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As the volleyball season comes to an end, the Black Jackals migrate from the courts to the late-night bars. The group takes a seat around a long wooden table and contemplates their prey: a few pints of cold beer. They are the first of the night, but they won’t (be the) last.
Between sips and jokes, the group of athletes gets steadily drunk. None of them have a high tolerance for alcohol due to lack of habit, so soon they are all sporting a funny blush on their cheeks.
Between the third and fourth rounds, Inunaki decides to spice things up a bit.
“Why don't we play a game?”
Meian looks at him warily, “What kind of game?”
“A drinking game, what else?”
Meian’s kicking around the idea, but before he can say anything, Bokuto and Hinata shriek in excitement:
"Yeah, a drinking game!!”
“So cool, Wan-san!"
The captain sighs in resignation and raises his glass, “Let's play, then.”
Inunaki clumsily takes his phone out of the pocket, “I got an app that's perfect for this. Basically, it throws out questions, and if you don't want to answer them, you have to drink.”
“Seems fair,” nods Tomas, munching on the dumplings they ordered between rounds of alcohol.
The team straightens in their sits around the table and waits for Inunaki to begin reading the questions.
“Okay, I've already put our names in. Let's get started.” Inunaki looks at the screen and smiles mischievously. “Hinata, you go first: what’s the last lie you told?”
The boy squirms in his seat. “Yesterday my mother called to ask if I was changing the sheets frequently and I told her yes.”
Sakusa raises an eyebrow. Due to his inebriation, the gesture comes off as more humorous than threatening. ”Hinata, how long has it been since you've changed the sheets?”
Hinata ducks his eyes in embarrassment. “A month? I actually don't remember anymore.”
Sakusa looks at him with eyes wide as saucers, “I almost would have preferred you to drink.”
Inunaki lets out a wolfish laugh and pats Hinata on the back. “Alright, next question. Meian, what’s the craziest thing you’ve done on public transport?”
Meian opens and closes his mouth several times, the blush on his cheeks intensifying by the minute. Finally, he finishes his glass of beer in one gulp.
The table erupts in cheers.
“Way to go, Cap!” Miya hollers, grinning from ear to ear.
“Please move on to the next question.” Meian hides behind his hands in shame, but is unable to cover the sly smile that spreads across his face.
“At your service! Okay, Miya, what’s the craziest thing you’ve done in front of a mirror?”
Miya's laughter freezes in his throat. He's staring into his glass, pondering whether it's worth losing his dignity by answering the question.
“Come on, I don't think our idea of you can get any worse,” Sakusa encourages him, smirking mischievously at his teammate from his seat right in front of him.
Miya sighs and buries his head in his arms. Eventually, he looks up and says in the quietest possible voice, “I may have practiced kissin’ in front of the mirror.”
His teammates burst out laughing.
“That’s cute, Tsum-Tsum!” says Bokuto guffawing.
“I was in high school, okay?!”
“Oh, you were older then. I assumed you’d have done that in middle school,” adds Tomas cheerfully. This sends Sakusa into a fit of giggles.
“Hey, Omi, stop laughing!”
But Miya's offended expression seems to elicit even more giggles from Sakusa.
“Leave Miya to wallow in shame, Sakusa. Okay, Tomas, who was your worst kiss ever?”
The middle blocker frowns in concentration and replies, "Without a doubt, my friend José's mother."
Seeing Inunaki's unhinged jaw, he raises his hands apologetically, “I mean, the kiss was spectacular, but it was weird because of the situation.”
“Please stop, you're making it worse.” Inunaki squeezes his temples trying to process the new information, while the rest of the team looks at them dumbfounded.
“That’s wild, man,” Bokuto whispers. That seems to rouse everyone and laughter erupts again at the table.
“I’d never have guessed,” Miya comments, glad that his mirror anecdote has been surpassed.
“Let's pretend this didn't happen. Oh, this one is for both of you: Miya, Sakusa, if you had to give each other a pet name, what would it be?”
The mischievous gleam returns to Inunaki's eyes as he looks at his two teammates. The rest of the team expected different things from that question. For starters, they expected none of them to answer. Or, at the very least, that they’d take a while to think about their answer.
So they’re surprised when, as soon as the question is asked, they both reply at the same time:
“Honey.”
“Babe.”
Silence engulfs the table once again. When they realize what has just happened, they both look at each other perplexed, their faces turning beet red at once.
Meian clears his throat and looks at them in amusement. “What's the deal, had you guys thought about that already?”
Sakusa snorts indignantly and looks away. “It was an easy question.”
“Yeah, that!” Miya shrieks.
“Oh? Care to elaborate?” Inunaki asks, half of his body on the table.
“Well, he’s cloyingly sweet and clingy, and his eyes are the color of honey,” Sakusa explains, waving his hands a lot as if that would validate his argument.
Said honey eyes are now staring at him in rapt fascination. “Ya think I’m sweet, Omi?”
“Yes? Stop staring at me like that.”
But Miya keeps looking at him with a dopey face and a delighted smile on display.
“I’ve dreamt about this,” mutters Bokuto under his breath, alternately glancing from one to the other.
“And anyway, why did you say «babe»?” Sakusa asks feigning indifference, but his shiny eyes give him away.
“‘Cause yer such a baby with a pouty face that makes me wanna take care of ya,” Miya explains grinning without a hint of shame.
“That’s the gayest shit I’ve ever seen,” groans Inunaki while shaking his head.
Sakusa’s pout intensifies trying to hide his smile.
For them, the time has stopped. They’re looking at each other spellbound, oblivious to the stares of their teammates. Hinata watches them smiling like a kid at Christmas and Bokuto and Tomas seem to be exchanging money under the table.
“I’m gonna get the bill”, Meian says, quickly getting up and going to the counter.
The group soon follows him outside. Sakusa and Miya are left behind while the others say goodbye and go to their respective homes.
The two athletes stand outside the bar, each staring in opposite directions with flushed cheeks. Finally, they both look at each other and speak at the same time.
“So…”
“About that…”
They both laugh and look at the ground.
“Hey, Omi?”
“Mm?”
The question dies on Sakusa's lips as Miya kisses him gently. They break the kiss and look at each other in the eyes, finding tenderness, longing, and a bit of intoxication.
“Did you just kiss me?” Sakusa asks shakily, placing his hands over Miya’s chest.
“Couldn’t resist that pout.”
“Do that again,” he pleads, biting his lip eagerly.
“As much as ya want, babe.”
The night is filled with smiles, caresses, and shared laughter. Full of pokes and jokes, of friendships that last for years. Of friendships that change over time.
Of new beginnings and honey-flavored kisses.