)

“I hate you,” Yachi mumbles without real heat. “You’re so mean.”

“You’ll thank me for this,” Tsukishima repeats. “You’re either going to become better friends or you’re going to get a kiss and either are decent options.”

“Hate you,” Yachi whispers, a moan trailing out after.

Yamaguchi pats her head sympathetically and the bell gives a ring, forcing Yachi out of her seat and to her own classroom. She wants to slink to the floor and melt away, but she puts her lunch away dutifully and finds her seat, stares at the chalkboard, distracted, as her classmates bustle around.

To Kyoutani: Yeah, of course! Let me know when you want to go?

She can’t believe Tsukishima sent that. She can’t believe she might have a date, might not. She can’t believe she believes it might be a date. It’s not, right? It’s probably not. He probably just wants to hang out, like they have before. Just because it’s a movie doesn’t mean it’s a date. It’s- no, she’s just working herself up and being ridiculous.

It’s not a date. It’s just friends spending time together. That’s all it is.

(But what if it isn’t?)

Yachi bites her lip as her teacher walks to the beginning of the room, shoves all thoughts of maybe-maybe not dates out of her mind.

Despite resolving not to worry over it being a date or not, Yachi completely finds herself fretting once they decide on a time to meet up. She doesn’t know what to do and she’s still a little iffy on how she feels, is completely overwhelmed and unsure of how she’s supposed to handle it. It’s probably not a date and she’s letting herself get too worked up, but Yachi thinks she really, really wants it to be a date even if the thought makes her nervous.

She has two days until they go to see the movie together and she’s an absolute wreck.

“Hitoka, honey, is something wrong?” her mother asks, frowning and eyeing her. “You’ve been very…distracted lately.”

That’s really saying something, if her mother noticed. Not to say anything against her mother of course- it’s just that she’s not around Yachi that much these days and Yachi was sure she had kept it under control around her.

“I’m, um, fine,” Yachi mumbles, pushing around her rice and trying to hide a sigh. “I’m just…”

She trails off and she knows without looking that her mother’s brow is raised, that she’s looking at her with concern. Yachi feels guilty over that and guiltier still that she’s hesitant to turn to her mother for advice, that she hasn’t said anything before.

“I…what was your first date with dad like?” Yachi finally asks, quiet and nervous. She’s never really asked about her dad before, but she’s anxious and she can’t outright tell her mother about the maybe-maybe not date.

(And, well, it’ll be nice to get a peek into the past.)

Her mother is quiet for a few moments, but then she takes a deep breath and drums her fingers on the kitchen table. Yachi peeks her eyes up at her and finds distraction on her mother’s face, something fond but sad.

“It was…nice,” her mother tells her, words coming a little slow. “I didn’t know it was a date until he kissed me good night, though.”

“You didn’t know it was a date?” Yachi blurts out, a bit louder than she means. She can’t believe the similarity, the thought that history might be repeating itself.

Red lips curl into a smile and her mother huffs out a soft laugh, nods and then looks over to Yachi.

“I didn’t. I’ve told you that he was always a bit shy and awkward, right?” her mother asks. Yachi nods, remembering the scraps she’s been given about her father, and her mother sighs, props her chin onto her hand. “He didn’t ask me out on a date. He asked me if I wanted to see a movie with him. I did, but I wanted something more and, back then, I was a little shy too- if you can believe that. So I accepted it as it just being another instance of us hanging out.”

Her mother pauses after that, shaking her head and smiling, laughing a bit to herself.

“Looking back now, it was obvious…but at the time I thought he was just being nice when he bought my popcorn and gave me his jacket when I was cold,” Yachi’s mother continues. “Or, maybe, I was too nervous to let myself accept it for what it was. It would have been better if he had just straight up called it what it was.”

Yachi blinks and then she blinks again, stunned to hear something so similar to what is happening to her now. She wants to tell her mother, desperately, but she’s not sure how to even begin and really, truly, this is just- this is just-

She doesn’t even know.

Yachi takes a deep breath and then takes a gulp of water, tries to think of what to say. Her mother eyes her, but lets her stay quiet, patiently waits for Yachi to spill the beans or change the subject.

She should talk about, Yachi thinks. It’s her mother and she loves her and Yachi knows Kyoutani is not what her mother wants for her, but Yachi thinks Kyoutani is what she wants for herself. He’s good to her and he’s sweet to his sister and Yachi knows he looks rough, but it’s the inside that counts, right? Her mother could look past the eyeliner and leather, couldn’t she?

Surely…surely…

“What- what if….what if I went on a- on a date?” Yachi finally asks, once she gathers the courage. Her voice is a little shaky, though, despite all of the bravery she’s called on and she has to curl her fingers tight in her lap to keep from fidgeting nervously.

Her mother’s brow arches and Yachi ducks her head, blushes as she feels her mother eye her.

“You have a date?” her mother asks, curious and vaguely stunned in a way that makes Yachi’s cheeks flush even darker.

“I- I don’t know,” Yachi mumbles, not able to look up from the table. It feels very hot suddenly and she can feel her heart stuttering, her tongue growing a little numb with her nerves. “It’s- he asked me if I wanted- wanted to watch a movie. He- he said he remembered I wanted to see it…”

Her mother hums, soft and low, and Yachi peeks her gaze up, drops it again when she spots the amusement on her mother’s face. She feels embarrassed and ridiculous, wants to hide under the covers and away from everyone.

“Do you want it to be a date?” her mother asks after a few moments.

Yachi squirms in her seat and chews on her bottom lip, fingers curling tight into her skirt.

“…maybe?” Yachi admits after a too long pause, voice a little squeaky. Her cheeks feel burning and she can’t look at her mother, can only stare at her half-eaten rice. “I, um, I- I think I do.”

Her mother hums again and it’s even more pensive this time, has Yachi ducking her head down low. She’s never talked to her mother about these sort of things before and it’s so embarrassing, but it feels like a relief as well and Yachi really doesn’t know what to say or how to act.

“Is it someone from your school?” her mother finally asks.

Yachi bites her lip and shakes her head, peeks her gaze up to find curiosity on her mother’s face. She thinks under the surprise that her mother looks pleased and Yachi feels guilty for not talking about this earlier.

“Um, n-no. He goes to Seijoh?” Yachi mumbles, uncertain but trying. Her mother nods at her to continue and Yachi flushes and flusters, fumbles with her herself. “He’s a, um, third year there and plays on their volleyball team.”

“A third year?” her mother asks, one fine brow arching. Yachi’s cheeks darken and her mother huffs, looking amused. “And how did you start talking to him?”

Yachi chews on her bottom lip and then gathers up her courage, shyly begins to tell her mother about the coffee spill that seems so long ago, the practice game and the jacket and the lunch they shared. Her mother raises her brow high at the mention of the jacket and Yachi feels guilty, but there’s relief as well and Yachi loses her shyness easily, rambles to her mother and lets out all her knotted, unsure thoughts, tells her mother of her worry and her quiet want.

“-and I just…he’s just- he’s quiet and he is a little rough around the edges, but he’s nice to me and I like just walking with him and he’s really attractive and I just- I just like him,” Yachi finishes up, slightly out of breath and feeling a bit more light. Her rice is cold and her mother looks amused, but she feels better- a lot better. “I- I want it to be a date, I think. And I want…I want more.”

Her mother nods and takes a sip of her wine before saying anything, swirling it after as she tilts her head and smiles in a way that makes Yachi feel like everything is really going to be okay.

“Well,” her mother tells her, “I don’t know Kyoutani-kun myself, but it does sound like you really like him. And, from what you’ve told me, he sounds like a pretty decent boy. I trust your judgement, Hitoka, and I hope it turns out how you want. I know I’m not around that often, but if you ever want to talk about things…I’m here for you.”

Regret and a bit of sadness flits over her mother’s face and Yachi tries not to frown at it, reaches over before she can stop herself and gives her mother’s hand a squeeze.

“Thank you,” Yachi mumbles, her shyness coming back again. “I…thank you.”

Her mother squeezes her hand back and Yachi smiles at her, releases her hand and goes to eat her cold dinner. She thinks that this might be the end of the conversation, but her mother sips at her wine again, eyes her with sudden scrutiny.

“Do we need to have the talk?” her mother asks, not batting an eye when Yachi’s own go wide and her face pales and then flares brilliant crimson. “I can’t remember if we ever have or not and I’m not sure if they’ve had it with you in school.”

Yachi shakes her head furiously, her response jumbling up and knotting in her throat, and her mother hides her amusement behind a sip of wine.

“I- I’m fine,” Yachi eventually manages to squeak out. “I don’t- I’m not going to- I know-”

Her mother hums and Yachi wilts in her chair, face simmering with the heat on her cheeks and the embarrassment boiling inside of her.

“Well, if something does happen, make sure to be safe, sweetie,” her mother continues on, ignoring Yachi’s mortified squeak. “I trust you to make good choices, honey. I do want to know if he stays over, though, and I’d rather not come home to any…surprises.”

There’s no way words can make it past the sheer embarrassment clogging up Yachi’s insides. Her only response is a moan and hiding her face in her hands, pouting and flustering when her mother laughs.

Oh, maybe she should have kept her mouth shut. Honestly.

“I’m just teasing, sweetie,” her mother tells her, rubbing her shoulder. Yachi huffs and the rubbing becomes a comforting squeeze and a pat. “Well…mostly.”

Yachi whines and her mother laughs again, warmth and embarrassment spiral through her. She’s mortified, but she feels better and she can’t help but feel more excited about the thought of her maybe-maybe not date.

Things will be fine. Good, great. It can’t be even more flustering than this has been.

Yachi smiles into her palms, cheeks burning, and feels her heart soar, her hope rise.

“So, what are you going to wear?”

Yachi blinks up from her work and looks over at Yamaguchi, head tilting to the side in confusion.

“Wear when?” she asks, puzzled and distracted by the theorems and calculations bouncing in her head.

Yamaguchi huffs and leans back in his computer chair, freckled arms stretching over his head as he shoots her a look that tells Yachi that she should understand his question.

“On your date,” Yamaguchi clarifies, a silent duh ringing out after.

Oh.

Apprehension bubbles up in Yachi’s stomach and she chews on her bottom lip with it, tries her best to quiet the nerves at the reminder of the movie tomorrow night.

“I…It’s not a date,” Yachi mumbles, dropping her head to hide her flush. “And I, um, haven’t decided yet…”

“You still have his jacket, right?” Yamaguchi asks. Yachi nods and peeks her gaze back up, watches as Yamaguchi twirls a pen between his fingers. “You should wear it.”

“Wouldn’t that be weird?” Yachi asks, frowning just a bit. “Or, well, wouldn’t it kind of…give, well, not a wrong impression, but…”

She trails off and Yamaguchi huffs, halts the pen in its tracks and points at her with it.

“Not if you want to give him a hint that you’d like it to be counted as a date,” Yamaguchi informs her, voice coming out matter-of-factly. “That’s what you want, right?”

A flush spreads across her cheeks and Yachi squirms, looks away when a tiny little half-smirk curls up onto Yamaguchi’s lips. The answer is yes, of course, but she’s nervous over the thought and she’d hate to misconstrue things and what if he’s not interested in her that way and what if she ruins the quiet friendship that they have and maybe she would wait and what if-

“Yacchan, you’re over-thinking again.”

The accusation startles Yachi from her quickfire worries and she flushes darker, drops her face into her hands and groans. There’s the sound of footsteps and then a dip in the mattress, Yamaguchi’s arm wrapping around her shoulders in an attempt at comfort.

“Stop worrying so much,” he tells her. “You’re not going to mess things up. And he’d be crazy if he didn’t want it to be a date.”

“But what if it isn’t one?” Yachi asks, a tiny whine in the question. “What if I mess up and he doesn’t want to see me again? What if I ruin things?”

Yamaguchi huffs and rubs her shoulder a little, pulls her closer when Yachi tilts her body to the side to slump against him.

“You’re not going to mess up,” Yamaguchi insists, voice firm. “And it’s his loss if he decides he doesn’t want to see you again.” Yachi squirms, unsure, and Yamaguchi sighs. “Wear the jacket, Yacchan. If it ends up being a disaster, I’ll take full responsibility over it. And if it ends up being everything you could ever hope for and more, I’ll take full responsibility over it, too.”

Yachi huffs at that, cheeks puffing out, but finds herself smiling a tiny bit just the same. The little cheekiness helps ease her stress a bit and, even if she’s still worried, Yachi sighs and nods.

It’ll be okay. Even if it’s not…even if it’s not a date. She’s wanted to spend more time with him just for his companionship and Yachi will appreciate the movie and the time with him even if it doesn’t involve feelings.

(Though, feelings could- would- be nice.)

Yachi sighs again, quietly, and closes her eyes, mind buzzing with anticipation of what’s to come.

She barely sleeps that night. Yachi tosses and turns and frets herself silly, rest running away from her whenever she tries to close her eyes. She manages to catch the smallest little slivers of sleep eventually and ends up tired and too bright eyed in the morning, energetic just by virtue of her nerves.

There’s not school for her to occupy her mind until her maybe-maybe not date. Instead, she’s left to her own devices and giddy apprehension, given the time to fuss over an outfit and worry and flood Yamaguchi with anxious texts all day.

She feels ready to burst by the time she needs to get ready, changes her outfit three times before she gives up and fusses with her hair instead, curls it before attempting to put on a little bit of makeup.

Which she promptly washes off in fear of it being too much, replaces with just a swipe of mascara and lipgloss, the lightest layer of foundation that she can manage.

And then she changes her outfit once more, just in case.

It’s okay, she thinks. It’s one that she looks good in- or, at least, one that Yamaguchi has told her she looks good in.

Yachi nervously smooths her hands over her skirt and turns in front of her mirror, twisting a little bit to make sure that it’s not too short or there isn’t a stain on it or anything else disastrous. It looks fine, she thinks- hopes-, and it actually looks nice with his jacket. It’s almost- dare she think it- stylish.

Yachi nervously smiles at her reflection and smooths the pleats of her skirt again, readjusts Kyoutani’s jacket so it rests a bit more prettily on her.

She’s really glad he let her keep it.

Though, she still almost ditches it before leaving her home, takes it off and then puts it on a few times before working up the courage to wear it.

She really hopes it won’t make things awkward.

(She really hopes it’ll help make things go her way)

There’s a last minute rush of anxiety that almost has Yachi texting Kyoutani to cancel their meet-up. A surprise text from Tsukishima stops her in her tracks, though, and Yachi ends up flushing guiltily down at her phone when she reads the text that pops on its screen.

From Tsukki: Don’t you dare wimp out

Her friends know her much too well.

Yachi still gets close to backing out and just barely manages to grab onto her faint, fleeing bravery needed to leave her home and walk to meet Kyoutani at their normal place.

She wonders if he’s just going to wear the usual jeans and band shirt. She wonders if he was nervous before leaving his home. (It’s doubtful, probably. He wouldn’t get anxious over this sort of thing.) She wonders if his mother teased him or if his little sister was the one to do it. Did he even get teased? Did he tell anyone about this? If he didn’t, why not? Oh, god, is she someone he wouldn’t talk about it? Does she like him more than he likes her? Oh no- oh no. What if he didn’t want her to tell anyone about this? What if she’s already messed it up? What if-

“Yachi.”

Yachi jumps, startled out of her almost frantic thoughts, and whips her head to the side to find that she’s made a few steps pasts Kyoutani. A flush spreads across her cheeks like wildfire and she turns to properly face him, nervously curls her fingers into her palms inside the too long sleeves of his jacket.

He looks amused, vaguely. Amused in the way that Yachi knows. Amused and something else- something that Yachi almost wants to call interested or appreciative. She doesn’t have the courage for that, though, and doesn’t have the courage to meet his eyes once they finish slowly tracing down her body.

Is he checking her out? No one’s ever done that before.

(She kind of hopes he is.)

Yachi tries to not to fidget and tries to keep from hiding her face in her hands, a squirm threatening to run through her. There’s quiet for a moment and then a low, deep hum, Kyoutani taking a step toward her and reaching out a hand to brush some hair behind her ear.

(And, goodness, does that make her heart run wild. She wants to press into her touch, but she doesn’t have the courage too. Too shy. She’s too shy. Why can’t she be flirty and bold for once?)

“You’re wearing my jacket,” Kyoutani mumbles, taking his hand back and tilting his head a little. When Yachi works up the nerve to look into his eyes, there’s something nearly heated in them, something that almost makes her shy from him sheepishly.

She likes that heat firing up in honey-gold, she thinks. It sets something pleased off in her, something not nervous but shy and content.

Yachi gives him a small nod and fiddles with the hem of the jacket, bites into her bottom lip and looks up at him through her lashes.

“Is that okay?” she asks, quieter than she means. She can feel her cheeks heating up a bit more, a nervous smile playing on her lips.

There’s another hum from Kyoutani and a nod, his eyes looking her over her once more.

“Yeah,” he tells her, voice just a bit rough. “I like it.”

He likes it.

Yachi’s eyes widen, heart pounding against her chest, and she stares up at him as she tries to reconcile it, tries to keep from getting too hopeful over it.

(But, oh goodness, he likes it. He’s not upset and he doesn’t look annoyed and he likes it and he’s looking at her in a way she usually never gets looked at and- and-

And he likes it.)

Kyoutani’s lips twitch with the faintest of smiles and Yachi ducks her head, face flushing carmine and a flustered rush of excitement and giddy anxiety pulsing through her. All she can manage is a squeaky little “o-oh” in response to him, her brain going into overdrive so hard and fast she can’t possibly pick out something decent to tell him.

“We should go,” Kyoutani mumbles after a moment of quiet.

Yachi nods in agreement and peeks her eyes up at him, catches the way he looks over her again before away. It makes her blush that much more and she wonders if anyone has ever overheated from flushing, if she’s going to need to sit down and sip juice simply from blushing so hard.

How embarrassing would that be.

Yachi lets out a silent huff and begins to walk with Kyoutani, more than aware of the space between them and how easy it would be to reach over and grab his hand. They would be rough, she thinks. Rough and callused from volleyball, but big and warm and, goodness, she wants to know what it would feel like to lace her fingers through.

She’s falling so fast it’s ridiculous.

Yachi chews on her bottom lip and tries to shake thoughts of hand holding from her mind, tells herself that Kyoutani probably wouldn’t even like to hold hands or show affection in that way.

Not that he wants to show her affection anyway. It would be so presumptuous to think that he wants to and, really, they’re just friends and she’s getting way, way ahead of herself and-

A groan leaves Yachi and she flushes when she feels Kyoutani slide his eyes over to her, ducks her head in embarrassment.

Ridiculous. She’s being so ridiculous.

Yachi takes a shaky little breath and nervously looks over at Kyoutani, a timid smile wavering on her lips.

“Um, thank- thank you for going to see this with me,” she tells him, voice much more squeaky than she wants. “I- I, um, I appreciate it.”

Kyoutani just shrugs, hands shoved in his pockets, and a slump in his walk. He looks like such a punk walking alongside her, but it’s what Yachi’s used to and she clings to the casual familiarity of friendship, tries so very hard to focus on it.

Friends. Friends. They’re friends.

Yachi breathes in deep to try to steady herself, fiddles with the sleeves of Kyoutani’s jacket as they walk. She feels like she should be saying something, but she knows Kyoutani is okay with the silence and can’t decide if she needs to give into her nervousness or keep things quiet.

Luckily, Kyoutani decides for her.

“Ami was talkin’ about you the other day,” Kyoutani mumbles, barely audible over the people they pass by. Yachi blinks in surprise and drifts just a tiny bit closer to him so she can hear him better, sends him a questioning look that makes him huff. “Think she wants you to see her recital.”

Oh. Oh. Oh, that would be so much fun and that’s so very sweet that Ami wants her to be there and, goodness, now she can’t stop smiling.

“I would like that,” Yachi tells him, the light giddiness of being wanted slipping into her voice. “When is it?”

Kyoutani glances over at her, a small, faint smile playing his lips before he tells her about the recital coming up the week after next, how his sister has claimed a leading role and is over the moon about it. Yachi listens happily to him and ends up chattering on in a gush of adoration over his sister, rambles about dancing and shows that she’s seen, shows she wants to see in the future.

She talks much more than she means and doesn’t even notice the relaxing of her shoulders, the ground they cover as she chirps on and on. It’s easy to talk to Kyoutani and he encourages her with tiny nods when she falters with the thought that she’s blabbering on too much, tilts his head before asking little questions that get her rambling on even more.

He indulges her too much, maybe. She talks too much around him.

But, she feels better by the time they reach the theater. More relaxed, less anxious and less likely to bolt away with a sloppy excuse so she can run home and hide under her covers. Yachi has calmed down and her chattering has wound down to something less overwhelming and more normal, rambling but not too easily distracted. She’s doing much better, she thinks.

This will go well.

(Hopefully.)

“Oh, we need to get tickets,” Yachi tells Kyoutani, reaching out without thinking to grab his sleeve when he starts heading to the snack counter. She flushes when she realizes what she’s done and drops it, cheeks flaring pink while he shakes his head.

“Got them already,” Kyoutani informs her, completely taking Yachi by surprise when he pulls out two tickets from his pocket. “We’re good.”

He…he bought them already? Does that mean- that’s a date thing, right? It’s- it has to be- oh, oh- oh god. It’s a da- no, no, no. She’s- she’s just assuming things. She doesn’t know if it is or not and- and maybe he’s just being nice and maybe-

“I-I,” Yachi squeaks, flustered and not even sure how she’s supposed to react. It feels really hot in the room now and she thinks she’s close to sweating, her heart threatening to beat straight out of her chest. “Thank- thank you!”

Her face turns scarlet with how she almost shouts out her thanks, mortification and embarrassment raking through her when the people in front of them look over their shoulders and raise their brows. Kyoutani huffs, quiet and maybe amused (hopefully- god, she hopes she didn’t annoy him), and jerks his head toward the snack counter, waves her to follow him.

“It’s nothing,” he tells her, voice rumbling low under the murmur of the people milling about the theater’s lobby. It makes Yachi flush that much darker, the way his voice rolls in its timbre, and it takes way too much self-control to keep from drifting closer to him and pressing her face into his chest to hide. “C’mon. Let’s get something to eat.”

Yachi swallows and nods, moving to follow him obediently as he makes his way over to the snack counter. It’s not that busy today, but people still move out of the way for Kyoutani and, for some reason, that sends some squirming pleasure coiling through Yachi’s stomach.

(God, what is with her? She’s such a mess. He probably thinks she’s a ridiculous wreck. And she is. She is. Oh, why is she so sensitive and why is he so flustering? She can’t do this. She can’t-)

“What do you want?”

Yachi startles from her thoughts and licks her lips nervously, eyes the snacks behind the counter and the drink station behind the bored attendant. She doesn’t think her stomach can really handle the buttery catastrophe the theater calls popcorn, but she really does need something to do with her hands before she has some frantic little meltdown.

“Um…” Yachi mumbles, curling her fingers into the fabric of her skirt. “Just- just a water and Twizzlers, please.”

The attendant nods, eyes vaguely glazed over, and moves to fetch Yachi’s snacks. Yachi chews on her bottom lip as she waits, blinks in surprise when she feels Kyoutani nudge her and looks up at him with wide eyes.

“That enough?” he asks, head tilting to the side a bit. She can see his tongue ring when he talks and that flash of metal makes Yachi want to duck her head down to hide her flush. “You can get more.”

“I- I know?” Yachi mumbles to him, a little confused by that. She knows she can get more if she wants. She knows she can buys more snacks. “I’m fine. Um…um, what are you going to get?”

Kyoutani shrugs, his attention going back to the counter, and Yachi eyes him a little before looking back at it as well. He looks nice as ever in his skinny jeans and his t-shirt, the beanie that he’s tossed over his hair. She thinks that he might have dressed a little bit better than usual, but she doesn’t want to be presumptuous and think that he might have, maybe dressed up a teeny, tiny bit for their movie.

There’s no reason why he would do that.

(Unless it’s a date.)

Yachi blushes and tries not to fidget nervously beside Kyoutani, waits as patiently as she can while he orders a sports drink and a tub of popcorn, a little baggy of gummy worms.

“You can have some if you want,” Kyoutani tells her as they move to pay for their snacks.

“Oh, um, thank you,” Yachi replies, almost absently as she move to take her wallet from her purse. “And you can- hey!”

Kyoutani blinks over at her, cash in hand as he goes to pay for both their snacks. Yachi can feel her flustered heart beating too fast, her cheeks flaring- again- with the way he’s taking care of everything.

(Like a date would. Like a boyfriend would)

“You- you don’t have to do that,” Yachi tells him, almost desperate and breathless with how she wants him to, with how she wants this to be heading toward her dizzy, cliche desires. “I- I can-”

Kyoutani just huffs and places the cash in the attendant’s palm, ignores the way Yachi splutters and wrings her hands together.

(Oh, oh this is so much. This is so much and she doesn’t know how to handle this and, oh god, is this a date? Is it? He’s just…he could just be being sweet to her. That could be it)

(But what if it isn’t? Oh, please, let it be something a bit more meaningful than a friend being nice.)

“It’s fine,” Kyoutani mumbles to her, shoving his change back in his pocket and holding Yachi’s snacks out to her. “Don’t worry about it.”

He says that, but he’s the one so easily sending her in a tizzy.

Yachi bits her bottom lip and nods, brow furrowing as she reaches for her snacks. Kyoutani eyes her, expression unreadable, and then jerks his head toward the usher.

“Let’s go,” he tells her.

Yachi takes a deep breath and nods, follows after him with nervousness rippling through her stomach.

It’s just a movie. It’s just a movie and this is a maybe-maybe not date. And- and she’s spent time alone with Kyoutani already and this is fine. It’s okay. Whatever happens because of this will be…it’ll be alright. It’ll be fine.

(She can’t stop thinking about the cliche of an arm wrapping around someone’s shoulder, kisses in the dark.)

Yachi gets so distracted and flustered over cheesy scenarios (that might not- will not- even happen) that she barely notices the way the usher eyes her flushed cheeks, the way Kyoutani walks just a bit closer to her when they start to head toward their theater.

“Where do you wanna sit?” Kyoutani asks, voice a mumble.

Yachi blinks and shakes her head, taking a tiny, deep breath to try to clear her head.

“I don’t care,” she tells him, nearly whispering it as they step into the dim room. “Wherever you’d like.”

Kyoutani nods and he leads her up the little steps until they reach the middle of the theater, nudges her to walk down the row so they can sit down. It’s a bit of a relief to sink down into the ugly chairs, if Yachi is being honest- she feels a little bit more centered, a little less likely to have her knees knock together nervously.

“There’s supposed to be a scene after the end credits,” Yachi tells him, quiet and still a little nervous.

Kyoutani just nods in response and mumbles to her that they can stay and watch it if she wants. Yachi smiles at that and thanks him, turns her attention to her phone so she can shut it off and ignores the unread texts from Yamaguchi which are probably just silly teases to make her flush. Kyoutani turns his off, too, and the pair of them sit quietly together as they open up their snacks and wait for the movie to start.

More people fill the theater and the lights gently lower until they’re snuffed out. Yachi’s heart pounds with the darkness and her cheeks flare, hands clutching her box of candy as the screen flickers to life.

Yachi thinks she’s going to die.

The movie is not as good as expected and her mind keeps wandering, her attention keeps drifting. She’s so very aware of Kyoutani’s solid presence beside her, the way his cologne is just strong enough to catch. It’s woodsy in a nice way with just a hint of spice and Yachi really, really likes it. It makes her want to lay her head on her shoulder and close her eyes, rest and relax.

But she can’t do that and she most certainly can’t relax. Not with how hyperaware she is with each movement from Kyoutani, now with how keenly pointed her attention is with the way he shifts in his seat, how his arm occasionally brushes against hers. Her mind keeps thinking about what it would be like if he threw his arm around her shoulders and it’s embarrassing. It’s so, so embarrassing how badly she wants it.

He’s not going to do it, Yachi tells herself as she anxiously- impatiently- twists a Twizzler into a mangled mess. Because this is not a date. He was just being kind earlier is all. There’s no reason for him to do it and she shouldn’t expect it and, really, it’s fine. It’s okay. It’s-

Something brushes against Yachi’s shoulder and she breathes in sharp, eyes widening and her thoughts screeching to a halt.

“You okay?” Kyoutani mumbles to her, leaning closer so as not to disturb the person sitting next to him.

She can smell his cologne even more with him leaning close and she can’t even form words with it, can’t even think anything other than stuttered little phrases that don’t really equate to anything. All she can do is nod numbly, heart threatening to burst out of her chest and onto the popcorn littered floor.

Kyoutani hums and he leans away, his arm still lazily draped over the back of her chair and his hand brushing against her shoulder.

Oh…oh god. What is he- what is- he’s- he’s-

Yachi swallows back a strangled little noise desperately and crushes the candy box between her hands, panic and excitement and sheer adrenaline screaming through her.

She doesn’t know what to do. He’s not really holding her or anything and his arm is just loosely there, but oh god it is there and she does not know how to handle it and what does he want? What does he want her to do? Should she lean into it? Into him? Stay still? But if she does that, will he think she doesn’t want it? That she’s not receptive? What if he pulls away? She doesn’t want him to pull away. But, god, what if she tries to relax into it and that’s not what he wants and what if-

Kyoutani curls his arm around her more firmly and Yachi nearly whimpers, almost goes limp with some relief.

God, she’s being so ridiculous.

A shudder threatens to travel through her and Yachi tries so, so hard to push it back, forces herself into a nervous relaxation.

Okay. Okay. This is…this is…

She doesn’t know what this is. It’s a date thing, maybe. But it might not be. Yamaguchi throws his arm over her shoulder all the time and they’re not dating. Wouldn’t it be rude to presume that this is some sort of…some sort of gesture?

But- but what if it is and what if she misses out on more because she doesn’t react to him? What if he takes it as a sign of rebuttal and pulls away and what if-

Yachi panics and leans into Kyoutani’s side, rests her head on his shoulder and tries to remember how to breathe. A huff sounds from him and Yachi nearly pulls away, gets stopped when he holds her a bit more firmly, rubs her shoulder.

Oh. Oh.

He…he…

Yachi flushes, giddy laughter bubbling up inside her. She bites her lip to keep it from escaping and stares out at the movie screen, eyes unseeing and her senses on fire.

This is so much. This is so much.

With a smile that threatens to break her face, Yachi slowly begins to relax and allows her hope to bloom.

“That movie was shit.”

Yachi smiles guiltily at Kyoutani’s grumble and looks up at him with a nod, cheeks still holding a flush left over from being flustered but nowhere near as red-hot as they had been. She’s relaxed (mostly) into his hold and she can look at him now, take in the grumpy little scowl on his face without risking her heart imploding.

“Sorry,” she apologizes, a bit sheepish. “It really wasn’t very good.”

Kyoutani huffs and Yachi’s heart flutters at the way he squeezes her shoulder, rubs it before licking his lips.

“Not your fault,” he tells her. His eyes flicker over her face and some stray confusion curls through Yachi when they don’t meet hers for a few long moments. “We should get out of here.”

Yachi hums in agreement and reluctantly pulls herself from his hold, quiet exhaustion trickling through her.

This has been a good night (despite her nerves and her fretting and the disappointment of the movie), but Yachi is tired after all her worrying, a little drained with her anxiety bled out.

She’ll be happy to curl into bed and leave frantic scrutiny over this maybe-maybe not date to the next day.

Yachi hides a quiet sigh and gathers her things, shuffles after Kyoutani so they can leave the theater. They pause to toss their trash in one of their bins and then step out into the hall, a faint bit of awkwardness settling around them when Yachi realizes she’s not sure what they’re supposed to do after this.

She looks to Kyoutani for an answer and he rubs the back of his neck, huffs and then jerks his head toward the exit.

“You wanna go for a walk?” he asks, just a bit gruff and just a bit uncertain.

Yachi nods immediately, happy for the suggestion and the thought of fresh air, the thought of doing something instead of hesitantly standing there with him.

“That sounds nice,” she tells him, offering a little smile.

Kyoutani nods and Yachi moves to walk toward the exit, startles softly when she feels a hand touch at her lower back. She twists her head to blink up at him, questioning but wanting, and Kyoutani raises a brow at her.

“Um…”

Yachi trails off and shakes her head in a tiny motion, pink creeping into her cheeks. She doesn’t want to question him and make him pull away and, really, this isn’t even a flustering as his arm around her shoulders. It’s nice, this. It’s nice having his hand touching at her back and it’s nice having him gently guide her toward the exit. She can handle it without her mind growing too frazzled and frantic, her heart beating too fast to function.

Yachi licks her lips and cautiously relaxes into his touch, ready to pull away if he shows the slightest sign of being aggravated.

He doesn’t. In fact, Yachi would almost dare to say that Kyoutani looks maybe, possibly just a tiny bit pleased when she peeks her gaze up at him. There’s that tiny little smile on his face when she checks and a certain relaxation in his shoulders and, oh, that makes her heart soar.

(He’s not pulled away from her and he’s intentionally touched her. He likes her in his jacket and he paid for the snacks and tickets and- and-

And maybe he likes her? Can she be that hopeful? She wants to be that hopeful, maybe. Possibly. She can’t help being a little hopeful, can’t help thinking that maybe he likes her, too. It would be so nice if he did and it would be so nice if this were a date and, oh, when did she gain this tiny bit of confidence? When did she gain this full fledged crush?)

Yachi bites her lip, apprehensive but feeling a little electric, and scoots a little closer to Kyoutani when he pushes open the exit door and they have to shuffle their way past a group of people standing idly in front of it. She wrinkles her nose at the smoke that floats her way, but quickly forgets the cigarette and its offense when the hand at her back runs up just a bit to hold onto her waist, pull her even closer to him.

Oh, oh, that’s so nice.

Yachi flushes, pleased, and presses as much as she dares into his side as he guides her away from the crowd. He loosens his hold on her but keeps her close once there’s room to actually walk and Yachi tries her best to keep from smiling too much as they quietly wander away from the theater.

It’s a silent walk, one that Yachi uses to calm her fluttering nerves and her hopes that are swelling way too fast. Her mind whispers that it might not be what she wants, but Yachi forcefully- if still a bit uncertainly- shushes it in favor of concentrating on the way Kyoutani’s hand feels on her waist, how he was the one to ask her to the movies, how he was the one to initiate contact.

(Date, date. Is this a date? Yamaguchi would say it is. Yamaguchi will say it is.)
(Yachi thinks that maybe, possibly that this might be one. That she’ll get to recall it giddily to her mother and squeal to herself later on, feel the effervescent thrill of her very first date.)
(Oh, please- please- let this be a date, let this lead to more)

“I’m sorry about the movie being bad,” Yachi murmurs to him after a few moments, a little bit shy as they turn into the park just across from her building. “The trailers looked so good…”

Kyoutani shrugs, face passive when Yachi tilts her head to look up at him, and absently rubs her side. He either doesn’t notice the tint of pink it brings to her cheeks or he doesn’t care, just looks down at her and shakes her head.

“It’s fine,” he tells her, face softer with the fading gold of the sun’s light falling onto his face. He’s really so handsome and Yachi can feel her heart thud off kilter, breath hitching at the way his eyes stare into hers. “Just wanted to spend time with you anyway.”

Oh.

A soft, surprised noise leaves Yachi before she can think to stop it, pulse dancing wildly and her eyes widening. Vague amusement flickers over his face and Yachi can’t tear her eyes away from his lips, can’t pay attention to anything outside of the way her whole body is tingling and how they’re close together, how she wants to press against him so badly.

She can’t do that. She’s feeling more brave than she had at the beginning but, oh god, she’s nowhere near courageous enough to give into her desires. All she can do is flush under his gaze and duck her head, try to keep her heart’s beating under control and her breaths from coming out in nervous little stutters.

“I- um,” she tries, weakly, in an attempt to find solid ground again. “Ne- Next time we should watch a movie that you want to see.”

A sudden flexing of his fingers has Yachi coming to a surprised halt, a shaky inhale taken and Kyoutani’s hold on her going back to firm. She wants to look at him, but she can’t bear to do so and, oh goodness, she feels like she’s caught in a whirlwind with her emotions whipping through her like they are.

“…you want a next time?” Kyoutani asks her, voice low enough to make her lashes flutter. Yachi nearly whimpers from the way his voice dips into deep, so nervous and so caught up in her ridiculous frenzy of frantic desire and electric apprehension. She manages to nod- barely- and Kyoutani hums, his hand slowly running over her side. “…okay.”

Okay?

A flash of upset runs through Yachi and she jerks her head up to study him, anxious and terrified that his okay is code for dismissal. His face is almost unreadable and Yachi is so panic-stricken, unable to decipher the way his eyes roam over her face and his head tilts to the side.

“O-okay?” she whispers, distress seeping into her voice.

Kyoutani blinks and his brow furrows, his lips dip into a frown as he nods. That just causes more alarm to flood through Yachi and her fingers twitch, the sudden urge to pull away and flee raking through her.

Okay. Okay. It’s- it’s just okay and it’s just- it’s not a- he would have reacted more if it had been a date, right? Right? This was just- this was just-

Yachi jerks her head to the side and tries to hide her panic, the upset that is overriding the hope that had been gaining traction. She can feel her eyes pricking and she can feel her heart sinking and, god, she’s being such a child. She’s being so ridiculous.

“Yachi.”

A tiny, strangled noise leaves her at the sound of her name and she tenses up, unable to help herself from succumbing to the disappointment rolling over her.

“Yachi.”

There’s a sniffle from her that she can’t contain and Yachi hates herself. She should have known not to get her hopes up and she should have known to keep her mouth shut and, god, she’s ruined things. She’s ruined things like she knew she would and she’s going to lose her friendship with Kyoutani and he’s going to pull away from her and- and-

“Yachi.”

Yachi jerks as a hand reaches out, not able to pull away when Kyoutani grabs her chin and firmly turns her face toward him. There’s something in his eyes that she’s never seen from him before and so much panic pounding through her system, too much shock at his touch to pull away or do anything but stare up at him with wide eyes.

“Next week,” he tells her, words cracking through the anxiety cocooning her. “Let’s do it again next week.”

Next…next week? He wants…he actually wants…

A tiny little noise makes it way from Yachi and she nods, her heart pounding in her ears and a swoon threatening to overtake her.

He wants…it’s okay…it’s actually okay…She didn’t scare him off. She didn’t upset him. He…

Yachi blinks rapidly, her shoulders drooping in sheer relief. She unconsciously presses into his touch and she breathes shakily as he eyes her, flushes and tries to regain control of herself.

She thinks she might have died. Died or hallucinated, finally had that nervous breakdown her mother has told her she was going to have one day.

Yachi swallows and tries to catch her breath, completely fails when Kyoutani’s tongue darts out to wet his lips and he begin to lean down toward her.

There’s a soft press of chapped lips to her forehead and Yachi inhales too sharply, squeezes her eyes shut and desperately tries to keep from sniffling or panicking or twitching away shyly.

“It’s a date,” Kyoutani mumbles to her, words quiet and breath dusting against her forehead.

A date. It’s a- It’s a-

Yachi nods, much too quickly and much too eagerly, as he pulls away, gives into her the joyous, ragged fatigue that drips through her. She leans against Kyoutani, burying her face in his chest and curling her fingers into his shirt, breathing in shakily when he huffs and reaches a hand to rub her back.

“It’s a date,” she whispers, voice tiny and wavering as her lips slowly break into an exhausted, unbelieving, pleased smile.

“Yachi-san! Yachi-san!”

Yachi looks up phone and smiles when she catches sight of the beaming little girl waving at her, raises her hand in greeting and laughs as Ami rushes over in a blur of brightly colored tulle and spandex. She’s just barely able to keep herself from being knocked over when Ami bowls into her for a hug, the smile on her face growing so wide that it feels like her cheeks might break.

She’s been smiling like that a lot lately- wide and bright, so big it makes her face ache. It’s almost like she can’t stop, almost like she doesn’t know how to do anything but smile.

Yachi can’t help it, though, if she’s happy.

A soft laugh leaves her before she can help it and Yachi hugs Ami back, her hand going to pet over her hair as the girl chatters on about how nervous she had been and how her teacher told her she had done well and how her uncle is going to take her out for ice-cream for doing a good job.

“You should go with us!” Ami chirps up at her, tilting her head back to give Yachi puppy dog eyes that leave Yachi weak.

“Oh,” Yachi says, smiling softly, insides melting under the sweet pleading of a child that’s truly adorable. “Um, Kyou and I were going to…”

She trails off as a pout pops onto Ami’s face and bites her lip, not wanting to disappoint her. There’s a huff that sounds nearby and Yachi looks up to find Kyoutani standing in front of them, hands in his pockets and one of his scowls that aren’t really scowls on his face.

“We have time to go, don’t we?” Yachi asks him, hands falling onto Ami’s shoulders when the girl whips around to set puppy dog eyes on her brother. “The movie doesn’t start for a little while longer…”

Kyoutani eyes her and crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head as he goes to stand beside her.

“Weak,” he tells her, voice almost able to be called fond as he dips down to press his lips to her temple and bring a pleased flush to her cheeks. “I was gonna take you after.”

Yachi’s flush flares and her smile grows, a soft and giddy laugh just barely kept from escaping. A click of a tongue grabs her attention and Yachi glances over to see Kyoutani’s uncle shaking his head, amusement all over his face.

“Lovebirds,” he teases, pulling more blushing from Yachi and a huff from Kyoutani. “Come on, Ami. Let them go on their date.”

A pouting noise leaves the little girl and Yachi ducks her head in a sheepish show of shyness, leans against Kyoutani when he wraps his around her waist when Ami pulls away to walk over to their uncle.

“We’ll go with you another time,” Yachi promises her.

Ami eyes her, suspicious, but gives a little nod and grabs her uncle’s hand to hold it.

“You better,” Ami tells them, nearly threatening and pointedly narrowing her eyes toward Kyoutani. It almost makes Yachi laugh a little, but she hides it the best she can and just smiles as Kyoutani huffs and squeezes gently at her waist.

Kyoutani’s uncle looks them over and eyes them before tugging Ami to walk over to join her classmates, some small smirk playing over his face.

“You be good to her,” Kyoutani’s uncle calls over his shoulder as he walks away. “Make her happy.”

Another huff sounds from Kyoutani and Yachi looks up to him, offers a smile that’s still a little shy after two dates and smalls kisses, a confession given that had made Yachi nearly explode from nerves and happiness.

“Come on, little bird,” Kyoutani mumbles to her, grazing his lips over her forehead and displaying affection that still leaves Yachi dizzy with surprise. “Let’s go.”

Yachi nods, heart fluttering in joy, and smiles as he begins to lead her out the door, beams when they pass a shocked Yahaba standing with his little sister.

There’s still so much to get used to, still so much to explore and build. Yachi doesn’t know what to do now that friends have become something more, but she’s eager and happy, so content with how it’s turned out so much more simple than she ever thought it would.

Kyoutani is good to her and Yamaguchi had been right, Tsukishima had been benevolent with the way he had forged ahead for her. Yachi owes him a lot, she thinks, and she doesn’t even know how to begin to repay him in thanks for helping her pave the way to movie dates and a warm hand at her waist.

She’s lucky she has her friends, Yachi thinks as she rests her head against Kyoutani’s shoulder and smiles. She’s lucky she has this.

With a happy sigh and a pleased smile, Yachi steps out onto the sidewalk with Kyoutani and wanders with him to the movie theater, her heart fluttering with hope and her lips curled with joy.