A/N: Just smth short and sweet I wrote for Valentine's Day, in one sitting, at one AM, uh, I have feelings,

A Little Something

There's nothing out of the ordinary about seeing Aone first thing in the morning, per se. He and Futakuchi typically meet up early, one way or another, be it on the way to school or morning practice or both.

No, what's so odd about today is Aone's posture. And his location. He's hunched in front of Futakuchi's locker, looking hesitant as he shuffles from one foot to the other. The usual line between his brows (or, where his eyebrows would be) is deeper than usual, too, Futakuchi sees as he approaches.

"Aone," he says, striding up right next to him, "d'you need something?"

And Aone…looks like a deer caught in headlights. As much as Aone can, anyway. The lines of his face smooth, and his eyes go just a mite wider than usual, blinking at Futakuchi in what very obviously reads as guilty surprise.

In all honesty, Futakuchi feels kinda proud for being able to read that from Aone's face. It's not like he's seen that specific expression before.

The silence between them stretches, though, in a way that's unnaturally awkward. Silence with Aone is never awkward. Futakuchi doesn't like the anxiety that starts to gnaw at his gut, and he can't trust Aone to say anything, so:

"Aone. You good? Or –"

Aone cuts him off with a shrug, eyes darting off to the side as his mouth downturns at the edges. There's something stiff about his movements, but Futakuchi can tell he's trying hard to act normal.

"Okay, then." Futakuchi figures he can afford to shrug this off for now. Maybe Aone's had a bad morning. Or maybe he was worried? Futakuchi guesses he's a little late today (it's not his fault that it's too damn cold to get out of bed). Whatever the case, Aone doesn't look like he wants to share, so for now, Futakuchi will play along. "Can I get to my locker…?"

Again, Aone's eyes go too-wide, and he sidesteps out of the way too-fast. Futakuchi raises an eyebrow at him, but he only ducks his head in response.

Avoiding eye contact, huh? Oh, Futakuchi is definitely going to question him later, if he keeps this up…

x

When lunchtime rolls around, Futakuchi wastes no time hauling a chair up to Aone's desk.

His appearance apparently pulls Aone out of some train of thought or other, because he practically jumps when Futakuchi sits down. Or, well, his forehead twitches in a way that implies he's been startled – Aone's approximation of flinching in surprise.

"Sorry," Futakuchi says, plopping his lunch down in front of himself.

Aone only shakes his head exactly once, brushing off the apology and citing it as his own fault for not paying attention all in one small motion.

"Yeah, but I still didn't mean to scare you like that."

With a shrug, Aone digs out his own bento.

He's…still quiet. And he's been like that all morning, so far as Futakuchi can tell from watching the back of his head. Which seems like an odd thing to say about someone who never really talks anyway, but there's a difference, even if Futakuchi is the only one who catches it.

Aone's got something on his mind, and by extension it's thoroughly distracting Futakuchi.

Rather than paying attention to class, Futakuchi has been spending his time trying to work out what's got Aone so bothered.

It can't be volleyball. His jump serves have been improving, and Koganegawa follows him around like a wide-eyed, oversized puppy – so he can't be lacking in confidence boosts, either.

Futakuchi has also ruled out academic troubles. Aone's grades are as sturdy as he is. Just last night, he had eased Futakuchi's suffering and explained impossible English vocabulary in layman's terms over text message for an hour straight.

Maybe it's a problem at home, then, Futakuchi had thought. He remembers the worried crease in Aone's forehead last Wednesday when his mother had started to come down with a cold. But Futakuchi had run into her on a grocery run for his own parents on Saturday, so that idea is also canned.

Less than an hour into the school day, and Futakuchi had ruled out everything except the morning commute as a potential problem. He knows it bothers Aone that people are intimidated by him, and Futakuchi had been late that morning –

But then Futakuchi had caught sight of the Valentine's chocolate.

Guilt had hit him like a ton of bricks at the sight of it, sitting pretty on a classmate's desk after being dropped off by a girl from the next class over.

…Should he have gotten some for Aone? He knows he likes sweet things, and today is a pretty good day to give gifts like that and have them blend as platonic, if Futakuchi were to try hard enough.

Wiiith the added bonus of them possibly being taken in a romantic way, which Futakuchi also wouldn't mind…

But would Aone mind?

…

…

That train of thought aside, today just feels like Thursday to Futakuchi. Valentine's Day slips his mind every year, on account of he only ever receives a handful of gifts, and he doesn't care much for chocolate anyway, and it's not like there's ever been anyone that he wants to shop for. He's altogether more aware of White Day, when he's expected to return gifts.

Aone, on the other hand. Aone never really gets anything. So maybe, it would've been thoughtful of Futakuchi, as his, y'know, as his best friend, to maybe just go out on a limb, and. Buy him some damn chocolate.

But no. Futakuchi is dumb and doesn't read calendars and is the least thoughtful person alive.

So here he finds himself, sitting by Aone and forgetting to eat lunch as he continues to think himself in circles over this Valentine's Day conundrum.

Is Aone the type to get upset by that kind of thing? Not really.

Would he admit that not getting gifts is what's bothering him if that is, indeed, what the problem is? Probably not.

Is Futakuchi always this prone to overthinking internal rambling? No, never, but when it comes to Aone, he's kind of –

Something jabs him in the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.

It's Aone, of course, poking him to get his attention. His mouth is quivered into a concerned line, eyes soft with worry.

"I'm fine," Futakuchi says on a sigh, which he realizes betrays his statement as a blatant lie.

Aone's brows lower, clearly not buying it.

If this turns into nothing but Aone fussing over him when he's the one feeling more down, Futakuchi is going to flip. "Really – I'm okay, just thinking."

Now there's a telltale twitching at the corner of Aone's mouth. Uncalled for. Futakuchi is being serious here! (Just kidding. His chest floods with relief at the sight. But he can't be obvious about it.)

"Oh, shut up. I think pretty often, you know!"

Aone hides what might form into a full smile with a little more coaxing in a sip of his milk.

"Jerk," Futakuchi mumbles, watching Aone carefully so he doesn't miss the way his eyes crinkle at the corners. Yeah, that's a smile. Cute.

Ah, Futakuchi is in too deep.

The second he thinks that, a pretty brunette steps up on the other side of Aone's desk, right across from where Futakuchi is sitting. She looks nervous, fiddling with a pink package in her hands – but all Futakuchi cares about is the minute darkening of Aone's expression. Rather suddenly, Aone is very interested in his food and not much else.

"Um, Futakuchi-kun," the girl starts, cheeks flushing as dark as the wrapping paper, "these are for you!"

Futakuchi, for the life of him, cannot remember her name. Which is a little awkward. She's undeniably beautiful – dully, he can feel glares coming from a few classmates right now – but all he can think about is the way she shoots a timid glance at Aone before she thrusts the chocolate towards Futakuchi.

If his "Thanks," comes out a little cold, Futakuchi thinks he can be forgiven. But he does take the chocolates, at least.

"There's…" the girl twirls her side ponytail around between her fingers, "there's a letter, too."

Flipping the package, Futakuchi sees it, taped to the bottom. When he looks back up, the girl has fled back to her seat, face buried in her arms and surrounded by a ring of other girls chattering away at her, offering congratulations or condolences, he's not sure.

Augh. Why'd she have to do that now, right when Futakuchi was getting Aone to cheer up? Some people have no sense of timing….

A foot nudges his ankle under the desk, and Futakuchi finds himself locking eyes with Aone. There's a serious expression on Aone's face that makes his eyes hard, and Futakuchi sighs at him. "What? I was polite!"

Aone's frown deepens.

"Fine," Futakuchi folds under that judgmental gaze, flipping his gift over in his hands, "I'll apologize later."

There's a short nod from Aone, and he goes back to eating, although his posture doesn't relax the whole way.

"And turn her down," Futakuchi continues. "I don't like the way she looked at you."

Aone stops eating abruptly, setting down his chopsticks and everything. Not even Futakuchi can keep up with the flood of emotions that crowd his face and leave it in quick succession, until it finally settles on something…disgruntled? Conflicted?

Now that worry is back, accompanied by more guilt. "Aone, is –"

"It's nothing," Aone says. Though, when he starts eating again, his head is bowed more than usual.

But since he went to the trouble of vocally asserting that, then Futakuchi won't push.

They finish the rest of lunch in stony silence.

x

After practice. After practice, Futakuchi will pry to his heart's content, nose his way into Aone's issue and solve it as best he can. If it's the Valentine's thing, he'll buy Aone something on the way home. If it's something else, then.

Well.

He'll do everything in his power to bring out another smile, or at least alleviate that extra-grumpy look Aone's got today.

But he knows that Aone won't let it affect his performance on the court (unless it's really bad, in which case Futakuchi will pry earlier), so he can give him some space until then. Never mind that that sounds suspiciously like a copout, even to his own mind.

They're on their way to the clubroom now, so that means it's time to go into captain mode, and not think about –

A touch from Aone brings him out of his head yet again, this time in the form of a hand fisted in the back of his blazer. He jerks to a halt, feeling Aone let go as Futakuchi turns to face him.

"What is it?"

The hand that had grabbed hold of Futakuchi flexes, clenching on a fist and relaxing a couple times before Aone lets it drop by his side. He's shuffling from foot to foot, and avoiding eye contact, in an exact mirror to his behavior this morning.

And it's endearing. So much so, that it's threatening to make Futakuchi's heart explode. Which would be messy to clean up, and also probably deadly? He winds up blurting the first thing that comes to mind to spare himself. "We gotta get to practice, I can't be late anymore now that I'm the cap–"

As he'd been speaking, Aone had dug something out of his pocket, and that something now sits in the palm of his hand, held out and clearly being offered to Futakuchi.

"–tain," Futakuchi finishes lamely, eyes glued to Aone's hand and mouth stuck shut.

The bag is clear, a shiny plastic thing tied with curled red ribbon, and inside he can see heart-shaped gummies coated in sour sugar.

Futakuchi is pretty sure his heart is trying to climb up his throat, and that he's swallowed his tongue, and they're currently doing battle or something in there, and if he opens his mouth all of his feelings will spill onto the frozen ground, which would be off-brand and downright stupid of him.

On top of that, he can feel his face heating up, probably steaming in the cold February air.

He flicks his eyes up to Aone's face before he loses all of his nerve. His lips are trembling in a valiant battle not to press together, and his eyes seem awfully bright even as they linger looking off to the side. But most telling of all is that blush.

Never, not once, has Futakuchi seen Aone blush. He's doing it now, though, no doubt about it. There's pink spreading over his cheeks. He shuffles on his feet some more. His eyes blink, catch on Futakuchi's and then look away again.

Oh man. Oh shit. There are butterflies in Futakuchi's stomach, and his hand trembles as he reaches out to accept the candy.

This is too much. The package is warm, probably from being held in Aone's pocket all day.

"Thank-you," Futakuchi finds it in him to say. It feels clumsy and not enough as it falls too fast off of his tongue and he can't stop staring at Aone.

By way of reply, Aone tips his head in a nod. And oh god, he's smiling, and the blush has spread to the tips of his ears.

Futakuchi's never felt so happy to receive a Valentine's Day gift in his life.

"Captaaaaiiiin!" Koganegawa barrels into the moment with all the grace of a toddler on stilts, bodily throwing an arm over Futakuchi's shoulder. "Did you get shorter! Can I do extra serving practice today!"

They're barely questions, never mind the offensive nature of the first one (stupid ever-growing first year) and Futakuchi feels an overwhelming urge to smack him, the absolute bumbling idiot.

In his overexcitement, Koganegawa is nearly shoving him over as he leans against his side, and Futakuchi curls both hands protectively around his gummies. "No, you giant menace," he snaps, "you're gonna toss until your arms fall off!"

Koganegawa starts to whine more complaints, cut off only when Aone grabs him by the collar and tugs him back a couple steps. Too gentle, Futakuchi thinks.

"Ah, Aone-senpai!"

The rest of whatever Koganegawa is saying, Futakuchi purposefully drowns out. His frustration doesn't stick well with the elation of Aone, Aone's gift, Aone likes me, running on a loop in his head.

Speaking of Aone, there's an amused shine to his eyes, and the corners of his mouth are still at ease as he looks between Koganegawa and Futakuchi. It's such a carefree expression. How is Futakuchi supposed to play the part of stern captain now?

He tucks his gift away in his pocket, making sure that Koganegawa isn't looking before he flashes a smile to Aone.

Aone's head ducks a smidge, cheeks going a little pink again.

"Eh? Are you cold?" Koganegawa is bouncing in place, too close to Aone's face.

Right, that's enough of sharing Aone's most adorable expression with the undeserving public. Futakuchi snags Koganegawa by the ear, and slips his hand into Aone's in what he hopes is a smooth, natural move (that will not raise suspicions but will still be emotionally significant to Aone).

"Ow - hey!"

"…!"

Futakuchi can practically hear Aone's blush, and he sure does feel the way that big, warm hand curls around his own. "C'mon, you two," he grouches through the smile threatening to break out on his face. "Practice."

A/N: Haikyuu has so many great characters – I feel like a kid run amok in a candy store as I try to decide who I want to write about.

Aone sticks out, tho, bc he's so adorable that if I think about him for too long I WILL start crying. So he and Futakuchi got to be first. And Koganegawa, lmao.

I'm kinda nervous, posting for this fandom for the first time, but I liked this idea and wanted to have it done in time for today, so here it is!

Thanks for reading!