"Ready?!"

I whisper shouted down into the dark, smiling when I saw my favourite duo stepping into the faint patch of light.
"Yep, bag me!" Hearing the confirmation, I lifted my bag to the sill and shoved it out, glad it didn't have anything breakable when it hit the ground instead of a pair of arms.

"I'm coming down! Don't let me end up like that, or so help me I'll haunt the both of you!" As I climbed through the window, I turned and stared at my closed door, listening for any signs that Yaku may have heard anything. I felt terrible for doing this to him, but it wasn't like I was breaking the law or anything. Not by sneaking out, at least.

Uttering a quiet prayer to whatever higher being would listen, I took a deep breath before throwing myself out into the night air, cussing over and over in my mind until I landed, somewhat comfortably, in a pair of warm arms.

"You really gotta stop falling for me like this~"

Peering up in the dark, I met familiar brown eyes and broke out into a wide smile, arms moving to squeeze tight around his neck.
"Oh, my Hiro~" I hushed my chuckle, pressing my face into his shoulder. "Ew. You smell like private school."

Hanamaki set me down into my feet, and I felt another pair of arms curl around me from behind, a chin settling atop my head.
"Just so you know, I'm cool too. I just wanted to let Makki have his moment." I turned around and gave Matsukawa his own, tight embrace.

It had been far too long since I had seen either one of them, and honestly, after the day I'd had, I was again at the risk of getting a little emotional.
"Come on, let's get the hell outta dodge before Momo catches us and locks us in his diarrhoea dungeon."

Being far smarter than they looked, Hanamaki and Matsukawa had parked the next street over, the former's crappy little hatchback easy to miss in the dark. Inside, as usual, was pretty cluttered; empty cans, food packaging, random articles of clothing, and a single, partially deflated volleyball accompanied me in the back seat. It felt closer to home than anything I had felt for weeks.

"Sooooo...Happy birthday, schmoopy poo! The big one eight!" Matsukawa turned around in his seat as we pulled off and out from the curb, very nearly straggling himself with the seatbelt in the process. "How ya feeling? All adulty?"

Slumping back, I puffed my cheeks to push out a load of air, pushing my bag from the seat to the floor.
"I feel sober." I responded with a shrug, yipping when something icy cold and rather wet touched my bare knee. He was offering me some kind of disturbingly purple beverage.

"Seriously though, you good? Changed your mind out of nowhere." Hanamaki met my eyes briefly through the revision mirror, and I offered him a softer, more genuine smile as I cracked open the cap of my mystery booze.
"I will be. Just need to forget about crap for the night, y'know? Blank slate." Shifting gears, the brunet hummed, pulling out to merge on the highway.
"Wanna go pick up that Kuroo of yours? He always seems to cheer you up."

Was that sarcasm, or was he being sincere? It was hard to tell with Hanamaki, but he'd never been the jealous type, even when we'd been a couple, so I could only assume it was the latter.
"I'd...rather not have him see me drinking myself into liver failure..." I murmured, quickly poking the back of Matsukawa's head through the gap in his headrest. "So sorry, that means you can't have it, Hannibal."

Of course, just as I had begun to release some of my tension, my phone began to ring. Without even checking the contact name, I hit answer, nearly smacking myself upside the head with the device as I pulled it to my ear.
"Why am I staring at an empty room?! Like, seriously, what the fuck am I looking at right now?! Are you kidding me?!"

I pulled it away from my face a little, wincing at the sheer volume, not to mention the anger in his tone. Thankfully, the boys had shut themselves up, sitting silently in the front but no doubt eavesdropping.
"Relax. I went for a walk to wind down for the night. I used the front door and everything, my dude."

There was a long silence on the other end, and I held my breath, praying that my innocent facade was enough.
"I..I want to trust you, (Y/N)...but you've made it really hard to..." Did I feel bad? Absolutely I did, but that was normal for me.

"Morisuke...I'm sorry for leaving without saying anything. I'll be back later, okay?" What wasn't normal, however, was me apologising, and that was confirmed by the way my nephew stammered on his end of the call.
"Y..You're sorry..? Um, no, no, it's okay, at least this time...Birthday pass and all, I guess..? Did you, uh, maybe want some company..?"

Shit. I feel awful about this...

"Thanks, but I think I just need some quiet, especially after all the sugar fuelled chaos today. Raincheck..? I could push you in the toddler swing at the park..?" I covered my guilt with a joke, and I was glad he laughed at it.
"Better yet, we bribe Lev into it and watch him get stuck."

I pressed lips to the lip of my bottle, scraping the glass against my skin as I uttered what was hopefully a convincing laugh.
"Oh, God, as long as I'm not the one who has to call the fire brigade to get him out of it." Closing my eyes, I started to feel icky again, so I tried to wrap things up quickly. "Anyway, I'll be back later, so try not to shit yourself to death on the toilet before then, okay? That's something that needs to be livestreamed."

"Haha, very funny. Don't be too late, alright? Love you." Ah, there it was. The verbal punch right to the guts that made me somewhat regret my decision.
"Okay, love ya too, neph. Bye." With that, I hung up, groaning loudly and slumping forward in my seat so far my belt nearly sliced me in two.

"I'm happy to take you back if you want me to." Hanamaki piped up from the driver's seat, and I responded with a snort, scraping my face up the backrest to blow against his nape.
"Awww, you'd take me back after all this time, Takahiro? That's so sweet, but alas, you couldn't handle me then, and I doubt you could handle me now~"

Matsukawa erupted into a fit of laughter, and our dear driver snorted loudly, rubbing where I had blown upon his neck.
"Oh please. I will pull over right now and show you just how wrong you are, sweetheart." He teased back, again catching my eye in the reflection, donning a smirk.

"Well, back to third wheeling, like old times. Love it." Matsukawa snickered, toying with the radio until it landed on some generic pop song about high heels and sneakers. Downing the rest of my purple whatever the hell it was, I unclipped my seatbelt and shuffled over to wrap my arms around him from behind.
"Aw, you're always included, Issei, my googly woogly schmoogly bear."

My phone buzzed again, and I sighed, keeping one arm around my friend as I reached for it, uncaring that I held it so we could both see the screen.

From: Captain Kuroo
- Recovered from the eldritch terror that is Kenma yet? 🤣

"Ooooo, speaking of guys you wanna suck face with~" Matsukawa wiggled his eyebrows once he read the message, but I simply rolled my eyes, knowing the more I argued the more he'd tease.
"Yeah, actually, speaking of...how's Iwaizumi these days? His arms, specifically?"

To: Captain Kuroo
- Pookie is going to halve my lifespan if he keeps teleporting from the nether realm, I s2g

"You wanna hook up with Iwa?" Hanamaki's voice broke around his laughter, unable to spare a glance as he flicked his turn signal and merged into the middle lane. "He has enough trouble dealing with us, on top of Oikawa. You'd kill him."

From: Captain Kuroo
- Pookie has told me to tell you to 'get good'
- Whatever that means
- So did you have fun today? :)

To: Captain Kuroo
- Tell Pookie I'm as good as I can get
- I did ^_^
- I want a Haiba Turtle Cake™️ every year 🐢

"Here, be my fingers for a bit." I handed my phone to Matsukawa as I shifted back into the seat, unzipping my bag to rummage around.
"Wow, what an honour! I'm gonna tell him your deepest, darkest secret." As I pulled out a little black dress I quirked a brow, digging around for whatever else I needed.
"Pffft, which one?"

I have many, some of which you two don't even know...

"Oh, tell him about that gig she had last year, selling fake used underwear online." Hanamaki suggested, chewing on his cheek as he thought. "What was the alias again? Gigi Strings? Classic." Ah, that had been a venture. I had made a quick buck selling second hand panties I'd bought on the cheap from thrift stores to lonely old internet creeps. Wasn't exactly deep or dark, or even a secret, really.

"Wait, the cat has responded. Awww, he asked if you wanted to come play video games with that eldritch terror. Poor guy, you sure you don't wanna swing back and pick him up?" Now I felt bad again, but it was too late to change anything.
"Just tell him thanks but I'm tired as heck, so raincheck. And please, for the love of all that's good, check your spelling."

It's fine...I'm not doing anything seriously wrong. I'm basically an adult now. I need this.

Yanking my pyjama shirt off, I screwed it up in a ball and tossed it on the floor, alongside one of several crumpled Aoba Johsai jerseys. The car was small, so wrangling my pants off was going to prove a bit of a challenge as I laid back a little.

"He said it's cool, and sent a picture of some kid with crazy regro-oh, okay, hello half naked hot chick. You good there?" Matsukawa looked incredibly amused when he'd turned to address me, and I saw Hanamaki take a peek as well in the revision mirror.
"As much as I've missed this sight, did you want me to pull over to a gas station so you can, like, not struggle like a dork?"

"Nope, I'm good. Besides, it's not like you guys haven't seen it all before." I grunted, finally getting my pants off and starting the even greater struggle of pulling on some stockings.
"Hold up. When have you seen her naked?" Hanamaki took the opportunity of having a clear, straight stretch of road to shoot a questioning look to his partner in crime, who shrugged lazily, already ten scrolls deep into my photo gallery.

"I dunno, like the countless times you two crashed at my place and changed right in front of me? Or when it was hot as balls last summer and she just spread eagle, buck-ass nothing on your floor? Or when she sent that picture to the group chat instead of your private cha-"
"Yeah, no, I remember now. It's been a hot minute, I forgot how comfortable she is around us." Hanamaki wheezed with hilarity, still stealing glances through his handy little mirror.

It wasn't like I was trying to taunt them with my body or anything. It wasn't anything special, I was just at complete ease with them. They'd been there through the best and worst moments of my life, thick and thin, so I saw nothing wrong with it.

"Don't forget when you both got so drunk at your first party that I stripped y'all down and threw your puke-covered asses in the shower." I piped up, finally covered back up with my dress and grabbing my compact and make-up to fix my face.
"How could we when you bring it up every time we see each other?" Matsukawa mumbled, enlarging a specific photo and holding it up. "You and that bouncy crow boy look like kids compared to this dude."

Nearly stabbing myself in the eye when I looked up, I saw that he'd found a group photo we had taken on the last day of the Summer Camp, where I was standing squished between Hinata and Lev.
"Oh, that's my son. My sweet Levochka. His sister, who is not my child, made my turtle cake." I replied casually, putting on my finishing touch, which was a pair of black boots.

"You really seem to like Nekoma, huh? I'm glad. Was kinda worried you'd be a loner." Hanamaki hummed, pulling off the highway into a service station, slowing to a stop and killing the ignition.
"Nah, you just wanted me to go to Seijoh. Sorry, but red's more my colour." I quipped back, twirling my newly coloured streak for effect.

Matsukawa tossed me my phone from over his shoulder, unbuckling and throwing open his door.
"I gots'ta pee. Anyone want snacks? I'm in a skittle kinda mood." Despite asking a question, he had vanished before either of us had the chance to answer. Hanamaki got out as well, but instead of disappearing into the service station he opened my door, leaning on the frame.
"I know you well enough to see something's wrong. It's about your Mom, right?"

Obviously, but I didn't want you to bring it up...

Scooting myself to the edge of the car, I slipped my legs out between his and looked up at him, sticking out my tongue.
"Yeah, but can we avoid that topic of conversation tonight? You know how I feel about crying, and I just did my make-up all pretty."

Hanamaki's smile was softer now, comfortably lazy, and he tilted his head to the side, eyes sweeping up and down my form, cast in his shadow.
"Mmmhmm, you do clean up nice. Still would've looked better with a turquoise streak, in my opinion, but I guess the red is cute." His nose scrunched a bit when he chuckled, like it always had, and I pondered for a few moments before matching his head tilt.
"So...is tonight another What Happens in Sendai deal, or..?"

It was kind of a thing, when it came to Hanamaki and myself. Sure, we'd dated, and it hadn't worked out, but every so often when we hung out or went to a party we'd act like we never split. It was mutual, and it was hassle free, and more often than not it had stopped us from making stupid choices.

"I dunno...Is it?" He asked quietly, leaning a little lower, so he wasn't so far above me. "Not sure how I feel about stealing you right out from under that sly cat's nose..." I blew a raspberry right in his face, but he didn't even flinch.
"It's just a dumb little crush. But hey, it's your choice, Hiro. I could always ask Mattsun, or that feral team pet of yours..."

Kuroo was gnawing at the back of my mind. I did like him, genuinely, but I also knew myself, and why I'd be a poor match for a guy like him. Upsetting people seemed to be my special talent, and he was the last person I wanted to do that to.

"Hey now, I never said no, did I? I just don't want to take advantage if you're not in a great space of mind tonight, is all. I know today's been rough for you." That was why I had so much trust placed in the guy before me. He always knew how I was feeling, even if I hadn't said a word, and made sure I actually thought before acting.

"If I wasn't fine I would've just stayed in bed at home and perished into the void." I scoffed, not moving back even an inch when he dropped further, now nose to nose with me.
"No, you would have messaged me saying you'd changed your mind, then thrown yourself out of your bedroom window into my arms." Yeah, he had a real argument with that, but I wasn't about to give him points for it.

"I just want to have some well deserved fun. There's nothing wrong with a little escapism every now and then, is there? Now, were you gonna give me a kiss or did you move this close just to show off that cheap cologne you drowned yourself in?" I shot Hanamaki a cheeky grin, and he returned it in kind before pressing his lips to mine. Slow and lazy, just like his usual demeanour, as I remembered it to be.

I felt something when kissing him. Nothing special, or romantic, but it was a nostalgic sort of comfort, like wrapping myself up in my favourite blanket on a cold day.
"Got my treats, my treaty treats, let's get back on the ro...Hey now, no slurping tonsils in the Cosmo parking lot."

Hanamaki made sure to make our lips squeak before he pulled back, lifting my legs and setting them back in the car before shutting my door and hopping into the driver's seat again.
"Enjoy your piss?" I asked Matsukawa as I clipped myself in, and he turned to give me a grimace.
"There was a hole in the wall and it looked too sticky for my comfort levels. Like, an eight out of ten sticky."

As the boys began to discuss various stickiness levels, my phone vibrated again, and I pulled it open to find another message from Kuroo. I'd forgotten to respond to his earlier snap of the back of Kenma's head, and I felt bad all over again.

From: Captain Kuroo
- You've probably fallen asleep, but happy birthday, (Y/N)
- I'm really glad you liked the party
- :)

My fingers hovered over my keypad, itching to reply with something - anything - but what could I say? Sorry, I'm not asleep just cruising down the highway on the way to a party with my best friends slash friend with benefits? Thanks for the birthday wishes? I wish you were here? I wish I wasn't?

Suppressing a loud groan, I shut my phone off and threw it into the opening of my bag, composing myself with a few hard squeezes of my fists before leaning forward, jostling Matsukawa's shoulder.

"Hey...You got any more of that awful purple stuff..?"