i have written so much kyouhaba can i actually write anything else? my apologies !

Kyoutani doesn't know quite how Yahaba got to be sitting in his passenger seat with his puppy, Sora, sat in his lap licking his face but he wasn't complaining.

He hadn't exactly planned for Yahaba to come; he had sort of invited himself. They were chatting about break plans when Kyoutani had boasted about his road tripping plans. When he talked about gas station food, Yahaba almost went into cardiac arrest. "There is no fucking way I'm letting you go alone. You'll die of food poisoning from awful gas station sushi," he insisted. Kyoutani didn't argue.

It was no secret Kyoutani had a crush on Yahaba. Everyone seemed to know besides the setter himself, which was a surprise. After being Oikawa's minion for so long, Kyoutani would've thought Yahaba would be just as perceptive as he was. This, of course, was not correct. Yahaba was pretty oblivious. Kyoutani was even more surprised no one had told him yet. After all, he was sure Watari definitely knew. It started in their second year of high school and nothing had changed now that they were in their third year of university. Five years had only brought them closer as friends and had only made Kyoutani's feelings grow stronger. What kind of friend would he be if he denied Yahaba the chance to come on the road trip?

Yahaba may have been a planned addition, but Sora wasn't. Kyoutani's puppy wouldn't leave Yahaba alone, barking at his heels as he put luggage in the mini-van that Kyoutani had gotten from his parents. Yahaba chuckled, picking up the pup in his arms. "Can we take him?" Yahaba asked, his lips pouted. "Please?" Kyoutani couldn't deny the puppy dog faces of both Yahaba and Sora, so he reluctantly agreed after Yahaba offered to buy any dog food they would need.

This all brought them to where they were. Yahaba and Kyoutani had agreed to switch off driving whenever it felt convenient, deciding that winging it was a good choice for them. Currently, it was six in the morning and Yahaba was whining endlessly about how exhausted he was. "Oh shut up Princess," Kyoutani teased. "If you're tired, kick Sora to the back and take a nap." Yahaba blinked, considered his options and lifted Sora off of his lap.

"Turn the music down, would you?" he muttered sleepily. "I don't want some weird upbeat shit to wake me up prematurely." They had agreed to use the driver's phone to provide music due to the fact their music tastes were quite similar. Kyoutani, however, had some guilty pleasure songs that Yahaba was genuinely afraid to hear. Kyoutani twisted the volume dial and Yahaba murmured a quiet, "Thanks," before promptly falling asleep.

Kyoutani trained his eyes on the road. Sleeping Yahaba was his weakness and he knew if allowed himself even a glance he wouldn't be able to stop himself from continuing to steal glances down the road. Kyoutani had seen Yahaba sleep countless times, many times on his shoulder, but it never ceased to amaze him how beautiful Yahaba managed to look. He looked over now and chided himself. That was a horrible idea.

Yahaba's hair hadn't changed since high school, quite the contrary to Kyoutani's new all-brunette undercut. Yahaba's hair was always neat and in place - when he was awake. When he was asleep, it splayed across his forehead messily, tangling the sunglasses perched at the top of his head in his locks. His long eyelashes fluttered while he dozed. His short, even breaths matched the rising and falling of his chest. To make matters even worse, the morning sun was hitting him just right. The angle cast shadows from his eyelashes, overlapping the dusting of freckles he developed from times at the beach he had dragged Kyoutani to so many times. He looked like a fucking angel; Kyoutani knew it would be hard to keep his eyes on the asphalt.

To make matters even worse, some shitty love song was playing from his speakers. He supposed he could shut down the speakers or skip it on his phone, but he kept his hands firmly planted on the steering wheel. He was afraid if he moved his hands from their current position, he'd have the urge to put his hands on Yahaba, which he just could not do. He wanted to bang his head against the steering wheel to rid all thoughts of Yahaba from his head, but he knew it wouldn't work. (He had suffered quite the concussion during the break between their second and third years of high school.)

An hour later Kyoutani yawned, only just realizing how tired he was. He was awakened by Yahaba at four in the morning to pack the car and the lost hours of sleep were finally taking its toll. He stopped at a chain coffee place, deciding to order a medium iced coffee for when Yahaba woke up. When he came back, he was surprised to find his friend sitting up in the seat, a sleepy smile on his face. "You ordered me a coffee? How sweet of you," Yahaba cooed. "You even remembered my order! What did I do to deserve such a thing!" he cried dramatically.

"You sound like Oikawa," Kyoutani grumbled, handing him the sweating cup. "It's not like I've known you for five years or anything," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at Yahaba's theatrics.

Yahaba smiled fondly. "Has it really been five years?" he mused as Kyoutani started the car. Kyoutani nodded wordlessly. "Hmm," he hummed, sitting back in his seat. "Makes sense those were the best five years of my life, looking back." Kyoutani raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Yahaba. Yahaba wasn't looking at him, only staring straight ahead and sipping his straw absently. Kyoutani decided not to read into it, but he could see the tips of Yahaba's ears turn red. Could he like me too..? Kyoutani shook his head at the thought and turned back to the road. He decided he was just imagining the red and turned the music up a few decibels.

₪

"We have to stop here!" Yahaba cried desperately, pointing to some building off to the side of the road. It was the first sign of civilization they had seen in a while.

Kyoutani stared at Yahaba. "Okay, eager beaver, Jesus Christ," he murmured. "Why do you want to stop so bad?"

"Well, one, i have to pee. Two, I'm sorta really hungry. Three, we should probably switch off. You look like you're going to kiss the wheel soon," Yahaba explained. Kyoutani pulled over, mostly due to the fact he definitely felt as if he would pass out from exhaustion. When they walked in, Yahaba pulled Kyoutani over to the counter with him. At the counter, a middle-aged woman seemed to be going through the cash register. Kyoutani would've found it odd if she wasn't wearing a name tag that read Kayo. "Sorry to bother you," Yahaba said, always the epitome of politeness. "Do you have a public restroom?"

Kayo looked between the two and smirked, almost knowingly. It made Kyoutani's skin itch. "Sure," she said, her voice kind and clear. "All the way in the back left corner." She pointed to a set of doors. Yahaba followed her finger with his eyes and nodded.

"Alright," Yahaba gripped onto Kyoutani's arm, a normal occurrence by now. "I'll be right back. Pick out some food or something." Kyoutani nodded and Yahaba was off of his arm as quick as he was on it.

The woman at the counter sighed dreamily. Kyoutani looked at her, a curious eyebrow raised. "Young love," she crooned. Kyoutani could feel his blush creep up his face and down his neck.

"We- uh, we're just friends," he stuttered, wondering for a second why he was telling a complete stranger anything.

She smiled bittersweetly. "You don't seem to want to be," she said, searching him for confirmation to this statement.

Kyoutani scratched the back of his neck. "Doesn't matter," he mumbled. "He sees me as a friend." Kyoutani hadn't the faintest idea why he was opening up to some lady he met a gift shop on the side of the road, but it seemed the words were just flowing out of him. It felt good to finally talk about it.

Kayo frowned. "If you say so." Kyoutani blinked, painfully oblivious as to what Kayo meant. She sighed. "You really haven't seen the way he looks at you?" Kyoutani's eyes widened in surprise, like a deer in headlights. Kayo chuckled. "I may be just a stranger, but I like to think I'm a pretty good judge of character. The way he looks at you... At first, I thought you were newly-weds or something."

Kyoutani's face got even redder than it had been. "I... I've got to get some food," he said, pointing to the rows of snack foods. Kayo laughed and waved him off. Kyoutani turned around and picked out a bag of sour cream and onion chips, Yahaba's favorite. He chose cool ranch Doritos for himself and started to make himself a coffee with the machine in the corner. Yahaba came up behind Kyoutani and clutched his arm again. The skin underneath his hands burned and Kyoutani could feel Kayo's eyes boring into his back.

"It was nice of you to grab my favorite snack food, but we can't live off of chips this entire trip," Yahaba giggled. "Here," he handed Kyoutani a BLT wrapped in cellophane. My favorite. "I know you too." Yahaba grinned. Kyoutani timidly smiled back. "Now, it's my turn to pay! Bring the stuff up front, would you?" Kyoutani obliged, placing the food and coffee on the counter. Yahaba put some soda and a can of dog food on the counter. Kayo's smirk was gone, but the mischievous look hadn't left her eyes. Before the two left, she winked at Kyoutani discretely, her eyes flitting between his eyes and the close proximity at which he and Yahaba were standing. It took all of Kyoutani's strength not to pull Yahaba out after he had his turn in the bathroom. He sincerely hoped Kayo hadn't said anything to Yahaba.

When they got back in the car, Sora yipped at the smell of dog food. Yahaba laughed and poured the food into his bowl. He petted Sora for a bit before turning to face the steering wheel. Kyoutani almost died, right then and there. Seeing Yahaba playing with Sora would be the death of him, he knew. Sora and Yahaba were probably Kyoutani's two favorite living things and this was just too much for him to handle. He took a deep breath and faced front. This was going to be a long summer.

When staring out the window got boring, Kyoutani took to glancing at Yahaba every once in a while. They were all quick, maybe a milisecond in duration, albiet one that was rather self-indulgent. Kyoutani couldn't take his eyes off of his companion, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses and hair tousled by the air from the open window. Suddenly, Yahaba laughed. "Just because I'm driving doesn't mean I don't see you staring at me. What do you want to say?"

Kyoutani blushed. He'd been caught. "Nothing," he grunted, facing forwards again. Yahaba laughed again and turned the music up a little louder.

₪

When they had stopped the Kyoutani family's house, they decided to drop Sora off, so they could spend more time doing things without having to worry about the pup. His family was beyond happy to see both Sora and Yahaba, although Kentarou was bombarded with questions he felt uncomfortable answering (When is the wedding? What do you mean you aren't dating yet?). His family really was too much.

Kyoutani had planned to hit a lot of the larger cities on this trip, which he had told Yahaba. Yahaba, it seemed, just wanted to see stupid tourist traps that just wasted his money. It seemed everyday they were on the road, they stopped at some awful roadside attraction Yahaba had read about on the internet. Today was the day where Kyoutani put his foot down; they were going to spend the enitre day in the city if it killed him.

Kyoutani pulled up the GPS on his phone and took to the driver's seat. When they arrived, Yahaba must've pulled up a thousand articles on his phone. Kyoutani made him close every single one. "Today, I'm telling you what we'll do. None of your touristy shit," he declared.

"Kyoutani, you wound me," Yahaba moaned, clutching his chest and feigning a hurt expression.

Kyoutani snickered and pulled into a large parking garage so they could leave the van for the day. They got out, stretched their legs, grabbed their wallets, and set off. Yahaba slid his arm and linked it with Kyoutani's, causing the boy to blush a deep red. "What are we doing today Ken?" he chirped.

Ken? That was a new one. Sure, they called each other by their given names at times, but this nickname was new. "Uh, well, I need some clothes so I was thinking shopping? And then sometime after lunch there's a garden that I really want to check out," Kyoutani replied. His mind was in a bit of a limbo. In one case, he really wished Yahaba would unhook their arms so his face would go back to a normal color. In the other, he didn't want the lose the contact for fear of it never happening again. So far this trip, the boys had grown even closer, staying up late talking and singing at embarrassing volumes with the windows rolled down.

"Sounds good to me! Lead the way!" Yahaba cried, pointing onward with his free arm. Kyoutani laughed and led him along. They walked between skyscrapers and on sidewalks. The city was a place Kyoutani had grown to felt like he belonged in. He didn't stick out like a sore thumb like he did back home. "Kyoutani?" Yahaba whispered. Kyoutani turned and looked at him. It was just then occurring to him that Yahaba's grip on his arm had tightened immensely. "I-I'm not a crowds person," Yahaba mumbled shamefully.

"Oh fuck, Yahaba," Kyoutani frowned. "You should've said something. I'm sorry, I totally forgot. We're almost to the shops, alright? Two minutes. Will you be alright?" Yahaba swallowed audibly and nodded. Kyoutani picked up the pace, practically pulling Yahaba behind him. They stopped into a store and Kyoutani dragged Yahaba to a corner of the store where there weren't many people. "Better?" he asked quietly. Yahaba nodded. Kyoutani felt like shit. How had he forgotten about Yahaba's fear of crowds?

"Kyoutani." Yahaba interrupted his thoughts. "Don't worry about. I should have said something."

"But I should've remembered!" Kyoutani insisted, throwing his arms in the air.

Yahaba grabbed both of Kyoutani's wrists. "I said, don't. Worry. About it. I'm alright." Kyoutani nodded and bit his lip. "Now, let's look around shall we?" Yahaba grinned. Kyoutani nodded hesitantly.

They walked around shops, neither one really seeing anything they would think to buy. They stopped into a skating shop and Yahaba gasped, grabbing Kyoutani's wrist and pulling him to a wrack. "Look at this!" he exclaimed, pulling a pale blue shirt off of the wrack. Peeking out of the chest pocket was a graphic of a cat. "Don't you love it?" he asked animatedly. Kyoutani smiled fondly at the boy in front of him, heart fluttering at the sight of the boy in front of him getting so excited.

"It's definitely you," Kyoutani supplied.

"I'm going to try it on, come on!" Yahaba cheered, once again dragging Kyoutani by the wrist. Kyoutani noticed the since this trip Yahaba had been more touchy; it seemed his hand was always on Kyoutani's arm or their shoulders were always brushing while they walked. Kyoutani thought back to Kayo from the gift shop they stopped in the first week. Could she have something to do with this? After all, he had left her and Yahaba alone when he used the restroom. Who knows what she said to him?

Yahaba flung the door open, startling Kyoutani. "D-do you like it?" he asked. Kyoutani thought it odd that he stuttered, and even stranger that his face was flushed. Maybe that was what excitement did to people. He brushed it off and took a good look at Yahaba. His mouth went dry and he had to breathe deeply to control his pulse.

"I- uhm, yeah, I like it." Kyoutani didn't just like it - he sort of loved it. The shirt fit practically perfectly, hugging his torso just so. The sleeves could barely contain Yahaba's muscular arms which he had built upon since high school. The shirt was heathered and Kyoutani could just barely make out the outline of Yahaba's toned abdomen. Must be all that swimming he does, Kyoutani thought, thinking back to all the time he had sat on his towel in the sand instead of going in the water at the beach. He swallowed thickly and Yahaba grinned.

"Good! I think I do too," he said, checking himself at all angles the mirror would allow.

"Y-you should get it!" Kyoutani blurted. He then scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I mean, if you like it."

Yahaba shrugged. "Sure. If it looks that good." He laughed and winked at Kyoutani who just about melted into the floor. Yahaba closed the door behind him and Kyoutani walked to another part of the store to compose himself.

When Yahaba came skipping back to him, bag in hand, Kyoutani suggested they go grab lunch, go to the gardens and hop back on the road. Yahaba agreed. They went to some cheap sandwich place and then made their way to the gardens. There, they sat together on a bench that was probably meant for one person, or maybe two children, but they made it work by squishing together, their thighs brushing haphazardly. Kyoutani's face burned. Yahaba broke the silence. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kyoutani's eyes widened in confusion. "Tell you what?"

"That you have a crush on me," Yahaba said simply, buffing his nails on his shirt.

Kyoutani almost choked on his spit. "That I what?"

Yahaba rolled his eyes but he was smiling. "You're such a moron." Kyoutani went slack-jawed. "It was so obvious!" Yahaba laughed. "I thought it was obvious i like you to."

"If it was so obvious then why didn't you- wait, what? You what?" Kyoutani gaped at the boy he had had feelings for for five years. Yahaba didn't say anything, but the kiss he pressed to Kyoutani's lips was answer enough.

Kyoutani's road trip suddenly got a lot better.