Dish Soap

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

They were really doing this.

It was cold. The only thing you could see for miles was a snowy haze as winter neared. So why did a 12 year old think it was wise to walk over 400 kilometers to Tokyo? You can't find any dish soap in a forest.

Hinata Shouyou, an all-around good kid who never got the best grades and was always obsessed with volleyball, was walking away from his only home he had known all his life. All because he couldn't be born like a normal kid to a normal family. Because he was sick, diseased, manipulated. 

All because he had a crush on his best friend in middle school. His male best friend in middle school.

5 years ago, Shouyou had always liked girls. They were cute and fun to play tag with. His parents always asked if he ever had any crushes in school, any particular girls he liked. Of course, being the immature kid he was, he usually replied with, "Eww! No way. Girls have cooties!" This would start an argument between him and his little sister Natsu, who was only 7 back then.

"No they don't!"

"Yeah they do!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Kids, please don't be so loud. Papa is sleeping right now, and he needs to get to work tomorrow so we can have food in our bellies in the morning. Don't you guys want food tomorrow?"

That usually shut them up.

One day, Hinata practiced his receives with his best friend, Yukitaka Izumi. They tossed and received the ball back and forth, until an older kid knocked the ball out of Shouyou's hands. Izumi gracefully retrieved the ball, at least to him. It was like the sweat on Izumi's skin flew off in slow motion as he dived to get the volleyball. It sparkled in the sunlight and slowly dropped to the ground. Everything about Izumi was more polished and perfect than usual to him, and it set Shouyou off. Since then, his face always heated up into a red mess when they were only 3 feet away from each other.

Why was this feeling appearing around Izumi? He was a boy, and Shouyou wasn't supposed to feel that way. But he did. This was a secret he was meant to take to the grave. If he ever told his family, they would never forgive him. He might be shunned, or even worse.

He was gifted the latest smartphone on his 15th birthday. This was the same day he told Natsu about his sexuality. She accepted him with open arms, but it didn't make Shouyou any more confident to tell his parents. It was too early. He didn't have any back up resources if anything happened.

"You know, you could join a discord server and talk to people like you!" It was a suggestion that came out of the blue when Natsu stumbled into Shouyou's room at 4 in the morning when her brother wouldn't shut up about exams he wouldn't pass (unless he remembered his notes that his friend Yacchan gave him).

"What's a discord?" Shouyou asked. Natsu took it as an invitation to enter his room and shut the door so their mother wouldn't hear. Not like she would anyways, she was knocked out drunk after a long night with some dude.

"It's like an online chat thing. Some kids in my dance class have siblings that use it."

"They have servers for that stuff?"

"Yeah if you look hard enough! Look for smaller servers though, they aren't as chaotic. Try like, I dunno... 20 members or less?"

"Maybe later. Go to sleep before Mom wakes up and gets mad."

"I know! Good night, Shouyou."

"Night!"

He never thought much about it until 3 years later, when he planned on telling his mother before he went off to The University of Tokyo in 2 months. A day before, Shouyou decided to search for servers on his computer. He needed to have the tags set correctly before he did something stupid. Volleyball, LGBTQ+, 10-20 members. That seemed decent enough. Natsu was right there next to him, telling him to calm his nerves. An unfinished test sat in the other window, just in case someone walked in on him. 

'It's going to be fine. Just click the button, and it will all be okay.'

Shouyou's fingers trembled as he finally set his index finger on the left-click button. The screen generated that infamous loading spiral for a few seconds, and a couple results popped up.

Brosophagus- A calm server that discusses sports, anime, and rock!! NO RET-

"Skip over that one." Natsu shoved her small fingers towards the mouse as she scrolled down to the second option.

Blanket Fort- 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓸! 𝔀𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓪 𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓬𝓬𝓮𝓹𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓵. 𝔀𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓮𝓵𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓼, 𝓿𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮! 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓹 𝓫𝔂!!

"I could barely read that one. Should we skip it?"

"I guess. I think it's one of those soft servers that would never match your energy."

"Hey!" Shouyou shoved his sister playfully while his open right hand continued scrolling to the last one.

Detergent Isle- Not very holy, just gay people that play volleyball.

"Hey, that sounds a lot like you!"

"Oh hush."

Shouyou clicked on the third option and accepted the invite. "What do you wanna make your username?" Natsu asked with innocent eyes. They were big and sweet, always making her seem just a little bit more happy. Shouyou remembered what all his teammates used to call him in high school. A ball of energy, a tiny monster with limitless stamina, a crow that never fell.

sunshinenergy

Are you sure you want this username? You can always change it later.

Yes | No

Yes

A wild sunshinenergy has appeared!

"I did it!" Shouyou jumped out of his chair. "I really did it!" 

He and his sister high-fived while another person on the server started typing.

apathy-kun: Hello new member and welcome to the Detergent Isle! We hope you enjoy your time here. Please enter your nickname (or real name if you prefer), a brief description, and pronouns/sexuality in #introductions so none of our trademark idiots messes something up. Ex. Apathy, he/him, bisexual. I like to play volleyball and read books.

sexythunder: lol he means us @idiotcat

idiotcat: love it when he goes into admin mode

What was he supposed to say?

"Say hi, you moron!" Natsu poked him in his back and snapped Shouyou out of his small trance. He quickly typed an introduction and ran back into the conversation.

INTRODUCTIONS

-----------------------------------

sunshinenergy: hello!! my name is Shouyou and I like to play volleyball! I'm attending university when school starts back up and I'm super excited!! I use he/him pronouns and I am gay!!

idiotcat: sho is so wholesome i can't-

flatinthehat: he's a server babyyy!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

nervousrug: oh you're my age then! that's so cool!

"See how easy that was? Just be yourself. I'm going to bed." Natsu stumbled off, but Shouyou knew she would just play on her phone for a while before actually sleeping. He sent her the invite link just in case.

MAIN HELL

-----------------------------------

dadchi: Welcome to the server Shouyou. Some of us might not be online that much, but if you have any questions please ask @Admins or @sugar since Apathy never likes pings.

sunshinenergy: okay !!

There was a little beep coming from Shouyou's computer and he noticed a little red circle with the number 1 inside. Was it a special notification? Might as well check

SUGAR'S LOVE CHANNEL

-----------------------------------

sugar: Welcome Shouyou to our server! Small reminder to get plenty of rest, water, and food since I know everyone might be going through tough times. You can always tell the server anything, and my dms are always open! Remember to always love yourself and stay positive! @everyone

There were some small emoji buttons appearing under the message, so he clicked a random one. So far so good!

MAIN HELL

-----------------------------------

Good to see you, sleebyleaf!

sugar: two new people in a row!

sexythunder: another poor victim for @flatinthehat

flatinthehat: you know what you can just shut your mouth (◣_◢)

apathy-kun: Hello new member and welcome to the Detergent Isle! We hope you enjoy your time here. Please enter your nickname (or real name if you prefer), a brief description, and pronouns/sexuality in #introductions so none of our trademark idiots messes something up. Ex. Apathy, he/him, bisexual. I like to play volleyball and read books.

sleebyleaf: yessir!

doyouknowtherussianman: 2 new people in a row!

currentlygaming: stop being annoying

doyouknowtherussianman: SUGAR SAID THE SAME THING

currentlygaming: yeah but you're just irritating

sexythunder: ah yes, russian man slander

flatinthehat: we love to see it

sleebyleaf: back!

This is the beginning of your direct message history with @sleebyleaf

sunshinenergy: is this Natsu??

sleebyleaf: hell yeah

sunshinenergy: sweet!!

MAIN HELL

-----------------------------------

sugar: hello leaf! we hope you enjoy your stay!

sleebyleaf: :DDD

idiotowl: @sunshinenergy what position did/do you play?

sunshinenergy: I played middle blocker and I got to spike a lot of balls :D

idiotowl: ≧◡≦ CAT WAS A MIDDLE BLOCKERR

sunshinenergy: COOL COOL !!

sexythunder: but then he ditched the amazing sport for science

idiotcat: look buddy this is coming from the one who never passes tests

idiotcat: you salty dude?

sexythunder: ew no why would i be salty over science

apathy-kun: I don't understand how you don't pass science

sunshinenergy: It's okay thunder! I never made it to the double digits on any test!

apathy-kun: I-

flatinthehat: ngl kinda impressive

idiotowl: how did you get into tokyo uni??

sunshinenergy: I had a friend in highschool that helped me on my tests !!

doyouknowtherussianman: @sleebyleaf what position do you play?

flatinthehat: i never even stayed in japan for uni

idiotowl: hey hey hey @sleebyleaf what position do you play??

sleebyleaf: oh i don't play volleyball, i do dance. my brother plays tho

doyouknowtherussianman: why am i being ignored :(

currentlygaming: please ignore this buffoon

doyouknowtherussianman: THATS SO MEAN

dadchi: please GO TO SLEEP JAPANESE DUMBASSES ITS 2 IN THE DAMN MORNING

sexythunder: bro dad chill

idiotowl: we sleep at dawn B)

dadchi: @sexythunder don't

sexythunder: fine boring old man

dadchi: im a year older than you-

dadchi: whatever just go to sleep please

idiotowl: GOOD NIGHTTTT EVERYONE

sugar: sleep tight! and actually sleep this time @currentlygaming

currentlygaming: ur not my mom

sunshinenergy: sleep is really important though !!!

dadchi: see? he understands

dadchi: NOW GO. TO. SLEEP.

He didn't find it appropriate to talk after that, since the admin was probably getting frustrated by now. It must've gotten really late while he was so busy chatting with his new friends. Shouyou smiled to himself and he turned off his computer. 

The lights were turned off. "It's gonna be a long, fun ride from here on out!" But for now, it was time to sleep. His head hit the pillow, he snuggled under the covers, and Shouyou was locked away in his own dreams for a couple hours.