Chapter Text
Why did I put it off so long?
Without meaning to, Yachi Hitoka had agreed to go on an outing with her manager friends. Only, this outing was a date. A triple date.
“Bring your boyfriend!”
“We’ll all have so much fun at karaoke!”
Hitoka, too shy to back out, had to find someone who’d be willing to pretend in an effort to save face. There was no end to the screaming in her pillow that night.
Initially, she had asked Tadashi, who had been more than happy to help her out, except that the outing landed on a booked weekend for him. When she asked Shoyo, he admitted he was already too busy studying for exams (“Sensei said he’d bench me if I didn’t!”) and profusely apologized for not being able to help. With her first two choices gone, that left Tobio, who wasn’t an option for the same reason as Shoyo, and Kei. Admittedly, as much as she wanted to ask Kei to do it, she was a little worried about how her friends would interact with him. More specifically, she was worried how Nametsu’s boyfriend would interact with him. The last thing she wanted was for tension to break out between the two of them.
That was two weeks ago. The outing was tomorrow.
Her brain scrambled the entire day to find someone, anyone, who could possibly go. The only ones left were her classmates - but she didn’t feel close enough with any of them to ask for that - or the third-years on the team. Obviously she couldn’t ask Tanaka, as she didn’t feel comfortable getting in the way of him and Kiyoko. Ennoshita was certainly an option, but because she had racked her brain too long, he had already gone home, and with Kinoshita for that matter. She could ask Nishinoya and she was sure it would be mostly fine, but then before she could ask, he burst out the door, yelling something about being late. Which only left…
“Narita-san?”
The third-year stopped placing the volleyballs into the cart and turned to look at her. “Oh, hi Ya-chan. Did you need something?”
Hitoka fiddled with her hands as she glanced down at the floor. “I’m going to ask a really strange favor, but…would you be willing to go out on a date with me?” Narita opened his mouth but she quickly waved her hands in front of her face. “It’s a fake date! I mean-” She smacked her face, her cheeks now red. “That didn’t come out right.”
He grinned, trying to hold back a chuckle. “It’s okay. Try again?”
Taking a deep breath, Hitoka brought a hand to her chest, then pushed her hand outward. “My friends asked me to go on a triple date with them, but they told me to bring my boyfriend, except I’m not actually dating anyone. I just agreed too quickly!”
“Mhmm.”
“I asked a few other people already but everything’s just not working out, so I thought maybe I could ask you?” Would he really be willing to go on a random date with his manager though?
“When’s the date?”
Hitoka fiddled with her shirt, smiling sheepishly. “Tomorrow afternoon. It’s okay if you can’t, I know it’s short notice.”
“I can make it.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, I’d be willing to help you out of a bind. It’s just one date, right? You could say we broke up not long after that and they probably won’t bother you about it again.”
She clapped her hands together and bowed. “Thank you so much, Narita-san!”
“Anytime. You have my number, so just text me the time and place.” Narita waved before pushing the cart away to the storage area. “See you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow!”
Then it suddenly hit her. The two had barely talked. Aside from asking the basic questions, Hitoka never got a chance to talk with him casually. All she knew was he was nice and was probably the calmest of all the third-year boys, though he still had his moments when he didn’t hesitate to indulge in the team’s chaos. How was she going to make this whole thing convincing enough for her friends?
I’m doomed.
~~~
Why did I agree to this?
Narita Kazuhito had a few secrets. The first was that he hadn’t dated a girl. Heck, he hadn’t even liked anyone since junior high and that was a long story he didn’t enjoy thinking back on. After the whole bullying incident involving the girl he liked, he had been nervous to let anyone back in. Why would anyone be willing to risk breaking their heart again?
The second was that he might have a small crush on Yachi Hitoka. Just a small one though.
Contrary to popular belief, not every boy on the Karasuno team had been completely head-over-heels for Shimizu Kiyoko. Yes, he was blown away initially when he first met her, but the shock soon wore off. It was easier talking to her when they were at the same level and he didn’t want to put her on a pedestal anyway. Ryuu and Noya already did that enough to the boys’ amusement.
He didn’t know exactly when it started - maybe it was sometime after Hitoka had joined the team - but he remembered his first thought was that she was cute and endearing. At the time, he knew better than to expect that she’d stay, especially when she was jittery during her first week. However, when she chose to commit to the team, something about her determination to push forward made him admire her, and that admiration bloomed into something more. Looking back on it, he probably liked her because she had been able to do what he couldn’t during his first year at Karasuno.
No, he definitely liked her before that. Probably when-
“Hey, Kazu.”
Kazuhito snapped out of his thoughts, glancing up at his older brother, Kosuke, who was still dressed in his pajamas and leaning cross armed against the door. His brother’s black hair was disheveled, likely a result from just waking up after studying late last night, and his glasses were slipping off his face. Kosuke was frowning as he pointed to the shirt in Kazu’s hands.
“You’ve been standing there for five minutes staring at the wardrobe. Don’t you have somewhere to be soon?”
He blinked. “Right.”
Kosuke cheekily smiled, pushing his glasses back up. “What, are you that nervous for a fake date with your manager?”
“Oh shut it, like you’ve been dating anyone.”
“Actually, I’ve got a date with Hanako tonight.”
Sighing, Kazuhito shook his head and grabbed a pair of pants from the top shelf of his wardrobe. “Don’t you have better things to do right now?”
“I have homework, but pestering you is better.” Kosuke’s face was suddenly met with a grey t-shirt. “Hey!”
“That’s yours.”
“That’s no reason to shove it in your precious brother’s face.”
“My ‘precious brother’ is Katsuki, thank you.”
Ignoring Kosuke’s eye roll, he went back to searching his wardrobe for an outfit, pulling out another shirt from his drawers. I guess this might be okay. It’s not like it’s anything fancy.
“You’re not seriously wearing this, are you?”
He jumped. Kosuke was beside him, but why hadn’t he heard it? Not important. “Why not? We’re just doing karaoke.”
Kosuke yanked the clothes out of his hands. “The colors don’t even match and you’re pairing khakis with a hoodie!” He threw the clothes onto the bed before digging into the wardrobe. “I’m handling this.”
“I don’t need help-”
His brother shoved him in the chest and Kazuhito stumbled backwards onto the bed, landing on the clothes from earlier. Kosuke waggled a finger at him.
“Let your brother handle this, alright? Stay on the bed and watch the master at work.”
“You’ve barely dated anyone!”
“Still makes me more qualified than you.”
Kazuhito smacked his forehead. What have I gotten myself into?
~~~
It took everything in Hitoka not to keep flattening her white ruffled skirt more than she already had. Any longer and her hands would probably become an iron. Besides, if she kept doing it, she would only feel more anxious, and she didn’t need to pass out from it before he got here. That would be doing him a disservice. But I also could have lied to all of them and said I was sick today- No Hitoka! You can’t back out now. You already agreed, so keep to your word.
“Hey, Ya-chan.”
Hitoka snapped her head up. Kazuhito’s outfit consisted of a light blue polo shirt that was tucked into a pair of black jeans. On his wrist was a black watch and on his face was a pair of glasses with a black plastic frame. His hair, which he started growing back in the months following the Spring Tournament, had been brushed to the side and kept in place with what she assumed was hair clay.
“You look nice, Narita-senpai.”
He coughed into a closed fist, then touched the nape of his neck. “Thanks, my brother helped me with it. You look pretty cute today too.”
“Oh, thank you!”
She had taken two hours to prepare her outfit, with the first hour fully dedicated to overthinking every little detail. In the end, she had chosen a light pink top and the white ruffled skirt her mother bought her a few weeks ago, pairing it with pink flats and a daisy hair clip. As for her hair, she tied it back in a simple ponytail, much like how she did for practice.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses, Narita-senpai.”
Smiling sheepishly, Kazuhito played with the rim of the frames. “I just got them recently because my eyesight’s been getting worse, but I haven’t worn them much. I don’t have the ones for sports like Tsukishima has.”
Hitoka’s eyes grew as she nodded. Oh, I guess that explains why he seems to be having a hard time during practice lately. I was wondering why he wasn’t doing as well.
“Ready, Ya-chan?”
She broke away from her train of thought, gripping the strap of her shoulder bag with a small sigh. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Then let’s go.”
Kazuhito offered an arm out to her and she took it with a nod. The two set out to the meeting spot, seemingly excited, but deep down, neither was sure about how this was going to go.
Am I going to be okay by the end of this?