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Tobio never liked winter. Sure, he enjoyed the one night a year Miwa would come back and split KFC with him, and yeah, snow could be enchanting, but it always felt... out of place.
More than anything, he disliked his birthday. The sun barely rose, if at all, on the winter solstice - any light that day was a gift, his birthday present from the universe. If he was unlucky, if he had displeased Her in some way, then he'd be given dismal rain, or even worse, empty grey fog.
And sure, it could've been seasonal depression. It could've been that the lack of light and warmth pushed his circadian rhythm back, and made his emotions just a little bleaker, but it always felt like something... more than that.
Tobio sits on the grass. It hasn't been mown in a while and the thin green leaves tickle at his ankles. The sun shines, straight at him, and even with his eyes closed it's far too bright. His skin feels warm, and the world smells so new today.
Everyone around him seems in a better mood - Daichi took his gakuran off to lounge in the light, and Sugawara was overjoyed for some likely related reason. Asahi's hair is undone, Nishinoya is beaming, Tanaka is admiring Kiyoko from afar. There's a moment of - well, not peace, exactly. Not quiet. Serenity, perhaps. Birds call, and children laugh, and the leaves on the trees look like wreaths or haloes of far-off angels. Everything is just how it should be, right here, right now.
Tobio always felt somehow... connected to the sun, like he was destined to meet it, destined to follow its rays for the rest of his life.
He can't look at it. He knows he will always follow it, but it's too bright, too strong of a star. He will never be able to look the sun in the face; he will never be able to touch it. The sun will always be so close, but just an inch out of reach. He's grown to be content with that. He's happy, being dragged behind a blazing star, standing in solar flares and following paths of sunbeams. He's learned that he loves being just a little bit behind, having the sun being a little bit out of reach. It gives him something to stand for, to grasp for, to keep trying so desperately to touch, just for a moment.
He loves the sun.
He feels the grass shift next to him.
He's all but drowned out the quick remarks and nonchalant laughter of his teammates, learned to ignore the flirting and fighting and fumbling, but this is something he could never ignore.
Something feels warmer; Tobio knows he can never stare at the sun, but as Hinata sits next to him, starts talking, Tobio feels once again that wherever the sun is, he is home.
The sun sets at dusk.
Tobio used to hate his birthday - there was no sun, no light, the shortest day of the year.
But now, he's found his own sun. The sun that shines year-round. And while he still won't ever catch up to it, it touches him, and it smiles, and it gives him kisses for birthday presents.
Tobio hates winter - but with Hinata's dumb smile, rampant practising, caramel eyes, it's summer year-round.