Solar Flare

10: Blaze Part I

Tsukishima was outside Hinata's door at 10am. He knew it was early, but if he had Saturday, he damn well was going to use Saturday. He hadn't spoken to Hinata-- not even through text message-- since Thursday, and it was absolutely killing him.

When Hinata came outside it was apparent he'd been crying. Tsukki wanted so badly to hug him, to carry him away from all his problems, but he couldn't-- not yet. "Hey", Tsukishima said. "Let's go to the park. I brought a late breakfast." Hinata nodded- no smile.

The two walked quietly- separately- to the park they'd been to twice together and sat on the bench that was quickly becoming theirs. Tsukishima pulled out two steaming pork buns and some milk he picked up on his way to Hinata's house and distributed them among them. Hinata just looked at his food. Tsukishima just looked at Hinata.

"Hinata...", Tsukishima started. Before he could get another word out, the other boy dropped his food and burst out crying. He threw himself at the blonde, who quickly set his food down and pulled the redhead into his lap. "Hinata-- Shō-- please, stop, it's okay! Please!", he whispered as he ran his fingers through Hinata's hair. Hinata cried for a few minutes, mumbling, "I'm sorry", multiple times. As the sobs slowed down, Tsukishima pulled Hinata away from him so he could look at the smaller boy's face. "You don't have to like me, you know. I'll still spend time with you. I told you, I love you, and I'll love you forever. That doesn't require your participation. I mean, that'd be nice, but--". Hinata frowned at Tsukishima as tears flowed freely from his eyes. "Of course I like you, you big dummy!", he yelled. "You think I just go around cuddling every cute guy who can block well?!" Tsukishima grinned stupidly at Hinata's comment, which made Hinata smile his first (albeit slight) smile of the day. "No... I'm sorry I couldn't think then and there. I'm sorry I couldn't make a decision. I was scared. But... We have our date today, and I have my date with Kageyama tomorrow at 2, and we'll see how it all goes!" Hinata tried to force a smile, but Tsukishima could still see the sorrow behind it.

"You know this isn't the perfect date I had planned, right?", he asked the redhead, "Sitting in a park and crying? Yeah. Not on my bucket list." Hinata giggled. "So what is on your list, then?", the smaller boy pried. Tsukishima pretended to think. "Hmm... well... You did just say that Kageyama isn't coming to get you until 2 tomorrow, right? Which means that you don't have to leave my house until like 1:45 if Akiteru or my mom drives you home." Hinata grinned and playfully shoved Tsukishima. "You're so bad", Hinata giggled, "I don't think this is what Suga-san had in mind at all ." Tsukishima smiled broadly and raised an eyebrow. "Wellll? What do you think? Do you want to stay over?" Hinata grinned. "You're making it really tough to say no, you know." "That's the point", Tsukishima said with a laugh. Hinata bit his lip for a moment before jumping up. "Come on, let's go ask my mom!" As Tsukishima stood up, Hinata looked down at his discarded food. "Tsukki...", he started. Tsukishima picked both buns up and tucked them into the bag. "It's fine", the blonde said, patting the smaller boy on the head. "This was just a snack. There'll be more food today, don't worry." Hinata frowned. "No, I'm sorry you wasted your effort." Tsukishima turned bright red and mumbled something inaudible. "Eh?", asked Hinata, "What was that? I didn't quite--". Tsukishima repeated himself, this time hardly better than the last. "Nothing ... n... ... you". Somehow he was even redder than he was before. Hinata shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kei, I don't understand what you're saying...". Tsukki looked directly at Hinata and, gritting his teeth, said, "NOTHING IS A WASTE OF EFFORT WHEN IT COMES TO YOU". Hinata swore he saw steam rising off of the tall boy, he was so embarrassed. Hinata laughed, "Cute ", before wrapping his arms around the embarrassed string bean he cared for so much.

As the two approached Hinata's house, Hinata turned to Tsukishima. "Ah- Kei- I was thinking- maybe we shouldn't tell our parents the nature of our hang outs just yet. It might make things a little more complicated." Tsukishima, while disappointed, was impressed that Hinata had actually put the thought into the situation that he clearly had.