His Warrior Queen: A Haikyuu!! Novel (Tsukishima x OC)

Chapter 70: De-lovely and Delicious

Nakano swiftly applied more lip gloss, smiling at herself in the mirror of the ladies restroom.  Mako and Kaori were still using the bathroom, but the three girls were nonetheless chatting, given that they were the only women in the chamber at the time.

"If I'd known we were going to be dancing so much, I'd have worn lower heels," Mako grumbled.

Kaori chuckled.  "You and Bokuto were really shaking it on that dance floor, Mako," the girl said, "and if I'm not mistaken, I saw your hand wandering over a certain captain's rather impressive backside.  And I'm not talking about Kuroo."

"Mako!" Nakano called out, "Did you really grab Bokuto's butt?"

"Pretty sure she did, even if she doesn't want to admit it," Kaori replied, coming out of the bathroom and heading over to wash her hands.  

"Who says I don't want to admit it?" Mako said, smirking as she too moved to the sinks.  "Though it was more of a caress than a grab.  Just kinda smoothed my hand a little further down his back than maybe I should have while we were dancing.  He's wearing the tightest pair of black pants, and oh my gosh he's just too much for me to resist!"

Nakano's face turned thoughtful as she waited for the two girls to join her at the dressing table.  "So, Mako, does this mean you and Bokuto..." Nakano trailed off, just letting it hang there.  She couldn't imagine her generally kind-hearted senpai would only be interested in getting physical with the big handsome ace.  At least, she certainly hoped that wasn't all that was going on in Mako's head.

Mako sighed as she came to stand next to Nakano.  "I'm...not sure.  When we talked after that last training camp, we didn't think it would be a good idea for us to try to have a relationship right now.  There's so much happening with volleyball, and college entrance exams coming up, and we don't even go to the same school, or live in the same area of Tokyo.  It just seemed like we would be setting ourselves up for a rough time, you know?  When he asked me to come along tonight as his date - just as friends, of course - I figured it would be fine.  But then..."  The girl sighed as Kaori stepped over to join them.

"You were awfully excited about spending time with him tonight.  I thought you were going to explode before we even got to Kuroo's house!" Kaori said with a smile.

"Yeah," Mako said, her own face lighting up, "I really am having a great time with him.  He's...just so...sweet, and adorable, and kind, and funny, and...and really, really sexy."  Mako's smile spread, taking over her face and threatening to do damage to her cheeks.  "Oh girls, I think I might be falling for the dopey, emo, kinda egotistical sweetheart of a beast that is the captain of Fukurodani!  What am I going to do?"

Nakano smiled at the girls in confusion.  "Would that really be so bad, Mako?  If you like him so much, why shouldn't you date him?"

"Well, remember all those reasons I listed about why we decided not to date right now?  They all  still apply!"  The girl groaned, fixing her hair.  "Why did I agree to go out with him tonight as just friends?  What was I thinking?"

"I'm sure you still can, if that's what you want," Kaori said, "Look at me and Kuroo.  I mean, we're having a really great time, but we're just out as friends, right?  And it's fine."  A heavy blush cascaded across Kaori's face, and she suddenly found herself needing to go through her bag and not look into the mirror.

Mako snorted.  "Looks to me like you might be having the same problem, Kaori.  I've seen the way you've been looking at Kuroo tonight.  I don't think you're as firmly set in the 'just friends' zone as you want to believe you are."

Nakano sighed internally, not sure what to say to her two friends.  Part of her wanted to encourage them to go for it, to just go ahead and date the boys and see where it might lead, but another part of her was afraid that her two dear 'older brothers' would wind up with their hearts broken again, since neither girl seemed like she was entirely certain what she wanted.  Once it clicked for me, once I realized that Kei and I seemed to really like each other and I wanted to be more than just friends with him, I just, well, hauled off and kissed him as soon as the opportunity presented itself, she thought, remembering back to that moment in the gym when everything had suddenly made sense to her.  I felt no further hesitation.  I knew what I wanted, and that was that.  I saw no point in not showing him how I felt.  I guess maybe I'm a bit different in that regard.  Maybe I don't think about these things enough.  She looked over at Kaori and Mako.  Kaori was groaning with her head in her hands as Mako tried to console her.  Neither girl looked overly upset, just really confused.  Or maybe, these guys think too much, Nakano realized.  Of course, if Kei hadn't been willing to take a chance on me, I might have lost him before I'd ever even have had the opportunity to date him.  I very nearly scared him away entirely, being my too direct self.  A wry grin settled itself on Nakano's features.  Maybe Kaori and Mako are better at this than me after all.