PSL /Overflow/ Open Post

[1foxgiven]

 What it says on the tin.

Comments

[1foxgiven]

More people pour onto the train and Kita nudges over. Making room.

"Now..."

It's fair to ask. Kita's run out the clock with volleyball.

Time to think of the next stage

He's pressed shoulder to shoulder with Osamu and smells something... familiar? Clean. A scent he knows Osamu carries on him, probably a soap or shampoo. The detail clicks. Turns a thought loose, and Kita realizes he's happy.

"Now I feel the same. Even without playin', I wanna see what you do next. Still be friends."

[chromatic_coma]

Osamu feels warm sparks where Kita's body touches his. It's not like they've never touched before, but it still excites him like it's new. Embarrassingly, Osamu likes it too much.

But that warmth has nothing on how it feels to hear Kita promise that he still wants to be friends. That he considers them friends. Osamu should have known, maybe, but it still feels magnificent to hear.

"Good," he ends up saying, trying to subdue his desire to have an over the top reaction. "I wanna keep seein' you, too. You're really important to me."

[1foxgiven]

Kita doesn't know when they shifted into being friends, instead of Senior and Junior. Only that they have. The fact doesn't surprise, but Osamu's agreement gives something more. Solidifies what's being built.

"All right. Then it's settled."

Kita looks up as the train slows.

"This our stop?"

[chromatic_coma]

"Huh?" Osamu's gaze darts to the map in the train car, announcing the upcoming stop. "Oh yeah, this is us."

The conversation had distracted him; it was stunning to hear Kita so easily call them friends. Teammates, sure, but friends was different. Special.

He reaches for his phone to pull up the directions to this restaurant, and when the train pulls into the station, he starts guiding Kita towards the right exit.

"So this place's concept is Japanese fast-casual, so it's taking traditional foods and trying to make them more portable and convenient without sacrificin' the flavor, ingredients, or technique. It's small but their menu's impressive."

Talking about this is easy, and fun, and there's a light in Osamu's eyes. Excitement.

[1foxgiven]

Osamu's got that particular light in his eyes. Same as every time food gets involved.

Kita smiles. Eyes crinkling over the mask.

"How'd you hear about it?"

As promised, this area's clearly off the tourist track. Only a few other people trickle out with them. Kita doesn't have to stay so close to Osamu. It's simply nice to have the chance.

[chromatic_coma]

"I follow a couple of reviewers and food bloggers on social media," Osamu admits somewhat sheepishly. "My SNS is usually full of pictures of amazin' lookin' food, it makes me hungry just goin' online sometimes. But most places aren't close enough to Hyogo for me to just go, you know? This is the first time I'm goin' anywhere I've seen outside of Kobe."

He pauses, then adds with a laugh. "Thought about goin' to Osaka a few times, though. The food there's supposed to be amazing."

[1foxgiven]

It's a whole new world, but makes sense. Food being another kind of community. Kita listens carefully. Making a note to ask for a few of those blogs later.

"Has your class started plannin' the 3rd-year-trip? You could suggest it."

[chromatic_coma]

"Oh, that's a good idea," Osamu says. "I hadn't thought of it. Though I dunno if people are gonna wanna use this trip to go someplace they can already get to just by train, you know? Don't most people wanna go to Okinawa or Hokkaido or some other exotic place?"

He gestures for them to turn off the main road with the station and to a sloping side street, going uphill against a residential backdrop.

"It's just around that corner," he says, pointing. "I think I see a line?"

[1foxgiven]

Kita shrugs.

"People go places they have a reason to go to. Excitement, knowledge, food, it's all gonna pull in different ways. You're persuasive. Wouldn't be surprised if you got your way."

He tucks himself into the aforementioned line. Looking around for a menu.

[chromatic_coma]

Again, Osamu feels a little flustered at how casually Kita's dropping these compliments on him. Though to Kita they're probably just observations, it still means a lot to him to know how Kita sees him. Is being persuasive a compliment? Osamu thinks it is, in this case.

"Maybe. There's good food everywhere, though, so it's not like I'm gonna complain wherever we end up."

With that, he gets behind Kita in line and begins the wait. Anticipation is building inside of him to an all-time high, so it takes him a moment to see that Kita is looking around intently.

"Uh, Kita-san, what're you lookin' for?"

[1foxgiven]

"The menu," Kita answers immediately. Still not seeing one.

"Don't wanna hold up other customers."

[chromatic_coma]

"Oh!" Osamu digs his phone out of his pocket and taps onto a different browser page. "I think they only have the physical sign on the front of the store, which is around the corner. But I've got it digitally right here."

The menu has a lot of staples of conveniences stores or izakayas; rice balls, karaage, yakitori, gyoza. But alongside the typical foods are interesting and unique flavors, including specialty fillings and sauces.

"Pretty much everythin' gets rave reviews, so pick whatever sounds good to you. I might ask whoever's at the counter to pick for me."

[1foxgiven]

Kita leans in. Cupping his hand over Osamu's to keep the phone in range.

"Cinnamon and cashews on yakitori? For real?"

He keeps reading as they shuffle forward. It's not that the flavors sound bad, he trusts the expert here. It's simply so many options! Who knew?

[chromatic_coma]

Osamu meant to hand the phone over to Kita, but having his hand held instead so that Kita can lean in and look at the screen?? It may as well be something out of a daydream, and Osamu is not going to burst his own bubble. If anything, he steps a little closer to Kita.

"That sounds like it could be good. Earthy and warm, and kind of Indian inspired?" He muses. "Good for the cold winter, to make you feel like you're not freezin' your, uh, hands off."

Was he totally about to say 'nuts'? You can't prove a thing.

The line looks long, but it moves quickly. Osamu fidgets like an eager child, trying to contain himself, the closer they get to the counter.

[1foxgiven]

"Freezin' those off would suck," Kita agrees. Deadpan.

He releases the phone. Notes Osamu's shifting. Same as before a game, when it's time to charge in. The energy's nearly an audible thing. Wired up by crowds, excitement, the need to go.

Kita wasn't sure he'd feel this again. At least, not while they were still both on the same team. He grins.

"Ya know, it's nice to see ya excited."

[chromatic_coma]

"Wouldn't be able to play volleyball. Or cook."

Speaking of hands no longer being kept warm, Osamu misses Kita's touch just as soon as it's gone. But he can't really come up with an excuse to keep holding his hand, either, so he says nothing and shoves his phone back into his pocket.

"Me?" He repeats, lacking self-awareness. "Do I look excited? I mean, I seriously am. There's lots of good food in Tokyo, but this is the place I wanted to try the most. And you're here too, so it's gonna be extra good."

[1foxgiven]

"Thanks. And I can always tell when you're excited. You hunch forward, keep movin' your shoulders."

Kita leans his weight onto the balls of his feet. Shifting as if about to take off. Maybe Osamu won't recognize it in himself, but he's seen it. Countless times. Atsumu does the same thing.

"Like that."

Then Kita straightens up. Back to himself.

[chromatic_coma]

Osamu very nearly cringes when he sees Kita mimic his posture, not because it's inherently disturbing, but because he immediately recognizes it as Atsumu's own excited fidgeting and hates to think that he's got an identical habit. He's made peace with the fact that he and Atsumu are identical twins, it has been 17 years after all, but some similarities are much less embarrassing than others, and this one is pretty bad.

Quickly, he makes himself stand up straighter and spreads his feet a bit further apart, flat on the ground.

"Geez," he mutters. "So I'm like a little kid when it comes to bein' obvious, huh?"

[1foxgiven]

"Yeah," Kita agrees. "But I never had to worry about ya, seein' that."

He doesn't mean it as a bad thing. After all, he makes a point to study body language. It so often tells the truth, when words tell another. Things he has to know as a Captain.

Or a former one.

The restaurant comes into view. Along with the hypnotic smell of frying bread. Spices familiar and not.

[chromatic_coma]

"I'm pretty sure no guy wants to be told he's easy to read," Osamu mumbles, feeling embarrassed still. Even though he logically knows there's no reason for it, he just wishes Kita could always see him being cool. Not an over-eager doofus.

"But I guess if it's you it's okay... Nothin' gets by you at all, huh Kita-san."

They turn the corner and can see the front of the restaurant. Already Osamu is leaning in again, his body language betraying him once more. "Oh man, it smells so good. Can barely remember what I had for lunch today, I'm so hungry."

[1foxgiven]

Kita's won't claim 'Nothing.' There's always room for improvement.

So he settles for, "Not much."

The smell has hooks. Dragging them both up to the open booth, barely more than a stove and a counter. Osamu's right. Lunch was a long time ago.

[chromatic_coma]

Osamu looks like a little boy on Christmas morning, drinking in every detail of the tiny shopfront; from the weather worn, hand painted menu boards to the clearly loved cookware, the quick hands of the experienced chefs to the food being served up by cheerful cashiers, he's soaking it all into his memory. He never wants to forget this experience. Having Kita beside him only makes it better.

"Have you picked what you want to try yet?"

[1foxgiven]

It's quite a thing. Getting to be with someone at a place like this, one they love. Even before setting a foot inside. It's the sort of feeling that spreads. Settles warm in the center of your chest.

"The Cinnamon Yakitori. Think that'll be enough?"

[chromatic_coma]

Osamu considers this. For him? It wouldn't even be close to enough, given his voracious appetite. But Kita's not a big eater. Still, just some grilled chicken... is that even a meal?

"Isn't a balanced meal supposed to have some carbs too?" Osamu responds, tapping his chin. "How about you add some onigiri or something?"

[1foxgiven]

"Excuse me, but the black rice onigiri's really good," pipes up the person at the register. Clearly used to these sorts of discussions. "Especially with mango filling!"

Kita considers.

"All right. I'll have that with the yakitori, an' green tea. Osamu?"