Chapter Text
‘Something nice... or whatever you want that’s totally fine too! Anything you wear will be perfect!’
You can’t help but giggle as you remember Nshinoya’s flustered and slightly windmill-styled reaction to you asking him out. You had simply invited the poor boy for a cup of coffee and he had nearly blown a gasket.
‘Like… like a date!? You… you wanna go on a date with me? Well I have to make sure it’s the best date ever then! Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing I’ll pick you up and take care of everything! Just you wait!’
So in the end you’d been left with little to no idea of what to wear for the occasion. So you tried to aim for somewhere in the middle, nice , but not too nice. Lest you wind up way over dressed and somehow stress the little libero anymore then you -apparently- already had.
An energetic knock at the door demands your attention as just before you can start to pace nervously. Of course he’d be right on time, he was nothing if not eager.
You open the door to see - a ginormous bundle of flowers.
“Here! These are for you!” Nishinoya is practically bouncing with a huge grin on his face. “And these too! I couldn’t decide if flowers or chocolates would be better so I just got you both!” He chirps excitedly, pulling out a neatly wrapped box as you try to figure out how to hold so many flowers at once and still somehow accept the chocolates.
“Oh, well that’s very sweet of you Noya… Um, could you help me bring these inside?”
“Oh! Of course! My bad… I didn’t think about how difficult those would be to carry for you…”
“It’s fine.” You assure him, slightly shocked by the extravagant display but endeared by it nonetheless.
“So I hope you're ready for the best date ever! I’ve got it all planned out!”
“Yeah? What’s first on the itinerary?”
“The what?” You chuckle.
“Where are we going first?” You clarify, amused by his confused expression.
“Oh, dinner of course! We’re going to the best date night place in town!”
“Oh?” He takes your hand, almost dragging you out of the house in his excitement which must be contagious with the way you’re laughing by the time you reach the car. Nothing was ever boring with Nishioya. It was one of the many things you liked about him.
He parks in front of a well known and extremely expensive, not to mention formal - restaurant.
“Uh, Noya?”
“Yea? What’s wrong?” He looks over, smile wavering for a moment.
“Isn’t this place a little… well, expensive?” You try, not sure how to explain that you felt grossly underdressed for such a place.
“Don’t even worry about that! I’m paying tonight. I said I’d take you on the best date after all.” He acts as if this was the perfectly obvious choice of restaurant as he runs around to open your door for you.
You know this place is too expensive for college students and that neither of you are up to its dress code… but Noya seemed so confident that you were starting to wonder, for a brief moment, if he was secretly from a rich family or something. That illusion ended almost immediately as you reach the hostess’ podium.
“Reservation name?” She asks politely, despite eyeing you both skeptically.
“Reser-what?” The hostess’ eyebrows raise a little.
“Name please.”
“Oh, Nishinoya Yuu.” She scans the page in front of her, humming softly.
“I don’t see any Nishinoya listed on the reservation list, if you’re here to book a reservation, we’re booked solid into next month.”
“What? What do you mean I’m supposed to book dinner?!”
“Um, Noya… Maybe we should just go somewhe-” You start nervously, feeling uncomfortable under the hostess’ judgemental gaze.
“What? No! This is the best place for a date! And I said I’d take you on the best date - so we gotta go here!” He insists. “Look, I don’t know what a reserva-whatever is, but this is kinda really important so do you think you could maybe do me a solid here?” He looks at the hostess hopefully and she stares back skeptically before raising an eyebrow.
“No. We’re a by-reservation only establishment.”
“Then I wanna reserve a spot for tonight .”
“The earliest opening we have is next month . So that’s not going to be possible.”
“C’mon! Why can’t you just let us in!”
“ Noya ...” You tug on his sleeve, “Let’s just go. I don’t wanna eat here anyways.”
“Huh- Why not? I read that the food is really really good and-” He pauses, noticing the uncomfortable look on your face as the hostess continues to give you that judgemental look. “Hey okay, let’s go. I’m sure we can find somewhere way better anyway.” He adds hastily, giving the hostess a look , before walking you back to the car.
You breathe a sigh of relief to be out of there and give Noya a studying look when you get back into the car. He’s shifting nervously and can’t seem to make eye contact.
“Noya…” He looks up at you briefly before his eyes dart away again. “Have you… have you ever been on a date before?” His eyes widen and his cheeks heat up as he begins stuttering.
“Wh-what!? Of course I have! I’ve been on lots of dates! Why… why would you... Would you ask?!” He laughs nervously and you can’t help the small chuckle that escapes you. “Hey! Why are you laughing at me?” He grumbles. You hold your arms up to protest your innocence.
“I’m not laughing at you, it just all makes a lot more sense now.” The huge thing of flowers AND chocolate, going to the most well known restaurant in town… He had probably googled the best date places and of course, it would come up. “Why didn’t you just tell me this was your first date you goof?”
“I-What? N-n-no it’s not!” You give him a pointed look and he deflates. “Okay fine… It is . I just thought…” His shoulders slump. “I thought you might not be interested if you knew I had no experience with dating whatsoever.”
“Noya…” You smile softly. “I don’t care about that. I asked you out, remember? So why don’t we head over to this little cafe I know and if you’d like, maybe I could give you some tips about how to plan our next date?” His head whips up, eyes wide.
“Next date? You… you would go out with me again? Even though I totally messed up tonight?” You laugh gently and nod.
“Of course I would, silly. So what if you don’t know how to plan dates yet? I hardly think date planning is indicative of anything other than experience and honestly?” You let your voice drop an octave as you lean in close to his face. “I kind of like the idea of being your first for a lot of things~.” You giggle as his cheeks darken at your suggestion.
“O-okay, uh maybe we should go… get that coffee you were talking about first…” You lean back with a triumphant smile.
“Sounds like a plan. Here let me pull up the address…”
20 minutes later you were both laughing over coffee in a cozy little cafe as you offered general, and you-specific dating advice as Noya soaks it all in with minimal embarrassment for his overzealous first try.
“Are you sure that the flowers were too much? Because you looked kinda happy about them.” He argues and you roll your eyes.
“That many flowers is overkill, once is endearing - every time would be ridiculous.” You counter, taking a sip of your drink as he hums thoughtfully.
“Well I guess you’re the expert.” You nod with a chuckle.
“On dating myself? I should hope so!” He groans exasperatedly.
“That’s not what I-” He shakes his head as you laugh, finding it hard to grumble when you look like that . “You’re lucky you’re cute, otherwise I might think you were some kind of monster the way you tease me!” He grumbles anyway. You gasp in mock offense.
“Me? A monster? ”
“A teasing monster!” He exclaims, “A very… cute… teasing monster…” He trails off, face red and voice soft as he looks away quickly, peeking back to see a faint blush on your cheeks.
“Not my fault that you’re so easy to tease…”
“I am not!” You give him the ‘yes-you-are’ look and he sputters. “This time maybe! But next time I’ll give you a date you can’t possibly laugh about! Unless it’s in a good way! … is there a good way to laugh about a date?” You laugh and he sputters some more in protest.
“What did I say this time!? I- (y/n)!” He whines, blushing. “You’re not making it very easy to seem cool you know…”