Bad Mood

A Haikyuu! oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. Well, when you have the chance to write fanfiction at work/school, take it. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. XD Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

Quite frankly, Kinoshita Hisashi had an issue with how things had "returned to normal" within Karasuno High's Men's Volleyball Club. Sure, it was great and all about Nishinoya and Azumane returning, not to mention them getting along again. But still…

"You're sulking quite a bit," Narita pointed out as they walked home after practice one day. He furrowed his brow. "And you were kind of rowdier than usual with Tanaka, not letting up on calling him 'Baldy' during lunch and club…" He slowed his pace and bumped Kinoshita's shoulder with his own and smiled gently. "Hey. Tell me what's got you so annoyed."

Kinoshita scowled. It didn't matter that he probably looked like an angry cat doused with water with that expression—he couldn't hide his frustration around Narita. However, he could hide his reason for being frustrated. "'S nothing," he fibbed blatantly.

Narita rolled his eyes and sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck. "You're doing your impression of an angry cat doused with water," he pointed out.

Ah, right. No wonder that description had sounded so familiar. Narita had been the person to point it out to Kinoshita. The blond pursed his lips, fighting down a stupid smile at Narita's observation. He couldn't smile right now—it would mean the end of his moodiness, and he wasn't ready to stop, as Narita put it, "sulking." "So?" he prompted. Like Ennoshita, Narita didn't like picking fights, so he ought to drop the subject when provoked.

"So whatever it is, it's really bothering you," Narita stated with a rather dry look.

Damn. Kinoshita had glossed over the fact that Narita would only ever argue with him. It was a consequence of them having been friends for years before Karasuno. His scowl lessened to a grimace.

Narita eyed him. "Well…it's the weekend. Videogame marathon at your place?"

Thank heavens for subject changes! "Yeah, sure," Kinoshita agreed, pushing his annoyances to the back of his mind. "You still have some clothes and pajamas that you left from, like, two times ago."

They came to a crossing and paused for a moment. Narita chuckled. "That was kind of accidentally on purpose, Kinoshita. I'm over often enough."

True, but he didn't have to say it with the same factual tone as someone pointing out that the sky is blue and grass is green.

Even if Narita did need to swing by his house, the trip would've been a brief detour, and barely one at that. Narita lived two streets over from Kinoshita. They'd actually gone to the same elementary and middle schools, but they'd become friends right before entering middle school. Funny how they hadn't crossed paths and befriended one another sooner, but Kinoshita would take what they did have.

As they continued home, Kinoshita glanced at the taller boy. He really meant it—he would take what they did have together, this friendship…and have to make do.

Narita sensed the blond's eyes on him and smiled at him curiously. "What? Something on my face?"

Kinoshita shook his head as they pulled up on his house. "Nah."

Inside, Kinoshita popped his head into the living room to tell his parents that Narita was staying over. His father wasn't home yet, but his mother waved in acknowledgement since she was more focused on watching a drama. Kinoshita rolled his eyes, but a chuckle bubbled up in the back of his throat at the normalcy of the situation.

"…ah, yep, Kinoshita's. I'll be home tomorrow night," Narita promised his own mother on his cell phone as he trailed Kinoshita up the stairs to the latter's room. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. Yes, Mom, I'll tell him. Have a good night, you and Dad. Yeah. Bye."

"Tell me what?" Kinoshita asked after tossing his bag on his bed.

"Oh, the usual. She says hi." Narita put his things by the dresser and cracked open the bottom drawer. "Ah, I thought so. I left my favorite t-shirt here. I'd been looking for that."

Kinoshita gave him a look. "Then make sure to take it home with you, jeez."

Narita laughed and pulled out the pajamas. "No, I'll just leave it here. It's not as though I'll never be over again. Hey, do you mind if I steal the first bath? I'm a little tired after helping Ennoshita be on Noya duty today."

"Go ahead. I'll set up the Wii while you're in."

Narita nodded his thanks and left. For a few minutes, Kinoshita had a breather. Then his mother hollered up the stairs about snacks and dinner, so he went downstairs to grab some chips and crackers. His mother said she'd bring supper up to them, if they wanted, since she knew what an impromptu sleepover like this meant.

Back upstairs, Kinoshita opened the chips and absentmindedly snacked while scrolling through the home menu on his console. He wasn't really focused on any one channel, but his eyes kept coming back to the Mii Channel, and—though Narita had done much in the past twenty minutes to cheer him up—Kinoshita's mood soured again.

The thing was, yeah, he had a Mii, as did Narita, and even Ennoshita. But Tanaka and Nishinoya had one each on Kinoshita's Wii, and the longer Kinoshita stared at the spiky-haired midget Mii, the more ticked he got.

Nishinoya and Azumane getting along—that was fine. Their team working like a well-oiled machine—that was fantastic. But with those two back and four first years around… Things felt too crowed at club now. More faces meant more people always around. The moments Kinoshita thought he and Narita might have one of those old minutes with just the two of them were gone now, because at least one person was always around. In the gym? Sugawara and Tanaka were always the first ones there. In the clubroom? Ennoshita and Sawamura were there already, changing out of their uniforms. Heading up the stairs to the clubroom? Hinata, Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi, of course. On their way to the gym? Azumane, Nishinoya, and Shimizu. Lingering after practice in the gym? Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai. Kinoshita heaved a tremendous sigh and bit into a chip with a little more vigor than required.

"That's some sigh," Narita remarked, spooking him.

"What the…! I didn't even hear you come in."

"You left the door cracked, plus you were staring intently at—our Miis?" Narita bit his bottom lip, but it was obvious he wanted to laugh. "Do I wanna know?"

"Oh, shut up," Kinoshita mumbled, heat flooding his cheeks as he avoided looking at his friend. He tossed him the controller before grabbing his own clothes. "Do what you want and pick a game to start with while I'm in the bath."

"'Kay."

Kinoshita had a smallish bedroom that had always been the perfect size growing up…but with Narita toweling the rest of his face dry by the door, it made it difficult to squeeze past him. Kinoshita had to nudge him out of the way, and, by the time the blond made it to the bathroom, his heart was thudding against his ribs.

Hell.

The blond showered quickly, but he sank like a rock into the tub to soak. Much as he appreciated the abruptly made plans with Narita, he now didn't know what to do with himself. He'd been stewing for a little while about not having any alone time with the guy, but to have Narita all to himself so suddenly?! Honestly, someone had to be screwing with him.

Usually soaking in the tub helped to calm him down, but unfortunately his pulse wouldn't slow. It bothered Kinoshita, but he figured there wasn't anything he could do about it. Certainly he wouldn't tell Narita exactly why he was acting out of the ordinary—there was no way that would remedy his current predicament. Which was all the more frustrating, what with Narita staying the night.

Heaving yet another sigh, Kinoshita finished up and dressed. By the time he returned to his room, he just about had his emotions under control.

"Ah, you're back. How about Mario Kart 8?" Narita said, passing him another controller.

"Sounds fine," Kinoshita replied as he sat down beside his friend.

Narita grinned and launched the software. They chose their characters—Daisy for Kinoshita, Luigi for Narita—and their carts. Then Narita decided they needed some practice first to get back into the swing of things and selected the retro cup which contained Rainbow Road.

Kinoshita wasn't concerned. As disastrous as that level was for most people, he and Narita weren't too bad at it. Actually, he had to wonder why Narita would set himself up for failure so soon—Kinoshita was the best at videogames out of all of them, so it was unlikely that he'd lose. Ah, maybe he means to cheer me up, the blond mused. But that didn't mean he'd show his friend any mercy.

The two friends played through the cup, with Kinoshita unsurprisingly coming out as the winner. Narita finished in third place overall, but just as soon he selected a different cup. Again, the results were unsurprising—Kinoshita triumphed, and Narita came in fourth.

By the time Kinoshita wiped the floor with Narita yet again, who placed a dismal fifth place overall, the blond was eying the shaven-haired boy. "Hey…your playing is really awful tonight."

Narita glanced up at the ceiling. "Yeah, sorry, sorry. Just…"

"Just what?"

He peeked at Kinoshita. "…are you really not gonna tell me what was going on?"

There it was again, the loud thumping in Kinoshita's chest which the blond thought Narita had to be deaf not to hear. He chose another cup after switching from a cart to a bike. "I'll tell you the truth if you beat me," he said. Crap. The words had spilled from his mouth before his brain had caught up.

"All right."

Kinoshita gave Narita an incredulous look. How could Narita be so blasé?! There was no chance for him to win. As the race started, Kinoshita's hopes were dashed, and his heart pounded so loudly in his ears.

Did Narita really not care to know? Is that why he'd agreed to the ridiculous bet? That wasn't fair. Things weren't supposed to be that way. Narita was supposed to do something—something terrific and win by some slim margin and get Kinoshita to tell him the honest truth and then everything would be out there, in the open, and then the weekend would be ruined or, by some chance, would turn to gold, but Kinoshita figured his chances of the latter being reality were slimmer than Narita's chances of winning by playing as Luigi.

His fears were confirmed when they got halfway through the cup and Narita was in fourth place overall again. Kinoshita was in first—but what to do? Throw the game? No, Narita would hate him for that. But did Kinoshita really want to confess? He hadn't planned on it, but then he'd gone and said something incredibly stupid—

Narita ended up with a red shell in third place on the second lap, and he was pulling into second place…

Kinoshita's pulse quickened. Oh no. What if Narita really did win? Then what? How on Earth would Kinoshita go about telling his oldest friend the truth? The blond really hadn't thought this through.

Narita momentarily lapsed into third again, but he pulled ahead, inching until he was back in second—

The thudding in his chest made it hard to hear anything else in the room. Oh, screw it. "Narita—"

"You can't distract me!" Narita even had the tip of his tongue tucked into the corner of his mouth in concentration. "I'm going to throw the red shell. There are no friends in Mario Kart!"

"I like you and hate that we don't have as much alone time together anymore at club."

Narita blinked as he pulled ahead of Kinoshita for a second after throwing the red shell. "Okay." But then his own red shell came flying into him, and Luigi flew off the edge of the track.

Kinoshita stopped playing, too, and all the other characters went breezing past Daisy. He glanced at Narita. The thudding in his chest had receded, and a warmth pooled in his belly. At least he was feeling better. But… "Narita…?"

The other teen's eyes widened, but then he paused the game and held up a hand to Kinoshita, hiding his face with the other. "I, uh, give me a second…"

The blond quirked an eyebrow at him, but he supposed he could do that much. He'd just said something pretty big. Anyone would be stunned in this scenario. Still, after a few minutes of Narita being bashful, no matter how amusing that was, Kinoshita's patience began to wane. "Narita…? …do you hate me…?" That warmth in his middle was quickly cooling.

Narita finally stared at the TV screen again and un-paused the game. "I could never hate you, Kinoshita," he answered while Lakitu fished for Luigi.

"Oh. Okay, good." Kinoshita turned his attention to the screen, too. He was glad everything was out now, but he wasn't sure anymore if he wanted to continue the subject.

Apparently, Narita had other plans. "Kinoshita…"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. And I'm glad."

They both crossed the finish line and Kinoshita stared at him. "You are?"

Narita began to hide his face again but with the Wiimote this time. "Well…yeah. Can you picture anyone else being the Luigi to your Daisy?"

Kinoshita finally found it in him to laugh. No, he couldn't picture that at all.

- ^-^3

These two are so damn cute and need more love. :3 I actually have been wondering how peaceful it was for the team before those faces mentioned returned/joined, and I can see Kinoshita thinking this way. Also, bashful!Narita. :D It's my bias which charries they played as, btw—I almost always choose Daisy and tend to win with her; I'm not a Luigi fan, but it should've been obvious from a mile away why Narita chose to be him…he even said why! XD This fic was actually inspired by the Clazziquai song, "Life, etc." because of the line "Give it up, give it up, give it up to free your heart." That's why Kinoshita felt better after confessing. Poor kid. He probably had a near panic attack about what was happening.

So "Good Mood" is Narita' POV set right after this. Read it if you liked this!

Thanks for reading, and please review! Check out my other [HQ!] fics for more from me!

-mew-tsubaki -w-