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“You sure you’re not just gonna ditch Yuuji and I somewhere in the mountains and take off like last time?” Shirabu asked as the six of them unpacked themselves from the car. He’d just spent another lovely hour and a half in the back seat of Yahaba’s mother’s silver crossover with Terushima talking his ear off, Ennoshita and Akaashi sleeping on each other in the row ahead of them, and Futakuchi trying to change the radio station every time Yahaba was focused on the road, causing more than one swerve, many choice words and Futakuchi’s loud laughter interrupted by Yahaba slapping him.
Yahaba laughed a little in reminiscence of the lovely weekend he’d spent with three of his best friends while the other two murdered each other in a beach cabin.
Terushima laughed as well and came up behind Shirabu, putting his arms around the setter’s neck. “Didn’t you have fun at the beach though?”
“Not even a little.”
“You said you liked it for a while, when we went swimming!”
“I said no such thing. That was the worst three days of my life.”
“I’ll make it up to you then today! We’ll have a lot of fun!”
“You can try all you want but you guys forced me here. I just want to go home.” Shirabu realized that Terushima was still hugging him from behind and that everyone else was staring at them with small smiles. He shrugged Terushima’s embrace off, cheeks heating up just slightly.
Futakuchi was trying not to make it apparent how amused he was as he opened the trunk of the vehicle to grab for their bags.
The plan was to spend the day in the mountains, hiking, rock climbing, swimming in the lake, anything and everything they could think of. The expedition had been Ennoshita’s idea after Akaashi had commented that all the times they spent hanging out were at someone’s house playing video games or at a gym, attempting to play logical volleyball with three setters, which never quite worked out.
Backpacks were distributed, though the loads were fairly uneven since Futakuchi had to carry their crashpad since he had been the one to suggest bouldering.
Yahaba’s bag was full of water bottles, though he paused in putting it on when his attention was grabbed by Futakuchi gracefully pull his shirt over his head.
“Shigeru, can you help me get sunscreen on my back?”
“What are you doing.” Yahaba asked, a lack of amusement on his expression.
“If we’re going to be out in the sun all day, I’m going to work on my tan,” Futakuchi replied simply.
Yahaba narrowed his eyes. “One, only your shoulders are gonna get any sun if we’re walking. Two, you’re going to end up with backpack strap tan lines.”
Futakuchi considered this. “Hey Shigeru, would you like to have the privilege of carrying my backpack for me while I work on a gorgeous tan all morning?”
Yahaba scoffed and slung his own backpack over his shoulders. “You’re just bitter about carrying the crashpad.”
“I can’t say I regret it. Bouldering is amazing.”
Shirabu had wrinkled his nose at first to the idea. The thought of free-climbing rocks with nothing but a foam pad to catch him if he fell was not comforting. Yahaba explained that it wasn’t that hard to stay on the rock and someone would be spotting at all times. Reluctantly, Shirabu had agreed to try the activity as long as he could just watch for a while first.
They checked in through the welcome center of the park, getting a map from the front desk of the most popular trails and scenes.
Ennoshita started reading aloud from the pamphlet. “Wildlife to look out for includes yellow finches, mountain rabbits, snakes, and caribou.”
“Kenjirou, they have a gift shop!” Terushima yelled from in front of a shelf of plush animals, catching all of their attention.
Yahaba bounced over to Terushima, looking at some postcards with pretty scenery on them.
“Guys, we didn’t come here to be tourists.” Shirabu rolled his eyes.
“Yeah,” Futakuchi crossed his arms, but he was smiling anyway, “we’re here to be rugged, manly men holding our own in the wilderness.”
“You and Akaashi made a deal that he would eat the raisins from your trail mix,” Yahaba pointed out.
Futakuchi glared. “Raisins are nasty.”
“I second that,” Ennoshita said, glancing at the door of the little shop, “but can we go? I’m excited to hike.”
As Shirabu followed Akaashi and Ennoshita out the door, Terushima caught up to him and grabbed his hand.
Shirabu wrenched it away quickly. “Stop it,” he hissed. As he continued to walk, stepping off concrete onto the gravel trailhead, his hand swung casually at his side. Terushima stayed a step behind, catching his hand as it drifted back each step. Shirabu would tug away each time, only for it to repeat each time. He heard Terushima giggle behind him and the corners of his mouth twitched up. Yahaba and Futakuchi had caught up with Ennoshita and Akaashi, leaving him and Terushima in the back of the group, out of sight. He supposed it was okay for Terushima to continue his little game as long as none of the others were watching.
Twenty minutes later, they had gotten much deeper into the rocky trail. From their current position, they could see off the side of the slope, across a valley to the other mountains. Trees dotted the hillsides and small creeks twisted around them. The soft sounds of water and wind were broken only by the occasional bird call and the crunching of their own feet on the path. The peace of the moment started to rub off on Shirabu and he stopped caring that Terushima was now directly beside him and while he’d stopped trying to hold his hand, every few steps, the back of his hand would brush against Shirabu’s leg. The contact only added to the calm feeling of the morning excursion.
Shirabu looked ahead of him and saw Ennoshita and Akaashi walking hand in hand, a hushed conversation happening between their ducked heads. Futakuchi was pretending to be some sort of animal and leapt onto a tree, making Yahaba double over with laughter. He ran over to the tree where Futakuchi hooked his legs around a branch to lean down and kiss him. Shirabu studied his friends with mild curiosity, wondering exactly what was going on in their heads when they were with their boyfriends. Because as far as he could see, they were perfectly comfortable, though Shirabu just couldn't get the same feel for the shameless affection that Terushima was always trying to rain down on him.
Without warning, hands wrapped around Shirabu’s hips and pulled him gently to the left. Shirabu snapped out of his thoughts to stumble slightly. He looked down and saw the rock jutting out of the path, directly where he had been walking. He glanced over his shoulder at Terushima, wanting to thank him for preventing him from tripping, wanting to tell him that he liked the touch, that he wanted to stay with Terushima holding his waist forever.
“Hey, hands off!” came out of his mouth instead as he shoved Terushima’s hands off his hips.
Terushima backed off without argument and Shirabu turned his head away, hiding the blush spreading across his cheeks.
“Hey, play nice back there or we will leave you out here again,” Ennoshita called over his shoulder.
“Sorry,” Shirabu whispered, too quiet for Terushima to be able to hear.
Not long after, Ennoshita studied the map for a few minutes and led them off a side path to the right. Through a layer of trees, lay a steep rocky section of the mountain, a few shorter cliffs and not far off, a small lake.
“Oh yes!” Futakuchi grinned, shooting a fist into the air. “This looks fantastic!”
“Hold your horses, Mr. Rock Climber,” Yahaba smiled. “Remember last night?”
Futakuchi’s face fell.
Akaashi looked confused. “What happened last night?”
Yahaba grinned deviously. “Kenji here lost a bet so I get first bouldering dibs.”
Terushima laughed. “Damn. Cold blooded, Yahaba.”
Futakuchi slid his backpack off his shoulders and set the crash pad up on a flat piece of ground by the base of the rock.
“You know how you’re getting up?” Futakuchi asked, positioning himself to spot at the edge of the crash pad.
“Yeah, I’m good.” Yahaba jumped at the cliff face, hooking his fingertips into a crevice. Yahaba monkeyed his way up the side of the mountain, only slipping once or twice, but catching himself each time, and Futakuchi yelling comments about his ass from below.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Akaashi asked. “Yahaba is very high up and I don’t think the pad or Futakuchi would provide that much cushion at this point.”
Ennoshita smacked his boyfriend’s arm lightly. “Yahaba knows what he’s doing. Chill out.”
At that moment, Yahaba reached a high ledge in the cliff face.
“Shigeru, are you ever coming down? The rest of us want a turn too!”
“Coming!” Yahaba replied excitedly. As he hopped down the mountain, the others on the ground could see something being gently held between his lips. Yahaba jumped down the last several feet and pulled a long-stemmed blue flower from his mouth, placing it behind Futakuchi’s ear.
The spiker blushed and smiled, placing his hands on Yahaba’s waist.
Yahaba laughed and slapped his back “Get goin’ ya sap!”
Futakuchi secured the flower in his hair and started up the mountain.
Everyone took turns until it was down to Shirabu.
“C’mon! It’s gonna be just fine!” Futakuchi prompted. “None of us are going to let you get hurt.”
“It’s actually not as hard as it looks,” Terushima put his hands on Shirabu’s shoulders and pushed him gently toward the rock face. “I’ll spot you, you won’t have to worry about—”
“I don’t need your help!” Shirabu yelled, putting one foot on the highest foothold he could find and boosting himself into the air. Once again, he thought to apologize to Terushima, but couldn’t make himself. He furiously scrambled up the side of the mountain, not hearing Futakuchi’s warning to slow down until the instant when he dug his fingertips into a small crevice, smaller than he thought it was, and immediately lost that point of contact. His other barely stable holds weren’t enough and he gasped as he fell down and away from the rock.
Terushima’s arms were under him and his feet hit the crashpad a lot more gently than they could’ve. Shirabu wobbled but stayed upright, leaning against Terushima.
“Woo, nice save, Teru!” Futakuchi commented.
Terushima ignored him to run his hands down Shirabu’s arms. “You okay?” he asked quietly.
Shirabu nodded silently, waiting for his heart to stop racing, not caring that Terushima’s arms were still looped around him.
“Do you guys want to try another climb? There are plenty of good rocks around here,” Futakuchi suggested.
The others agreed, though Terushima assured Shirabu that he didn’t have to do anything else if he didn’t want to.
Shirabu did indeed just watch for the rest of the time. When Terushima wanted to climb, he offered to spot, but sat his turn out to climb.
“Hey, guys look!!” Yahaba yelled as some sort of deer thing trotted through the trees near them.
“Ah, cool!” Ennoshita said.
“What is it!?” Terushima craned his head from ten feet up the rock.
“Focus, Yuuji!” Shirabu nervously stretched his arms out higher, feeling his heart speed up just slightly.
“I’m gonna go check it out!!” Futakuchi was dashing toward where the animal had disappeared, Yahaba close behind him.
Ennoshita took a step in that direction as well, then turned back. “Sorry, we’ll stay here.”
“No, no,” Terushima said from the rock, where he was trying to find his next handhold. “You guys can go, I’ve got my spotter and I want to finish this climb!”
“We’ll be back then!” Akaashi and Ennoshita raced off after Futakuchi, Yahaba and the animal.
“You got me, Kenjirou?” Terushima called.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Great. I’m gonna fall.”
“What!? On purpose??”
Terushima laughed. “I’m kidding. I can’t figure out how Futa made it up further than this, he must be a bouldering demon. I’m gonna come back down.”
Shirabu nodded and stayed with his hands ready to try to catch Terushima if he slipped.
Terushima seemed pretty steady scrambling down the rock face, that was until his foot slipped on a ledge. He yelled and dangled by his fingertips.
“Yuuji!!” Shirabu thrust his hands forward, but Terushima didn’t fall.
After a terrifying second spent in limbo, Terushima found purchase with his feet again and went back to work climbing down, a little more slowly this time.
“You alright?” Shirabu asked as Terushima neared the bottom.
“Yeah, I’ll live,” Terushima grunted, lowering himself as far to the ground as he could before the rock caved inwards again. “You’re going to have to catch me a little bit as I jump.”
Shirabu tilted his head. “Not so confident in your acrobatic skills today, are we? The others jumped down just fine.” Shirabu’s arms were outstretched and waiting regardless.
As Terushima jumped onto the crashpad, steadied by Shirabu, the reason for assistance was clear to Shirabu.
“What the fuck did you do!?” he yelled, looking at the blood running down Terushima’s leg.
“Happened when I slipped.” Terushima sheepishly ran a hand across the back of his head.
“Stay there. Sit down,” Shirabu ordered, jogging over to where the cluster of backpacks lay on the ground. He rummaged around until he found the basic first aid kit in Akaashi’s bag.
Shirabu leapt back over to Terushima and started pouring water onto some napkins which he patted across the cut. The blood made the inch-long gash in Terushima’s knee look worse than it actually was, but Shirabu still bound it tightly once it had been cleaned.
“How do you feel?” Shirabu asked, helping Terushima to his feet.
“I feel okay.” A quick kiss was planted on Shirabu’s cheek. “Thank you.”
Shirabu returned the gesture by nuzzling his face against Terushima’s neck. “I hope you didn’t really want to go deer thing-chasing with the others.”
Terushima shrugged it off, like most things that mildly displeased him. “Nah, it’s cool. Do you want to climb?”
“Yuuji, I’m not good at—”
“Shh, you’re fine. You were flustered the first time. The others aren’t even here to talk crap at you. It’s just us.”
Shirabu considered. He did want to try bouldering again; petty embarrassment from before was the only thing holding him back. “Sure. What the hell. You okay to stand and spot me?”
“Trust me, I will catch you if you fall.”
“Again.”
“Again.”
Shirabu talked himself up for a minute in his head before grabbing ahold of the rock and pulling himself off the ground.
“Slow and steady, Kenjirou,” Terushima commented from below.
Shirabu turned to glare over his shoulder. He focused completely on the rock, mostly drowning out Terushima’s occasional shouts of encouragement. After not too long, Shirabu found himself in the same spot where Terushima had gotten stuck and turned around before. He made the mistake of looking down, his boyfriend small in the distance.
“You did it, Kenjirou!” Terushima yelled. “You can turn around any time!”
Shirabu surveyed the rock for a few moments longer, putting faith in his slightly shaking arm muscles to hold him up. He could see the little crevice where Futakuchi had gotten up earlier. As the tallest among them, it was clear that he’d been able to comfortably reach it. As the shortest of the group, Shirabu wasn’t particularly keen on trying to repeat the maneuver. Especially if Terushima hadn’t even attempted it. However...
With another glance around his surroundings, Shirabu propped one foot against a rock jutting out perpendicular to the face he was climbing. If he could wedge himself between the rocks, there was a chance he would be able to make it up.
“Kenjirou,” Terushima warned from below.
Shirabu ignored him, took a deep breath and shifted his weight to the new position, bracing himself between the rocks.
“Holy crap!” Terushima yelled. “You good up there?”
“Yeah, I’m good!” Shirabu was grinning with excitement. He’d found an alternative way up that didn’t require being 185 cm. From there it was simple to scramble to the top edge of the rock.
Knowing his boyfriend, Shirabu was expecting some sort of praise from the bottom of the ground but instead he got a “Hey, Kenjirou, not to alarm you, but I think you’ve got a friend up there!”
Shirabu swiveled his head until his eyes came to rest on a little tan rabbit, pink nose twitching and ears flopping to the sides. Feeling adventurous, Shirabu reached into the pocket of his shorts to pull out his phone. He snapped a few photos of the rabbit before it hopped away and he grinned down at Terushima. “It was a little rabbit!”
Terushima stuck his own phone back into his pocket. “Great!”
Shirabu glared, though he wasn’t sure if Terushima could quite see his expression. It could probably be safely assumed that he would be glaring. “Are you taking pictures of me?”
“We have to prove to the others that you made it all the way up to the top!!”
Shirabu supposed that was true. First he needed to get down without dying. It turned out to be fairly simple, he just followed his own steps straight back down, jumping the last few feet to the crashpad.
Terushima immediately wrapped him in a hug that Shirabu was happy to return.
“Terushima and Shirabu, sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!” came a call from not far off.
The other four had returned, breathing hard from their deer thing-chasing adventure.
“Kenjirou got all the way to the top!” Terushima exclaimed enthusiastically.
“Nuh-uh!” Yahaba looked at Shirabu questioningly.
Terushima pulled his phone back out to show off the pictures. The others seemed very impressed with those, Shirabu’s pictures of the rabbit, and Terushima’s exaggerated tale of “clinging to the edge of the cliff, his life resting in his fingertips” and “the battle scar, just to prove what he had been through” as he pointed at his bandaged knee.
“Sounds like you guys have had a good time then. We didn’t catch the deer.” Futakuchi looked a little butthurt.
Yahaba patted his shoulder comfortingly. “Let’s take a break, what do you guys say?”
The others readily agreed and they ventured a little further to the edge of a glistening blue lake where they sat down to eat the lunch they’d packed.
Akaashi swung his leg casually from his seat atop a rock, biting into his sandwich. “This would be great if it didn’t smell like hot dogs over here.”
Terushima sniffed the air, looking puzzled. “You’re right. Why does it smell like hot dogs?”
Ennoshita pointed to a cluster of trees. “The visitor center where we came in is right over there.”
Shirabu’s sandwich dripped jelly onto his knee and he flicked it to the ground. “Seriously? We hiked for so long!”
Akaashi shrugged. “Well, yeah, the path is a loop so we’re pretty close to where we started off again.”
“How pointless,” he grumbled.
Futakuchi threw his hands in the air. “It’s a hike, of course it’s pointless; you walk up the mountain just to walk back down again! That is the point.”
Shirabu rolled his eyes. “Whatever. You guys have weird hobbies. Walking for the heck of it.”
“I’m with Kenji,” Yahaba raised his water bottle in the air. “Hiking is great.”
“Of course you’d side with him, Yahaba. Your vote doesn’t even count.”
“Yeah, well then Terushima—”
The five of them looked around. The loudest member of their group was nowhere in sight.
“Teru,” Futakuchi called.
“Here, boy!” Yahaba yelled mockingly, earning a smack from Ennoshita.
“Where the hell did he go?” Ennoshita sighed.
“Shirabu, you should go look for him!” Yahaba said enthusiastically.
Shirabu recoiled. “Why? I’m glad he’s gone. There’ll finally be some peace and quiet around here.”
“Is Kenjirou a little salty about his boyfriend’s disappearance?” Futakuchi teased.
Shirabu popped the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “He’s a free spirit, there’s not much I can do about it.”
Futakuchi laughed at that one, brushing the crumbs from his own lunch off his lap and standing up. “Alrighty, Mr. Call of the Wild, you do you. I’m going for a swim, this lake looks incredibly refreshing right now.”
Ennoshita tried to say something about waiting a half an hour after eating to go swimming, but Futakuchi and Yahaba were already ripping their shoes and shirts off in an attempt to beat each other to the lake.
Akaashi smiled slightly. “Chikara, are we going down as well? We can wait if you want.”
Ennoshita took Akaashi’s hand, lightly kissed the back of it, and helped him off the rock. “If I may have the pleasure.”
Akaashi grinned and walked down the the rocky shoreline with Ennoshita.
“You coming, Shirabu?” Ennoshita called over his shoulder.
“Lakes are gross.”
Akaashi was laughing.
“If you guys get leeches, I’m not going to be sympathetic.”
As they all disappeared from view, Shirabu stood up and sighed, looking at the spot where Ennoshita had said the visitor center was. He knew what he’d said, but like so many other things, it was just stuff he said. He wanted Terushima back with him and while it wasn’t that surprising that he would have wandered off, Shirabu wanted to find him. And he was getting a strong feeling from the direction of the visitor center.
Throwing a last quick glance to the others, now happily splashing in the water, Shirabu set off to look for Terushima. Along the way, he pondered, as he often did after spending time with the five other captains. His relationship with Terushima was a bit of an anomaly. Shirabu knew he loved the spiker and Terushima made sure it was known that the feeling was mutual. What Shirabu was having a hard time wrapping his mind around was how he himself could be opposed to the public displays of affection that everyone else and Terushima seemed to like so much while Terushima still clung to him as if he knew how much Shirabu secretly liked the attention. It wasn’t that he didn’t like returning the affection Terushima doled out on him, it was just that he was too prideful to accept that he needed someone else as much as he needed to breathe. But would it really hurt to express that in front of other people every now and then?
Shirabu cleared the trees and the visitor center lay only a short distance from him. The deep thoughts started to evaporate. Maybe this relationship was just destined to hold all sorts of contradictions. That and impromptu hikes looking for chaotic, AWOL boyfriends.
The bell on the door dinged as Shirabu opened it and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Terushima was chatting with the smiling, young woman behind the front desk, but they both looked up as Shirabu entered the building.
“Nooo!” Terushima whined and stood in front of the desk. “You can’t be here, it was going to be a surprise!”
Shirabu shook his head slightly, a faint grin playing over his features. “What are you doing, Yuuji... Stop blowing your money on touristy shit.”
Terushima reached across the counter where the lady was trying to bag an item. “Look what I got you, Kenjirou!”
Shirabu’s heart fluttered at the little stuffed rabbit in Terushima’s hands. It was the same kind that he’d found on top of the rock.
“They’re mountain hares,” Terushima explained. “This is to remember all the adventures from today! But I liked them when we first got here and I saw a picture of them because they make me think of you!”
Shirabu raised one eyebrow and took the plush toy that Terushima shoved into his hand. It was pretty soft.
“They’re soft and little and their fur is the same color as your hair,” Terushima continued. “That’s why they remind me of you!!”
Shirabu scoffed. “Alright, whatever you say.” He grabbed Terushima’s hand and started pulling him to the door. “The others are gonna start looking for us.”
Terushima waved to the front desk lady who smiled and waved back before directing his attention back to Shirabu. “You didn’t tell them where you were going?”
Shirabu glared. “I didn’t know where you were.”
“You found me anyway. Good job!”
“It’s not that big of a forest,” Shirabu grumbled sarcastically and looked away, feeling his face heat up a little bit.
Upon returning to their lunch spot by the lake, the others had extracted themselves from the water and were spread out across the ground and on top of rocks, talking quietly, letting the sun dry their shorts.
“Hey look who’s back,” Yahaba sat up to watch Terushima and Shirabu’s approach.
“Where’d you guys go?” Ennoshita asked without bothering to lift his head.
“Obviously they were having intense snuggly time in the forest,” Futakuchi smirked.
Shirabu rolled his eyes once again, running his thumb over Terushima’s knuckles, very okay that they were still holding hands.
“The trees muffle the sound pretty good, don’t they.” Futakuchi winked.
Yahaba smacked his boyfriend across his bare chest. “You’re disgusting, Kenji!” but he was laughing anyway.
Terushima bounced a little in place and Shirabu knew he would’ve been running around, bothering Futakuchi had Shirabu not been holding his hand.
“Mind if we join you guys’ little naptime?” Terushima asked.
Shirabu was a little surprised that Terushima would want to do something so calm, though maybe it could just be attributed to the busy and exciting morning. As the two sat down against a rock, Shirabu continued considering that. Maybe it was just another of those contradictions that caused his entire life to stop making sense from the moment he fell for Terushima Yuuji.
Terushima gently pulled Shirabu’s head onto his shoulder. “You comfy?”
Shirabu scooted closer to Terushima, setting the stuffed rabbit on his leg to pet slowly. “Yes, I’m comfortable. Are you?”
Terushima put his arm around Shirabu’s waist. “Yeah, I’m comfy. I’m comfy anywhere with you.”
Shirabu laughed quietly. “You dumbass, you’re so cheesy. That rock isn’t very soft is it.”
Terushima grinned and repositioned them on the ground, placing Shirabu on top of him to avoid dirt getting on the setter’s clothes.
Shirabu laughed. “How is this any more comfortable than against that boulder?”
Terushima closed his eyes and smiled. “Oh trust me, it is. Being squished between a rock and a hard place can be oddly comfortable from time to time.”
Shirabu chuckled and laid his head down on Terushima’s chest. “So am I the rock or the hard place?”
Terushima grinned and opened his eyes just a crack, placing his hands back onto Shirabu’s hips. “That’s not even a question. You’ll always be my rock.”
Shirabu blinked in happy surprise. “I’d say the same to you, but you’re too soft on the inside to be a rock.”
“Aww, come on, I can be stoic too sometimes!”
Shirabu laughed into the fabric of Terushima’s shirt. “You’re too bouncy to be stoic,” he said, but under the surface, he agreed. Terushima was everything solid he had in life. Apparently it was just another of those contradictions that made their love as beautiful and spontaneous and chaotic as it was.