The Other Side of the Equation
A Haikyuu! drabble
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. These two just amuse me. -w- Read, review, and enjoy! *Done for hqdatekouweek on tumblr.*
- ^-^3
"All right. Frankly, I get equations that have us solving for one variable…but two?" Obara Yutaka scratches his head and looks across the low table at his friend. "Please help," he moans, his smile less a smile and more of a groveling expression.
Onagawa Tarou snaps out of his reverie, his mechanical pencil dangling from his mouth. "Ah? Hmm, lemme see…" He reaches for Obara's summer homework, glances at the problem, does his work on scratch paper, and hands both to the other boy. "There. Done."
Obara groans. "No…! I didn't mean do it for me!" He sighs, exasperated, but he nevertheless tucks the work under his textbook. When Onagawa watches him do this, he turns fidgety and his face floods with color. "I'll just—just compare my work after," he fumbles.
Onagawa could care less. He's fine with Obara copying his work—he's only good at math anyway, so he thinks it an equal exchange for Obara coming over to his house and helping him with their other subjects.
After solving the problem and having Onagawa check his work, Obara breathes a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness… I don't know how you do it, Onagawa. Numbers just don't make sense to me—and then adding letters to numbers?" He laughed at himself. "No way. It's a recipe for disaster."
Onagawa shrugs. Numbers just make sense to him. Like the number of points needed to win a set. Or the number of feet between home and school. Or the number of calories in the Cup Noodles he loves so much…a number which has been smaller recently because his mother has started buying the low-cal kind. (He's planning on fixing that soon enough.)
Obara hums quietly to himself under his breath as he sorts through their other subjects, trying to figure out what to switch to next.
But Onagawa, again, could care less. They've got five other subjects to do, but they still have two weeks of vacation left, so he's not worried. Instead, he thinks of the number of times he's pushed the usually-reserved Obara's buttons so far today (just once, when he first came over and Onagawa said he wanted to play and not study). He thinks of the number of inches from him to Obara at this table (twenty, unless he reaches for Obara's hand). He thinks of the number of times he's seen Obara's cheeks darken with healthy color (ha, not nearly enough times).
Obara stops humming and clears his throat. "Onagawa…you're doing it again."
"Ha?" the shaggy-haired boy mumbles. He yawns and realizes that, in his recollecting, he'd begun to add to those numbers just now, as he retracts his fingers from Obara's and notes not only the berry color of Obara's ears but the left eyebrow of Obara's twitching in annoyance. Whoops. "Sorry, Obacchi," he tosses out lazily with another yawn, and he leans back until he's lying on the floor.
Obara peers at him over the side of the table. "You know, maybe we should've just called the others. We would have this done a lot sooner—none of us are good at the same things, so…" He trails off when Onagawa gives him a look. "All right, all right, you win."
"It's too hot for this right now," Onagawa complains. He motions to his friend. "Come lie down with me. We'll finish math another time."
The other teen rolls his eyes but indulges him. He realized last year when they'd met in club that the best way to handle Onagawa is to join him, not beat him, and Onagawa's milked it ever since.
With Obara stretched out beside him, the two of them staring at the ceiling, Onagawa relaxes fully, and his mind floods with numbers and with variables. He's X and Obara's Y—for "Yutaka," of course—and they are independent and dependent variables. He really likes that thought, the thought of Obara being dependent on him, and a slow smile blooms on his face.
"What're you thinking?" Obara thinks aloud, though quietly.
"That there's still time left," the shaggy-haired boy replies. "And we could spend it doing other useless things besides homework." He makes a go for it—first one finger (pinky), then two and three, until the fingers of his left hand are loosely tangled with those of Obara's right hand. The room is quiet save for the sounds of summer outside his bedroom window. This really could go any which way, even though Obara's never actually turned him down before. But a part of Onagawa, the one that gets math, counts the ticking seconds of silence between them and screams that this equation has two unknown variables—though Onagawa knows one variable already.
At last, a response. Obara turns his head to face Onagawa, and his smile is small. But it's there. "You win," he remarks with a chuckle, and Onagawa's chest thuds at the precious sight that is Obara Yutaka.
And that's the answer. The equation is solved, both variables are known…but, as Onagawa nudges his head closer to Obara's, he begins to wonder who's actually the dependent one here.
- ^-^3
B) I was thinking of a system of equations here, if anyone wondered…*lol* *mew the math nerd* I get this lazy vibe from Onagawa's design and data, but I like to think there's something good/useful about him besides him playing volleyball for Datekou. Hence, his only good subject is one most people hate. Obara, on the other hand, is a precious child who thinks he doesn't stand out with the other characters on their team around…but he's like some angel to Onagawa. And I'll go die now for this ship. 83 Dunno why, but I also felt that Onagawa might have strange nicknames for his classmates, too, hence "Obacchi," which is actually kinda cute. *has more ideas for them* W00t! :D
Thanks so much for reading, and please review! Check out my other fics if you liked this!
-mew-tsubaki :}