Chapter Text
Hinata looked into an ice cream stall they happened to pass by.
“This wasn’t here before.” he said, flipping through the menu at the front of the store.
“It seems this store only just started business a few days ago.” Kageyama told him. “Want to have a try?”
“Sure!” the smaller boy jumped for joy and pumped his fists into the air. He sure liked sweets.
Kageyama and Hinata had been going out on dates again, like they used to. On this Saturday afternoon they were taking a walk after training and lunch.
I wonder what the Great king is doing, Hinata thought to himself. They hadn’t contacted each other for a while now, even though they had exchanged numbers. He shook the thought away and went to look for a seat as Kageyama ordered some desserts for the both of them. A satisfied sigh escaped his lips as he sat down after a long day of training and walking. And desserts with Kageyama on top of it! That was great.
Soon Kageyama came back with a large plate of ice cream on waffles, that had all the flavours that Hinata liked- Kageyama made sure to remember them, even if it took up the space in his brain for remembering English words.
“Sweet!” Hinata exclaimed. “Thanks, Kageyama! Let’s dig in.”
Happy to see his companion enjoying himself, Kageyama smiled. Although he had only taken a few mouthfuls of ice cream before his phone rang- a call from Kunimi, which Hinata noticed.
“Sorry, I have to pick this up.” he said, to which Hinata nodded.
Ever since he found out that Kunimi was his boyfriend’s ex, it’s made him just a little more wary. But Kageyama said he was just a friend, and it wasn’t like there weren’t people who retained a close platonic friendship after they broke up, right? Hinata wanted to try and be a more liberal, understanding partner who could support Kageyama and not hurt him again.
Besides, this was just a phone call, he didn’t want to over react.
He couldn’t make out the muffled voice from the other side of the phone, but Hinata noticed that Kageyama was visibly distressed.
“What!?” The setter’s voice was raspy. “Calm down, it’s okay. I’ll come over now.” he hung up and turned to Hinata, “Hinata, I’m really sorry, something urgent came up, I have to go.”
What now?
“Kunimi again?” Hinata could feel his heart sink down despite his attempts to brush it off.
This wasn’t the first time Kageyama suddenly had to leave because of something urgent, though before this Hinata didn’t know what or who it was about, since all Kageyama said was something along the lines of having to tend to ‘family problems’. And he didn’t pry further into it, because the term ‘family problems’ alone carried an unspoken hint of confidentiality and sensitive topics that he shouldn’t talk about carelessly.
“So those times when you had to leave so urgently, were they all because of Kunimi?” he asked, a little afraid to hear the answer.
Kageyama’s eyes widened, then looked down apologetically. “Kunimi only has me, Hinata. He doesn’t have anyone else to rely on.”
Hinata watched as his boyfriend left the scene, leaving him with the dessert that was too large a portion for one person to finish.
Then what about me?
Was it because Hinata was the bright sunshine boy that had many friends who loved and adored him? Because he’s not a loner, it’s okay if he leaves Hinata alone? But yet the person whose attention he wanted so much more than his mass of friends was not looking at him.
Strangely enough, he imagined how nice it would be if Oikawa suddenly turned up and shared it with him. Oikawa loved sweets, he’d definitely be overjoyed, teasing Hinata and feeding him ice cream as if he was a child. That would never happen now, though.
He doesn’t have anyone else but you? Hinata thought about what Kageyama said, feeling skeptical.
Figuring there was nothing he could do about it, he continued eating his dessert while scrolling through social media to take his mind off Kageyama.
There was a video posted by Nishinoya of shirtless Tanaka doing handstands, which he laughed at; Yachi went shopping with Kiyoko and bought some new clothes.
Then there were some pictures posted by Oikawa, selfies of him and a girl. They seemed to be having fun. “Fun day out with Amy-chan!” was the caption, followed by heart emojis. Great to see that he was fine and enjoying himself, Hinata thought. He read through some of the comments and laughed to himself.
Matsukawa commented “And here we were wondering where you had gone for the past few weeks, so you were ditching us for girls.”, to which Iwaizumi replied “Why are you surprised, it’s trashykawa”.
Oikawa has great friends.
Besides that, he was really popular, so he’d probably have anyone he wanted.
That Sunday morning, the spacious sports shop was empty except for a few customers. Hinata had gone there to get a new bottle, and take a look at some shoes and equipment since he was already there.
“Wow, these look good…” he mumbled to himself as a pair of red and black volleyball shoes caught his eye. “Eek!” He squawked with a horrified face when he saw the price tag. Next time , he told himself. When he’d saved up enough.
“That’d be 23 bucks.”
“Here it is, keep the change.”
“Thank you and come again!”
Hinata’s ears perked up as he heard a familiar voice. He turned his head over, it was none other than Kunimi Akira, the source of all his misunderstandings, paying for his things and just about to leave.
“Kunimi!” He shouted across the store, pointing a finger comically at the man as if he were a detective spotting his target. “-san.”
Kunimi raised an eyebrow, not impressed at the racket he caused. Thankfully the store wasn’t crowded today, otherwise it would have been worse. He turned to the door, pretending he didn’t know Hinata.
“Wait!!” the small boy was already beside him, grabbing his wrist, surprising Kunimi with how quick he was on his feet.
“What do you want?” Kunimi’s brow twitched, not pleased at the idea of entertaining this child. He’s the one that Kageyama’s dating now, isn’t he.
Hinata’s face turned red. He’d gone and grabbed his hand without thinking. The only thing that filled his mind was that this was Kunimi, the guy that has been taking way too much of his boyfriend's time than he was comfortable with. He wanted to get to the bottom of this case.
“Can we talk for a moment?” He tried to think of something to say.
“Why?”
“Please? It’s about Kageyama.”
In the end, Kunimi gave in and they found themselves at the local cafe that was one of Kunimi’s favourites. He was going to have lunch anyway, so he let Hinata tag along.
“Why aren’t you with Kageyama?” He started the conversation.
“He’s busy today. With his family.”
I already knew that , Kunimi thought to himself, but didn’t show it.
“Kunimi-san!” Hinata started, his voice a little louder than what Kunimi was comfortable with, making him frown. “Can you tell me more about Kageyama?”
There’s a silence between them as Kunimi pressed his lips into a thin line.
“What you want to know is about my relationship with him, isn’t it.” he held back the urge to roll his eyes. Karasuno’s little spiker was too easy to figure out. Nevertheless, it caused an embarrassed flush on Hinata’s face.
“We’re friends. And I don’t intend to be anything more than friends with him, so don’t worry.”
Hinata heaved a sigh of relief, though he was still doubtful. They seemed really close. Would friends ever be that close? Maybe it’s because they used to be lovers?
“Were you happy when you were dating Kageyama?”
“Huh?” It was the first time someone had asked him this sort of question, so he was taken aback. Everyone, especially his closer peers, spoke about his relationship encircling what they thought was good for him- stay away from Kageyama, he’s not good for you- as if he couldn’t think for himself. How ironic it was that Kageyama’s new lover was the only one to care about how he felt.
Then, was he happy? He somewhat was. If it was only Kageyama and him in this whole world, he would have been very happy. But with the people around them, happiness was but a dream.
“It’s hard to say…”
“Then why did you break up?” Hinata shot another question before the previous one could be answered properly, irritating the other male. “Sorry, I know you might not be comfortable talking about this...I was just really curious.”
Kunimi sighed, waving his hand casually. That wasn’t why he was annoyed. It was a combination of Hinata disrupting him from his otherwise normal and peaceful day, being too loud, and shooting questions one after another before he could answer.
“It’s alright, I don’t really care anyway. I’ll tell you.” And so, he had Hinata’s full attention, who listened intently. It was also the first time Kunimi was talking about this to anyone at all.
“We dated in middle school, if you still didn’t know that. We were relatively happy in the beginning, till he turned into the egoistic king that he was. On the court, it was annoying, but I didn’t believe it was something that should affect our personal relationships. The others didn’t feel the same way though.”
“They all started hating Kageyama?” Hinata asked.
“Yes, on and off the court, they detest him. Till they stopped listening to him completely. He became an outcast.” Before Hinata could ask what that has got to do with their relationship, he continued “My friends, who used to be his friends too, turned against him. They started telling me to leave him, that he wasn’t worth my time, he wasn’t good for me, he has no future, he’ll throw me away eventually.”
“And that’s what he did? Throw you away?” the little crow asked, innocently. He remembered Oikawa saying that it was Kageyama who chose to end things even though Kunimi held on when people tried to convince him to break up.
“That’s what they all like to think.” he sighed. “When the truth was that he did it for me.”
Hinata blinked. The waiter brought them their orders, both were varieties of creamy pasta, and came with a glass of soda. He slurped as quietly as he could while listening to the other boy.
“Do you know how bad it feels, Hinata? To love someone that everyone else rejects?”
Hinata couldn’t say he knew.
“I was ready to give up everything for him. All my friends and family that were close to me, none of them mattered in comparison to Kageyama. I would have gone along with Kageyama, even if it meant that my family would disown me and my friends would leave me, with just us against the world.”
That was a very bold statement, demonstrating Kunimi’s resolve and dedication. Hinata never expected him to be this sort of guy, such a romantic. After all, Kunimi seemed like a rather laid back person who went with the flow of things.
“Then why…?” baffled, Hinata was.
“Are you stupid?” The calm and composed Kunimi almost snapped. “It was all for my sake. With every passing day, it wore me down. I was crumbling under the stress of it all. Kageyama didn’t want me to lose everything I had because of him, between himself and the world, he decided on his own that I should keep the world. He felt that he wasn’t worth sacrificing my close friends and family for, so he ended things, to make everyone happy, and to protect me. In the end, he gave me everyone, while he was left with no one.”
He doesn’t have anyone but me. Hinata was reminded of what Kageyama said the last time he left for Kunimi, but it was Kageyama who doesn’t have anyone, isn’t it? This had turned out to be a complicated situation than he’d initially thought.
Kunimi continued after pausing for a while. “Of course, he didn’t tell me that. When he broke up with me, he said he simply wasn’t interested anymore. So that I’d hate him, move on, and forget about him. What kind of idiot wouldn’t notice that?”
Maybe idiots like Hinata would have fallen for it, but Kunimi as an intellectual type saw through it instantly.
“Now, you’ll be free, Kunimi” Kageyama had said to him back then, when they broke up.
“Then what did you do? Why didn’t you just tell him your feelings?” said Hinata, slightly worked up and emotional from the story he heard.
“He’d already made up his mind. This was what he wanted for me, and for him, so I respected it.” he thought for a moment, then said “If you’re wondering why we’re still so close, I was quite emotionally dependent on him because he was the only one who knew about my family problems, even after we broke up. That’s why.” He looked a little pained as he said, but quickly reverted back to his usual cold expression.
Hinata thought, that must be what Kagayama meant when he said Kunimi only had him to rely on. Kageyama must’ve wanted to give him the world in exchange for himself, even though Kunimi would have been alone in the world without Kageyama by his side. What an idiot.
Kunimi made it a point not to mention Iwaizumi, knowing that Kageyama wouldn’t be comfortable with Hinata knowing about it. It gave him a bit of a trauma, after all. When he’s ready, he can tell Hinata about it himself.
Meanwhile the little redhead was starting to feel guilty about doubting Kageyama all this while. People hated him so much, talked trash about him, yet deep down he was just someone who didn’t know how to express himself, wishing for the happiness of his loved ones. The emotions were welling up in Hinata.
“Hey, don’t cry here!” Kunimi snapped at him.
“Kageyama is such a great guy…” it came out on a shaky voice, with Hinata comically wiping his tears after hearing a touching story. “So he still likes you, doesn’t he?”
“He’s not the type to cheat on you, so trust him.” he sighed. “Like I said, I have no intention of being anything more than friends with him, so please rest assured.”
For Hinata, the pieces started to fit together.
No wonder, Kageyama had been so antisocial and depressed when he first came to Karasuno. Awkward and unwilling to interact with others, not even able to respond to a normal hi five. At first he thought Kageyama was just the extremely egoistic and lone wolf type, but there were times when their teammates tried to get closer, only to be stopped by this unbreakable wall that surrounded Kageyama’s heart, separating them from his inner self. As if he were afraid.
“At the very least,” said Kunimi, “He’ll be happy with you by his side”
With you, not me. Kageyama has since changed a lot since his middle school days, from being a dictator to actually compromising with his teammates. Meeting Hinata had changed his life positively. Kunimi was sure he loved Hinata with all his heart. He’ll be fine now, with this hot-headed crow by his side.
“Then, I’ll leave Kageyama to you. Take care of him, okay?”
“Ah?” Hinata’s hand was reached out as if he wanted to grab his elbow to stop him, but Kunimi had already stood up and left.
Left on his own, Hinata thought in silence, among the ambient sounds of cafe music, people chattering, clinking of cutlery, and cars passing by outside. He tried to organise his thoughts and grasp all these feelings that were inside him. He felt sorry for Kageyama, sorry that he doubted him like everyone else, sorry that Kageyama had to go through all these. Sorry that he had asked Kageyama out when he was still in love with somebody else, although he couldn’t have known. They still like each other, but they can’t be together. Is that what this was about?
He thought that as long as two people loved each other and wanted to be together, it was a guaranteed happy ending. Who knew that love wasn’t so simple?
He stared blankly out of the window. People were walking on the pavement, birds were flying and chirping, the sun was shining, bringing warmth to this cold winter. Then, he saw a familiar face- Oikawa. Brown hair and bright eyes of a matching colour, beautiful smile, dressed casually in a warm sweater and trousers. Beside him was an attractive girl, the both of them were chatting and flirting happily, not noticing Hinata’s stare as they walked by.
Hinata felt his heart sink all of a sudden. “I’m happy that the Great king is moving on and doing well!” He whispered to himself. Looking at his reflection in the window, he forced a smile on his dead expression.