disclaimer: Haikyuu! respectfully belongs to Furudate Haruichi.
pairing: subtle kagehina
notes: summer is more than half-way over so i decided to write this instead of do my summer assignments bloop (⊙﹏⊙✿). but i really wanted to write something haikyuu! so please enjoy!
notes 2: Hinata and Kageyama are pretty good friends in this story and they've had sleepovers before hence the last scene isn't super awkward and kinda rushed.
" Come lay with me. I wanna talk about nothing with someone that means something. "
-;-
i.
Kageyama Tobio is a control-freak.
Kageyama Tobio is a prodigy, some say on the way of being made into a legend. He is gifted and blessed, graced with long legs and sharp, starry blue eyes and talented acquired long before his years. Kageyama is solid iron, steel shoulders that carry too much promise, too many expectations for one person to handle.
The Kageyama on the court is a genius setter, from darting eyes to agile tosses to flawlessly formed jump-serves that rival Oikawa's. So much of a genius that they forget that Tobio is just a boy, one that sips cold milk-drinks on his walk home after grueling practices, has a painfully awful forced smile, and flings curses left and right between his lips. He is arrogant and rude and solely reliant on himself.
Kageyama Tobio may or may not adore Hinata Shouyo.
ii.
Contrary to popular belief, Kageyama is more delicate than he appears to be.
He sputters quiet compliments and savors praise, even if he tries to act indifferently, letting it roll off him like rainwater. Kageyama never complains, even if his legs wobble from lightning-fast sprints, shoulders that ache from endless tosses, including extra hours practicing one-on-one with Hinata. Kageyama can also be surprisingly gentle- with words, with wounds, and especially with hand that brushes Hinata's hair ever so softly.
Kageyama is also afraid.
Flashes from his final year at Kitagawa Daiichi haunt him, memories of glancing over his shoulder to find shadows of back turned toward him, never once forgetting the sound of the ball landing against the plastic flooring- the toss that was never hit. His body still tenses, palms still clammy thinking back to that moment. It's desolate and dark and disappointment- they were disappointed by him.
That was before Hinata, before the rest of Karasuno. They're there, supporting him, from Sugawara-san's reassuring pats, Tanaka's hoots and hollers, Nishinoya guarding their backs silently. Even the low grunts and half-hearted scoffs delivered by the stoic Tsukishima and the small impish smiles offered by Yamaguchi let him feel relieved.
It's Hinata, annoying and loud and overbearing Hinata that changes everything.
Even with the lack of height and talent, Hinata calls to him over and over, heated outbursts of, "toss to me!" or "once more, one more time!". Hinata is more- more jumps, more sprints, more exhilaration, more hope.
And it will always be Hinata, standing in front of him with a hand on his chest gripping the fabric of his t-shirt tightly between his fingers, staring at him with such intensity firmly saying, "i'm here, Kageyama. i'm right here."
Hinata is the sun in every given sense. He is bright and restless and painful to stare at, but Kageyama can't bring himself to turn away. The sun that never fails to rise and set, never fails to help trees grow and flowers bloom, never fails to leave a cloak of warmth around his shoulders.
If the lights were to suddenly go dark, Kageyama thinks, Hinata would still burn like countless stars and intertwining constellations in a sky of midnight blue.
iii.
At times, Kageyama feels as if he doesn't deserve to have Hinata.
His own twisted mind tells him that Hinata is good, too good for Kageyama to ever have completely and truthfully, Kageyama is okay with that. Hinata is there for him, Hinata plays with him. He has Hinata already, whether or not he has him in the way he wants to.
That's what Kageyama tries to tell himself as he sits leg-crossed at the foot of Hinata's bed, staring at the evening thunder clouds rolling in the distance. Hinata-san gravely insists that he stay the night due to the heavy storm coming in and he reluctantly accepts the offer to stay, even after hours of video gaming in the afternoon.
"Did you call your parents?" Hinata asks, just coming back from the shower, running a towel through his fiery hair.
"Yeah, they know I'm here," he replies back, going to help Hinata set up the spare futon beside his bed.
"I can take the futon. You can sleep on the bed," he tells him once the futon and extra pillows and blankets have been throw all over the floor.
"No, you dumbass. I'm the guest, let me take the futon."
Hinata scoffs, but proceeds to climb onto his bed, wiggling himself under the his baby blue polka-dotted comforter. ("I have to use my sister's! Gah, stupid Kags!" Hinata loudly exclaimed when Kageyama snickered upon his arrival to Hinata's room).
Kageyama starts to settle onto the futon, draping his arm over the back of his head to get comfortable. He finds himself tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
"Oi, Hinata."
"What?"
"Are you asleep?"
"I'm talking to you right now, stupid." Kageyama can hear the smile in Hinata's voice
"Shut up." A pause. "I can't sleep," Kageyama sighs softly.
"Do you want me to sleep with you down there?" Hinata questions, peering down at him from the side of his bed.
Kageyama can feel a faint blush spread at the base of his neck. "...What the hell are you saying, dumbass?" he hisses lowly, narrowing his eyes at Hinata.
But Hinata just shrugs, not really affected by Kageyama's death glares nowadays. "I dunno. Whenever my sister can't sleep, I lie down next to her and we talk until she falls asleep. Want me to go down there or not?"
Kageyama wants to protest, already feeling a little humiliated by getting worked up over the offer, but he doesn't want to decline. "I guess," he mutters.
Moments later he feels someone lift up the blanket and slide in next to him, Hinata's legs bumping against his own. Kageyama feels his heart thumping, his body warming from the extra body heat or from his own body, he isn't sure.
Hinata turns so his head is facing Kageyama, eyes blinking slowly as he mumbles sleepily, "So, whatcha wanna talk about?"
Kageyama closes his eyes once again, a futile attempt to try and fall asleep. "For a long time, I was scared of the dark," he says.
There's another pause. Hinata opens his eyes to give a long sideways glance to Kageyama, the faint glow of the moonlight casting harsh shadows over his soaring cheekbones. Hinata is sure he would have laughed if Kageyama's voice wasn't so quiet, his face so stony. "High and mighty Kageyama scared of the dark? That's hard to believe."
Kageyama swallows. "That was when I really lived up to my name as the.. King."
"Are you scared now?"
It's now or never. "Not anymore."
"How come?" Hinata yawns, his eyes slipping shut again.
Kageyama remains silent, but throws an arm across Hinata's waist, shifting closer so Hinata's forehead meets his chest. He sighs audibly and Hinata can feel the rumble of his chest, like tremors caused by a rushing train. "Because I have everyone else. I have you." Kageyama doesn't know if he feel bold or ashamed, hoping that if Hinata decides to push him away, he'd do it quickly.
Instead, Kageyama feels a hand clench the front of his shirt, hair tickling the line of his throat. "Of course you have us. Stupid Kageyama," he whispers.
"I know."
And they fall asleep like that, legs tangling together like ivy vines, foreheads lightly touching, while the steady stream of rain thumps against the window.