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You had definitely underestimated the coldness that autumn brings. You noticed yourself doing all sorts of tricks to get your hands a little warmer: rubbing them together, rubbing them against your thighs, or maybe keeping them against your cheeks? There wasn't much success in any of these attempts.
Autumn also brought around the most interesting shades of leaves: the yellows, the oranges, the reds.
"Here," spoke a voice from behind you. It was Kageyama handing you a steamed bun from the nearest convenience store as he sipped on the chocolate milk he had bought for himself. The silliest thought occurred to you as you realized his ears matched well with the autumn leaves. Was it the cold? But then you never seemed to remember his ears not being red.
"What are you smiling at?" He asked, looking away with the slightest frown.
"Oh, nothing really."
You hadn't seen him in a while now with the whole training camp thing. Today was the first practice the Karasuno team had with all its members in a while. With ease, he sat beside you on the low walls of a parking lot. He radiated some kind of heat that made you lean closer to him, although it was too embarrassing to admit.
The silence that followed allowed your mind to wander off to thoughts and places that the busy nature of the school day wouldn't have spared you. Perhaps it was all in your head, but Kageyama had been spending a lot of time with you since he got back. These moments shared were subtle, to say the least. Like cleaning up after practice, finishing up homework in the library, even right now. What exactly even led to this moment that you both shared?
You were soon approaching the second term of your second year. It felt as though time was slipping through your fingers. You had felt a growing yearning for that boy that only became more and more apparent to you as time passed by. All at once, you felt all the emotions burden you. Precious time was passing by at what seemed like the speed of light. It felt as though there weren't going to be a lot of moments like this anymore.
You sighed, looking at the horizon of whatever view the parking lot gave you. The bun you had been craving all day suddenly seemed as unappetizing as it could get.
"Is something the matter?"
"Kageyama, why did you come all the way to a convenience store for chocolate milk?"
"What do you mean?"
"The vending machine at school works perfectly fine, so... why are you here?"
You had no idea why you were feeling these sour emotions so intensely. But now that the mood was completely ruined, it didn't really matter anymore.
Kageyama seemed to be at a loss for words. He looked around on the pavement as if he had dropped the words he was looking for on the ground.
Should you apologize? What does one even say in a situation like this?
"I don't know," he replied. "You looked really tired, and I didn't want you to come here all alone. I don't really know why I even came to that conclusion."
"Do you want me to leave?"
"Do you like me?" You asked abruptly at the same time.
"What?"
What.
You had no idea where this was even coming from. You could feel your heart beating in your neck and a whirlpool building in your chest as though it could consume you any minute.
"I'm sorry. I know this is all so sudden. I just feel like we're running out of time. I'd rather look at this as an embarrassing memory than spend my whole life thinking about the could-have-beens."
Kageyama seemed to have gone radio silent. This whole ordeal was stupid. It was indeed all in your head. Some teenage fantasy brewing in your head had accidentally spilled into reality. It was so over for you—
"I like being around you," said Kageyama with the most serious look you might have ever seen on his face. It pulled you back to reality from the momentary downward spiral your brain was about to get into. The here and the now.
"I like watching you laugh and hate it when you're upset. I look forward to being with you. I think that's what got me here right now."
Great. Now you were at a loss for words.
"A guy from the training camp told me," he recollected, "that I don't have it in me to make someone happy. As athletes, there is very little personal time. I don't think I can make it worth it for you—"
"Hey, hey buddy, why are you even taking unsolicited opinions from some jerk in your training camp?"
"What I'm trying to say is," he continued sternly, a little pissed by you cutting him off, "while I love seeing you smile, I don't think I know how to make you smile." He looked away once again.
Holy shit, Kageyama putting some actual thought into his feelings? You never thought this day would come.
"Then I'll teach you how to make me smile. You don't have to be perfect at everything from the very beginning." You felt as though a storm had just passed. You found yourself unable to rub off the small smile off your face.
"I'll do my best then." There was determination written all over his face. Just doing his best was an understatement. He would be down to even do what Sisyphus was up to if you asked him to. It was now his turn to think it was too embarrassing to admit that he will be staying up all night just thinking about how he managed to get this far with you.
"Well then, lesson number one," you said, hopping off the wall to stand infront of him. "Hug me." Maybe this was meant to be lesson number five, but honestly, this was all you wanted. You never realized how much emotional exhaustion was built up inside of you, and it felt as if this was the only thing that could fix you.
Once the confusion on the poor boy's face wore off, Kageyama very slowly wrapped his arms around you, being so careful to barely even be touching you. But it's all right; you can make this work. You weren't patient enough for him to figure out how hugs work. You wrapped your arms around him and pulled yourself into his chest, earning a small but evident gasp. It felt like you had been yearning for this forever, just to be in his warm embrace. You took a moment just to inhale his scent masked by the smell of detergent coming off his sweatshirt.
This was enough to soothe your goosebumps, to turn the whirlpool in your chest to calm still water. Slowly but surely, Kageyama's firm arms tightened around you, shoulders relaxing. He rested his chin on your head and shut his eyes. To him, this felt like the best feeling in the world that was kept from him for so long (besides winning a match, of course). He felt as though he could be like this for an eternity, just as he felt you pulling away.
You had the widest smile on your face as you looked right into his deep blue eyes, satisfied. Now his whole face seemed to match his ears and the autumn leaves.
"I'll walk you home," he stated and almost marched out of the parking lot, expecting you to follow up behind him. It was adorable watching him cover up his excitement.
"What happened to your bun?"
"A dog snatched it from me."
"Huh, when? I guess I'll buy you another one tomorrow."