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He drops his temple onto the window with a quiet thunk, the condensation seeping cool into his forehead as he closes his eyes and breathes out. Smoke floats lazily from his lips, clouding his vision in a light haze for a few seconds. He trails gentle fingers over the cold glass of the window, thinking of Hinata’s hands - the strong strike of his palm against the volleyball, the way his fingers interlock so perfectly with Tobio’s own as he drags him off to some new, exciting thing he’s found.
The joint hangs loosely from his fingers, and he brings it back to his lips as he thinks of the way Hinata’s warm eyes light up like stars when he hits a toss perfectly, how he grins up at him as if Tobio is the only person in his world that matters. Tobio huffs a quiet laugh that turns quickly into a cough as the harsh smoke burns his lungs, shaking his head in disbelief at the sudden longing trying to claw its way up his throat. As if Hinata would ever look at him like that without the catalyst of volleyball to spur him into it. As if he sees Tobio as anything more than a rival turned maybe-friend, someone to toss to him and to fight with when he’s bored.
Many of his nights go like this now. Breathe in, breathe out, think of Hinata. The polished wood of the windowsill digs uncomfortably into his lower back, but his surroundings feel like melting honey and his eyes drift shut of their own accord. He takes another drag, tilting his head back against the wall as he breathes out, and watches the smoke curl lackadaisically out of the open window and into the night.
Sighing quietly, Tobio leans down over his bent knees to softly tap the joint on the ashtray by his foot. He leans his cheek against his knee, feeling the rough material of his jeans scratching it slightly as his eyes unfocus themselves. The music drifting into his ears from his earphones feels as though it is draping itself across his shoulders, curling up to rest behind his head as the weed settles deep into his bones. He watches the street below through a screen, movements slow and languid as his thoughts drift.
Hinata had managed to go all day today without realizing he had a smudge of dirt on his nose from a scuffle he had with Tobio this morning, leaping onto his back and bowling him over with all the strength of a tiny giant. Tobio flipped them both over with an enraged shout, shoving Hinata’s stupid face in the dirt before sprinting the rest of the way to the school gates, the smaller boy racing after him like an angry Pomeranian. Tobio was breathless with silent laughter as he barreled into his classroom just before Hinata could grab him, the other boy’s amber eyes flashing with mirth as he leant against the doorway with one hand, trying to catch his breath.
“I’ll get you back for that one, stupid Kageyama,” Hinata panted out, scowling and pointing his finger accusingly at Tobio.
“You know I feel like I’m being threatened by a puppy dog, right?” Tobio remarked, leaning forward to ruffle Hinata’s wild auburn hair to emphasise his point. Hinata’s answering glare was petulant, and Tobio felt his heart clench as his moronic crush reared its stupid head again. He quickly turned and walked stiffly to his desk, trying and failing to hide the blush that had risen on his cheeks. Hinata tilted his head questioningly, looking astonishingly like a puppy and Tobio felt his treacherous heart squeeze painfully in his chest once again.
“Do you want to be late for English?” Tobio choked out as he looked pointedly at the clock, which was nearing the hour. Hinata immediately shot to attention, racing off in the direction of his classroom with a hurried “Goodbye!” Tobio snorted, shaking his head fondly as he willed his stomach to stop doing somersaults. Dumbass.
Tobio smiles softly at the memory of Hinata rubbing grumpily at his nose when he found out- “why didn’t you tell me!”- his angry scrubbing not making much of a difference to the streak of mud that had embedded itself stubbornly in his skin. They were stood in the bathroom after practice, the raven-haired boy lounging lazily against the cool tiles as Hinata braced his arms against the sink and practically became one with the mirror as he studied the dirt on his nose.
“Dumbass, stop rubbing at it like that. All you’re gonna do is make your nose red.” Tobio yanked Hinata’s slim wrist away from his face before grabbing some tissue from a nearby stall and wetting it in the sink. He tilted Hinata’s head up before gently sponging at the redhead’s nose, soaking up the dirt. This close, Tobio could see a smattering of ginger freckles that stretched themselves across the small boy’s cheeks like constellations in the night sky. Hinata closed his eyes with a relaxed hum, allowing the dark-haired boy to control his chin, and Tobio felt his breath stutter in his chest as he was filled with so much endearment that he almost choked on it. His feelings for the blindingly bright boy in front of him dragged their way from his heart up his throat before sitting heavy on his tongue, threatening to spill past his lips, and he took a clumsy step back out of Hinata’s space as though bewitched.
The auburn-haired boy’s eyes blinked open slowly, his cheeks rapidly filling with red as he recognized their proximity. Tobio coughed awkwardly, turning jankily to put the sodden tissue in the bin while mentally cursing every god under the sun for making him have a crush on such a monumental idiot.
“Hah, thanks Kageyama,” the boy stammered, hand clutching the back of his neck as his ears burned red hot.
“Shut up, its nothing. Come on, I’ll race you to the school gates.” Tobio hoped his face portrayed nothing of what he felt inside, his emotions a dangerous, bubbling concoction of embarrassment and affection. His friend seemed grateful for the distraction, and Tobio tried not to feel the sting of what that implied as Hinata exclaimed “winner buys meat buns!” already shooting off out of the bathroom and down the corridor.
“Oi, asshole! Don’t cheat!” Tobio thundered after him, feet pounding into the carpet as he took off after his smaller friend.
Tobio closes his eyes with a barely-there sigh before sitting up and stretching his arms above his head, taking another pull of the joint before dropping the end into his ashtray. He cracks his knuckles absentmindedly, lidded eyes wandering as he thinks back to when he first realised he liked Hinata. It was in the middle of first year, when they were just starting to flow well together as a team and win more matches. The pair were jostling each other after practice, shoving with their shoulders and arguing over the maths homework. Tobio ribbing Hinata for failing (“You barely passed!”) had somehow transformed into a full-on scuffle, grappling at each other with breathless frustration. Tobio was tugging on the indignant boy’s hair with one hand, long fingers digging into his scalp as his other hand pushed against his face.
By the time they separated, Hinata finally prying the taller boy off him with an affronted shout, they were both a little wild looking. Hinata’s hair stood up at ridiculous angles, even more everywhere than usual, and a pass of his hand through his own hair told Tobio that he wasn’t much better off. Tobio had somehow ended up with Hinata’s textbook in his hands, and he smirked as he spotted one of Hinata’s absentminded doodles peeking out from underneath the tattered cover.
“It’s not like I need maths anyways, since when do you have to do any of this stuff in the real world?” Hinata asked, a little breathlessly, as he gave up trying to tame his hair and just grabbed his beanie off the ground where it had fallen during their tussle, jamming it onto his head.
“Well, I guess you won’t be needing this then,” Tobio leered, holding the book high above his head as Hinata shoved at his stomach with a whine.
“Kageyama, stop being such a jerk!” Hinata aimed a jab at his ribs, but Tobio swerved away just in time, making the other boy stumble. Tobio steadied him with a hand on his forearm, other hand still hovering up high, textbook in grasp. Hinata tried to tug him down, hopping up and reaching at the same time, but Tobio just stretched up higher, chuckling as he knuckled the top of the other boy’s head.
“Oh, so we’re playing dirty, are we?” Hinata’s tone was lilting, almost teasing as he leaned up into Tobio’s space, fingers dancing over his jaw before tugging on one of his earlobes with a cheeky smile. Tobio’s smirk dropped, his eyes widening slightly and his grip on the book loosening, and Hinata took the opportunity to leap up and yank the book out of the taller boy’s hands.
When he landed, they were almost nose to nose, and Tobio’s breath caught in his throat, his heart dropping into his stomach as his eyes flitted down and up, away and back again. This close, the taller boy could see flecks of gold running through Hinata’s eyes, the light from the streetlamps making them glow like pools of ichor.
Slowly, deliberately, Hinata shifted forward so his nose bumped Tobio’s, and oh. Tobio swallowed, his throat clicking as he shifted forward as well, and another inch and they’d be kissing, and-
“Hey, lovebirds! I thought Daichi told you to go home already.” Tanaka poked his head out of the clubroom window, raising his eyebrow as he spotted them, stood two feet apart and blushing furiously while looking anywhere but each other. “Okay… well Suga says that if you don’t clear off soon, you’ll be stuck clearing up tomorrow, so I’d hurry up and get out of here.” He ducked back in before they could answer, and the two were left in an uncomfortable silence. The frigid winter air did little to calm Tobio’s blush, and he screamed internally as he fidgeted in the stifling quiet. Hinata opened his mouth to say something, but Tobio quickly cut him off with a rushed goodbye before booking it out of there and proceeding to have a crisis.
Several, rather embarrassing in hindsight, google searches later and he had a name for the violent butterflies fluttering in his stomach- he had a crush on Hinata. It didn’t seem right, didn’t seem possible, but when he thought back to how his heart had stuttered, how his mouth had dried up with want as Hinata had inched closer, he realised there was no way it couldn’t be a crush. He had replayed the almost-kiss over and over in his mind more times than he wanted to admit, wondering what would’ve happened if Tanaka hadn’t interrupted them.
In the end, he resolved to do nothing about it and see what happened, but when he met Hinata at the school gates the next day, the shorter boy acted as if nothing had happened between them. He remembers feeling like his heart had jumped out of his ribcage onto the floor and was flopping there like a dying fish as he watched Hinata bounce around, no different to how he would act on any other day when you hadn’t almost kissed your friend the night before. Hinata has obviously realised he’s made a mistake and is trying to get you to forget about it, he thought miserably as he trudged after the energetic boy.
The almost-kiss hasn’t been mentioned since it happened, and Tobio hadn’t had any subsequent revelations until almost a year later. I guess we’re going on a magical mystery tour of my painfully empty love life, Tobio thinks with a snort, shifting his legs to get more comfortable on the windowsill.
The air had been warm, almost cloying, as they’d strolled across the school grounds, both too tired to race after their extra practice. They had a practice game with Nekoma tomorrow, and Hinata was practically vibrating with excitement at the prospect of playing against the cats again. Tobio watched fondly as he practically bounced his way out of his skin, somehow still energetic even after hours of practice in the stagnant summer air. He quickly shot his gaze up and away as Hinata turned, trying to maintain an air of aloofness as though he hadn’t been thinking about ruffling Hinata’s stupid messy hair ten seconds ago.
“I hope Kenma lets me hit some of his tosses tomorrow,” the shorter boy sighed happily “he’s much nicer than you, you always call me a dumbass.” Tobio tried to stop the pang of jealousy from zipping through him at the thought of the other setter and settled for yanking on Hinata’s hair in revenge for calling him mean.
“You are a dumbass, dumbass.” Tobio grumbled under his breath as he shoved lightly at Hinata’s head, but he offered him a small smile that probably looked more like a grimace when the smaller boy turned to look at him.
Hinata giggled softly, peering up at Tobio from under his lashes, and Tobio swears he does this on purpose. Like he knows how weak Tobio is when it comes to him, as if he knows that all Hinata had to do was ask and Tobio would move heaven and earth to get him what he wanted. He jerked his gaze away, the tips of his ears burning as his eyes bored holes into the pavement beneath their feet. He stuffed his hands into his pockets with a dry swallow, lest he do something stupid like try and hold Hinata’s hand. By the time he looked back up again Hinata was skipping off, singing some dumb song about cats and crows at the top of his voice, and fuck if Tobio wasn’t in love with him.
He remembers stopping still, shocked, as he registered what he’d just thought. He loved Hinata. He was in love with a boy who didn’t even like him back. He swallowed down the lump that had formed in his throat, fingers shaking as he brought his hand up to push through his hair. How am I supposed to handle this? He thought. He makes me feel so much just when I look at him. What do I do when he finds someone else? He startled when Hinata called his name, head tilted with concern as he gazed at him.
“You okay? You zoned out for a bit there.” Hinata asked, walking forward a few paces. He looked tired, but his eyes still twinkled under the streetlights, and Tobio was so in love with him.
“Yeah. I’m good, just tired.” Tobio mustered up a small smile to reassure the other boy, before jogging up so he could walk at pace with him.
When he got home, he locked himself in his room and replayed the moment over and over in his mind, trying to figure out what it was about the smaller boy that made him so endeared, so in love. At the time, it felt like his world was crumbling around him, turning to dust beneath his feet. He thought he’d never be able to look at Hinata ever again, lest he blurted his feelings the second he saw the other boy’s optimistic grin. He fumbled in practise, even took a day off for the first time since he’d started at Karasuno to get his head straight. He spent the day moping in bed, before he couldn’t stand the sight of his own bedroom walls anymore and dragged himself outside in the evening to practise.
He snuck out of his window, swinging his leg over the windowsill and pressing his socked foot to the gritty pavement. He hopped slightly with a muffled curse as his ankle gave out, shivering against the slight breeze that had picked up since the sun had set. The moon smiled benevolently down on him, bathing the streets in soft light as he made his way down the empty streets to his local park.
He tried to practise, but found that it was much less invigorating without Hinata there to smash his tosses and then grin at him, eyes wild, when the spike found the gravelled floor of the court. After a half hour or so he sighed, placing the volleyball on the floor and trudging over to the swings to sit down. He swung gently on the seat, building up a rhythm as he stared up at the moon. It was full and round above him, and he felt its cool energy seep into his skin, soothing his core.
“Kageyama?” Tobio shot up out of the seat at Hinata’s voice with a yelp that he tried to turn into a cough. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were sick!” The smaller boy seemed to glow under the moonlight, eyes glinting with worry as they raked over Tobio’s form. Tobio closed his eyes, not wanting to have this conversation, and sat back down on the swing seat.
He went back to staring at the moon, hearing the clink of chains against one another as Hinata sat on the swing next to him after a moment. He could feel the other boy’s eyes burning into the side of his face, and sighed resignedly, scuffing his socked feet against the tarmac.
“I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll be back at practise tomorrow, so you don’t need to worry.” He could practically feel Hinata willing him to talk to him, but he stared down at his feet until the other boy acquiesced. He glanced up at him, was struck for a moment by the reminder that he loved this boy, before he swallowed and tore his eyes away.
“Why are you here, anyways? Last I checked you weren’t prone to sneaking out of your house at one in the morning.”
“Practice was boring without you, so I came to do some receiving work and sit on the swings for a bit until I’d burnt enough energy to sleep.” Tobio’s heart clenched at the other boy’s words, and he closed his eyes for a moment before lifting his head to meet Hinata’s unwavering gaze. He got this look sometimes during games, when he was trying to predict what his opponent was likely to do next, and it sent shivers down Tobio’s spine whenever he saw it. To have it turned on him was a whole new experience, and he knew Hinata was trying to puzzle together why he had missed practice.
“Was it really boring without me?” Tobio asked hesitantly, insecurity colouring his tone as he grimaced and stared down at his feet.
“Duh! Everyone missed you loads, you’re one of our strongest players.” Hinata grinned at him, but Tobio felt his heart start to sink at the other boy’s words. Of course everyone missed him. Hinata only cared that his partner was missing, not that Tobio was gone. He frowned down at his socks, realised glumly that they were odd, and then Hinata was nudging at his shoulder.
“Of course, I missed you a bunch, too. It was weird without you there, I couldn’t play properly and I kept wondering what was wrong.” Hinata’s voice was low and embarrassed, cheeks colouring as he looked steadfastly at the ground beneath his trainers. Tobio felt affection spreading through his core, the other boy’s words chasing away the cold, creeping anxiety that had seized his heart. He turned his head so that Hinata wouldn’t see the small smile that had crept onto his face, shifting his feet against the park floor. He swallowed in the silence that followed, Hinata twisting his fingers anxiously against the swing’s chains before leaping up and demanding that Tobio throw him some tosses as replacement for the missed practice.
And as he stood up, grabbing the volleyball and watching exasperatedly as Hinata bounced on the balls of his feet before bounding over to the courts with excitement, he thought that maybe loving Hinata wouldn’t be so bad.
Over time, his crush got easier to manage, his love for Hinata never fading, but becoming more manageable over the months. It doesn’t even sadden him too much anymore, having accepted that he was destined to watch from the sidelines as Hinata grew, laughed, loved someone other than him. A voice that sounds suspiciously like Sugawara tells him to stop being so self-pitying and do something about it if he’s so upset about it, but he can’t. He knows that confessing would mean he’d have to stop talking to Hinata, and that would mean he’d probably have to stop coming to the club, which isn’t even an option.
If there's one thing in the world he loves more than Hinata it's volleyball, and he couldn’t lose both in one fell swoop. The Sugawara in his head tells him to quit brooding, and he imagines flipping him the bird before he snorts and apologises in his head, because Sugawara is right. He should be glad to be Hinata's friend, but it’s so hard to stop himself from wanting. He craves the little private smiles Hinata gives him, the way their hands brush as they walk, the warm ochre of Hinata’s eyes as they gaze up at him.
The luminescent green of his alarm clock blinks 01:02, the colours shifting and swirling in Tobio’s vision as he gazes at the numbers with tired, lidded eyes. The street below has fallen under a hush that only occurs in the small hours of the morning, the air blanketed in midsummer warmth and streetlights illuminating the pavement, making them almost glow. It is silent aside from the odd car rolling by, most people tucked away in their houses trying in vain to sleep through the night.
Tobio is grateful for these moments, where the world is still and quiet, where he can put on his favourite playlist and slip into being high, like sliding on a pair of well-worn shoes that have molded themselves to the shape of your feet.
And it’s in these quiet moments, when everything is slow and sweet and it feels as though there is no one else in the universe, that Tobio allows himself to think these things about Hinata. Lets himself imagine slipping his hand into the other boy’s smaller one, feeling his way over the ridges of his knuckles, tracing the small scar on his pinky and relishing in the gentle power lying just under soft skin. Muscle and sinew and bone wound together in perfect layers to form hands that could smash a volleyball onto the opposing court with the strength of the whole team’s passion, their drive to win. So strong at times but so gentle at others, affectionately knocking his baby sister’s chin or quietly but firmly holding onto Tobio’s wrist as he helps him wrap his fingers before a game.
Tobio yearns to tangle their fingers, to run his thumb over smooth skin, the line of his delicate wrist, those calloused palms weathered from months of spiking. He exhales shakily, imagines carding his fingers through wild auburn locks, tracing lines over the freckles on his cheeks, the bridge of his nose. Curling a hand around the back of his neck, twisting his fingers in the shorter hair at the base of his skull, pressing his lips to the corner of Hinata’s mouth.
He wants to know every part of Hinata, to be able to map out all of the little parts of him. The creases at the corners of his eyes when he smiles, the gentle slope of his nose, the way his lips curve easily into a grin. When the light hits him just right, Tobio swears he could be an angel, heaven-sent.
If only middle-school him could see what he would become, he thinks with a huff of amusement. Back then he pushed everyone away, became so obsessed with making everyone better that he didn’t stop to think about how he was doing it. The idea of loving someone, even liking someone hadn’t even crossed his mind, seemed so unfathomable when he was king of the court, when everyone thought he was cruel and tyrannical.
But that was before Hinata had appeared, skidding to a stop in the doorway to the Karasuno gym and flipping Tobio’s whole life upside down. To think he would eventually worm his way into Tobio’s heart, carving out a space for himself behind carefully constructed walls and wrapping Tobio around his little finger easy-as-pie. It doesn’t seem like it should make sense, the king gone soft, but when he thinks about how right it feels to watch Hinata hit one of his tosses, body arcing lithely into the air, he thinks it kind of does.
At the end of their first year Hinata had gotten his ear pierced, the silver stud glinting in summer sun as he tilted his head up to watch the birds fly overhead. They sat on the field during lunch, Tobio trying his utmost not to stare in awe at the piece of metal in Hinata’s ear as he picked at his bento box.
“Why did you get it done?” he asked, trying and failing to sound nonchalant as he tugged at the grass next to his foot.
“My Mum was taking Natsu to get hers done, and I thought ‘why not?’ you know?” Hinata absentmindedly brought a hand to fiddle with the piercing, twirling it one way, then the other.
He suddenly dropped his hand to his knee, turning his head to survey Tobio’s face with an intensity usually reserved for opponents on the court. Tobio felt a shiver lance down his spine as brown met blue, warmth spreading across the back of his neck.
“Why, do you not like it?” The summer sun had warmed the red-head’s usually pale complexion, freckles standing out against tanned skin. It took everything Tobio had in him not to do something stupid, like call him beautiful. He swallowed thickly, watching Hinata watch him.
“No, I like it.” A toothy grin spread across Hinata’s handsome face, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud; slowly at first and then all at once, bathing the world beneath it in warmth unrivalled by anything else.
“Good.” Tobio felt feverish as he watched Hinata roll up his sleeves and lean back on his elbows in the grass, face tipped back towards the sun. The movement shifted his school shirt, giving Tobio a glimpse of sun-kissed skin stretched over a sharp hip bone, and he coughed, throat suddenly dry as he tore his eyes away from the sight.
“You want any piercings?” Hinata squinted up at him, tawny eyelashes fanning over his cheeks as he tried to shield his eyes from the sun, before he gave up and returned to looking forwards. The words tumbled out of his mouth unceremoniously, like he had worked himself up to asking but still wanted to sound nonchalant. Tobio stared at his side profile, at the pronounced line of his jaw and his unruly orange hair, earring glinting underneath the tousled strands. He swallowed thickly as he thought, not for the first time that day, that he was completely fucked.
He fiddled his hands in his lap to stop his mind wandering in that direction, looking anywhere but his friend as he answered.
“I wanted a lip piercing for a while, but figured it’d be too dangerous playing volleyball. We get hit in the face way too much.” Hinata made a surprised noise, turning to look at him, and he glared. “What? You’re the one who actually got a stupid piercing, you can’t judge me for wanting one.” Or for wanting to stare at yours until my eyes fall out of their sockets. The other boy chuckled, brown eyes crinkling softly at the corners and oh my god that should actually be illegal. What the fuck.
“I wasn’t judging you, dummy. I think you’d look good with a lip piercing.” Tobio stiffened, feeling his ears grow warm at the praise. He swallowed, saw Hinata’s eyes flick down to watch his throat move.
“Uh, thanks. Maybe I’ll get one when I’m older.” Tobio shrugged, lifting his hand to awkwardly scratch behind his ear. The moment was quickly forgotten, Hinata pointing at a cloud that looked ridiculously like Tanaka, but Tobio couldn’t help but ponder on the odd tension that had enveloped them for a few seconds. He thought about the way that Hinata’s eyes had watched his throat move, got stuck on the glinting of his new piercing in the sun.
A small, tanned hand was waving insistently in front of his nose. “Earth to Kageyama! Hello? Are you in th- ouch!” The other boy whined petulantly, cradling his hand against his chest with offense as he glared at Tobio.
“You didn’t have to hit me! You totally zoned out there.” Tobio rolled his eyes, shoving at Hinata’s shoulder grumpily.
“Anyways, you gotta see this cloud! It looks just like Tsukkishima, but, like, if he was weird-looking.” Hinata exclaimed, pointing excitedly at a cloud ambling across the sky. To Tobio, it kind of just looked like a weird blob, although if he tilted his head just so- ah, yeah, there’s Tsukkishima. Tobio’s lips quirked into a smile, hand coming up to flick his hair out of his eyes.
“You mean, if he was more weird-looking than he already is?” Tobio turned to look at Hinata, amused smile still curving his lips, but felt it drop as his eyes landed on the boy. He was staring at Tobio, eyes wide, hand still hovering in mid-air.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Tobio shook his hair back into his eyes self-consciously, eyebrows dropping into a scowl as he glared at the other boy. He watched as Hinata swallowed, his small hand dropping back down into his lap before it twisted in the dark material of his trousers.
“I, uh, it’s nothing. I just don’t think I've ever seen you smile like that before. It was nice.” Both boy’s coughed, looking anywhere but at each other as their cheeks flamed. Tobio uncrossed his legs, kicking the other boy solidly in the leg as Hinata squawked indignantly, throwing his arms out to stay upright.
“Asshole! What the hell was that for?” Hinata shoved at his shoulder, grappling with him.
“You were being embarrassing!” Tobio growled out, knuckling the top of Hinata’s head as Hinata jabbed at his side. After a few minutes of scuffling Tobio shoved the smaller boy away, clearing his throat as he glared at him.
“Whatever, stupid Kageyama, lesson’s starting. Let’s go.” Hinata grumbled, packing away his lunch with a scowl.
Hinata has gotten two more piercings since then, one on his other ear to match his right and then another on his right ear, slightly higher up. On the weekends he changes them out for hoops, and they drive Tobio fucking insane, he swears to god. One minute he’ll be fine, and then stupid Hinata with his stupid ear hoops will appear and Tobio will immediately feel like his blood is made of lava. He’s contemplating putting in a complaint, honestly, because he should not be this affected by a piece of metal, even if it is attached to his crush.
He's shifting down to untie his shoelaces, figuring he should probably get some sleep soon, when his phone lights up with a chirp, notifying him of a text. Practice tomorrow? At the park near yours? Tobio feels a small, uncontrollable smile slip onto his face as his eyes flit over the words, reading them once, twice, then again as he twists his fingers in the hem of his jeans. The butterflies in his stomach flutter wildly, as if demanding to be set free at the thought of seeing Hinata tomorrow. He texts back a brief sure, locking his phone and pulling his trainers off before clumsily walking over to his bed and stretching back on it like a cat. Gentle strumming fills his ears, and his eyes drift closed as he sinks into the honeyed feeling of being high and in love.
He may not have Hinata, but at least for now he has this.