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Asahi tugs nervously on the front of his scarf as his eyes glance nervously around the bustling station for the tenth time since he’s arrived. He’s straining for sight of that familiar shock of spiked up hair and that telltale streak of blond, and as the minutes tick by he can’t help but feel more and more conspicuous standing here alone. They did decide to meet early in the morning, but perhaps his rash decision to arrive a whole half an hour even earlier than planned is over-doing it. Just a little.
His notification ringtone goes off and he hopes to see Nishinoya’s name displayed over the front, but instead finds a text from Daichi.
> did u chicken out?
Asahi feels his stomach twist, and he hastily types out
< No! I’m still waiting for Noya at the station
> wait, so this is actually a date right
As if he didn’t already feel stuffy and hot in his winter getup, Asahi feels his face fluster deeply. Before he can tuck his phone away and ignore Daichi’s teasing, he receives another text. Or, more specifically, a series of additional texts.
> Asahi! Good luck with Noya today!（＾▽＾）(Sugawara)
> OI ASAHI-SAN RMBR THERES NOTHING TO BE SCARED OF (Tanaka)
There’s even a lengthy paragraph from Hinata, awkward sentiment from Kageyama, and messages from the rest of the underclassmen. Asahi feels himself pale at the thought of Sugawara and Daichi spreading around news of this date to the rest of the team and wonders whether they’re sending the same mail to Nishinoya at this exact moment –
“Asahi-san?”
The taller boy just barely swallows his yelp of surprise when he feels the sudden tug on his hand, though he’s unable to help the way his phone just about flies from his fingers. He fumbles forward to catch it, only to have it slip away and get knocked through the air by his chilled, clumsy fingers – until someone snatches it expertly out of the air before it can hit the ground.
“Asahi-san, are you okay?” Noya’s grinning at him as he hands the phone back, which Asahi stuffs into his coat pocket a little too eagerly. Nishinoya’s wearing a beanie over his hair today and he’s bundled up and complete with a heavy coat, scarf, and gloves. He looks like the definition of toasty. “You’re here really early. We were supposed to meet at ten, right?”
“Y-yeah, ah – it’s only nine forty, so – well, you’re early, too, and—“
“Then we have enough time to get breakfast before we go Christmas shopping!” Noya exclaims, seemingly oblivious to Asahi’s skittish behavior. At least, that’s what it looks like, but the way Noya easily slips his warm, comforting hand through Asahi’s as he tugs them both along gives Asahi the idea Noya knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s glad for that.
“Do you know what you’re getting for everyone? I got Kageyama for the secret gift exchange but I can’t think of anything that doesn’t have to do with volleyball, and he probably already has thirty volleyballs sitting at home.”
“You’re not supposed to tell anyone who you’ve picked,” Asahi informs him gently, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. Now that they’ve gotten down the street out of the station and enter the already crowded street of shoppers, he can feel the hand he’s got in Noya’s beginning to heat up, and he’s unsure whether Noya notices or not.
“Oh – well, it’s too late now, and I’ve already told you mine so you have to tell me who you got, too! Maybe I can help you pick out something for them. Is it Shoyou? Daichi? Oh, if it was Daichi, it’d be hell trying to figure out what to get for him.”
“A-actually, it’s Tsukishima,” Asahi says, easily relenting.
“Eh, Tsukishima? Whatever you get him probably wouldn’t be as good as whatever Yamaguchi will be getting him,” Noya remarks, squeezing Asahi’s hand as he lets out a sudden, boisterous laugh that effectively scares the wits out of the young couple they speed past. “Maybe you can get him a dinosaur, I remember Yamaguchi saying something about Tsukishima and dinosaurs. Ah! Asahi-san, right here, is it fine if we eat at this bakery?”
He’s already pulling Asahi towards the storefront and by the time Asahi gives his nod, Noya is already throwing the doors open and is beside himself at how wonderful it smells and how pleasantly warm it is inside.
“Sit here and I’ll order, okay?” He guides Asahi towards a table near the frost-ebbed window and pulls the chair out for the taller boy. He sets his backpack down, shrugs out of his coat, and rummages through his bag for his wallet before prancing off towards the display case of freshly baked goods.
After observing for a few moments the way Noya strikes up easy, hearty conversation with the person at the register, Asahi feels his phone vibrate in his pocket and he somewhat reluctantly takes it out again. Another wave of messages.
> Oi, remember not to be so boring lol (Daichi)
> Don’t let Daichi’s messages get to you!! Just have fun :-) (Suga)
Asahi lets out a drawn out sigh as he struggles out of his own coat and drapes it over the back of his chair. Noya is back before long, somehow balancing two cups of coffee, a plate, and a paper bag in his arms, all of which he all but dumps onto the table once he arrives.
“They had crepes,” Noya announces, pushing that plate to the middle of the table and handing Asahi a fork of his own. It’s piled high with whipped crème, topped with chocolate shavings, and appears to be stuffed with melted chocolate and fresh cut strawberries, banana slices, and blueberries.
Nishinoya clambers across the table, nearly knocking their hot drinks aside, as he cuts out a chunk of crepe and thrusts his fork out towards Asahi. “Let me feed you the first bite!” he insists, cheeks ruddy and red and stretched by his delighted smile.
Asahi thinks he might already choke.
They’re both towing shopping bags in their hands, evidence of a successful trip of getting all their Christmas shopping done and out of the way. Asahi’s not sure about his Noya, but he’s beat, especially after being dragged store to store and up and down the streets in almost random fashion all day, not that he’s minded so much, because Noya seems to have been silently adamant that their hands be joined all the while.
“Let’s go through here, Asahi-san!” Noya says suddenly, pointing down the path that leads towards the city park. It’s a slight detour from the quickest way back to the station, but Asahi doesn’t complain as Nishinoya again squeezes their twined their fingers and leads them there.
The sparsely placed streetlamps that dot their path have just turned on and it seems that it’s already cold enough to deter most others into their warm homes tonight. It’s the first time almost all day that Nishinoya has resigned himself to pleasant quiet, and he instead opts for humming the Christmas song tune he and the rest of the team spontaneously burst into during a practice a few weeks back.
“Ah, hold on,” Nishinoya says suddenly. He walks towards a nearby bench, sets down his bags, and lets go of Asahi’s hand so that he can swing his backpack around to his front and dig through it until he produces a wrapped rectangular box. The red ribbons are slightly askew and flattened, yet Asahi accepts it with gentle fingers as Noya beams and hands it to him. Before Asahi can stutter out words of gratitude, Noya folds his arms over his chest and says, “I was going to give it to you later, but I think it’d be better if I gave it to you now – and don’t open it until you’re at home!”
“Thank you, Nishinoya,” Asahi says timidly, turning the box over in his hands. He wonders what it is, but before he can think too hard on it, he feels Noya’s eyes on him, seemingly gauging his expression. Asahi panics mildly and tries to avert the attention away from himself as he says, “I – I have something for you, too, but I left it at home because I didn’t think…”
“It’s fine, Asahi-san,” Noya says, smiling again. “I know you’ll really like it!”
At this point, there’s no helping the unbidden smile and fluster all over Asahi’s face. All of today had been so wonderful and truthfully he’s already wishing he could have another day like this one with Noya. Part of him is nagging that maybe he’s the only one who’s enjoyed it so much, so before his thoughts can get the better of him, he’s already reaching for the bags on the bench and starting to turn back down the pathway.
“We should probably head to the station now before the snow gets too—“
“Asahi-san, wait a second.”
He pauses when he feels a small tug on the hem of his coat, and he turns around to find Noya with a rare bashful expression on.
“Is it – is it okay if I kiss you?” he blurts out, bringing his intense, light brown eyes up to Asahi’s surprised expression. He pulls his bottom lip in between his teeth as though reconsidering his words, but his fists ball at his sides and he remains where he is.
“K-kiss?” Asahi repeats. He’s frozen for several seconds as he processes the request, then blinks slowly as he feels something warm rise in his chest. Before he realizes it, he feels himself bending over slightly as laughter begins to escape his lips. He almost can’t believe that Noya decided to ask him permission for something like this – for some reason, after being strung behind Noya’s energetic self all day, having such a formal request almost unbelievable.
“I’m sorry,” Asahi continues, watching Noya’s confused expression turn slightly disappointed. “But I don’t kiss on the first date, so…”
“Eh?” Nishinoya turns away and grits his teeth for a moment, sincerely distraught at this outcome of events, but when he looks back up and finds Asahi grinning teasingly at him, he stomps one foot against the frozen ground.
Asahi holds his hands up innocently, still smiling, until Noya reaches up and grabs him by the collar of his jacket. The next moment, he’s pulling Asahi down and straining up on the tips of his toes – he feels Asahi let out a warm, almost choked breath of surprise just before their cold lips meet.
It’s chaste, short – when they pull apart, they’re both blushing hard enough to thaw all the snow within a five foot radius of where they stand. But Noya recovers quickly, and soon he’s letting out a loud, attention-grabbing laugh in the middle of the park as he tries to coax an escaping, melting Asahi into one more kiss.
When Asahi does relent, this time, Noya opens his own mouth wide and runs his tongue along the closed seam of Asahi’s lips. Nishinoya lets out a somewhat obscene noise along with his hot exhale, and it sends Asahi reeling and stumbling backwards with shock colored all over his face as he throws his hands over his reddening cheeks.
Noya apologizes loudly in between fits of laughter, and it takes them a while more to reach the station at all.