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"Hey, I have to tell you something," Tanaka says after practice. He and Nishinoya are the last ones to leave the gym, and Tanaka has the key to lock up. "I, uh…" He tries for casual but his face splits into a shit-eating grin. Uh oh, Nishinoya thinks.
"I have a girlfriend."
Hinata comes flying out of the bushes like the crouching tiger, hidden dragon he is. "WHAAAAAAAT?" he shrieks. "TANAKA-SENPAI HAS A--A—"
"--a girlfriend?" Nishinoya finishes, eyes wide. Hinata is flailing like a weathervane caught in a storm, and Nishinoya slings an arm around him, forming a two-man block to drill Tanaka with the weight of their astonishment. "You have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah," Tanaka says.
"WAAAAAAA," Nishinoya and Hinata say in unison. "Tell us everything! How! Why? How did you win her? What does she look like!"
"It's not a big deal," Tanaka says, rubbing the back of his neck and blushing a little. "Just because no one else on the team has a girlfriend…" Nishinoya can see the modesty slide bit by bit from Tanaka's face at that statement. "Okay, it's sort of a big deal…" Tanaka amends. He sees his teammates' expression. "Kind of a big deal maybe…"
"Tanaka-senpai," Hinata barely breathes.
"So it's a big deal, damn it," Tanaka blurts out. He smacks his fist into his palm while tears start flowing from his eyes. "Her name is Emiko-san and she's in second year and the arts club, and she confessed to me, did you hear that, she confessed to me."
"Whoa," Nishinoya says.
"Uh huh uh huh," Tanaka bobs his head. "We've been dating for a week!"
"A week," Hinata sighs dreamily.
Nishinoya smacks Tanaka on the back so hard that Tanaka tips over. "Good job, buddy!" he says while laughing. "Who'd have thought that Ryu would be the first on the team to get a girlfriend! Not me!" Tanaka glares at him but Nishinoya keeps laughing.
"But what about Kiyoko-san?" Hinata asks. "I thought — I thought you both loved her very much."
Tanaka looks guilty. Nishinoya takes it upon himself as the world's best and wisest senpai to educate the pipsqueak. "Listen to me, Hinata-chan," he says. "When you get older, you'll understand that the world is a very complicated place, and feelings, even pure and innocent feelings like what we feel for Kiyoko-san" — he and Tanaka clutch their hearts — "can have many colours, just not one, like an elephant painted in an umbrella in the rain surrounded by lioncats. Do you understand?"
"Uh," Hinata says, "not really."
"You will one day!" Nishinoya says cheerfully. "So, Ryu, have you and Emiko-san kissed yet?"
"K-k-kissed?!" Hinata goes bright red.
"Of course!" Tanaka says. "Her lips are as soft as two little doves! They make me want to protect her and cherish her and keep her safe!"
"Ohhhhhh," Hinata says. "That sounds like love, Tanaka-senpai!"
Now it's Tanaka's turn to blush. "Maybe."
"But what's kissing like?" Hinata asks. "How do you do it? Isn't it weird? Like, you have to make your lips into this shape" — he purses his lips together dramatically — "and then they have to make their lips the same, and how do you keep your heads from bumping together? I dunno," he finishes. "Seems kind of complicated to me. Have you kissed anyone, Nishinoya-senpai?"
"Yep," Nishinoya says. "But only once or twice." He thinks about those experiences, awkward and fumbling, and almost too short to really resemble anything he sees in movies. "But I bet kissing is just like volleyball!"
"Huh? How?" Tanaka asks.
"Well, you need to practice to get better, right?" Nishinoya says. "The first time you play volleyball you aren't very good, just like Hinata-chan over here—"
"Hey!" Hinata says.
"--but then you practice every day and you become a genius libero like me!" Nishinoya pokes his thumb into his chest. "Kissing is just like that!"
"So you… practice," Hinata says doubtfully.
"Yeah!"
"To get better…"
"Yeah!"
"With who?" Hinata asks.
Nishinoya grins. "With your most beloved and trusted teammates, of course."
:::
Now that Tanaka has put the thought in his mind, Nishinoya thinks it really is a shame that he doesn't have a lot of experience in kissing. It's supposed to be a normal teenage thing, right, and Nishinoya is nothing if not an awesome teenager doing awesome teenage things like everyone else. He refuses to be left behind. If he's a maybe level 2 or 3 in kissing right now, he plans to be at least a level 8 when he graduates.
"Hey Kageyama," he says during practice. "Do you want to make out?"
"Go die," Kageyama says.
"What if I were Hinata?" Nishinoya smirks. "Would you say the same thing?"
"O-o-of course I would, idiot!" Kageyama says, but it's obvious that he's flustered. Nishinoya laughs, hugs him, ignores Kageyama's half-hearted punches, and goes on to the next member of their team.
"Hey captain," he says to Daichi, "you want to make out?"
"What are you talking about?" Daichi asks. "Shouldn't you be practicing your receives?"
"So mean!" Nishinoya says, catching Suga's eye. "Hey Suga, do you want to make out with me?" His voice carries over the entire gym, and everyone stops, including Asahi, who spits out a mouthful of water.
"Sorry, Nishinoya-kun!" Suga says sweetly. "I'm sure you're an excellent kisser but my heart already belongs to someone else."
"Oh sure, no problem," Nishinoya says. "I was just asking."
Suga comes over and stands beside him. Daichi looks at them, shakes his head, and walks away muttering under his breath. "What brought this on?" Suga asks, handing Nishinoya a volleyball. Nishinoya begins bouncing it up and down on the floor out of habit. "You're being even livelier than usual."
"What, can't a guy get a few kisses around here?" Nishinoya says. He tosses the ball to Suga, who receives it neatly and sends it flying back towards Nishinoya. Nishinoya bounces it back without even thinking. "You've kissed lots of people, right?"
"A few," Suga says. "I wouldn't say a lot. But enough. Are you worried about the number of people you've kissed?"
"Nah," Nishinoya says. "I'm not worried. But it's good to get more practice when you can, ain't it?"
"Noya-kun," Suga says. "I think if there's one person in particular you want to kiss, you should just be your usual straightforward self and ask them, rather than make the entire team nervous that you've turned into a makeout monster." They both pause and look over at Asahi, who's practicing spikes by the net with Tsukishima.
Nishinoya smiles. "Okay, maybe I will." A direct approach has never worked for him in the past, which is why he's sort of given up on it, put his once-grand plans on the back burner, but a new determination burns through him. Which is why he corners Asahi after practice when they're putting away the net and says, "Do you want to come over to my house for dinner?"
Asahi jumps. "Nishinoya! I didn't know you were there!"
"Yup," Nishinoya says. "So, how about it? You, me, dinner at my place? Your parents probably aren't home again, right?" Asahi's dad is kind of a deadbeat, unfortunately, and his mom is a traveling saleswoman, so this isn't the first time Nishinoya's invited Asahi over for dinner. He hates the idea of Asahi heating up ramen noodles in the microwave alone in that house of his, eating glumly while staring out the window. "Come on!" Nishinoya says. "My mom loves you. She won't mind."
"Uh, um, okay," Asahi says. "As long as you're sure I'm not imposing."
Nishinoya grabs Asahi's arm. Asahi is warm and strong and lights up a sensation like fizzy drinks in his stomach. As Nishinoya drags a stumbling Asahi after him — "wait, hold up!" Asahi says as if he couldn't walk twice as fast as Nishinoya with those endless legs of his — he can't help but feel satisfied that his new plan is going exactly as he wants it to.
:::
Dinner at Nishinoya's house is miso with grilled mackerel, nikujaga, and cucumber salad. He wasn't lying when he says that his mom adores Asahi, and as a result tries to stuff as much food into him as humanly possible. "You're still growing!" she insists. "You can't let your stomach go hungry!"
Nishinoya's little sister giggles. "Asahi's already so big! How much bigger can he grow?"
Asahi drops his chopsticks clumsily. "You're right," he mumbles. "I'm already tall enough — I really don't need to add any more. Um, thank you for the food! It's truly delicious."
"Come on," Nishinoya says, "let's go to my room and play video games." He does this in an attempt to divert his mother, whose plans are just as cunning as Nishinoya's own — he had to have gotten that brain from somewhere, after all. He stands up from the table just in time for his mom to say, "Oh, but Yuu's father isn't feeling well and there's lots of boxes that need to be moved, but they're so heavy, I don't know how I'm going to manage."
"Mom," Nishinoya says. "Asahi's not your mule."
"I don't mind," Asahi says quickly. "I'm happy to help."
So Nishinoya gets to watch Asahi roll up the sleeves of his shirt and move boxes around for his mother, which is totally unnecessary and how dare his mom eat up precious Asahi time like this? But he has to admit there are benefits too because Asahi moving those heavy boxes like they're no big deal makes Nishinoya's toes curl, and he stares at the curves of Asahi's muscles, the flex of his tendons, his occasional grunt of effort, until his brain feels hot with it.
"So," Nishinoya says slowly. He's sitting on the very last box and refuses to budge. "Have you kissed anyone before?"
"Nishinoya!"
"What, I'm just asking."
"Y-you need to be more modest about it!" Asahi says. "Not going around asking everybody on the team — are you even asking strangers?"
"Why would I ask strangers?" Nishinoya frowns in confusion. "You're my teammates. If I have a problem, I bring them to you guys. You're my family."
"But kissing!"
"Does that mean you've done it before?" Nishinoya asks. "I bet you have. You're tall and handsome and kind and you can smash the ball over the net like no one's business — I bet there are lots of girls who have confessed to you, am I right?" He beams at Asahi, trying to placate him, but it's actually not what he thinks. He thinks probably Asahi's never kissed anybody before, being the big awkward mess that he is. But that's just fine, Nishinoya thinks. Actually it's even better if Asahi's never kissed anyone, because Nishinoya burns to be his first. He wants it with a desperation that surprises even himself, because Nishinoya's not usually desperate about anything. Except Asahi.
"No," Asahi finally admits. "I've never kissed anyone before."
"Great!" Nishinoya leaps off the box. "Then we can practice together!"
Asahi's face turns tomato red. "What?"
"I mean, it makes the most sense." Nishinoya smacks his palm for emphasis. "Neither of us have a lot of experience kissing, and we need someone to practice on, so why not each other?"
"Because that's — that's too much!"
"Why is it too much? We're friends, aren't we?"
Asahi's expression softens. "Of course we're friends."
"Then it's just another type of friendship," Nishinoya says, putting every ounce of conviction possible into his voice. If he keeps grinning, surely his manic energy will infect Asahi too. "We're volleyball friends, and dinner friends, and sometimes tutor-and-pupil friends, so why not kissing friends too?"
Asahi looks like he wants to die. "That's not the same thing at all!"
"Asahi," Nishinoya says, "if you really don't want to kiss me, I understand. Just say you don't want to, and we won't ever talk about it again. I'll never bring it up. But I —" he looks up into Asahi's beautiful face. "Honestly? I really want to try it with someone I care about, and I can't think of anyone I care about more than you."
Asahi gulps.
"Okay, never mind then," Nishinoya says brightly. "I have a bunch of video games that are really cool and I think you'd like them, so--"
"Yes."
Nishinoya freezes. "What?"
Asahi's twisting his hands together nervously, looking like he might faint or flee any second, but he meets Nishinoya's gaze. "I don't want to graduate without kissing anybody," he confesses. "I don't want to be left behind. So all right. Let's practice together."
"Are you sure?" Nishinoya asks.
"Yeah." Asahi takes a shuddery breath and smiles. "I'm sure."
"Oh man, this is awesome! You won't regret it." Nishinoya grabs Asahi's hand and starts tugging him to his bedroom. No one else is around — his dad's in bed and his mom's in the kitchen and his sister's off doing whatever mysterious things sisters get up to — so there's no one to see Asahi blushing and stumbling after him. Nishinoya gets him into his room, closes the door, and sidles up to him. "Let's start right now."
"O-okay," Asahi says. "You're really eager about this."
"Of course I am!" Nishinoya says. "You're the hottest boy who's ever been in this room."
"No, you don't have to flatter me," Asahi says.
"It's not flattery," Nishinoya says. "It's the complete truth. You're like ten gazillion light years of hot from anybody else at school, so come closer and kiss me before I'm forced to make a list about all your best features or something." He grabs Asahi's shoulders and gets up on his toes, pressing them both against the wall for balance. He can feel Asahi's heartbeat pounding like a bull, and Asahi's barely contained breath puffs out against his lips as he leans. When they're like this, he can smell the product Asahi uses in his hair — and fuck, Asahi's hair, he's never been this close to it before, his fingers itch to undo the ponytail and bury himself in that gorgeous mess, but first things first, he's got to take this slowly.
Their mouths meet softly, tentatively, saying hello. Asahi's mouth tastes faintly of the food they just ate, and Nishinoya's sure that his does too. It makes him flush with pleasure, the idea that they share something so intimate, and he gets even higher on his toes so that he can reach Asahi properly, kissing him gently like he's trying to read a book for the first time.
Asahi doesn't know what to do with his mouth, and to be honest Nishinoya's one (or two) previous experiences doesn't make him a certified expert. But he's thought about this. A lot. He's read magazines and gone on the internet and watched videos, so it's just bodily intuition at this point, and Nishinoya's an athlete. This can't be that different than being on the court, learning your teammates' bodies, the way they move, they way they speak without speaking.
They kiss quietly for a while, just trying each other out. Their noses bump and their teeth clack, but to Nishinoya's amazement, Asahi doesn't let that deter him. He kisses Nishinoya back with focus, one arm rising to lightly touch Nishinoya's shoulder. Nishinoya shudders and pulls back. A string of saliva breaks apart between their mouths. They're both breathing heavily.
"Was that — was that good?" Nishinoya asks. "I think it was, but what do you think?"
"Yeah," Asahi says, "I think that's was — probably good. I don't know what to compare it to but yes, probably."
"Wanna do it again?"
"I — okay," Asahi says breathlessly. "Let's do it again."
:::
Like with anything else, if they want to get really good at it, rise to the top of their kissing game, they need a practice strategy.
"I've laid out one for us," Nishinoya says one evening after practice, when Asahi's over for dinner again and they're in his room, having successfully avoided yet another of his mother's "only Asahi is strong enough for this" chores. He holds up the notebook he's been carrying with him all day. On the cover it says KISSING PLAN.
Asahi reels backwards. "Right on the cover!"
"What?" Nishinoya says. "With these things you have to be serious about it or it doesn't work." He flips the notebook open. "Look, I've divided it into categories that we need to practice, and the estimated amount of drills we need to do. I even made diagrams."
Asahi looks at the stick figures doubtfully. "What sort of categories?"
Nishinoya begins ticking them off his fingers. "We did pretty good at basic kissing yesterday but there's also slow kissing, rough kissing, French kissing, kissing while standing up, kissing while lying down, kissing while under pressure—"
Asahi buries his face into his hands.
"Think about it," Nishinoya says. "By the end of this, we'll both be kissing champions! If there were kissing nationals, no one would stand a chance against us!" He drops the notebook and crawls into Asahi's lap. Asahi starts blushing. "So kiss me," Nishinoya grins.
Asahi's trembling fingers touch his jaw, and he cups Nishinoya's face between his hands. "You're really very serious when you're on the court," he says before he pulls Nishinoya in for a slow, sweet kiss that has Nishinoya sighing happily into Asahi's mouth. He squirms on Asahi's lap, which makes Asahi gasp, which makes Nishinoya even happier as he turns the kiss deeper and harder, biting down on Asahi's bottom lip like the way he read in Cosmo once. Asahi shivers, so Nishinoya does it again.
Nishinoya's kissing plan is absolute, and they dedicate themselves to it enthusiastically. Twice a week Asahi comes over for dinner, and then they practice the different types of kissing outlined in the plan until Nishinoya is satisfied they can move on to the next point.
Slow kissing is the first drill, and makes the most sense as they're both still new to the art of kissing, and Asahi is skittish, hesitant to be bold or do anything unless Nishinoya gives him express permission. They spend a lot of time at this stage, not that Nishinoya minds. He could slow kiss Asahi for hours, enjoying the taste and smell of him, the warmth of his mouth like a delicious soda. They practice different rhythms, and just like on the court they're in sync when they're in Nishinoya's room together, Nishinoya's hand on the back of Asahi's neck, pulling him lower for the deepest kisses possible.
"Hey, what if we use our tongues?" Nishinoya suggests, and they move on to French kissing next. Nishinoya's tongue is clever and quick, darting inside Asahi's mouth and tasting its fill. Asahi is more hesitant. Nishinoya has to coax his tongue out, but when their tongues meet, Asahi groans out loud. Nishinoya's entire body thrums with the heaviness of Asahi's groan, and he feels himself getting hard but no, they're not there yet, best to pretend nothing's happening. He kisses Asahi with lots of tongue, until their mouths are wet and Asahi looks, well, Asahi looks wrecked.
They kissing lying down, collapsed together on Nishinoya's bed. First with Nishinoya on top so that he's straddling Asahi's hips, pressing him down onto the mattress. Asahi likes that a lot, he notices, shivering with excitement. Nishinoya tries holding his wrists against the mattress and Asahi turns bright red but squirms a lot, panting. Nishinoya uses the opportunity to undo Asahi's hair tie and yes, fuck yeah, Asahi's hair, loose and unbound, rough silk over Nishinoya's fingers. Lying down is when Nishinoya tries other types of kissing as well, not just on the mouth. He kisses Asahi's hair, Asahi's nose, Asahi's eyelids, Asahi's chin, enjoying the way Asahi gets so turned on he can't even speak.
They kiss standing up, with Asahi supporting Nishinoya's weight, Nishinoya's legs wrapped around his waist as they kiss against the wall. Nishinoya knows that despite his small size he's got a lot of muscle, so he isn't the lightest feather in the flock, but Asahi holds him easily, kissing him until they're both moaning and trying to hide it. "You're so good at this," Nishinoya breathes, nipping Asahi's ear. "If only you could see yourself — god, you drive me crazy." He gets his hands in Asahi's hair and tugs him hard. Asahi moans.
They try kissing upside down too, like what they saw in the Spider-man movie, with Nishinoya lying half-way off the bed while Asahi crouches on the floor. It's an awkward angle, and they both giggle before agreeing to try something else, but not before Nishinoya licks a suggestive stripe up Asahi's chin.
They practice rough kissing when they lose a practice match against Nekoma and their bodies are tense and angry, on edge with a tension that plays out even hours later. Nishinoya pushes Asahi onto the bed and then pulls Asahi on top of him, chanting "come on, come on, come on, do it hard" while Asahi kisses and bites and shudders. Nishinoya inserts a knee between Asahi's legs, which makes Asahi go a little wild, and suddenly Nishinoya finds himself pressed under the warm, heavy weight of Asahi's entire body as they kiss and wrestle and fight a little too, Asahi holding Nishinoya down until Nishinoya's vision goes white with desire.
They kiss a lot. Nishinoya starts carrying chapstick wherever he goes, and sometimes in the middle of class he'll smile for no reason, lost his own daydreams, and touch his lips, thinking, yeah, this is good, this is the best.
:::
Tanaka introduces the team to his girlfriend, and they all crowd around her, trying to figure out what exactly makes a girl as pretty as this want to go out with Tanaka. Emiko's nervous but she clearly has a spine of steel when an entire army of sweaty, stinky volleyball boys descend on her in one go. She holds Tanaka's hand as she answers their questions.
"Hey, good job," Nishinoya tells Tanaka. "She's awesome."
"Isn't she?" Tanaka says. "Emiko-chan's the best!"
Even Kiyoko likes Emiko, and the two girls talk quietly amongst themselves as the team gets right down to practice. Tanaka plays even harder than usual, delivering spike after spike. Puppy love makes him eager to impress, and they all rib Tanaka about it horribly, but Tanaka blusters and shouts and shrugs them off in the end. "It's because of Emiko-chan's graceful presence!" he declares. "It makes me want to fight a million wars!"
"Who's been reading too much bad poetry?" Tsukishima drawls.
"Shut up, Four Eyes! At least someone wants to date me," Tanaka scowls.
"Lots of people want to date Tsukki!" Yamaguchi pipes up.
"Like who?"
Yamaguchi starts fidgeting.
"Everyone, let's leave our love lives at the door and play to the best of our ability, ne?" Suga interrupts. They all grumble but get back to practice. Nishinoya glances over at Asahi, who's been watching Emiko with a strange expression on his face this entire time. When he notices Nishinoya staring, he blushes and turns away. Nishinoya is just about to stride over and see what's up with his favourite Master of Awkward when Hinata points out something.
"Nishinoya-senpai, that must have been a really big bug."
"What?" Nishinoya turns around.
"On your neck," Hinata says, wide-eyed. "That must have been a huge bug that bit you. I didn't know we have bugs that big in Japan."
Nishinoya slaps a hand over his neck. Shit. He'd tried to cover it up with some of his mom's makeup but practice has made him sweat it all off.
Tanaka notices. "Oi, Hinata, there's only one kind of bug that does that and it's called the looooooove bug."
"Love bug?" Hinata goggles.
"Shut up, guys," Nishinoya says. He can see in the corner of his eye Asahi growing stiff and clumsy, fumbling for the ball Daichi has just sent his way.
"Does that mean you found someone to practice kissing with?" Tanaka hoots. "Yeah, that looks like some real serious practicing! Who is she? Do I know her? Dude, Noya, you're becoming a man."
Nishinoya stomps on his foot.
"Ow!"
"That's right, Ryu," Nishinoya declares. "Unlike you, I've discovered the meaning of true manhood. Now go back to poor Emiko-chan. She looks lonely."
"Oh shit," Tanaka says and scrambles back to his girlfriend.
"Nishinoya-senpai, I think you're onto something," Hinata declares in Tanaka's absence. "With all your practicing, you'll be at least prefecture-level skilled at kissing. What a good idea! I'm going to follow your example!" Somewhere in the corner Kageyama is having a heart attack and has no idea why.
"Oh ho ho ho, of course your senpai has the best ideas," Nishinoya says.
"But I gotta have a goal, right?" Hinata asks. "Someone I want to practice kissing for. What should they be like?"
"What do you think?"
"Well, they have to be love volleyball," Hinata says, "and they have to be kind and cool and love tamago kake gohan a lot because that's my favourite food and it'd suck if they didn't like my favourite food…" He whips around. "Hey Asahi! What sort of person would you practice kissing for?"
"Yeah, Asahi," Nishinoya chimes in while his heart clenches, "tell us all about your dream girl."
"Uhhhh," Asahi looks around, bewildered. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."
"Think about it now," Nishinoya encourages.
"Yeah, think about it now!" Hinata chimes in, and god Nishinoya loves this brat so much, he's going to buy Hinata a thousand dumplings after their next game.
"I guess, they have to be warm and loving," Asahi says. "They have to be strong too. They have to have a lot of willpower because I'm — I'm not so good at that." He sweatdrops while Nishinoya and Hinata roll their eyes. Asahi has all the willpower of a used tampon. "Yeah. Brave and fierce and — and dependable too. I think a really dependable person would be best. Someone to guard my back."
"Ummm," Nishinoya says.
"That's so beautiful, Asahi-senpai," Hinata says. "I hope you find a person just like that someday!"
Asahi ducks his head. "Yeah, me too."
"All right you lazy bums, enough gossiping, get back to drills! Don't you want to win the Inter-High Tournament?" Coach Ukai orders from the corner of the gym and that's that for now.
:::
Nishinoya makes sure he and Asahi are the last to leave the club room after that particularly strenuous practice, and then he tackles Asahi to the lockers. "Mppphhh!" Asahi says, flailing like a octopus, but Nishinoya kisses him while putting one hand on Asahi's hipbone, dipping his fingers daringly into Asahi's shorts so that he can touch the smooth skin there, the cleft of muscle and bone.
"Not here," Asahi pants. "Anybody can walk in."
"They're all gone, I made sure," Nishinoya breathes. He buries his nose in Asahi's neck and breathes in Asahi's sweat. He licks it.
"That's gross," Asahi says but he's turning pink, and Nishinoya adores him so much that he can't help but kiss Asahi even more, panting and writhing against him while his fingers tug at the hem of Asahi's sweat-soaked shirt, worming it off Asahi's chest. Asahi's eyes widen when he realizes what Nishinoya's doing — there's been minimal nakedness in any of their practices so far, even Nishinoya's plans have never gone that far — but he doesn't stop him. Nishinoya leans back to drink in the sight of a bare-chested Asahi. It's not that he's never seen Asahi in various stages of undress before in the changing room, not as if he doesn't know how amazingly fit Asahi is, but this is different, heavier somehow. Heat is licking up the knobs of his spine as he sets his tongue to Asahi's nipple.
"oh my god," Asahi says.
Nishinoya grins. He sets out to lick Asahi's nipples with even more dedication, swirling his tongue around the buds like a languorous cat. Asahi clutches his shoulders tightly, going "aaaah." Nishinoya loves that sound.
"Come on, Asahi," Nishinoya says. "This was in our strategy too. Kissing while at school. We need to get as much practice as we can."
"As much practice as —- oh!" Asahi shudders and nearly knees Nishinoya in the groin in reflex, but Nishinoya avoids it deftly and smirks as he crawls back up Asahi's body, kissing him on the mouth, the ear, the sweet hollow of his throat. He wants to make Asahi go mad with this. He wants to make him shake. They make out against the lockers for a long long time, until Nishinoya's balls are tight and heavy and he can't resist rubbing himself against Asahi, going "yeah, yeah, yeah."
It feels different this time, and it's not just the change in the setting, the thrill of maybe getting caught. Nishinoya can tell they're standing on some kind of line where kissing is going to become something else, something even stranger and more complicated. He wants to cross that line. He wants to cross that line so badly, but when his hands dip beneath Asahi's shorts, touching him, Asahi scrambles away.
"I don't — I don't think we should do this anymore," he says.
"Oh!" Nishinoya says. "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to move so fast. We don't have to do that. We can just kiss some more." He beams up hopefully. Kissing is good. He likes kissing.
Asahi's grabbed his club jacket and is clutching it to his chest like a piece of armour. "No, I mean—" he swallows hard. "I think this is a bad idea."
Nishinoya doesn't get it. "What's a bad idea?"
"The — kissing practice."
"But I thought you liked it," Nishinoya says, still confused. "I thought it was something we were doing together, a friends thing." His heart is pounding against his chest and he's scared, he realizes. He can see the ball coming in from the other side of the net and it's going to hit the ground.
Asahi's hair is undone and it falls around his face, hiding it. "I don't think we should do this anymore," he repeats.
"Oh."
"S-sorry," Asahi says. "I've been thinking this for a while."
Nishinoya thinks of yesterday, when they kissed for so long his lips felt sore afterwards, tender and painful and almost too sweet to bear. "You have?"
"Yeah."
"I didn't know," Nishinoya says.
Asahi sounds as miserable as Nishinoya feels, and they're both silent for a while, uncomfortably standing there without knowing what to do. Then Nishinoya starts getting dressed properly, finding it hard to meet Asahi in the eye the way he normally would in any tough situation — was he totally wrong about this? Has he ruined their friendship because he was too bold? He feels sick to his stomach. Asahi pulls on his shirt and his jacket and looks like he wants to cry.
"I guess I'm going home now," Asahi says, hovering by the door.
"Okay," Nishinoya replies.
"I, um, I don't want this to affect our friendship," Asahi says. "Because you're one of my best friends. I want — I hope things can stay that way."
"Okay," Nishinoya replies. He lets Asahi leave. He remains alone in the club room for a while, very slowly packing his gym bag. Then he swallows and thinks, I have to know. "Asahi!" he shouts, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He sprints out of the club room. "Asahi!"
Asahi's nowhere to be seen. Damn but he can move fast. But Nishinoya knows where he lives, knows his route home, so he runs until he catches up with Asahi some ways down the road. Asahi's impossible to miss even from a distance — six feet of shy shuffling is pretty much a siren for attention. "Asahi!" he says, catching Asahi in the middle of wiping at his eyes with the back of his sleeve. "What are you doing, you big crybaby?"
"I'm not crying!" Asahi says.
"You totally are!" Nishinoya says. He lets out a hard breath. "Did you — did you really hate kissing me that much?"
"What?" Asahi asks.
"Was it really that awful?" Nishinoya asks. "To make you cry?"
"I'm not crying!"
"You're such a liar!" Nishinoya shouts. "Something is obviously making you upset and I want to help but I can't help unless I know what it is, even if — even if I'm the reason!" He jabs his finger into Asahi's chest. "We don't have to kiss anymore, okay? I don't want to do anything that will make you sad." He puts his hands on his hips. "So what was it? You can tell me. I won't be mad or anything. Lay it on me, bro. Am I a clammy kisser? Do I have bad breath? Is it because I'm short? Is it because I'm a guy?"
Asahi's shaking his head no no no.
"Then what is it?" Nishinoya says, frustrated. "You can at least give me some constructive criticism, can't you?"
"I don't want to tell you," Asahi says.
"So you're just going to run away from it?" Nishinoya says. "Come on! Asahi! Just tell me and we'll move on with our stupid, boring lives!"
"It's because I like you so much!" Asahi blurts out. "I like you so much it's hard to think straight sometimes."
Nishinoya frowns. He's not seeing the issue here. "I know you like me. That's why you kissed me."
"You don't get it," Asahi says angrily. "I like you. I really like you. And I know that to you, it's just practice. You can do it with anybody. It's not just me." He brushes past Nishinoya, but Nishinoya grabs his sleeve, stops him.
"What, did you take even more idiot pills than usual?" he says. "Of course I can't do it with anybody. It has to be you."
Asahi freezes.
"I mean," Nishinoya explains patiently, "you wouldn't spend weeks kissing someone unless you really loved them. That's just basic common sense."
"I don't think everyone is like that," Asahi says weakly. "Lots of people kiss other people and it doesn't mean anything."
"Well, I'm like that," Nishinoya says. He juts his chin up. "Azumane Asahi, I am deadly serious about you."
Asahi blushes.
A grin curls Nishinoya's lips. "And you like me too, right? You just confessed to me, after all. You must really really like me."
Asahi tries to run away. Nishinoya trips him.
"You like me so much you were crying about me," Nishinoya says evilly.
"No I wasn't," Asahi protests.
"You like me so much you think about me all the time, about my tender kisses and my manly hands and how I make you feel all squishy inside," Nishinoya says, enjoying this more than words can say.
"Shut up," Asahi says, shoving him. Nishinoya falls to the ground in a dramatic heap, but the smile doesn't leave his mouth and he's pretty sure it never will, because just looking at Asahi's dear dumb gorgeous face makes him want to never stop smiling. "Nishinoya, you're too cruel."
"Hey, let's go get some burgers," Nishinoya says, springing up to his feet. "I'm hungry."
"Like a date?"
"Exactly like a date," Nishinoya says.
Asahi is so red that he resembles a stop light. "All right. As long as you're paying."
Nishinoya's heart feels like it's trying to lift out of his body and volley away, he's that happy. "You're making your underclassman pay? How rude of you. Is this the kind of boyfriend you are?" Asahi starts blustering but Nishinoya grins some more at him. "Okay, fine. Only if I get to walk you home afterwards and maybe we can kiss some more on your doorstep. But only if you want to," he adds.
Asahi's smiling. "I want to."