"Hey, they're finally out!" Tanaka yells at Nishinoya, who is laid out like a starfish metres away from his counterpart on the ground.

"God took you guys long enough! I'm hungry and wanna go home!" Tanaka huffs, crossing his arms in front of him as Nishinoya sits up.

This begins to make me laugh, a reaction those two are usually good at getting from me.

"No one said you had to stay!" I call out to him from the top of the stairs.

"No, he wanted to stay!" Nishinoya calls out on behalf of his friend, who gives him a death stare for blowing his cover.

Asahi follows me from the club room, having got dressed and with all of his things.

"Okay, we're going home now! See you later, (Y/N)! And Asahi!" Tanaka calls out to us as he meets with Nishinoya and they start walking out towards the school gates.

"By the way, Suga went to take Anika home!" Nishinoya adds as they round the corner.

I wave to them until they're out of sight, then I turn around to face Asahi. He looks away quickly, shifting his feet across from me. I hang my head in pity for him, wondering why he reacts the same way as before, knowing our mutual feelings. Well, it should count for something that he was at least able to leave the room okay.

"You know, I'm not a brand new person," I assure him, and he performs a double-take before settling his gaze onto mine the second time. "I'm still me."

He only looks down once as if to collect his thoughts before giving me an embarrassed smile. "I know. I guess I'm still just nervous."

"That's okay," I say, reaching out for his arm. He almost looks shocked at the contact, but he tries to conceal it as he looks at me. It's a start.

"Anyway, we should go, my mom might be getting worried about me," I say as I drop my hand. I start to walk down the stairs and soon enough, I feel his presence behind me, following. I take a deep breath and a bright smile emerges on my face.

There are a lot more steps than I remember, and I attempt to look down to see how many are left before the bottom when I lose my footing. One of my feet starts to fall through the space between the two steps and I let out a sharp gasp as my heart jumps. I try to catch myself, but I'm suddenly yanked by my elbow upwards, where Asahi is there to cushion my impact.

I release a deep breath as I try to stabilize my heart again, but the beat doesn't slow. I notice that I'm caught in a bit of an awkward embrace with him. My face is pressed against his torso and I grasp at his jacket sleeves tightly. His one hand is wrapped around my elbow while the other rests between my shoulder blades. There's a big part of me that doesn't want to let go, but I start to release myself from his grip to correct my posture. I know that I'm blushing, but at least I'm not alone; the same redness streaks his face, but at least he hasn't already run away.

"Sorry," I finally say, sheepishly.

"N-no, it's okay! Just be careful." He says, and we start a second attempt at walking down the stairs. This time, he positions himself next to me and I feel his hand hover slightly over my back. My face starts to feel slightly warmer at his gesture, and I almost start thinking about wanting to fall through the stairs again.

"We made it," I sigh as we stand at the base of the stairs.

"Yeah," he smiles. "Um... let's head back now."

The walk is somewhat quiet, and it seems more like we're enjoying each other's company again than anything else. The streetlights are dim and don't light up much more than the path in front of us, and there is nothing but open fields and residential spaces to view. Usually, this is the point where I start a conversation with him, but it doesn't seem necessary right now.

After some time, we're about halfway to our destination. Past this longer crosswalk, we would reach the larger residential area where at some point, we would have to diverge paths. We had continued to walk in silence until now, and still without talking, I act on an urge. I raise my hand to clasp the crook of his elbow, which catches him off-guard. I don't look up at him to watch an expression I know already lies there, but I do have to tug at him every so often to get him to cross the whole road with me.

Once we make it across, I let my hand fall from his arm. He stops in his tracks and we just glance at each other.

"I'm sorry," I start, "I just wanted to try it out. You seemed a little bit nervous, I don't want to make you uncomfortable."

"N-no! It's not like that, um... I wasn't uncomfortable." He responds.

I smile, hoping he'd say that. Given this, I return my hand to its original position and we start to walk again.

⋆⋆⋆

As we approach my house, I release his arm. I don't want to, but this situation is something I have to explain to Mom before I can feel comfortable showing it off around there. Standing at the base of the driveway, I remember something.

Before we can exchange any goodbyes, I ask, "Will you wait here for just a minute?"

He nods with a confused expression covering his face.

I run up the driveway towards the front door, unlocking it and jogging to one of the kitchen cupboards, which is home to a sizeable amount of apple drinks. I take one and run back out to the driveway where he waits.

"Here," I say breathlessly. "For you."

"You have some at home?" He asks before taking it from my hand.

"Yeah, funny story," I pant out a laugh, "my mom saw me drink the one you gave me and she just bought a whole bunch of them. I have a lot of them now, so we can share them."

"That sounds great, thank you," He smiles, "I like these drinks."

I look at the can wrapped in his hand, and it looks miniature in proportion. "Hey, you could think of it as the thing that introduced us."

He looks at the drink a bit more intently before meeting my gaze again with a soft smile. "I do."

I start to feel myself blushing again at his glance and this time, I look away. I shake my head to try and relieve the feeling, thinking instead about how it must be time again to part ways. "Will you meet me here tomorrow morning?"

"Of course," he responds quickly, putting the drink in his backpack. "What time?"

"Well... I can message you tonight." I say, and he nods in agreement. "Anyway, I should probably head in. My mom might be suspicious if she looks out the window and sees me talking to a creepy guy at night again."

The gentle look on his face is ripped away by a look of dread. "Creepy guy... again?"

"No, I'm kidding," I exhale and grin. "You make it a little bit too easy to get under your skin."

He lets out a relieved sigh and shakes his head. "I'm sorry, I just don't want anyone to think I'm being creepy."

"You're not!" I say in his defence, and he seems to take it in stride.

"As long as you say so, I'll believe you." He says with a smile.

"I know. Okay, now I really have to go." I say, placing a hand on his chest to push him away. Throughout the contact, I feel his heartbeat race, just as mine is. He tries to feign nonchalance but has trouble moving away from me. I feel the same, but knowing it's time we both go home, I give him a slight nudge with my fingers.

"Get home safely, Asahi," I say as he finally follows my order.

"I will. I'll see you tomorrow morning." He responds, and I wave to him before he turns away to face the sidewalk in the opposite direction. I wait until he's a bit too small to see clearly before heading back inside.

"So," the sound of Mom's voice startles me as I shut the front door. "What happened?"

"Asahi walked me home, I just wanted to give him an apple drink to thank him."

"So that's his name," Mom says knowingly, and I smile at her in response. "He looks a little bit creepy when it's nighttime, doesn't he? It's the height, I think."

"Were you looking at us through the window?" I ask her intensely.

"No! Well, not long enough, in case you're worried that I saw anything." She responds with a grin on her face. I shake my head and let her know I'm settling in before climbing the stairs.

After brushing through my hair and putting on some clothes fit for home, I grab my phone and notice I already have some messages.

Asahi

I just got home ☺

I have to wait to drink this until tomorrow

It doesn't take me long to respond as I immediately start typing at my keyboard.

Asahi

I just got home ☺

I have to wait to drink this until tomorrow

glad you're home safe!

aw why

I feel like I'll get to enjoy it better tomorrow

I'm a little bit tired from today

Considering everything haha

oh right

yeah i can imagine hahah

in that case

you don't have to come by tomorrow

if you're too tired

No I will ☺

as long as you're sure ☹

we can meet at 7:30?

Of course

I might sleep soon

Good night (Y/N) ☺

good night, sleep well ☺

At this point, I lock my phone. I can only imagine how tired he must be after today's whirlwind of a day. But unlike him, knowing that he'll come to see me early tomorrow, I feel like I won't be able to sleep tonight.

⋆⋆⋆

Just as I thought, I couldn't sleep well last night. I tossed and turned, attempting to find the best position to be able to fall asleep quickly. Instead of wanting to be well-rested, I found myself struggling to keep my eyes open at 7:15 am.

"You didn't sleep well last night?" Mom takes me out of my stupor, looking concerned at my expression.

"I just couldn't fall asleep right away," I respond, yawning.

"Hm, will you be able to walk to school? I don't want you falling asleep on the sidewalk."

"Yeah, yeah... Asahi is walking me to school anyway," I say, the lack of sleep taking over my ability to think before speaking.

"He's coming to get you? This boy must like you lots." She says with an amused tone.

I lean my head back on the couch with my eyes closed. "It's something like that," I start to say, feeling myself drift back to sleep.

Luckily, I catch myself and I wrench myself up to a stand. "I'm gonna go out and wait for him, otherwise I might fall asleep here."

"Okay, just be safe, don't fall asleep anywhere outside. Call me if you need me." Mom says, following me to the door like usual to close it behind me.

I navigate the stairs and the driveway easily enough, concluding that I just need to keep moving to feel awake. As soon as I reach the sidewalk, I'm met with Asahi, who seems to have made it at the same time.

"Are you okay? You look so tired." He looks concerned as my eyelids start to feel heavy again. Gazing into his eyes, which look rejuvenated with the amount of sleep he must've gotten the night before, I feel jealous.

"I just couldn't get much sleep last night," I respond, leaning my head slightly onto him. He takes my shoulders in his hands before he speaks again.

"Should you be going to school? You could fall asleep in class."

"It'll be okay if I keep moving," I reply, "Just don't be annoyed if I keep yawning."

"Of course not... um, we can go back if you start to feel too tired to go. Just tell me when." He says, pulling me towards his side and resting a hand permanently on my outside shoulder as we walk. I follow his direction, feeling my eyelids get lighter with more steps. Though our contact is as comfortable as it feels to drift back to sleep, I find that my mind urges me to stay awake, just to be able to feel it entirely.