Don't tell Kageyama, but Hinata thinks there is something beautiful about him.
Of course- not when he gets mad or is in his (always) irritable moods. Hinata finds himself cringing at the stormy and growling attitude Kageyama gets. It's gotten better though- when the king was dethroned and learned to work with the team, like Hinata did at the start of first year.
Kageyama may be his eternal rival- something Hinata doesn't want to end, but when he thinks of the quick improvement that has happened after the past few months, for the both of them, his day just, gets better.
Hinata's not dumb (he can imagine Tsukishima reacting to that statement right now), he knows of his reputation of being happy and bouncy, but sometimes the days have rain.
And for being such a stormy face, Kageyama does the complete opposite, and helps Hinata's rainy days become a bit clearer. (Hinata ponders this in math class, do two negatives make a positive? He guesses so, is this the real-life example he can use on his Algebra homework? Not really, unless he wants the teacher to question his insanity.)
He hopes Kageyama has lost the need for umbrellas too, with him by his side. He doesn't know what he would do if he didn't, cry? Or would that cause more rain with spiteful teardrops? Or would it matter?
He's sitting in the clubroom, "What's wrong shrimp? Thinking a bit too hard on your poetry assignment? Don't blow a brainfuse trying to count syllables now."
Hinata can hear a snicker from Yamaguchi. He had Poetry homework today? Oh. Hinata didn't know that. Really, he was trying to think of what the weather will be like. He hopes it won't rain. Then he can ask Kageyama to come to the park this weekend. If it's rainy outside, then Kageyama will think there's no use. How can you practice in a storm?
But if he convinces Kageyama to come, even under the guise of practicing receives... Hinata can feel his smile widen against the hand he's leaning on.
Oh right, he was doing his homework. Well, it's time for practice anyway!
….
He thinks the best part is Kageyama's movements. Not that it's how Kageyama looks. (he was researching online, and that apparently is lust.) at least, Hinata doesn't think so, but, even if it was only that, Hinata can't say Kageyama looks bad. It's been worse ever since he realized it, but Kageyama, just, looks so natural when he was in the zone. He kept having to remind himself to actually run up and spike the balls Kageyama sets. To stop noticing the muscles that tense and spring into action as Kageyama jumps. The sure and strong arc of his arms as he prepares a perfect toss for Hinata himself.
He imagines Kageyama's upset face, a memento of the days where they didn't get along too well, 'The Beginning', and while he doesn't worry about fighting with Kageyama- that's not the point- but he imagines Kageyama's face, frustrated and disappointed, and he's running to jump,
And he flies again.
He's glad these feelings don't get in the way of the thing that gave him the feelings in the first place- Volleyball.
Because if so, Hinata wouldn't know what to do.
He's in the locker room after practicing receiving and serving. Fun. Tanaka's yelling about, something. He stares at his chewed fingernails, and clenches his fist. In anger, or only to feel? He stares at the palm of his hand, red from hitting the ball so hard, and he admires the pale crescents imprinted in.
Outside of the commotion (Nishinoya is declaring something about Kiyoko-san again, he notices) Hinata can feel eyes. He turns, and wished he didn't.
Kageyama is staring at him, Hinata can feel him glance at his hand, then back to him.
'I must look like an idiot right now..' Hinata sullenly remarks, avoiding Kageyama's gaze before quickly pulling his shirt on.
Well, if he did, Kageyama must not have enough steam to comment on it. ('Wow, tired from an easy practice like this, Yama-yama?' A side of him snickers, the other side is in complete mortification at the attack he'd been given if he said that aloud.) Hinata doesn't really feel like talking, the silence feels like a thick blanket, and he's ready to sleep forever.
It's kinda hard to breathe, too, he thinks, but that's to be expected when your best friend is Kageyama. For becoming nicer over the past few months, he still has a glare that can frighten a few.
They get outside and Hinata rushes, looking over his shoulder, "I'm going to get my bike I'll catch up later, seeyabye-"
Kageyama's still waiting when he comes back- in his Karasuno Team jacket, he looks quite stoic, almost like a delinquent that Tanaka would be proud of. Or challenge to fight. Who knows these days.
Hinata can feel his throat close up. If he wasn't 16 years old and in perfect health, he'd wonder if he was going into cardiac arrest. Is this the 'butterflies in the stomach' feeling that they talked about on WikiHow? Hinata hates it. Hinata wants to annihilate the butterflies in his stomach. It's like the high of a Volleyball win with a large dose of anxiety. Hinata feels his knees shake. A really large dose.
Kageyama seems to be blind, though, because (Luckily, Hinata notes) he's absolutely clueless to the inner turmoil Hinata is bathing in!
He wants to feel offended at Kageyama's cluelessness, but he can feel offended later after getting rejected.. Hinata straightens up. "Hey, Bakayama!" Kageyama rolled his eyes, "Huh? Hurry up. It's getting dark. We're not going to get back before the street lights turn on." Hinata started to walk ahead, his bike by his side. "Yeah. Do you wanna, ya know," Kageyama did not know, "Practice with me.." This wasn't part of the plan! "Or something, this weekend?"
Kageyama shrugged. "Yeah. I'll ask my parents." They continued to walk in silence. But Hinata only had one thing on his mind.
'Ask his parents? That's what he normally says. He doesn't even know this is supposed to be a date. Or is that good…?' Hinata bemoaned his cowardly existence.
Kageyama may not know that it's a date, but Hinata very well does. And he has no idea how to make it perfect.
He knows he can't make it perfect, but it has to be good. If he shows up to practice with a volleyball after waking up 10 minutes before then it'd be the exact. Same. Thing. They do, every single Saturday, every week, forever.
Hinata likes practicing with Kageyama. After all, if he didn't, then he wouldn't like Kageyama in the first place (Not to state the obvious, but it's kinda the main facet of Kageyama's personality, Volleyball.) But can one blame him for wanting to mix it up?
Everytime they change something on the court it always, if they put enough effort in, turns out good. Why wouldn't this?
Hinata rolls over and almost falls off his bed, smothered in pillows. If only real life was as simple as Volleyball.
He closes his eyes and opens them to light glaring through the windows. Is it morning? His mouth feels like sandpaper. God, his back hurts. When did he get onto the floor? Oh. He must of rolled off. Is he 15 or did he accidentally sleep for 80 years? He doesn't feel like he slept for that long.
He looks at the clock, rubbing the gunk and sleep from his eyes. Didn't he fall asleep at 3 or 4 A.M-ish? And it's now 8 AM. Huh.
Didn't he say he was going to meet Kageyama at 8 AM? Didn't he only get 4 hours of sleep?
He almost implants into the bed just at the thought. It's like every other Saturday. But worse.
He scraggles through his morning routine, ignoring the notifications on his phone, knowing it's probably Kageyama. Or not. Maybe he forgot too.
It's better to run to the park instead of thinking of Kageyama forgetting. Kageyama usually doesn't forget, right?
Hinata mulls over Kageyama's memory span before finally coming to a stop. It's a beautiful summer day, if not a bit too hot, and he finds Kageyama at their usual spot, right under a shady spot below the cherry blossom trees.
They were beautiful to practice under in April, but the petals only lasted for a while before wilting away in the wind.
He sees Kageyama glaring at him and he rushes to meet him under the tree. Is it hard to find his voice? "Hey." He can feel himself stuttering and wants to smack himself. 'Cut it out!' "Sorry I'm late! Alarm.. Not.. Working." He can feel the nervous chuckle he lets out in his chest. He avoids Kageyama's gaze, how do you apologize for your personality?
Well, Hinata reckons he could apologize for his stupid crush. But that'd mean confessing. And that's dumb.
'Very, very dumb'
Kageyama is surprisingly not mad. Or not in a yelling mood today. Maybe Kageyama accidently stuck his face in that glaring position? Maybe the old wife tales about keeping your face in a silly position is true after all. Hinata should go home and apologize to his parents for not believing them.
Kageyama turns away, "Whatever. I have the volleyball. I knew you'd forget to bring one."
So he isn't in a terrible mood today. "Nuh-uh! I did bring one!" Hinata scrambles, clutching at the opening of his bag before showcasing his volleyball, he waves it above his head, probably eye-level to Kageyama's face. "There it is!"
Kageyama turns back to Hinata, doing a facial expression that's probably similar to rolling your eyes. "Good job, then. You usually forget, though. Put it back, we don't have all day."
If Hinata was a worse friend (who's a bit less tongue-tied- was that praise he just heard?), he would mention to Kageyama how their only plans every weekend is to play Volleyball, and how Kageyama's only friend is (basically) Hinata, but he just drops the ball in the grass instead.
It's a nice day. And Hinata hits a majority of his receives ("18 out of 30?.. That's.. Uh.. 30 or uh 45? Percent?" Hinata struggles through the arithmetic while Kageyama looks on, confused, "Kageyama!" Hinata waves his arms around, celebrating in his improvement, "That's more than half! 35%!" Kageyama furrows his eyebrows, struggling through the math, before nodding seriously. "Yeah. Good job dumbass.")
Somewhere Tsukishima gets a major headache and a feeling of confoundedness. He doesn't know why.
They're done practicing at their usual time, when the sun moves in the sky and makes the shadow under the tree useless. Hinata rubs his face with his shirt. Is he usual so tired? Maybe it's the lack of sleep or the June heat. He looks around for his water-bottle, before feeling his suspicions come into light.
'I really forgot my water bottle? Of all days? Of course..' Hinata groans at his stupidity once and for all.
"Hey, Kageyama. Can I borrow a drink?" Hinata notices Kageyama's confused gaze, "Of your water-bottle." He gestures at the water in Kageyama's hand. He notices the perspiration dripping down the bottle. He almost salivates at the thought of the cold drink. Kageyama looks away in thought, the gears in his clinky brain working overtime, before smirking. "What do I get for it?"
'Really? How stingy can this guy be?' "Uhh.." What would he even want? "I'll buy you meat buns from Ukai's store." Kageyama looks even more cocky now. Ugh. "For a week?"
Hinata from the future is begging him not to. He's not made out of money, after all. "Yeah. Sure."
He can see the success evident in Kageyama's gaze, the sharp gleam you might be able to catch in the right lighting. "Deal."
Hinata is 105% that that was the best water he's ever tasted. Sure, in prospect, when he's comfortable, he can recognize that the water was kinda stale and not even cold, but right now, right now? That was the best water. From the holy mountains. Straight from the Alp-Alpaca? Alpha- Alphsomething Mountains themselves.
Kageyama's pulled it back from him, jerking Hinata from his grasp on the holy water bottle. "You nearly downed the entire thing. Don't be so greedy." "Hey! You're going to be getting meat buns, from yours truly, and that's your worry? Me drinking too much water?"
"Whatever. I don't have much to do today. Do you want to keep practicing, or do you want to go home or something?"
Hinata looks at Kageyama's avoidant gaze. He wants to smirk, but he's not an asshole like Kageyama, so.
"Sounds good. Let's go!"
By the time they're done practicing it's time for dinner, and Hinata is pretty sure he's starving. How long have they been here? He checks his phone. It's 5 pm now, so.. 8? 9? Hours? Time goes by fast when you have so much to improve, Hinata guesses. His aching muscles protests otherwise. This is the longest practice he's had on a weekend by far.
Hinata turns back to look at Kageyama, who is now sitting in the grass. He must be exhausted too. Hinata feels his stomach grumble. He hears children's voices, and turns to see- A vendor! He squints, trying to read out the words. Is that ice cream? Score!
"Kageyama!" Kageyama looks up from apparently inspecting the grass. "I want to buy ice cream! Come on!" Kageyama gets up, grabbing his ball to pack up his stuff. "Sounds good. Do you even have money?"
Hinata pauses at that. Does he? He honestly doesn't know, but his grumbling stomach is hoping so. "I hope so! Let's see how much it costs first!"
He's grabbing Kageyama's wrist and dragging him to the (rather short) line, and he ignores Kageyama's protests. Or the strange looks from mothers with their babies. He's assuming Kageyama gets that alot, what, with the whole face-stuck-in-glare thing he got going on.
Hinata checks the prices. 250¥ for an icecream cone? I mean, he should of guessed it. Does he even have that much? He scuffles around in his bag before pulling out a rumpled 100¥ note. He feels himself deflate, at the same time his stomach grumbles a defeated sigh. 'Nice going, Hinata…'
He looks at Kageyama, still looking at the menu pasted on the window, before pulling out a wallet from his bag- ('What a good idea! I should do that! I mean, my aunt had given me a wallet for my birthday.. But I never used it.') and he pulls out 200¥ before looking, really, too frustrated at two innocent pieces of paper. They never deserved that look of unconcentrated hatred, really.
Hinata must be having a good day or something, because he gets a light-bulb moment when it all clicks together. "Hey, Kageyama! Do you want to split an icecream cone with me?"
Kageyama looks at the 100¥ note Hinata is waving around in his hand, back to his (disappointedly) lack of money, and to the front of the line, where a girl is happily getting an ice cream cone. "Thank you!" They can hear from their position in line. It's so close, yet so far.
"Fine. What flavor?" Hinata looks up, surprised. He actually accepted? And Hinata gets to choose the flavor? Well he's not letting this moment go to waste. "Uhh. Orange!" Kageyama grimaces, before shrugging. "Sure."
Hinata can't help but smile. That was a good answer if Hinata ever seen one from Kageyama. They finally get to the front of the line, an old-man with smile lines, and give the man their money, Kageyama getting a 50¥ banknote back. They get the ice cream cone with a single scoop, and-
How do they eat this? Hinata can imagine Tsukishima snickering at them in his annoying way right now. Okay. Of course, Hinata knows how to eat an ice cream cone, and he's pretty sure Kageyama knows how to too. But it's also likely that Kageyama hasn't experienced any joy in life, only subsisting through the nutritious diet of meal planned tilapia and the high of winning matches. But knowing how to eat ice cream is kinda natural. Like breathing, and walking, and in Kageyama's case, setting.
Hinata ignores Kageyama's stare and the fact that Kageyama's holding it, and takes a lick up the base. Kageyama stumbles at this though, and Hinata prepares to try and catch the ice cream. His slightly ripped 100¥ bill is not going to waste, mind you.
"It tastes good! Come on, try it Kageyama." Kageyama turns away, "This side is my side and the other's is yours, okay? I don't want to get your," Kageyama pauses, "germs or something."
Hinata scoffs. "What germs! I'll have you know I haven't got sick at all this year!" Hinata freezes at Kageyama's arched eyebrow, "No! Look! It's not like I'm wanting to get your gross Baka-yama germs in me, but I'm just saying! I'm not the one that's gross!"
There's silence, before Kageyama takes a bite on his side of the cone. He looks slyly at Hinata, a Bakayama-style smile lingering on the edges of his lips, "I don't know. I might get germs that'll make me a short, obnoxious, spiker."
Hinata takes a huge bite from the top, almost eating the scoop in one bite. "Hey!" He shouts through a mouth of ice cream. Kageyama protests, in a jumbled mix of "That's disgusting!" and "You didn't even pay for all of that, dumbass!"
Hinata smiles through the brain freeze either way. That's the karma he gets, but there's no other retaliation from Kageyama except for his verbal remarks.
That's the best gift Hinata could probably get. Best sign? Better than the sweet orange-y treat.
By the time they're done bickering, it's getting dark, and all the lamp posts lights are turned on.
They're walking down their usual path and get to the usual point where they'd go their separate ways, when Hinata turns and notices that Kageyama keeps walking with him. "Kageyama? You know you missed your stop, right? Or are you getting blind in your old age or something?"
Kageyama bristled at that, before shrugging. "I'm not that blind, dumbass. I heard on the news that this path is getting dangerous, since there isn't any lightposts or police that pass through here."
Hinata smiles. "Aw, you going to protect me from the big-bad kidnappers, Kageyama?" Kageyama shoved him. "Well, I hope you get kidnapped! Do you even have a light or something on your phone?" Hinata paused, and Kageyama took that as a no. Not that he was technically wrong, since Hinata's phone died hours ago. Kageyama pulled out his phone, turning on the flashlight, holding it out to light their path.
When they finally get to Hinata's house, in a silence that's not exactly comfortable but also not uncomfortable, Hinata doesn't know what to say. Thank you? Goodbye? Why have you started to care now?
"Are you getting a ride? If what you said is true," Kageyama glares at him for that, "Then it's going to be dangerous for you to go home." Kageyama shrugs at that. "I think my mom will give me a ride. She usually gets home at this time, and she comes through this route."
Hinata doesn't feel exactly secure at that, but he nods. "Text me when you get home, or something? Thanks, Kageyama!"
He enters his house, and when he turns back to close the door, he notices how Kageyama was waiting there, for him to entire his house safe and sound.
He smiles as he closes the door, and turns to see his little sister Natsu, who apparently must of also saw Kageyama, by the look on her face.
"Is that Kageyama? The one you talk about that's like," She does the impression Hinata normally does when complaining about him, and Hinata can't help but agree, that's a pretty spot-on persona of him. "Why did he come to our house! Why didn't he come in! Is he bad or something! Is he not legally allowed to come in or-"
Hinata covers her mouth with his hand. He loves his little sister, but he wonders if his imagination was, as, vibrant (to put it nicely) as hers when he was younger.
Probably.
"No! He's just a friend. He walked me home. He's not a murderer, even if that's how I make him seem like."
Natsu is silently, before looking confused. Oh boy. "He walked you home? That reminds me of a story my friend Hiroko wrote today! It was a love story, and the guy walked her home, I want you to read it too, Shou-nee!"
Hinata paled. Or turned 20 shades redder. Maybe both? 'Does she even hear the words that come out of her mouth?...'
Well. Maybe Hinata is just like that too.
Hinata tries to brush it off. "Whatever. Is mom home? Do you know what's for dinner?" Natsu was still rambling on something the love interest did, but shrugged. "Yeah. It's chicken and rice, like usual. Anyway, you should really read it, the best part was when they confessed their love in the rain-"
'Are eight year olds even allowed to read love stories?' Hinata bemoans his luck, once again.
That night, after Natsu settles down and his mother, surprisingly, didn't notice a thing from Natsu's rambling of love stories and "Kage-chan", Hinata wonders if life can be as easy as volleyball.
And how he drank from Kageyama's water bottle after he did.
After some late night researching, Hinata covers his mouth to hide his (intake of breath, not squeal) gasp of shock.
"I-Indirect Kiss!"
He also remembers how they split the ice cream cone. And Kageyama's lips-
After hours of researching, Hinata feels his soul leave his body permanently.
"An indirect- FRENCH KISS?!"
Hinata Shouyou already knows he ain't getting any sleep tonight.