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"I'm obviously the better ice skater!"
Kageyama huffs. "In your dreams, idiot!"
"My dreams are just volleyball, for your information," Hinata replies primly.
"So are mine! You're not special!"
"Am too!"
Kei's eye twitches. The first years have been at the ice skating rink for maybe 5 minutes and Hinata and Kageyama are already doing whatever that is. (He's pretty sure this is their idea of flirting. It's horrible.) Next to him, Yamaguchi is giggling at their antics while putting on his skates, which is ridiculously cute, somehow.
There's a dull thud from Hinata's direction that Kei decidedly does not look at because if he doesn't see it, he does not have to deal with the fallout. Yachi squeaks.
Just as Kei pulls on his second skate, Yamaguchi uses his head as a handrest to orient himself into a standing up position. "Alright, I'm ready to head onto the ice!"
Yachi looks up. "Ah! Um! One second!" With teetering balance, she stands up and grabs Yamaguchi's forearms with a death grip. “Um, will you help me? Just for a minute! Getting onto the ice! I don’t know how to skate, so, haha!” She glances at Kei and cowers a little, but Yamaguchi laughs.
“Ah, no problem Yachi! I’ll help you get your bearings, I can skate with Tsukki after,” he says with a beam. Really, Kei’s boyfriend is so much nicer than he is.
With a wave goodbye and a nervous nod from each of them respectively, the two of them make their way to the rink, leaving Kei alone with the disaster duo. He sighs.
Almost unwillingly, he glances over at them. Kageyama seems to have lost his glove that he was holding seconds ago, somehow, and Hinata is writhing on the floor in what could be pain but could also be an interpretive dance. Wait, no, that’s definitely in pain.
—
After Tsukishima laughs at them for a minute straight, he helps them get ready and now Tobio is finally dressed up to ice skate. The thought is not one that fills him with joy - he’s only here because Hinata wanted all the first years to go, and he is unfortunately whipped for the pint sized middle blocker.
“Come on, come on, come on! Let’s go already!” Hinata tugs on Tobio’s arm.
“I’m still tying my laces!” Tobio hisses. Undeterred, Hinata just continues to stare at him with a pout. Sometimes Tobio misses the days when he actually intimidated people.
Groaning, he tightens the final knot and stands up on wobbly knees. Oh hell no. He sits back down. Tobio was made for volleyball courts and solid ground, not knives strapped to his feet for frozen water.
After psyching himself up (if you do this Hinata will totally be amazed by you and fall in love with you, and also stupid Tsukishima will shut up for 5 goddamn seconds) he follows Hinata to the edge of the rink. With a mournful look at un-iced ground, Tobio steps onto the ice, half waddling and arms windmilling, careening straight into the side where he grips the rails like it's the last line of defence against imminent doom. Or Oikawa-san. Those are synonyms actually.
“Aargh! Kageyama!” Within seconds, Hinata is eating dirt. Ice? Whatever. He’s lying on the ice face first. Tobio barks out a laugh and tightens his grip.
From behind them comes a familiar condescending chuckle that makes Tobio grinds his teeth. Tsukishima swans out in front of them, showing off his skating skills and skating in literal circles around them. Hinata shakes his fist up at the blond (‘Curse you, Saltyshima!’) and tries to get up again, wiggling up to Tobio and using his pant leg as a ladder. “What— Hinata, get off my leg!”
Hinata resolutely ignores him and continues his ascent. He makes it halfway before he slips and falls again.
A little girl skates over to them. She looks concerned, crouching down to make eye contact with Hinata. "Um, are you okay? Is your mom here too? It's scary to skate on your own at first but you can do it! I'm Akasa, I go to Itchitama Middle School! We're the same age, I think!"
Tsukishima doubles over laughing.
—
Tadashi and grins in excitement as Yachi skates forward on her own, keeping her balance. “Yachi! You did it!”
Opening one tightly shut eye, Yachi looks around to see that she has indeed done it. She carefully turns to face him, visibly proud. “Oh! I did it! Thank you so much, Yamaguchi!”
Tadashi just shakes his head. “You’re a natural, you barely need any help at all.”
Flushing pink, she ducks her head. “A-ah, you’re too nice.”
"Let's try a little further, okay?"
Yachi nods excitedly. "Yes!"
After a few more minutes, she is noticeably more confident, skating short distances. Tadashi feels a swell of pride like an older brother. Carefully turning around, Yachi opens her mouth as if to say something and notices something behind Tadashi that makes her grin brightly. “You should go skate with Tsukishima now! He looks lonely without you.”
“Pfft, as if Tsukki would look anything other than totally bored. Okay! Just call me over if you need anything!” With a wave goodbye, Tadashi quickly makes his way to his boyfriend, who is observing him carefully. “Tsukki!”
Tsukki’s face softens. He leans forward and grabs Tadashi’s hand, pulling him to a stop directly in front of him. Laughing a little, Tadashi boops his nose. “Tsukki, your nose is all red!”
Tsukki shrugs. “It turns red every time we come here, Yamaguchi.” He leans forward slightly and Tadashi automatically meets him in the middle, giving him a soft kiss.
Shaking his head to dislodge the blush that's appeared, Tadashi cranes his neck. “Where are Hinata and Kageyama?”
Before he can answer, Tadashi spots two familiar faces. Kageyama is still refusing to let go of the railing, knees locked together, while Hinata is precariously balanced and attempting to skate. They’re talking about something, though it seems less like a discussion and more like taunts.
“Should we…help them?” Tadashi isn’t sure where to even start. In response, Tsukki just snorts.
“No. It’s much more entertaining this way.”
Pursing his lips to hold back laughter, Tadashi pulls himself and Tsukki over to where the other two are and catches the tail end of their conversation.
“—m totally better than you! At least I’m not holding the rai— argh!” Hinata’s wide gestures almost make fall over. Again.
Kageyama looks constipated. “I’d rather not die, so I'm just gonna stay on the railing. I'll destroy you on the volleyball court, moron!”
Hinata tilts his head up. "How long are you going to stay there, Scaredy-yama?"
Kageyama's face shutters, eyes staring into the distance. "Forever if I have to."
—
Shoyo can't feel his legs anymore, sort of.
After an hour of skating—or not-skating—their time slot runs out, so the five of them make their way to sweet, sweet ground. Oh, how Shoyo’s missed feeling stable.
After taking off all the gear, he collapses onto a bench, sighing in relief. "I think I'm going to stick to volleyball."
Kageyama quickly nods his assent. He'd at least let go of the rail after half an hour, but he wouldn't skate more than a few feet. "Why did we come skating anyway?" he complains.
"Because Saltyshima said it's supposed to increase balance which is useful for volleyball!" Shoyo pushes up invisible glasses smugly.
"The only thing this has increased is my temper."
Shoyo rolls his eyes. "Don't be mean, Kageyama, you'll be a loser forever if you're not nice."
"HAAH? WHO SAYS I'M A LOSER?"
Tsukishima sighs really loudly.
Shoyo perks up, scooching away from the setter. "Oh, you guys want to get something to eat before going home?"
Yamaguchi blinks. "Good idea, Hinata! We can go to the cafe nearby!" Yachi cheers in excitement. Tsukishima gives an indifferent shrug while Kageyama grunts.
Great! They're going!
That's how they end up huddled in one of the booths at a cafe. Kageyama is pressed up next to Shoyo, which makes him feel really warm and mushy and stuff on the inside.
Shoyo leans forward to take another sip of his hot cocoa. He, Yachi and (surprisingly enough) Tsukishima have ordered the same thing. Yamaguchi is super fancy and is drinking hot tea, which smells like Shoyo's grandma. Kageyama is drinking coffee that looks like gross sludge. Shoyo informs him of this and ducks to avoid the incoming hit.
In front of him, Yachi smiles. "Oh, I'm so happy! Ice skating was so much fun, thank you for bringing me along!"
Yamaguchi lifts his hand for a high five. "Of course, Yachi! You're amazing at it." Yachi's smile widens.
Shoyo shifts, wincing slightly as he feels one of his various bruises press against his seat. "I feel like I got run through a dryer, but I can feel my balance improving already!" Tsukishima looks at him blandly. "Let me dream, at least!"
There's a few seconds of silence where everyone sips their drinks. Shoyo feels Kageyama look at him and then look away quickly. Tsukishima spots this and raises an eyebrow to aggravate the setter. (Seriously, how does he manage to make everything he is doing look so… so… annoying! Stupid! Stupid-shima!)
Tadashi snorts. "Tsukki, are you still mad about Kageyama running into you while skating?"
"Of course I am. It hurt." Tsukishima scrunches his nose distastefully.
In response, Kageyama scowls and takes an aggressive sip of his coffee. Yachi laughs, diffusing the tension slightly.
"I'm so happy to be able to spend time with you guys like this!"
Shoyo nods in agreement. Sitting here with friends that understand him seems like a dream come true. Even when they're annoying or bossy or rude, Shoyo wouldn't trade them for the world.
Kageyama gruffly clears his throat. "This is. Fine. I guess."
There's a ping and Yamaguchi pulls out his phone, eyes furrowed. "Oh, it's Akiteru! Tsukki, look!" They huddle over the phone, voices quieting. They look oddly cute together.
Next to them, Yachi gestures to the washroom and points at herself. Shoyo gives her a thumbs up and she hurries away.
Before Shoyo can say anything, Kageyama coughs awkwardly.
"Uh. My hands feel cold."
Shoyo blinks. "Okay?"
"It! I mean." Kageyama's clearly trying to say something. While Shoyo is completely in sync with him on court, off-court Kageyama is something he's still learning things about. "My hand is cold so if we. Hold hands. It will be less cold," he grits out, a fierce blush creeping up his face.
Slack jawed, Shoyo just stares at him.
"Moron! Idiot! Stop looking at me like that, I was just—I—ugh, whatever! Forget it!"
Before he can turn back to brooding, Shoyo quickly pulls his hand out of his pocket and jams it into Kageyama's hand. For a few seconds it's a distressingly sad hand hold but Kageyama adjusts and— right. Okay. This is fine. They're holding hands and it's really nice (like, REALLY nice) and Shoyo is completely fine and normal about this information, he is so so normal. Just a guy. He's just a regular old guy. Whatever. Kageyama's thumb twitches slightly. Shoyo nearly cries.
"Oi, idiot duo, do you guys want ca— oh." Tsukishima's voice is laced with disgust. "Oh my god that's so gross."
Shoyo whips his head around, glaring. "You're probably playing footsie with Yamaguchi under the table right now!"
Tsukishima shrugs. "So what?"
Kageyama wrenches his hand out of Shoyo's, who mourns the loss for a second before continuing to glare at Tsukishima with as much venom as he can muster.
The tall middle blocker laughs. "Ooh, I'm being threatened by a middle schooler, how scar— ack!" Kageyama lobs a rolled up bit of tissue at him.
Tsukishima stands, looking vaguely affronted. "I hate gay people," he mutters.
Yamaguchi nods sagely. "So true, Tsukki. Get me a vanilla cake please!"
Shoyo looks at Kageyama, who is already looking at him. He grins. "So, I get a point, right?"