Chapter Text
Hinata didn’t know what compelled him to agree to his older friends’ nudging suggestion of allowing them to take the wheel of life away from him--specifically towards his “awful love life”, according to them--and let them, as oh so amazing sempais, take care of his status as being single. Maybe he really was desperate? Hinata liked to think he didn’t sink that low yet.
Anyway, because he agreed to leave it to Yuu and Ryuu, they decided on a whim that he would be set up, specifically on a blind date. And that’s where Hinata had to draw the line with black and yellow police tape. He didn’t want to be paired up with a random bystander that he didn’t know nor some unfortunate person he, on an off chance, did know. The whiplash he suffered when turning to yell that, no, he did not want to go on a blind date was supposed to be worth it, but by the time he whipped around, the duo was already halfway across Japan on their mission. Sometimes Hinata wished he was still young and naive and absolutely dumb just so he didn’t have to cringe at the thought of how stunningly awful the date would end up to be.
He sighed. Maybe Yuu and Ryuu would have better taste than last time? He honestly didn’t think they would literally bring a random stud, but after further investigation via a date at a fucking Chuck E. Cheese’s of all places, Hinata concluded that yes, Yuu and Ryuu would easily snatch a random person off of the street in order to change Hinata’s status to “happily in a relationship” on a dusty Facebook he hasn’t used in almost a decade.
There was more than enough greasy pizzas and dead eyed animatronics to give him a heart attack anytime he even passed the children’s dream house.
Hinata admitted he was no longer a sporting young chap with the constant awkward phases of being a teenager nor the horniness of a young male ready to neck it with anyone. He was twenty six now, which admittedly wasn’t that old, but he was getting there with his slightly faulty knee after all the soaring in volleyball games and breathless competition during his younger years. He was ready to become a coach for his old college instead of playing professionally like his best friend, Kageyama Tobio.
Okay, but back to Hinata’s predicament. He was stuck awkwardly staring down at his toes in front of his bathroom mirror whilst Yuu sprayed yet another can of hairspray to tame Hinata’s wild sunset curls. Nothing could flatten down Hinata’s hair, however, not even gravity suddenly not existing.
Still, Yuu was a dreamer and he only wanted what was best for his younger friend; he would do anything for his friend, even defy the law of physics so that Hinata’s damn hair would just lie flat instead of bounce around like a kid’s bouncy house at their birthday party. Hinata stiffly tugged at the fancy cuffs Ryuu borrowed from his older sister’s friend’s mother’s father’s uncle or whatever. He felt a little overdressed for a first date with a random person at an Italian restaurant, but his friends easily shooed away his complaints with another spray of strong smelling cologne. Hinata bet even fifty years later he would be able to smell the brand and have an aneurism from the sheer embarrassment about to happen.
“Are you sure I look okay?” Hinata asked cautiously. He didn’t want to set off the bomb known as his the meme duo and they wouldn’t hesitate to tattoo his skin themselves with a sewing needle if he even mentioned wanting one but not being able to afford one. They were formidable, determined people and Hinata was in no mood to deal with the repercussions of their mindless actions.
“You look amazing, bro!” Ryuu nodded with a toothy grin. Yuu backed up the statement with a thumbs up and a mock sob as he wiped away an invisible tear.
“Our young’un is growing up, Ryuu.”
“I know, man. I know.” Ryuu dramatically gathered Yuu up in his strong arms as they wept. Hinata wanted to cry too, but for a completely different reason. He stared at himself uncertainly in the mirror, feeling more like the little boy he once was trying to avoid playing dress up with his younger sister but not being able too because younger sisters were crafty and could use their puppy pouts and teary eyes to sway any sane person.
Halloween didn’t happen in the middle of June, yet Hinata appeared to be a shorter, brighter version of Dracula with slicked back hair, a black tuxedo, white cuffs, and pointy shoes. He was only missing the lack of bloodlust, the red tweed cape, and the jutting out fangs whiter than Hollywood’s whitewashing. Regardless, he was known for his tenacity in pulling out of terrible situations--volleyball hounded that into him--and he smiled at his friends. As much as their antics could grow to become a bit overbearing, he was still grateful to have caring friends such as Ryuu and Yuu.
“Thanks, Ryuu, Yuu.” They bashfully scratched the back of their heads while shooing his gratitude away with shy smiles. Hinata grew amused at their actions as Yuu promised to treat him to ice cream while Ryuu one upped him with the promise of meat buns. Yuu accepted the challenge and yelped about giving Hinata ice cream on top of meat buns, eliciting a smart move from Ryuu as he grinned ferociously like a shark and declared to invite Hinata to his favorite restaurant that made the best tamago kake gohan.
“SHIT, THE TIME!” Ryuu screeched like a banshee or like Oikawa being mauled by Iwaizumi as he checked his phone. Yuu panicked too, frantically ushering a completely calm Hinata out of his own apartment, locking up for him, and leading him to Yuu’s beat up car older than the dinosaurs themselves. Hinata was stuffed in the backseat as his “fairy godmothers” stumbled into the car in the front after he was in and started up the engine. Hinata was only glad that the police didn’t notice three whooping males in an aged car about to die with loud music in the background. He was also very much glad that he made it to the restaurant without any injuries (maybe a minor concussion after Ryuu slammed the brakes last minute to avoid killing an old lady).
“Okay, good luck, Shouyou!” Yuu gave him another thumbs up before the two left, Ryuu’s rambunctious laughter cutting through the silent air with a hyena like vibe. Hinata smiled and waved to them until the car was just a mere speck in the orange street lamps. He breathed out shakily, nerves on fire, before heading into his doom.
“Uh, this is gonna sound weird, but uh, I’m on a blind date so.” Hinata anxiously stuttered to the hostess, who boredly eyed him up and down before sighing.
“He’s waiting for you in the back. It’s for Yuu, right?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“He so owes me one.” The hostess mumbled to herself tiredly before jerking her head to the side. “Your blind date is sitting by a big potted plant. He has a bouquet of red roses next to him and the bluest tuxedo I’ve seen yet. You’ll be able to spot him miles away.” She instructed.
“Thanks!” Before he could leave and face his date, the girl’s voice stopped him.
“Good luck.” This time, his smile was less tight and voice less shaky as stars dusted his eyes.
“Thanks!” The woman huffed to herself in exasperation as she watched the male leave. As his back faded in with the rest of the bustling restaurant, she counted five seconds before a loud screech of shock was heard. She sighed, whipped out her phone despite being on duty, and quickly shot a text to Yuu.
“YOU’RE MY BLIND DATE?!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tsukishima Kei just wanted to go home, maybe read a little bit, and then sleep for days. As a recent graduate from an expensive university, he emerged into society as cranky as ever with more debt that kept piling up as each day passed. With only six months before interest hit onto his accumulating debt, Tsukishima quickly began to fill out applications and applications for jobs that would pay well. Luckily, his best friend, Yamaguchi Tadashi, managed to squeeze a few good words in about him to his boss and so Tsukishima easily found a job at the fancy Italian restaurant in town. He was a server along with his best friend, and as much as the business killed his feet and sleeping schedule, he was grateful for the taxing job. At least he was able to pay for his rent for a little while longer while also paying 50000 yen a month for his student loans.
He usually worked at the restaurant at night, when the rush was worse than a traffic jam, and even managed to snag his preferred job as a pastry chef. He only really discovered his love for cooking the first year of attending a regular college with Yamaguchi and having to cook for himself and his roommate with a low college budget. He began to cook more and more often and found his talent with baking, which then spurred him on to go to an actual cooking academy with baking as his main focus.
Four years later and he was here in Tokyo’s most famous Italian restaurant at night while working at a peaceful bakery closer to the countryside, but famous all the same. He liked his hectic life at the moment and liked how he was able to have well paying jobs that he actually enjoyed.
However, like in this instance, he didn’t always like his job. Tsukishima hated the late night rush that started at approximately 5 pm and ended at around 10 pm. The only real downside to working in food service was some of the terrible customers with complaints rolling off their tongues every five minutes and disgusting sneers as they demanded to either speak to the manager or the chef. They would take out all of their annoyance onto the poor servers, who are forced to smile consistently while apologizing with little emotion in their voices. It wasn’t Tsukishima’s fault that the meat was “too raw” when they specifically asked for rare.
Tsukishima sighed, gritting his teeth with a tight white knuckled grip on the white plate with the “too raw” rare steak the customer specifically emphasized on. He barged in through the doors with a murderous expression on his face and set the plate none too gently on a random table. With an almost stoic face, he greeted one of the chefs with a monotonous voice.
“The customer says he didn’t want his meat too raw and wants you to cook him a new one.” The chef sighed stressfully, wiping away sweat with the sleeve of his stained white chef clothes. Tsukishima could relate to the feeling and he sympathetically grimaced as the chef pried open the fridge door with more force than necessary to retrieve another twelve ounce steak to cook it up so that it was more of a medium rare than an actual rare.
Tsukishima shrugged to himself before he set back out of the kitchen to check up on other tables. No one really seemed to mind his expressionless face as he dourly recited the common words servers spoke frequently enough to say them in their sleep. The blond didn’t realize how attractive he truly was, especially around the swooning ladies of all ages as he refilled wine glasses and shuffled plates up into a huge pile to clear the table.
As he made his regular rounds, nodding respectfully as he listened in to stories from regular customers, Tsukishima happened to stumble upon a particular sight. He had noticed the bright orange, a contrast to the neutral whites, grays, and blacks in the restaurant; the color clashed with his surroundings and he grew more intrigued as the smaller male passed him with a curious expression on his face. He swivelled his head round and round, as if searching for someone--most likely his date--and gnawed on his bottom lip with his teeth.
He was cute, Tsukishima admitted, and he watched as the orange haired male ran a hand through his slicked back hair that looked a lot more attractive than it should have. The stranger stopped in the middle of the fray and Tsukishima took up the chance to talk to the lost customer. He set the water pitcher off to the side in his station and headed over to the bundle of sunshine who was still glancing around quickly.
“Excuse me, sir.” Tsukishima tapped him lightly on the shoulder and the man turned around rapidly, a wild gleam in his eye. Tsukishima’s heart thudded against his rib cage.
“Oh, uh, sorry, I was looking for someone. He’s supposed to be my blind date but I can’t seem to find him. His table was under my friend’s name, Yuu, and apparently he’s by a potted plant? He has red roses and like a super green suit or something. I don’t remember what she said…” He mumbled out the last part past his long, fast rant. Tsukishima blinked. The male’s voice was smooth and a nice tenor, and his bright chocolate eyes seemed to swirl with emotions easily read like a book. Tsukishima always did like books.
“It’s fine, sir. I believe I’ve seen that gentleman before. Would you like me to lead you to him?” Tsukishima politely asked. His manager seemed to notice the distraught customer as well, so Tsukishima kept his polite facade despite wanting to tease the other about his tiny height and watching as the attractive male turned a cute shade of pink.
The man blinked. Then, a large sunny smile enveloped over his face, a tinge of pink on his cheeks, and fuck did it take Tsukishima’s breath away. “That would be awesome, thanks!” The man chirped, falling into step with Tsukishima as he silently walked away to the said table. He weaved through the crowd with years of experience and expertise while the shorter male followed after him like a duckling, squawking as he nudged against countless people. Apologies fell out of his mouth the same time Tsukishima snorted to himself. Yes, the guy was undoubtedly cute, but he was also very much clumsy and ungraceful.
“Right there.” Tsukishima gestured over to the lone man sitting in his seat with a constipated face that ranged between irritation and plain no emotion as he constantly glanced down at his watch. The blond felt almost green with envy at the thought of cute stranger on a date with this, admittedly, handsome gentleman as well. Instead of acting on his emotions like he was an immature kid again, Tsukishima bowed to the customer and turned his heel to mutter snarky comments to himself as he convinced himself that he wasn’t that intrigued with the sunny man with bright matching hair.
“YOU’RE MY BLIND DATE?!” Tsukishima sighed in frustration, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and turned back around. The sight in front of him was almost comical enough for him to burst out laughing, but he refrained from doing so. The outburst from the shorter male caused the tables around them to grow silent for a split second before they awkwardly returned to their own conversations with fleeting peeks at the strange duo. The waiting man looked almost pained--well, more pained than his usual constipated look--as he took in the image of his old foe.
You’ve got to be shitting me, was the collective thought between the three of them. Tsukishima sighed once more as he was beckoned over by his none too pleased manager. It was going to be a long night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hinata prayed to every deity that would listen that they would just take his soul out of his body now. He awkwardly shifted his eyesight to the stiff brunette sitting in front of him before averting his eyes as their gazes met. He wanted to tear his hair out in quiet anger, maybe even cry out a few choice words that would have the older generation glaring daggers at him and overprotective mothers covering their children’s ears.
The situation at hand was worse than the animatronic mess he was involved with his last blind date. And last time literally ended up in flames. This time, Hinata debated on whether or not to pour the fancy red wine in front of him all over his suave looking suit and set himself aflame by the flickering white candle in the middle of the table.
Ushijima. Ushi-fucking-jima was in front of him and he was suddenly fifteen all over again, declaring war on the “eagles” with Kageyama stuck to his side like glue, like a proud, overprotective parent as he soared up in the “fertile” lands that belonged to Shiratorizawa and plucked the volleyball out of the air neatly. Hinata stared down at the steak knife and considered committing seppuku for one split second before exhaling stressfully and sticking on the biggest smile he had to fool the world.
“So, Ushijima, how are things?” Ushijima just grunted. Just fucking grunted like the tall troll he was before turning back to more fascinating things, like say, having a glare down with the pristine plate in front of him. Hinata repressed a sigh and grabbed the glass full of merlot before basically chugging it. He needed all the alcohol his legal ID could get in order for the night to pass without Hinata bursting himself into flames.
By the time he finished up the glass, the waiter that helped him from before-- the hot waiter, his traitorous mind supplied--returned with a big bundle of breadsticks in a tiny woven basket. It was glorious, the way the steaming breadsticks rested on the white cloth that just brought out the golden baked brown crust that crunched perfectly under teeth before the softer insides melted into one’s mouth. Hinata’s own mouth watered at the sight at the same time his stomach growled.
“Are you two ready to order?” The blond waiter asked stoically, his notepad already present in his large palm. Hinata glanced over to Ushijima, who still refused to meet his eyes, for confirmation. After a solid minute, the orange haired male sighed tiredly and shook his head to the server.
“Another minute, please and thanks.” The server was already gone by the time he said “another minute”. Hinata just ignored it and instantly reached out for a crispy golden treat. He excitedly stuffed half of the breadstick in his mouth and nearly moaned at the taste. He happily wiggled his butt on the chair and puffed out one cheek like a chipmunk as he stuffed the rest of the breadstick into his mouth and chewed quickly. After the first initial taste of heaven, or sin in this case, Hinata’s hand dove back into the basket for another breadstick. He chewed quickly, feeling much more amiable after food filling his empty stomach.
“Do you still play volleyball, Ushijima?” Hinata asked with his mouth full. The brunette’s sharp eyes snapped to his face for one second. He seemed less tense now, but Ushijima’s shoulders were taut as his thin lips as he hesitantly reached for the wine glass. He gingerly sipped the fine wine before placing it back in its original position before answering.
“Yes.” Hinata blinked. The man didn’t seem to budge after that response, so Hinata stuck on the same honey like smile and continued to ask Ushijima questions about his life that only really prompted a one word grunt from his lips. Hinata kind of wanted to cry.
As his last resort, he brought up Yuu and Ryuu, who were both the so called “cupids” for this “magical” night. Instead of the same grunt befitting a man stuck to the toilet trying to push out shit from his hershey highway, Ushijima immediately straightened up at the question defensively. Hinata partly wanted to cry.
“Sorry about them. They’re really nice and I guess they were worried about my non-existent love life?” Hinata laughed nervously at that, “And I dunno, I’m sorry you were dragged into this.” The orange head swept away the last of the hairspray from his greasy hair after the whole nervous habit throughout the whole date and his fluffy hair popped back up to its original state.
“‘S okay.” Hinata blinked before a wide, true smile spread over his face. Two words. Two words! That was progress! The shorter male decided to celebrate his victory with another breadstick, that so happened to be the last one, and happily chewed the rest of it down.
“I always did like you.” At his bluntness, Hinata choked on the breadstick and began to heave from the piece of soggy bread stuck in his windpipe. It didn’t help that Ushijima’s larger, much warmer hand thumped him harshly on the back until Hinata’s lungs were clear of any godlike bread from the heavens. Hinata weakly smiled with tears dotting his doe eyes.
“Uh, I’m flattered?” He said as more of a question. He quickly backtracked, “I mean, that’s cool. Not a lot of people like me, like I mean like like so I guess I don’t know what to do? That’s cool? And uh,” Hinata flushed, his hands growing very clammy as he wiped them off on his fancy slacks. He wished he could trade them in for his comfier ripped jeans instead of sitting primly at a fancy restaurant while his ex volleyball enemy declared his love for him. For the twentieth time that night, Hinata wished he didn’t allow Yuu and Ryuu to take the wheel away from him.
“Marriage.”
“Marriage?!” Hinata squeaked in horror. That was moving a little too fast for his liking. He flushed and paled at the same time, which resulted in the rest of his face draining blood out of his skin other than his cheeks. Hinata didn’t like the way Ushijima’s slanted eyes pinned him down seriously.
“Joined together.” Ushijima continued on as if Hinata wasn’t slowly malfunctioning like a robot after having water in its outlets. The server was barely noticed between the two as he set down another basket of breadsticks, and Hinata, in his desperation to get away, quickly snatched up the basket closer to him. He unbuttoned the rest of his outer coat and his nice white collared shirt underneath.
Without thinking, Hinata responded to his fight or flight instincts and began to stuff breadsticks fervently into his shirt, crumbs and expensive clothing be damned. “I’m sorry, I have to leave immediately. My sister is dying, so uh, can’t stick around.” Hinata nervously said, and before Ushijima could retort or even grab his arm to stop him, Hinata quickly stood up and dashed away from the table. His small height enabled him to squeeze past small spaces created by large groups of people and he was able to duck out of the crowded dining area and back out into the waiting room.
He panted heavily as he stopped close to the hostess booth, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. He felt trapped in the room with Ushijima’s olive eyes keeping him on the edge of his seat while his hands grew progressively slicker with sweat. Hinata rose up, fervently hoping that Ushijima didn’t decide to follow after him. He didn’t want to risk it, and was just about to book it when a much taller man blocked his exit.
“Sir, where are you going?” Ah, it was cute blond guy. Hinata glanced behind his back quickly, finding Ushijima staring almost dumbfounded at the suddenly empty seat beside him before standing up himself. Hinata panicked even further and he nimbly raced to the left. Unfortunately, the cute server had just as sensitive instincts and he managed to block Hinata from left to right. Hinata began to sweat even more.
“I have to leave, asswipe!” Hinata hissed out through his teeth. The blond snickered at the insult, a smug grin on his face as Hinata bounced up and down on his toes in anxiety. “Let me go, asshole!”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t allow you to keep those breadsticks.” The server pointed to his hastily buttoned shirt and oh my god Hinata didn’t have time for this! The orange head shook his head, about to unbutton his shirt and let loose all of the golden goodness if he could just leave the establishment, but the blond asshole stopped him.
“But, I suppose I could let you off with a warning.”
“Okay, whatever! Just let me go before I report you to your manager for terrible customer ser---” A warm pair of lips descended to his face. Hinata instantly stopped talking as his breath was too busy being caught in his throat. A warm, fluttery feeling erupted in his stomach worse than the harsh flames from the animatronic incident, and Hinata felt his cheeks blaze with fire.
The server chuckled, Hinata’s stomach flipping with the husky sound. He swallowed slowly, staring up into amber eyes twinkling with mischief and something else that forced butterflies to scratch at his itchy, parched throat while trying to claw its way out of his mouth.
Oh. Oh. Hinata vaguely felt the cute guy in front of him lazily play with a strand of his greasy hair before his slim fingers trailed down the side of his face, fire lighting up with each swirl of his fingertips being drawn and tattooed into his skin. Hinata could only gape, his eyes wide with shock as the man sensually placed a hand over his beating heart. The server slipped a piece of white paper into his breast pocket before removing his presence from Hinata. The smell of lavender filled his nose as the man slipped past him, weaseling out of his grasp with a slick smile on his face.
Hinata barely made it outside before he stooped to the side of the building, blended in with the shadows, and began to retch. He barely ate anything other than breadsticks since he never ordered in the first place, and only really puked out water. After wiping away his mouth with his sleeve, Hinata slumped against the cool wall, the comforting breeze of the night chilling his beading forehead and soothing his shaking bones. With jittery hands, he barely called Yuu for a ride home, ignoring the demands of what entailed at the date. Hinata didn’t know himself.
In five minutes flat, Yuu’s trusty old car pulled up to the entrance and Hinata was whisked away from the disastrous date and back to his apartment. Yuu at least had the decency to appear sheepish as Hinata explained what happened.
“I didn’t think he had such a huge crush on you, dude.”
“Where did you even find him?” Hinata asked, finally feeling better as Yuu brought him to a dessert place first. Hinata hungrily gobbled down the breadsticks with his friend in the car and they decided to spend some time at a quaint cafe close to the restaurant that served the best chocolate waffles with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. Currently, Yuu contently chewed on a piece of banana from his banana split while Hinata hungrily devoured a plate of chocolate waffles and another serving of strawberry crepes. He swallowed down a little bit of his banana milkshake with a swirly straw before summoning up the courage to read the note from the waiter.
“I dunno. Me and Ryuu were pretty desperate, honestly.” He sheepishly said, scratching his cheek with one finger as he spoke. “We asked everyone, like everyone and at one point, Oikawa called me up and said that Ushijima was “single and lonely” so I set him up with you. I didn’t think he would propose though. That’s some real balls.” Yuu stroked his chin in thought while eating his chocolate ice cream. He shrugged after thinking for five seconds and noticed his friend staring at a white slip of paper the size of a fortune from a fortune cookie. Hinata wasn’t moving. Hell, he didn’t seem to be breathing.
“Shouyou?” Yuu asked worriedly. Hinata only made a dying noise in the back of his throat as his reply. “Shouyou, what happened?”
“Oh my god.” Hinata gasped out, gaping like a fish out of water as he reread the note over and over again. Call me qt. Next to his cute note was a number, followed by a cute drawing of what appeared to be a slice of cake with a lumpy strawberry on top. Hinata gulped.
He still vividly remembered the way the mysterious waiter knelt down, his too tall height a little endearing as he hunched his back in order to plant a kiss on Hinata’s cheek. Hinata warmed up at the thought of it, and he couldn’t stop the giddy smile beginning to play on his lips. Yuu eyed him critically. Finally, his eyes widened in comprehension and he pointed at Hinata accusingly.
“You scored some, didn’t you, Shouyou?!” Yuu yelped in excitement. He ignored the dirty look from the exhausted cashier and bounced up and down in his seat. The shorter male practically jumped on his friend to read the note and pried it out of Hinata’s very much dead fingers. His eyes scanned over the note before a huge smirk planted on his face.
“Wait till Ryuu sees this.”
“Oh my god.” Hinata wasn’t even listening to him. “He called me a cutie. He gave me his number. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” The orange haired man parroted, a dopey smile on his lips as he kept biting his cheek to resist from squealing in joy.
“I’m so proud of you, man!” Yuu exclaimed, a sincerely happy grin on his face. Hinata finally revived from the dead with the biggest smile on his face yet.
“Me too! I’m going to text him now!” Hinata determinedly stated, whipping his phone out to create a new contact and inputting cutie’s number into his phone. He wrote “blond asshole with cute ass” in his phone along with a bunch of different heart and sparkle emojis before typing out a new message to the guy. He bit his lip; he knew that the waiter was most likely still working, but hopefully the other would respond back as soon as he was done with his shift.
To: >>blond asshole with cute ass>> 20 June, 8:45pm
this is the guy at the restaurant!!!!!!!
“Can I be your best man at your wedding?” Yuu asked. Hinata just bobbed his head up and down, too far in dreamland to comprehend his older friend’s words. Yuu whooped happily, finishing up the rest of his melting ice cream with a catchy tune he hummed that was stuck in his head. Hinata finished the rest of his food in a messy manner, licking his lips when he was done eating. The two split the fare and then raced each other back to the car. Hinata won while Yuu half heartedly complained how he was much older than Hinata now and how Hinata had a headstart in the first place, to which Hinata just rolled his eyes and ignored the other’s grumbling.
Hinata stared outside, the starry night sky matching the starry gleam in his large eyes. His grasp on his phone grew tighter, his lips wider and broader as he watched the scenery outside pass the car. The city was beautiful at night, with different neon colors catching his eye and food stalls still open on the streets with people crowding around with laughter and smiles.
Yuu drummed his fingers against the wheel to the tune of one of his favorite songs playing on the radio, and Hinata joined in on the harmless fun. At the next song, he belted out the notes like the car was their personal karaoke room and their clenched fists were the microphones. Hinata created guitar noises at the guitar solo part while Yuu sang terribly off key on purpose. The close friends wrapped up their night at Hinata’s apartment, with the younger male insisting that Yuu should stay over as a sleepover, which the latter eventually caved into.
Hinata giggled quietly to himself at hearing Yuu’s snores on his bed after the night full of fun. If only Ryuu was here…Meanwhile, he was lying down on a pulled out futon on the floor, a fuzzy blanket with polar bears knitted on the covering draped over his form as he rolled up into a blanket burrito with his arms poking out for easier access with his phone. He stared at the dark case for a long time, hoping for a message from the stranger that caught him stuffing breadsticks into his shirt.
After another five minutes, Hinata decided to give up and shut his eyes. He rolled over to his side to avoid temptation of checking his phone every few seconds, and willed sleep to manipulate him. He wanted to hurry up and fall asleep in order to wake up earlier and find out if the other texted him or not.
Hinata was counting sheep in his head when his phone vibrated and buzzed next to his pillow, a small beam of light lighting up the area around it. Hinata quickly rolled back over and gleefully unlocked his phone to discover a message from the other male.
From: >>blond asshole with cute ass>> 21 June, 00:34
You’re lucky I know who you are. “This is the guy from the restaurant” doesn’t really help me narrow down the people I randomly give my number out to.
To: >>blond asshole with cute ass>> 21 June, 00:35
dont be rude !!! im hinata shouyou and i like volleyball!! wbu??
From: >>blond asshole with cute ass>> 21 June, 00:35
Tsukishima Kei.
To: >>SukiTsuki>> 21 June, 00:36
ok but what do u like ???
From: >>SukiTsukki>> 21 June, 00:36
For you to let me sleep.
To: >>SukiTsukki>> 21 June, 00:38
wait rly??? im sorry for bothering u tsukki !!! >o< ill let u sleep :^))) good nite
From: >>SukiTsukki>> 21 June, 00:39
I was just kidding. But, I am tired from work. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Hinata. Good night.
Hinata muffled his squeals in his blanket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Tsukishima didn’t know what compelled him to end up not only giving out his number to a random stranger he had never met in his life and then planting a big smooch on said stranger’s cheek, but he wasn’t one to regret his decisions. What’s done has been done, and he would deal with the consequences in an orderly, timely fashion. He preferred to be calm and rational instead of panicky and afraid in times like this, even as his heart threatened to leap straight out of his chest and onto the floor that he recently mopped.
“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi approached him with a concerned frown. “Are you okay? You’ve been out of it for the past two hours.” The brunette’s hand shot up to feel Tsukishima’s temperature, but the blond calmly pushed his friend’s hand away from his forehead. His eyes hardened back into steel flints as he continued to change out of his uniform in the employee lounge. At least no one else was around to experience Tsukishima’s completely dazed, blissed out expression. He looked almost happy.
“Okay, if you say so…” Yamaguchi said suspiciously. He didn’t press further, thankfully, and dug out his backpack from the narrow gray locker before slamming the door shut. Tsukishima quickly wrapped his scarf around his neck, grabbed his own backpack, and shut the locker door. The taller male trailed after his friend this time as they closed the lights for the employee room before locking it up with their own copied keys. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima logged out their hours, and seeing as they were the last two employees still left in the dimmed restaurant other than the owner, the duo switched off all the lights and locked the doors behind them. Tsukishima walked Yamaguchi over to his motorcycle.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? Do you want me to drive you back home?” Yamaguchi fired off question after question. Tsukishima rolled his eyes, shifting the too warm scarf closer to his mouth.
“I’m fine, Yamaguchi.”
“Text me when you get home, okay?” Yamaguchi forced his friend to promise. After the reluctant nod from his best friend, Yamaguchi smiled and strapped on his helmet. “Good night, Tsukki. See you tomorrow at five.” Tsukishima nodded, parroting his own “good night” as he watched Yamaguchi rev up his motorcycle before taking off the empty streets, the moonlight dancing across his all black gear.
Tsukishima rifled through his things in his backpack for his headphones, and after untangling them from around his water bottle, he attached them to his smartphone and covered his ears with them. A catchy beat from his headphones filtered into his ears and he lightly bobbed his head up and down to the music. The drum solo was always his favorite, and his feet tapped satisfactorily against the cement to the beat of the music. He traveled from the restaurant over to the nearest bus stop and stopped in front of the sign.
I saw a text from the one guy, so he most likely texted me as soon as he read the note. The thought of the cute customer floundering around until finally typing in a random response caused his heart to fly. He was oddly joyful, much more bright than he was attuned to; if the stranger was a sun, than Tsukishima was the moon, forever shining just by the sun’s bright rays and quite content with the attention from the sun.
Tsukishima boarded the bus as soon as it rolled around. As expected, only a handful of passengers still wandered around during the darkness of the night and none of them paid any attention to another person boarding. The blond sat down in the back, staring up to the front as the day’s exhausting events unraveled from his body and he slumped back against the seat. He stayed alert, however, just in case he were to fall asleep and miss his stop. The male lived alone in his own apartment conveniently close to the bakery he worked at but a little farther away from the restaurant.
The whole ride home, his eyes couldn’t help lingering to the street lamps as bright and orange as a certain person that invaded his thoughts since the moment he set eyes on the other. A bright sunny smile broke out from the clouds of normal gray that Tsukishima was accustomed to, and he became utterly enchanted and addicted to the sweet saccharine like smile that melted his heart and shook his knees like an earthquake.
Tsukishima sighed, glancing down at the message with fond eyes. He really was a sap, wasn’t he? The blond shifted in his seat, stared outside the window, and listened to the upbeat music singing into his veins. If he smiled to himself in the shadows of the night, no one needed to know except himself.