Level Horizon (Haikyuu!! WingedAU)

Year Two.80 2/2; Gioiosa Progresso e Libertà

I think I realize the difference now, between loving someone from afar and loving someone up close. When you see them up close, you see the real them, but they also get to see the real you. ~Jenny Han

When Shouyou's coat and scarf are wet from the falling snowflakes, Kageyama finally calls it quits. The redhead could quite happily go for another hour— the feeling in his fingers isn't a necessity, but that's why he has Kageyama: to keep him from doing stupid things like getting frostbite.

He almost protests, but the crow setter just looks too perfect with the snowflakes that catch in his black hair and he easily gives in... and he might still be a little enamored after Kageyama's impromptu affectionate gesture earlier this morning. Nevermind that it was probably more out of reflex if the setter's own surprise was anything to go by, Shouyou will take what he can get.

A few others stay out a bit longer, trying to keep the ball dry, but everyone stays to watch the snow, whether they are playing in it or they observe from behind the large window of the front room. The game quickly dissolves into a snowball fight, and Shouyou almost wishes he were down there playing in the snow with the rest of them.

Almost.

Kageyama has wrapped him in a blanket and settled them on a chair on the porch, and while he isn't out in the fray, he can't help but feel like he has the perfect vantage point to commit it all to memory.

This is a novelty for most of the Karasuno unit, but Yamaguchi watches the falling flecks of ice with a measure of awe as well. Shouyou wonders if anyone else notices the ibis carefully taking stock of the freckled crow's reaction.

The owls don't migrate so they've seen it plenty in the past, but they don't hesitate to join in the fun. Even Lev and Kuroo get into it, dragging both the ibis and Yamaguchi out with them while the other two cats watch from behind the safety of the window. The girls wander out onto the porch to spectate, and even Daichi gets roped into the frozen melee when Suga drops a handful of slush down his back with a chiming laugh before ducking out of reach.

Hinata wants to remember it all from his place in Kageyama's lap, wrapped in a comforter and watching his breath fog as it leaves his mouth.

He leans into the larger crow a little more, a laugh erupting when Noya catches a remarkably well aimed and unexpected snowball to the neck from Asahi. When Kuroo heads for the stairs with a predatory glance toward the window, the redhead snorts and glances back in time to see Kenma disappearing from sight. The golden cat dislikes cold and most types of discomfort and he has no desire to play in the snow even if his leveler might. Shouyou grins as the large black cat vanishes inside the house after him. He has to wonder if he and his leveler would be as good a team in this game as they are in Volley.

He and Kageyama and the others had returned from their last summer trip only to find Kenma and Kuroo not there. It had been alarming at first given the tense state of things between the two when Shouyou and the others had left, until Daichi and Suga had explained that they had finally fully bonded as a level pair the day before and split for a bit. The redhead had been irrationally excited for the two despite them not even being around to congratulate, much to Tsukishima's annoyance.

And then, three days later... Kageyama'd quite literally walked into that fiasco with Yaku and Lev. It had been hilarious, but it had made Shouyou uneasy, too. His leveler had been monumentally embarrassed and had barely been able to meet his eyes for a few days afterword, and Shouyou had been on edge with worry that it had somehow made things unstable between them.

Kageyama had grown more free with his affection since that awful fight that still made Shouyou cringe with shame whenever he remembered it, but the crow had maintained an austere restraint with regards to anything that could be considered... more carnal. Noya had assured him time and again since that incident that Kageyama did, in fact, harbor latent feelings like that and had prodded the redhead more than once to initiate, but Shouyou had flatly refused.