Hinata wakes up with the sun and murmurs happily at the comfortable warmth in his body from early sunbeams and good nights sleep. His mother and Natsu are both still asleep, so he rolls out of bed with a soft thump and gropes for his slippers. He wanted Egg on Rice, and he intended to make it.

His mom rose shortly after, the early morning rays glinting off her low eyelashes and the amethyst in the middle of her right pupil. She accepted the mug of tea mechanically, pressing both her hands to its warmth and barely hovering her nose over the steam. Her lips quirked up as she watched him shuffle around the kitchen, fussing with the ricemaker and measuring out miso for the soup. It took a few more minutes for Natsu to rise, rubbing her right eye with the sleeve of her pirate pajamas while making loud sniffing noises as she wandered near the soup. For such a bright, welcoming family, mornings were always wordless until they got outside the house.

Soon enough his phone rang loudly, alerting him to the time. Inhaling his breakfast, Hinata barely had time to hug Natsu goodbye and receive his mother's goodbye kiss.

"Good luck, my little bird. Natsu and I will be waiting." And then he was out the door, bag slung over his shoulder as he mounted his bike to get to the bus on time. The wind was warm as he rode, and somehow he felt like today was going to change something forever- but he brushed that off as getting to the finals. His team was waiting for him...

The bus was almost too loud when he got in, and he paused only a moment to bask in the familiar voices. They were so close to victory, so close to the Battle of the Trash heap he could taste it. Nothing could bring him down.

Yamaguchi saw him first and looked a little sick. Still, Tsukishima was sitting next to him looking unworried, so he should be okay? Yamaguchi motioned for him to come over a little hesitantly. Grinning back, he weaved through the sea of flailing limps and even over a laughing Ennochita. He slid into the seat in front of the duo and slung his arms over the back of it while watching Yamaguchi fidget.

"What's up, Yamaguchi? Does your stomach hurt? Did Tsukishima feed you something Kuroo sent him again," Tsukishima glanced over to him sharply, nose wrinkling in disgust as Yamaguchi shook his head quickly.

"No, I just..." Yamaguchi glanced at Tsukishima, who elbowed him gently, "Oikawa woke me up early this morning saying he'd forgotten to tell you something."

"Hm?" Hinata's head tilted to the side and his soulgem glinted in the shifting light. "That sounds like him, heh."

"About your soulgem," Yamaguchi confessed quietly, glance darting around the room. Hinata stilled, watching Yamaguchi squirm. "He's fairly sure he found your match. And then the papers all but confirmed it this morning."

"The papers? Why would the newspaper know before me, or at all..." Trailing off, he fixed Yamaguchi with a burrowing stare.

"I don't know! I didn't know he or the papers knew anything until Oikawa texted me this morning!" Yamaguchi hissed frantically, trying to keep his voice down. "You know no one here really reads the local news, which might be why I'm the only one trying to talk to you about it."

"Who is it?"

"Hinata..."

"Were they in the crowd? Why didn't they come-"

"It's Ushiwaka, okay?" The silence dragged on for too long. "Ushiwaka has your gem, shape and colors and all. Look," Yamaguchi fumbled with his phone for a moment before pulling up the picture. Hinata took the phone slowly, fixated on the picture. "I know it's in black and white, but Oikawa said his gem is orange and black. Like yours."

"...But he knew what my gem looks like."

"I- Yes?"

"He's seen it a dozen times, why didn't he say anything?"

"We don't know," Yamaguchi shrugged apologetically, eyes down turned. "I wish we did."

That of course was the precise moment Ukai walked on the bus, paper in hand, eyes searching for one Hinata Shouyou. Hinata met his gaze and looked at the paper, nodding slowly. Ukai's eyes softened slightly, before tucking the paper under his arm and heading over to Takeda. Handing Yamaguchi's phone back silently, he seemed to perk back up instantaneously.

"I can't wait to see Kenma again!" Hinata chirps, and even Tsukki seems stunned by his sudden mood swing. "It's too bad Oikawa can't come watch us, huh, Yamaguchi?"

"Y-yeah. He demanded pictures though, so..."

The news slowly spreads around the team, and none of them dare to mention it to Hinata's face after Yamaguchi initial confrontation. Kageyama hears it first, from Hinata, who bemoans the fact in a convenience store bathroom, washing his face with cold water.

"I don't know what to think," He quietly admits to the running water while Kageyama stares. "He never even showed his to me, so... But I can't think of that now."

Kageyama doesn't bring it up, but inevitably Ukai's newspaper is stolen by Sugawara, who was both interested in reading the headline his team was talking about, and had a slight kleptomaniac habit that he'd never quite gotten rid of. The paper was in his hands before he even realized he wanted to take it. Of course he did more than skim, and found the picture while Hinata was at the other end of the store.

Tanaka, surprisingly enough, was the one to point out that had Hinata known and been on good terms with Ushijima would have told them immediately. He'd always been searching in the loudest way. Why wouldn't he share? Tsukishima admitted that Hinata knew because Yamaguchi had told him, on a tip from Oikawa. But he'd reacted oddly. At first, it seemed normal- questions, concerns, et cetera. But then he'd ignored it. He didn't seem to want to think about it.

So his team respects his wishes, at least for now. If Hinata didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't, and there was no way to make him. He had too many ways to avoid what he didn't want to talk about with only his mouth. So they kept their distance, maybe perhaps a little too much.

Kageyama leaned into Hinata though. They were never apart during those long bus ride hours, slumping against one another as they slept, glued together when they finally stepped foot off the bus. Hinata seemed unchanged but for that. Kenma however... When he saw Hinata walk in he suddenly bristled, eyes flickering to Kageyama in question.

At the end of the day Karasuno's members drifted to the houses of Fukurodani and Nekoma's members. Kageyama and Hinata were dragged off to Kenma's house, even though Hinata had originally planned to stay with Lev. Give the soul bound a little privacy. But Kenma and Kageyama insisted, and here he was.

Kenma's house was almost too quiet compared to the rest of Hinata's day. No one else was home, and there was a note from Kenma's father with a small wad of cash for dinner. Kageyama easily volunteered to order the food while leaning into Kenma. Hinata watched them both quietly. When Kageyama leaves the room, Kenma leans into Hinata and waits.

"Did Kageyama tell you?" And it's not really a question, but Kenma nods anyway. "So... What do you think?"

"I think I don't know Ushijima Wakatoshi. But I know you." Kenma's voice would have sounded detached to most people. It was soft and open to those who knew him. "Tell me about whatever this is."

"H-he..." Kageyama walks back in then, lips thin and eyes examining them both. He slides in next to Hinata again, and Hinata hesitantly continued. "He's stubborn, but honest to a fault. His spikes are amazing, you know. I ran into him at the grocery store once and he was kind to Natsu. I don't really know why he's any of those things. And for some reason, he never told me... never l-let me know we matched. He hid it? And I don't really know why, because I don't even know his email." Swallowing past the lump in his throat, he croaked "I thought it would be easy. That we would meet and just know, even if I couldn't see their gem! Because that's how it's supposed to work. We're linked."

"Did you really think that?" And his voice is blunt, but Kageyama is honestly curious.

"I... hoped it would work like that is a better way to say it. Yeah." Kenma briefly squeezes his hand. "Everyone else I helped meet hit it off so well. So, I thought, maybe it wouldn't turn out like my mom and dad. Maybe he'd want to stay with me." Tears welled up, and he hiccuped. "I've been looking for so long! Why doesn't he want me?"

"Because he's an idiot." Kageyama says bluntly, and Hinata muffles a wet laugh.

"No, 'cause you're an idiot."

"Dumbass."

"Well, do you know what he believes about soulbonds?" Kenma asks after a minute of silence. Hinata immediately tenses, eyes darkening.

"I... I'm not sure how true it is," He mutters, almost shrinking into Kageyama, "But Yamaguchi was telling Tsukishima that Oikawa had heard Ushiwaka doesn't believe in it. H-he thinks it's mumbo-jumbo or something. Which would be funny, because my family line is all about soulgem readings." His voice grows more hollow with every word.

"He's stupid," Kenma mutters, and Hinata snorts loudly. "You deserve better."

Their conversation ends there, because the pizza arrives and Kenma has Monster Hunter up on the hugest flatscreen Hinata's ever seen outside Bestbuy. They fall asleep like that, piled in front of the TV, with some Disney film playing softly in the background. Kenma and Kageyama face each other in their sleep, hands loosely interlocked. Hinata kicks Kageyama in the head in his sleep, and gets the pleasure of being woken up at five thirty by an elbow to his spine because of it.