effervescent (nishinoya yū)

BONUS CHAPTER / the graduation gift

this is, in fact, a lemon chapter (although not all of it will be, because 3.7k words of just lemon would just...why???)

i'll put dividers just in case u wanna skip the lemon parts because this'll include the post-graduation sadness/happiness and then a small part at the end that i actually rlly rlly like. in regards to the lemon itself if u don't wanna read it: don't worry about missing anything important!

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Karasuno High School was almost silent, which was understandable considering the graduation ceremony had just ended a few hours ago. You still had your diploma tucked neatly into your bag, your face red and slightly raw from how often you had to wipe the tears away.

You had promised yourself you wouldn't cry. You had almost gotten away with it, only coming close when Hinata, Yachi, and Yamaguchi (you had to remind yourself that they weren't rambunctious first-years any longer) had practically soaked your uniform through with their tears in an enthusiastic group hug. Tsukishima and Kageyama were hilariously apathetic about it all, but there was a certain warmth in the way they had willingly joined the group hug.

No, you didn't start crying until you found yourself trapped in the other graduates' embrace, frantically promising each other that you'd make sure to never lose touch. When you saw the looks on their faces, especially Ennoshita (who usually looked so serene and level-headed, that was the moment you broke down into tears.

You paused in your steps, kicking a rock as you did so. Well, hugging Sasaki goodbye and seeing Michimiya and Aihara again was probably a close second. Damn, you never thought you'd be this emotional about leaving high school, but here you were.

Footsteps echoed behind you, and you turned around. Nishinoya approached you from behind the gym, wearing a mischievous smile and toting his gakuran over his shoulder. The sun was beginning to set, framing his face from behind and making him glow with an ethereal orange light. You felt like you were falling in love all over again.

It had only been a few hours since you last saw him, but you had missed him sorely. You knew that in a year at worst and a few years at best, the time you spent with him would be few and far in between. You wanted to make sure you wouldn't regret the time you spent in these last few months of certainty.

"So, we did it." He came to a stop a few feet away from you. Now that he was this close, you could see the red rimming his eyes and the wilting of his hair at the tips. "Scale from one to ten, how much hope did you have in us?"

You giggled and closed the distance, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. "Yū, you're saying that like you didn't have a chance at all. You're smarter than you look and the others didn't have to worry in the first place. I never doubted any of us."

"Even Ryū?"

"Even Ryū."

His hands rested on your hips, working circles into your torso with his thumbs. Your heart began beating a little faster as a familiar warmth began to spread in your stomach and throughout your body. He was so close you could smell his cologne, and the feeling of him being so close made you wonder how far he'd be willing to take things.

You had never entertained the notion because of how absorbed you had been with school and the girls' volleyball team. Even during the breaks, you were so caught up with studying for entrance exams that you couldn't bother to consider it. But now that you were both free from school, so close, and so alone, your mind began to wander.

Before you could say anything, he pulled away. "C'mon, I wanna show you something."

You took his hand and let him lead you, your brows furrowing in confusion when he stopped at the doors to the gymnasium. "What, are we playing volleyball?"