Goodbye, Goodnight

A Haikyuu! fanfic

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The Haikyuu! characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. For the day 2 prompt "sleepover." :3 Read, review, and enjoy! *Done for kinkuniweek on tumblr.*

- ^-^3

Chapter 2: In a Bird's Nest

Practice with Karasuno was fun. Like, ridiculously fun. Mostly Kindaichi felt this way because, while Karasuno's players had no trouble being serious, they also had no problems not taking themselves seriously.

That first day earlier in the week had been a bit awkward. Tanaka had tried staring Kindaichi down with possibly the best yakuza impression in Miyagi, but, though Kindaichi had felt awkward to be on the receiving end of that, Tanaka didn't scare him as much as Kyoutani did, so he put up with Tanaka's rudeness. But Tanaka's rudeness melted into respect when Kindaichi refused to be scared of him, and Tanaka just about liked him when Kindaichi failed to stop three of his ludicrously strong spikes in a row.

Nishinoya was an oddball, too, but in his own way. Often he'd drag Hinata and the other short player on the team, libero-in-training first year Kondo, into his antics. Nine times out of ten, Tanaka failed to be a good vice-captain and laughed at the spectacle. Nine times out of ten, their captain, Ennoshita, scolded all of them, singling Nishinoya and Tanaka out as the instigators.

Narita and Kinoshita, the remaining third years, were welcoming to Kindaichi, and Narita was a good ally when blocking during a practice set. Yamaguchi was easy to get along with, as were the other two first years, Akimoto and Ozaki, and those three reminded Kindaichi in equal parts of Watari and Iwaizumi.

On the other hand, Hinata was hot and cold, and Kindaichi got the sense that Tsukishima flat-out disliked him. Kinoshita said Hinata was the same way with Kageyama and so not to worry about it. "Or, it could be that he's jealous of the extra time you and Kageyama are spending together," the blond added. "Sometimes it's hard to tell, but they're pretty close."

"And with Tsukishima—I'd bet it's simply because you two play the same position," Narita informed him. Kinoshita nodded from Narita's other side as the middle blocker continued, "Not to mention, ever since the Shiratorizawa match, Tsukishima's sense of school pride is out of everyone's league. He'll never admit it, but he's an extremely loyal guy."

"You mean he loves us," Kinoshita corrected with a laugh.

Narita tried to hide it, but he chuckled, too. "Yeah, he does."

Chatting like that was so pleasant and refreshing, but Kindaichi felt a bit homesick for Seijou after his third day coming to Karasuno for practice. It wasn't that Seijou wasn't a friendly environment, but he was used to the "Here's what we're doing, let's get things done" atmosphere of his home team. In addition, Kindaichi got the sense that Karasuno had to withhold at least some of their attacks, no doubt because they didn't want to debut them in front of an opponent on anything less than an official court. And that detracted from the experience somewhat. Still, he was glad he had someplace to go.

Kindaichi took a break from blocking against Kageyama and Hinata's superhuman quick to catch his breath and drink some water. He grabbed his water bottle and squirted into his mouth, but that quick had tired him so badly that he missed and ended up splashing himself all down his front. "Ah, damn," he muttered under his breath, fishing around in his bag for his towel.

An orange piece of cloth appeared in front of him, and he took it without question. Once he dried his face and chest, he looked at his savior and saw Karasuno's manager, Yachi.

"Thanks," he bumbled, dropping his eyes to the ground for a second. He couldn't help it. Yachi was cute, especially when she smiled so warmly like that.

"No problem." Yachi beamed at him. "The snow's done and it's spring now, but it's still so cold outside. Best not to stay wet like that."

"Ah, I didn't take someone's towel, though?"

She shook her head. "It's a spare, so don't worry about it. I'll wash it later, anyway." She licked her lips then and chewed her bottom lip. "Um, Kindaichi-kun…"

"Hmm?"

"Is everything all right?" She frowned. "It's none of my business, I know. I just… You seem a little lost to me."

Kindaichi tensed. "I'm not."

Yachi waved her hands dismissively, apologetically. "Then I-I'm sorry! So sorry!" She bowed to emphasize her point.

Kindaichi sighed. "You don't have to do that, Yachi-san…" Only when she looked at him did he push. "Why do you think I look lost, though?"

"Well…" She looked at the players. Her eyes followed Hinata, who spiked Kageyama's toss in the blink of an eye. Granted, it didn't go through Tsukishima and Ozaki's block, and the duo shot Tsukishima dirty looks. Tsukishima, for his part, pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger, but Ennoshita and Tanaka caught that and rebuked all three of them while Ozaki sighed and returned to his position. Yachi half-laughed at the scene. "When Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun are getting along, Karasuno moves like a well-oiled machine. No flaws, no bumps in the road." She looked at Kindaichi. "But when they're fighting? If they're actually, physically fighting, it's pretty scary. But when they're not talking?" She shook her head. "Both of them…look lost without the other around. It's kind of heartbreaking to watch." She smiled sympathetically. "And you right now remind me of them when they're like that. Forgive me for being forward, but…did you have a fight with a partner?"

Kindaichi frowned. It wasn't just that Yachi had hit the nail on the head. But…Kunimi, his partner? Sure, Kunimi was his closest friend. His oldest friend. They'd been in the same schools and volleyball clubs since fifth grade. But Kindaichi had always been a middle blocker and Kunimi a wing spiker. So he wasn't sure they interacted enough on the court to be considered partners, not like Kageyama and Hinata, at least. Definitely not like Yahaba and Kyoutani, he thought after another second.

Yachi's face fell when Kindaichi didn't comment. "Sorry," she added again, and she left when Ukai motioned to her, before Kindaichi could correct her that she had no need to apologize for being perceptive.

Kindaichi put his water bottle back in his bag and spread the towel out across the top so it could dry out. But he heard his phone buzz with a text, so he picked it up. There were three texts, all from his mother:

-Yuu-chan, we're having tonkatsu for dinner tonight.

-Yuu-chan, I bumped into Akira-chan's mother! We caught up and I invited them over for dinner. Come home early so you can shower before then.

-Yuutarou. Answer my texts!

Kindaichi inwardly groaned. He'd done a good job the past several days of avoiding Kunimi, but this mention of Kunimi's family had his temper flaring again. He wasn't ready to see Kunimi yet knowing the decent chances of Kunimi acting high and mighty (or at least like an ass). Gripping his phone tighter than necessary, Kindaichi waited until Kageyama came over to rest.

"Is something wrong?" Kageyama asked him. "You've been standing over here for a while." Kageyama grinned—it was still a creepy sight, but less creepy than before, so at least he was improving some. "Did Hinata's spike hit your hands too hard?"

"No, I'm fine." Kindaichi flicked his tongue against his teeth, trying to figure out how to word his request. "Hey. Can I crash at your place? My parents are going to be home late tonight," he lied.

Kageyama gave it some thought. "I think that's fine. But Hinata had already invited himself over for the weekend. I'll tell him that he can come over next time."

"Ah, you don't have to do that!"

Kageyama gave him a skeptical look. "But I do…? My house is small, so my parents are fine with one friend over at a time."

Kindaichi's shoulders sagged as he watched Kageyama go tell Hinata about the change of plans. No doubt Kindaichi had just landed himself on Hinata's bad side. Then Kindaichi's phone buzzed again. His mother was now calling him, so he had to answer. "Ah, sorry, Mom. I meant to tell you earlier—a friend invited me to stay over, and I already said yes." Was he going to get caught in his lie? He hoped not.

"Really, Yuu-chan!" his mother huffed. "Check with me or your father before you confirm such things. But all right. I expect you home by no later than lunch tomorrow. Have fun!" she added before he hurried her off the line.

He'd locked his phone and dropped it into his bag when it buzzed one last time. Oh, good grief, if it was his mother again—

But he recognized the avatar that went with that number.

He ignored said avatar (the Akira movie poster, supposedly Kunimi's namesake because his parents had met when friends invited them to watch it) and zipped his bag shut. He'd deal with the repercussions some other time.

- ^-^3

"Welcome, welcome! So good to see you! Ah, Akira-chan, every time we see you, you're even taller!"

Kunimi did his best not to grunt—no, his parents would never let him hear the end of it if he misbehaved in front of Kindaichi's parents—as Kindaichi's mother cooed over him, but he had the strong urge to do so anyway. It wasn't as if he enjoyed being tall; tall and slim wasn't appealing, in his opinion. But he was used to hearing adults say that shit all the time, so at the very least he was used to it. Besides, he gave Kindaichi's parents more leeway than other adults since they'd known him since he was little, and he kind of liked them. Kindaichi's mother, for instance, was what Kunimi pictured a smiling, jovial Iwaizumi would be like. Probably why Kindaichi admired Iwaizumi so much, Kunimi figured.

"It smells wonderful in here, Yoko-san," Kunimi's dad told Kindaichi's mother as the Kunimi family followed her into the dining room. "It's so lucky that you bumped into Megumi earlier."

"Ah, thank you," Kindaichi's mother exclaimed. She shook her head. "I just wish Yuutarou had come home. We've not seen Akira in a while; you've not seen Yuutarou in a while. I thought it'd be the six of us tonight."

That caught Kunimi's attention. His ears perked up as his mother asked where Kindaichi was.

"Oh, he was invited to a friend's place and had already accepted. I didn't feel I could say no."

Kunimi's mother turned to her son. "Do you know which friend?"

"Ah. It hadn't occurred to me to ask," Kindaichi's mother realized.

Kunimi suddenly felt four pairs of eyes on him. "…dunno," he remarked, which was true. He didn't know. But that didn't mean he didn't have an idea. "Excuse me. I need to use the bathroom," he said, and he went down the hall, hearing their parents bemoan their sons hitting "that age where they just don't tell you anything anymore." Once he locked the door behind him, he leaned against it and pulled his phone out. He'd tried texting Kindaichi earlier when his mother had come home and announced they'd be eating over at the Kindaichi family's home, but Kindaichi must've ignored the message. So now Kunimi tried again:

-oi. at your place for din. you?

No response. Kunimi was reminded of his annoyance at his friend earlier in the week. Wasn't it bad enough that Kindaichi had been running away to Karasuno's practice every day this week? It wasn't as if they were ever in the same homeroom, either. Aside from going to school and coming home together, club was all they had. They weren't the best of friends, Kunimi supposed, but he'd known Kindaichi the longest out of anyone, and vice versa. It was often easy being friends with someone he was that familiar with, and it angered Kunimi that suddenly Kindaichi wasn't letting their friendship be that easy.

-answer my texts, kin.

Still nothing.

-you're at king's, aren't you? fine. enjoy your new team. we don't need you.

Kunimi debated sending that last text. Saying "we" was probably a bit heavy-handed, but changing "we" to "I" made him seem too whiny. Either way, Kunimi couldn't decide. Eventually, he deleted that last sentence before sending the text. Then he tried to recall some of the more creative, angry emojis Hanamaki and Matsukawa had taught him in the past year, and he sent a few choice ones to Kindaichi, as well. Satisfied he'd gotten his point across, Kunimi flushed the toilet and turned on the faucet so that the adults wouldn't come asking after him.

- ^-^3

I love Karasuno a lot, and I like this idea of Kindaichi finding some acceptance there, because they do feel that welcoming to me. Tsukki, tho… XD And yeah, some random OCs, but who knows? Maybe I'll think about them some more in the future, idk. And now the plot thickens…Kinkuni lying to each other? Why can't these babies just get along?

Anywho, thx for reading and please review! Look forward to the next chappie, too!

-mew! :3