Noya cracked his eyes open when the warmth under the blanket he'd been tucked under became too much for him to sleep through. He briefly enjoyed the moment of complete comfort and warmth before he wondered where the hell he was in a sleepy haze. He turned his head lazily at the sound of a mug being put on the table, seeing Asahi curled up on an armchair that looked too small for him.
Asahi looked up from the textbook he'd been reading when Noya stretched a little, making a pleased sound. He smiled a little, giving Noya some time to wake up and bookmarking his reading, setting it lightly on the end table.
"Good morning." He said softly, sounding like he wasn't sure that Noya was actually awake. The incoherent grunt that could be a response didn't convince him. The shorter man whined, turning and pressing his face into the couch cushion and pulling the blanket over his head. A skinny jean-clad leg poked out from under the cocoon that Noya was wrapping himself up in, and Asahi laughed a bit.
"It's about ten thirty, if you need to be somewhere."
Noya lifted the blanket enough to expose one golden eye, squinting slightly, "It's before noon still?"
Asahi nodded in response, taking another sip of his tea. Noya grunted thoughtfully, slowly emerging from under the blanket and rubbing his eyes. The blond chunk of his hair flopped into his eyes limply and he blinked at it a bit. He sighed, ruffling his own hair and hoping his bedhead wasn't too out of control.
"Did you sleep well?"
Noya took a moment to process, then smiled, "Yeah man, like the dead. Did you sleep at all?" Asahi looked a little bashful, rubbing one of the bags under his eyes.
"Well, no." He laughed lightly and Noya felt himself pull a weird face, "It's not a big deal."
"How long have you been awake?"
Asahi considered the question, sipping his tea, "Probably longer than is strictly reasonable."
"Way to dodge the question!" Noya laughed, hopping off the couch. Asahi shrugged, throwing back the last few dregs in his cup.
"Yes, well. Would you like something to eat?"
"Hell yeah! also I want your number so you can come to volleyball!"
"Oh, right…" Asahi seemed to hesitate, before reaching for a notebook and pen sitting beside his textbook and jotted the number down. He tore it out and handed it to noya who looked down. The characters on the page looked like they would have usually been neat, but Asahi was just a little past caring.
"Would you like to put your number in my phone?" Noya nodded, shoving the paper into his pocket as Asahi handed him the ancient android. The brick of an iphone still sat lifelessly in Noya's pocket, kept slumbering thanks to incompatible chargers.
He took a moment, muttering the letter he was typing in before looking up and smiling at Asahi "There you go!" Asahi took it with a smile and looked at it to confirm, blinking a little.
"Nishinoya Yu?"
"Oh, yeah, haha, Noya's my nickname." Asahi nodded thoughtfully.
"In any case, I'll make some food for us."
He got up, vanishing around the corner to walk down the hall to the kitchen. Noya took a moment to take in the room that had seemed a blur last night when they'd arrived. Sunlight filtered in from the windows on each side of the room, making the scuffs and chipped paint seem less noticeable. Everything in the room seemed to have an air of being well worn; The couch sagged a bit, the carpets looked to be older than anyone currently living in the student building, and the radiator had several coats of chipped paint but it was all clean and bright.
Noya stood and stretched, walking over to the large window and door on the far side of the room that overlooked the parking lot and wooden balcony. Each apartment on that side of the building shared a wooden staircase that stretched into a landing for the residents to use as a balcony. He gulped a little at the sight of the stairs, spotting an almost completely rotted out board and wondering what kind of building inspector would certify either of the staircases in this building as safe.
"Do you like chocolate chips in your pancakes?" Noya jumped and turned, seeing Asahi standing in the door with a mixing bowl in hand.
"Yeah! the more the better." He grinned, following Asahi out of the room and into the kitchen.
"Sounds good!" He said, chuckling a little and throwing a handful of chips into the batter. Noya leaned against the counter, sticking a hand in his rumpled jean pocket.
"Do you have class today?"
"Ah, no, I have fridays off thankfully."
"Lucky! I have class at two thirty. speaking of, can I borrow paper and a pen to take notes? It's like… way too far to bus home and back and home again after just for my notebook."
Asahi nodded a bit, pouring some batter onto a pan, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, "Of course, just remind me before you go."
Noya hummed and looked out the kitchen window, "Awesome. How far from campus are we?"
"Only a ten minute walk or so… though, I have long legs, so maybe fifteen for you?" Noya huffed, crossing his arms.
"Oi, I'm not THAT short! I walk fast you know!" He said, mock-petulant.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that or anything…"
Noya laughed a little, "Yeah, I know." Asahi looked back at him, face a little red, but relaxed when he saw that Noya seemed unbothered.
" What class do you have today?" He turned back to the stove, flipping the pancakes and pleased to see they were the right balance of golden brown and paleness.
"Oh! Intro to sport and exercise psychology. It's pretty neat actually, since I've done sports for so long that I can totally see the concepts and how they're like, accurate as heck to my old high school team."
"That does sound neat," Asahi said a little absently as he lifted the edge of his creation a little to check and see if it was done, "is it your favourite class?"
"Nah, but it's up there." Noya perked up as Asahi slid the four pancakes smoothly onto a plate, looking pleased.
"Are just two okay? I can make you more if you need, but I figured two each…"
"Dude, yes, gimmie them please!" Asahi chuckled at Noya's exuberance, moving two of them to a second plate and handing them to Noya and nodding to the table. Noya bounced over and sat as Asahi moved around the table to get to the fridge, retrieving butter, maple syrup and strawberry jam.
They both sat and tucked into their food, quiet for a time. Noya watched Asahi out of the corner of his eye, noting the contemplative look on his face. They both jumped at the sound of a door slamming closed and heavy footsteps heading towards the kitchen.
Asahi said "oh!" softly as he turned, seeing one of his roommates come through the doorway. The broad shouldered man blinked a little, rubbing his eye and looking from Asahi to Noya.
"Good morning, Daichi." He said a little timidly. Daichi grunted in response, walking over to the counter and grabbing a banana before turning back to the seated pair.
"Who's this?" He asked, glancing at Noya, half-curious, half-annoyed.
"Oh, this is-" Asahi started.
"I'm Noya!"
"W-we met last night by chance. It's a bit of a strange story…" Asahi seemed a little shy, making Noya grin.
"If by strange you mean hilarious."
Daichi's eyebrows were both raised as he took a bite of his food, "Mhmm…"
"I'm sorry if we woke you."
"No, it's fine, you didn't," Daichi yawned, "I was at the Gym early and was just napping before class anyway. Watch it though." He said warningly, but the tiny smile playing at the corner of his lips took the bite out of the threat. Asahi gulped anyway.
"Did Suga go with you?" He asked, voice shaking a little.
"I heard my name!" A silver haired youth poked his head into the room as well, grinning.
"I think that answers your question." Daichi said, tossing his banana peel and washing his hands as Asahi's other roommate walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Asahi! Sleep last night?" Suga glanced at Noya then fixed his brown eyes on Asahi's alarmed face.
"Of course."
"But-" Noya started but Asahi's eyes snapped to him and he stopped, but the damage had been done.
"Asahi, you're lying to my face and that hurts me." Suga leaned in close, making the taller man sink in his chair.
"I'm just not tired, Suga."
The silver haired man let out a huge sigh, shaking his head in exasperation, "Alright, alright, but at least try and rest at some point this weekend."
"Yeah, Asahi, Volleyball is on Sunday-" Noya stopped as both of Asahi's roommate's head swiveled to look at Noya with intense states.
"Volleyball?" they said, almost perfectly in unison.
"Yeah! They started up an intramural league a little bit ago, do you guys play too?" Suga hid a smile behind the back of his hand, exchanging a look with an equally amused Daichi.
"You could say that!" Suga said in a sing song voice, going into the fridge.
Asahi sighed and shook his head a little, "Daichi is captain of the school volleyball team, and Suga is on it too. He's the Setter." Noya's eyes lit up, hopping up.
"Oh man! That! That's so Gwoahh! I wanted to try out but my classes were over all the practices! I'm a Libero!" The kitchen was suddenly filled with the chatter of three passionate sportsmen and Asahi trying to keep his mouth full any time the conversation turned towards him. Finally, the two older boys had to bolt out the front door for class, leaving Noya and Asahi alone in the kitchen again.
"They seem awesome Asahi!" the tall man laughed a little as he took away the plates and rinsed them off.
"Please don't tell them I said so, but they are generally. They're both a bit scary in their own ways."
Noya hummed a bit, looking at the stove's clock, "Fair enough. I still have like an hour before I have to head out though. unless you want me to go early so you can sleep?"
"Oh, no you can stay for now. I'll put on some tea." Asahi busied himself with that, and Noya found his eyes drawn to the loose bun bobbing on the back of Asahi's head as he worked.
The hour pass amicably, and finally Noya jumped up with flourish, "Alright the time has come. I'll text you as soon as I charge my phone up okay? now that I know everyone you know is apparently into volleyball you can't get out of anything."
"...You sounded a little bit like Daichi." Asahi mumbled, looking slightly concerned. Noya laughed and shrugged.
"The man clearly knows what he's talking about then! You'll be good for sunday?"
Asahi hesitated, but smiled a little as he looked down, "I should be. hopefully well rested and everything."
"Awesome!" Asahi stood up towering over Noya as they walked across the hall to the front door, "It's at the school gym, three pm."
"I won't forget."
"Do you want to meet up beforehand?" Asahi blinked a bit as the question, and Noya felt his cheeks redden slightly.
"Oh, like… get food or something?"
Noya nodded, "Or coffee, or whatever."
"Okay, um… sure."
"Cool! Well. See you then! I'll text you when I can, like I said, bye!" Noya hurried himself out of the apartment, half sliding down the stairs and pressing his back to the outermost door of the ancient apartment building as soon as he was in the crisp october air.
"Oh man." He muttered to himself and started a brisk pace towards campus. His heart beat a little faster than it really should be and he started to worry when he imagined Asahi's sleepy smile again.
"Ohhh man…" The pain of not being able to text anyone became acute as Noya sat through his lecture, reviewing the events from the last twelve or so hours of his life. He fidgeted and half listened his way through the three hour lecture, ignoring the fact that he had to wait another forty five minutes to get home until he was waiting at the bus stop.
Tanaka looked over his shoulder as Noya burst through the door to their apartment, pausing his game of grand theft auto. He raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the ratty blue couch they had gotten for free from the previous tenants.
"Ryu, you would not believe. You just. The last like day of my life has been so whahhh? like where do I even start."
"Bro, you start by sitting your ass down and telling me." The grey eyed man grinned, slapping the couch cushion beside him.
"'kay, just let me throw my phone on the charger." Noya vanished around the corner into his room, then returned and sat heavily next to his roommate.
"Are you wearing the same thing as yesterday?"
Noya blinked, a little impressed that Tanaka had noticed, "That's part of the story, Ryu," He nodded in understanding, waiting for Noya to continue, "Okay so, after work last night I went to grab some snacks for the ride home, and the bastard running the store locked me in. It was so spooky like, wow."
"No way. How long were you in there for?"
"Oh, maybe two hours? but that's not the important part. I wasn't the only one locked in there!"
"Okay, actually no way."
"Ryu, I'm telling the truth. His name is Asahi. Anyway so we spent like two hours hanging out then he let me crash on his couch because it was like four thirty in the morning when we accidentally set off the alarm and got let out by a security guard. Then he made pancakes in the morning. And he's into volleyball." Noya felt himself talking faster and faster until he made himself stop, hoping his friend wouldn't notice how flustered he was.
Tanaka rubbed his chin thoughtfully, nodding along as Noya talked, "Always good. you invite him to volleyball this Sunday?"
"Duh."
"Hmmmmm, so what, you made a cool new friend or..." Tanaka leaned in close to Noya's face, grinning deviously, "something else…"
Ignoring the shit eating grin, Noya said, "Well, I dunno! he is uh, y'know good looking and really nice and he's got long hair…" Noya's eyes glazed over a little as he remembered staring at the back of Asahi's head. A hunger pang also announced itself as he remembered he hadn't eaten anything but those pancakes since waking up.
"Uh huh." Tanaka pulled back and unpaused his game, thinking, "I dunno man if it were me and I saw a cute honey who was into volleyball and was nice to me, I'd at least try to get to know 'em a bit then as 'em out right?"
"Right. Yeah. I uh… kinda asked if he wanted to go out to lunch before we went to volleyball."
"And he said yes?" Tanaka glanced over to see Noya nod, "Well dude, that's a good sign if I ever saw one."
"Do you think we could skype Saeko and see if she'd help me pick something to wear?"
"What, am I not good enough to help?"
"Absolutely not." Noya laughed as he elbowed his friend, who grumbled in mock-outrage and elbowed back at him as he drove in-game.
"And here I thought we were friends, brothers, partners in crime!"
"We are but you wear like five shirts and one of them is a jersey."
"That's fair." Tanaka said, laughing as he crashed into a police helicopter and blew up. They sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes as Tanka restarted the section of the game he was on.
"How tall is he." Noya blinked at the question, eyeing his friend suspiciously.
"I guess about six feet tall." Tanaka hummed, grinning to himself but not pushing the question further.
"Why?"
The innocent face Tanaka tried to pull as he mowed down civilians with a machine gun in game made Noya narrow his eyes more, "Why what?"
"Hmmmm…" Noya said, getting up off the couch, "Alright, well, I need to do some laundry and take a nap. I only slept like three hours."
"Yeah, on Asahi's couch~!" Tanaka made obnoxious kissy sounds and Noya laughed.
"What is this? Should I bring up your embarrassing high school crush or-"
"Alright, alright no need for that." Tanaka said quickly, not wanting to relive that particular embarrassment, "But just remember it's not high school anymore, Yu. We're getting too old and mature for these silly crushes you speak of. we have "things for" people now."
"Hey I mean, if you call playing GTA all day in your boxers mature that's your bag."
"GTA is a very refined game. I mean look, I just blew up a tank with a rocket launcher."
Noya laughed, shaking his head as he walked into his room, taking a moment to turn on his phone. It took a few minutes to load up so he put it down and dumped the last dregs of clean laundry from his hamper onto his bed and started refilling it with the dirty laundry scattered around the room. He looked up as his phone buzzed and dropped what he was doing to check the message with hands that shook ever so slightly.
"I hope you got home in one piece. thank you for keeping me company. :)" Noya whooped when he read the words, punching the air victoriously and excitedly typing a response.