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“Do you like volleyball?” Hinata asks.
It's a bit of an odd question, considering the volleyball shoes clearly sticking out of his bag. It might also be an odd question because Hinata finds it hard to imagine playing volleyball and hating it. But if playing with Tsukishima has taught him anything it’s that sometimes playing a sport is more complicated than just liking it.
“It passes the time,” Kenma responds, tone indifferent.
Well that just won’t do, Hinata thinks, looking at the other boy.
He isn’t sure why - maybe it’s because they’re both short volleyball players and there's a certain kinship there, or maybe it’s because the other boy didn’t even raise an eyebrow in surprise when he heard Hinata say he was a middle blocker.
But Hinata likes him already, even though they only met a few minutes ago and Hinata doesn’t think they’ve made eye contact once. Hinata wants him to like playing volleyball, because playing volleyball is the best thing in the world and Hinata wants this strange boy to get to feel that.
They talk a bit more about volleyball, which is a subject Hinata always enjoys. The other boys responses are short and dry, but after three years in middle school without a volleyball team even those are more than enough for Hinata. Eventually they get interrupted by Kenma’s tall friend Kuroo and Kenma has to go, which makes Hinata wilt a bit.
When Kenma gets up to leave he finally looks at Hinata, and Hinata is taken aback by how pretty the other boys eyes are. Intense, too - he looks at Hinata like he’s examining him, which makes Hinata even more curious about him.
“See you later,” Kenma tells him.
Hinata tilts his head, confused - he ran into the other boy by chance, and it seems unlikely that they’d run into each other again, let alone soon. Still, there’s a surety to how the other boy says it, and Hinata finds himself matching it - whoever this boy is, he feels important. Hinata likes him, and he finds himself hoping they meet again soon.
~~
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
I STILL CANT BELIEVE YOURE NEKOMAS SETTER THATS SO CRAZY!!! AND YOU WERE SO GOOD LIKE DAMN!! YOU WERE JUST LIKE BOOM I ALREADY KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU NOW GET POWED!!! it was really cool!
(this is hinata from karasuno btw)
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
i guessed. its not really that unlikely considering we were in the same area for the match. and you were impressive as well. that combo attack with your setter is scary
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
still you have to admit its a weird coincidence! im glad it happened though, talking to you is fun. and thank you our quick IS really cool!! you countered it so fast though it was scary! we really thought we’d have some more time to use it but you put inuoka on me like that! it was so fun trying to get past him though and hes really cool so i forgive you. ah!!!! i cant wait to play another match against you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
im glad we ran into each other too. and another match would be a good chance to level up
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
like in a video game right? you were playing video games when we met as well are you really into them? do you have any volleyball ones? and im taking that as you looking forward to our next match by the way :)
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
i dont have any volleyball games, i get enough of that at practice. i dont really play those types of games anyway. and take it however you like
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
what types of games do you like to play then?
~~
Hinata learns a lot about Nekoma’s setter after that. He learns that Kenma’s favourite video games are the fantasy style ones, and his favourite console is the PlayStation he has at home. He learns that Kenma’s favourite food is apple pie, and he’s played volleyball since he was a kid but only joined a team in highschool, same as Hinata, although their reasons were very different. He learns that Kenma never sends a response with more than one word before nine am, even if he’s already awake for school.
More importantly than all of that, Hinata learns he really enjoys Kenma’s company. He likes how he has a total soft spot for cats, and always responds with uncharacteristic sweetness whenever Hinata sends him photos of cats he sees around. He likes how Kenma always complains that Tokyo is way lamer than Hinata thinks, but still sends him photos of the city when he asks. Hinata likes how Kenma claims to not even like volleyball that much, but still commits to it with everything he has.
Hinata knows that while he’s learning all these things about Kenma, Kenma is learning his own little facts about Hinata. He can basically see Kenma’s mind cataloguing things about him sometimes, in the same way he lists strengths and weaknesses when they watch a recorded volleyball match together on Kenma’s bed. Kenma remembers more about Hinata than even he himself does - sometimes when Hinata cant decide what to eat Kenma picks for him, and what he picks is delicious every time.
It makes Hinata feel all glowy inside, that he has a friend who knows him so well.
Hinata watches Kenma give him a rare smile as the older boy teaches Hinata how to play his new video game, feels something warm flutter in his stomach - and really hopes that Kenma knowing Hinata as much as Hinata likes feeling known by him
~~
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
and thats why you need to download undertale right now
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
ok i will! to be honest though it will probably take me a while to play it though coach ukai has amped up practice and it gets me so pumped i usually get distracted and play volleyball all day lmao
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
yeah i figured it would take a while cause of that, nw, just playing it now and then would be good though. i cant really talk about video games with my friends because they dont really care so it would be nice to talk about it with you
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
!!! i promise to play it every chance i get then!!
~~
Hinata thinks he really likes how Kenma watches him. Hinata is constantly getting overlooked, especially when it comes to volleyball - eyes skittering right over him, conversations happening over his head and competitors muttering eh, that’s their middle blocker?
Hinata knows it’s inevitable at this point, has even managed to turn it into a strength. And that moment when he and Kageyama pull off their first freak quick of the game, where all their opponents gape at him in surprise and Hinata shares a smug grin with the rest of his team - that thrill of battling with people he could never hope to reach off the court and flying higher than all of them? That soothes the sting of being overlooked pretty nicely.
Still, as much as Hinata has come to appreciate the positives of being overlooked, he still wants his time in the spotlight. Some part of him is still that kid watching the Little Giant and thinking that one day that’ll be him - the ace everyone is in awe of. He wants people to whisper as he walks by, he wants people to stare and move out of his way and say there goes the ace, see how cool he is? How good? That’s the one we’ve got to watch out for.
Kenma is always watching out for him. Hinata sees the way Kenma stares at him during practice matches, body still and eyes scarily focused on every single one of Hinata’s movements, and relishes it. Kenma thinks Hinata is something interesting, something dangerous, and it shows in the way Kenma - whose mind is always taking in every single thing on the court - focuses so much of his attention on the redhead.
It’s intense, and Hinata thinks that someone else might find it scary, the way Kenma stalks him like a cat does with a bird, ready to pounce the second it sees a hint of weakness. But Hinata thrives under it. He loves it - he always wanted attention, and Kenma’s bright eyes on him when he’s playing feel as warm as any spotlight.
~~
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
do you have any tapes of your match against date tech? coach and kuroo wont give me any and im too sick to get them on my own right now
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
kenma! they probably arent giving you any BECAUSE youre sick, am i right? youll just stay up and watch them all and get worse! and i cant give you the tapes because youre just gonna analyze them and learn all our weaknesses arent you! that basically counts as helping a rival team!
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
but i want to watch you play now
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
UGH! YOU CANT JUST SAY THAT! FINE! ill see what i can do
~~
“Oi! What’s this!” Kuroo says.
Hinata looks over at the older boy, who’s jogging over to where Hinata and Kenma are practicing.
“Kenma! Practicing! When it’s not completely necessary!” Kuroo exclaims.
“He made me,” Kenma says, pointing to Hinata with a long-suffering expression.
“It’s true, I did make him,” Hinata admits.
He’d been begging Kenma for the last fifteen minutes to toss to him, whining and pleading and pulling out all the stops. It took him equipping his patented puppy dog eyes - learned from Natsu, who had mastered them - before Kenma finally acquiesced. Kenma has now thrown to him exactly three times, and based off of his tired expression Hinata reckons he can get about two more before Kenma officially throws in the towel.
“Not just anyone can make Kenma exercise,” Kuroo says, raising his eyebrows at the younger boy.
Kenma rolls his eyes, mumbling something under his breath.
Kuroo moves closer and throws his arm around the younger boy, earning an even more annoyed expression.
“What was that?” Kuroo asks with a shit-eating grin.
“I said leave us alone,” Kenma says louder.
Hinata is about ninety percent sure he said something a lot meaner, but if Kenma starts one of his play-fights with Kuroo now Hinata will never get those last two tosses, so he stays quiet.
“What, so you can practice more with shorty over there?” Kuroo asks, and then loudly complains “You’re always so much more motivated with him around. Why can’t shorty come to Nekoma with us, huh?”
Kenma blushes at this, seeming embarrassed. Hinata wonders why, when it’s not as if Kenma’s fascination with him isn’t pretty obvious. Hinata knows he’s a bit oblivious, but c’mon. As if he could ever ignore how much Kenma stares at him when it makes Hinata feel all intense all over.
“Just piss off,” Kenma mutters, shrugging Kuroo’s arm off of his shoulder.
“Fine, I’ll go tell Daichi about my plan to kidnap his middle blocker,” Kuroo tells them, skipping off to do just that.
Hinata grins at the idea that Nekoma would want him, even if it is just a joke made by Kuroo because for some reason he thinks Daichi’s scary captain face and shouting are funny.
Sure enough, Hinata feels more than sees Daichi’s glare at Kuroo, followed up by Kuroo’s signature laughter. Hinata blanches at the idea of pissing Daichi off just for fun, and Kenma shakes his head at his childhood friend’s antics before they both turn back to each other.
“Can we go sit down now,” Kenma asks.
He sounds like a soldier begging for a reprieve from a long service on the frontlines, rather than a teenage boy throwing a ball at his friend.
“Just a few more,” Hinata wheedles, hands clasped in front of him like in prayer.
“Fine,” Kenma says, rolling his eyes at Hinata’s behaviour.
Hinata fist pumps, before readying himself to hit another spike.
~~
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
hey i was thinking do you really not practice setting a bunch with your team?? youre so good at it though
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
no. just with you.
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
im so lucky then :) thank you for tossing to me!
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
you basically made me, so
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
but you let me! and you had fun, right?
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
maybe. and it was only a few balls. how can that be fun?
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
you admit it! and youre saying just tossing was boring! so what about if it was a proper match! you would have fun then, right?
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
i admitted nothing. and we’ll see, won’t we?
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
im going to make sure you have fun at our match at nationals together!! mark my words!!!
~~
When Hinata breaks out of his cage and flies during Nationals, he feels Kenma’s eyes on him, and he grins.
During this match he had felt more exposed under that gaze than ever before, like a specimen splayed out on an autopsy table about to be vivisection. Kenma during games had always had a feeling of threat to him but Hinata hadn’t been prepared for exactly how scary he would be. Kenma watching him went from making him feel warm to freezing him to his core, and Hinata had almost crumbled under the pressure. Almost worse than disappointing his team was the feeling of letting down Kenma. Hinata looked at the other boy, hoping and praying for a look of victory, or even apology.
Instead he saw the fire in Kenma’s eyes, which had made them look so bright, slowly going out as he looked away from Hinata with something like disappointment.
But then Hinata flew, and as he landed he turned to look at Kenma with triumph. Kenma didn’t look disappointed that his plan hadn’t worked, or angry at Hinata for scoring - his eyes were wide with surprise and something like wonder, two looks that Hinata always cherished on him. Seeing that look on him was almost as good as the thrill of scoring.
We’re not done with each other yet, Hinata thought, relief thrumming through his veins.
~~
To: Kenma
From: Hinata
I TOLD YOU YOU WOULD HAVE FUN
To: Hinata
From: Kenma
you did. thank you. you better win nationals now
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
you know we will!!!!
~~
Hinata doesn’t think he’s ever felt worse than when he has to leave the game against Kamomedai. He’s on fire all over, legs shaking and palms more than sore. Now that he’s off of the court, he can feel the prickling pain throughout his body, which has gone far beyond the usual burn he enjoys and has him gritting his teeth with every step. Worst of all is the stinging in his eyes as he tries to push down the tears he can feel welling there.
When Hinata sees Kenma coming towards him, ipad in hand, he almost lets those tears spill over. Kenma had watched him come off of the court and as always had known exactly what he’d been thinking - that there was no way he could leave without knowing the outcome of this game.
There’s been something electric between Kenma and him since their national game. But Hinata doesn’t have the time to acknowledge it right now. Kenma knows that too, and hands him his ipad with the livestream playing with a simple nod and a muttered get better soon .
Hinata nods back at him, hands holding the ipad like it’s something infinitely precious because right now it is. It’s Hinata’s lifeline and only chance at watching his team finish this match.
Yachi urges him away with a gentle hands on his elbow and Hinata can feel Kenma’s eyes on him as he goes - but turning back to meet them would mean looking away from his teammates, and he’s not sure he can manage that right now.
(If he’s being honest, he’s not sure he could meet them regardless - he thinks of the message he sent to Kenma between matches, that promise to win Nationals, and burns with shame.)
So Hinata doesn’t look back. He moves forward, and promises himself he’ll thank Kenma as soon as he can.
~~
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
i can recommend some good medicines for helping with the fever, ive tried all of them at this point
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
i would appreciate that kenma :) would love some advice from the master
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
i honestly cant tell if youre making fun of me by calling me the master or if youre being genuine
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
i would never make fun of you! especially not that i know how much these fevers suck anyway :( you do this after every game??
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
the harder ones, yeah
To: Kenma
From: Hinata
eugh no wonder you complain all the time!
To: Hinata
From: Kenma
yeah :/ you finally understand my suffering. maybe now you wont force me to practice with you as much
To: Kenma
From: Hinata
oh i am absolutely just going to make you practice harder now!! so you can last even longer next time we fight each other!
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
you really arent going to let this slow you down at all, huh
From: Hinata
To: Kenma
of course not! im going to stay longer on the court if it kills me!
From: Kenma
To: Hinata
good
~~
“You’re going to get a brain freeze if you don’t slow down,” Kenma warns him dryly.
Hinata pauses in demolishing his slushie to look at his friend. He hadn’t really noticed, but sure enough Kenma’s drink has barely been touched, whereas Hinata was almost done with his.
“Oops,” Hinata says, embarrassed.
“It’s fine. Just didn’t want you texting me complaining about a headache on the train back,” Kenma tells him.
Hinata wilts at the reminder that their hangout was almost over. They hadn’t been able to see each other for over a month after Nationals despite the gaping holes in their schedules now that volleyball season was officially over. Hinata had thrown himself fully into his new training regime, Kenma had taken advantage of the reduced practices to play a whole slew of video games he had been missing out on, and both had been distracted by the final push of exams for the year.
But finally they’d had time to hang out, with Hinata making the long trek up to Tokyo for a sleepover at Kenma’s house.
Hinata is concentrating on drinking what remains of his slushie at an appropriate rate when Kenma interrupts his focus
“Hey, Shoyo - no hard feelings about the Nationals match, right?” Kenma asks abruptly.
“What?” Hinata says, confused, “We’re the ones that won, remember?”
“No, I know that,” Kenma says, frowning, “I meant about the whole - caging you in, thing.”
This almost confuses Hinata more.
“Of course not? It was our official match, I hardly expected you to go easy on us, and it was good strategy,” Hinata assures.
At this, Kenma smiles - one of his full, catlike grins that always make Hinata’s heart flutter in his chest.
“That’s what I thought you’d say - but Kuroo said I should ask just in case.” Kenma says.
The way that he’s looking at Shoyo - it’s not softer than how he usually watches him, exactly, but there’s an element to it that is at once foreign and achingly familiar. Something about it makes Hinata flush, and he turns his attention back to his slushie before Kenma can notice.
(Except, Hinata is sure he already has. Kenma seems to notice everything about him).
Ever since the official Karasuno vs Nekoma match Hinata had felt a shift in their friendship, though he couldn’t name it even if another shot at Nationals was on the line. He’d felt closer to the other boy, and he was almost certain Kenma felt it too. They seemed to text even more often, and Hinata found himself smiling even larger each time he saw the notification. Hinata found himself rewatching their game with alarming frequency. And most embarrassingly of all, the look on Kenma’s face when he watched Hinata score during Nationals kept coming back to Hinata at strange moments, making him trip over himself - almost into a lamppost, one on particularly memorable occasion.
Over text the shift had been easier to ignore, but during their time together it had been almost impossible. That feeling of waiting for something had only intensified, leaving Hinata feeling like he was holding his breath every time he and Kenma so much as made eye contact.
But whatever Hinata had been waiting for hadn’t happened, leaving him feeling unbalanced as he walked back to the train station with Kenma.
Hinata turns his head to sneak a look at the very boy he was thinking about, only to realise that while he’d been lost in his head Kenma had stopped a few steps behind.
“Kenma?” Hinata asks, wondering why he fell behind.
Kenma looks back at Hinata briefly, before letting his gaze drop back to his shoes in a way that’s reminiscent of their first time meeting each other. He looks strange - nervous, and Hinata is abruptly worried for his friend.
“I promised Kuroo I would do this next time I saw you, I bet my new game on it,” Kenma explains - except it isn’t an explanation at all, because Hinata still doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
“It must be pretty serious then,” Hinata points out, because confusion or not he knows how much Kenma’s games matter to him.
“I’m almost certain you feel the same. It would make very little sense if you didn’t. Especially with-” Kenma starts, breaking off before clearing his throat and trying again, “With how you look at me sometimes.”
Hinata feels himself flush again at that. He’d known that Kenma had been watching him - he hadn’t quite realised Kenma had seen him watching back.
“Feel the same about what,” Hinata asks, intensely curious.
That feeling he’s had all weekend is ballooning up in his chest, fit to burst - he’s sure whatever Kenma is about to tell him is important, maybe the answer to whatever question was sparked on that court all those weeks ago. Hinata is desperate to know it.
Kenma takes a deep breath, which seems to calm him somewhat. He finally looks back up from his shoes at Hinata, and Hinata feels his breath catch at whatever he sees there.
“I like you,” Kenma says, “Romantically.”
And the balloon in Hinata’s chest bursts, sending Hinata reeling.
“You like me?” Hinata exclaims wonderingly.
Kenma blushes at this.
“That’s what I just said,” Kenma mutters.
He’s drawing back in on himself, seeming to take Hinata’s reaction as a bad sign. Eyes drop back to beat-up sneakers, and Hinata feels something in his stomach drop with them.
Hinata should be surprised right now. His best friend just confessed his feelings for him - romantic feelings! So Hinata wonders why he feels so - calm. Or maybe calm isn’t the right word - there are about a million butterflies fluttering in his stomach right now. But he really doesn’t feel surprised.
It feels like Hinata’s been a decoy the whole match, doing feint after feint, and he’s finally been set the ball. It feels like jumping off a cliff, and finally hitting the ocean below.
Hinata thinks about the burst of excitement in his chest whenever he opens his phone and sees a text from Kenma. He thinks about the fluttering in his stomach when Kenma remembers something about him, anything from his jump height to his favourite flavour of ice cream. He thinks about how much he likes it when Kenma looks at him, even when it’s with that analyzing gaze that Tanaka has called downright creepy several times.
Hinata thinks about the pull he’s felt from the other boy since their first coincidental meeting. The thrill he’d felt when Kenma admitted to having fun at their national game, the satisfaction from knowing he was part of that fun, that burning desire to make sure Kenma never looked away from him again.
Oh, Hinata thinks, that’s what those feelings are.
Hinata had known that he and Kenma were drawn to each other - not the inescapable pull Hinata felt with volleyball, but the simple, unavoidable desire to be around the other. He just hadn’t known that feeling was love until now.
Maybe Hinata was that oblivious after all.
“You like me,” Hinata says aloud, testing how it feels.
“You don’t need to repeat it,” Kenma mumbles, clearly embarrassed.
“I like you too!” Hinata says, beaming.
Kenma looks back up at him at this, a mixture of surprise and satisfaction painting his features.
“We like each other!” Hinata exclaims again, excited by the prospect.
“We do,” Kenma agrees, wonderingly.
He’s got the biggest smile Hinata has ever seen on him, and Hinata can feel his cheeks hurt as his own grin tries to match it.
Suddenly, Hinata gasps as he realizes something.
“Does this mean we’re boyfriends now?” Hinata asks.
Kenma blushes even more at this - but it can't hide the pleasure evident on his face.
“If you want,” Kenma tells him.
“YES!” Hinata shouts, jumping in the air in excitement.
Kenma is shaking his head at him when he lands - but there’s a fondness in it that Hinata can now gleefully label as romantic (!) affection.
“I got a boyfriend first on the whole team!” Hinata says, immediately scheming ways he can rub this in Kageyama’s face.
“Kageyama is going to be very annoyed,” Kenma agrees, bemused.
He’s already fulfilling the vital boyfriend obligation of supporting all Hinata’s competitive endeavours. Hinata finds himself with a compulsion to grab a hold of Kenma and not let go.
He does just that, launching himself at Kenma in a hug that makes Kenma’s face heat up and Hinata’s heart glow so warm he wonders how he could have ever not known he loved Kenma.
“Wait,” Hinata realizes, “We could have been doing this the whole trip!”
He pulls away from Kenma to glare at the older boy, who - going off of his suffering expression - is making a similar realization.
“I did it at the end because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable if I was wrong-” Kenma begins to explain.
“Well that was dumb,” Hinata interrupts, ignoring the affectionate eye-roll he gets from Kenma, “Just do it early next time so we can spend more time together,”
“I probably won’t confess to you another time,” Kenma points out.
This makes Hinata irrationally deflate a little - getting confessed to is pretty fun, it turns out.
“But now that we know - the next time you come up here, we can go on a date. Or something,” Kenma offers, stumbling over his words a little.
It’s clear that romance isn’t his strong suit, but Hinata can’t find it within himself to care. Not when Kenma just promised him a date the next time Hinata comes to Tokyo.
“Next time!” Hinata repeats, excited.
“Next time,” Kenma affirms, smiling.
Hinata can’t wait.
~~
To: Kenma
From: Hinata
got on the train with plenty of time! smart of you to make us leave early so we had time for confessions - my boyfriend is so smart!
To: Hinata
From: Kenma
of course, wouldn’t want you to miss it. my boyfriend is cool too, dont forget. get home safe.
To: Kenma
From: Hinata
!!!!!!!!! thank you <3<3<3 will do!!!!!
To: Hinata
From: Kenma
<3