Work Text:
The sun has yet to shine its simple graces upon the prefecture of Miyagi- and it’s citizens are mostly dead to the world, at least for a couple more hours.
All but one.
“Who are you!?” Ryuu whisper-shouts, glaring himself down in the mirror.
Today is the day of the Spring Tournament. His last Spring Tournament. Of ever. And ever and ever. Because he is Tanaka Ryuunosuke, third-year Wing Spiker and Ace of the Karasuno Boys Volleyball Team.
“I am Tanaka Ryuu!” He whispers back at himself. Aggressive and loud- just like anyone who’s going to try to beat him.
“What will you do today?” He slams his hands down on the bathroom counter. Toothpaste leaks out of the side of his mouth.
“I’m going to spike our way to finals!” He crows, choking on a bit of toothpaste.
“RYUU!” Saeko screams. “Shut the FUCK UP !”
-
He waltzes out of the house at 4 AM. His mother and father wave tired goodbyes, making him promise to stay safe and ‘text them if anything happens, okay?’ and Saeko punches him in the shoulder, telling him she’ll be there with the team in a few hours. Then she punches him again for being so goddamn loud.
The stars are still out.
As he walks, breath spurting out in front of him in little white puffs, he can’t help but think about the last three years. He’d put his body and soul into this volleyball club, and any one of these next five days could be his last game. No warning attached.
It’s crazy to think about.
He’s not going the college route- he definitely couldn’t handle trying to get a degree. He’s going to graduate high school in just barely two months. He will bid a bittersweet goodbye to the vandalized bathroom stalls, kiss the vice principal’s bald head, and will never be a high school student again. He will move on to the rest of his life.
As if on cue, his phone lights up. Ryuu fishes the phone out of his pocket, picking it out with his thumb and forefinger, and feels his heart explode (just a little) at the sight of the caller ID.
“Baby,” he crows, trying to put every emotion he’s ever felt into that syllable. He thinks it fails. “How are you? Did you call to wish me good luck?”
“Ah, yes,” Kiyoko’s voice carries across, deep with sleep. She sounds beautiful. “I did.”
“You did what?”
“Call.” Kiyoko yawns loudly, jaw cracking. Adorable.
Ryuu feels his eyebrow twitch. He wants to hear it. “Call to what?” he says, pressing the phone closer to his ear.
He hears Kiyoko pause, and then she laughs softly. Oh my god. He wants to bottle that sound up and painfully shove it up his nostrils into his brain so he can never forget what it sounds like. “Good luck today, Ryuu.” She says, voice dripping with fondness.
His face splits in half. “Well, if you say so,” he teases, grinning. “I guess I must take us to finals! Since you asked, and all.” His fist clenches in front of him. If he were to pose right here, it’d be a totally cool picture.
Kiyoko laughs harder. “Of course. I would expect nothing less.”
“So, what are ya up to today?” he says, and they chatter away until he reaches the bus, half the team already there, with Hinata and Kageyama arguing about… fish?
Who knows, with those two.
“Ah, I’ve reached the bus,” he says into the speaker. “Hold on one second?” He hears her soft grunt.
“Everyone!” He yells, and the first years cheer. He adores those kids- it’s like his own entourage, even if they like Nishinoya a smidge more. “Listen, someone is ordering you to do well!”
He switches it to speakerphone, and Kiyoko lowers her voice an octave, deepening it into something more of a growl. “No results other than winning will be accepted.”
He cackles into the phone- Kiyoko makes him hold it up again so she can wish everyone proper good luck- and that she has off tomorrow and will be there to watch them, so they better win today’s match. Noya crows that he’ll be waiting for Asahi so he can kick his ass, and Kiyoko promises he will be there.
He whispers a soft ‘Love you,’ into the phone, and ignores the way his heart skips a beat when she whispers it back.
He clambers into the bus, lugging along his bags.
It’s strangely quiet, he thinks, turning back- lo and behold, Kageyama and Hinata are fast asleep on each other. The first years are passed out as well, and Yuuji (their libero-in-training) drools a little onto his chin. He snaps a quick picture.
He never thought he’d be a man to appreciate silence, but he makes faces at Kinoshita across the bus aisle and it’s somehow… peaceful. A calm before the storm, if you will.
Yachi pops her head over the seat. “Um,” she says.
“Yachi!” He cheers. “What’s up, kiddo?”
Her face is a little red. “Uh, Kiyoko-san sounds so... different?” She stammers out, cheeks heating.
Ryuu blinks and laughs. “What do you mean?”
“She sounds… happier.” Yachi ventures, a small smile working onto her face.
“She does?” That’s the best thing Ryuu has ever heard. All he wants to do is make Kiyoko happy. “She does!”
“Mhmm!” Yachi nods enthusiastically.
He catches Kinoshita across the aisle, looking amused. Oh yes. This is his time to shine, as the wise bald-headed senpai. “See, kiddo,” he says, leaning back in the bus seat. “That’s what happens when you and an ethereal being like Kiyoko are in love. Everything is… brighter.”
Yachi nods so fast he thinks her head is going to fall off. “So true, Tanaka-san!”
He laughs again. “So,” he says, his smile dipping into something mischievous. “Why are you asking? Are you perhaps… having feelings!”
Yachi gapes and almost passes out. “What?! NO. No, I don’t- I don’t know what you are saying. Like actually. Why would you say that? That- wow, Tanaka-san, sometimes you say the funniest things-” she cuts herself off with a forced laugh-turned-cough.
“Uh, okay.” Damn, shot right down.
Yachi crawls back down into her seat, face resembling a tomato. Kinoshita continues to watch, eyebrows steadily climbing up higher and higher. Leave it to Yachi to never do something halfway.
But he peeks around the edge of the seat, and sees her staring daggers into a picture of some girl on her phone, fingers twiddling nervously.
Oh. It’s go time.
-
Step 1: get bitches make money- wait no. find it. Okay wait-
Find- fuck
Acquire target
Find out who Yachi is gay crushing on super hard
Focus eyes on target
“Ryuu-chan!” he hears, amidst the crowd of milling teenagers. The bus ride proved to be uneventful, even as he wracked his brain- looking for any one girl they’d ever seen Yachi hanging out with, only to find that fuck- he doesn’t know any of their names.
“Oh, Kanoka!” he says, raising his arm for a high-five. “What’s up!”
Kanoka hits his palm like she’s spiking a ball- ouch , that’s going to be hard to play off, doesn’t she know how to take it easy?- and bounces happily. “Nothing! Good to see you made it,” she says.
“What are you saying,” he says, mouth squeezing in mock-anger. “Trying to say we couldn’t make it?”
Kanoka laughs, winking. “Just sayin’!”
He opens his mouth to egg Kanoka on, but someone takes a tumble right into his side. He falls to the ground, head smacking against the tile.
“Oh my god!” Kanoka says, leaning over to help him up- just as a blond head of soft hair butts him right in the chin.
“Ah!” Yachi snaps to her feet, dropping into a low bow. “Oh my god! I’m so sorry- I didn’t even see anything, I’m so sorry- ah! Hello! What! I didn’t mean to say that! Ignore me ! Bye!”
Ryuu feels short of breath just hearing her hurried apologies.
“Uh,” Kanoka says, watching Yachi run over to Tsukishima- who is currently folded in half laughing, having seen the whole exchange. Yachi huffs in anger beside him, but it’s nothing to mask the sheer embarrassment all over her face.
Yachi turns back for a second, looking at Kanoka- Kanoka , whose arm is extending, helping Ryuu back to his feet- and her face turns red faster than a traffic light. She yelps, and turns back.
Ryuu looks between the two. He looks at Kanoka and looks at Yachi. He looks at Yachi and looks at Kanoka. Kanoka looks at him, thoroughly confused. Yachi looks at him, terrified.
Oh shit.
-
Step two: How to- wait not y
Lesbians fall in love??
Finding the perfect spot for their marriage proposal
No. too soon, Ryuunosuke.
gathering intel on the enemy nation
“Now!” Ryuu says, smacking his hand against the wall. He immediately regrets it. Ouch. “Do you all know why you are gathered here today?”
Hinata, Kageyama, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima sit criss-cross on the floor in front of him- Tsukishima, who sighs loudly. “Nope.”
“We,” Ryuu starts, summoning grandiosity from his core. “Are here today as Yachi’s best friends. Our young crow has flown from the nest!”
Hinata blinks owlishly.
“Grown into a woman!”
Kageyama furrows their eyebrow.
“Fallen in love!”
Yamaguchi chuckles. “Yacchan just has a bit of a crush,” he says, sheepishly. “I mean, can you blame her? Kanoka-san is…” he blushes a deep-red. Not now Yamaguchi. Only one can vie for the great Kanoka’s love.
Hinata raises his hand. “ My mother says don’t ever fall in love because it’s like someone stepping on your balls and then crushing your insides because love isn’t real and her ex-boyfriend is just a stupid jerk that she hates so much because he’s dumb and ugly and that ‘Shouyou, never fall in love ’ because they will leave you like all her boyfriends.”
Ryuu’s fingers twitch behind his back. What the fuck. “Um.”
Kageyama raises their hand. “Sir?”
“Yes! Kageyama.” Ryuu calls on them, happy for an out. This is a classroom, where order and balance must be established-
“Why do you want Yachi to get into a relationship when all that comes of love is pain and suffering when they inevitably leave you?” They ask, completely innocent.
Ryuu sweats. “ Well ,”
Yamaguchi raises a hand, and Ryuu wrenches his eyes shut. Maybe he needs to leave the second-years out of this.
Yamaguchi continues, undeterred. The little shit. Ryuu didn’t even call on him- the disrespect. “What if Kanoka-san is secretly a serial killer and is going to sell Yacchan’s intestines on the black market.”
Hinata nods, hand wrapped around his chin. “Good point, Yamaguchi.” Ryuu gapes. Is this a Socratic-circle? Did he fall asleep in English again?
Tsukishima raises his hand. “Yes! Tsukishima.” Please help him.
“When is lunch?”
Ryuu almost falls to his knees- god bless the lord that granted Tsukishima the ability to never give a fuck. “We can go right now!”
-
“-and she was totally , like, blushing . I swear that girl was going to drop dead.” Ryuu mumbles through a mouthful of rice.
Ennoshita sighs. “That’s great and all, Tanaka- but don’t you think you should leave this alone? We are kind of caught up right now.” He chuckles, gesturing around the Tokyo Stadium Cafeteria.
Ryuu frowns. “Multi-tasking is not that hard.”
“I think it’s a great idea!” Noya jumps in, tray slapping onto the table. “Yachi’s always so shy. Kanoka would be perfect to bring her out of her shell.”
Ryuu glances over his shoulder, where Yachi is gesturing wildly with Akaashi from Fukurodani, arm flying out to nail Hinata right in the head. ‘Shy’ is not exactly the word he’d use- once she warms up to you, it’s like a female Hinata on 600 Mg of Adderall.
Nevermind that. “So you’re on board?”
Noya nods, cheeks puffing with curry rice. “Uhm chorshe.” A grain of rice flies out of his mouth, right into Ryuu’s eye. “Shmy fad!”
-
Tomorrow morning, Ryuu forces Yachi on a run with him. A run that, coincidentally, circles the Niiyama Johsai Girls Volleyball Team’s hotel three times. He pats himself on the back. True genius, really.
He runs in place as Yachi leans on a tree beside him, gulping down air like a fish out of water. Next order of business- getting Yachi in shape. Yikes. This is just sad.
A tall figure exits the building, jogging out lightly. “Kanoka!” Ryuu hollers, waving wildly.
“Kanoka?” Yachi whispers, eyes widening in alarm.
The figure stops, then turns towards them. “Ryuu-chan!” She greets and turns towards Yachi. “Hello! What’s your name?”
Yachi slumps against the tree. “I’ve died.” She pants, hand coming up to lay against her forehead.
Ryuu grabs her by the shoulders, holding the small woman in front of him. “This is my best and coolest friend ever Yachi! She’s super cool and smart.” Almost like an afterthought, he adds, “She can bench 60 kgs.”
“Uhm.” Yachi blinks, and seems to gather her bearings. “Yes. I… lift that.”
Ryuu’s mouth twitches. “She means she also lifts 60.”
Kanoka laughs awkwardly, arm coming up to itch her neck. “Wow! That’s uh.. so cool.” Her cheeks are dusted red, and Yachi swallows at the sight of her arms flexing with the movement. They need to work on her subtlety-
Wait.
Her cheeks are dusted red
Kanoka is blushing .
Ryuu just barely stops himself from screaming. They are both blushing! They are both… in like! They are both in like with each other!
“So um,” Kanoka says lightly. “You’re the Karasuno manager, right? That’s cool.”
“Mhmm!” Yachi nods viciously. “It’s really fun. I love volleyball, even if I can’t play.”
Kanoka chuckles, smile turning teasing. Her hand comes out to rest on Yachi’s shoulder. It’s almost comical- she’s almost a whole foot and a half taller than the blonde. “Well, anyone that benches 60 can probably pull the weight! I could show you some basics sometime?”
Yachi blanches. “Yes! I do... I do benches that!” Oh my god. She’s a disaster. “I would love that!” Yachi places her hand over Kanoka’s. “I would love for you to show me volleyball. I mean.”
Kanoka’s eyes sparkle. “Could I um… get your number?”
Ryuu is going to throw up. This is so much more perfect than he’d ever imagined. They’re already going on a date. He should maybe make a business of this.
“So we can be friends!”
Oh.
-
“She said friends ,” Yachi bemoans. She refuses to run again, lest her legs fall off and she has to make a home in the soft morning snow of Tokyo. So they walk back, Yachi’s feet dragging against the concrete.
“Don’t give up, Yachi!” Ryuu says, finger pointing up. “Kanoka is kind of dense.”
“Tanaka-san! That’s so mean.”
“It’s true! Plus,” Ryuu glances around conspiratorially, sending quite a few people on their morning commute an evil eye, before whispering to Yachi behind a gloved hand.
“I never ever gave up on my crushes, Yachi. You already know about the great chase of my life with my love and the entire world, Shimizu Kiyoko.” He lays a hand on her shoulder, and clenches his fist, looking up. “But before her, I had my eyes set on a boy named Takashi. He was the prettiest boy in our entire middle school and I promised him we would grow old together in the middle of the lunchroom.
Ryuu shakes his head. “He called me weird.”
“Oh no !” Yachi’s hand comes to her mouth. “Don’t worry, Tanaka. He’s the weird one.”
“Uh.. well, it was probably weird of me to say that when I’d never talked to him before,” Ryuu chuckles. “But still! I soldiered on, and never gave up! Of course, there’s a fine line there- but he never said back off, so I never did. Then finally, in our third year, he agreed to go on a date with me. And we were boyfriends for a whole six months!”
Yachi’s eyes sparkle. “That’s adorable. But this is different,” she looks down and bites her lip. “I’m not cool or confident like you guys. I don’t have, uh… moves.”
Ryuu’s eyes widen, and his hands slam out to grab her shoulders. “YACHI! The first law of confidence is to never speak badly about yourself!”
Yachi squeaks, feet hovering half a foot above the ground.
“I am going to make you a lady-killing, flirting machine!” Ryuu promises, bringing her closer.
“Plus,” he says, dropping her back down to the ground and continuing towards the boy’s hotel. “You totally have a chance. She was blushing and all touchy. I think she likes you.”
Yachi’s entire being seems to blush- no, really, Ryuu swears her hair heats- and her hands shake. “You… you really think so?”
“I know so!” Ryuu bursts. “C’mon, Yachi. By the end of nationals, we are going to be crowned the winning team and get you a cute girlfriend.
-
Step three: making yachi the smooth killer we know she actually is
Teaching yachi how to get major puss
Actually for some reason Yamaguchi wants in too so add him
Teaching yams and yachi how to get major puss
Ryuu thrusts Yachi in front of Kiyoko. “Okay. Exercise one in the fifteen-day training manual of Tanaka Ryuunosuke’s promise to make yo girl fall in love!” The yo girl is a very important part of his marketing strategy. It adds an air of mystery.
“We only have 4 days, Tanaka-san.” Yachi is sweating buckets, and Yamaguchi looks adorably excited. A broom falls, smacking the chair the former sits in, and she jumps about ten feet in the air- Hinata would be proud. Perhaps the storage closet wasn’t the best place to do this.
“Anyways! This is Kiyoko, my lovely, divine, ethereal goddess of a girlfriend. So back off.” Yachi stumbles back. “But also don't! Because she will be playing Kanoka, and you are going to try out your moves on her!”
“Hello.” Kiyoko says. “I am Kanoka.”
Yachi looks between them. “Are you sure I should do this- I mean, I don't have any moves so-“
“I like volleyball a lot.” Kiyoko deadpans. “I also like girls. You are cute.” She looks at Tanaka. “Wait, pause.”
Ryuu holds his hands in a T-Formation. “Yes, babe?”
Kiyoko presses a finger to her chin. “Who is this girl again?”
Ryuu frowns. “C’mon, babe. That girl with short black hair? She totally crushed on me hard last year- you’re not jealous?”
Kiyoko blinks. “Not really.”
“Not even a little?”
“Wait!” Yachi interrupts, hands flying between them. “Kanoka had a crush on you? Tanaka-san?” Yamaguchi- the little shit- looks like he’s enjoying this now.
Ryuu rubs the back of his neck. Maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned that right now. “Well.. only like a little , last year.”
Yachi looks like she’s about to melt. “Oh noooo,” she wails. “If she liked you I have no chance! You have all those… um, moves , and I can’t even talk to Kiyoko-san-”
Kiyoko’s mouth quivers. “Hitoka-chan,” she says calmly. “Did you just say Ryuu has… moves?”
Yachi nods miserably. Yamaguchi looks terribly out of place.
Kiyoko- honest-to-god, Ryuu has never heard such a sound in his life- outright cackles. “Hitoka,” she gasps. “Ryuu tried to ask me out for three years straight- and I’m the one who finally said we should get dinner sometime-”
“ Kiyoko ,” Ryuu whines.
“-I promise you can easily do better.” She looks as if she’s about to wipe away tears. With an easy smile gracing her face, she says, “So c’mon. Don’t be afraid. Hit me with your worst.”
-
Perhaps Kiyoko underestimated Yachi’s worst.
“Hey girl,” Yachi tries to purr- ‘tries to’ being the important word here, it comes out as more of a muffled whimper. “You here come often- wait, fuck. You come here often?” She bats her hand playfully, but places far too much power in her wrist, and smacks Kiyoko’s shoulder so hard she stumbles out of her chair.
Yamaguchi snorts. “Maybe ease up a bit.”
“I’m trying!” Yachi wails.
Ryuu steps between them- this is a disaster waiting to happen, and the last thing anyone needs right now is both Yamaguchi and Yachi crying in a storage closet. “Okay, why don’t we take a second? Yachi- can I speak to you outside the class?”
Yamaguchi crosses his arms, turning away, and Yachi dutifully takes the two steps out to the hallway. She looks at him questioningly, and Ryuu closes the door to the storage room.
“Let’s talk.” He says.
Real talk here- Ryuu has absolutely no idea what he’s going to say right now. It’s obvious Yachi feels out of her comfort zone, and he has no intention of forcing her to do this, but. But it’s too often Yachi will let her doubts and fears get the best of her, and slash little dreams he knows she wants.
He doesn’t want that to happen with Kanoka. They clearly have a shot at something here, and he wants Yachi to be happy. He really does.
He takes a deep breath in. “Why don’t we talk a little about why you’re so nervous?”
Yachi’s lip quivers and her back slides against the wall until she’s sitting on the floor. Ryuu takes his seat next to her, placing a comforting hand over her knee.
“I don’t know,” she sighs. “You know I don’t do this stuff- I get nervous talking to the waiters at the restaurant.”
Ryuu huffs in a breath. They all know that too well- the last time they all went out, it ended in Kageyama stammering out an order for a Yachi camping out in the bathroom, after she had told the waiter to enjoy his drink as well. “Yeah, but I know that you could. And you want to.”
“I-” Yachi waves her hand around. “I can’t just be like that . Just- put my mind to something and do it with the snap of a finger.”
Yachi folds her arms over her knees, clutching them to her chest. “I… sometimes it’s I’m choking on all the things I want to do. But I just can’t drink enough water to get them out.”
Ryuu feels his eyes well up. Fuck. “Yachi…” he whispers.
Yachi bites her lip, standing up- quick as a flash. “I’m sorry.” Her voice cracks- something raw shining in the tone. “I need to- I need to go.”
-
Step four: well you fucked this up, huh?
Hitoka often thought of herself as a background character.
She was a timid girl- meek, even, people would say after meeting her mother. She was small and soft-spoken, yet excitable and loud. Villager B.
But that day Hinata dragged her to the train station, and she yelled at her mom to finally believe in her a little bit, in front of all those people and all those eyes- it was like she was the princess. The main character. That feeling had persisted for the longest time- filling her most menial tasks with the need to be better . .
The Karasuno Volleyball Team is a lot like that. No matter what they do, they do their best. And she has the honor of managing them- a group of ragtag, rowdy people, that look to her for their information.
So yeah. The princess.
There is a quote- one Hitoka had come to memorize, after a study session runs late, repeating this phrase to a Hinata and Kageyama that couldn’t understand.
All good things come to an end.
She splashes cold water on her face, the droplets fanning out to run down her arms, just missing the cuff of her track jacket.
Hitoka is Villager B. Hitoka is not the princess, and Hitoka does not get the cool, strong, tall girl. And the sooner she accepts that the sooner she can move on with her life. She has things to do- things that can’t be deterred by a silly little flirting practice in a dark storage closet.
She pats her face dry, a rough towel rubbing against her flushed skin, and steps out of the bathrooms right into a huge, soft, white jacket.
“Sorry,” she murmurs, eyes focused on the floor.
“Oh, Yachi!” A soft voice comes from above.
Hitoka feels her neck hair stand on end. “Uh-”
Kanoka smiles down at her, hands placed on her shoulders. “You okay?” She says, concerned.
Hitoka stares up dumbly. Okay? Is she okay-?
Her face heats up. Oh. She’s asking her. Kanoka is asking her if she’s okay. ‘She’ as in Yachi.
“Y-Yes!” She stammers, blinking furiously. “I am! I am okay!”
Kanoka blinks. “Oh- okay!”
“I mean!” What did Tanaka-san say? Make every circumstance another chance to talk-
You know what? Fuck this. Villager B is staring down the knight from the opposite kingdom, and Villager B… now has superpowers. Villager B is making this her play, by force or not, and Villager B is getting the girl. Because she’s Yachi motherfucking Hitoka, and if there is one goddamn thing she can do, it’s keep trying until her lungs bleed.
“I would be a lot better if you had taught me to play volleyball!” She shouts.
Kanoka blinks again, stunned. Her mouth falls open. Hitoka sweats.
Kanoka laughs. Hitoka thinks she gets it now- when Tanaka-san all but keels over every time Kiyoko-san breathes. “Well,” she says lightly, flashing Hitoka a wink. “If you so insist, I have a few hours to kill- we already won today’s match.”
Hitoka’s cheeks split. “Sounds perfect.”
-
Ryuu wanders the halls of Tokyo Stadium. “Yachi!” He calls, hands cupped around his mouth. The yellow lights cast a threatening light on his face, washing out the empty hallway. Few poor souls are left in the stadium.
Kiyoko quirks a lip beside him. “Technically,” she muses. “You guys have already finished today’s game- she doesn’t need to be back until 7 at curfew-”
“I’m worried about our daughter, Kiyoko!” Tanaka cries.
Kiyoko’s glasses flash. “Our?”
Ryuu opens his mouth- yes, our, did we not just send her off into the arms of a capable woman, Kiyoko- but the squeak of sneakers against a gym floor and a peel of laughter interrupt him.
Ryuu peeks his head through an open door, Kiyoko just below him.
Yachi jumps up- really, what is it with shorties and easily clearing his vertical jump- and hits a softened red and white volleyball with just barely the tip of her fingers. It’s so light and gentle it almost floats down, bouncing pathetically against tape- indicating it 'out'.
Kanoka laughs with glee. “That would have been a really good dink!” She calls optimistically.
“Oh my god,” Kiyoko whispers below him. Her face glows with pride. “She actually did it.”
Yachi pouts and tiptoes over to where Kanoka stood, ready to set another ball. “I don’t know,” she says. “Maybe you could show me once more?” and Yachi’s hand circles Kanoka’s bicep. They’d feel like they were intruding- it was so terribly intimate- but Yachi’s face looks adorably determined, set with grim resolution. A clear contrast to her visibly shaking hand.
“Since you’re so strong?”
Kanoka’s face goes pink, and Kiyoko looks up to Ryuu, who looks down to Kiyoko. Holy fuck.
Holy fuck.
“Well, Hitoka ,” Kanoka’s voice dips, something like desire filling the empty gym. “You may have to help me show you how strong I can be...” and the darker-haired woman’s hand reaches down to grip Yachi’s knee.
Yachi’s face is bright red- in fact, the flush dips even below the line of her shirt, below her neck- but she seems to ignore every doubt she’s ever had as she allows herself to be hoisted up, hands going to encircle Kanoka’s neck. She pulls herself closer.
Kiyoko’s mouth falls open.
Ryuu drags both of them from the open gym door, and they stand in the middle of the hallway- eyebrows far past their hairlines, staring- holy fuck.
She actually did it.
“I take it back.” Kiyoko breathes. “She is our daughter.”
Ryuu giggles deliriously. She is. Wait .
“She is!” He whoops, looping an arm around Kiyoko’s waist as he presses a wet kiss to her forehead. “Yes, Yachi!” he hollers, as Kiyoko frantically shushes him. “Get some, girl!”
Kiyoko snorts into his shoulder. “Shut up!” She hisses, eyes laughing. “They’re gonna hear you!”
Ryuu wiggles his eyebrows. “Nah, they are not going to be hearing anything-”
“Ryuu!”
-
Step five: making yachi to promise to let me use her and her girl’s relationship to advertise my new matchmaking business. She said no thank you but I think if i ask again-
kiyoko said do not do that it’s weird. why do we need a step five? yachi got tongued. we are done here, right?
Ryuu clutches Ennoshita’s jersey. “Do you smell that, Chikara?” he sobs, hand thrown over his eyes. “It’s the smell of true love. Of fair maidens on their quest to their next journey; of the fresh flowers that bloom in spring-”
Ennoshita stops him. “Tanaka, please.” He says. “It’s one date.”
“One date of many!” He gestures up ahead, where Yachi walks with Kanoka, hands intertwined as the shorter girl cranes her neck to look up at the taller’s face.
“They’re so cute,” Ryuu smiles.
Ennoshita rolls his eyes. It hadn’t been any bit of a surprise when Yachi came back to the hotel 45 minutes late, all rushed apologies- face burning and strange marks. Tsukki handed Yamaguchi money, Kinoshita laughed loudly, and Hinata proclaimed he would not lose to her- whatever that meant. Ryuu shudders to think about a Hinata that tried to flirt. Takeda had been the only one to care- glasses flashing as he quietly lectured her in the next room about the importance of curfew in a strange city.
“I’m so happy for them,” he says softly, surprised at his own raw voice. “Wow man, I really am tearing up-” he jokes.
Ennoshita laughs. “Yeah, yeah.” He smiles fondly. “I guess love does do that to ya, huh?”
Ryuu smiles, tight-lipped. The birds chirp overhead, and Yachi gathers herself up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to Kanoka’s cheek. The snow is bright in the yellow sun, and Tokyo bustles around them.
Everything truly is brighter when you’re in love.