"I know those looks. Don't you two start –

Hinata and Kageyama had already taken off down the sidewalk leaving Suga with half a sentence still on his tongue and the rest of their teammates in the literal dust. Coach Ukai had decided today's practice would consist of a semi-leisurely jog around town for some cardio; except when Hinata managed to catch Kageyama's eye and they reflected a familiar competitive spark he knew it would be anything but.

Hinata felt like he was flying as his heartbeat jackhammered a strong rhythm against his ribs. Wind whipped through his hair and shirt chasing away the sticky humidity that had suffocated his skin all day.

"Looks like you're slowing down," Kageyama huffed beside him, "Giving up so soon?"

"You wish!"

Hinata tried to pick up his already breakneck pace but it seemed his competitor thought the same. Their feet slapped against the pavement in near unison and their arms pumped at their sides a mirror image of each other. Hinata could feel his mind emptying itself, clearing of all thoughts in a similar way to when he was slamming a volleyball onto the other side of the court; only now he could enjoy prolonged exposure. He had tried to chase that feeling a million times by going on runs around his neighborhood but he could never get it quite right. There was no reason to go to extremes then the way he was doing now. He skidded around a corner smirking as Kageyama nearly ran into a light pole.

The tall idiot was definitely his current reason. He was the moving goal post and as much as Hinata outwardly detested it, he was always one for the chase.

He was so glad he had been able to yank Kageyama back from whatever cliff he had been ready to dive head first off of last week during their match. It wasn't the first time he had to yell some sense into his setter and if they were going to continue this partnership it most likely wouldn't be the last. That was fine, any chance Hinata had to get away with slamming Kageyama around he would gladly take.

Twenty minutes later they had to slow to a stop at a crosswalk and catch their breath as they waited for the light to change.

"Ugh," Hinata said grimacing as he ran his hand through his sweaty hair and peeled his shirt away from his moist skin, "I feel gross." The weather had been heavy and stifling all day and wearing a thin t-shirt and shorts could only provide so much relief when he was busy marathoning around town.

"Who cares?" Kageyama said breathing heavily with his hands on his knees, eyes straight ahead, "You trying to look pretty for somebody?"

I mean I get it.

Hinata shook his head. Nope. No. No way. Not thinking about that anymore.

"Shut up," he retorted stretching to touch his toes, "You're grosser anyway." He straightened just in time to see Kageyama sprint across the street and into the nearby park. He immediately followed after him. "Hey! That's not fair!"

Once he managed to catch back up Kageyama leered down at him.

"Pay attention, dumbass!"

He had spent way too long running Kageyama's words through his mind for the past few days, sifting through them like someone panning for gold as though he'd suddenly find something new. It was pointless and repetitive and Hinata definitely had better things to think about.

Except he didn't!

It had really sounded like Kageyama had confirmed that he thought Hinata was pretty and if that didn't warrant several hours a day of careful contemplation then nothing did. He grit his teeth together and pushed himself harder, immediately gratified when he managed to pull just slightly ahead of him.

"Who's not paying attention now?" Hinata said turning his head to properly gloat in his setter's face.

He watched as a dangerous smile spread like lava across Kageyama's expression; his eyes like glaciers, cool and intimidating, shadowed by night black hair. Hot and cold; two extremes that struggled for center stage. No room for middle ground. No place for the tepid.

Pretty.

"You are."

"What?"

"Hinata! Watch –

Hinata turned just in time to see the tree he was barreling towards but not soon enough to avoid tripping over its roots. He slammed into the ground hard with the taste of blood and grass in his mouth.

"You idiot!" Kageyama was instantly crouching at his side. "Why don't you ever pay attention to anything?"

Hinata had the wind knocked out of him and a savagely bitten tongue so he couldn't tell him to shove off no matter how badly he wanted to. He settled with a rude hand gesture as he struggled to push himself up. He felt hands around his biceps help pull him into a sitting position.

"Are you hurt?"

Hinata shook his head. He knew he would probably feel it later when the adrenaline stopped coursing through his veins. Of course that wouldn't be any time soon as unnaturally cool fingers slid along Hinata's overheated skin flipping his dirt covered hands palm side up to be inspected. They moved to one of his knees as Kageyama's free hand gripped Hinata's jaw and tilted his head around as if inspecting a melon. "I don't know what a concussion looks like so if you're dying you better say something," Kageyama said as he searched his eyes.

Hinata sharply inhaled at their proximity. He prayed to every god he could think of that Kageyama's fingertips weren't close enough to his neck to feel his erratic pulse tattooing panic under his skin. They were separated by mere inches and he was finding it very hard to look away from the lips that were at his eye level.

So pretty.

"Hinata?"

"Yes!" He replied a little too loudly.

Kageyama sighed and rolled his eyes. "I said, do you think you can stand?"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm totally fine!" Hinata just knew his face was flaming at being caught staring, there was no way it wasn't. He scrambled to stand nearly knocking Kageyama over. "See! Everything's good! It's not the first time I've taken a spill." He didn't dare mention the twinge that shot up his leg from his ankle. If Kageyama found out he couldn't play because of a stupid injury he could only imagine how pissed he'd be. It didn't feel broken so it was probably just sore, nothing he couldn't walk off.

Kageyama stood and brushed himself off before looking up into the sky. The sun was slowly being overtaken by clouds the color of wet newspaper.

"We should head back and find the others," he said before stretching his arms above his head and walking in the direction they had come from, "Let's go."

"R-right."

Hinata followed behind him, wincing when he put weight on his left foot. This might be a problem.

0o0

"Don't trip on anymore roots on your way home!" Tsukishima said when they were all back in the clubroom as Yamaguchi snickered beside him.

"Don't be such an ass," Hinata mumbled as he zipped his bag closed.

"He's not the one who almost crashed face first into a tree."

Hinata punched Kageyama in the knee from where he kneeled on the floor. "You're an ass too. You could have warned me."

Kageyama rubbed at his new injury and scowled. "I did! If it weren't for me we'd be picking your teeth out of that tree's trunk."

Hinata stood with his duffle bag slung securely across his chest and nearly buckled under the new weight it put on his ankle. Kageyama narrowed his eyes.

"Almost lost my balance for a second," Hinata nervously laughed.

"It's really raining hard out there," Asahi said as he returned from locking up the gym, the shoulders and sleeves of his track jacket darkened with water. "Hope you all brought your umbrellas."

Hinata groaned and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Not only had he not brought his, but since it had been so unbearably hot this morning he had also left his team jacket at home. He was going to be soaked through like a sponge in dish water.

"Not to worry Hinata," Tanaka said, "I didn't bring mine either. This just gives us an excuse to show off our manly prowess. A little rain can't hurt us am I right?"

He gave him a friendly smack on the back of his shoulders. Suga definitely hit harder but still Hinata couldn't bite down the hiss that escaped from between his teeth when he suddenly had to catch himself on his bad foot from falling into Kageyama.

"Well, however you all get home, just do so safely," Daichi said as he produced his own umbrella from somewhere, "I'll see you all next week."

"We should go too," Kageyama said when the clubroom door had closed behind their captain.

"Oh, um ok." Hinata nodded.

He was not looking forward to having to carefully go down the stairs of the building. He had been able to sneakily climb them by being the first to shower and leave the locker room. It had taken all his extra time to slowly hop his way up the set of stairs. He had planned on taking a similar route to get down but here was Kageyama ruining everything yet again like it was his job. He waved goodbye to the rest of the guys before Kageyama rather rudely shut the door behind him.

"Walk."

Hinata only dumbly blinked at him.

"Walk," Kageyama repeated, "I'll be right behind you."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Kageyama was suspicious. Hinata slowly turned towards the staircase. No problem this would be fine. If he could hold out long enough to satisfy him then he could go home and put his feet up for as long as he wanted as a reward. He took one step, then another. Damn, it hurt.

He could feel eyes burning blue fire into his back as his setter followed closely behind. The rain was loudly pelting the roof of the building as the cold wind made goosebumps crop up on Hinata's arms. Why, oh why, did he have to live so far away? Biking uphill in this weather in his condition would be nothing short of torture so naturally he would have to drag it up the hill himself. This day was going perfectly.

He stood at the top stair, raindrops bouncing off the metal railing and misting him.

"Well?"

"I'm going, I'm going," Hinata said to his impatient partner.

Ok. Keep it casual. Effortless. They're just stairs, meant to be taken one step at a time. Right foot first. So far, so good. Next step.

He pitched forward as his knee buckled beneath him.

He would have tumbled gracelessly headfirst down the stairs had a strong grip on the back of his shirt not kept him steady. He grappled onto the handrail as he righted himself and put his weight back on his good foot. Slowly he looked back at the boy who still had him in his iron grasp. Kageyama was frowning but it wasn't an angry one like Hinata was used to.

"Idiot."

Before Hinata could respond, Kageyama walked down the steps until he could comfortably curl his arm around his waist. "Hold on to me." Hinata could feel the coolness of Kageyama's skin through his shirt and it was making him mentally blue screen. Noticing the hesitation Kageyama sighed. "Unless you want to break your skull going down these things on your own?"

"Right, right," Hinata said coming back to himself. He followed in Kageyama's example and held onto his shoulders. "Sorry."

They slowly made their way down the stairs, Hinata trusting Kageyama to hold his weight and not send him on a slip-n-slide to hell. He also trusted that he would no doubt get yelled at once they had made it safely to the bottom. Kageyama brought him around the stairs, under the awning and out of the rain. When he finally released him Hinata missed him immediately.

Kageyama crossed his arms. "I asked you if you were hurt."

Hinata poked his fingers together feeling mightily embarrassed. He should have known he would be seen through as easily as though he were made of glass.

"I didn't want you to get mad at me for being stupid."

"Too late for that," Kageyama replied instantly, "I always think you're stupid."

"Thanks," Hinata deadpanned. He rubbed at his arms, the wind biting along his wet skin. This sucked. "I just didn't-" He tilted his head in confusion when Kageyama started unzipping his jacket. "What are you doing?"

Kageyama tossed him the item before crouching low on the ground. "Put it on and climb up."

"What? Are you crazy?" Hinata asked holding the jacket to his chest, "You're not carrying me anywhere!"

Kageyama stood up and properly crowded Hinata's space, backing him up until he was against the wall and his hands bracketed orange hair. Hinata couldn't find enough saliva in his mouth to swallow the lump of anxiety that had formed in his throat.

"I'm not about to let you try going up that god forsaken mountain back home on your own," Kageyama said lowly, eyes like ice picks pinning Hinata to the spot, "Because if you did and you do irreversible damage making you miss out on practice and games I'll break your other foot myself."

Which is how Hinata found himself wearing Kageyama's jacket, hanging off him like a sloth and holding his umbrella above the both of them. Or at least trying to.

"Can't you hold that thing properly?"

"I am!"

"You're only covering yourself! I'm getting soaked down here!"

Hinata brought the umbrella slightly lower in an attempt to shield them from more of the rain. This made him have to bury his head into Kageyama's neck.

"This better, Your Highness?"

"Why do you have to be so loud right by my ear?" Kageyama muttered as he paused to re-adjust Hinata.

Hinata, for once, was desperately hoping they would argue over stupid things like this the whole way home. It would keep his mind off the way Kageyama's fingers and palms pressed into the skin of his thighs just below his gym shorts.

"You're the one who wanted me to be your backpack for the night," Hinata teased.

"Real backpacks wouldn't talk as much!"

Hinata leaned forward to make sure Kageyama could see him sticking his tongue out at him and just to be extra petty he slightly lifted the umbrella again. They had reached the halfway point up the hill and Hinata could hear the way the boy beneath him was huffing with every step.

"Hey," Kageyama said suddenly serious, "Remember a while ago when you said you knew I would never lie to you?"

How could he not? That day in the gym had been burned into his memory. Hinata pressed his cheek onto Kageyama's damp hair.

"Yes."

"And earlier you said you didn't want to tell me you were hurt because you thought I'd be angry."

Kageyama's hair smelled nice. Like soap and rain unsurprisingly.

"Yeah."

Hinata could feel cool hands squeeze slightly tighter around his thighs.

"I don't want you lying to me either," Kageyama shook his head in an attempt to flip his wet bangs out of his face. "Doesn't matter how you think I'll react. I want you to trust me the way you want me to trust you."

Hinata hadn't ever been a good liar and he was learning quickly that when it came to Kageyama he didn't even want to. He was already lying about what he had sneakily found out about his friend and he was barely keeping it together. His partner deserved better from him.

"I'm sorry." He reached around and carefully brushed damp hair up and out of Kageyama's eyes, combing his fingers through the smooth black strands a few times. "You're right. I promise I will from now on." He suddenly remembered himself and took his hand back. He brought the umbrella lower to better block the rain.

His heart nearly escaped his chest when he felt Kageyama's thumbs rub soft arcs against his legs.

"You better."

He had been touched by Kageyama a million times, had touched him in turn. You kind of had to touch someone to tackle them to the gym floor. But never had it been so gently and never had such a small insignificant action been so nerve-wracking. Was he just touch-starved or something? Kageyama's hands were cold and the wind and rain were colder but Hinata felt comfortably warm.

If Kageyama knew what his hands were doing to Hinata's insides then his crush would probably never go away. Hinata hummed to himself contentedly as he rested his head back against Kageyama's neck while his free hand slid along the setter's collar bones to better hold himself up. Now that he was thinking in hindsight, having a pretty boy crush on you really wasn't the end of the world.

"Hey, Kageyama?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't tell Tanaka about all of this."

"What? Why would I?"

"I just don't want him knowing I didn't show off my manly prowess."

To Hinata's surprise, Kageyama made a snorting sound that could've been mistaken for a laugh.

"Fine, I won't."

0o0

"One more time?"

Hinata steeled himself and nodded.

"One more time."

Kageyama's hand was at his waist while Hinata's hand was around his shoulders. Hinata's heart felt like it was going to give out with this kind of proximity. He didn't know if he had it in himself for a round two.

Kageyama breathed out slowly and Hinata bit his lip.

"You just had to have more stairs in your house."

"I'm not the one who picked the house you know!"

Kageyama helped Hinata carefully climb the steps towards his second floor bedroom. Hinata was desperately hoping he hadn't left any underwear lying around or something else embarrassing. He knew he wasn't particularly tidy and it's not like he had planned on having anyone over, especially not his sharp-eyed teammate. They finally reached the landing and Hinata pointed out which door led to his room.

"Just as messy as I imagined," Kageyama said amused when he opened the door.

"Hey!"

Hinata was dumped onto his bed before he could say more.

"I brought some towels for you two to dry off with," Hinata's mother said appearing in the doorway.

"Throw them at his face," Hinata said grouchily as he stripped off his soaked borrowed jacket, "He's being a tool."

"Don't talk like that about someone who helped you home, Shoyou!" she chastised as she handed Kageyama two fluffy towels. "You should be grateful."

Hinata crossed his arms in silent defiance.

"Thank you," Kageyama said bowing his head.

"Such a nice… friend you have, Shoyou. You should bring him around more often."

Before Hinata could properly prove how wrong his mother was she winked at him and quickly closed the door behind her. Hinata blinked, utterly perplexed.

Kageyama waited another few seconds until the coast was clear and sneered at the redhead.

"You hear that? You should be grateful."

Hinata rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just toss me one of those."

"Why don't you come and get it?" Kageyama responded holding the towel away from his body.

"That's not fair! I'm an invalid."

"And whose fault is that?"

"The tree for growing somewhere stupid!"

"That doesn't make sense."

"Yes, it does!"

"No, it doesn't!"

"Fine! I'm coming over there to get it myself and then I'm kicking your ass!"

Hinata managed to push himself up off the bed and was about to start hopping across his room before Kageyama shoved him backwards onto the mattress.

"Hey! What's your pro –

"Don't be stupid." Kageyama dropped a towel over Hinata's head. "Hurry up and dry off before you catch a cold."

He rubbed the soft material over his hair trying to dry off all the rainwater that had managed to soak him. He really hadn't been very good at holding the umbrella. Once they both had dried themselves off the best they could Kageyama prepared to leave. At the door he mumbled something unintelligible.

"What did you say?"

"I said to take care of yourself, idiot."

If Hinata didn't know any better he could have sworn the tips of Kageyama's ears had turned a pastel pink color.

"Wait, don't leave yet," Hinata said pushing up onto one foot and hobbling over to his desk.

"I'm not going to stay here and play babysitter if that's what you want," Kageyama said.

Hinata hopped over to Kageyama, nearly falling into him. He held out the team jacket he had so carelessly left draped over his desk chair earlier that day. "Take this with you." When Kageyama just looked at it Hinata rolled his eyes. "It will give me time to clean this one." He motioned to the damp jacket he still wore.

Kageyama took the item. "Um, thanks."

"And Kageyama?" Hinata hesitantly looked down at the ground. "I…I really am grateful. You know, for your help."

"Oh." Kageyama joined Hinata in his perusal of the bedroom carpet. "Uh, yeah. Don't mention it."

He didn't need to look up to know Kageyama was fidgeting just as awkwardly as he was. Neither one of them really knew how to handle this kind of thing with each other. Fighting was so much more familiar. Still, curiosity was killing him and he wanted to peek.

Yep, his ears were definitely pink.

**I really wanted these dates to be set in stone and let you know exactly when to expect the next chapter yet for the past few weeks they've been more like suggestions. Fully my fault. I'll keep trying to stay on top of it. Hope you're enjoying in the meantime, I'd love to hear what you think. Ch 9 11/19/22**