Chapter Two – In Which They Both are Idiots

It's warm. And soft but kind of hard and boney at the same time. Still comfortable though. Very comfortable. I pull it closer pushing my face into the fuzz, breathing in the honey. Delicious. The warmth and the scent pull me deeper into dreams of giggling red heads and perfect tosses. So comfortable.

When my eyes opened to see a frighteningly bright shade of orange encompassing my entire vision, I froze, then jerked back. Hinata grumbled in his sleep before turning over to face me. His face was wrinkled where it was smashed up against the pillow and bruised in the place where it smashed up against the light pole. And if it weren't for that bruise I probably would have laughed. But that bruise made Hinata look so broken that a part of my chest tightened and I couldn't help but worry for the dumbass.

I watched Hinata slowly open his eyes. He blinked a few times looking up at me. His brow furrowed as he stared. I stared back waiting for something to happen. It was only after an impossibly long minute that Hinata finally opened his mouth. "Kageyama, I can't get up. Your arm is heavy."

Again I froze as my brain finally caught up with how close our faces were, all the points our bodies were touching, arm, hip, knees, ankles, thighs. SHIT I scrambled from the bed, blankets twisting between my legs tripping me. I hit the ground, a gross thud floating through the empty house followed by Hinata's bubbling laughter.

I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. "Dumbass Hinata, don't just say whatever you want." I went to grab his head but when Hinata flinched away I aimed instead for the pillow next to him smacking his legs with it until he apologized.

"Geez, Kageyama, What was that for?" Hinata yawned as he slowly climbed out of the bed, clothes wrinkled and hair messier than usual. My stomach flipped at the rosy color of his cheeks, so cute, too bad most of his face was covered in ugly bruises.

"It's because you said something weird. Now hurry up and change your clothes so that we can get to practice." I said, quickly changing the subject. Hinata jumped up and down instantly pulled his shirt off. I flinched out of the room but not before Hinata was out of his pants and calling after me. "Aren't you going to change too, Kageyama?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll do it. Let me go to the bathroom first. Dumbass." I shut the door on the barely clad boy and nearly run down the hall. Slamming the bathroom door behind me, I crouch over the sink pushing my hands through my hair. Fuck. What a dumbass. I tried to take a couple breaths to calm myself down but my pulse didn't want to slow. I turned towards the shower turning on the water and shove my face into the icy spray. I need help.

When I returned to my room I had to stop myself from running to the bathroom again. That freaking dumbass. Hinata was standing in the middle of the room rolling up the sleeves of my favorite sweater. The collar of the shirt dipped obscenely low. The bottom of the sweater loosely hugged the middle of Hinata's thighs. There is no way I'm going to make it through today.

The moment Hinata noticed me enter the room he started talking "Kageyama, you ran away before I could ask. Is it alright if I wear one of your sweaters? My shirt from yesterday is way too dirty. I thought maybe I could borrow your pants but when I tried them on they kept falling down so I'm just going to wear mine. It's not like they were-"

"DUDE,"I interrupted his senseless talking. "I don't care. You can wear my sweater but you need to wear something underneath it."

"Huh? Why?" Hinata looked confused and I could feel my face begin to flush.

"Because, dumbass" I couldn't think of a reason. "It's just" Shit "It's my sweater and I said so!" I finally shouted.

Hinata flinched back. "Fine, Bakageyama. I'll wear my practice tee, it's your fault if it stinks forever."

I shook my head at the stupid redhead and started changing myself. Once I was finished I headed downstairs to get some breakfast. Hinata followed behind, bouncing on the stairs. At least the hopping meant his head couldn't hurt too bad. I made breakfast while Hinata alternated humming stupid show tunes and talking about absolutely nothing.

He only stopped moving when I placed the plate of food in front of him. After saying thanks we started eating, Hinata managed to make more noise shoving the food into his mouth than when he was talking senselessly a moment ago. But I couldn't help but laugh at his blushing face as he managed to get rice stuck just above his eyebrow. Hinata is like a small child. I've never been very good with kids but I've always liked them. Small. Cute.

At that thought I blushed and looked down at my plate of already cold food. I picked at the lumpy rice trying hard not to reach out and pick the rice off of Hinata's face. That single grain seemed far more appetizing than the bowl in front of me. I blushed deeper and hurriedly started shoveling the food into my mouth. Stupid Hinata, learn how to eat properly.

When both of our bowls were empty and Hinata had finally wiped the rice from his face we decided to head to morning practice. The entire walk Hinata talked nonstop about hitting tosses and jumping. He bumped his shoulder against mine every time he got excited and it made my stomach toss uncomfortably. After one particularly excited shout from Hinata I thought maybe I should tell him that he wasn't allowed to practice today. But the more he rambled on the more I couldn't do it. I've never been very good at dealing with Hinata's tantrums and he's sure to throw one when he finds out. I'm going to let Suga handle this.

xxxXXXxxx

"HOLY SHIT HINATA! WHAT THE FUCK DID KAGEYAMA DO TO YOU"

"KAGEYAMA YOU GREASY BASTARD! I SWEAR IM GOING TO RIP YOU TO PIECES FOR HURTING MY KOHAI!" Nishinoya and Tanaka's screams were almost instantaneous when we walked into the club room. I noticed Suga chuckle as the two enraged second years slowly cornered a quivering Kageyama. I couldn't help but laugh a little too, but when Kageyama locked eyes with me I could see the absolute desperation so I decided to step in before any casualties could take place.

"Wait, Kageyama didn't do this. It was my own fault. I ran into a light pole." I squeezed myself between Kageyama and Tanaka's chests. I just barley fit and my whole body pressed up against Kageyama's. I ignored the flip in my stomach as I raised my hands assuring Tanaka and Nishinoya of Kageyama's innocence. I began recounting the events of the previous night. Their eyebrows raised when we got to the part about Kageyama volunteering to bring me home just the same way Daichi and Coach Ukai's did last night. But they accepted it soon enough and we all got to changing into our practice clothes.

I changed quickly, ready to play. It was Suga's voiced that stopped me, shorts around my knees. "Hinata, you don't really need to change."

I looked at him confused "Why not?"

He looked back at me as if it were obvious. "Hinata, we decided last night that it would probably be best to have you rest for today."

I looked at him still confused.

"What I'm saying is you're not going to practice today. We don't want you to hurt you're your head anymore"

"…"

"Didn't Kageyama tell you this?"

My brain finally caught up with what was going on I slowly turned towards Kageyama. He was tying his shoe, this bastard. He continued tying as if he didn't feel me staring at his stupid head but I noticed the way his body tensed. This jerk knew I wasn't allowed to practice today and he didn't even have the balls to warn me.

"What do you want dumbass Hinata?" He didn't meet my eyes. Jerk.

"Kageyama… why didn't you tell me?"

There was a hushed silence throughout the club room not even Tsukkishima was making a noise. I could feel everyone's eyes shifting between Kageyama and me, waiting. Kageyama stubbornly avoided everyone's eyes as he stood and shuffled around in his bag.

"Kageyama… Kageyama!" he started for the door refusing to acknowledge me. "KAGEYAMA, YOU COMPLETE ASS"

"What, dumbass!?" Kageyama whipped around and I took a step back. "I didn't tell you that you weren't allowed to practice because I knew you would act like a complete baby. Even though we are doing this because we don't want you to get hurt. You're still there crying because you can't practice. Idiot, we are trying to keep you from having to miss more than one practice. What do you think would happen if you got hit by a volleyball today? You'd be done for the season. Not to mention you would make everyone worry but you don't care about that do you?!"

Kageyama finished puffing out breath. The room was even more silent than it had been moments ago. Everyone's eyes were watching him and as we all stared he turned around and stomped from the room. As the door slammed behind him I felt a crack of ice split my chest and my vision became blurry. It wasn't until Suga handed me a tissue that I realized I couldn't see because I was crying.

"It's okay Hinata. Kageyama seems to be stressed about something right now. I'm sure he didn't mean to be so harsh." I looked to Suga's face but he didn't seem too sure himself. The room around had picked up in activity. Tsukkishima was making jokes to Yamaguchi that I probably didn't want to hear and it looked like Nishinoya was trying to keep Asahi from crying. Maybe I was being childish. But so was Kageyama. I was mostly upset that he hadn't told me that I couldn't practice.

I pushed the coldness in my chest away and walked towards Daichi. "I'm sorry for making a scene, Captain. And I understand why I can't go to practice but would it be alright if I could still watch? I promise not to get in anyone's way." Daichi seemed surprised at my question and looked to Suga before answering.

"Hinata, we weren't going to stop you from being at practice. We just wanted to make sure you didn't overdo it and accidently hurt yourself even more." Daichi clapped a hand on my shoulder and smiled one of those warm fatherly smile.

I smiled back, "Thanks Captain!" I turned to leave but Daichi squeezed my shoulder and pulled me back towards him.

"I do have one thing I want you to do during practice." I looked at him eagerly. "Find some way to fix what happed with you and Kageyama. I think you need to apologize to him more than anyone else. We don't want you two to be on bad terms for the Nekoma match tomorrow. We'd be nothing without our freak duo." With that Daichi squeezed my shoulder and pushed me towards the door as everyone else started towards the gym. I followed slowly trying to understand what Daichi meant.

All through practice I struggled to think of some way to clear things up with Kageyama. No matter how hard I tried Kageyama would not make eye contact with me and I was progressively getting angrier. The ice in my chest turning into fire. This turd. I sat on the bench watching practice progress. Tanaka jumping up over and over spiking Kageyama's tosses. My chest burning when I realized that should have been me. But it made no sense to get angry with Tanaka, Kageyama was the idiot that was being stupid. My previous dilemma was forgotten as I seethed over Kageyama's stupidity and it wasn't until Suga came over next to me that I remember what I was supposed to be thinking about.

"Hinata do you remember when Nishinoya said he was disappointed that your head didn't smell like oranges. And then you came to practice the next day and you smelled so much of oranges that we made you change by the door because we couldn't stand the smell." Suga giggled as he told the story and I could feel my face begin to burn.

"egk, Suga-sempai stop talking about it" I covered my face with my hands as Suga patted my shoulder

"You know ever since then I haven't been able to eat an orange because every time I go to take a bite all I can see is your head."

The blush deepened and I made to swat at Suga's arm but he stepped out of the way laughing. He ended up tripping over some empty water bottles and nearly fell on his face. Then it was my turn to laugh widely. To see the calm graceful Suga almost wipe out on the floor was undeniably hilarious and I couldn't hold back the amazed laughter that escaped my lips.

Suga blushed but laughed too and I noticed that everyone in the gym was looking at us. Even Kageyama though he still avoided eye contact. Suga giggled and waved and everyone turned back to their practice. Daichi looked concerned but Suga waved at him again and he too rejoined practice. Suga was still chuckling quietly to himself as he turned back to me.

"That's much better. You looking upset paired with all those bruises was really depressing." Suga patted my shoulder. "Now what were you thinking so hard about?"

"Why do I have to apologize to Kageyama? He's the one who lied and then got angry." I grumbled scuffing my shoes on the floor.

"True, but Hinata, you know Kageyama was really worried about you. You should have heard him on the phone last night. His voice was shaking so much I thought he was going to tell me you were dead." I blinked up at Suga as he looked past the team practicing on the court. He seemed far away as he reminisced.

"… I-I'm sorry, Suga-sempai"

Suga giggled as he turned towards me "Hinata, you shouldn't be saying that to me. Kageyama was the one who worried the most."

This didn't make sense. Kageyama just seemed angry. He didn't care as long as I kept jumping for his tosses. There were others on the team, he didn't need me. He was always calling me a dumbass and other ugly names. And I told Suga just as much. "Kageyama doesn't care. He just calls me names and yells at me."

Suga frowned, "You know what Kageyama's old team was like. This is the first time he's ever had a whole team around him that cared not only for his skills but his personality as well. And this is the first time he's taken the time to adjust to other people and pay attention to them. He doesn't know how to deal with the feelings he has… Do you see Kageyama as your friend, Hinata?"

I swallowed, "Kinda… when he's not yelling at me."

"I think you should forgive Kageyama. He probably didn't tell you about practice because he didn't know how to do it without upsetting you."

I nodded and Suga clapped me on the shoulder before running back onto the court, tossing me a smile over his shoulder as he ran. I knew Suga was right but it's not that easy to forgive Kageyama when he's being a butt face like this. As practice continued I concentrated on different ways to apologize to Kageyama. Maybe I'll buy him some milk.

xxxXXXxxx

I was still brewing with anger by the time it came to third period. I knew it was stupid to be this angry but for some reason I couldn't calm the rage in my stomach. I told myself that I didn't tell Hinata about practice because I didn't want to deal with him whining about it but that can't be right. Maybe I just didn't want him to be mad at me. That would explain why I'm so angry now, since he got mad with me anyway. But that didn't seem quite right either. I just couldn't get a hold of my emotions when it came Hinata.

As I sat in my class scribbling on my notebook completely ignoring the lecture in front of me I tried to think of something to do during lunch break. Recently Hinata and I have been having lunch together so that we can practice tossing once we are done. We can't practice because of his head and there's no guarantee that Hinata will even show up today. I sat tapping my pencil on the paper in front of me. I shouldn't have yelled at him but he just made me so angry some times.

When the lunch bell finally rang I remained in my seat. Should I go? I waited. Hinata's probably not going to be there. I waited. Was there any point? I waited, closed my eyes and rested my head on my hands. … But what if he did show up? … I stood up before I could change my mind and turned towards the door.

It had started just a couple days after the three on three match. Hinata had come to my classroom with a volleyball in his hands. He was bouncing up and down as I walked to the door. We decided to practice outside after we ate. There was a large oak tree near the gym. Since that day we had been meeting there, eating then testing the door to see if we could sneak into the gym to practice. While most days the doors would be locked, every once in a while they wouldn't be and we could practice properly in the gym. On the days that it was locked we still practiced but it was mostly just receives and maybe a couple spikes.

I got to the tree and my heart sank a little. No Hinata. I checked the gym. My heart fell some more. The doors were locked. I sat in the grass underneath the tree and listened to the crows calling back and forth to each other. It was somehow comforting. Though that comfort didn't last long as the lunch period slowly past and Hinata still didn't show up. I got up and returned to class, long before the bell rang.

By the time afternoon practice came I had still not seen Hinata once and I had worked up my anger again so when I finally spotted his mop of orange on the way to the clubroom I just turned my head away. I avoided eye contact all throughout the practice. It seemed to take forever for Daichi to finally call for all of us to huddle together. He simply reminded us of meeting times and locations for our practice match tomorrow. He reminded us to be respectful and kind to the Nekoma team and then finally sent us off.

I changed quickly in attempts to avoid Hinata but he was right behind me as I exited the school gates. He didn't say anything. We made it two blocks before I finally had enough.

"Why the hell are you following me dumbass?" I watched Hinata flinch back as I turn around.
"This is how I get home too, stupid. Also I left my clothes and bike at your house." He didn't look up at me.

"Fine" was all I said and we continued walking, this time Hinata decided to keep pace next to me.

It was excruciatingly quiet. I could feel Hinata wanting to say something next to me. I watched him beside me. His brow was furrowed and he kept biting his lip. I tried to be patient with him. I shouldn't have yelled at him the way I did.

Finally he spoke. "Kageyama, what am I to you?"

I froze. What?! How the hell am I supposed to answer that? I stared after Hinata as he kept walking until he stopped too and turned around.

"Do you consider me your friend?" Hinata asked looking at the ground and scuffing his toe on the concrete. A momentary wave of relief washed over me but was soon replaced with confusion. What did he mean?

"W-well no one else can hit my tosses." I stumbled over my words.

Hinata looked up at me. "Kageyama that's not what I'm asking."

"I don't understand what you want me to say!" I could feel myself getting worked up.

Hinata sighed in exasperation running his hands through his hair roughly. "I want you to give me a straight answer. DO YOU SEE ME AS A FRIEND?"

"I mean, I don't hate you..? I wouldn't play with you if I did." Why was he asking these things? I tried to turn and begin walking home again but Hinata grabbed my arm and pulled me back to look at him.

"KageYAMA"

"I don't see why it's so important for me to answer." My anger was building. I tried to shake Hinata's hand off.

"KAGEYAMA!"

"IT'S BECAUSE I LIKE YOU!" I shouted.

…Shit

xxxXXXxxx

"IT'S BECAUSE I LIKE YOU!" The sentence echoed through my head. What?

There was a moment of stunned silence as I watched Kageyama's face pale before turning a bright red.

"I-I-I mean. I've never really had a lot of friends in middle school." Kageyama stumbled over his sentence avoiding my eyes. "So yeah, I see you as my f-friend." Something warm bubbled in my chest and I couldn't help but smile as Kageyama finished talking.

"Really!?" Kageyama's blush only deepened as he looked past my head. But then I remembered what Kageyama had just said. "Wait. What did you mean by 'I like you'?"

Kageyama seemed to stiffen a little. "W-well… I don't hate you. So that must mean I like you at least a little bit, you know? And I really admire your jumping ability and the way you can hit my tosses."

I guess that made sense. But wasn't that a weird way to say it? As I wondered, we continued walking. It was about five minutes before we started talking again. It was Kageyama who broke the silence.

"Hey, Hinata, I'm sorry for yelling at you this morning." He didn't look at me when he said this but his checks were a light pink color.

"I understand why you did. And I shouldn't have thrown a tantrum. I'm sorry." I looked up at Kageyama's face and tried to meet his eyes. After a second of nothing but quiet footsteps and the wind in the trees he finally met my eyes and I knew everything would be fine. As we made our way to Kageyama's house we didn't say much to each other and that was okay.