The sound of the ball hitting the floor was as beautiful as a chorus of angels. The sight of the other team flinging themselves to the floor and the feeling it gave made Hinata sure that this must be what one would be feeling when arriving at the gates of Heaven. Maybe better? Hinata would choose volleyball over Heaven anytime.

His hand stung from the last blow. The finishing blow. They had won!

Hinata gasped. The crowd went wild. He turned towards Kageyama, who had been the one to toss. He was looking back at him with a shine in his eyes, a shine you could rarely spot unless you caught him in his happiest of moments. Hinata threw his hands in the air. "We won!" he yelled. "We did it!"

Kageyama's lips stretched into the brightest, happiest most beautiful smile Hinata had seen on him. It sent jolts through his body, like a punch in the gut, but in a good way, like the pain of hitting the ball. He didn't quite register it himself when he sprinted towards the taller boy and threw his arms around his neck. Surprisingly enough, Kageyama returned the hug, because in the heat of the moment, how could they care? Hinata couldn't remember feeling this happy before.

And in the heat of the moment, it was easier to act upon urges. And in that moment of blissful glee, he noticed how close they were, and how happy Kageyama looked, how unfairly good he looked with his hair ruffled from the game, and how those oh so beautful blue eyes glimmered with what could only be stubborn tears of joy –

Hinata stood up on his tippy toes and pulled Kageyama downwards after his collar. They kissed harshly. Kageyama's lips were warm, and softer than you'd think. It was awesome enough that this was actually happening, but then Kageyama kissed him back and put his hand in Hinata's hair and –

Hold on. What on earth were they doing? They pulled apart abruptly. Hinata's mouth fell open. Kageyama stared at him, his brows furrowed in shock. The whole court had gotten awfully quiet (or maybe the shock had been so bad Hinata was about to pass out). In the corner of his eye he could see their teammates looking at them in stunned silence.

How did one speak again? "I- I - Uh - I'll be - I have to-" Hinata stuttered.

"Um... Yeah." Kageyama said slowly.

"Sure took them damn long enough." Tanaka muttered in the background.

In that moment, Hinata became aware of his surroundings. They were on the volleyball court. The other team were patting themselves on the back, tired and disappointed. Karasuno had defeated them. What else mattered?

Hinata almost jumped to the roof. "We did it! We did it! We won!" he exclaimed. The rest of the team roared in victory as they all ran for each other the celebrate. Bit of a late celebration, due to the, ahem, distraction, but still just as excited. The others surrounded Hinata, and with a surprised yell, they lifted him into the air. He gave a loud, unrestrained laughter. He glanced over at Kageyama, and he was smiling broadly. They met eyes, and hopefully he was already too red in the face from playing for anyone to notice the blood rushing to his cheeks.

The bus trip home was buzzing with energy for about one hour, before the team fell asleep one after another, completely exhausted. It was a long way home and it had gotten dark outside. The street lights passing by was soporific, yet Hinata couldn't sleep. He was too excited. By the game, by the victory, by the black haired idiot sitting in the far back of the bus... He wondered if he was sleeping. Everyone else was. He looked behind him, and in the passing lights he could see that Kageyama was leaning against the window, looking out.

He hesitated for a moment before he silently left his seat. He wobbled over to him, careful not to wake the others. As he was getting closer, Kageyama looked up. Upon seeing him, he averted his eyes.

Hinata scowled slightly. "Don't do that." he said.

"Do what?"

Hinata slumped down beside him and crossed his legs. "I don't know, pretend like nothing happened." He glanced at him. "Because, uh ... Something did happen."

It was more than slightly awkward to talk about, especially when Kageyama was acting like this, but they couldn't leave it hanging in the air either.

Kageyama sent him his signature scowl. "I don't-" he started, before realizing that he was speaking quite loudly. "I don't know why that happened, okay? It was - I just -" He cursed, not able to find the right words. Hinata could relate.

"But..." Hinata said softly, and scratched his cheek. He hesitated again. "It wasn't - I mean, if you didn't - Er... What I'm trying to say is that..." He glanced up at the other, and saw that he was looking back at him. This time he hoped the darkness would hide the roses appearing in his face. "... It wasn't that bad." he mumbled.

Kageyama's jaw dropped slightly. "Really?" he said, genuinely surprised.

Hinata gave a weak laughter. "I mean, yeah, I guess it was kinda weird considering, well ... us," he said, and shrugged. "But I actually ... It was- It was ..." He struggled for the right words and sent Kageyama a helpless look. They became quiet for a few seconds, before they both burst into hushed laughter. It felt nice to laugh like this with him.

"Um," Kageyama started. He had averted his eyes to the window. "I'm not so good with this kind of stuff-"

"Oh, I know."

"Would you shut up?" A small smile played on his lips. "As I was saying; I'm not so good with this kind of stuff, but when we won and we ... we uh-"

"Kissed?" Hinata helped. He felt embarrassed just saying it.

"Yes. It felt-" He bit his lip. Hinata couldn't help but think that the shy behaviour made him kind of adorable. At first he wondered how he could have changed the view of someone so quickly in just one day, but on second thought he wasn't sure if that was the case. Kageyama had always been a jerk, and he would probably always be one, but at the same time, Hinata had always admired him. At first just because of his volleyball skills, but then, after starting at Karasuno, he saw the tyrant King of the Court change and become more of a teammate than a rival, and even a friend. That kind of development was certainly admirable. When had that admiration grown into something more? He couldn't remember, but it definitely wasn't just today.

"It felt like the right thing to do in that moment," Kageyama muttered. "I- If that makes any sense."

This must be what people meant by having butterfly's in their stomachs. It felt slightly uncomfortable, but still delightful. A lot of things felt like that today.

Kageyama sent him a dirty stare, and Hinata realized he hadn't even answered. "You're still a dumbass, though." he added gruffly.

"Kageyama-" Hinata said, a little too loudly. Someone a couple of seats in front of them shifted, before looking over at them. It was Suga.

He yawned. "Look, I'm happy for you guys, but could you flirt just a little quieter?" he said drowsily, before sinking back in his seat again.

"Su-" Hinata and Kageyama glanced at each other. Then Kageyama looked away, and Hinata gave a small giggle.

"Anyways..." Hinata whispered, and bit his lip.

"What?" Kageyama asked impatiently.

"I get what you mean," He couldn't meet his eyes. His face felt almost as hot as it had been after the kiss. "I just - I was so dazed from winning I just did whatever felt natural, and well..." He shrugged, and scratched his head awkwardly.

It took a few seconds before he could look back at the taller boy. He was looking thoughtfully down at his feet. He opened his mouth as to say something, but a few moments passed before he actually did, and when he did, it was only half a sentence; "Would you mind if..."

And then he leaned over to Hinata. He put his hand on the smaller boy's cheek and tilted his head upwards. Their eyes met; amber clashed with navy blue. The tip of their noses were only a few millimeters apart. He could feel Kageyama's breath against his lips.

"I don't mind," he breathed.

Kageyama exhaled slightly, maybe in relief, maybe in content - maybe both? Then he tilted his head to the side and pressed their lips together again.

This time his lips were a little colder than they'd been after the match. But they were still as soft, and still as surprisingly gentle. Who could have thought angry Kageyama could touch someone like this? Hinata melted into the kiss as if they were made for each other. He put his hand on his shoulder, before sliding it around his neck. He put his other hand on his chest, and he could feel Kageyama's heart beat rapidly. An unvoluntary moan fell out of him, and Kageyama gripped him tightly. A moment later, Kageyama made the same sound, and in that moment Hinata was sure his heart would simply just give up. Everything was so quiet yet the buzzing in his ears was overwhelming. He never wanted this moment to end and, and yet, just when he was about to move onto Kageyama's lap, he heard an unpleasant sound:

Snickering.

Kageyama apparently heard it too, because they both pulled apart and turned towards the sound.

"Shh- I think they heard us." the voice of no other than Noya said.

"Nishinoya!" Kageyama growled, which only made Noya laugh harder, as well as Tanaka. Of course it was Noya and Tanaka.

"Tanaka!" Hinata hissed accusingly.

"Sorry, sorry-" Tanaka snickered. "Just keep on doing what you were doing, we'll be quiet."

"How long have you been-"

"Guys, what's going on?" Asahi's voice sounded, and appeared from the seat in front of Tanaka and Noya.

"Kageyama and Hinata were making o-"

"Noya, shut up! I'll fight you!" Hinata warned, completely panicked.

Asahi smiled sheepishly. "It's okay, we all saw it coming anyway."

"Asahi, you-!"

A groan came from Tsukishima. "Will you guys shut the fuck up?" he grumbled. "This isn't exactly news anyway."

"What are you saying?" Kageyama yelled angrily, and made to stand up, but Hinata grabbed his hand and pulled him down again, because just then, Daichi rose from his seat. He smiled sweetly.

Oh god, no.

"Everyone," he said. "Quiet down, or else."

They didn't need a second warning.

Hinata looked at Kageyama. "It's a long way home yet." he whispered. "Are you tired?"

Kageyama laughed sarcastically. "Am I tired? Are you tired?"

No, he was definitely not. He'd never felt this energized before. His heart was still doing the cha-cha, and his breath was shallow and desperate. He yearned to put his arms around Kageyama again, but they had to be quiet.

"I'm not, but we should try to sleep anyways," he said. "I don't want to get in trouble with Daichi."

"What, are you scared?"

"Like you aren't, idiot."

"You're an idiot, dumbass."

"If I'm a dumbass then you're a super-dumbass."

"That's the lamest insult I have ever heard."

"Kageyama, I swear-" He stopped talking when he heard Suga grumble something cautionary. He didn't need to understand it to get the message.

He looked at Kageyama again. "Can I sleep here?" he asked quietly.

Kageyama looked back at him, before once again averting his eyes. "S- Sure," he mumbled bothered. Hinata was almost definitely sure his cheeks turned pink. Weird. How could that be more embarrassing than making out? He didn't comment it. He scooted closer to him and leaned his head on Kageyama's shoulder. His stomach did a rollover when Kageyama put his hand in his hair and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. He nuzzled against him, and closed his eyes. It took a long time before his heart calmed down and his breath became steady, and he could finally fall asleep. But when he could lie against Kageyama like this, feeling his warmth and the beat of his heart, he didn't mind. He could stay like this forever.

Now, for the first time, he was definitely on top of the world.