Kogane was absolutely fucking terrified.

He had heard all about 'first date' nerves from Futakuchi, who gave him a lot of advice about this, but he never expected it to be this bad. He felt like he was going vomit everywhere and he still had an hour before he needed to pick up Goshiki. Somehow, he had been less nervous about asking Goshiki out for a date then he was about the actual night.

Maybe it was because he didn't have to make too much of an impression. This date would confirm Goshiki's' answer about dating him for real. Yes, he had agreed to go on a date but that was different! Not to mention, Kogane had never been on a date before, not even a childish one from some elementary crush. What were you supposed to do on one?

Futakuchi had given him some pretty good dos and don'ts for his date but that still didn't clear up all his questions.

Kogane's' phone buzzed and he looked down to see a text from the Dateko group chat.

Ex-Captain: Good luck Koganegawa

Ex-Captain: Make sure to woo him!

newcaptain: yh remember what i told u and ull be fine

newcaptain: all of my tips worked when i took aone out on our first date

Kamasaki: Futakuchi, Aone made the first move when it came to dates, don't lie to yourself

newcaptain: why are u 3rd years even still in the gc????????

Setter#1: :0 thanks Moniwa-san!

Setter#1: :) I hope it goes well because Goshiki is just so pretty and nice and i don't want him to hate me :(

newcaptain: please don't simp in public

Kogane chuckled quietly to himself and set down his phone. The moment he did, the jitters came back. He was absolutely petrified. Oh, god, what if Goshiki did start to hate him? What if he messed up that badly? That would be awful!

The setter took in a deep breath and clapped his hands to his cheeks harshly to clear his head. "I can do this!" He said positively. "I can eat a meal in front of someone without making a fool of myself. I got this!"

Encouraging himself loudly and constantly, Kogane prepared to pick Goshiki up. It was a casual date, at a nice, calm restaurant. It wasn't anything too expensive or flashy, but it wasn't like he was taking Goshiki to a McDonalds either. After scouring the internet for ages, he had decided to settle for a chill Italian restaurant. Nothing too formal, close to Shiratorizawa so Goshiki wouldn't have to walk too far and with very good reviews. Nothing could go wrong!

"I got this, it's gonna be great, he's gonna be so romanced that he'll- he'll be romanced!" Kogane continued to promise to himself as he made his way towards Shiratorizawa Academy. 

He and Goshiki had decided that he'd wait for Goshiki outside the school gates, so when he reached the school he stood nervously outside, changing his waiting position every fifteen seconds. He'd lean on the wall then stand normally, then put his hands in pockets, then he'd cross his arms and lean back against the wall before freaking out and sticking his hands in his pockets before recycling the routine. The nervous feeling in his stomach made his throat clench tightly and his hands started shaking.

The front door of the Shiratorizawa First Year Dormitorys opened and he saw Goshiki leaving calmly.

Kogane's' breath caught in his throat and he rehearsed his lines silently as Goshiki spotted him and made his approach. Goshiki was dressed quite nicely, in dark grey trousers and a checkered, indigo sweater, the white collar of a button shirt peeking out at the neck. Kogane suddenly felt very underdressed, in a casual white t-shirt with a cartoonish volleyball printed on it and comfy blue jeans, his jacket tied around his waist.

"Hey, Kogane," Goshiki greeted him with a polite smile. "I saw you from my dorm window, you got here pretty early."

"Hi, Goshiki," Kogane blurted, internally freaking out. "You looking very break. No, I-I mean, you look great! O-Or brilliant. I tried to say two words at once. U-Uh, you like nice!"

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule Eight: Don't mess up on your compliments!

Goshiki blinked at him. "Um, thank you. You look pretty good yourself."

Kogane just nodded and hesitated. Were they supposed to start walking yet? Had they been standing there too long? What were they going to talk about while they walked there? Would they walk in silence? Goshiki started fidgeting a little bit and Kogane panicked. Had he been staring too hard?!

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule Four: Don't stare at them for too long!

Two rules had been broken already. It had been one minute since their date officially began. Kogane was not doing very well at this.

Goshiki cleared his throat. "Should we get going, then?"

"Yeah, o-of course, we shall go!" Kogan turned nervously on his heel and began to march in the opposite direction of where he was supposed to be going.

"Um, I thought you said the restaurant was that way!" Goshiki called after him.

Kogane stopped, slowly turned around and started walking in the right direction. Goshiki quietly fell into step next to him, glancing at the setter every now and then. Kogane knew that every time Goshiki glanced at him, his face grew red and his heart skipped a beat in his chest. He could barely breathe with Goshiki so close. The odd feeling in his stomach seemed to grow and he felt like he was starving.

"So, how's school going for you?" Goshiki asked, beginning a conversation awkwardly. "For me, it's going pretty well. I had to write an essay for Biology yesterday, I nearly exhausted myself studying for it. I could barely spike, Shirabu-san doesn't look like he's gonna forgive me for it anytime soon."

"Uhm," Kogane panicked. "School good but grades bad. No, wait, the grades aren't bad! I mean, remembering kanji is always really hard for me, but, like, I'm not that bad. Uh, volleyball! How's volleyball?"

Goshiki blinked. "I... just said, I haven't been playing as well as usual because I freaked out about studying. W-Were you listening to me?"

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule Six: Don't make your date repeat themself.

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule Five: Make sure they don't worry if you're listening to them or not!

Two birds with one stone. Shit.

"No, I am listening to you, I-I promise!" Kogane tried to assure Goshiki. "I-I just-! You're really pretty! No, I mean- Wait, you are pretty, b-but I was listening to you, I promise!"

Goshiki stared a little, the mood suddenly very awkward. "Right."

Thankfully, for Kogane, the restaurant turned up soon and he held the door out for Goshiki, desperate to make up for his errors earlier. It seemed appreciated because the spikers' cheeks turned quite pink and he mumbled a shy thank you.

"Problem none!" Kogane said before dying a little inside as he realised what words left his mouth. Goshiki snickered a little.

"Hello, sirs, welcome," A waitress said. "Do you have a reservation?"

Kogane cleared his throat, trying to relax. "Uh, yes, it should be under Koganegawa, if we're not early."

The waitress looked at her tablet then nodded. "Reservation for seven-thirty, table for two, under Koganegawa, correct?"

"Yep, that's it!" Kogane said with a smile.

The waitress returned the smile politely. "Follow me, sirs," She said, plucking two menus from the welcome desk and leading them to a booth table, in the middle of the restaurant, a wall on one side and a small walkway on the other. It was surprisingly private and Kogane breathed out in relief. He had been so scared that they'd get a terrible table, but this one seemed good.

The waitress took away the reserved sign and set down the menus opposite each other. "I'll be back soon in case you are ready to order," She said and left them to it.

Goshiki sat down on one side and Kogane hastily took the other. There was a minute of comfortable silence as they both examined their menus.

"I might have the spaghetti carbonara," Goshiki said, stumbling a little on his pronunciation of Italian food. "And just a glass of water. What about you?"

Kogane frowned. "Pizza and one of their fizzy drinks."

Goshiki nodded with a small hum.

The silence that fell afterwards was more awkward than earlier. Kogane fidgeted with his hands and glanced up at Goshiki, who fiddled dazily with  his cutlery.

The setter tried to think of one of Futakuchi's' Tips for what to do on a date. Ask about their family, ask about their friends, ask about their hobbies, ask about their favourite thing to do. Those were four simple questions Kogane could ask without seeming like an idiot. Yeah. He could do this. He's got this. Futakuchi told him to ask Goshiki about himself. That was rule number seven.

"So," Kogane began with a smile. "I like Italian food. It's really nice and tastes so different to normal stuff. Like, there's barely any rice, it's so odd."

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule Seven: Don't talk about yourself first, talk about them.

Kogane wanted to scream into a pillow. Another rule broken. However, the gods seemed to take pity on him, because Goshiki didn't sigh or roll his eyes.

"I don't have Italian often," Goshiki said thoughtfully. "Usually, if we having something from another country, it's Chinese or Thai. My parents have never been too fond of European food and Shiratorizawa don't really serve anything other than Japanese food in the cafeteria."

The setter relaxed. "Really? Woah, you're missing out, I love European food!"

Goshiki smiled. "What would you say is your favourite European dish, then?"

"Oh, pizza."

"That's what you're gonna order, right?"

"Yep!" Kogane beamed. "It's really nice. It's, like, dough with tomotaes and cheese, but you can put, like, meat on it too!"

Goshiki tilted his head. "And it's actually nice?"

"It's delicious!"

"Hmmm, maybe I should order it too..."

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule Twenty Two: If they want the same meal as you, offer to share.

"We could buy a big pizza and share it," He said casually, finally getting one piece of advice right.

Goshiki nodded. "Sure, that sounds great! Could we get it with the, uh, meat you were talking about?"

"Let's order a pepperoni one, they're my favourite!" Kogane said brightly.

"Which one's pepperoni?" Goshiki asked, peering at the menu. "This one?"

"Yeah, that one! Would you like to try it?"

Goshiki nodded and smiled. "Sure."

The waitress came back and they ordered. A short time later their food and drinks arrived.

It was going so much better than earlier. Kogane wasn't having trouble with starting conversations anymore, he was nailing Futakuchi's' advice, he hadn't broken too many rules and Goshiki seemed to be getting flustered with his flattery. This was it. Nothing could go wrong. Kogane had this under control. He could do it. He could ask Goshiki to be his boyfriend. Nothing could go wrong. This was perfect. This was absolutey-

Kogane knocked his drink over and it spilt all over Goshiki.

Futakuchi's' Dating Tips, Rule One: The most important thing is that you do not ruin their outfit, spill anything on them or vomit on them. Never. Under any circumstances. Your shots will be ruined if you do.

Kogane stared as Goshiki began to dab at his sweater with a napkin in an attempt to dry it. Fuck.

"I-I am so sorry!" He gasped, jumping forwards to try help. "I-I didn't mean to!"

"No, no, it's fine!" Goshiki promised. "I can just take the jumper off, it's okay." And he did just that, pulling the sweater off and setting it down next to him.

Kogane hesitated fearfully. "Did I mess up big time? Have I just ruined this?"

"Huh? Wha- no, of course not!" Goshiki promised. "It's fine!"

"...Really?"

The future ace nodded. "Honestly, I spill things on myself or on my senpais all the time. Once i accidentally tripped and half drowned Shirabu-san with my water bottle. He was so mad at me, it was almost kinda funny!"

Kogane sighed out in relief. "Oh, thank god, I thought I was about to lose my shot!"

"Your shot at what?"

The setter turned a little red and glanced away. "I-I was gonna ask, after the date, if you wanted to be my boyfriend."

There was a long silence. Goshiki tilted his head. "I thought we already were boyfriends."

Kogane looked at him. "E-Eh?!"

"I mean, you asked me out and I said yes, right? I thought that made us boyfriends."

"O-Oh! Then I didn't need to panic so much."

Goshiki began to smile smugly. "Was that why you were so jumpy at the beginning? You wanted to make a good impression..."

"No! Maybe! Kinda. Yes..."

Goshiki laughed. "Wow, and I thought I just looked that good."

Kogane went red and hid his face in his hands. "God, this was the most awkward dinner date ever..."