*
★
"tonight's the night!" y/n looked over her appearance, flattening the skirt of her sun dress and fixing her hair.
"you're really determined." tsukishima mused, arm casually resting on the back of yamaguchi's chair.
"you've got this y/n!" yachi and the green haired male cheered, both giving her thumbs up. tsukishima rolled his eyes and smirked, kageyama was dozing off looking at his phone.
"tonight's gonna be great, i can feel it." y/n spoke to herself, turning to her laptop where her friends we're displayed.
"hinata's texting me, he's nervous." kageyama spoke up, leaning over to show yachi and yamaguchi his phone.
"wow, never thought i'd see y/n being the confident one and hinata shitting himself." tsukishima chuckled, "it's refreshing." yamaguchi slapped his thigh, whispering to him to stop teasing.
"it is weird, nice, but weird." yachi agreed, watching y/n deflate.
"maybe he's sick or something?" she mumbled, watch each of her friends instantly give her hard looks.
"y/n, you have a month left, barely. you gotta stay confident, you guys are friends and it's more than obvious he's at least interested." yachi comforted, giving her best friend a smile.
"yeah, he can't stop thinking about you." kageyama chimed in, getting 'shut up' eyes from the others as well as a elbow to his side.
"what?"
"nothing!" yamaguchi covered, "hinata just seems nervous, why else would someone be nervous to go out to dinner with someone if they weren't interested? especially hinata!" he said, hand rubbing the back of his neck.
"he's right," tsukishima agreed, "the only other times i've seen him like this is before a big game."
"but that usually comes with him shitting a lot." kageyama added, "he hasn't said anything about pooping."
yachi sighed in tandem with yamaguchi, tsukishima just rolled his eyes.
"so, is that a good sign?" y/n asked, pretty confused and distracted by all the poop talk.
"yes, it is." kageyama answered.
"okay, you're getting cut off." yamaguchi stood, "good luck on your date, y/n." he told her, dragging kageyama away.
"well," tsukishima started, hands colliding to wrap around each other.
"anyways," yachi took the stage once again, "kageyama knows hinata better than anyone, you should trust his judgement."
"yeah, i do." y/n said, slipping her shoes on and glancing at the time, "okay, i'll call later and tell you how it went." she said, giving the two left a small smile.
"good luck, y/n!"
"good luck with shrimpy."
across town, further from the beach than where y/n was, hinata was pacing back and forth in his room.
his thoughts kept running, a conversation he'd just had with pedro making his brain work a mile a minute.
it started when hinata was dressed extremely casually, telling his roommate he was going out to dinner with his friend.
"aren't you a bit under dressed?" pedro asked, raising one brow at the other male.
"what do you mean?" hinata grabbed the hem of his plain white t-shirt, looking down at it like he didn't know he looked like he was about to go hiking or something.
"you're going on a date with your girlfriend, you should dress up a bit." he shrugged, "let her know you put thought into your outfit instead of just throwing something on."
"wait," hinata held up a hand, "girlfriend? date?"
pedro shrugged, "yeah? you guys are dating, right?"
hinata was silent, frozen to his spot.
"you guys aren't dating?" he asked, seeing realization flood to hinata.
every interaction they'd ever had he was rethinking. how she'd always turn away from him and how he thought it was because she didn't like him. they constantly held hands, was the night tsukishima and kageyama leave the night she confessed? did he miss it?
are they dating?
suddenly, her cute nervous smile, her darting eyes, the heat from her cheeks,
it all made sense.
"she likes me." he mumbled, eyes wide, "do i like her?"
slowly, he walked backwards into his room.
"so, they're not dating?" pedro asked himself aloud, shrugging it off because it wasn't his business.
but back in hinata's room, he was pacing.
not only was he questioning how he felt about one of his best friends, but he also didn't know what to wear, and not only that he was questioning if they'd been dating for over two weeks now.
"what does a guy wear to dinner with a girl who's gonna look great?" he asked, voice pitchy, "she always looks great."
he sat on his bed arms limp before he suddenly realized.
it was five twenty, they were supposed to meet at four fifty five.
"fuck," he shouted, "i'm late for our date!" with that he rushed out the house, not caring about being under dressed when he was extremely late.
pedro squinted, "so it is a date?"
cut to y/n, patiently waiting for hinata while other tables gave her sad looks.
she wasn't worried, her confidence still bubbling as she happily waited for the male. but seeing him worried, scared and sweaty made her smile fall.
"are you alright, hinata?" she stood, walking over to him and placing her hands on his cheeks and forehead, "you're burning, are you sick?" she asked, not realizing how the pink flush painting his cheeks spread as she got closer.
"i'm okay!" he said, "sorry for being late, let's eat now, yeah?" he offered, not wanting to touch her incase she felt how sweaty he was.
"no, we can eat some other time." she said, waving over a waiter to tell him they were leaving, "i'll pay, you need to get back home."
hinata was absolutely flustered, a wreak on two feet with a beet red face and glowing hair.
"my place is closer, but we can go to yours if you want." she offered, getting him to shake his head.
"you don't need to worry! i'm fine!" he said, "i'll walk you home."
"no," her hand grabbed his, her eyes serious as they walked out the restaurant, "i'm taking you home, you're sick."
with her hand connected to his, she dragged him along. not able to see how he stumbled over his feet or how he was mesmerized by her determined expression. how when she turned her back to him his mouth fell open and he couldn't breathe. his heart swelled as his eyes found their hands, squeezing hers she did it back before pulling him forward.
"come on, let's get you home." his heart skipped a beat before coming to a full stop and climbing to his throat. he could feel his pulse skyrocket, could feel the thumping of his heart beat throughout his neck as his cheeks and ears burned.
the sky dimmed, it was dark as they entered hinata's house.
pedro gave them one glance, asking them to be quiet because he was going to sleep.
hinata buffered, getting a confused look from y/n.
"he a light sleeper?"
"uh, yeah yeah."
"you lay down, i'll get a wet towel." y/n instructed, tucking hinata into bed and leaving. she did all she knew to do when someone was sick, took his temperature, got him water, and some medicine which she left on his nightstand.
he fell asleep, leaving the room and closing the door behind her she sighed.
"you can stay if you want." pedro offered, sitting in at the kitchen island.
"i thought you were asleep." y/n said, approaching him.
he shrugged, "couldn't sleep, and i have summer classes in the morning so i can't help hinata if he needs it. you can stay over if you want." he offered, seeing the girl look at him surprised.
"really? you don't mind?" she asked.
"not really," he shrugged, grabbing a water and going back to his room, "extra pillows and blankets are in the closet."
♡
*
the feeling of knowing someone likes you is sweet but heartbreaking, especially when you'll never love them the way they want you to.