#pridewon

Stepping off the bus following an away match, the team of crows was met with a bright lightning crash, followed by the boom of thunder...and finally, the onslaught of rain pouring from the skies above. Hinata’s groan sounded louder than the others - remembering that he, in fact, had to somehow bike through this storm home over the mountain.

Thankfully, it appeared that luck was in his favor that day - he was so deep in his slump about biking home in this, that he’d almost missed Yamaguchi’s offer at somewhere to crash for the night. It wasn’t a school night, the storm was scheduled to last through the majority of the night.

it’s been a five hours, & it’s still haunting shirabu how goshiki

knows.

shirabu isn’t sure what exactly goshiki knows, but goshiki knows. that’s the only possible explanation for absolutely nothing. at the grocery story / looking at damn dairy products, shirabu had been staring at the label for eggs for too long, & somewhere in the midst of months living together —

goshiki started to read shirabu & his expressions & hesitancies. staring at the eggs without processing anything? means that shirabu is a little out of it ( maybe a little more than exhausted ) so . . . goshiki’s touch drifted over shirabu’s shoulders like an acknowledgment.

shirabu is really not sure what exactly goshiki knows, but it’s starting to become obvious that goshiki is conversing with him through habits & unspoken gestures.

they’re getting comfortable with one another, &

maybe that’s shirabu’s own fault. not that it’s a bad thing. not that it’s telling of any sudden change or anything thing that should inspire any surprise or discomfort.

it’s just a slamming awareness that comes as shirabu stares into their shared refrigerator. the last of the groceries has been unloaded, &

cool air touches his face like a promise of alertness, &

shirabu doesn’t think he’s been getting hot flashes, but the more he studies medicine? the less certain he is about any physical ailment.

… keeping the refrigerator open is a waste of electricity.

with an undue huff, shirabu closes the door & takes two steps to the counter & sprawls himself over its surface. goshiki will probably cook, if shirabu asks. he’d probably even be enthusiastic about cooking if shirabu praised the quality of goshiki’s cooking or his seasoning or something.

technically, it’s shirabu’s turn to cook. but he’s tired & goshiki knows & —- for all the torrents of awareness, it occurs to shirabu that he hadn’t expected this. not the shared room that shirabu is slowly (surely) infiltrating, not the shared blankets on the couch, or the bickerinng in which goshiki is slowly letting shirabu indulge as a bizarre detoxing moment.

to be fair, shirabu also hadn’t expected to start learning when to nudge goshiki’s ankles beneath the table, make him an extra cup of tea, or drape his legs over goshiki’s when goshiki starts overthinking about something.

initially all of this had been impulse. it had been a nonjoke joke impulse thing & all of this translates to

impulse fatigued speech — five ! hours ! after goshiki did something forgettable & comforting.

shirabu says without solicitation : ‘ it’s a good thing you’re a decent cook, because you might be the most chaotic person i know — ‘

he says this ? & makes a heart shape with his fingers.

just because ?

     a grin, wide and sly and not dissimilar to kuroo’s, creeps along makiko’s lips. “ don’t tell me... ” she leans in a little as if to keep their conversation quiet, as if the apartment is full of people rather than empty save for the two of them. “ you don’t know how to dance? y’know, now that i think about it, you never do join in when we’re out. ” makiko remembers plenty of times when kuroo’s laughed along with their friends’ as they’ve knocked into one another, but she can’t remember a single time when he’s actually danced with them. even just this past weekend, the sneaky cat somehow managed to avoid dancing at that mixer they got themselves roped into ( or read: makiko got roped into and roped kuroo into ) despite being stuck in a karaoke room. 

     honestly, makiko’s kind of impressed and not as surprised as she should be. if anyone can hide a secret like terrible dancing skills without anyone noticing, it’s kuroo.

      «  —     ❝  i saw you hitting the waves earlier, ❞ rin was in california for a swimming competition. while he had some time off, he decided to check out the ocean, which was very different from both japan and australia. ❝ you’re rockin’ it ! been surfing for long ? ❞  »

@pridewon​ : a starter for anyone.  ❜

"   ne ,   ”   shimizu calls out sharply. though she hasn’t said anything—— just made a noise—— the sound is piercingly clear in the empty street. autumn is the time of year when things begin to quiet , though , so she should expect that her voice carries further and crisper in the absence of the spring songbirds and summer cicadas which usually mask conversations. in a slightly more leveled voice , she explains :   “   you shouldn’t pet that cat. the lady who lives in that house ,   ”   a pale hand raises and points towards the house in question ,   “   doesn’t like strays. she’ll come out and yell at you if she thinks you’re encouraging the cat to be here.   ”

to say koutarou has been in a bit of a slump all day would be a bit of an understatement. no, not like how he'd get during high school! he wasn't that sort of ace anymore, after all — he was completely normal! just like how it was completely normal to be super fucking bummed when a friend seems to completely forget about your birthday!!

sure, it wasn’t like he was ignored by everyone — his family had been the first to wish him a wonderful birthday, with his sisters both sending extravagant gifts that had arrived that same day! his social medias were completely overrun by a flood of messages from fans and friends alike, the old fukurodani team were planning on visiting the weekend, and he even had presents still waiting for him back at home! there wasn’t really a reason to let this thing bother him as much as it was, if atsumu had forgotten then there’s really no helping it! ( except it made no sense because koutarou has been keeping a countdown calendar in the locker room, he’s been extremely vocal in these upcoming days about how his birthday was coming up, and he KNEW that atsumu has seen his tweets! atsumu even LIKED one! aaaarrgh, betrayal truly came from the ones you held closest!!! )

the instinct to throw a fit was there. it hadn’t been there the whole time, had only started to really itch at his skin near the last hour or so of practice. not because atsumu had forgotten ( that WASN’T what was bothering him, if tsumtsum wanted to be the most heartless jerk and forget koutarou’s birthday, then that was perfectly fine by him! ) but because whenever koutarou found the opportunity to casually slip it into conversation, the other just... ran away! fled! absconded! took flight! another phrase for running away! and see, that’s where koutarou’s irritation came in — because the first time? sure, it happens to anyone. the second time? okay, they’re all pretty busy, totally normal to be called away for something. the third? starting to get a little suspicious but it’s okay, that’s still fine. the fourth? the fifth? now something was starting to stink. 

originally, he wasn’t going to go along so easily. originally, koutarou wanted to stand his ground / wanted to huff and puff and pout about how it had only taken him THE ENTIRE DAY to realize what day it was! but things almost never go to plan, so the moment atsumu shows up to drag him somewhere? koutarou goes along as if there wasn’t anything wrong, as if he hadn’t spent the entire practice period with a pout in place. any question koutarou asked just went ignored, which really wasn’t helping the annoyance but hey, at least atsumu was engaging with him for more than three minutes! it takes a moment when the doors get thrown open for everything to really register, but everything finally clicks the moment koutarou registers the smell.