Chapter Text
The day started unlike the norm. It was wet, cold and overall exasperating for Kyoutani.
Thanks to the short bouts of rain all morning, he had been stuck indoors on an otherwise sunny Saturday with an overexcited dog that hadn’t had her fill of daily exercise. The dog was restless at home and Kyoutani was no different. Getting bowled over every few minutes by a huge dog tended to do just that.
That was then. Near noon, the rain had stopped. Despite grey skies that promised more bad news, he donned on a tracksuit, got his dog on a leash and sped out of the house. He figured nothing would come out of it; to his knowledge, the Miyagi region didn’t get much rainfall this time of the year. Today was just one of those freak days where the weather made no sense.
Kyoutani jogged at a set pace, the dog leading. The cool November air was liberating for the both of them. Soon enough, his dog, a pretty German shepherd-collie mix, jumped into every puddle she could find, dirtying her tan coat. When she decided that she didn’t appreciate Kyoutani’s sense of urgency, she bounded up behind him and started herding him toward their destination. Kyoutani almost tripped over his own legs because of it.
The grip on the leash tightened. She was usually quite disciplined, but for some reason unknown to Kyoutani, she never seemed to behave well around him as much as she did around others. Enough was enough.
“Slow down! You’re getting water all over the place!” he scolded, grimacing from how wet his trousers were becoming. The dog obeyed, but her tail continued to wag earnestly like it didn’t matter if her master was mad at her.
His dog was a smart one, Kyoutani would admit that any day. She knew when it’s playtime and when she’s in trouble. At times like these, she’d do the thing; something Kyoutani knew that she knew he was weak for – she tilted her head upwards to look him in the eyes. Small whines for double the effectiveness. God. He did the same, minus the cuteness and whines.
He tried to be stern, he really did, but it never worked for long. He always ended up spoiling the dog. Maybe that’s why she knew that she can get away with a lot of stuff when it comes to Kyoutani. In the end, he clicked his tongue in annoyance. There was no way he could possibly fault the dog.
The blame lied in the damn rain. The rain was the cause of his wet pants. Seemed logical enough.
As they got nearer to the park, the dog’s excitement was near maximum level. Tired of having his wrist be a victim, Kyoutani finally reached down and released the leash, freeing her. The giant dog barked twice then took off.
Why not? It won’t do much harm anyway since the park was devoid of people, especially after the storm.
A series of happy barks and a high-pitched scream less than 15 seconds later proved Kyoutani oh-so-very-wrong. He couldn’t reach the crime scene in time. Kyoutani could only wince as he watched his pet bulldoze a fellow jogger into a muddy puddle without mercy.
“Mimo, stop!” He ran over to the unfortunate person, who he noted the instant he was near enough, was wearing none other than his school’s volleyball team jersey.
Crap. It was someone he knew. This day just keeps getting better and better.
A sharp whistle from him and the dog was back to his side instead of using the jogger’s body as a welcome mat. Or, judging from how the person was gasping for breath, a trampoline…
Without paying more than a quick glance at his fallen teammate, he hurried on attaching the leash again, back turned against the jogger as he did so. He didn’t help them up, so sure that they would understand his preoccupation lest they wanted to be trampled on again. As he fumbled with his task, the inevitable scorn came his way.
“Not even a sorry?”
The voice was strained from the coughs beforehand. There were some splashing noises as the person stood up.
Kyoutani froze. He knew that voice. Recognized it so well. A whiplash of his head confirmed his suspicions.
Yahaba hadn’t seemed to have noticed him yet. The boy was too busy wiping the mud off his face with the white and aqua (and now dirty brown) sleeves of his jersey. He did a poor job at it. All the wiping just spread the stubborn mud all the more on his face, did nothing to reduce the amount of dirt. If any, it only added to the problem.
Kyoutani remained silent, just stared in disbelief. Never in his time of knowing Yahaba had he seen the other looking so dishevelled. It destroyed the clean-cut first impression of him that Kyoutani always had of Yahaba.
The only sounds between them were of his dog yipping as she ran around him in circles, effectively trapping him within the confines of her long leash. He cursed when the leash wound tighter.
“Well?” Yahaba gave up on wiping his face in favour of looking at the offender in the eye. He, too, halted when he realised who he was talking to. He made a face like he had eaten a lemon. “You.”
“Yahaba,” greeted Kyoutani, out of anything else to say.
Any other day, onlookers would assume that they were sizing up each other for a fight, judging from the intensity of their glares. Instead, the situation could only be seen as comical: Yahaba appearing as if he had just come out of a tropical rainforest and Kyoutani, now snug within a leash burrito.
Kyoutani broke eye contact first, muttering an apology under his breath. The last thing he wanted was an argument with Yahaba of all people. He had better things to do – mainly, his immediate release from leash prison. Yahaba wasn’t so eager to come to his aid. It was only fair, Kyoutani thought, since he hadn’t helped the other up earlier.
As he was struggling to free himself, from the corner of his eyes, Kyoutani saw Yahaba started to leave. Under normal circumstances, sure, he would’ve let him walk away. They weren’t on the best of terms with each other and at most, mere acquaintances with the same goals. This situation, however, was beyond ordinary.
On reflex, he thrust out his freed right arm and grabbed hold of the leg of Yahaba’s filthy trousers. He didn’t think his actions through and fell flat on his face with a pained groan. He tightened his grip before Yahaba could pull away.
Another attempt at an apology. Somewhat. “Wait. My house. Now.”
With him kissing the paved trail, Kyoutani couldn’t see Yahaba's face from his angle. He imagined Yahaba would have quite the interesting expression, though. After all, he must’ve been a sight to behold – lying on the ground, tied in circles of leash and with a dog on his back, fussing over her fallen master.
“Really?” Yahaba questioned, tone incredulous. After a sigh, he said, “Look. Appreciate the effort and all, but I’ll just…” Vague hand gestures probably. Kyoutani couldn’t see. “…Head on home.”
“You’ll get sick.”
Yahaba was having none of his genial hospitality. “I’ll chance it.”
Now, Kyoutani was not renowned for his patience. He had held on to the minuscule amount he had, only and only, because of what Yahaba had said two weeks ago during the Spring High qualifying match. There’s hardly anyone with much courage to sound him off when needed, so he came to respect Yahaba for kicking his ass back in line that day. In an actual effort to “make peace”, so to speak, he had tried to get along better with his teammates. Yahaba included.
But right now, the amount of frustration exceeded his patience by a mile. He snapped.
His other arm managed to free itself and joined in on his grasp on Yahaba’s trousers. Grip turned to pull.
“What the fuck! I was trying to be nice!”
“I don’t want your nice! I want to be clean! Dry!” Yahaba tugged at his pants fast before Kyoutani could pull it clean off and left him for public scrutiny in his soggy, gross boxers.
“And I’m saying; let me take you to my house! It’s pretty near! Don’t be a dumbass!”
Yahaba took offense. “Take me to your house? What am I, an abandoned kitten?!”
“Well, your shitty ass looks like one!”
“Haaaaaaaaaaaah?!”
They fought, both not willing to yield to the other. Profanities and kicks were slung around without restraint. Kyoutani managed to cling to Yahaba's leg and Yahaba could only do so much to hold up his pants. It was a disaster and Kyoutani’s dog, for whatever dog reasons he could ever guess, felt that she, too, needed to join in. Animated barks were added to the mix. Maybe the few people that were in the vicinity were watching them scuffle but they wouldn’t give a second worth of damn. The only thing that matters was that they had to have their own way.
So did the mutt.
For the second time that afternoon, Yahaba had the special privilege to be tackled down by the dog.
And as a consequence of Kyoutani holding on to the setter’s trousers while he went down like timber, the article of clothing got pulled straight down to the ankles. As if to mock their childish fight, Mother Nature sent rain pouring there and then, drenching them all to the sounds of rumbling thunder.
Fucking freak days.
Silence reigned supreme.
It was broken by Yahaba, amidst of getting a thorough licking from the dog. He sounded defeated. Kyoutani couldn’t blame him for that.
“What exactly are we even doing?”
To which Kyoutani answered, sounding equally fed up, “Being dumb as balls.”
“So…My house?” Kyoutani tried again.
“Fuck no.”