Author's Note: Here's a million pounds of sugar to make up for the last chapter.
"And now, the ABC's... Bachelorette."
There was a new episode of The Bachelorette every Monday, but this was a week of firsts for Kageyama. For one, he wasn't going to be on the show at all, except maybe in passing mention as the candidate who quit early, and it felt really, really nice. For two, he had a dinner date with one of the candidates from the aforementioned show on Friday, and he didn't know how to feel about that, to be honest.
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): You have to promise not to laugh! ●﹏●
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): BAKAGEYAMAAAAAAA (҂` ﾛ ´)凸 PINKY PROMISE ME!
Kageyama snorted, eyeing the newest text while he hid his phone under the table so Suga couldn't peak over his shoulder like last time. He sent out an answer without thinking, wondering what Hinata could have possibly done to make him so off the walls nervous:
I make no promises dumbass
It was ten minutes until the newest episode aired and Hinata was blowing up his phone every three seconds, ranging from vague ranting about the episode's mysterious group date to random things that popped into his head to distract himself. The latest story was about how a guy named "Saltyshima" was torturing the dancer about the zombie shootout date and he was so done with him.
His phone lit up again.
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): LE GASP! Wait, we should totally meet up and watch the show together! To make fun of everyone!
Two seconds later:
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): and support our favorites too haha! BWAH!
He was glad he didn't have to stress out (like Hinata right now heh) about the editing or convoluted storylines; it was pure entertainment, like it was meant to be.
"I invited Daichi and Asahi over, if that's okay?" Suga asked right by his ear, and Kageyama jumped, almost dropping his phone. Suga smirked and walked back to his spot on the couch with a quiet, mostly to himself, "I thought so."
Kageyama squinted at his back suspiciously, but then shook his head, letting it go. "Did they bring ice cream?" he asked hopefully, perking up.
"We have brownies in the fridge," Suga dismissed, flipping through the channels absentmindedly.
Kageyama frowned but went over the fridge anyway, eyeing the mushy chocolate dessert unhappily as he bent down to look through containers of old takeout dinners. He texted Hinata with one hand as he walked back to the couch, sipping on a glass of milk.
Only if you bring ice cream
Vanilla
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): YOU GOT IT!
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): (ﾉ≧ڡ≦)
Well that was easy.
Suga tossed him a blanket as he settled down on the corner of the couch, his feet tucked under him as he curled up like an oversized cat. Asahi and Daichi came in a few minutes later, letting themselves in after a polite knock of hello. The four of them shifted a bit, getting comfortable on the couch as they exchanged pleasant small talk and stretched out the fuzzy blankets to fit over everyone.
Kageyama laughed into hand when Daichi smacked Asahi's back, talking about something or another, and the taller man let out a devastatingly cute squeak at odds with his large build.
"You know what this episode is about?" Daichi asked him, turning his fatherly smile onto him as Suga snickered into his bowl of popcorn.
"Not a clue," he shrugged, looking over when his phone vibrated in time with the opening credits. But he absolutely couldn't wait to see what Hinata had gotten himself into this time.
"And now, the ABC's... Bachelorette."
There was the usual fanfare: dramatic confession camera takes about the latest drama in the house (mostly involving Oikawa, to be honest) before the group date card was revealed.
The camera focused on the card, pausing on the cursive font long enough for the audience to read "we asked 100 single women what makes a good partner..."
After an advertisement break, Kageyama realized why Hinata had been so freaked out.
The group date was a Family Feud style game show, with two teams on opposite sides. Hinata, Terushima, and two others vs four men on the other team (the men's names were briefly mentioned, but Kageyama didn't care to remember them).
Kiyoko stood in the center as the host, holding a pile of thin cards to her chest. In front of her were two identical podiums with a raised, red buzzer. The game show was set up like this: Kiyoko would read out a question (i.e. "name something people are afraid of"), and the two men opposite the buzzers would slap the button. The quickest contestant would get to offer up his answer, and if it was the most popular answer on the board (meaning, out of the one-hundred people surveyed, most people responded similarly), that team would be able to choose to play the question out in its entirety by attempting to guess all of the answers one by one. Or, they could pass with the hope that the other team would fail and they could steal the win by guessing just one answer up on the board.
Hinata was so damn lucky Terushima was smart, because the dancer was a complete and utter trainwreck. Kageyama hadn't laughed this hard in forever, he was actually crying into his hands. All of his previous blunders on the show looked like child's play compared to this episode.
The question this round was "name something that has fangs" and Terushima had won the first answer with "vampire." The other two contestants were also successful with their responses of snake and wolf. Hinata, however, was panicking, his brain unhelpfully blank as he puttered around fitfully, his cheeks glowing pink.
"Um, uh," he said, looking around for any kind of help. "Spaghetti!" he shouted with the confidence of an idiot, just within the time limit. The chant of supportive "good answer, good answer" was tellingly absent as everyone took in the fact that someone had literally just said "spaghetti" with a straight face.
"Oh dear," Suga muttered, hiding his smile as Daichi and Asahi slowly turned to Kageyama with a raised eyebrow and a 'this is your dinner date?' look.
Kageyama stifled a giggle, holding his phone in his hands as he texted Hinata with a small, pleased curl of his lips: dumbass.
The response was immediate: (≧Д≦) Bakageyama!
A few other great moments included the time when Hinata was the one by the buzzer, his hand flat on the podium, tense with anticipation. His face looked serious, but the effect was ruined when the question was finished ("name an Olympic sport you'd watch more often if it were played in the nude") and Hinata yelled at the top of his lungs, practically body slamming the buzzer, "VOLLEYBALL!"
Amazingly, it was the most popular choice, at twenty one responses, just barely beating gymnastics.
This time, Kageyama had to hide the full force of his own bright pink blush as Suga, Daichi, and Asahi burst into laughter and playful taunting.
It was when Kiyoko was re-reading off the question for the team - "name a State/Territory that starts with the letter P" - and Hinata didn't bother deliberating for more than a second before nodding assuredly, "Pluto!" that Suga realized the two idiots were made for each other.
Because while Hinata looked so earnestly proud of himself on the television screen, Kageyama was shaking his head disappointedly, muttering, "Dumbass! Everyone knows Pluto isn't a thing anymore," with the same level of absurd conviction.
Daichi said quietly into Suga's ear as Kageyama gleefully stabbed at his phone, "This is either a really good thing or a really bad thing."
Asahi hummed faintly, smiling kindly down at Kageyama, who was too distracted with texting Hinata to notice, "It's a good thing," he promised them all, looking back at the television and the mess of the game show.
Suga was inclined to agree, because Kageyama's smile was like liquid gold, shining and pure, and he was happy for his friend, even if the two together were as smart as a pair of rocks.
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ Meanie! How was I supposed to know that!
Maybe try to not be such a dumbass.
Hinata Shouyou (Dumbass): (༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ)
Kageyama had never looked this happy. Suga prayed to all the gods that their date went well.
...o0o…
His health coach was really nice about letting him leave early on Friday, waving away his profuse bowing with a kind, and slightly depressing, response of "you've never asked for a day off since you started working here, go enjoy your date, Kageyama-kun."
"Dinner," Kageyama corrected, but his smile was uneven and wobbly as he tried to contain his excitement. He fiddled with his tie as he sat on the train, his mind going over the tips Suga-san had given him a week back about how to play it cool. He could do this!
"Um, excuse me," a petite blonde asked demurely about ten minutes into the ride, shyly playing with her short hair. A taller boy was standing next to her, looking uncomfortable as he stared out the window. They looked like high schoolers.
"Yes?" he asked, straightening up in his seat curiously, surprised by the interruption. He'd been told on multiple occasions his resting face looked… unapproachable, to say the least.
"May I have your autograph?" she squeaked, ducking her head. The boy next to her rested a hand on her back, pushing her forward a little in silent comradery. She seemed to gather strength from the contact. "I watched you on The Bachelorette! That is you, right? Um, Kageyama Tobio? You were really good with the zombies."
"Oh, yeah, that's me." He tried not to look so dumbfounded as he scribbled out a messy signature on the candy wrapper she tried to flatten for him, mumbling thanks over and over as she gushed about the show.
When he got off at the next stop, his face still looked a bit stupefied. He was a celebrity, what the hell? Albeit, not a very good one, but still. He took the escalator two steps at a time, wondering how this new development would affect their dinner date, if at all. Maybe he should ask Suga for advice.
Just as he was getting his phone out, a man selling flowers by the top of the stairs caught his eye. In a little red basket was a stretch of purple, pink, orange, and yellows in a mix of different varieties. The petals looked soft and healthy, invitingly open for the late afternoon sun, but Kageyama immediately knew which one he wanted, and he bought a bundle of sunflower-like 'gaillardias' before he could psych himself out of it.
He cradled the stems with both hands. The petals were two-toned, with gold-tipped orange daisies bursting outward, a blooming powerhouse of a flower. It was perfect.
When he arrived home, he immediately searched for a vase of water for his impulse buy. He set the bright orange, yellow-frosted flowers on the table as he chose an outfit. He had half an hour to get ready, giving him a remainder of thirty minutes for the commute to the diner. The train ride should only take twenty minutes, but Kageyama didn't want to be late.
In the end, he was twenty-five minutes early, awkwardly standing outside the small diner with a bouquet of sunny petals clutched to his chest. A few people gave him a weird, suspicious glance, and Kageyama embarrassedly started to think his idea of going incognito was actually a really, really bad idea. Despite the lack of a glare (the sun actually starting to set behind purple clouds as the streets lit up with welcoming paper lanterns), he was wearing shaded sunglasses, a hat that said HOLLYWOOD in English letters, and a dark purple-grey hoodie on top of that. It seemed like he was getting more attention now than if he had just dressed normally.
He should have called Suga-san before leaving, he berated himself, gnawing at his lip as he gently rubbed absentmindedly at one of the leaves. It was too late to go back and get changed, but he could at least get rid of the hat and sunglasses.
Just as he pulled back the hood, a small voice asked hesitatingly, with an amused lilt, "Kageyama-kun?"
He turned, a harsh red smeared across his cheeks as his heart skipped a beat.
Hiinata was standing in front of him, his hair a familiar mess of chaotic orange curls, his eyes a pretty, shining brown, his dimpled smile a beaming flash of white. The short dancer looked beautiful. Especially next to Kageyama right now, who looked like a homeless person. The other man smiled sheepishly, eyeing his outfit with some amount of confusion, and Kageyama did the same but without the confusion part.
The dancer was wearing a too-big orange jacket, framed with a white border, a comfortable black-and-white striped shirt, and a pair of very flattering skinny jeans. His hands were hidden behind his back as he leaned forward, repeating, "That is you, right? Kageyama?"
"Yes!" he shouted, and shoved the flowers at the other man. Hinata straightened up, his face shifting from confusion to surprise to something Kageyama couldn't read, but it was turning a familiar shade of flushed coral so it was probably okay.
"Oh my god," he muttered, and Kageyama had a moment to freak out (because what if this wasn't a date like everyone tried to assure him and he just gave flowers to a straight man and—) before Hinata thrust a bouquet of red roses at him from behind his back, the layers of petals soft to the touch.
"I hope it's not in bad taste, y'know," he rambled, pouting at his new gift of orange-yellow flowers.
"Thank you," Kageyama interrupted shyly into the flowers, his heart hammering in his chest, and Hinata blinked three times in rapid succession.
"Wait, pass them back," he ordered, and Kageyama obeyed without thinking about it. Hinata delicately set the flowers against the wall of the store, so they were now both empty handed.
"Wha—?" Kageyama started to say, and then he had a handful of Hinata pushing against him in the warmest, roughest hug he could remember.
Hinata was sobbing messily into his sweatshirt and Kageyama panickedly started petting his hair, mumbling soothing words of "um, it's okay, you're okay?"
"I missed you so much!" he shouted into his chest, his eyes hidden in the dark fabric, "How could you leave without saying goodbye, stupid! You're so stupid! BAKAGEYAMA!"
Kageyama flushed to the tip of his ears, resting his chin on top of Hinata's silky curls, his own eyes starting to water. "I'm sorry," he said, and his voice cracked tellingly. Hinata sniffled, his hands loosening into a less suffocating hug, but he still didn't let go.
"I forgive you," he whispered. Kageyama bit his lip to stop himself from smiling, but at that moment, Hinata peered up at him, with those big, innocent eyes, and he couldn't fight the grin as he raised his head to look down. The dancer giggled, removing an arm to poke him on the nose, adding vocally, "bop."
A group of young people passing on the sidewalk looked over and met Kageyama's eye, easily jumping to the flowers next to their shoes. The shortest one of them - a girl with headphones around her shoulder and ripped jeans - gave him a thumbs up. They should probably go inside, he realized.
"One more second," Hinata whined and then squeezed, like he wanted to strangle the taller man, almost lifting him off the ground as the dancer leaned back. "I missed you," he repeated.
"Me too," Kageyama answered, squeezing lightly back.
And it was true. He had missed the wild dancer, more than he'd expected now that the other man was right in front of him, warm and soft and smelling pleasantly like cinnamon and vanilla.
"Thank you for the flowers," Hinata said right when Kageyama mumbled, "Thanks for inviting me out."
"Oh," Kageyama said, and Hinata blushed, but his smile widened anyway, not one to be deterred.
"We should go inside."
"Right."
Their dinner date was nothing like the dates either of them had when they were filming for the reality TV show. Without the stressors of cameras detailing every misstep or awkward stumble, the two felt free to be themselves. And though Kageyama was nervous, so was Hinata. They were on equal footing here, but it barely mattered anyway, since the two had already gotten to know each other for two weeks many months prior.
It felt like meeting an old friend. The food was delicious, the shared and teasing jokes were fun and lighthearted, and it was an altogether amazing night. They spent hours chatting over steaming pork curry, reminiscing over the shared time in the mansion but also their life outside of the reality television show. Hinata was (to his surprise and growing hopefulness) considering moving closer to where Kageyama lived, actually — only a half hour train ride to his apartment — due to a new job offer in the area where he could not only perform on stage but also teach new dancers.
"I'm great with kids," Hinata told him, offensively pointing a chopstick at him like he was getting ready to defend himself, but Kageyama just nodded encouragingly. Hinata would be amazing!
In turn, he mentioned his own ambition to return to school to get a masters in physical therapy and eventually start his own practice. "I like where I work now," he told Hinata cautiously, but continued, admitting, "But it would be nice to be able to choose from a more variety of treatment philosophies and have a more intimate relationship with the clients."
"That's so nice," Hinata agreed, leaning forward to hold his hand. Kageyama squeezed back, smiling down at him.
His heart felt like it weighed less than a flower petal.
"Why are you crying?!" Hinata caught himself from yelling, but he did whisper-shout right in Kageyama's face, peering up at him with big eyes, "What's wrong?! Are you okay? Whatever I said, I'm sorry!"
"Shut up!" Kageyama hissed, sobbing harder as he hid his face in his elbow. Hinata tugged at his arm like a confused child.
And then Hinata pushed him off his chair, and he toppled the ground with surprised yelp, sniffling from the ground. An angry red was spreading across his cheeks and he stopped crying in astonishment. "What the hell?!"
"Stop crying!" Hinata ordered, as big fat tears rolled down his own face. He stuttered out, "You're making me cry too! So stop it!"
"Fine!" Kageyama yelled, ignoring the looks they were getting from the other customers.
"Fine!" Hinata repeated, and then he just folded in half, laughing and snorting into his lap, and Kageyama joined him shortly thereafter, clutching helplessly at his shoulder as he gasped for breath.
Five minutes later, they were standing outside on the sidewalk, their pair of flowers held in their open hand. The door slammed shut behind them.
"Dumbass," Kageyama said absently, smiling at nothing and everything, and Hinata squeezed his hand, giggling. "Look at what you did! Their pork curry was so good, and now we're banned forever."
"I regret nothing," Hinata said, and then he reached up, curled a hand around Kageyama's neck, and lifted himself up to his tip-toes. Kageyama dutifully bent down, an arm snaking around the dancer's waist, and their lips connected in a burst of warm heat.
After a minute, Hinata leaned back, breathing heavily and fighting back a flush. Kageyama didn't even bother trying to hide his red face. "I really like you," Hinata confessed, ducking his chin into the sunny blossoms.
Kageyama, practically drunk on happiness, gently removed one of the roses from the bouquet and held it out teasingly, "Will you accept this rose, Shouyou?"
Hinata laughed like chiming bells, gently taking the woody perennial, his fingers warm as they brushed together. "Absolutely, Tobio!"
They separated at the train station, the crescent moon smiling down at them, with their next date already set up: they were going to get takeout and watch the next episode of The Bachelorette together.
"Don't forget the ice cream, dumbass!" Kageyama shouted at his new boyfriend's back. Hinata threw up a thumbs up and a blinding smile.
"You got it, Bakageyama!"
That had gone so well. Kageyama stared at his clump of red roses with a wobbly grin.
...o0o…
Hinata got along with Suga, Daichi, and Asahi like a lost friend, and Kageyama was slightly jealous but also so immensely proud and happy that everyone got along. True to form, Suga had made sure both Daichi and Asahi briefly crashed his date like proud parents (and one scary looking but actually marshmallow-soft 'Uncle'). Hinata was all for meeting Kageyama's friends, practically bouncing off the walls of the small apartment as Suga unashamedly embarassed the taller man.
"Get out, go," he finally said, flapping his hands at them with a high blush, trying to hide his face from everyone after the latest story.
"We're going, we're going," Daichi allowed, smiling sweetly at the pair, tugging at his boyfriend's shoulder.
"Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" Suga said in parting, as Daichi said, "Be safe!" and Asahi shyly mumbled, "Have fun!"
Then the door was shutting and it was just the two of them, their tub of vanilla ice cream, and the opening title of the reality TV show.
It was so fun. Hinata made constant jokes about the other men, mostly Oikawa-san and his stupid pretty face, as they curled up together under a fuzzy blanket on the couch. Kageyama tucked himself into the smaller man, feeling at peace as Hinata snuggled closer to him, practically cocooning his side in warmth.
The episode included a cool one-on-one date (featuring Oikawa and zero-gravity flight, who got way too into it as he ranted about space to an interested Kiyoko). There was also the group date (a flash mob) that went as well as they expected: aka, not at all. Then, it was time for the rose ceremony, and Kageyama found Hinata's hand, needing that warm weight in his hands.
He never did ask the other man how long he remained on the show. On the screen was an ill-timed ad break, and he wondered worriedly if Hinata had actually made it pretty far in the series.
"Whatever you're thinking, stop it," Hinata said slowly, looking up through his eyelashes with shining eyes.
Kageyama relaxed, slumping back down, trusting him, and Hinata sighed lightly, smiling sweetly. "Just watch."
The rose ceremony was the usual mess of drama between the men. The cocktail party took up most of the time before the ceremony, as men tried to fight over private time with the leading lady. On the screen, Hinata was nervously tugging at a blue hoodie as he tried to interrupt a conversation to talk to the model, and Kageyama narrowed his eyes.
"That jacket," he muttered to himself, but amazingly, Hinata understood anyway.
"Yeah, I was feeling really homesick," he confessed sadly, but he was still smiling up at him, "I started crying after dinner and Noya tried to cheer me up. It didn't help that my friend left without saying goodbye, though!" Kageyama ducked his head but Hinata just giggled over his ashamed apologies. "I can't believe they used that scene in the zombie episode."
The relief was short lived, because then the screen was showing Hinata talking to Kiyoko, both of them looking so cute next to each other, like a real couple. They talked about their nerves, and Hinata admitted he felt bad about his group date that week as Kiyoko tried to assure him blunders happened.
"Makes sense, they're not going to air it," Hinata mumbled, not making sense, as he shuffled an arm out of the blanket to find the remote. He muted the television without asking, but Kageyama didn't care, his attention focused solely on the short dancer. "I asked Kiyoko to not give me a rose."
Kageyama blinked, his brain freezing up. What?
Hinata poked his forehead, smiling softly. "I didn't want to refuse a rose, like someone, cause I do really like Kiyoko! She's so pretty and nice and I didn't want to make it seem like she was bad or something stupid like that. It's just, you were… better."
What.
"What?" he managed.
Kageyama tightened his grip on Hinata's hand as he continued to say really nice things, "She promised to not give me a rose and wished me luck. She actually offered to give me your number!"
His jaw dropped in surprise but Hinata went on carelessly, "But Oikawa had already given it to me, so I didn't really need it."
"—Wait, what, hold on a second here," Kageyama interrupted, flapping a hand in front of his face. "What?" he summed up.
Hinata laughed again, bending back into his side as his fluffy curls hid his expression. "You're so dumb," he whispered, so endearingly fond.
Kageyama couldn't find it in himself to get mad. The rose ceremony played out in front of them, with dramatic music and all, but past-Hinata on the television screen was biting his lips, looking like he was fighting down a smile as his name didn't get called, and everything felt so right.
Maybe he did regret his first debut on the reality TV show, but in no way did he regret the experience of meeting Hinata, villain edits and all.
A couple months later...
"You ready?" Kageyama asked, nervously pulling at the sleeves of his suit as Hinata finished fixing his messy hair. It looked the same it always did to Kageyama, but Hinata assured him it was "artfully styled."
"You just got that from Oikawa," he sniped back quietly, keeping his voice low so the narcissistic actor wouldn't be able to hear him and gloat nonstop.
"Shut up!" Hinata complained, crossing his arms but not denying it.
They shared a look, trying to ignore the bustling people manning cameras back and forth and the frantic boom operators fixing last minute set ups. Behind and in front of them were a few of the other contestants, including those who had left earlier and later.
Faintly, they could hear Oikawa complaining about not having enough time to fix his hair.
"This is our last episode, you know," Hinata said, slipping a warm hand into his.
Kageyama grinned. "Let's blow them away."
On the stage, the reality TV show host was talking quietly with the elegant leading lady, the audience seats empty and ready to be filled. A frazzled stagehand hurried over then, and motioned for the group to file out onto the stage.
"Time for the Men Tell All episode."
Hinata snuck a quick kiss to Kageyama's knuckles, and in turn he ruffled Hinata's "artfully styled" hair, much to the little dancer's outraged dismay. They could handle anything. Together.
.
fin
.
Author's Note: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! This is the first multi-chaptered story I've actually finished, so I'm stupidly proud of myself right now. I hope everyone had fun with this, and thanks for all your kind words and support!