Loving Tendou in the summer was the taste of mango and sugar on his lips, the sharpness of lemon and lime at the corner of his smile, and mischief in his eyes, glittering like the sunset stretched out before them. It was days lounging on the beach, school texts long since abandoned in the hotel room, and the warm sand pressed to their backs – pressed to hands, knees and cheeks.

Sand in places it really shouldn’t be, and summer was Tendou laughing about it into his throat that evening, showered free of the salt, but tangled together to retain that sun-kissed warmth. Ushijima was sure that the sand of him would turn to glass under the heat of Tendou’s gaze, under the scalding pressure of his fingertips.

Loving Tendou in the autumn meant fighting for space and time, admist volleyball matches swirling around them. Autumn brought crisp winds, Tendou bundled up in polo-necks and raincoats, cursing at the lashing weather outside.

Autumn was stress – Tendou was recalcitrant in every regard and though Ushijima loved him for it, he wished that Tendou would let himself pause now and then, lest he burn himself out. Tendou’s fire warmed Ushijima, but sometimes he would hurl words blacker than smoke, and Ushijima would find himself burned.

They would patch things up, as always, filling the chasm with poured wax and gentle apologies. Tendou’s stubborn fire always lit the way home, and Ushijima wouldn’t have it any other way.

Loving Tendou in the winter brought quiet, at long last. Shiratorizawa was blanketed in snow, muffling every sound and movement, and the winter holidays brought them time too, to lay awake together murmuring in the dark. The weeks stretched ahead of them where their only responsibility was to rest and regroup, to reconnect with one another, to catch up on the touches and words that they had missed in autumn.

Winter too brought mischief. A handful of snow down Ushijima’s back, a shout in the air and the pair of them tumbling down a snowy bank. Tendou’s spiky hair laid out on the white, his cheeks flushed and eyes glittering like the stars, instead of the sunset. Ushijima knew that for as long as he drew breath, he would love him.

Loving Tendou in the spring was Ushijima’s favourite, by far. If summer was joy, autumn was stress and winter was rest, then spring was hope. It was watching the flowers blossom, feeling the days warm and the evenings draw out, the sky shot through with purple and yellow at sundown. It was the start of warm breezes, but a fortifying chill in the mornings. It was getting caught in spring rains with Tendou, the drizzle clinging to their eyebrows and their lashes, shirts sticking to their chests, and laughing despite the chill.

Spring was full circle for Ushijima. It was a reminder that the world was in constant flux, constant motion, and yesterday was not tomorrow, or any day thereafter. They weren’t bound by the rules of the past. He and Tendou could forge their own way forward, no matter what the world wanted from them. They would be dandelions blooming in improbable places if they had to be.

What are you thinking about? Tendou’s words rumbled against his shoulder. Bright yellow light was pouring through a slit in the curtains, and Tendou's red hair were in disarray across the pillow. He would take any season of Tendou that he could get, and then the next, and the next, and the next.