Shōyō was more impatient than usual, anxiously counting the seconds for the class to end.

He had spoken to his mother and although she still wasn't very happy with him, she seemed to be happy at the idea of him taking a friend home with him. And Tsukishima-kun is always welcome here, she had spoken delighted, making him roll his eyes. His mother didn't even know him, but she already loved him for the extra study he gave him.

Kageyama stared at him openly, as if he was blaming him for being distracted in class, which was ridiculous, since he was doing nothing and none of them usually paid attention.

Hinata made a face back at him, before continuing his drawing (if it could be called that) of Kenma setting the ball to Kuroo, trying to see how it was different from when Kageyama did.

His thoughts somehow left this duo, ending up in Tsukishima again, and it was only after a few minutes that he realized he had stopped drawing entirely.

Kageyama, for his part, was concerned about his friend. He had been acting weirdly since he got back from the break, looking more unable to be quiet and making a weird dreamy expression.

Of course, Kageyama knew that Hinata and Tsukishima had improved their relationship, probably since they returned from camp, and especially after they started studying together. But getting to a point that for some reason Hinata wanted to give food to the arrogant boy? It was absurd.

"Are you sure that Tsukishima didn't poison you?" Kageyama asked as soon as the class ended and they were free.

"What? No, I was the one who bought the food," replied Hinata confused. He was feeling well, just agitated by the thought of meeting Tsukishima again.

Kageyama shrugged. With Tsukishima, it was always a possibility that they could not rule out, no matter how much it would also affect him by leaving embezzlement in the team.

"I have to go," said Hinata, throwing the rest of the material in the bag, without the slightest care.

Kageyama found this action even more strange, because normally Hinata was dragging himself to the study sessions with Tsukishima, although he always seemed to be in a good mood afterward and had commented several times that he was learning.

"You don't have classes with Tsukishima today?" he asked.

"I have," he replied. "He will go to my place."

Okay, Kageyama was very concerned.

"No. Absolutely not," said Kei. This had to be a pathetic try of a joke.

Even with Yamaguchi's irritating questions, he was in a good mood. The idea of spending time with Hinata outside of school and that cafeteria was tempting and he allowed himself to imagine some scenarios in which they would stop studying a little to enjoy each other's company.

Of course, all of that had been ruined in the instant he saw Kageyama waiting for him with Hinata, who had asked if he couldn't go with them. Strangely, the redhead didn't seem to be in a good mood, but Tsukishima didn't have time to think about it with the horrifying prospect of having to put up with the King of the Court any longer than he already had to.

Kageyama's eyes were cold, as if he suspected that he had some reason to refuse his presence there, other than the fact that he didn't like him.

"What's the problem?" He asked.

"I already have to teach an idiot, I will not teach two." Tsukishima replied, making Hinata give him an ugly look.

"It won't change anything, Kageyama will be quiet," said Hinata.

The day was going so well, but of course the King had to disturb everything, Tsukishima thought angrily.

Kageyama's presence changed things. Even after the initial discussion, the atmosphere continued to be tense, the only conversation being made by Hinata and he didn't even seem to be excited.

They stopped at a restaurant for lunch and Hinata and Kageyama started arguing about each other's food, which only angered Kei more. Maybe it was stupid, but since Hinata had called him, he had imagined that he would have his full attention, and seeing that he seemed so much more interested in the stupid setter made him angry.

Kei was the first to pay for the food and he left the restaurant without saying anything, waiting outside. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. It was irrational to be so angry, he knew.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder and opened his eyes to see Hinata's worried expression.

"Why are you so angry?" he asked.

Tsukishima did not know how to respond. The truth was not an option, there was no way he would admit that he was feeling jealous. But he also couldn't think of a convincing lie.

For what seemed like an eternity, he and Hinata just stared at each other, trying to understand what the other was thinking. However, the moment was broken when Kageyama appeared and Hinata suddenly left.

Kei could almost be grateful for that, if he wasn't the reason he was angry.

Hinata's house was as Kei had imagined, so colorful and full of things. It wasn't messy, but it looked crowded. It was quite different from his own, which was as empty as possible.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Tsukishima said, when he and Kageyama followed Shōyō around the house.

"Ah, my mother is not home, only Natsu," said Hinata, shrugging.

As if attracted by her name, Hinata's younger sister appeared. She looked so much like him that there was no doubt that they were from the same family.

"Hey, Natsu, did you eat?" The owner of the house asked, in a gentle tone. "Mom said that you did, but if you're still hungry…"

"Mom made a lot of food," she denied, not looking even a bit worried.

Kei observed the interaction fascinated. He was the youngest brother in his family and he had no doubt that Akiteru loved him, but he had never treated him so attentively.

"Kageyama-kun!" she spoke excitedly when she saw the visits with her brother.

To Kei's surprise, Kageyama smiled a little, like a smile from a normal person and not the threatening one he always wore. It was no surprise that he met Hinata's family, but that displeased Kei even more.

"Who is he?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"This is Tsukishima, my friend," explained Hinata.

This surprised Kei. Of course, they were spending a lot of time together, but he didn't think that the other one really considered him a friend, nobody outside Yamaguchi really did.

"Hi," he said sheepishly.

He had no idea how to act with a child, having simply kept as much distance as he could from them all his life.

"My brother said you like strawberries," she said. "Is that true?" she seemed to be evaluating him with the question and even though it was ridiculous, he didn't need the approval of a little girl, Kei got nervous.

"Yes," he admitted, hoping that was the right answer.

Natsu smiled at him as if she was happy with his presence there. She didn't say anything else before grabbing Kei's shirt and looking at him as if he was going to guess what she was up to. She dropped it and started walking.

He looked at Hinata in panic.

"You should follow her," he said, enjoying himself.

Tsukki narrowed his eyes at him, but still followed the little Hinata. In the end, she wanted to show the newest video game that she was playing.

Kageyama and Hinata talked quietly in the room, laughing every time Kei lost (and some of them he wasn't even letting Natsu win). He knew he still had to study with Hinata, but he didn't have the courage to say no to Natsu when she seemed so happy, especially when she got tired and lay down on his lap.

Any irritation that Kei had felt before was gone and he was completely calm now. Not even looking at Kageyama and Hinata and knowing that he would never be this close to him that way irritated him anymore. He was just happy to be there.

Surprisingly, it was Hinata who said it was more than time for them to study and told Natsu that she had to go to her room, that they were going to play some more later.

Of course, it wasn't that simple. She got sad and almost started to cry and for the first time, Tsukishima and Kageyama made identical expressions of panic, but Hinata did not seem moved by it.

She got up, ran, and hid behind Kageyama. He hugged her.

"Natsu," said Hinata in a disapproving tone. "I already told you that you can play later".

For a second the two brothers faced each other, but Natsu seemed to lose the silent dispute, because he released Kageyama and went slowly to her room.

"Sorry for that," Hinata said awkwardly. "Younger brothers, you know…" and then he looked at them and sighed: "Or not".

The study was much less fun than the rest of the day, and, as Kei had predicted, having Kageyama there meant even more work than usual. The King was unable to concentrate for three seconds and argued with him every time, even when his own notes showed that he was right.

Kei was already getting a headache and the only thing that kept him from exploding was the presence of Hinata there, who seemed to be taking extra care not to irritate him, perhaps feeling the level of his patience.

"Okay, okay, I think we've learned enough for today," Hinata said when Kei and Kageyama faced each other for too long.

"I'm going home," Kageyama announced, and those were the best words Kei had heard all day.

He celebrated silently, thankful that he finally didn't have to waste his time trying to teach someone he clearly didn't want to. He wasn't even angry with Kageyama anymore because of Hinata, but only because of the horrible personality of the setter. Seriously, how could anyone stand him off court?

Hinata just nodded, even looking relieved at that.

Despite the difficult start, Hinata was proud to say that he considered Kageyama his friend, perhaps even his best friend. Even when they weren't talking about volleyball, he liked to talk nonsense and spend time with him. They had gotten even closer when they ended up in the same class in the second year.

But that did not mean that he was happy that Kageyama had gone with them to his house that day. He had even argued a little with him, saying that he didn't think it was a good idea for him to go, but the setter was afraid that Tsukishima would kill him or something and nothing seemed to be able to stop him from going along.

On one hand, Hinata was extremely touched that Kageyama was showing so much concern for him, especially as it showed how much he had changed. On the other hand, he just wanted to avoid confusion and, if he was honest, he wanted to spend time alone with Tsukishima that didn't involve studying, studying and studying.

And as Hinata had predicted, Kei seemed to be extremely irritated by the teammate's presence. Hinata would not know what to do if they started fighting there, without the help of Yamaguchi or Ennoshita to calm things down.

I'm glad Kageyama left, he thought as soon as he had just lead Kageyama to the door. Maybe he shouldn't feel that way, but it was the truth, he was a lot more relaxed now.

He found Kei sitting on the chair in his room, where he had left him. He had refused to move to see Kageyama go, leaving comments on how even royalty should be able to do this alone (Kageyama just rolled his eyes).

"Well…" Hinata said uncertainly, not knowing what to do. He had wanted so much to be alone with him, but now he couldn't think of anything to say or do.

'Do you want to see a movie?" Kei interrupted him, seeming to realize his despair. He was relieved.

"Yes, it would be cool," he replied taking the remote control and switching to Netflix. "I bet you like foreign films," he said, amused.

He could imagine Tsukishima at home, choosing films that no one had ever heard of and that were so intelligent that they were difficult to follow. He could even see him getting irritated if someone bothered him at that moment.

Kei shrugged. Yes, he saw a lot of foreign films, but he also saw many national films and animes. He had even accompanied a drama once, though he would never admit it out loud.

It wasn't as difficult as Hinata imagined to decide which film they would see. They end up putting the Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time. He threw himself on the bed the moment he played the movie, happy.

But then he looked at where Tsukishima was, still in the chair. He knew from experience how uncomfortable it was to watch TV from there and as a good host he shouldn't let him stay there.

Still, he was afraid that if they went to the living room, Natsu would wake up to the noise, so they would have to make it work on his room.

"Hey, Tsukishima..." he called.

The other stared at him, looking away from the film. Without knowing why, Shōyō felt nervous.

"You can sit here, the chair is not comfortable enough," he commented, subconsciously wincing.

Kei seemed to hesitate for a second, but got up and sat on the empty part of the bed, leaning his back against the wall and lightly on Shōyō.

Shōyō told himself that everything was fine, that he wasn't freaking out with Tsukishima's proximity. No, no way the fact that they were so close to his bed that their legs touched affected him.

But the truth was that he failed to notice that the movie was over until he felt Tsukishima staring at him. That was how distracted he was.

"It's different than what I had expected for a video game movie," said Tsukishima. "But it's good".

Hinata agreed. For the few scenes that he remembered clearly, the film looked good, but not what he thought it would be when he learned that it was based on a video game.

"Any movie with Ben Kingsley can't be bad," he replied.

Tsukishima smiled slightly, as if he had guessed from his response how much Hinata was a fan of the actor (he had successfully hidden that information so far).

Hinata told himself that he had no reason to feel all the happiness he did.

After they saw the movie (which Kei really enjoyed, although he thought it could be better thought out), they went outside and chatted quietly as they walked.

Kei was having fun, it was different to spend time like this with Hinata. But he was not satisfied, he already missed the feeling of having Hinata's body close to his, having spent the entire film hyperconscious of it. Once again, he felt pathetic. Why couldn't he control his own feelings?

Maybe if he was paying more attention to his surroundings, he would've been able to notice Hinata approaching him, but he wasn't. He only knew it when he lost his balance and the water in the pool grew much closer than it should have.

Kei couldn't believe it. Hinata had pushed him into the pool, with clothes and everything. He was going to kill him.

Hinata tried to contain his laughter when he saw Kei's murderous expression. He hadn't been able to stop himself from seeing him strangely distracted and so close to the pool, it was a unique opportunity, even though he knew he had a good chance of dying now.

But he stopped laughing when Tsukishima took his revenge, also pulling him into the water. It was colder than he expected and he shivered.

"Did you think that I don't have any clothes here?" Tsukishima spoke irritably.

"That's easy. Just borrow my clothes," replied Hinata, not wanting to admit that he hadn't thought about that.

He rolled his eyes when he heard the other mumbling something about how it better non-stink and took the opportunity to dive. When he came up again, Kei was floating and Hinata thought he had never seen him with such a calm smile. He was so handsome that it hurt.

"What?" the blonde asked when he realized he was being stared at and approached Hinata.

He was suddenly nervous about Tsukishima's inquisitive gaze and proximity.

"Er… you looked like gah…"

Tsukishima just stared at him, surprised at Hinata's inconsistency. Yeah, he was always terrible at vocabulary, but it was a long time since he honestly couldn't understand what he meant.

"...Handsome," murmured Hinata, not knowing that he was still speaking aloud, he was so lost in Tsukishima's eyes. How could they be so different from everyone else he had ever seen? They even managed to be more extraordinary than Lev's, which were a unique shade of green. But Kei's seemed so much more interesting, deep.

Tsukishima felt that he was a little red, with the unexpected compliment. This wasn't even the first time that Hinata said he was handsome, but there was something about the sincerity and intimacy of the moment that made him feel good.

He looked at Hinata who seemed to have finally realized what he had said, his eyes widening. For a second, Kei simply stopped thinking and ended the rest of the distance that existed between them.

Kei had never kissed anyone before and the first thing he noticed was how wet Hinata's lips were, as well as his own. But then euphoria took over and all he could think about was that it was happening.

Then he thought about how he wasn't sure that Hinata wanted it and, what the hell was he doing?, it was official: he had gone crazy for good. He moved away as abruptly as he approached.

"Sorry," he said, not daring to hold Hinata's shocked look and leaving the pool as fast as possible, his heart beating painfully.

It had been a few seconds since Tsukishima had left, but Hinata had been unable to move an inch. He could barely understand what had happened.

He couldn't believe it when he kissed him, but he was so happy. This went beyond any expectations he had had and for a moment, he allowed himself to believe that everything would be all right. Everything was perfect.

Of course, all that happiness disappeared when Kei ran away, just saying sorry. But sorry for what? He couldn't think that this was wrong, no.

A second ago, he had felt happier than he had ever felt, even better than when Kageyama decided to lift the ball for him, than when they defeated Aobajousai, when they had won the place for Nacional.

Now, he felt so lost and lonely, still immersed in the cold water of the pool.

Tsukishima was still upset. Why had he done such a thing? Hinata would never speak to him again.

To make things worse, in his haste to escape from Hinata, he ended up entering his house wet, leaving a trail of water wherever he went. He promised himself that he would clean up afterward.

And it was only when he locked himself in the bathroom that he noticed that because it was not his home, the towel that was hanging there was not his. He hesitated, not knowing what to do or who to blame - because it was Hinata's fault for throwing him in the pool, wetting him all, but his for having run away without a plan - until he gave up and decided to get the towel from Hinata. It was better than continuing to wet everything and frankly he was cold.

He took off the clothes that he was wearing, started squeezing out the excess water, and dried himself with the towel, feeling infinitely better. Then he looked at the clothes that were still wet, considering staying there forever, hidden from everyone, before putting them back on. He immediately regretted it, but he couldn't walk around Hinata's house in a towel, not after what he had done.

He left the towel where it was. But he didn't have the strength to go out and face the consequences of having impulsively kissed Hinata.

Hinata saw from the wet floor that Tsukishima had entered the house, making it obvious that he had gone to the bathroom. He stopped in front of the door for a good five minutes, not knowing what to do or say.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked at last. He waited for a while but got no answer, so he decided to try again: "Come on, Tsukishima... you can get out of there".

Tsukishima answered it this time, opening the door.

The first thing that Hinata realized was that he was still wearing the clothes from when he threw him into the pool. He must be freezing.

The second, less important at the moment, is that he still seemed unable to face him.

The third, totally irrelevant, was how adorable he was with his slightly red face and wet hair.

"Let me grab some clothes to you," said Hinata.

"No need," protested Kei. "I'm fine".

"Tsukki…" Shōyō spoke in a disapproving tone. Without giving him a chance to argue, he turned and went to the bedroom, returning with the two biggest blouses he had and a pant that belonged to his father. "Sorry, maybe it is a little small".

"No problem. Thank you," Kei answered.

Hinata looked at him with concern. Was he so bad that he was going to miss the opportunity to joke about his size? Were things that strange?

"I'm going to get changed," Kei warned.

With that, he took the clothes and closed the door again. Resigned, Hinata separated clothes for himself and waited for him to finish so he could get dressed too.

But he almost had a heart attack when he left. The clothes fit in Tsukishima, since he had bought it without being his size on purpose, because he found it more comfortable to stay at home, but narrowly.

And it was clear the reflexes of the exercise that Tsukishima did playing volleyball. Shōyō told himself that there was no way to avoid the stare he gave at how much his shirt defined his muscles, he was only human, after all.

"Hinata?" Tsukishima asked with an amused tone.

Shit,Shōyō thought when he noticed that he had noticed his look. He was so screwed.

"I'm… going to take a shower," he announced unnecessarily, grabbing his clothes as fast as he could and running to the bathroom.

Tsukishima knocked on Natsu's bedroom door, even though it wasn't closed, smiling when she looked up from her cell phone to talk to him.

"Hey, Natsu, do you know where there's a floor cloth?" he asked, but seeing her blank eyes, he realized that she probably had no idea what cleaning products were. "Do you know where your parents keep what they use to clean the house?"

This time, she understood and dropped the phone on the bed, excited to show it. He told her to be careful not to slip. There, he found the cloth and began to dry the rest of the water.

Natsu, different from what he expected, kept him company, telling stories about her and her family. Tsukishima laughed a lot with some of the embarrassing moments that Shōyō had gone through.

There was only one person who hardly appeared in these stories: their father. For the first time, Kei noticed how Hinata hardly spoke about his father and wondered what had happened between them.

"Do you want cake?" she asked. "Onii-chan made Kasutera for me yesterday. I think there is still some left. It's my favorite," she stopped and smiled at him adorably. "But I will let you eat."

Kei tried to pretend that he wasn't totally stupid with the cuteness she was exuding and that he didn't feel special, he didn't care about children. But… who was he trying to deceive? He had loved the little one.

"Thank you, I'm honored, but I'll leave it to you. Your brother promised me a strawberry cake," he said.

"Mom got mad at him yesterday. She was yelling with him, because he used her strawberries to make a cake," she said in a conspiratorial tone. "But he said it was an important cake".

Tsukishima froze at the words. He should have heard it wrong, Shōyō hadn't made the cake for him... but what else could he think? He had personally offered the food more than once. If he had done this for him and had been scolded for it...

"There you are," said Shōyō, appearing in the room, already duly changed, looking totally relaxed.

He smelled good, so different from how Kei got used to, post-workout. And every second he was less sorry to have kissed him and feeling more like doing it again.

Shōyō and Natsu started talking for a while, but honestly Kei didn't pay much attention, trying to organize the mess that was in his head (he failed).

He only returned to land when the Hinatas started eating and somehow he had a plate of strawberry cake in front of him. With Natsu there, all the strangeness that Kei had been feeling since the moment he stupidly decided to kiss Shōyō disappeared.

But looking at the time, Kei knew he had to get home or his parents would be worried. He had already troubled Hinata too much. He looked again at Shōyō and Natsu's animated faces, feeling a certain sadness at leaving.

"It was delicious," he commented, speaking sincerely. Seriously, Hinata was really good at cooking. "But I have to go".

Shōyō looked as sad as he did at the thought of leaving and Natsu even frowned, stopping sulking only when Kei gave her a goodbye hug.

"Um, my things are still in your room," commented Kei and Shōyō took him there.

Kei may have taken a little longer than usual to organize things, but soon he had no more excuses.

"You can return my clothes later, I won't be needing them anytime soon," said Hinata.

Kei was grateful for that, not wanting to come back in wet clothes at all. There was also the fact that Hinata's shirt smelled a little bit like him.

"I'll take you to the door," Shōyō said.

They walked in silence and Kei felt strange. He wanted that day to never end, despite all the confusion he had had.

"Thanks for having me," Kei said, smiling sincerely. "Natsu is great, you could learn a thing or two from her".

"It was great," Shōyō smiled. "We have to do something like this again".

Suddenly, it didn't seem so bad to leave. He was going to be able to do this more often. Kei couldn't wait.

"Bye," he said at last, taking one last look at Hinata.

"Bye," he replied back.