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Hinata watches the scene unfolding in front of him with a sort of zen calm. Maybe the years of meditation have all been leading up to this moment: Atsumu, Bokuto, and Sakusa in the kitchen, screaming at each other over a dry erase board calendar.
He’d be lying if he said he was surprised. It’s been months of madness leading up to this outburst and he can only hope they come out the other side with their friendship intact.
There’s a moment, as he observes them, that Hinata knows it’s all going to go south. Up till now, the fight had been purely verbal, but then Atsumu tries to swipe the calendar off the fridge and make a run for it. He’s not fast enough, though, and his shirt gets snagged by Sakusa who pulls him back. Bokuto takes his chance and grabs for the board while Sakusa and Atsumu are distracted, only to take a sharp elbow to the gut.
All three of them grapple for it. None of them have the advantage; what one may lack in height, they make up for in muscle mass, and it’s clear they all share the same determination to win. It’s messy and desperate.
And embarrassing, if Hinata is being honest. It reminds him of when Natsu and her friend got mad at each other during a sleepover and fought over one of her dolls. It had been sort of funny to see two little girls fight so viciously over something trivial and meaningless; it’s decidedly less funny when it’s three grown men fighting over a dry erase board.
Hinata shakes his head. He can’t believe he ever let it go this far. It’s time to end it. For the sake of their friendship—and their pride.
________________________
The start to this whole thing—the beginning of the end, so to speak—is triggered by a single, mundane event: Kageyama coming to visit Hinata at the team’s dorms.
They haven’t been dating long. Not officially, at least, though everyone knew by third year that it was only a matter of time—themselves included. But they’d, through some unspoken agreement, decided to wait until Hinata completed his training in Brazil. What’s the rush, when you already know you’ve found your person?
Those years apart had felt long and arduous, but they were worth it for the thrill of catching up to Kageyama and finally crossing the line of friendship into something more.
The relationship is still new and exciting and while Hinata is overjoyed to be playing in the V.League, he does sort of wish that there was more time for him and Kageyama to spend together.
Luckily there’s a break in games long enough for Kageyama to take the train to Osaka for a weekend and Hinata has been almost vibrating with excitement since they first made the plans. At least he was vibrating with excitement, until he got called in for a meeting with the marketing team that he can’t miss and now he’s moping on the couch dramatically.
It’s not like the meeting will take more than a couple hours, but still. That’s two hours that he was supposed to have with Kageyama and instead he’ll be in some stuffy office going over things he only vaguely understands. And it was so last minute that he didn’t have a chance to tell Kageyama, who will be arriving at the dorms in just a few minutes.
Hinata groans and shoves his face into the couch cushions. Kageyama probably won’t even be mad, but Hinata is. This is their first weekend together as boyfriends and it’s going to start with Kageyama bored and alone. Hinata’s already messing this up.
Sakusa’s voice suddenly sounds from above him. “Why are you draping yourself across the furniture like a Victorian widow?”
Hinata rolls over and blinks at him. “Like a what?”
Sakusa’s sigh feels unjustly exasperated. “Nevermind. Why are you pouting?”
“I’m not pouting,” Hinata huffs.
“No?” Sakusa raises a brow. “What would you call this, then?”
Hinata groans again. “Kageyama is coming over this weekend.”
“I know. You made that scary face and actually got Atsumu and Bokuto to clean.”
“Yeah, because I wanted this weekend to be perfect, but coach called me today and said I have to sit in on some meeting since I’m a new player.”
“Okay, and?”
Hinata sits up to glare weakly at him. “And I’m supposed to be spending time with him, not working.”
Sakusa rolls his eyes. “It’s one meeting.”
“You wouldn’t get it,” Hinata mumbles, flopping back down on the couch.
“And why is that?” Sakusa asks, his eyes turning steely.
“Because you aren’t in a long distance relationship! We hardly get to see each other for more than a few hours at a time.”
Sakusa’s shoulders relax from their stiff posture. “Oh. That.”
“What did you think I was going to say?”
He shrugs. “Something about me being cold and heartless.”
“What?” Hinata gapes at him. “Why would I say that?”
“I’m aware that I can come off that way sometimes.”
“Well, I’ve never thought that about you! I think you’re so cool and nice! You show it in a different way than some people, but it doesn’t make you cold!”
The corner of Sakusa’s mouth twitches. “I can see why you and Kageyama work so well.”
The reminder about Kageyama has Hinata wilting in his seat. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to leave as soon as he gets here. This is so lame. He’s going to sit here and think about what a waste of time it was to come—”
“You’re starting to sound like Bokuto. It’s a single meeting and he’s had to sit through similar ones, I’m sure. He’ll understand.”
He’s right, and Hinata knows he’s right, but it still stings.
“Would it…” Sakusa blows out an irritated breath. “Would it help if I agreed to do something with him while you’re out?”
Hinata must have heard that wrong, because there’s no way Sakusa is offering to spend time with someone. Half the time, he won’t even go out with the team after a match.
“You would do that for me?” Hinata asks, wide eyed.
“Just this once. As a favor.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll owe you big time,” Hinata agrees, bouncing off the couch, his excitement growing again. “Man, I’m so happy I could hug you!”
Sakusa holds a hand up, looking vaguely ill. “Please don’t.”
“Okay! Kageyama’s gonna be here any minute, so I’ll say hi and show him around and then you’ll…” Hinata trails off, looking expectantly at his teammate.
“My painting class is today. I can bring him along.”
A painting class. Right. That’s—something. Kageyama has never mentioned being into art and it’s sort of hard to picture him with anything but a volleyball in his hand, but it’s still better than nothing. Maybe?
At this point Hinata is willing to take the risk; he’d rather Kageyama come back complaining about a boring painting class than get so bored that he decides to just go home.
He probably wouldn’t do that, but there’s still a part of Hinata that can’t reconcile the Kageyama who calls him every night at exactly 8:00pm and the Kageyama from high school who repeatedly turned down Hinata’s offer to watch One Piece together because he—and these are his exact words— “had better things to do”.
So yes, Hinata is still adjusting, and yes, he’s almost certainly making this into a bigger deal than it is, but if Sakusa is offering to distract his boyfriend from his absence, he won’t say no.
“That sounds perfect,” Hinata says brightly, lying through his teeth. “I really can’t thank you enough.”
Sakusa raises an eyebrow. “You could start by remembering to wipe out the microwave when it’s your day to clean the kitchen.”
The buzzer for their floor rings and it’s like a bolt of electricity runs down his spine.
“Yes, microwave, you got it—” Hinata agrees mindlessly, his eyes trained on the door. “I gotta—”
“Go greet your boyfriend and then get to your meeting, or else you’re going to be late.”
Hinata runs over and presses the button to let Kageyama into the building and stands by the front door, bouncing from foot to foot in barely restrained excitement.
He thinks he hears Sakusa scoff but it’s drowned out by the knocking.
Hinata throws the door open immediately. “YAAMAAAA!”
Kageyama doesn’t even flinch at the volume of his voice and even manages to stay upright when he jumps at him, pressing his free hand to Hinata’s lower back to steady them both.
“Hi, dumbass.”
“So rude,” Hinata crows, nuzzling his face into the strong slope of Kageyama’s shoulder. He squeezes his arms even tighter around Kageyama’s neck. “Give me a better greeting than that, Stupid-yama.”
Hinata hears the thump of Kageyama’s bag hitting the floor and then there’s a second arm wrapping around him and tugging gently at his hair. He reluctantly lifts his head and is met with a softly smiling Kageyama.
“Hi, Shou.”
Unable to resist a second longer, Hinata presses forward to kiss him—one slow, sweet kiss, followed by an assault of little pecks that doesn’t stop until he hears Kageyama’s huff of amusement.
“Much better,” Hinata tells him.
“You’re being even crazier than normal,” Kageyama says, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“Gee, it’s almost like I’m excited to get to spend a whole weekend with you.”
The corner of Kageyama’s mouth lifts. “Me too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Their shared smiles are rudely interrupted by a cleared throat.
“Ah, right.” Hinata releases Kageyama and leads him inside. “So, um, I can show you around our floor and show you my room and stuff, but I kind of have some bad news.”
Kageyama’s brow furrows. “What’s going on?”
Hinata winces. “I got called into a meeting today. I know it’s lame and super last minute, but I have to go, like, right now basically. I should be back in a couple of hours. I’m really, really sorry, Yama. I would get out of it if I could.”
“Oh.” The concern clears from Kageyama’s face and he shrugs. “That’s fine.”
“You’re not mad at me?” Hinata asks, widening his eyes a little as he looks up at him in the hopes that it will make Kageyama more forgiving.
The hand shoving at his face doesn’t feel particularly forgiving, though.
“Stop with the face, idiot, I’m not mad. I’ll just hang out here until you’re done.”
“Actually, Omi wants to do something fun with you,” Hinata says, glancing over at his teammate.
Sakusa’s waiting on the arm of the coach and he eyes narrow subtly in Hinata’s direction before he addresses Kageyama. “You don’t have to, but I take a painting class and you’re welcome to come along if you’d like. It’s a small group of us and we mostly sit in silence while we paint.”
Kageyama considers it briefly and then bows. “If it’s not an inconvenience, I’ll join you. Thank you, Sakusa-san.”
“I don’t remember you being this polite in high school,” Sakusa says, eyeing Kageyama distrustfully.
Hinata gasps. “Kageyama-kun, were you rude to an upperclassmen?”
“Shut up, boke! It’s none of your business!”
“He called me average,” Sakusa says flatly.
Hinata’s jaw drops and he whips his head toward Kageyama, who looks like he doesn’t have an ounce of shame about it.
“That was my impression of you at the time. I wasn’t trying to be rude, I was just being honest.”
Sakusa says nothing for a long moment before his lips twitch with a hint of a smile. “I can respect honesty. As long as you’ve realized my abilities are far greater than average.”
“Obviously.”
Hinata eyes the two of them as they stare each other down. He can’t really tell if they’re pissed or if there’s some begrudging approval, but he doesn’t have time to try to figure it out.
“Okaaay, you guys seem like you’ll be fine so I’ll leave you to it. Thanks again, Omi! And just a heads up, he’s really bad with directions so make sure you keep an eye on him in the busy spots—OW.”
“I’m not a child,” Kageyama growls, yanking Hinata’s hair sharply.
“I know, I just don’t want you to get los—OW, okay, okay, shutting up,” Hinata yelps. “You’re so mean to me.”
“You deserve it.”
“Meeting?” Sakusa reminds Hinata tiredly.
“Oh, yeah, sorry! Gotta go!” Hinata bounces up to kiss Kageyama quickly. “Love you, have fun! You too, Omi!”
Sakusa looks like he’s already regretting everything as he waves off Hinata’s goodbye.
Hinata has to race to make it on time, but he manages to slip into the conference room before the meeting starts, surprised to see Atsumu at the table as well. He drops into the chair next to him and they spend the next two hours and fifteen minutes struggling to stay awake through the most boring presentation ever. At one point Hinata has to kick Atsumu in the ankle when his head starts drooping, but they survive. Hinata shoots out of his chair the second it’s over, impatient to return home and see Kageyama.
“Dude, slow down,” Atsumu calls from behind him as he sprints out of the underground station. “You’re gonna knock over some nice old lady with the way you’re booking it. What, are you scared Kageyama’s gonna disappear before you get back?”
Hinata chooses not to mention that he actually is afraid of that, but he listens to his teammate and stops to let him catch up
“Hey, what do you think Omi and Tobio talked about during that class?” Atsumu asks as they enter their building.
Hinata tilts his head, considering. “Volleyball?”
“Hmm. Maybe Omi gave him some cleaning tips. The longest I’ve ever heard him speak was when he lectured me on how I did my laundry. He did a whole demonstration and y’know what?”
“What?”
“He was right. My sheets feel like silk now.”
“Omi’s so wise,” Hinata says, nodding. “Did you ask him out yet?”
“Shhh!” Atsumu hisses. “Not so loud, jeez. He might hear you.”
Hinata glances around them. “We’re in the elevator?”
“And your voice could carry through the elevator shaft. That’s science.” Atsumu sighs. “No, I haven’t asked him yet. I don’t know, man. If I do it wrong he’ll say no and he doesn’t seem like the type to give second chances.”
“I don’t think there’s a wrong way to ask someone out, as long as you’re honest. I just came right out and said, ‘I like you, please be my boyfriend,’ to Kageyama and look at us now!”
Atsumu makes a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. “You guys are freaks—you could have said anything and still ended up sucking faces by the end of the night. Me and Omi have a different vibe going.”
Hinata shrugs, stepping out of the elevator as the doors slide open. “I still think he would appreciate the honesty.”
Atsumu shushes him again. “This conversation is officially off limits on this floor.”
Because Hinata is a good friend, he drops it. It definitely has nothing to do with the fact that he’s hyperfocused on getting through the door and seeing his boyfriend that he’d had to abandon for two excruciatingly boring hours.
He practically rips the door off the hinges as soon as he gets it unlocked. “We’re back!” he announces, kicking his shoes off in the genkan.
“Kitchen,” Sakusa calls back.
Hinata scurries into the kitchen to find Sakusa and Kageyama sitting at the table and sipping on tea. Kageyama looks calm and unbothered, just the way he did when Hinata left. The bundle of nerves that had settled in Hinata’s stomach dissipates; he would be huffing and glaring if he was mad at Hinata for ditching him.
Kageyama immediately opens his arms to let Hinata to plop down in his lap, which he does happily. He loops his arms around Kageyama’s neck and gives him a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek, cackling when he gets a disgusted look in return.
“Missed you,” Hinata says brightly.
“It hasn’t even been that long,” Kageyama mumbles as his cheeks flush a pretty pink.
Hinata smiles at him. “I’d miss you even if I was only gone for five minutes.”
“Stupid.” Kageyama’s arms wrap around him and he says, just loud enough for Hinata to hear, “Missed you too.”
“I was willinging to babysit, but I am not willing to sit through you two being disgusting in front of me, so I’ll be in my room,” Sakusa says, getting up to leave.
Atsumu stands in the doorway, a smirk already plastered to his face. “Ah, ah, not so fast, Omi. Me and Shou wanna hear about you and Tobio-kun’s date.”
Sakusa rolls his eyes and pushes past Atsumu. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Hinata would, actually, so he leaves Kageyama’s lap to follow Atsumu and Sakusa into the living room.
“That bad, huh?” Atsumu clicks his tongue. “I always thought he’d be kind of a boring date—no offense, Shou.”
“Hey! He’s not a boring date! He’s the best date! Omi, it wasn’t bad was it?”
“Surprisingly, no, it wasn’t bad. We had a nice time,” Sakusa says, surprising Hinata with the sincerity in his voice.
Atsumu must pick up on it too, because his face is a mix of impressed and jealous. “Oh, really? You had a nice time? Because when I went, you pretended not to know me and then said I wasn’t allowed to come back.”
Sakusa gives him a flat look. “It’s a class on landscapes and you asked when the nude models were going to show up—loudly. And you ruined our paint because you kept forgetting to use a clean brush. Kageyama did none of that. He sat quietly and asked me exactly one question, and that question was, ‘where’s the bathroom?’”
Hinata feels Kageyama’s presence behind him and he glances back at him curiously as Atsumu follows Sakusa out of the room to continue pestering him.
“So you didn’t mind hanging with Omi?”
“It was fine.” Kageyama clears his throat and abruptly pulls something from behind his back, shoving it at Hinata’s chest. “Here.”
“What’s this? A present?” Hinata asks, holding it out eagerly.
It’s a small canvas painted with rolling green hills and a cherry blossom tree and it takes Hinata longer than it should to realize that this must be what Kageyama made during the class.
It’s not anywhere near as bad as Hinata would have expected from him. Maybe not quite as neat and precise as the paintings he’s seen lined up in Sakusa’s room, but lightyears better than anything Hinata himself could do.
“Waaah, Tobi, this is so cool!” Hinata gushes. He can’t keep the smile off his face as he admires it. “I get to keep it?”
Kageyama nods. “I made it for you. It’s, um—I painted the cherry blossom tree because of that thing you told me—how you used to think about feeding me sausages under one.”
Hinata clutches the canvas to his chest, blushing furiously. He can’t believe he ever told Kageyama something so embarrassing. He fully blames the alcohol and the thrill of having played his first professional match.
Thankfully his teammates are out of earshot because they would never let Hinata live that down; the jokes about sausage would be never ending. But even through the immediate stab of embarrassment, Hinata’s heart flutters. Kageyama remembered some stupid little fantasy he told him about and instead of mocking him for it, he painted it for him as a gift.
“Romantic-yama,” Hinata coos softly.
“Shut up, idiot,” Kageyama grumbles, his cheeks reddening. “I wanted to paint us too, but I ran out of time.”
Hinata is so in love it’s not even funny. He is never, ever, ever going to let Kageyama go now that he’s got him.
“That’s okay,” Hinata reassures him. “I’ll tell everyone that we’re behind the tree making out.”
“Nevermind, I’m taking the painting back.”
“You can’t!” Hinata takes a step back and holds his hand out protectively. “You gave it to me and now it’s mine and I’m going to hang it on my wall and take a picture and show everyone I know.”
Kageyama stares him down, one of his eyebrows quirked challengingly, and then makes a grab for the painting. His lightning quick reflexes would have worked on anyone else, but Hinata knows him far too well and ducks out of the way just in time.
“Ha ha, loser! You’re so predictable,” Hinata taunts as he bolts around the couch.
Kageyama, never one to back down, launches himself over the couch and has Hinata scrambling around the corner to try to get into his room to hide. He almost makes it, hand inches from the door handle, but a strong pair of arms wrap around him from behind and yank him back.
“Nooo,” Hinata whines. “It’s not fair when you’ve got stupidly long legs!”
“You got a head start,” Kageyama throws back. “And I have several texts that prove you don’t think my long legs are stupid at all.”
“Using a man’s private texts against him is a low blow, Yama. I’m disappointed.”
“Oh, I’ll show you a low blow,” Kageyama growls against Hinata’s ear, pulling him closer. The low rasp of his voice spreads through Hinata’s body and settles warm and heavy in his gut.
Suddenly he could care less about the painting in his hands.
Hinata reaches back to thread his fingers through dark, silken hair, angling his hips so he can rub his ass against Kageyama’s crotch. The intake of breath and whispered, “Fuck,” he gets in return only spur him on.
“Yeah, show me a low blow, Yama,” Hinata urges breathily.
Kageyama’s hips jerk against Hinata and they moan in unison.
It’s a quick stumble into his bedroom, and everything after that is a desperate blur—clothes are ripped off and eager mouths leave damp trails along every stretch of skin on display until their pleasure is spilling over.
It’s not until a few days after Kageyama leaves that Hinata finds the canvas under his bed, dusty and forgotten. After a quick wipe down, he hangs it proudly on his wall and posts a picture of it on Instagram with the caption, “I’m dating an artist”.
His management team is going to be pissed at him for sharing that he’s seeing someone, but he doesn’t care. Sometimes he needs to brag about his partner a little.
________________________
The second event leading up to the chaos is something Hinata has no control over.
That morning, he’d gotten a call from his mom telling him that his grandma had fallen and hurt her hip and that they needed to make some adjustments to her home to make her recovery easier. Hinata immediately offered to come home for the weekend to help and got on the first train he could.
He’s halfway to Sendai when he gets a second call—from Kageyama this time. He knows it’s rude to answer his phone on the train, but he wants to let Kageyama know what's going on so he ducks towards the window and answers. “Hey, Tobi.”
“Why aren’t you home?” Kageyama barks.
“I was gonna call and tell you! My grandma fell so I’m going home to help my mom take care of her for the weekend since I don’t have a—wait, how do you know I’m not home? Are you tracking my location, you stalker?”
“I know because I’m currently at your place and Atsumu told me you aren’t here.”
“WHAT?” Hinata screeches, forgetting that he’s surrounded by people. When a few of them look over at him in annoyance, he smiles awkwardly and scrunches down in his seat. “What are you doing there? I thought we weren’t making plans this weekend because you had a match.”
“It got postponed so I thought I would surprise you. I even brought the ingredients to make okonomiyaki because you said you’ve been craving it.”
Hinata’s stomach growls at the mention of food and he holds his stomach sadly. “That was really nice of you, Yama. Sorry I messed up the surprise.”
“Idiot,” Kageyama huff. “You didn’t mess anything up. Your family needs you, of course you have to go.”
Hinata sighs and leans his forehead against the cool glass of the window. “Yeah, but it would have been nice to get a weekend together. I really miss you, Stupid-yama.”
“I miss you, too. Maybe—”
Kageyama’s cut off abruptly and then Hinata hears another familiar voice.
“Hey, Shou. Don’t worry about the big guy. Omi handled it last time, so it’s my turn to be the heroic teammate and take care of him,” Atsumu tells him. “I’m gonna treat him to some lunch and then send him off on his merry way.”
Atsumu could have picked a better time to interject—preferably when he and Kageyama weren’t trying to have a heart-to-heart—but it really is nice of him to do that. Hinata already feels bad enough that Kageyama took the trip for nothing, at least this way he’ll get some food out of it.
“Thanks,” Hinata says, trying his best to sound appreciative.
“Anything for my favorite teammate.”
“Your favorite teammate is Omi, everyone knows that.”
“Anything for my second favorite teammate!”
Hinata chuckles. “Sure. Can you pass the phone back to my boyfriend now?”
A second later, Kageyama’s low voice is back in his ear. “He didn’t even ask, he just grabbed my phone,” he grumbles.
“At least he gave it back. One time he messed with Bokuto by hiding his phone and it took him two days to find it.”
“Why are your teammates like this?”
The indignant shout in the background makes Hinata smile. “So disrespectful towards your seniors, Kageyama-kun.”
“Yeah, yeah.” It’s quiet between them for a moment and then he hears a huff of breath from Kageyama. “I should let you go.”
“Right.”
“Say hi to your mom and sister for me.”
“I will.”
“And tell your grandma that I hope her hip heals quickly.”
“You’re such a kiss ass,” Hinata teases, trying to cover the disappointment clogging his heart.
“You’re just jealous because I’m your grandma’s favorite.”
“You are not! It’s totally me.”
“Then how come she always asks about me?”
“It’s called being polite.”
Kageyama hums. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Hinata’s grinning so wide his cheeks hurt. “Whatever. Have fun with Atsumu, butthead.”
“I’ll try,” Kageyama says, sounding put out. “Keep me updated, okay?”
“Okay, talk to you later.”
Hinata ends the call and slumps against the window again. What rotten luck. What are the chances of them missing each other like this? And Kageyama rarely takes the initiative to do something spontaneous, so Hinata may have missed his only chance at getting a surprise visit from him.
And it’s nice that Atsumu wants to look out for him, but it also makes Hinata insanely jealous. It should be him eating okonomiyaki with Kageyama, not Atsumu, and if it weren’t for his stupid grandma, he would be.
He immediately regrets that thought. He didn’t mean it at all; his grandma is the best and he would do anything for her, even miss time with Kageyama. He closes his eyes and sends a mental apology to her for ever thinking something so awful, resolving to be extra kind to her this weekend.
And he is. He gets to Sendai and goes straight to her house to move her bed into the living room so she doesn’t have to walk up the stairs. When she’s released, he wheels her out of the hospital and lifts her in and out of the car while she pats his cheek and calls him a sturdy boy. He cooks food for her—and a lot of it, at that. She’s got about two weeks worth of meals crammed into her fridge and freezer by the time he’s done in the kitchen.
Natsu helps him wash the dishes while their mom does laundry, their grandma napping peacefully in front of the TV.
“I’m surprised you managed to make time in your busy schedule for this,” Natsu teases. “I thought for sure you’d have some crazy training or an important match you couldn’t miss.”
“Grandma chose a good time to fall, I guess. It’s a rare weekend off.”
“And you get to spend it doing chores. Fun. You know, if I were you I would have lied and said I had some extra practices I couldn’t get out of.”
“Natsu,” Hinata scolds, as if he hadn’t called their grandma stupid in his head earlier that day. He’ll be taking that to the grave, though, so he can pretend he has the moral high ground here.
“I was kidding, jeez. What’s up with you?” she asks, peering at him curiously. “Normally you would have laughed at that and you’ve been all moody since you got here.”
Hinata focuses on the soapy plate in his hands. “I’m fine.”
“Hey, you smell that?” Natsu asks, sniffing the air.
“Smell what?”
“You really don’t smell that? It’s, like, smoky? It sort of smells like…your pants are on fire,” Natsu says, dropping the act and letting out a grin. “Cuz you’re a liaaar.”
Surprised laughter bubbles out of Hinata. “Wow. That was bad.”
“Thank you,” she replies primly. “Now tell me why you’re being all serious and weird.”
“It’s nothing, I’m just…thinking about Tobio.”
Natsu grips his arm tightly, her eyes big and full of concern. “Why? Did something happen? Please tell me you didn’t break up or I’ll kill you both.”
“Jeez, Natsu, take it easy. It’s nothing like that,” he reassures her. “And what do you mean you’d kill us both? If we did break up, you’re supposed to take my side—I’m your brother.”
“So is he,” she says easily.
Hinata freezes, staring at her in shock. She’s completely unaware, drying a bowl with a rag and humming under her breath. After a few moments of silence, she looks up and catches him staring.
She tilts her head. “What?”
“What do you mean, ‘what?’” Hinata asks in a high, panicked voice. “We haven’t even been dating that long and you’re already calling him your brother?”
“Well, you’ve only officially been dating that long, but…”
“But what?”
Natsu rolls her eyes. “But everyone with eyes could tell you were in love since, like, forever ago. I knew and I was just a kid.”
“You’re still a kid, and you didn’t know anything—there was nothing to know!”
“Please. You should have heard mom and grandma gossiping about you two. It’s like they thought you were gonna run off and get married as soon as you graduated. ‘It’ll be so nice to have such a polite young man in the family,’” Natsu quotes, mimicking their grandma’s voice. “Personally, I think it’s way cooler that we’ve got an Olympian in the family.”
“He’s—we’re not—” Hinata struggles for words, finally settling on, “I’m going to be an Olympian too!”
She shrugs. “Two Olympians in the family is cool too, I guess. Tobio did it first, though.”
Hinata gasps. “You—”
“Why are you all sad thinking about Tobio? Usually even hearing his name makes you smile.”
God, that’s embarrassing. Hinata dips his hands into the water and starts washing the remaining dishes. “He went to the dorms to surprise me because his match was postponed. Which is super sweet and I would have loved it, except that I was already on a train here.”
Natsu grimaces. “Yikes. Bad timing.”
“Yeah.”
“You could invite him here?” Natsu tries.
“So he can beat out grandma’s rug in the backyard?” Hinata shakes his head. “He already had to take the train to and from Osaka for nothing. He doesn’t need to take another one just to do house chores. It just sucks. Long distance is hard.”
“Oh, come on. You guys were on different continents for years, this can’t be that bad.”
“We weren’t dating then,” Hinata whines. “It’s different now, you wouldn’t get it.”
Natsu’s expression morphs into one of disgust. “Ew, are you talking about sex stuff?”
“No!” Hinata squawks. “I wouldn’t—”
“You’re gross, Shou,” Natsu says, shaking her head. She throws the towel at his head and walks away.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” he shouts after her. “And you’re too young to know about stuff like that!”
His mom scolds him for being too loud while his grandma is sleeping and Hinata grumbles to himself. His sister can be such a brat sometimes. He didn’t mean it like that. He just meant that it’s even harder to settle for phone calls and texts now that they’re dating. Before they got together, it was all in Hinata’s imagination; he was pining for him, trying to picture how boyfriend Kageyama would act, how he would treat Hinata if they weren’t just friends. And that was bad enough, but now he knows.
He knows that if he flirts just right he can get Kageyama to not only blush, but smile too; that if he stands on his tiptoes and tilts his head up towards Kageyama expectantly, he’ll get a kiss automatically. He knows that when it’s quiet and dark outside, and they’re curled around each other, Kageyama is a little more open, a little more willing to be vulnerable.
He knows all of this and he can do nothing with it, except on the few lousy days that they’re both off. And then it’s goodbye again until the next time.
Hinata spends the rest of the day moping, half heartedly responding to his grandma’s questions about his team and training regimine over dinner. He dodges the questions about Kageyama, not wanting to worsen his mood.
His mom is staying with his grandma overnight in case she needs anything, so he and his sister trudge home together. After a quick bath, he lies down in bed with a sigh.
It’s always sort of weird coming back to his childhood bedroom because nothing has been moved since he left for Brazil. It’s like a time capsule; there’s an old, beat up volleyball in the corner, a few of his medals from Karasuno, a bunch of Volleyball Monthly magazines precariously stacked on his desk.
He and Kageyama used to go over those magazines obsessively, marking the interesting pages and writing notes in the margins. Hinata had teased him incessantly over the interview they’d done with him during third year, somehow finding the humor in it despite how blindingly jealous he’d been. He’d also gone back, night after night, to stare at the pictures they’d included, his eyes practically burning a hole through the pages with their intensity.
Hinata groans. It feels like his thoughts always lead back to Kageyama somehow. Normally that makes him happy, but he’s still sad about the failed surprise and it just makes the ache in his chest sharper.
A glance at the clock tells him that Kageyama should be home and settling in for the night, so after a moment of consideration, Hinata grabs his phone and calls him.
Kageyama picks up after only a couple rings. “Hey.”
“Hey, youuuu,” Hinata greets, adding a flirty lilt to the words.
“We’re not having phone sex while you’re at your grandma’s,” Kageyama says immediately.
“I’m not staying at my grandma’s, me and Natsu are sleeping at home.”
“That’s even worse. Natsu could hear. We’re not going to scar your little sister because you can’t keep it in your pants.”
Hinata laughs, turning his face into the pillow to muffle it. He’s right, Natsu probably can hear through the thin walls. “I didn’t call to have phone sex, calm down.”
Kageyama grunts, like he doubts Hinata’s words.
“I didn’t!” Hinata protests. “I just wanted to talk to you, is that so hard to believe?”
“Not at all, you love to talk.” Hinata whines at the teasing and Kageyama chuckles. “I’m kidding, relax. How’s everything with your grandma?”
“She’s okay. She slept most of the day because they gave her some pretty strong meds for the pain. I spent most of my day cooking so she won’t have to for a while. I seriously don’t want to step foot in another kitchen for at least a week—no, a month.”
Kageyama doesn’t reply for so long that Hinata almost checks if the call dropped, but then he says, so quiet that Hinata almost misses it, “If we lived together, I’d cook so you didn’t have to.”
Hinata rolls onto his side and tugs the blanket over his head, hiding his besotted grin from the empty room. “Yeah? For a whole month? What about dishes? Because I had to do way too many today and I don’t want to get stuck with them if you’re the one cooking.”
It’s silent again as Kageyama thinks it over, and it makes Hinata feel giddy, like his entire chest is filled with butterflies. He loves the way Kageyama takes everything so seriously, even these silly, made up scenarios.
“Fine,” Kageyama finally agrees. “But that means you have to do the laundry—”
“No problem.”
“—including folding it all and putting it away.”
Hinata groans. “That’s the worst part. And it takes forever.”
“No, you just get distracted after folding three shirts and then forget about the rest of your clothes until you want to go to bed and find a pile of clothes in your way.”
Unfortunately he’s right, so Hinata can’t exactly get mad at him for saying it, but it doesn’t feel nice to be called out like that. “Jeez, you sure you aren’t stalking me? I feel like you have a camera hidden in my room or something.”
“I don’t need a camera hidden in your room when you tell me everything yourself. You called me so you could whine about it last week. You made me miss my bedtime.”
“Oh, not this again,” Hinata says, rolling his eyes. “It was five minutes.”
“Seven, actually,” Kageyama corrects. “And routine is extremely important for maintaining—”
Hinata pulls the phone away from his ear as Kageyama goes on the same rant he’s gone on a million times and silently mimics his words with a sneer. When he puts the phone back to his ear, Kageyama says, “You were making faces at the phone, weren’t you?”
“Okay, seriously dude, you have to be watching me. There’s no way you guessed that.”
Kageyama huffs. “I just know you, idiot. You were quiet for too long, it was a dead giveaway.”
“Whatever,” Hinata grumbles. “I guess I’m just predictable.”
“You are.”
“Yamaaaa, you weren’t supposed to agree. That makes me sound so boring.”
“I like it,” Kageyama says, sounding almost shy. “People don’t normally make a lot of sense to me, but you’re easy to understand. I don’t have to second guess anything with you.”
Hinata’s still not entirely used to the sentimental moments with Kageyama. Every kind word and sweet gesture leaves him weak-kneed and lovesick, and this is no exception. Kageyama understands him—likes him. Who would have thought?
He keens pathetically. “I called you to make myself less sad about this weekend and you’re making it worse.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Hinata sighs. “I just miss you. And it feels stupid to miss you so much when you’re only a few hours away. I guess it was stupid of me to think that moving back to Japan would make it easy to be together.”
Kageyama says nothing for a stretch and then clears his throat. “But it’s…it’s worth it, right?”
Oh. Hinata’s heart breaks a little at the uncertainty in his voice. Kageyama’s been so good to him—the perfect partner in so many ways—and he should never, ever doubt their relationship. Hinata hasn’t. Not for a single second.
“Of course it’s worth it. I feel so lucky to be your partner, Yama.”
“You only feel lucky because it means you get unlimited tosses. Greedy,” Kageyama tuts.
“How dare you. As if I’m that shallow. Obviously I feel lucky because you’ve got a really hot bod. Duh.”
Kageyama splutters. “Shut up, idiot.”
“You do,” Hinata laughs. “You’re all tall and strong and your shoulders are really wide, but you’ve got this tiny waist. I love it.”
“I told you weren’t not having phone sex,” Kageyama reminds him.
“Hmm, kinda sounds like you’re the one thinking about it. You sure you don’t want to?”
“I’m gonna hang up on you.”
“Lame.” Hinata doesn’t actually want to have phone sex, he just can’t miss an opportunity to tease Kageyama—not when they both enjoy it so much. But he’s feeling more sentimental than anything tonight and he keeps going back to what Kageyama said earlier. “Hey, Yama?”
“Yeah?”
“Did, um…Before—when you said that you’d cook if we lived together? You think about stuff like that?”
“Obviously.”
Hinata snuggles deeper into his pillows, smiling at how offended Kageyama sounded. “What do you mean ‘obviously’?”
“We’re dating, aren’t we? Don’t you think about stuff like that?”
“Yeah, of course. I just didn’t think you would.”
“Well, I do,” Kageyama says, getting defensive.
Hinata should probably drop it, seeing as Kageyama is clearly a bit embarrassed, but they’ve never talked about their future together outside of volleyball and he’s curious. He knows they’ll be together, he has no doubt about that, but when he tries to picture it, the details are always fuzzy. It seems so distant and abstract.
“Do you think about anything else?”
“Yeah,” is all Kageyama says.
“Yamaaaaa, you have to tell me.”
“No.”
“C’moooon. Please? Pretty please?”
“Ugh, fine.” Kageyama swallows heavily. “I want a cat. With you. I know they don’t like me, but I think if we get one when it’s just a baby and you teach me how to hold it without scaring it, maybe it wouldn’t mind me so much. And I can bribe it with treats or something. But not too many because I don’t want it to be unhealthy. I saw a video of a fat cat that had to do underwater treadmill workouts because it was so overweight and it made me sad.”
Hinata kicks his feet and has to bite his fist to stop himself from screaming, because how? How is this 188cm, intimidating athlete so cute? Who watches videos of fat cats and gets sad? If he were in front of him right now, he’d be pinching his cheeks.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Hinata stops his agonized thrashing and tries to pull himself together. “Nothing,” he breathes. “That sounds really nice. Really, really nice. Let’s do that, let’s get a cat.”
“We can’t get one now, idiot. We don’t even live together yet.”
“Right. Sorry, I got a little ahead of myself.”
Kageyama snorts. “Nothing new there.”
“Can we name it Gun-Gun?”
“Shou.”
“What?” Hinata pouts. “I just think we should be considering names now so we don’t end up naming it something stupid like…Ball.”
“Why would we ever name our cat ‘Ball’?”
“We shouldn’t, that’s why we should name it Gun-Gun.”
“It’s not like our only two options are Ball and Gun-Gun!”
“Okay, fine! We’ll workshop it.”
Kageyama groans. “I never should have mentioned it. I should have waited until we were able to get one, because now you’re never going to shut up about it.”
“That’s not true.” (Lie.) “I’m probably going to forget you even said anything about a cat by the end of the week.” (Another lie.)
“Sure.” There’s rustling from Kageyama’s end of the line and then he swears loudly. “I missed my bedtime again. Damn it.”
Hinata bursts into laughter.
“It’s not funny, asshole,” Kageyama grumbles.
“Sorry,” Hinata wheezes, clutching his stomach.
“You’re not. I’m going to bed now.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Sleep tight, you big baby.”
“You too. Say hi to your family for me.”
Hinata smiles. “You said that already, remember?”
“Fine, then say bye for me tomorrow.”
“Okay, weirdo. Love you.”
“Love you too. Night.”
Hinata drops his phone and starfishes out on the bed, closing his eyes with a happy sigh. He really does miss Kageyama but talking with him lifted the sadness that had been weighing on him since their call on the train earlier.
Seeing him in person would be great, but he’s happy for any bit of him he can get and he’s grateful that he’s the one who Kageyama calls at the end of every day; that he wants to talk to Hinata enough to risk missing his sacred bedtime. He knows that’s a privilege afforded only to him and he doesn’t take that for granted.
And they’ll find time to see each other another time. He’ll make sure of it.
Hinata’s mood is significantly better the next day, to the point that his ailing grandmother points it out and asks if it has something to do with “a handsome blue eyed stud”, which—ew. He definitely never wants to hear Kageyama described that way again by anyone, but especially not his grandma.
While it was nice to see his family and he’s glad he could help out, he breathes a sigh of relief when he boards the train back to Osaka that evening. He just wants to get back to the dorms and decompress.
Unfortunately, his plan is derailed by Atsumu who accosts him as soon as he steps foot inside.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks, gripping Hinata by the shoulders.
Hinata frowns. “About my grandma? I did.”
“No,” Atsumu waves his hand. “I don’t care about your grandma. Why didn’t you tell me that Kageyama is cool?”
Hinata graciously chooses to ignore that first comment. “Um…I guess I just thought everyone knew that? Do people not know that?”
“Nah, dude. He’s always had a stick up his ass, or at least it seemed like it.”
Hinata shrugs. “He sorta does. But secretly he’s really fun. Why do you think I like him so much? What did you guys get up to, then?”
“We stayed at the dorms and made okonomiyaki since he had all the ingredients already. He gave me some great advice about the whole Omi thing, since, you know, he’s got a stick up his ass too, and I don’t know, it was just really cool to talk with someone who understood. We ended up getting coffee before his train and started talking about volleyball and setting—you know how it is.”
Hinata nods; he’s not sure Kageyama is physically capable of having a conversation that doesn’t somehow loop back around to volleyball, so yes, he knows.
“He even gave me his number so I can text him in case I need more advice on Omi!”
It takes a second for those words to process in Hinata’s mind and then he sucks in a surprised breath so quickly he chokes on air.
“He gave you his number?” he coughs out. “So he can give you romantic advice?”
“Alright, so I stole his phone and texted myself from it when he was in the bathroom. Same thing.”
“Is it?” Hinata squeaks.
“He won’t mind, right? Cuz all the stuff he said really resonated with me and I think I can make some good progress with Omi.” Atsumu looks so sincere that Hinata doesn’t have it in him to tell him the truth.
“Right. I’m sure he won’t mind.” Hinata makes a mental note to warn Kageyama about this on the off chance Atsumu hasn’t already texted him a million times.
“I honestly never thought I’d say this, but Kageyama is a great guy. Really. I know I’ve given him some shit in the past, but you landed a good one, man.”
Hinata frowns. Atsumu is right, obviously, but it’s not like he needs to tell Hinata; he knows exactly how great Kageyama is. He didn’t spend two years in Brazil pining for him for nothing. He has taste.
And Hinata is a catch too! He’s Ninja Shouyou, breakout player of the 2018 V.League season, rising volleyball star and all around nice guy. And his grandma said he gets more handsome every time she sees him!
He probably shouldn’t repeat that last part to anyone if he’s trying to seem cool.
“He’s alright,” Hinata jokes tiredly. “I haven’t decided if I’m returning him yet or not.”
Atsumu’s face drops, suddenly looking eerily solemn. “You shouldn’t joke like that, Shouyou. It’s not funny.”
“Oh. Sorry?” Hinata glances longing towards his room. He’s so close and yet so far away. “I really was just kidding. He’s sticking around for a long time, I promise.”
Atsumu blinks and the shadows clear from his face. “Good! Let me know when he’s in town next, we should do something together!”
Hinata nods and is finally released from the very strange conversation. He’s not really sure where that intensity came from, but Atsumu has always been a little strange at times. Getting defensive of Kageyama was unexpected, but Hinata figures they must have buried the hatchet over lunch, so he pushes it from his mind.
________________________
The third time is the most surprising. Mostly because it’s half past four in the morning and Hinata is still asleep when Bokuto practically rips the door off the hinges as he bursts into his bedroom.
The door slams against the wall and Hinata bolts upright in his bed with an alarmed cry, clutching his blanket to his chest like it can protect him from an intruder. It takes his sleepy brain a few moments to realize it’s just his teammate.
“I want a turn,” Bokuto says, more serious than Hinata can ever remember seeing him.
Hinata blinks against the bright light spilling in from the hallway. “Wha’?”
“I want a turn,” Bokuto repeats firmly. “It’s not fair that everyone else has gotten one.”
“A turn with what?” Hinata asks. He feels like he’s in some kind of fever dream, unable to connect Bokuto’s words with any logic.
Bokuto huffs, his shoulders slumping sadly. “With Kageyama. Obviously.”
Hinata’s not exactly sure how that was obvious, especially when the urgency of Bokuto’s entrance made it seem far more serious than just wanting to hang out with a friend.
“Okay? I never said you couldn’t spend time with him,” Hinata says, rubbing his eyes tiredly. They’ve got an early practice today and he really wants to get another hour of sleep before getting up for a run.
“Alone time,” Bokuto clarifies. “Atsumu keeps talking about when they had lunch and Omi said he has good hygiene. Omi. The only other person I’ve heard him say something nice about is Ushijima. Wait, that’s kinda weird that they’re both Adlers. Do you think Omi secretly wants to leave us for their team? I know me and Tsum-Tsum forget to clean sometimes, but he wouldn’t—”
“Bokuto-san,” Hinata groans, trying his best to remain respectful.
“Yeah?”
“You can have a turn.”
Bokuto punches the air. “Hell yeah.”
Hinata gives him a weak thumbs up and flops back onto the bed, eyes slipping shut immediately.
“I was thinking of doing a work out class with him next time he’s here. Do you think he would be down to try yoga? Because my flexibility could use some improvement and Akaashi just went to one and said it felt great on his muscles.”
Hinata sighs quietly and opens his eyes again, resigned. “I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask him.”
“Nooo, you have to ask him for me,” Bokuto whines.
“Why? I can just give you his number.”
“But he’ll say no if I ask.”
“That’s not—”
“Hinataaaaaa.” Bokuto tugs at the bottom of Hinata’s blanket. “Please? He’ll definitely say yes if you’re the one who asks and I really want to get to know him better. Tsumu and Omi keep mentioning him and I feel so left out.”
Well, that’s…nice. It makes Hinata feel a bit guilty for being so inconvenienced by this whole thing. And it’s true that the other two got to have some one-on-one time with his boyfriend, so the least Hinata can do is make it fair.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll call him this afternoon and ask for you,” Hinata agrees.
“You’re the best,” Bokuto shouts and they both wince at the pounding on the wall that comes from Sakusa’s room next door.
“Oops. I mean, you’re the best,” Bokuto repeats in a whisper.
“Thanks. Can I go back to sleep now?” Hinata asks.
“Sure thing. Lemme know what he says, okay?”
Hinata hums in agreement, already shutting his eyes and nodding off again.
He keeps his word and later that day asks Kageyama, who says yes without needing any convincing. Hinata knew he would, but he still feels a flicker of disappointment before he manages to stamp it down. It’s a one hour class and then Kageyama will come right back and hang out with Hinata—the person he’s supposed to be visiting. There’s nothing to be disappointed about. He should be—and is—happy that Kageyama is becoming more social.
The next weekend, Hinata sits on the couch dejectedly after watching Bokuto and Kageyama leave. He couldn’t even fully appreciate how good Kageyama looked in his leggings and surprisingly short shorts. Yeah, Hinata squeezed his ass and made him do a little spin and also took a couple pictures on his phone, but that’s not enough. He should get to ogle him for a solid thirty minutes, and then go with them so he can watch him stick his ass in the air during downward dog. This is an injustice.
Atsumu comes into the room and shakes his head. “Damn, dude. This sucks.”
Hinata’s head perks up a little because there’s finally someone to sympathize with his plight. “It does suck.”
“Yeah…because I was hoping to take Kageyama over to my brother’s shop this afternoon. Samu’s trying out a couple new flavors and he wants to get some opinions on them.”
Hinata stares at him blankly.
“Ah, well,” Atsumu shrugs. “Maybe I’ll ask Omi if he’s hungry. Hey, Omi-chaaan, you want some grub?”
Hinata continues to stare, speechless, as Atsumu and Omi argue their way out the door, leaving him alone to wallow.
Great. Now he’s Yama-less and craving Onigiri Miya.
He manages to survive without either for the next hour, but he leaps off the couch and races toward the door as soon as he hears the buzzer. Bokuto is the first to enter and it takes everything in Hinata not to shove him to the side so he can get to the real prize that he so graciously loaned out today.
But, man oh man, is he unprepared for Bokuto to move and reveal a sweaty, glistening Kageyama with his damp hair pushed back from his forehead. His zip up hoodie from earlier has been discarded and the muscle shirt he had on underneath—now stained several shades darker with sweat—displays his beautifully toned arms and just a hint of rib cage when he turns to the side.
He looks like he belongs in an ad for athletic gear; the kind that high school Hinata would have torn out of a magazine for “inspiration” but would have inevitably jerked off to in his room at night.
Well, now Hinata doesn’t have to pretend this isn’t turning him on. He can stare openly at the mouth watering sight in front of him and the only shame he feels is that Bokuto is still in the room with them.
“We had a bit of a surprise at the studio,” Bokuto explains. “Turns out I booked us something called hot yoga.”
Kageyama has sensed Hinata’s predatory gaze and he stands just inside the doorway like a deer in headlights.
“Hot, huh?” Hinata murmurs, tilting his head to the side and letting his eyes roam slowly over Kageyama’s body from head to toe.
Kageyama’s gulp is audible. “It was like a big sauna.”
“Isn’t that funny?” Bokuto chuckles. “The heat made me so lightheaded, I thought I was going to pass out a couple times. I don’t know how he did it, but Kageyama took it like a champ.”
Hinata smirks. “He always does.”
Bokuto somehow misses the way Kageyama turns bright red and continues rambling about the class. “It really pushed the limits of my flexibility. I get why you do it now, Hinata. And Kageyama kept up pretty well. Have you done yoga with him before?”
“No, we do a different kind of exercise to keep him flexible.”
Kageyama’s eyes widen and flicker nervously to Bokuto, who asks, “Oh, yeah? What do you—”
Hinata doesn’t let him finish the question. “You can shower first, Bokuto-san.” His eyes meet Kageyama’s and remain trained on him. “I’m sure you want to wash off all that sweat. I’ll find something to keep Kageyama entertained while he waits.”
“Awesome, thanks!” Bokuto cheers, oblivious to the way Hinata and Kageyama’s breaths have picked up, the tension in the room thickening as the look on Kageyama’s face shifts from apprehension to anticipation.
They stare at each other as Bokuto heads toward the bathroom.
Hinata licks his lips. “Hot yoga, huh? You wanna show me that new and improved flexibility?”
Kageyama takes a step back, bumping into the door behind him. “I’m all sweaty.”
“I don’t mind.” Truthfully, the thought turns Hinata on even more. It’s gross, but he loves the way Kageyama smells after he’s worked out. It must be some Pavlovian response.
When Hinata closes the gap between them and presses their bodies together, Kageyama gasps. “Shouyou—”
“Why don’t we get you out of these dirty clothes, hm?” Hinata murmurs, dipping his fingers under the hem of his shirt and stroking the trail of hair that leads down into his shorts.
Kageyama smashes their mouths together and pushes them blindly towards Hinata’s room.
It ends up being for the best that Kageyama waited to shower because Hinata gets him sweaty all over again.
________________________
It all seems to go downhill after that. Hinata doesn’t notice it immediately, but it’s like once his teammates got a taste of friendship with Kageyama, they were hooked.
At first it’s the three of them hovering near the door when Kageyama comes over, chattering away at him before Hinata can get in more than a quick peck. That doesn’t bother him too much, but then they start lingering for longer and longer, until Hinata has to start making up lies about having plans they can’t be late for so that they can escape the dorms in peace.
That only works for so long because his teammates are nothing if not determined. Which is great when he’s playing in a match with them; less great when they start inviting themselves along on dates. Hinata doesn’t know how to politely tell them to get lost and Kageyama seems oddly unfazed by their new additions.
Hinata tries his best to stay focused on him and Kageyama, even if there are a few extra people with them, but it proves to be more difficult than it sounds.
When Kageyama buys him an ice cream cone as a treat during a walk through the park, Hinata’s attempt at leaning into his boyfriend adoringly is thwarted by Atsumu sticking his head between them and asking for a scoop of chocolate. And because Kageyama tries to be respectful to those older than him, he ends up paying for Atsumu— and Sakusa and Bokuto too.
In an attempt to shake their third, fourth, and fifth wheels, Hinata plans a date at some boring sounding museum. It’s neither his nor Kageyama’s thing, but as long as he’s spending time with Kageyama, he knows he’ll have fun. And, more importantly, it’s not something his teammates’ will want to go to.
Except, apparently, if Kageyama is involved.
Hinata thinks it’ll be fine—the museum is big, they can go their separate ways, Hinata can try to convince Kageyama to make out in the bathroom. It’s a solid plan.
A solid plan that gets ruined fifteen minutes after they go inside, at which point they all get kicked out for knocking over one of the ceramic sculptures. In their defense, they did manage to catch it before it broke, what with all five of them having athletic reflexes, but that didn’t seem to matter much to security.
The next time Kageyama is in town, Hinata plans a date at the movies. He’s sort of given up on escaping their entourage, but he figures that at least in a dark theater, he can pretend that they’re more alone than they actually are. He purposely chooses the lamest sounding movie because he’s hoping if the theater is empty enough and Kageyama gets bored of the plot, maybe he can convince him to share a few kisses.
This failure, Hinata has to take some credit for. He probably should have at least looked up what the movies were about before picking one because it turns out he chose a romance movie. A heartbreaking romance movie that manages to pull all five of them in and by the time the end credits are rolling, every last one of them has tears streaming down their faces—even Kageyama, though he does a little better at hiding it than the rest of them.
They stumble quietly out of the theater, only an occasional sniffle breaking the silence. Unsurprisingly, it’s Bokuto who cracks first.
“Why would you make us watch that, Hinata?” he wails.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know it would be so…”
Atsumu glares at him with red rimmed eyes. “Soul crushing?”
“That’s a good description, Miya,” Sakusa says, nodding.
“How am I supposed to go on with my day now?” Bokuto asks. “It’s just going to be lingering in my brain…that ending—”
“Don’t,” Sakusa warns.
“She never even got to tell him she loved him,” Atsumu sobs, covering his face with his hands.
Kageyama clears his throat. “I don’t think she needed to tell him. She showed him how much she loved him with her actions.”
Hinata slowly turns to face his boyfriend, speechless, because where had that come from? Normally the only thing Kageyama says after a movie is some stupid, trivial observation, like the fighting wasn’t realistic or one of the characters had weird hair, and now suddenly he’s got something profound to say?
Bokuto nods, his bottom lip trembling with barely contained emotion. “You’re so right.”
“That’s beautiful, man,” Atsumu agrees.
Kageyama reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tiny, crumpled packet of tissues and offers it to the group wordlessly.
Hinata’s teammates grab them and start wiping their eyes, Bokuto blowing his nose loud enough to draw stares. Atsumu passes Hinata the packet, but they’ve already used up all the tissues so he just pockets the trash with a sigh.
“Don’t suppose you’ve got any more of those, do you?” Hinata asks Kageyama.
Kageyama doesn’t answer, but he tugs his sleeve over his hand and uses it to gently wipe away Hinata’s tears. Hinata stares up at him with wide, damp eyes, more tears threatening to spill over from the tender gesture. He suddenly feels extremely grateful for his teammates’ selfishness and wonders if it would be possible to ban tissues across the country so he can always get spoiled like this.
When his face is sufficiently dried, Kageyama puts an arm around his shoulders. “That was a stupid movie.”
“Totally stupid.”
“I don’t know why those guys are acting like it was so horrible.”
Hinata nods. “Yeah, it was just kind of sad.”
“Yeah.”
It’s silent between them except for the sound of their friends arguing a few feet away. Hinata shuffles his feet.
“Okay, so the death scene might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he admits.
Kageyama shakes his head. “I don’t think anyone could watch that and not cry. Maybe Tsukishima, but he doesn’t have a soul so that doesn’t count.”
Hinata laughs and hugs his boyfriend tightly. “You’re stupid.”
“I’m not stupid, you’re stupid,” Kageyama retorts, squeezing him just as tight.
As they exit the theater, the group starts discussing their favorite movies and when Kageyama says he doesn’t really have one, Atsumu and Bokuto try to persuade him to watch their picks. Kageyama nods along during their debate and even makes a note in his phone with the movie titles.
Sakusa, who had been quiet during Atsumu and Bokuto’s arguments, suggests they have a movie night the next time Kageyama is staying at the dorm so that they can watch all the movies and vote on the best.
Atsumu and Bokuto cheer when Kageyama agrees with an easy, “Sure.”
Hinata’s stomach twists unpleasantly.
He’s not jealous or anything. He’s actually really happy that his teammates—who have become good friends to him—like his boyfriend. It’s a relief, even, because everyone knows Kageyama can be a bit abrasive at times. So this is the best case scenario, honestly. Hinata is just sooo…happy.
Alright, so he’s jealous too! Who could blame him? He and Kageyama are trying to make a long distance relationship work, and while it’s nowhere near as difficult on opposite sides of the world, their busy schedules have made seeing each other harder than he’d like, which his friends know! And here they are, trying to intrude on what little time they have together!
And Kageyama’s not off the hook either, because this wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t grown into a more gentle, thoughtful version of himself as an adult—one who hands tissues out and actually listens when people talk about things other than volleyball.
Asshole.
But of course, Hinata can’t say any of that outloud, so instead it simmers beneath his skin as the weeks pass. He starts asking to spend their shared days off in Tokyo instead of Osaka, but that only works half the time. Both Bokuto and Atsumu, never ones to get the hint, start texting Kageyama and making plans with him in Osaka before Hinata can. It feels like he’s starting to be the third wheel in his own relationship and it’s driving him crazy.
The biggest slap in the face comes when Hinata tries to complain about something stupid Kageyama did and his own teammates take Kageyama’s side.
Hinata wasn’t even that upset that Kageyama forgot their weekly video call; he was mostly just annoyed and wanted to vent to some of the people he’s close with. He hasn’t been in a relationship before, but he’s pretty sure that it’s normal to complain about your boyfriend with your friends, and he’d been under the impression that those friends were supposed to listen and say things like, “wow, how dare he?” or “doesn’t he know how lucky he is to have you?”
He learns the hard way that that is not the response you’ll get if those friends have developed some sort of ridiculous attachment to said boyfriend.
“He’s under a lot of pressure, Shou. He probably just forgot you guys facetime on Mondays when he scheduled his massage. Don’t take it personally,” Atsumu tells him from across the aisle of the bus, hardly looking up from his phone.
Hinata’s jaw drops.
“Yeah, it’s really important to take care of your muscles when you’re an athlete. And he’s been really focused on increasing his upper body strength and those added weights in the gym can put a real strain on the muscles. He probably really needed that massage,” Bokuto adds.
“I–I know he’s working on his upper body, but how do you know that?” Hinata asks, baffled.
“We update each other on our workouts.”
“What the hell?” Atsumu finally puts his phone down and pays attention to the conversation. “If he wanted some ideas for ways to switch up his gym routine he should have asked me. I’m the one playing the same position.”
“Maybe he’s unimpressed by your physique,” Sakusa drawls from the back of the bus. Hinata had assumed he was asleep under the eye mask he’s wearing.
Atsumu scoffs and flips him off. When Sakusa returns the gesture, Atsumu turns to Hinata and Bokuto with wide eyes.
“How did he know?” Atsumu whispers. “Does he have some sixth sense we don’t know about?”
“I can hear you,” Sakusa says.
Bokuto gasps. “He’s got super hearing too.”
“You guys are idiots.”
Hinata ignores them, turning to look out the window and consider his predicament. His predicament that no one else views as a predicament, he’s sure. Kageyama hasn’t mentioned being annoyed by the extra attention, and it’s not like he’s one to keep his true feelings quiet. Maybe he doesn’t miss Hinata when they’re apart the way Hinata misses him. Maybe he doesn’t crave having time together as a couple like Hinata does.
He presses his forehead into the cool glass of the window and closes his eyes. What the hell is he supposed to do about this?
________________________
What finally pushes the issue over the edge is the beginning of the national team season.
Hinata is over the moon when he gets a call from Coach Hibarida offering him a spot on the team. A large part of him had been worried that despite his hardwork and effort, he’d spend another year watching his friends wear their red uniforms on the world stage while he lagged behind. And this year there was added pressure because not making the team would mean even less time with Kageyama. The second he got the call, he’d felt an immense weight lifted off his shoulders.
He thought that it couldn’t get any better than representing his country and playing against some of the greatest athletes in the world, but Kageyama proves him wrong when he nervously asks if Hinata wants to get an apartment together for the summer. And boy does Hinata want. It’s probably in his top three wants, just behind getting gold at the 2020 Olympics and growing ten centimeters taller. The latter is impossible and he’s working on the former, so moving in with Kageyama is the most exciting thing he can think of right now.
Hinata’s excitement dulls slightly when he realizes that Atsumu, Bokuto, and Omi will also be around for the national team season. It’s not that he doesn’t love playing with them, and of course he knows they deserve their spots on the team and are the best choices to represent Japan. He just wishes they could represent Japan…further away from Kageyama. Because he knows that all of them playing together on the same team means more of the same problems.
There’s a moment when he first tells them that he and Kageyama will be living together that he thinks he was wrong; that his friends are just going to be happy and supportive of this huge step in his relationship.
Bokuto cheers and gives him a bone crushing hug, Sakusa congratulates him on getting a break from the drab dorms, and Atsumu makes a joke about not needing his earplugs now that he won’t be sharing a wall with Hinata. It’s normal and fun, and Hinata is so relieved. Maybe they’ve calmed down, gotten it out of their system.
And then the calendar shows up.
Hinata thinks nothing of it at first. They’re going to be traveling a lot soon and there are some important dates over the course of the national season that they need to keep track of. He figures one of his teammates stuck it to the fridge as a reminder to the rest of them. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary; Sakusa, in particular, is always getting irritated when someone forgets the training schedule.
He passes by it every time he’s in the kitchen for an entire week before he catches Kageyama’s name out of the corner of his eye and finally takes a closer look at it. Next Saturday is marked “Kageyama + Bokuto 3pm - 5pm”.
Huh?
Kageyama is coming over next weekend, but Hinata hadn’t been aware that he had plans with Bokuto. He’s pulling out his phone to text Kageyama about it when Atsumu comes into the kitchen, whistling cheerfully.
“Hey, man,” he greets Hinata. He notices Hinata looking at the calendar and grins. “You like our new system?”
Hinata’s brows furrow. “Your new system?”
“Yeah! I came up with the idea to get a calendar so we can keep track of whose turn it is to plan something with Kageyama. It’s smart right? Keeps it fair.”
Fair is not how Hinata would describe any of this. Obsessive, maybe—insane, even. But not fair.
Atsumu glances at the calendar and frowns. “Wait a second…Bokuto, get your ass in here!” he yells.
Their teammate rushes into the room, holding a shoe in front of him like a weapon.
“What the hell are you doing?” Atsumu asks.
Bokuto drops his defensive stance. “I don’t know! You sounded upset so I thought something was wrong and I wanted to be prepared, just in case!”
“Something is wrong—you fucked with the calendar.”
“No, I didn't,” Bokuto says, his eyes shifting nervously. “I haven’t touched it.”
“You’re a shitty liar. Saturday was my day and you know it, you greedy bitch.”
Bokuto gasps. “I’m not a greedy bitch! Take that back!”
“Admit you changed it then!”
“Fine! I changed it! But only because it was my turn! Ask Omi!”
Atsumu narrows his eyes. “As if Omi would side with you over me.”
Sakusa appears out of thin air like he was lurking nearby, waiting for the opportune moment to get involved. “If we’re getting technical, both of you have spent more time with him than me. So really, I should get this Saturday.”
“Guys—” Hinata starts.
“I should have known you’d pull something like this. Always looking out for yourself, huh,” Atsumu spits at Sakusa, shaking his head.
“Hey,” Hinata tries again, “I don’t think—”
“You’re the one who came up with the calendar system. How do I know you didn’t do that to benefit yourself? Maybe you rigged it.”
Bokuto points at Atsumu accusingly. “Yeah! What Omi said!”
“Please,” Atsumu scoffs. “As if I would stoop that low.”
Sakusa raises an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t have to go that far.”
“You’re only five centimeters taller than me, you asshole!” Atsumu shrieks.
Uh-oh, Hinata thinks, this is not going to end well.
________________________
That’s how three adult men found themselves here: playing tug-of-war over a cheap dry erase calendar that they use to schedule what can only be described as dates with Hinata’s boyfriend.
When his teammates fall to the ground and start to wrestle, Hinata decides he’s had enough of this. He may be the rookie and the youngest, but it’s time for him to show some initiative, some grit. He takes a deep breath, channeling Daichi’s captainly energy as best he can, and brings his hand to his mouth to blow a loud, piercing whistle.
The pile of athletes stills.
All three men slowly turn to look at him, still gripping the calendar in front of them with one hand each, and Hinata shakes his head.
“Hinata—”
He holds a hand up. “Don’t. Just…don’t.”
The calendar gradually lowers, until it clatters on the ground with an air of finality. His teammates untangle themselves and sit facing him on their knees, avoiding eye contact as they wait for their scolding.
“I’m disappointed in you,” Hinata says with a sigh. “You especially, Omi.”
“C’mon man,” Atsumu mumbles under his breath.
Sakusa bows. “Sorry, Shouyou.”
“I’m sorry, too!” Bokuto shouts, his head smacking against the floor as he lowers it in a bow.
“I gave you guys the benefit of the doubt for a long time—too long. I wanted to believe that you would sort this out yourselves, but now I see that that was never going to happen. You were too far gone.” Hinata crosses his arms. “I mean, fighting with your teammates? C’mon. We aren’t in high school anymore.”
“Atsumu started it,” Bokuto mutters. Atsumu smacks him, Bokuto smacks back, and it breaks out into a small slap fight until Hinata claps his hands together sharply.
“I said enough!” Hinata barks. “I’m not just talking about today—I’m talking about all of this. You guys are out of control. I don’t know why you latched onto Kageyama like you did, but you need to chill.”
“Huh?” Atsumu’s face scrunches up in confusion. “What do you mean ‘latched on’? We’re just being friendly.”
Hinata scoffs. “Friendly? You guys are obsessed!”
“That’s crazy,” Sakusa dismisses. He’s shaking his head, but Hinata can tell when his eyes go unfocused that he’s reevaluating the past few months, going over it all in his head. He starts to look less and less assured.
“Crazy? You guys started planning his trips here before I could!”
Atsumu rolls his eyes. “Sorry we were excited to hang out with him. Is that a crime? And at the end of the day, you got to see your boyfriend, so what’s the difference?”
“The difference is he’s my boyfriend and not yours!” Hinata shouts, clenching his fists by his side.
“Wait, what?”
“Oh my god, ew.”
“What do you mean, ew?” Hinata huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Kageyama is really hot and an awesome guy who is, like, super talented and secretly really thoughtful and—I don’t know why I’m defending him to you right now when I know you think he’s great too. You wouldn’t be hogging all of his attention if you didn’t.”
“I don’t know if hogging is an accurate description…”
Hinata raises an eyebrow and grabs the forgotten calendar from the ground, holding it out so his teammates are faced with the reality of their actions. “What do you call this then?”
“We were trying to plan it so we weren’t taking up all his time,” Atsumu argues.
“That’s not the point! You don’t get to make those decisions! He comes here so that we can spend time together as a couple! What if we had something romantic planned that you steamrolled over?”
“It wasn’t an all day thing,” Bokuto mumbles.
Sakusa smacks the back of his head and Bokuto’s mouth snaps shut immediately.
“You’re right, Hinata. We took it too far. Way too far. I honestly don’t have any excuse,” Sakusa says evenly.
Hinata sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. “It’s okay. I know you probably got swept up by the other two.”
“Hey!” Bokuto and Atsumu cry in unison.
“Still, I should have been more level headed. We both know these idiots need someone to reign them in or they’ll take things too far.”
“Rude,” Atsumu hisses.
“I would never want you to think we were trying to steal Kageyama from you,” Sakusa says, bowing again.
Guilt starts to tickle at the back of Hinata’s mind. Did he approach this the wrong way? Maybe he’s being too harsh, or overly dramatic. They’re his friends and they surely had no ill intentions.
Then he looks at the calendar in his hands again and nope—he’s pretty sure he’s entitled to this. Still…
“I didn’t really think you were trying to steal him or anything,” Hinata admits. “But you guys were way overstepping. You didn’t ever consider how I felt about any of this. You never asked if I was okay with you coming out with us and you hardly ever gave us any space. We don’t get to see each other that often as is, so always having to share that time with you guys…it just sucked, is all. I wish you would have been more considerate.”
“Oh my god, we’re the worst,” Bokuto cries, slumping forward to sob into the floor.
“We’re really sorry, dude,” Atsumu says as he pats Bokuto on the back consolingly. “I didn’t see it that way, but you’re right. It wasn’t cool of us and I promise we won’t do it again.”
To be honest, Hinata expected more resistance from them than this, so he doesn’t really know where to go from here. “Oh…well, thank you for understanding. And I probably could have said something earlier,” he concedes, shrugging awkwardly.
“Nah, like you said, we should have checked with you. I think we were just excited to get to know your boyfriend and it sort of spiralled without us realizing it.”
Bokuto drags himself up, sniffling. “And Kageyama is so different since you guys started dating, it was so cool to see that new side of him.”
A small smile tugs at Hinata’s mouth. “Really?”
“Totally! Like, before you joined the team, he was so quiet and closed off, you know?” Bokuto says excitedly, bouncing on his knees. “If we saw him at matches he would barely even talk to us and he never said yes to going out and getting drinks, no matter how many times we offered.”
Atsumu nods. “That’s why we were excited that he’s wanted to hang out with us lately. It’s the first time I’ve been able to have a normal conversation with him. Plus—” Atsumu cuts himself off and his cheeks turn suspiciously pink.
Hinata’s eyes widen; he doesn’t think he’s ever seen Atsumu blush before. He’s the most shameless person he knows. “Plus, what?”
Atsumu mumbles something Hinata doesn’t catch and Sakusa rolls his eyes, shoving at him. “Oh my god, just tell him.”
“Ugh!” Atsumu groans, throwing his head back dramatically. “Plus, we care a lot about you and it’s nice to talk about you with someone who clearly cares a lot about you too! Whatever! It’s not a big deal!”
Hinata’s mouth falls open. That was the last thing he expected to hear. Honestly, he’d been worrying that his teammates liked his boyfriend more than they liked him and the rush of relief and affection that washes over him has him suddenly blinking back tears.
“You guys really talk about me with Kageyama?” Hinata asks, his lip wobbling.
Atsumu and Bokuto nod. Hinata looks at Sakusa, who has his arms crossed over his chest and is frowning hard.
“Oh my god, just tell him,” Atsumu mocks, echoing Sakusa’s own words.
“Fine. Yes, maybe—sometimes—we talk about you,” Sakusa relents. “Like Miya said, it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to cry about it.”
“You guuuuys,” Hinata drawls softly. He opens his arms and his teammates stumble off the floor to hug him. Sakusa hangs back, patting him on the back instead of joining the hug, until Atsumu goads him with a, “C’mon Omi, don’t be a baby,” and he grudgingly puts his arms around them.
“I’m glad we had this talk,” Hinata says, squeezing them happily. “Thanks for being so understanding. I feel a lot better now.”
“Sorry it took us so long to see how weird we were being.”
“Yeah, sorry, buddy,” Bokuto adds. He slaps Hinata on the back so enthusiastically that it nearly takes his breath away, but he just coughs and smiles back.
“You know, this is partially your fault,” Atsumu informs him. “If you two weren’t such a chill couple, we wouldn’t have wanted to crash all your dates.”
“Thank…you?”
Sakusa rolls his eyes. “Don’t victim blame, Miya.”
“Oh, come on, he’s not a victim,” Atsumu protests.
“Anyone forced to spend more time with you than necessary is a victim.”
“Oooooh, burn,” Bokuto snickers.
“Oh, really? You wanna get into it, bird boy?”
After some more friendly taunts and playful shoves, Hinata leaves his teammates to their bickering and heads to his room, tossing the cursed calendar in the garbage on his way. He feels lighter than he has in weeks, but he knows there’s still one person he needs to talk to about all of this.
________________________
He waits until the weekend to bring it up to Kageyama.
It feels like a conversation that would be easier to have in person and they already made plans to check out a few apartments in Tokyo that they’re interested in renting for the summer. It also conveniently gives Hinata more time to figure out what exactly he wants to say to his boyfriend. He considers not talking to him about it at all, seeing as he’s already dealt with the instigators, but he knows that avoiding it is probably not the most “mature” thing to do.
Maturity is overrated, if you ask him. But all the same, he wants him and Kageyama to be on the same page, especially if they’re going to live together soon.
Plus, it would be super embarrassing if one of his teammates told Kageyama that Hinata won’t let them hang out with him. Not that he ever said that! He just wanted them to be more considerate about their relationship and respect boundaries! It’s different!
And that is why he needs to think about what to say. Because if he doesn’t, he’ll end up spewing words that make him seem like some controlling weirdo instead of a guy who just wants to be able to go on a date with his boyfriend that doesn’t involve his three teammates arguing in the background. It’s hard to make that romantic. Hinata would know—he’s tried.
Kageyama ends up giving him the perfect opening as they’re touring the first apartment. It’s a really nice place—fully furnished with lots of natural light and only one train stop away from the gym they’ll be training at. A friendly woman from the real estate company shows them each room and then lets them look around while she stands to the side and pretends she’s not listening.
Kageyama sits on the couch and bounces a little, testing it. “Comfy.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm. And the living room is big enough that it won’t be cramped when your friends come over.”
Hinata’s forces himself to smile. “Sure.”
“The kitchen is a little small—the fridge especially. I’ve seen how quickly the one in your dorm gets cleared out after you guys play, so you better warn Bokuto and Atsumu that—”
“I’m sick of always hanging out with my teammates and it bothers me that you do stuff with them instead of spending time with me!” Hinata shouts abruptly, unable to stomach any more mention of his friends.
Silence hangs heavy in the air.
The real estate representative coughs pointedly. “Why don’t I give you two some privacy? I’ll be out in the hall if you need me.”
Crap, Hinata forgot she was even here. He covers his face with his hands and groans, embarrassed that someone else witnessed that.
Hands wrap around his wrists and tug, exposing his blushing face. “Explain,” Kageyama demands.
Hinata sighs and plops down onto the couch, Kageyama following suit. “Sorry for throwing it out there like that, I’ve just been a little frustrated.”
“Because of your friends?” Kageyama presses.
“Yes? No. Sort of? I mean…”
Kageyama puts a hand on his thigh. “Chill out and use your words, dumbass.”
“That’s rich, coming from you,” Hinata grumbles.
“Shou.”
“Fine.” Hinata blows out a breath. “I hate that I hardly ever get to spend time with you, just the two of us, because my teammates are always butting in, or inviting you to do things with them. We’ve been dating for months now and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been able to spend a whole day with you uninterrupted and that’s so lame, Yama. I don’t want to be selfish or tell you that you can’t have friends, but—”
“That’s fine.”
Hinata freezes. “It’s fine? Just like that? You don’t need any more explanation?”
Kageyama shakes his head. “Not really, no.”
“I—so wait. I’ve been suffering in silence this whole time when I could have just asked you to stop?”
“Yeah. I was really only doing it for you,” Kageyama says.
“WHAT?”
“I mean, I like your teammates just fine, but mostly it was because I wanted your friends to like me.”
“What?” Hinata repeats, quieter this time. “Since when do you care if people like you?”
Kageyama’s eyes drop and he shifts in his seat. “I don’t, but Miwa told me that it’s a good sign if your boyfriend’s friends like you.”
“You talked to Miwa about us?” Hinata feels like his heart is melting, but also beating a million times a minute and growing a bunch of sizes like the grinch. It’s mildly concerning but at this point he’s used to Kageyama making him feel too much all at once.
“She didn’t give me a choice,” Kageyama huffs. “And she got in my head about it so I started googling stuff about relationships and everyone agreed that it was important to be accepted by your partner’s friends. Teen Vogue said if they don’t like you, they might try to convince your partner to break up with you.”
“Teen Vogue,” Hinata says faintly.
Kageyama glares. “It’s a reputable source.”
Ah. Things are starting to make sense. “You would never use that word yourself. Who told you that?”
“...Tsukishima.”
Hinata drops his head into his hands. “Why would you—no, nevermind.” He doesn’t have the energy for that conversation right now. “Okay, Teen Vogue said that, so you decided to just say yes to anything my teammates asked for?”
Kageyama goes back to avoiding eye contact. “I knew I had already gotten off to a bad start with them, so it seemed like the best way to get on their good side.”
“Bad start?”
“You might have forgotten what I was like in high school, but I don’t think they did.”
Hinata frowns. “What do you mean?”
“I know I was intense and kind of an asshole, Shou.”
“To me, yeah. But you were always pretty respectful to them. Aside from some gloating when you one upped Atsumu.”
“I called Sakusa underwhelming when I first met him. Bokuto was at those training camps in our first year so he definitely saw me scream at you a couple times. And Atsumu—we’ve always been more competitive than friendly. I just never knew how to talk to them and I didn’t want them to hold any of that against me, but I wasn’t sure if I should apologize or—I don’t know! I told you, I’m not good with people.”
Well, that explains why Bokuto said Kageyama hardly spoke to them before; he was embarrassed. Hinata covers the hand on his thigh with his own and squeezes it gently.
“You’re kind of stupid, you know that?”
Kageyama glowers at him.
“Okay, so first of all, they definitely weren’t holding anything against you. All of us were different in high school; Atsumu was a jerk half the time, Bokuto used to take things really personally and get all depressed, and Omi…” Hinata tilts his head, considering. “Alright, I don’t think he’s changed all that much, but that's besides the point. None of them cared about any of that. They wanted to be friends and get to know the person you are now. That’s why they were inviting you to things and wanting to spend all that time with you.”
Hinata chooses not to inform him of just how badly they wanted to be his friend. They can save that for another time. He’s probably going to need to ease Kageyama into it if he doesn’t want him filing restraining orders against them.
Kageyama looks surprised and his cheeks are faintly pink, but he nods. Hinata doesn’t really understand it, but he knows his experience in middle school still affects how he interacts with people—makes him unsure and overly critical of himself. It seems like the only time Kageyama has full confidence is when it comes to volleyball. Hinata is determined to change that someday.
“Second of all: my friends aren’t going to tell me to break up with you just because you don’t say yes every single time they want to do something with you. Everyone was really happy when we started dating and you being an introverted grump isn’t going to make them think differently.” Hinata pats his hand and smiles. “And more importantly, I would never listen to anyone who said we should break up, because anyone who really knows us, knows that we’re best together. So you’re stuck with me for life, sorry.”
“That’s fine,” Kageyama agrees, wearing a sweet, wobbly smile.
Hinata will never get tired of that smile. He could see it all day, every day for another eighty years and it would still make his heart flutter like it does now. He puts a hand on Kageyama’s cheek and leans in for a kiss, wanting to taste that smile himself. The kiss doesn’t last long because neither of them can stop grinning, but Hinata is alright with that. He’s got a long future full of kisses planned with this guy.
“Love you,” Hinata says softly.
Kageyama bumps their foreheads together. “Love you too”
“But seriously, you are so stupid.”
“Alright, you know what?” Kageyama pulls away, rolling his eyes.
Hinata cackles. “I mean, come on. You were worried one of my teammates would convince me to break up with you! The only person whose opinion I care about enough to maybe—maybe—consider it, for even a second, is Kenma. But he would never do that, he loves you.”
Kageyama stares at him like he grew a second head and yeah, okay, he may have laid that on a little too thick.
“Kenma tolerates you, which for him is basically love?” Hinata offers.
“Kenma tolerates me because I’m not loud and annoying like you.”
“Right. You’re quiet and annoying.”
Kageyama grabs his ankle and drags him off of the couch while Hinata giggles uncontrollably.
“I’m gonna dangle you out the window by your foot if you don’t knock it off. You need to act like an adult or this lady will never rent this place to us. She probably already thinks you’re an idiot after your tantrum earlier.”
Hinata sits up from where he landed on the ground and manages to calm his laughter enough to ask, “You wanna rent this apartment? What about the other two tours we have scheduled today?”
“I don’t know, I have a good feeling about this one.”
Flushed and breathless, looking at the love of his life illuminated by the bright afternoon sun, Hinata feels the same. He and Kageyama could be really happy in this little apartment.
“I think so too,” Hinata agrees. “There’s good energy in this place.”
“And the kitchen is small, but it’s perfect for just two people, don’t you think?”
Kageyama’s looking at him knowingly and it makes Hinata feel unexpectedly shy. He ducks his head to hide his smile. “Yeah, definitely.”
“Well?” Kageyama holds his hand out. “C’mon. Let’s go make it happen.”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
________________________
One Month Later
Today might be the best day of his entire life. No, scratch that—this is one hundred percent, without a doubt, the best day of his entire life.
Hinata woke up this morning and rolled over to find his boyfriend sleeping peacefully beside him, he got to kiss him awake and then make breakfast with him, and then he got to share a shower that may or may not have gotten steamier than normal.
(It did. In fact, it got so steamy that Hinata had to lie on the bottom of the tub to catch his breath and got to watch Kageyama wobble out of the bathroom like it was his first day with legs. It was awesome.)
That alone would have been enough to make Hinata’s day great, but what catapulted it to the top of the charts was that he just completed his first day of training as a real, official member of the Japanese men’s national volleyball team. Which meant that he not only got to play volleyball with the greatest players in the entire country, but also got to hit one of Kageyama’s sets.
More accurately, he got to hit about a hundred of his sets because they’re his favorite sets in the entire world and he’s been deprived of them for years. The second that ball hit his palm, it was like the cloud parted and the angels floated down from the heavens and started singing.
Kageyama called him dramatic when he told him that, but it really did feel that magical.
So of course he’d asked for another toss and another toss, until he’d spiked the ball more times than he could count. And he would have happily kept going, but unfortunately everyone on the team—the coaches included—are aware of Hinata and Kageyama’s “enthusiasm” (their word, not his) and the two of them were promptly herded off the court with the rest of the team at the end of practice.
It didn’t dim any of Hinata’s happiness. He doesn’t think anything could.
“Hey, we haven’t seen your place yet,” Atsumu says from across the locker room bench. “What do you say me, Omi, and Bokuto stop by for a little bit today? It’ll be like a housewarming party.”
Okay, so maybe one thing could dim his happiness.
“No,” Kageyama answers bluntly, not even bothering to turn away from his locker.
Hinata smiles as he pulls his socks on. Ever since their conversation a month ago, Kageyama has had absolutely no problem shooting down requests from any of their overly familiar teammates. There haven’t been many, thankfully, because getting scolded by Hinata was apparently enough to deter them.
It has delighted Hinata, just a little, every time his friends get turned down, though. It’s petty and selfish so he keeps it to himself, but it’s a nice stroke to his ego nonetheless.
Bokuto’s whole body droops at the rejection and Atsumu looks like he wants to push it, but Sakusa pats him on the back.
“That’s fine. Right, Miya?”
Atsumu’s pout says otherwise, but he agrees with a short nod.
Sakusa looks oddly proud as he pats him again. “How about we get some dinner together and watch that stupid show you keep talking about?”
“Really?” Atsumu glances over at them, shocked, and Hinata gives him a subtle thumbs up. “Yeah man, that sounds good.”
Kageyama throws one of his shoes at Atsumu, hitting him squarely in the back.
“Ow! What the fuck?” Atsumu rubs his back and shoots Kageyama an incredulous look. Kageyama says nothing, just holds steady eye contact until Atsumu’s eyes widen in understanding, apparently picking up on whatever wordless message was being sent.
“Oh and I—I’ll pay. For the dinner, I mean. Your dinner. And mine, obviously,” Atsumu offers haltingly.
Sakusa doesn’t look up from where he’s tying his laces. “Sounds good.”
Atsumu looks like he just took a volleyball to the face, flushed and slack jawed, and Hinata hides his laughter behind his hand.
The pair head out with a quick, “Later, losers,” tossed over their shoulders, leaving behind a sad sack on the bench.
“What about me?” Bokuto sulks. “Now I don’t have anyone to hang out with.”
Kageyama raises an eyebrow. “Akaashi?”
“Akaashi!” Bokuto exclaims. “I’m gonna call him right now, thanks, Kageyama! You really are the best!”
Kageyama watches Bokuto pop to his feet and flounce out of the locker room, then looks at Hinata in confusion. “Seriously, what is up with your friends? They’re so weird.”
“I told you, they just like you,” Hinata says, smiling. “That’s not weird.”
“It is when it’s them.”
Hinata laughs and wraps his arms around Kageyama’s middle. “This coming from the guy who was afraid to tell them no a month ago.”
“I wasn’t afraid,” Kageyama grumbles, returning the embrace.
“Uh-huh, sure.”
“Whatever. They were your teammates, you could have told them no too.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Yeah huh.”
Hinata pinches Kageyama’s side and he swears, jerking away. Kageyama is right, of course—Hinata had the same thought when he’d been yelling at his teammates a month ago—but he can’t let his boyfriend know that they’re equally at fault. He’s planning on holding this over Kageyama’s head for as long as he can. He’s already got him to do the dishes for him twice by mentioning it and he’s pretty sure it’ll work for at least another couple weeks, after which Kageyama will undoubtedly get sick of hearing about it and threaten to never toss to Hinata again if he keeps bringing it up.
That’s a problem for future him.
“It doesn’t matter,” Hinata dismisses, easily dodging the fingers Kageyama tries to jam into his side in retaliation. “Now they won’t be so pushy. You’re all mine again.”
Kageyama rolls eyes. “Idiot. I’ve been all yours since we were fifteen, your crazy teammates didn’t change that.”
He turns back to his locker to continue packing away his stuff like he didn’t just say the most romantic thing in the history of the world and leave Hinata seconds away from cardiac arrest.
“Go out with me,” Hinata blurts.
Kageyama stops packing his bag and looks at him, confused. “Huh?”
“Go out with me,” Hinata repeats, calmer this time. “On a date.”
The corner of Kageyama’s mouth curls into a smirk. “Just the two of us?”
“Yes,” he whines impatiently. “C’mon, we can do anything you want.”
Kageyama looks him up and down, checking him out. “What if I just want to take you home?”
God, the look on his face combined with the word home—the reminder that there’s a space they share now, a space that’s theirs—sparks heat in Hinata’s gut. But he won’t let it distract him. They’ve been so busy with the move and the start of the season that, despite finally getting his friends off their back, he still hasn’t been able to go on a date with Kageyama. He needs to change that immediately.
“Date first, sex later,” Hinata insists. He hopes Kageyama doesn’t push it because he knows he would crumble embarrassingly fast.
“Alright. Buy me dinner.”
Hinata takes his hand, leading him out of the locker room. Tonight, they’ll go out to dinner where Kageyama will speak far too little and Hinata will speak far too much, the two of them always managing to balance each other out with ease. For now, it’s quiet between them—the kind of quiet that’s born of familiarity and comfort.
Hinata smiles. Silence has never sounded so beautiful.