Chapter Text
Yu yawned as he walked into the entrance of the school. He had accidentally practiced a bit too late the night before and was now paying the consequences. There were no morning club duties thankfully so he blissfully slept in a little bit longer than usual. The boy opened his shoebox and grabbed his slippers. As soon as he did, a square piece of white paper fluttered out. Curiously, he picked up the folded paper.
At first, Yu thought nothing much of it. Maybe it was a piece of trash he accidentally left in there yesterday? Slowly though, his sleepy brain began to process what this piece of paper actually was. "Holy shit... Holy shit! Is this a love letter?!" He silently prayed in his heart to be so. In hopeful disbelief, he unfolded the paper. Reading it carefully, it read in neat handwriting, "Hello. Please meet me by the trash burner during lunch. I have something to tell you. I’ll be waiting." Yu's heart fluttered in excitement.
His thoughts whirled into action, creating the girl of the letter. "I wonder if she’s pretty? Is she smart? Does she like sports? Can she cook?" Those exhilarated thoughts of Yu's spurred on until they stopped for a moment. Could he dare believe the girl who wrote the letter was the girl of his dreams? The beautiful, smart, and wonderful manager of the boys’ volleyball team, Kiyoko Shimizu?! Oh boy, he just had to tell someone about this terrific occasion.
Yu first thought of Asahi, but lately that man had been exceptionally moody... Asahi was a close friend of his and an upperclassman, but lately… Asahi had been rather touchy… And he didn’t want to walk right into another one until practice. His next thought was Ryuunosuke! Ryuunosuke was his best bud who he could get hyped up with without ever the fear of being shot down or told to calm down. In fact, a lot of the times Ryuunosuke would get rowdy along with him which often incurred the wrath of Daichi.
Plus, who better to rub the fact it might be Shimizu than his ally Ryuunosuke. Besides, even if the person wasn’t Kiyoko, he still had bragging rights about his lovely new girlfriend to his possibly envious friend. Yu was brimming over with anticipation. Swiftly, he ran to his friend’s classroom ignoring the yells of angry teachers to boast all about his love letter and a possible new girlfriend.
Ryuunosuke could loudly hear his name being yelled at outside of the classroom door. Unmistakably, the voice rightfully belonged to his partner in crime, Nishinoya Yu. He watched the sliding door crash open, and what a sight to behold! A panting, sweaty short man catching his breath. Ryuunosuke smiled, and called out to his friend, “Yo, Noya-san! What’s gotten you so excited in the morning?” Yu walked briskly to where Ryuunosuke sat.
The small boy’s eyes sparkled, “Ryuu! You won’t fucking believe this!”
“What? You’re keeping me on edge man!”
“I got a letter...”
“A letter?”
“From a girl!”
“For what?”
“Don’t you realize Ryuu! It’s a love letter!”
Ryuunosuke’s eyes widened in surprise, standing up, he slapped his friend on the back. “No shit, Noya-san?! You caught one! Can't believe you’re graduating… You’re becoming a true man! It was an honour to watch you grow,” he said while fake bawling.
“Thank you for always supporting me.” Yu pretended to cry too as he simultaneously slapped Ryuunosuke’s back, but quickly he wiped his tears as he approached the next subject. “Okay... But… Hear me out, what if it’s Kiyoko-san?!” Yu exclaimed, eyes shining.
Ryuunosuke tried to hide his giggles, but ended up doubling over laughing. “Hell would freeze over before that happens, Noya-san! That’s dreaming a bit too far.”
Yu pouted, “You never know! You and I always thought we were going to be bachelors forever, but look at me now! I have an admirer, who knows! Maybe I can get double lucky, and it’ll be the girl of our dreams!”
Ryuunosuke just continued laughing, “Whatever you say man. When are ya meeting her by the way?”
“Lunchtime.”
“Hope she’s hot bro,” slinging his arm around his shorter buddy.
“I hope so too.” Yu then looked at the clock. Realizing it was almost homeroom, he waved goodbye to his friend, and headed back to class, eagerly waiting for lunchtime.
Yu waited, and waited, and waited. He couldn’t tell what time it was yet, but definitely felt like it had been an eternity. In any case, lunch time was almost over! The boy had rapidly eaten his lunch just so he could arrive earlier to meet this girl. Maybe he was being pranked on? He shook his head to knock all the insecurities outta him, and decided to believe in this girl, whoever she was.
After what felt like a few more minutes, he decided to explore the area, he had never really been to this area much. It was a rather secluded space so it was a good place for love confessions. As he rounded a storage equipment building, he slightly jumped. There was Asahi in all of his mightiness curled into a small ball exuberating very, very bad, negative vibes. Yu was right about Asahi being in one of his unnerving bouts today, again.
Backing away slowly, Yu wondered if he left now would he be able to escape without being noticed, but a thought stopped him in his tracks. Asahi was always there for Yu whenever he needed support and kind advice. What kind of friend would he be if he didn’t do the same?! He closed his eyes, sighed then looked at Asahi.
“Hey Asahi-san! Whatcha doing moping like that? The cops will be called on ya for being creepy!”
Asahi looked up towards the direction of the voice, and shifted back nervously when he realized it was Yu. “Nishinoya! What’re you doing here?"
"Waiting for a girl. I got a letter and all. See!” Yu fished the letter out of his pocket, and held it up proudly.
Asahi paled upon seeing the letter, fear dilating his eyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat and fought the urge to flee. “It’s now or never,” Asahi decided. Glancing at the dirt, he nervously said his words.
‘‘Uh, Actually there is no… no girl.”
“Huh? How would you know?”
"Be-Because,” Asahi looked straight back up towards Yu, “I’m, I’m the one who wrote it!”
Immediately, Asahi prayed to God to relinquish and free him from this current embarrassing predicament. He went back to staring aggressively at the ground as all his thoughts consumed him. Asahi wanted to melt away into a puddle, to disappear from the situation he put himself in after months of encouragement by his friends. As Asahi was having an existential crisis, Yu played Asahi’s statement over and over again in his head, hoping that maybe he had just heard wrong. Yu was tired today after all, but no matter how many times he repeated the memory. Yu had heard it loud, and clear. Asahi wrote the letter and he may as well hear him out. There must have been a reason that Asahi wrote him a letter then left it in his shoebox like a schoolgirl getting ready to do a love confession.
“Well? What have ya been needing to tell me, Asahi-san?”
Asahi’s mind was jumbled, and beyond comprehension. How could he tell Yu that he loved him? That would make so many awkward encounters for months! He knew he had to say it though, he couldn’t just keep it inside of him any longer. Asahi had to say it. Drawing a deep breath to try to soothe his nerves, which utterly failed since the circumstances were a bit too overwhelming for a deep breath to calm down. He started to speak.
“W-Well about that. Th… There’s some-something I n… need to tell you ab-about.”
“Uh huh, go on.” Asahi’s noncommittal words that explained nothing were working wonders on lowering Yu’s patience.
“I just- I just wanted to t-tell you that... W-Well we-we’ve been friends f-for a-awhile now, and, and I just-”
“Asahi-san, unless you want a fist sandwich for lunch. For the love of everything holy, tell me what the fuck you mean in this era. Now.” The impatient boy seethed while smiling.
Asahi fidgeted in anxiousness then took another deep breath, this time actually trying to convey his emotions. “I… I just wanted to tell you that… I’ve known you for quite some time… and I really value your friendship… but lately… I want more…”
“More?” Yu thought, confused.
“I… I want to be your lover!” Asahi said, finally looking upwards.
Wait what?
Seeing as how Yu had a dumbstruck face, Asahi summoned up the guts again from the power of his ancestors and friends’ encouragement to repeat himself. “Nishinoya. I… I like you!”
Holy fuck.