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"Who's idea was this anyway?" Asahi grumbles to himself as the movie company logo appears on the screen. He's sitting gingerly in the corner of the love seat in Suga's living room, trying not to take up too much space. The larger sofa is already crammed full with Daichi, Suga, Ennoshita, and Narita on the cushions, and Kinoshita perching on the arm rest. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima are sitting on the floor at the foot of it, and Kageyama and Hinata are arguing over a pillow. At least Asahi thinks that's what they're arguing about, though honestly sometimes it's hard to tell.
"Hey, quiet down," Daichi tells them. "The movie's starting."
"Wait for us!" Noya and Tanaka finally come out of the kitchen with too many bowls of popcorn for two people to safely carry.
Somehow, they manage to not spill too much of it as they hand them out, but Hinata just grabs the pieces that fell off the floor and crams them in his mouth. "Gross," Kageyama says, making a face at him.
"Shut up, you'd eat it too," Hinata shoots back. "Come on, let's find somewhere to sit."
"Not here!" Noya says gleefully as he drops into the spot next to Asahi, with Tanaka squeezing in on his other side so they're all shoulder to shoulder. "First years sit on the floor."
"Shut up already!" Suga complains. "Hinata, kill the lights."
The lights go out, and Asahi jumps at the sudden darkness. "Not a fan of horror?" Noya murmurs in his ear.
"Uh, well…"
He jumps again when Noya pats his thigh comfortingly. "Don't worry, Asahi-san! It's just a movie!"
*
Forty minutes later, Asahi feels like his heart is going to leap out of his chest. Why do people think watching this stuff is fun?? Suga and Daichi said watching scary movies on Halloween would be team bonding, but the only thing Asahi is bonding to is the throw pillow he's crushing in his arms. He's pretty sure he's not going to sleep for a month.
Oh no, now the main character is walking down a creepy hallway to check on her baby, and the lights are flickering, and the music is rising, and there's absolutely something terrible about to happen and Asahi does not want to see it. He can't not look though because then whatever he's thinking of might be worse, and the not knowing of it all is just as bad as the seeing is.
The character opens the door to the nursery and everything is fine. The baby is cooing in the crib, and the lights are stable, and the mom and Asahi both breathe a sigh of relief…until ghostly claws reach out from the blankets in the crib and grab the baby, dragging it through some kind of portal to a hell dimension.
Asahi shrieks. There's no other way to put it -- he shrieks, and the pillow goes flying, and he grabs the nearest thing he can find and hides his face in it.
It takes a second to realize the thing he's squeezing so tightly is Noya's arm, and that his face is buried in Noya's neck. When he does, he feels himself flushing from the tips of his ears all the way down his chest. Someone is laughing and he's pretty sure it's Suga, with maybe a nasty little chuckle from Tsukishima in the background.
Well, they all knew he was a coward already. What did they expect would happen when they made him watch a horror movie?
But then there's a hand on his shoulder rubbing soothing circles, and Noya whispers to him, "Hey, it's okay now, the ghost is gone again."
"I'm going to die," Asahi says into Noya's neck. Whether it's from the suspense of the movie or from embarrassment, he's not sure, but he's definitely going to die.
Noya smells good, though, and he's so warm. "Here," Noya says, shifting around a little. "Move down a little bit and put your arm behind me."
Asahi goes where he's led and finds himself slouched down in his seat with Noya's arm around his shoulders and his own arm wrapped around Noya's waist. "This is so embarrassing," Asahi mutters, though he's still too scared to let go of Noya. "Why did I agree to come?"
"Everyone gets scared by scary movies," Noya whispers back. "They just don't want to admit it. You didn't see it because you were too busy freaking out, but Hinata jumped off the floor in that last one like he was going for a spike."
Ah, so maybe Tsukishima was laughing at Hinata instead. That does make him feel a tiny bit better.
"You don't mind this?" Asahi whispers, squeezing his hand around Noya's waist. He peers at Noya's face in the dim light, and can almost see a blush on his cheeks.
Noya squeezes him closer. "No," he replies, his gaze fixed on the TV. "I kind of like it," he whispers, so quietly that Asahi can barely hear him.
"M-- Me too." At least Noya can't see Asahi's red face if he's looking at the TV.
*
When the movie is over, Asahi doesn't want to move. Noya is so solid and warm and comfortable, and he's been so nice, warning Asahi when scary parts were happening so he could hide his face in Noya's shoulder and not look. After a while Noya's hand on his shoulder had moved up and started playing with a loose strand of Asahi's hair, which got his face red in a whole different kind of way.
The same way as when he felt Noya's body tense up during a suspenseful moment, muscles clenching under his thin T-shirt right where Asahi's hand rested on him.
He has to move, though, because as soon as the lights come on everyone is going to make fun of him. Noya's arm slips away, Asahi sits up, and Kageyama and Hinata start fighting about which one of them would last longer in a horror movie.
When the lights go on Yamaguchi and Narita look pretty freaked out too, at least, so Asahi's not the only one who's having nightmares tonight.
Noya catches him for a moment, just before he and Tanaka leave. "Hey, Asahi-san, uh."
"Thanks," Asahi blurts out. "I-- Yeah. Thanks."
Noya grins at him. "If you wanna watch a movie again sometime, you know, uh, just the two of us? That would be cool."
Asahi blinks at him. Is Noya asking him on a date? God, he hopes so. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, that would be. Cool."
"Great!"
"Yeah."
They stare at each other for a moment, and then Tanaka yells, "Noya! Get your ass out here!" and Noya gives him a little wave and heads out.
Asahi is still staring after him when Suga comes up beside him. "Well," Suga says, smiling smugly. "Looks like someone did some team bonding."
Daichi groans. "That was terrible, Suga."
"Am I wrong?!"
"I am never watching a scary movie ever again," Asahi tells the two of them. "If I suck at practice because I have nightmares every night for the next month and don't sleep and fail all my exams it'll be your fault."
Suga just smiles at him. "But?"
"...but yeah, maybe there was some bonding." He can feel the smile spreading over his face even as Suga elbows him hard in the ribs and Daichi smacks him on the back.
He still makes Daichi walk him all the way home, though.