Work Text:
Hitoka had known she'd be nervous, traveling by herself by train over such a long distance. She'd been unable to sleep the night before, filled with anxiety about if she got on the wrong train or if a creepy person sat next to her or if she fell asleep and missed her stop or any number of other terrible scenarios that seemed all too possible in the dead of the night.
What she wasn't suspecting, after she'd successfully gotten on the correct train and had a nice conversation with her seat mate about his pet cats and been too involved in talking to doze off and got off easily at the right stop, was for Kiyoko to be just as nervous as she was.
Kiyoko had met her at the station, just as she promised, and Hitoka could see her as they pulled in, standing rigidly by one of the station's signposts, hands crinkling the papers in her hands and scarf swaying as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.
Her eyes lit up when she saw Hitoka and she waved furiously, making Hitoka grin. She'd been slightly worried that Kiyoko's anxiety meant she didn't really want Hitoka to have come at all. Maybe she had a surprise exam or the new team she was managing needed her help or maybe just now that she was a college girl, Hitoka seemed boring.
"Hitoka!" Kiyoko grabbed Hitoka's hands in hers and squeezed, wrinkling her papers further. "Did you find your way here okay? Oh, let me get your bag for you. Are you hungry? Tired? I made a list of things we can do around the city. There's a museum that has a typography exhibit you might like, and there's live music at this cafe a few blocks down, I've never been but people say it's nice, and--"
"Can we stop by your place first?" Hitoka asked. "I'd like to see it in person instead of on camera."
"Of course," Kiyoko said. "You'll like my roommates, I think. Kana-chan is really funny and Megumi-san is so smart. They're nice, too, and they do their part of the housework."
"I've met them on Skype, remember?" Hitoka said, gently twisting her hand through the ends of Kiyoko's scarf. "I like them."
"Right, of course," Kiyoko said. "Sorry, you must think I'm being awfully silly, with all my lists and everything. I just really want you to have a good time here."
"I'm with you, aren't I?" Hitoka said, bumping Kiyoko gently with her elbow. "That's all I really need."
Kiyoko blushed. That had been the most surprising thing about their relationship, once Hitoka had gotten beyond the Oh my gosh! A really gorgeous girl likes me! Me! of it all. Hitoka would have guessed she would be the one to fluster and Kiyoko to soothe, but at least half the time it went the other way. Kiyoko was so surprised and pleased each time Hitoka reached out to do so much as hold her hand, as if they had only just started dating. It was sweet.
"I'd like to meet your team, though," Hitoka said. "Who knows, maybe we can find a time and get them to come practice back with Karasuno."
"You know, that might be really good for them," Kiyoko said. "Our team is pretty strong, of course, being university-level and all, but sometimes they can get a little stuck in their ways. Playing a team like Karasuno might shake them up a bit. Invigorate them."
"And it would be good for our first years," Hitoka said. "To show them where they can improve. Well, and our second years, too, if I'm being honest. Did you know Kageyama and Hinata are fighting again?"
"Really, again?" Kiyoko asked, eyes shining. She still cared so much for the boys she'd left behind. "What about this time?"
"Well, Hinata wants to learn to toss so they can come up with different attacking styles, but he asked Kageyama to teach him and Kageyama gets so stressed seeing him doing it wrong and doesn't know how to express it," Hitoka explained, waving a hand. "Oh, they'll be over it in a few weeks, I'm sure, but all the first years are freaking out."
"Oh, listen to you," Kiyoko teased gently. "I remember when you weren't so calm about them fighting."
"I didn't know it was normal for them, then!" Hitoka said with a laugh. "Once the first years see them do it a couple more times they'll realize they have to fight whenever they grow. I hope it doesn't take too long, though. Our new setter especially could use Kageyama back in top form soon."
"I really want to see the new players," Kiyoko said. "I'm sorry I missed the training camp. Oh, it's left this way."
"It's fine," Hitoka said after they'd redirected. "Of course you need to be with your team. How are they doing? Do they give you much trouble?"
"Not so bad," Kiyoko said. "There's actually a boy you might recognize from Spring High, in the first years, but he's the only other one from Miyagi. Everyone is nice, though. Oh," she said suddenly, drawing up to a halt. "If you want, we can stop in briefly on their practice now. The gym is only a little out of our way, and they have an informal meet up usually around now."
"I'd like that," Hitoka said.
The gym was bigger than the ones Hitoka was used to seeing in Karasuno and fancier, but the smell was the same. She smiled, filing that away to tell Hinata later.
"Shimizu-san!" A very, very tall man waved as he jogged over, a volleyball tucked under his arm. "You don't usually come to th-- Woah! A girl! You brought a girl! Guys, there's a girl in our gym!"
"There's a girl in our gym whenever Shimizu-san is here," a shorter player responded. Hitoka thought he might be a libero, but maybe she was just biased to assume so because of his dyed hair and height.
"But Shimizu-san doesn't count!" the first man said and then seemed to hear himself. "Er, no offense."
"None taken," Kiyoko said. "This is my girlfriend, Yachi Hitoka. She's a volleyball manager, too."
"Not for our competition, I hope," another overly tall man broke in.
"No, no," Hitoka said, waving her arms. "I'm still in high school."
"Excellent!" the first player said, grabbing Yachi's hand. "You can come to our school, then, and we'll have two beautiful girl managers!"
"Who don't count as girls?" the libero-like one asked, making his friend laugh nervously.
Hitoka pulled her hand back, biting her lip. She'd felt Kiyoko go all tense next to her, but she wasn't sure why. She wasn't jealous of the guy touching her, was she? Kiyoko had never been jealous like that before...
"We need to go drop off Hitoka's things," Shimizu said. "I'll be back for tonight's practice, though."
"So no slacking off!" one of the other players shouted and there was a chorus of agreement.
They were quiet as they left the gym. Hitoka didn't know what to say, only that Kiyoko's excited anxiousness had turned sour, somehow, and she didn't know how to fix it.
"I'm sorry," Kiyoko broke out suddenly, when Hitoka thought they might spend the whole trip in silence. "For what he said about you coming here too, I don't want to put any pressure on you or make you feel like you have to consider it, we've never talked about it and I don't know if they even have the kind of programs you're interested in here or--"
"They don't," Hitoka said.
"Oh," Kiyoko said.
"The university two train stops away does," Hitoka said. "And the one four stops away, and another that's a little further but still doable. I looked up all the schools in this city."
Kiyoko stared at her. "You did?"
"Of course," Hitoka said. "The second you told me where you planning to go."
Kiyoko stared at her. "Oh," she said, turning pink. "Oh."
"I hope you don't mind," Hitoka said, though she could see Kiyoko didn't mind at all.
"No," Kiyoko said. "That's... that's good."
"Does that mean you'll calm down, now?" Hitoka asked. "Since you know now that I want to be near you."
Kiyoko laughed and grabbed Hitoka's hand. "I'll do my best," she promised, and they walked the rest of the way home hand in hand.