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The apartment door slammed hard enough to rattle the walls.
Hinata barely remembered grabbing his shoes.
One second he had been standing in Tsukishima’s kitchen trying not to cry in front of him, and the next he was shoving his feet into sneakers with shaking hands while Tsukishima called his name from somewhere behind him.
“Hinata— wait.”
Hinata yanked the door open.
“Don’t.”
His voice came out horribly uneven.
That was the worst part.
Not the fight itself.
Not Tsukishima’s silence.
Not the way his chest felt like it had been split open.
It was the fact that Tsukishima heard him breaking.
Hinata bolted down the apartment stairs before Tsukishima could say another word.
Outside, the sky had already collapsed into rain.
The storm hit him instantly—cold water soaking through his hoodie in seconds, rain slamming against pavement and rooftops loud enough to drown out the city itself. Streetlights blurred gold through the downpour. Cars hissed past on wet roads, spraying water across sidewalks already flooding at the edges.
Hinata ran anyway.
His breaths came sharp and ragged. His shoes splashed through puddles deep enough to soak his socks completely, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.
Because if he stopped, he would think.
And if he thought—
God.
His chest hurt.
Tsukishima’s face kept replaying in his head. That unreadable expression. Those stupid pale eyes watching him too carefully. The tiny hesitation before answering.
It had destroyed him.
Hinata turned blindly down another street, nearly slipping against the slick pavement.
He was so tired of this.
Tired of wondering what Tsukishima meant every time he touched him. Tired of overanalyzing every glance, every lingering stare, every almost-confession buried beneath sarcasm and teasing smiles.
Tired of wanting someone who never actually chose him.
Thunder cracked overhead.
Hinata finally stumbled to a stop beneath the awning of a closed convenience store, bending forward with a gasp as rainwater poured off his hair and sleeves.
His entire body shook.
He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes.
It didn’t help.
A sob escaped him anyway.
“God—” he choked out, voice breaking apart instantly. “I’m such an idiot…”
Rain hammered against the metal awning above him, deafening and endless.
Then—
“Hinata.”
Hinata froze.
That voice.
Low. Breathless. Familiar enough to hurt.
Slowly, Hinata looked up.
Tsukishima stood several feet away in the rain, holding a black umbrella tilted uselessly over one shoulder. His blond hair was damp and clinging slightly to his forehead, glasses speckled with rainwater. His chest rose and fell heavily beneath his soaked jacket like he had run the entire way here.
For a moment neither of them moved.
The city glowed around them in smeared reflections of neon and rain.
Hinata looked away first.
“Go away.”
Tsukishima’s grip tightened around the umbrella handle.
“No.”
Hinata laughed weakly under his breath. “Why are you even here?”
“You ran out during a storm.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Tsukishima took a slow step closer.
Rainwater dripped steadily from the edge of the umbrella.
“You were crying.”
The words hit harder than they should have.
Hinata’s throat tightened painfully.
Humiliating.
God, this was humiliating.
He wiped furiously at his face even though more tears kept mixing with the rain anyway.
“You don’t get to care now,” Hinata whispered.
Tsukishima’s expression shifted slightly.
“What does that mean?”
Hinata stared at him in disbelief.
“Seriously?”
Another laugh escaped him, sharp and miserable.
“You flirt with me for months. You touch me like I matter. You look at me like…” His voice cracked. “Like I’m something important to you, and then every single time it gets real, you back away.”
Tsukishima opened his mouth.
Hinata didn’t let him speak.
“I confessed to you,” he said, tears spilling harder now. “And you never answered me.”
The rain filled the silence between them.
Tsukishima looked stricken for the first time since Hinata had met him.
But Hinata couldn’t do this anymore.
Couldn’t survive another almost.
“I’m tired,” Hinata whispered shakily. “I’m so tired of hoping.”
Something in Tsukishima’s face cracked.
Hinata saw it happen.
Saw the exact second Tsukishima realized how badly he had messed this up.
But even now, even standing here soaked to the bone and crying in the middle of the street, Hinata still wanted him.
That was the pathetic part.
“The worst thing is,” Hinata said softly, “if you kissed me right now, I’d still let you.”
Tsukishima inhaled sharply.
Then silence.
Rain pounded violently against concrete.
And suddenly—
The umbrella slipped from Tsukishima’s hand.
It hit the pavement with a splash.
Hinata blinked.
“What—”
Tsukishima crossed the distance between them in two strides and grabbed Hinata hard enough to pull a startled gasp from him.
Then Tsukishima kissed him in a rough and desperate manner.
Months of restraint snapped all at once.
Tsukishima kissed him like he was furious about it—one hand gripping the back of Hinata’s hoodie, the other tangled in wet orange hair as rain drenched both of them instantly.
Hinata made a broken noise against his mouth.
Tsukishima kissed him deeper.
Hot.
God, it was hot.
Even freezing rain couldn’t drown out the heat of Tsukishima’s mouth against his, the trembling breath he exhaled between kisses, the way his fingers tightened every time Hinata made a sound.
Hinata’s knees nearly gave out.
Then panic surged through him.
He shoved weakly against Tsukishima’s chest.
“Stop—!”
Tsukishima pulled back barely an inch, breathing hard.
Rain streamed down both their faces.
Hinata’s lips burned.
“Don’t,” Hinata whispered desperately. “Don’t do this unless you mean it.”
Tsukishima stared at him.
Really stared at him.
And suddenly all the sharpness left his expression at once.
What remained looked terrifyingly raw.
“You think,” Tsukishima said quietly, voice rough beneath the rain, “that I chased you through the city because I pity you?”
Hinata’s breath caught.
Tsukishima stepped closer again until their foreheads nearly touched.
“I’m in love with you.”
The world came to a stop.
Hinata forgot how to breathe.
Tsukishima’s wet fingers slid shakily against his jaw.
“I’ve been in love with you for a long time,” he admitted, eyes locked onto Hinata’s. “I just… didn’t know how to say it without ruining everything.”
Hinata felt another tear slip down his cheek.
“You idiot,” he whispered brokenly.
Tsukishima huffed out the faintest laugh.
“Yeah.”
Rainwater dripped from his lashes as he looked at Hinata like he was something unbearably precious.
“I thought if I kept it as a joke,” Tsukishima murmured, “then you couldn’t reject me for real.”
Hinata’s chest physically ached hearing that.
Because Tsukishima sounded scared. The blonde was actually scared he would lose his sun.
Without thinking, Hinata grabbed the front of his jacket tightly in both fists.
“You already had me,” he whispered.
Something helpless crossed Tsukishima’s face.
Then he kissed him again.
Slower this time.
But somehow even more intense.
Hinata melted into it instantly.
The rain soaked through everything—shirts clinging to skin, cold water dripping down their necks—but Tsukishima’s hands were unbearably warm where they slid against Hinata’s waist.
Hinata gasped softly when Tsukishima pulled him closer.
Tsukishima swallowed the sound immediately with another kiss.
Their mouths moved together messy and breathless, years of tension finally breaking apart between them. Hinata could feel Tsukishima trembling slightly beneath his hands, like even now he couldn’t fully believe this was real.
“Kei…” Hinata breathed against his lips.
Tsukishima went still.
Then his cheeks flushed pink beneath the rain.
“Say it again.”
Hinata laughed shakily.
Even now.
Even now Tsukishima was still Tsukishima.
“You’re unbelievable,” Hinata whispered.
Tsukishima kissed him once—hard enough to steal the rest of the sentence away.
“And you’re still kissing me,” he murmured against Hinata’s mouth.
Hinata immediately grabbed him by the collar and kissed him again just to shut him up.