fate, destiny, & love

42 | dolcissimo

42

dolcissimo [it.] — very sweet or soft

｡°˖✧˖°｡

the end of december arrived much more quickly than expected without anyone even realising, mainly because everyone was so preoccupied with finishing up their assignments and turning in their submissions to their professors.

this was no different from kageyama, who was barely getting enough sleep from practicing volleyball into the late evening and finishing his assignments in the wee hours of the night. he was pretty much surviving on a couple of hours' worth of sleep when he was in school and was asleep half of the time in his classes.

"man, kageyama, what time did you go to sleep last night?" takahashi asked as he stared at his junior's deep-set eyebags.

"four," kageyama bit back a yawn as he blinked drearily at the older male, then raised a can of iced coffee that he had bought earlier before practice, "don't worry, i'm quite alright."

"if ya say so," atsumu said with a dubious glance.

kageyama managed to last through practice (miraculously), barely pulling off his sets, which attracted the coach's attention and leading him to end practice early that day.

"get some rest when you reach home, kageyama," the coach said as he frowned at the young setter.

"yes sir," kageyama nodded before walking off to the bleachers in a half-dazed state.

｡°˖✧˖°｡

once kageyama stepped out of the gym, he noted the first snow falling from the dark skies. he yawned and watched the puff of smoke escape his mouth and into the sky before shoving his gloved hands into his coat pockets. suddenly, he felt someone grab his arm: it was hinata, staring at him with wide hazel eyes.

"what do you want?" kageyama asked before yawning, "i wanna head home to sleep."

"i know you need to recharge your batteries right now, tiredyama-kun," hinata started, "but i have something extremely important to show you. you'll like it, i promise."

before kageyama could even ask any further questions, hinata took off running, dragging the half-asleep setter behind him, causing the ravenette to yelp, "hey, what are you doing, dumbass hinata?!"

hinata did not answer, but continued dragging him along, and kageyama could only succumb to whatever hinata was bringing him towards. suddenly, all he heard was the sound of party poppers and cheers, then the unified singing of the happy birthday song.

still confused, he blinked and saw remi, minho, and even nakajima in front of him, clapping while singing happy birthday. suddenly, a fourth person emerged with a cake lit up with three candles on top: it was quqi, grinning while carefully holding a cake in her hands and singing with the rest of the group.

once the singing came to a cease, she said, "happy birthday, kageyama! quick, make your wish, then blow out the candles."

he smiled softly and closed his eyes, making his silent and selfish wish, i hope huan-san will like me, too. i'll wait however long it takes.

he then opened his eyes and met quqi's waiting ones before gently blowing the candles out. cheers erupted from the rest of the group and remi spoke, "now, let's go sit by the benches and eat the cake!"

after everyone had settled down on one of the benches and kageyama had cut the cake into six equal slices ("it's part of your duty as the birthday boy," remi had said), everyone handed him their gifts (including nakajima, which he had found surprising). the last one to hand him his gift was quqi, who was holding a very familiar bag in her hands