I had fun with this. I missed writing for my tall boy. Also, Lev is a junior in college! Just throwing that out there.
Lev wasn’t one to be paranoid. In fact, he was anything but. Lev Haiba was the kind of guy to wave at a man in a trenchcoat looming in the dark corner of an alleyway at three o’clock in the morning. Nothing in this world scared him besides pretty girls and cockroaches, but, the way his roommate was glancing up at him every so often sent a good shiver down his spine.
Hinata had been sitting on the edge of his own bed and furiously tapping at his phone for fifteen minutes now; Lev knew because he had been counting. Whatever was making Hinata type so fast that he could actually hear his fingers bouncing on the screen had to involve him, somehow. Every so often the typing would stop, and ever so ominously Hinata would look up at him for about five seconds, his eyebrows scrunched and his lips pursed, then he’d go right back to typing again. Lev would’ve straight up asked what Hinata’s problem was in any other case scenario, but he was honest he had never seen Hinata this mad. Well, exempt the one time in sophomore year where he wasn’t allowed into the club for “looking too young”.
Another five minutes passed and the typing stopped all together. Lev was afraid to look up from his laptop to see if Hinata was staring again, but he did it anyways. Hinata hadn’t been looking, but Lev caught his attention. He laughed, eyes nervously darting over to his phone.
“Tobio.” Is all Hinata had to say, and suddenly, the whole situation made sense. Well, some of it did, the relentless typing, at least. Although, that didn’t explain the incessant glares in his direction.
“What did he do now?”
“Well, it’s not rea-ally about him.” Hinata shrugged. “Hey, Lev, can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Are you free tonight?”
Suddenly, Lev found himself utterly confused. He cocked an eyebrow and looked up at Hinata, who was passing the situation as something that happened on the daily. He propped himself up on his shoulders and kicked his legs over the side of the bed.
“Is someone asking me out?” He pondered, in all seriousness.
“Well, kinda.”
“Is it you or Tobio? ‘Cause if I’m being honest I think Tobio would treat me right.” Lev laughed.
“No-o it’s not Tobio! It’s not me either!”
“I know, I know. Who’s asking me out then?”
Hinata hopped off the edge of his bed and shuffled right up next to Lev on his. He flipped his phone out of his pocket again, fiddling with it for a moment before pulling up a picture.
“Her.” Hinata nudged “at Lev’s arm. “Well, she didn’t actually ask you out. She’s Tobio’s girlfriend’s best friend.
“So you’re saying you have no idea who this chick is?” Lev laughed, ogling at the photo of the girl for a split second before Hinata yanked the phone away. “I don’t really mind, either way. She’s kinda cute. I think.”
“Yeah. We figured you’d be cute together. So, are you down?” Hinata stood up from the bed and went off to do his own thing once more. Lev wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of going out on a date with a stranger, if anything, he thought it was a bit exciting. In the back of his mind though, he denied the sincerity of it all, but suppressed it.
“Sure, I’m down. Are we meeting at a certain place or is it just wherever?”
“The Gazelle.”
Hinata was referencing to the indie coffee shop down the street from their dorm. It was always quiet, soft piano music filling up the empty space where people weren’t whispering to each other about the new vinyl records they bought the other day. Everyone wore baggy sweaters and wire glasses and could pronounce the obscure names on the menu with ease. Lev just nodded in agreement, too wound up in everything else to wonder why the people involved in this rendezvous had chosen a place that was so not him. He was oblivious to the way Hinata was smirking into his fist as he started texting again, just like he was oblivious to everything else.
That night, Lev found himself inside The Gazelle. It wasn’t often where he found himself in this place, only ever stopping by to make fun of Kenma, who worked behind the counter on weekends, or to grab himself a hot cocoa to endure early morning lectures. He took a seat by the window, which he immediately started to regret. The chairs were too small for him and his legs barely fit underneath the table. He would’ve gotten up and moved, but he didn’t want to draw more attention to himself then he already was. There weren’t many people in the shop, just a couple of baristas he didn’t recognize, a lonesome girl with space buns who refused to stop glaring at him, and a guy in the corner who looked like he had just one too many espressos that night. He hadn’t been waiting for long now, the date was scheduled for eight, but he figured showing up at seven forty-five would give him a chivalrous advantage. Thing was, even if his date had showed up, he hadn’t quite remembered what she looked liked. Hinata had flashed the picture so fast, he could barely absorb that she was in fact, a person. For all he knew, the angry girl with space buns could have been his date this entire time. That was, until the chime on the door rang.
Lev’s eyes darted up from his phone to the door. The bitter chill from outside clashed against the warmth of fireplace on the inside and rustled a few magazines sitting on the table next to him. Lev couldn’t necessarily see who had walked through the doors, a tall houseplant had blocked their way. He figured it had to be a freshman, though. Through the leaves, he could see the top of their head barely reached the coat rack by the barista counter. He continued to pay no mind to his surroundings, mindlessly being sucked back into the screen in his hands. It was eight o’three now, but Lev didn’t really mind. He figured he wasn’t being stood up, Hinata wouldn’t do something like that. There was a possibility that he wasn’t paying too much attention to his surroundings, though.
It wasn’t until he heard a soft clearing of the throat did he get off his phone again. Standing in front of him was that presumed freshman, her hands balled together in the oversized sleeves of her sweater. The first thing that Lev noticed was that she was small. The oversized sweater that pooled around her body didn’t do her much justice, nor did the keroppi purse that was slung over her right shoulder. It wasn’t until he made eye contact with her did he realize who she was. It was Kageyama’s girl friend’s best friend. It was her.
Lev was almost afraid to stand up next to her. He didn’t even have to look up at her in his position right now, and he was sitting. After staring for a brief moment, she giggled awkwardly and peeped a small, “hi!” Lev couldn’t help but wonder why his friends would be hanging out with a freshman. Although he had to admit, she was adorable.
“Are you by any chance… Kageyama’s girlfriends best friend?” Lev hated that he had to associate her by that title. It wasn’t like Hinata gave him a background check on her, though.
“Yeah, that would be me! And you’re Kageyama’s best friends roommate, right?”
“Mhm!”
Lev felt like he was being rude just sitting there while she was standing. Forgetting the small table above him, he stood up, nearly knocking himself, the chair, and the entire table over as he lumbered up awkwardly. He looked down at her, almost bashfully, but it seemed like she didn’t even notice.
“This is a joke. This is so-o a joke.” She covered her face with her sweater paws and began laughing. “O-Oh my god. Hinata, you bastard.”
It took Lev a moment to get what she was shaking her head about, then it clicked. Their height difference was so drastic, comical, even. Figured Hinata would try to set them up to get a kick out of it. “Oh-h, I see.” He hummed.
Then without warning, Lev set his hand atop her head. “How tall are you? Er, how short are you, rather.”
She didn’t seem to find that funny, and merely shook her head. “I could be asking you the same thing, Burj Khalifa. I’m five foot.”
“Five foot what?”
“Uh, just five foot.”
Lev shook his head. “People can actually be that short?” He asked in all seriousness, unaware of how red her cheeks are. “Are you still a freshman?”
“No, I’m a junior. Jus’ like you.”
“Wow.” Lev shook his head and merely laughed. “This is the funniest thing to ever happen to me. You’re so cute.”
“Thank you, and honestly, I didn’t expect to be set up with the actual Himalayan Yeti either. And you never actually answered my question, by the way.”
“Oh, yeah. I just hit six foot ten the other day. I’m still growing. My doctor says I’ll probably stop when I’m twenty-five, and I’ll probably be seven feet then.”
“Seven feet!” She gaped up at him, experimentally pushing herself up on her tiptoes. “Um, can we get our drinks and sit down? My neck kinda hurts.”
“Oh! Oh yeah sure… um?”
“__. The names __.”
“Cool! I’m Lev!”
“Lev?” She peeped. She stood up next to the barista counter, popping up on her tippy toes to rest her forearms upon it. “You’re Russian?”
“Yeah! How’d you know?”
“It seems very Russian. My second guess was German, or something, but I think Russian is nicer. It’s a prettier language, don’t you think?”
Lev was surprised she hadn’t mentioned his height whilst talking about his heritage, it was usually the first thing people bounced to. It was endearing, really. When the barista came up to greet her, she popped up higher on her tiptoes to talk to him. She ordered her drink, something with a confusing name he was surprised she could even pronounce, then turned to him to have him stutter, “medium hot cocoa.” They stood there for a brief moment, Lev shuffling from foot to foot until she grabbed the drinks and motioned back to their table.
He never expected to find himself going on a date with someone nearly two feet shorter than him, but for some odd reason, he didn’t really mind. He figured at this point it was all some joke between Hinata, Kageyama and the third party, but jokes aside, it wasn’t bad judgement. She had big goals and dreams like his, to which Lev joked that they were bigger than she was. They compared hand sizes, then shoe sizes, then arm length, and wound up sitting together on the fountain outside of Lev’s dorm after the baristas kicked them out half past nine. It wasn’t just her height, but there was something about her that Lev found too cute. She had these soft eyes and gentle smile that he couldn’t help but adore. She didn’t get mad at his “short-shaming”, as she referred to it as, and merely just played along. She could think of as many tall nicknames and he could think of short, and despite his height, treated him like a normal person. Most dates he wound up on he’d get flooded by “basketball comments” and obsessing over his height, girls telling him how attractive it was to be with “such a tall guy.” Even though it was such a huge feature, she looked passed that, and it was mostly him who had brought it up. She preferred it when they were sitting down face to face, rather than side to side. She liked his “dorky personality”, or so she said, more than his height. That’s what made her adorable.
They huddled around the inactive fountain for hours, and as the clock hit midnight the only thought in Lev’s head was seeing the shock on Hinata’s face when he returned home and said, “Hey the date was great, we have another planned for Saturday night!” She stood up from her place next to him on the fountain, pulling her sweater closer to her body before pausing to sneeze in her elbow.
“Hey, I think I should head home. I’m getting really cold.” She laughed, pausing to sneeze again.
“Oh! Okay. I had a lot of fun. You’re cool for somebody who looks fourteen.”
“Me too! I never knew sentient trees could be so charming. So, Saturday night at seven, right?”
“Yup!”
“You have my number in your phone and everything, right?”
“Yup!”
“Nice! Thank you for tonight. Kick Hinata’s ass for me, kay?”
“I’ll make sure to at least choke him under his pillow for a few minutes.” Lev smiled. “Oh another thing- should I walk you home?”
“Sounds wonderful. I should be fine, I live right around the corner” She giggled, shuffling around for a minute before holding her hand up. Lev cocked his head in confusion.
“I, uh, I wanted to give you a hug but I really don’t know how.”
Lev laughed, barked, rather and put his hand up against hers.
“We’ll figure it out next time.”
She then nodded, bid her farewells, then skittered away, her arms bobbing gleefully, her purse bouncing at her side the entire time. He watched her as she turned the corner, spinning around to wave at him one more time. She was cute, she was very cute, and it was all Lev could think about. The moment Lev was sure she must’ve been in her dorm, he sprinted towards his, running up three flights of stairs to open the dorm room door with a dramatic slam.
“You’re home late!” Hinata chimed, his back turned to the door, laying on his stomach and kicking his feet as he typed on his computer.
“You didn’t tell me she was short.”
“Never came up in conversation.” Hinata laughed. “So how’d it go?”
“Great! Figured out the whole setup was a joke two seconds in, but besides that it was great!’ Lev flopped back onto his bed, paying no mind to the way Hinata jerked his head in his direction.
“You guys actually got along?”
“Yeah! She’s actually real sweet. We’re going out this weekend, too. Your plan backfired, Shouyou!”
Hinata laughed, slamming the top of his laptop down. “Glad you had fun. Kageyama’s gonna have a fit.”
Lev shook his head and shuffled around, digging in his pocket for his phone. A text message popped on the screen, under the name of “Shrimp-puff”.
“Don’t forget to push Hinata’s head under the pillow!” It read. Lev smiled and looked up at Hinata, who was laying in the same position.
“What is it?” He asked before realizing what was coming for him. He coughed as a pillow whacked him upside the head, rendering him useless.
“Chivalry.”
I was grinning from ear to ear reading this, its sooooooo adorable!
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