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Yachi Hitoka was a creature of habit. Every day, without fail, she would wake up at the crack of dawn, ready to face the world with unruly bed hair and the side of her face covered with dried drool.
Her mornings were typically slow. After sorting out the knots in her hair and washing her face, she’d boil water with the kettle she kept on her study desk, before stripping down and stepping into a shower. Like clockwork, she’d do all these things while half-asleep. Most of the time, the most exciting to happen was her having trouble turning the shower knob with hands slick with soap. Or coordinating clothes to wear for the day. There were, on occasions, where she ran into a conundrum of choosing between coffee and hot chocolate to start the day with, but that didn’t last for more than a minute or two.
Today, she went for hot chocolate. After last night, between the blur of cramming all her notes in the last minutes and the caffeine crash disaster, she was all tuckered out and needed the sugar rush. She hoped it will last at least until lunch time. By then, she’d have finished with her morning exam.
As she sipped on her choice of beverage, she took a glance at her phone that she had left charging on her bed. At the corner, a green LED blinked at her, signalling that a message had gone through.
She didn’t need to guess who the message was from.
Ever since the five of them had graduated from Karasuno High School, they had all went their separate ways. She had gotten a little lonely at times since the gang weren’t around to cause chaos in her life, or her to them, but she was glad that they all made an effort to keep in touch with each other.
Hinata messaged her quite often at the most random time with equally random news and then disappeared for days before coming back again to drop a bomb in her inbox. Tsukishima and Kageyama didn’t message as often, but when they did, it never failed to bring a little bit of cheer in her life. Yamaguchi, however, had them beat. He messaged her the most on a daily basis.
At first, it’s almost always him reminding her to do one thing or another. Don’t forget to do this. Make sure to do that. You can do this Yachi, just imagine they’re turkeys in underwear... She had joked about him being worried for her, because with them both now studying in different places, he wouldn’t have an automatic external defibrillator on hand to restart her heart should she pass out. Yamaguchi never said otherwise, which begged the question: Was she that much of a nervous wreck?
It wasn’t long until his concerned messages were mixed with stories of his day, sad or not, and light-hearted banter. Which was good, Yachi thought, because their messages now resembled more like the conversations they used to have back in their high school days.
This time, when she swiped at the phone’s screen, the aim of the message was to make fun of her.
"Jerk," Yachi whispered, fondness in her voice. She put her mug to the side and began typing her reply with a roll of her eyes.
[Good morning! Slept well? :)]
[You know the answer to that, Yama-chan. Why bother asking?]
[Humour me. Come on.]
[You're right. 4 mugs of coffee before bedtime doesn't bode well.]
[And what did I tell you last night?]
[But, finals!!]
[This morning, right?]
[Yeah!]
[Good luck! Don't let me stop you from quick reviews or whatever. Breakfast?]
[I swear, you’re such a worrywart. Even my mother isn't so fussy with me.]
[On it! Yesterday's muffin from that new bakery I told you about.]
[Hmm, I don’t know if I worry more than you actually. You’re like the Queen of Anxiety.]
[Good. Don't forget to bundle up later! It's getting colder now.]
[Shut up <3]
When she walked out of the exam hall, Yachi was worn out. Even though she had studied her butt off for the finals, there was still this little voice niggling in the back of her mind saying that there was a high chance that she hadn't answered the questions properly. Thinking back, there’s definitely going to be major points taken off on question number 4, and oh! what about that last question? She was so sure then. Not anymore. And her handwriting, was it even legible? Oh, no…! What if she failed this finals and was thrown out to the streets with no degree? Nobody will hire her! She won’t survive the cruel world. She will die in this cold winter and there’s nothi--
She shook her head furiously and stamped out the problematic bad habit the best she could. Pinched both of her cheeks until they were sore for good measure. Nothing good ever came from over thinking what was already done. There’s absolutely no merit! Like Hinata said once - useless bygones!
But then there’s that one last paper for the day coming up in a few hours and the uncomfortable buzz came back to life.
Needing a pick me up, she retrieved her phone that she kept in the back pocket of her jeans. If there was one thing in her life that she could count on in bringing positivity her way, it was Yamaguchi's mother-henning. In a way, they were soothing, and her racing heart desperately needed the feeling right now.
Sure enough, within the 3 hours of her sitting down answering the papers, there were messages waiting for her from the other. She read them, her eyes crinkling from amusement. All 38 of them.
[Yama-chan!]
[What did I do? :D]
[Don’t :D me!]
[You know what you did!]
[Did you bundled up like I told you?]
[Avoiding the topic, I see...]
[I felt like someone was sending me serious vibes to wear this cute sweater today, so I wore it.]
Yachi took a selfie. Before sending it over, she inspected it. Her smiling self looked back at her with a peace sign, her cheeks rosy and happy. There was no evidence of worry etched on her face. A few minutes of Yamaguchi-therapy was enough to work wonders!
[Oh good, it worked! I was hoping you’d wear that one!]
[Because you look good in it! :3]
[Idiot.]
[Had lunch yet?]
[On my way.]
[But really, Yama-chan, what about you?]
[You worry so much about me, but what about you?]
[I'm eating grilled cheese sandwich and floppy french fries, if that's what you want to know.]
[These are so good, by the way.]
[I’m not sharing though, even if it’s you.]
[SUCH a healthy choice meal during revision. I applaud.]
[Have you been spending time with Tsukki again?]
[Since forever. His sarcasm is contagious, you know?]
[I DO want to know that. But I also want to know more!]
[What kind of more?]
[Anything.]
Yachi then spent the whole 2 hours of her break turning the tables on Yamaguchi, putting him on the spot for anything she could think of. A revenge of sort. When her time was up, she headed for the exam hall with light steps. Everything’s going to be A-OK. Yamaguchi was right. She didn’t go on coffee binges the past few nights for nothing after all.
She’s going to ace it!
It was finally over.
A week passed by in a whirlwind.
With the last of her papers finished hours ago, Yachi had tasked herself with tidying up her desk. The notes strewn across the surface were reorganized into two neat piles and her textbooks placed into a small green bookcase. The kettle's cord was coiled and put aside. Her mug and spoon put on the shelf above her desk.
It was a pretty simple job that was made difficult with Yamaguchi's constant stream of messages. Although she had to stop every few seconds to look at her phone, she didn't mind it one bit. She could use the company since her roommate had already gone back to her hometown a day prior. The many ringtone alerts seemed to help fill the emptiness of the shared dorm room, though right now, her phone was dutifully silent.
After all, Yachi didn’t allow Yamaguchi to text while walking anymore. The last time he did, he had stepped into an open drain by accident and busted his ankle. She still teased him about it. Yamaguchi took it in stride and good humour.
Once her desk was deemed easy enough on the eyes, she pulled a small travel bag from under her bed to pack in some clothes. She, too, was following in her roommate's footsteps to go home early for the winter break.
When Yamaguchi sent her another message, she paused her packing and sat on the chair by her desk. She wondered if he had really reached his room from the bus stop since it had only been 5 minutes. Too quick. This had suspicious written all over it.
[Yachi! I just tripped! Help!]
She fumed.
“Now what have I told you before?!” Yachi mumbled exasperatedly at the text. She punched her words onto the screen, hoping Yamaguchi would feel her anger.
[I told you to stop texting while walking!!! >:C]
[Well, no.]
[I didn't trip because I was texting you.]
“Liar…” Yachi said.
[Ok, fine. How was the kiss with the ground? Good?]
[You're so mean, Yachi! You really do spend way too much time talking to Tsukki!]
[I’m cutting you two off! <(｀^´)> ]
[Jealous?]
[YES!]
[But anyway, look! The soles of my shoes finally ripped off!]
[I guess that means you owe me lunch! It lasted longer than you thought it would!]
She stared at the picture that was sent to her. Sure enough, she could see the top half of the sole of one shoe ripped off like a maw opened wide. She could also see a part of the socks Yamaguchi was wearing - a pair of purple socks with cats dancing on it; it was a gag Secret Santa gift from the previous year, courtesy of Kageyama.
Yachi drummed her fingers thoughtfully against the table. She then decided to exit out of the conversation and opened the contacts menu. She found Yamaguchi's name, clicked on it and pressed her phone to her ear. Two tones in and the other end picked up.
A startled Yamaguchi answered, "Yachi? Why the sudden call?"
"Oh, no reason," Yachi said. She stopped her finger drumming. "Unlike this one cheeky person I know whose fingers aren't tired of typing countless messages, I just felt like...stopping for a bit."
"So, a call?”
“Yes.” Yachi chuckled. She switched the hands holding the phone while she tried to pack her clothes bag one-handed. It wasn't going so well, but progress was progress. A book she had been reading sparingly between revisions went in, along with her mini makeup bag. “Are you okay?”
Some shuffling sounds on the other end, then a sound of a zipper opening. “Just scraped up my knees a bit. It kinda hurts but nothing serious.”
“Ouch,” said Yachi. She had felt sorry at the mention of pain, but what’s a good friend if she passed up a perfect chance to tease? “Be careful walking back then. Don’t want a twisted ankle to add to the injury now, do we?”
“Oh, haha. Funny. I’m fixing that now, actually.”
“Fix what?”
“My shoes. I’m trying to staple them back together.” Yamaguchi grunted. There was the unmistakable sounds of a stapler being used in the background.
Yachi was sceptical that it would work but she waited anyway. After hearing Yamaguchi swore twice, she decided to interrupt and say the obvious. “It’s not working, is it?”
“Nope.” A sigh. “Worth a shot...”
"Hey, you mentioned coming back home for winter break, yeah?"
"Uh huh. Why? Are you going to come over to my house and give me a report of your day in person?"
"Please. As if I'd do that!"
"What? Too good to meet this cheeky person now, are you? Yachi! Since when have you become so cold? I'm hurt!"
"And you’ve been spending way too much time with Shou-chan!" She eyed the pillow on her bed. If he was here, she would had felt satisfied throwing it to Yamaguchi's face, but he was not, so she had to make do with imagination. She had loads to spare. "Anyway. I won't go over to your house. You are going to go to mine ."
"Huh?"
"And take me out somewhere for lunch,” she concluded with a flair.
Yamaguchi laughed. “Are you asking me out on a date, Yachi Hitoka?” he teased.
“Yeah, a date. And I’m paying.”
“...W-wait,” Yamaguchi stuttered; he was so sure she was teasing him just as he had but now it didn't sound like that. Yachi could almost hear the gears grinding to a halt in his head. “You’re serious? A date? Like, a real one? ...The kind where you hold hands and stuff?”
“A real date,” confirmed Yachi with a smile. Then it faltered a little as she blushed, her confidence suddenly dropping. "Um...Y-you can hold my hand if you want..."
"For real?"
"For real. Yeah."
There was a brief pause. Yachi wished she hadn't said anything. Now the cheerful mood they had earlier had gone all weird.
Then, Yamaguchi replied, “Okay, deal!”