Chapter Text
A week and a half, or, to be more specific, eleven days pass with relative normalcy.
Practice is good, and Kageyama and Hinata bicker like always.
Classes are normal. Hinata struggles, but no more than average. He texts Kenma about funny things he sees, he cheers Tanaka and Nishinoya on as they pester the third years. He gets into a fight with Tsukishima, and everything is very average. He and Kageyama argue, but now there’s the fact Hinata is hyper-aware of Kageyama. Every little touch feels like static electricity, and every word of praise (though few and far between) is cherished. He still stands up to Kageyama and insults him, but now his eyes linger on Kageyama’s hands when he tosses for someone else, on his shoulders while he’s stretching, on the way he pushes his bangs back and away from his eyes during their particularly grueling practice on Monday.
Everything is normal, except Hinata cannot take his eyes off of Kageyama.
He’s pretty sure Suga-san must have told someone or the word must have gotten out because he can feel his teammates eyeing him. He’s not being that obvious, right? He and Kageyama are partners, it’s normal for them to observe each other! Except Hinata is doing more admiring than observing, and it’s all for selfish reasons.
A week and a half of this feels like an eternity, and Hinata has no idea how people don’t just blurt out their feelings the first real chance they get.
Something is also up with Kageyama. He’s pretty normal, thankfully, but Hinata catches Kageyama watching him more than a couple times. It’s not his calculating look he uses on rival players or the confused look he gives things like homework, but something else. He always turns away when Hinata looks at him, an unspoken question stretching between them.
But eleven days pass with relative normalcy. Until they don’t. And, like most things, normal gets turned upside down by a confession.
Hinata wakes up like normal, and he goes to school like normal. He sends Kageyama a picture of a bird eating from an old shoe on the side of the road on his way to school. Class is normal.
Come lunchtime, Hinata skips off down the hall to Kageyama’s class. Kageyama is searching through his bag, so he doesn’t notice Hinata plopping his bento on his desk and grabbing an empty chair from the desk in front of Kageyama, spinning it around and settling down to eat.
“Hey-Oi! Don’t take up my whole desk!” Kageyama snaps when he looks up to see Hinata has, indeed, taken up his desk. Hinata just laughs, but moves his bento out of the way to leave Kageyama some room.
“Did you have a quiz today, too?” he asks, a mouthful of rice muffling his words.
Kageyama shakes his head, sighing in relief. “Nope, we had a normal day. Thank god.”
“Awwee no fair!” Hinata whines. He reaches over to snag Kageyama’s milk box and take two large gulps before Kageyama snatches it back, scolding, biting tone and all. And yet it still manages to make Hinata smile, and he gives Kageyama a cookie from the pack his mom stuck in his bag. That seems to placate his partner, and Kageyama’s glare softens just a bit.
They munch away, too busy eating to talk, with the occasional squeak from Hinata and snarl from Kageyama when they steal each other’s food. It’s a very comfortable moment, and even if when Kageyama’s shoe brushes Hinata’s ankle his heart starts to get a little erratic, he feels as calm as he’s felt all week.
There’s only a few minutes of lunch left when Hinata notices a girl from his class at the door with a couple friends twittering behind her, looking at Kageyama and him. She’s very pretty, with long, blonde hair she has in a high ponytail held up with a dark blue bow, and her bangs frame her face nicely. She’s a little taller than Hinata, too. A blush colors her cheeks as she walks over to their desk, pulling out a little package from her bag.
“U-um,” she stammers, glancing between the two of them. “Hi, Kageyama-kun, Hinata-kun…”
Hinata has no idea how she knows Kageyama, and suddenly his stomach is doing uneasy flip flops. The package is a note tied to a fancy little box, and he recognizes it as those cool hard candies shaped like fruits he sees at the store.
“I don’t know if you know me, but, um!” her voice is still shaking, and Hinata’s smile is slowly slipping. He glances to Kageyama, who looks wide-eyed and surprised, and a little bit suspicious. The girl continues. “I’m Miyami, I’m in your class, Hinata-kun!” Hinata knows this. “And… And I was just wondering…” She stops, glances at Kageyama awkwardly, then turns to Hinata and offers the little package. “Hinata-kun, I really like you, and maybe you could accept this..? And… if you want… come to the movies on Saturday with me?”
Hinata has no idea what to say. He just stares at the candy and the note, and he can feel his cheeks starting to heat up because he’s never received a confession. His mouth hangs open, unsure what to say. But before he gets any response out, Kageyama shoves his stuff back in his bag and suddenly stands up, bumping the desk into Kageyama, and stalks out of the classroom, despite it being so close to their next class.
“Ah-um, I-“ It’s his turn to stammer now, glancing up at the girl, who’s looking behind her where Kageyama went. “I-I need to-! Can I- I’m so sorry, M-Miya-I need to-!”
Miyami gives him a small smile, pulling the package back and putting it in her bag. “You can go, it’s okay. Thank you for your time, Hinata-kun!” She’s barely finished speaking before Hinata goes flying after Kageyama, leaving his bag and lunch and his uniform jacket at Kageyama’s desk. He completely ignores the bell announcing lunch is over, dashing around people and down the stairs, following his gut instinct.
He might not know for certain where Kageyama is, but he can sure as hell guess. His feet carry him around the school to that same back corner he and Kageyama argued at eleven days ago. Sure enough, Kageyama is there, leaning against the wall with one hand over his eyes and the other clenched in a fist at his side.
“Kageyama,” Hinata calls, slowing to a walk as he approaches the other. “Kageyama, why did you run away?”
When Kageyama looks at him, Hinata pauses. It’s not that Kageyama looks like he was crying, he just looks… sad. His eyebrows are all pinched together, his jaw is clenched, and he might be facing Hinata, but he’s looking past him, not at him.
“Kageyama, are you okay?” Hinata’s words do not seem to help, because Kageyama looks away again, the fist at his side hitting the wall in obvious frustration. “Hey, pay attention! What’s up with you!” The interaction feels so similar to their argument, and Hinata’s heart is hurting. He wants to go back to their happy bubble during lunch.
“Did you accept?” Kageyama asks, quietly. He’s looking at the ground straight in front of him.
Hinata stares at Kageyama in slightly shocked silence for a moment before answering. “What? No. Why would I accept?” Why would I accept when I so recently realized I’m head over heels for you?
“She was pretty.”
“And? I don’t like her,” Hinata argues, taking another step towards Kageyama. “I don’t like her, Kageyama.” He doesn’t know how to say it, but he wants to explain it all to Kageyama so badly. But the words are stuck in his throat.
“Then who do you like, Hinata.” Kageyama is looking at him now, and Hinata ignores the blush on his own cheeks in favor of admiring the rosy hue on Kageyama’s. “‘Cause even if you didn’t like her, nobody says no to a girl that pretty unless they like someone else.” It’s almost a dare, Hinata thinks, in the way Kageyama’s chin juts out just a little too high, the way his eyes aren’t narrowed, but he’s still looking at Hinata from under his long lashes.
Once again, they are close. Not as close as when arguing, but the space between them is charged with energy nonetheless. Hinata knows that if he doesn’t confess now, they’ll both walk away dissatisfied.
Neither speaks. Hinata doesn’t know what to say, and Kageyama seems to be waiting for Hinata to be the one to break the silence. He takes another step forward, one hand lifting to brush his fingertips against Kageyama’s uniform jacket. The tips of his fingers are red from the cold, and his hoodie sleeve is pulled up halfway over his hand. Kageyama jumps, just a tiny bit, when his fingers press more firmly into his chest. Even if there’s layers of fabric between them, even if Hinata is still too far away to kiss him, it’s still ten times better than the accursed dream.
A breath hitches in Kageyama’s chest, and his shoulders are tense. He looks at Hinata with a look similar to that of a hungry animal; a little shy, slightly desperate, and maybe a tiny bit dangerous.
“Hina-“ he starts to say, but Hinata silences him with another step forward, and another hand brought up to rest on Kageyama’s chest. Kageyama’s own hands seem to hover on either side of them, unsure where to go. But Kageyama must somehow make up his mind, because his hands settle on Hinata’s waist, resting feather light.
Months of working together has given them the ability to read other almost perfectly. Maybe he should be nervous, but all Hinata feels is a thrumming warmth spreading through his entire body as he looks up at Kageyama. He knows his crush must have begun before he realized it, so he didn’t have to deal with much pining or anything, but he still doesn’t know how to make the extra step, the slightest of movements to push them together.
In the split second between their mutual hesitation and Hinata finally kissing him, Kageyama smiles down at Hinata. It’s a very small, slightly crooked smile, just a split second of the corners of his mouth turning up, but it’s just enough to give Hinata the courage he needs to grab Kageyama’s uniform as leverage to both pull himself up and pull Kageyama down. It’s the only signal he needs to press his lips to Kageyama’s, not very gently because he doesn’t know what he’s doing, and too head-on. Their noses bump, and Kageyama is gripping his waist a little too hard, and it’s actually a pretty bad kiss. Neither of them closes their eyes, so their gazes are locked, which is probably weird. They’re also both smiling so widely the kiss is basically just pressing their mouths together, but Hinata’s entire body feels tingly, like he just slammed down a winning spike, and when he pulls back, Kageyama is bright red and beautiful.
“Ah,” Kageyama mumbles, reaching up to lightly touch his own mouth. “I guess that’s a fair reason not to accept a confession from a girl.”
The words are so ridiculous that Hinata bursts into giggles, head falling to Kageyama’s chest as he shakes with laughter. “Y-you’re so dumb!” he manages to get out through giggles. “That’s all you have to say after I kiss you?!”
“It wasn’t even a very good kiss, dumbass!” Kageyama says in retaliation, and while he sounds annoyed, when Hinata looks up he can see the happiness written on his partner’s face.
“So that means…” Hinata leans in again until his lips brush Kageyama’s as he says, “That I’ll just have to kiss you again. And again. Until it’s perfect.”
Somehow, Kageyama blushes even brighter, and he shoves Hinata away. “S-shut up, don’t say stuff like that, you moron!”
Hinata just hops right back up to him, smiling devilishly. “So you’re saying you don’t want to kiss again?”
“Wha-That’s not what I said, obviously I want to kiss again, you’re just an idiot!” Kageyama almost yelps, and he grabs Hinata’s head to shake him a little roughly. It’s a very common action, and it makes Hinata laugh harder. “Stop laughing!” Kageyama scolds him, but his grip on Hinata’s head lessens until he’s more just resting his hand there.
Hinata gives him a challenging look, laughter quieting. “Make me,” he says. And because Kageyama doesn’t back down from challenges, he steps forward and drops his hands to Hinata’s shoulders so he can spin them around and pin Hinata to the wall of the school and kiss him again, tilting his head and opening his mouth. And every bit of laughter is gone as Hinata sighs and melts into the kiss, as Kageyama lightly sucks on his lower lip and neither have any idea what they’re doing but it’s still good, better than the first.
They pull back reluctantly, but they need air, and they just stare at each other. Hinata has no idea what comes next, but he wants to kiss Kageyama some more, he knows that much. Unfortunately, the sound of footsteps rounds the corner of the school, and both boys are not about to risk getting caught, so with one look between them, they go sprinting towards the gate.
Again, it mirrors their argument, Hinata thinks. Except for this time, when they reach the top of the hill and are heaving for breaths, Hinata goes to bump Kageyama with his shoulder, and Kageyama grabs him and kisses him again. It’s quick, Hinata suddenly pulled in close by Kageyama’s strong hands holding him in place, but it’s still just as good as the other two. Even if Hinata’s lips are sort of numb from the cold, and Kageyama is not very gentle, the kiss is damn good.
Hinata only pulls away because he can’t contain his excitement. He lets out a whoop, fist pumping and jumping into the air, hopping around Kageyama like an excited rabbit. He’s so, so happy. He doesn’t care if it’s too cold to be in a hoodie, he doesn’t care he’s going to get in trouble for skipping class again, all he cares about is Kageyama’s smile and the way the cold makes Kageyama’s nose all red to match his cheeks and ears, and the fact Kageyama’s bangs are all messy.
And there’s no way Hinata is ever going to stop feeling like he’s flying because Kageyama has always helped him to fly. Now, they just also get to kiss. He’s pretty excited.
And as they chase each other down the hill, Hinata thinks his crush is definitely the best thing ever in the whole wide world.