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Hinata cursed to himself as his legs finally slowed to a halt, giving up any hope at catching the missed bus. Panting, he placed both hands on his knees, hunched forward in defeat as he felt the familiar dampness of sweat creeping down his back.
Shit, now his nice dress clothes would be stained as well.
He breathed out a heavy sigh, contemplating cutting his losses and turning around to go home instead. There was no way that he’d make it to the restaurant on time, and he highly doubted that his newly shaved-on-the-sides haircut and raw charisma would counteract the fact that he would now be a minimum of fifteen minutes late to his date completely drenched in sweat.
He was screwed.
Dating in college was turning out to be more of a cry himself to sleep clutching a pint of ice cream type of ordeal and less of a being swept off his feet and proposed to on the second date type of experience. He was always told growing up that he had unrealistic expectations for love, but now that he was no longer a child, it was slowly becoming apparent that they were probably right. He knew deep down that he shouldn’t expect one night stands to turn into declarations of love followed by a lifetime of happiness, complete with two kids and a white picket fence, but he found himself trying for it anyways. The past two years of undergrad were a constant cycle of getting his hopes up way too high, followed by crushing disappointment and long bouts of heartbreak over men who he knew never thought twice about him.
He’d recently switched from seeking company at bars and nightclubs to trying online dating apps, which in all honesty weren’t giving him vastly different outcomes, but the conversations before meeting left him feeling more productive at least. This current attempt at a meet-up was quickly turning into one of his usual nightmares, but after a few minutes of kicking himself, he picked up his pace and jogged fully determined the rest of the way. In any case, if this date was truly the one for him, then it was probably good to be upfront about his habit of being perpetually late for things looking like he had just rolled down a hill after a hard rain. Hinata spent the twenty minute jog to the restaurant convinced of this.
He arrived with sore calves and a slight cramp in his stomach, trying desperately to hide how hard he was breathing from half-running here. He was sure that his speed saved him at least five minutes, and was trying very hard not to be proud of that. Deciding that checking the time on his phone would just slow him down, he confidently opened the restaurant doors and scanned the cozily-lit room for a no doubt annoyed-looking man with stark white hair.
He quickly spotted a man of such description sitting at a table for two alone and took a nervous deep breath before approaching the table. As he walked towards the man, he noticed his rather large build. Hoshiumi sure looked a lot taller in person compared to his profile picture.
He must be using an old picture. But why hide the fact that he was so built compared to years ago?! Surely this was an improvement; any sane man would have updated it. His haircut suited him much more like this as well. Oh well, some people just don’t keep their social media up to date, he definitely looked the type.
Hinata sat himself down across from the white-haired man with a smile, scooting his chair closer so that he could rest his elbows on the table.
“Hi, I’m Hinata,” Hinata extended his hand forward excitedly, waiting expectantly for the man to shake it back, “Sorry for being late! I missed my bus and decided I had a better chance of making it here faster if I just...ran,” the man grasped Hinata’s hand, eyes wary, giving him a strong handshake in return before retracting his arm and nonchalantly going back to his dinner. Hinata’s smile faltered a bit as he noticed the man had a full plate of food in front of him already.
The man looked a bit confused, probably just annoyed that Hinata didn’t plan ahead to be here on time, and creased his eyebrows while squinting at him before looking down and taking another bite without a word.
Hinata’s heart dropped slightly, feeling the familiar tingle of shame and disappointment trickle up his throat from his chest.
Oh yeah, definitely blew this one already…
“I can’t believe you’ve gotten your food already! I must have been much later than I thought. I’m really sorry, I just lose track of time. I promise it’s not a reflection of you, I feel horrible.”
The man continued to take bites of his food. The annoyed look eased into one that Hinata considered to be interest, which was a step in the right direction.
As the waitress walked past, Hinata called her over with a big smile, “Excuse me, can I just get what he’s having please? It looks delicious. Oh! And a glass of pinot grigio? Sorry for the trouble. Thank you!”
The waitress left looking pleased, giving their table a small smile before heading back towards the kitchen.
“So, Hoshiumi, tell me about yourself,” Hinata placed his chin in his hand and kept his small smile in place as he spoke.
“It’s Aone,” the man’s voice was deep but not the demanding type.
Hinata was so taken back by the tone of it that it took him a second to register the man’s words.
“Oh! Um, sure, I can call you Aone. Is that like a...nickname? That’s cool! I have nicknames too but I don’t think I want you calling me any of them,” Hinata gave a nervous giggle, already regretting even bringing that up, “I mean, they’re not that bad but, you know how friends can be. Aone is nice! Very simple. Much simpler than Hoshiumi, bit of a mouthful I suppose? You seem like you like simple. I admire that! Simple is good.”
Oh god, don’t talk too much.
“I’m sorry, I’m usually better at this, I just feel like I’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Or feet... Probably feet, I’ve messed this up in more than one way already and it’s only been five minutes,” Hinata looked off to the side as he spoke, as if he was putting all his effort into thinking about how many feet were involved in this big of a screw-up.
“Somehow I get the feeling your feet are often this way.”
Hinata tilted his head, unsure if the idiom worked that way, but decided that if he could stretch it and babble nonsense then so could Aone.
“Oh, they are! And I guess if I really was better at this then I wouldn’t still be going on first dates. So in that case, I suppose I should just embrace getting off on the wrong foot and work on quickly getting back on the right one?”
“That seems to be an efficient solution.”
“I agree! So in that case, let me start over. Hi! My name is Hinata Shoyo, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Hinata’s eyes shined brightly as he looked at the much taller man expectantly.
“But enough about me! I want to hear about you. Tell me about your job.”
Aone looked as if he was debating with himself in his head before responding, “I am afraid someone like you will not find what I do very interesting.”
“Is your job to be on time everywhere you go?”
“Precisely.”
Hinata let out a short, loud laugh, unsure whether or not the man was following along with his humor or just so happened to be completely serious with excellent timing.
“Well, tell me about it anyways!”
Aone complied, humbly describing in few details how he had worked in construction after graduating high school and used to help with smaller street projects but over the past six years moved up to managing house builds and renovations. Hinata was a surprisingly good listener, although he often interrupted with excited input about things he thought were cool or didn’t quite understand.
The two men talked for a while about themselves, although Hinata found himself happily carrying the brunt of the conversation while letting Aone give shorter, genuine answers to his storytelling. Hinata was on a roll, responding enthusiastically to Aone’s intriguing questions and comments, happy that the man seemed genuinely engaged. He prided himself as a good storyteller, and revelled in the warmth he felt in his chest and cheeks when he’d catch the man smiling softly back at him and responding appropriately to his plots.
The waitress interrupted briefly to ask if they were doing well just as Hinata was finishing up a story about how his roommate once filled an entire room of their house with popcorn. He quickly told her they were doing great before attempting to continue where he left off when she turned to Aone and spoke.
“Chocolate cake as usual, Aone? We stopped the free dessert on people’s birthdays a few months ago, but for a regular like you we’ve made an exception.”
“That would be nice, thank you, Michimiya.”
Hinata’s eyebrows shot up as he listened to their exchange.
“You didn’t tell me it was your birthday!”
Aone just shrugged lightly, “I come here for my birthday every year, it’s nothing special. I don’t like big celebrations.”
“Well, happy-” Hinata’s voice caught in his throat as something clicked in his head.
“Wait, sorry, I thought you told me a couple days ago that you were a pisces? But this means you’re a leo?”
“Do you not like leo’s?”
“Well, sure! I just…” Hinata jumped a bit as his phone started vibrating violently on the table. His eyes furrowed and his blood froze as he read the word “Hoshiumi” come up as the caller ID. He quickly glanced back and forth between Aone and his phone, noting that the man in front of him was definitely not the culprit.
He picked up the phone cautiously before answering with a quiver in his voice, “H-hello?”
“Hinata! I’m so sorry, I laid down for a nap and my alarm didn’t go off! I feel like such an ass, I totally stood you up. If you’re still in the city I can meet you somewhere and make it up to you?”
“Oh...um. No, I’m not. Don’t worry about it. Let’s talk later, okay? Bye.”
Hinata hung up the phone, looking mortified at Aone who was awkwardly playing with his chopsticks in his bowl.
“Did I...just crash your birthday dinner?”
Aone was unreadable as usual for a few seconds before stating, “This was the best birthday dinner I’ve ever had, Hinata. Feel free to crash any of them that you wish.”
Hinata groaned, placing his head in his hands, “Oh my god.”
“I apologize for not informing you earlier.”
“No, no, this isn’t your fault. He stood me up anyways. If it wasn’t for you here I probably would have drank too much waiting and then made a fool of myself as usual. It was nice of you to go along with it. I’ve probably overstayed my welcome by now. I should go.”
“Wait, Hinata. My cake is on its way. If you’d like to meet your actual date now, or would like to go home then do as you wish, but I can never finish all of it anyways.”
Hinata’s heart seemed to stop for a second as he relished in the spark that he felt in his chest before replying, “Are you asking me to stay?”
“I’m not asking anything of you, I’m simply stating that if you do stay, then I will share.”
“Ah, so a bribe.”
“I would never sink that low.”
Hinata stared back at Aone, beaming. He finally felt the extra something he’d been missing. He’d always wanted a silly meet-cute where he tripped into the arms of a handsome stranger who fell madly in love with him at first sight. And he was definitely getting ahead of himself with that thought, but this at least felt like a natural romance that just felt...well, right.
They shared the cake, and clumsily fought over the pieces on the outer edge, as Hinata laughed at how childish such a large, stoic man could be.
As they were letting their stomachs settle afterwards, content, Aone spoke up.
“You never told me about your job.”
“Ahh, that’s because I didn’t want to talk about my job~” Hinata looked down at his plate, sighing lightly.
“You’ll probably think it’s stupid because you’ve built a whole career that’s meaningful and helps people.”
“Well, tell me about it anyways.”
Hinata relaxed after the reference and continued, “I’m a junior in undergrad, but I work as a part time barista. I’m getting a degree in creative writing, which is, you know, useless.”
Aone looked puzzled back at him, “How is that useless? If you’ve chosen it as your major and are dedicating years to it then you must adore it. Stories written by those who adore telling them are beautiful.”
Hinata’s face lit up at Aone’s response, not used to getting comments like this.
“You think so?! I actually want to write scripts for movies, but isn’t that a bit silly?”
Aone’s small smile reached his eyes as he stated, “If you’re passionate about it, then it’s not silly at all. A silly man would give up and live his life doing something that he hated, seeking approval from others.”
Hinata looked at him speechless, wondering which angel was watching over him that day.
“I know you don’t like celebrations, but would you like to join me across the street at the bar for some drinks?”
“I think I can make an exception just this once.”
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