Chapter Text
When he opened his eyes, the pale wisps of dawn were just creeping over the horizon, slowly lighting up his room.
What time is it? Kageyama instinctively turned to the right to check the time on his digital clock, but almost jumped when he saw a bright head of fluffy orange hair beside him.
Oh, last night. He sat and thought for a moment, still fuddled by the deep sleep that tried to cling to him. That's when he remembered the kiss, and his face turned almost as red as Hinata's hair. Oh. Last night. He smiled to himself, kind of like a giddy child. The prospect that Hinata actually liked him back completely amazed Kageyama.
Hinata's hair was floofier and messier than he had ever seen it, and that was saying something. Kageyama had always assumed that Hinata came to school with bedhead every morning, but clearly it couldn't be helped.
Without thinking, Kageyama reached out an felt his hair gently. So soft, he thought as he twirled a tuft between his fingers.
"Hmm," Hinata whined softly and Kageyama immediately retracted.
"Are you okay?" Kageyama whispered, but the boy before him was still asleep. Hinata started to shift and moan softly in his sleep, with a pained expression on his face. He was whispering something, but Kageyama couldn't make it out.
"Hey," he said a little louder. "Are you okay?" He softly grabbed Hinata's shoulder to shake him awake.
Immediately, Hinata yelped and swung around, smacking Kageyama in the face. "Don't touch me!"
"Ow ow ow, what the fuck Hinata-boke!!!" Kageyama covered his face with his hands as the stinging subsided.
"Oh, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Kageyama-san!" Hinata sat up on the bed and looked down at Kageyama until he slowly pulled his hands away from his face. His face adopted a new look of horror. "AH! Kageyama!! I'm so so so so sorry!" Tears we're almost coming to his eyes.
Kageyama sat up, confused. "Chill out, you didn't hit me that hard."
Hinata pulled his hands down from his face. "B-but, your face, I think I, I think I bruised it." Unfallen tears sparkled in the corners of his big brown eyes.
That's when Kageyama saw it, too. Deep purple bruises on Hinata's face. There was a bad one on his right cheek and another on his opposite cheekbone. Wordlessly, he stood and walked to the mirror, Hinata following.
He got angrier and angrier staring at his reflection, remembering the horrors of last night. You could see clearly on his neck where Oikawa had tried to strangle him, as well as a gross blueish bruise on his chin and lower cheek.
Silence filled the room as they stared at their reflections, but a million things were passing through their minds, so complex and painful that they could never be articulated.
Without knowing what else to do, Kageyama pulled Hinata into a hug, and his tears finally began to fall. He didn't make any noise except quiet sniffs as his shoulders shook with silent sobs.
They stood there for a long time, swaying softly, when Hinata finally pulled his head off of Kageyama's chest, smiling bleakly. "Ah, sorry." Kageyama's shirt was soaked in tears, and maybe even some snot.
"Nice going, boke," Kageyama shot playfully but gently as the embrace ended. He walked past Hinata and pulled off his shirt, throwing it into a hamper and extracting his volleyball jersey.
"Oh, crap," Hinata slipped under his breath. Kageyama turned and looked at him questioningly. "My jersey's at my house."
"It's 5:00 now, and we don't have to be at the bus until 7:30." Kageyama stated as he continued to dress.
"But my house is really far away.." Hinata looked at the ground.
"It's no problem, I bet I can bike there faster than you anyways."
"Uh, no way." Hinata shot back with a competitive bite.
"Watch me," Kageyama turned on his heel and raced out of the room. Hinata followed, wondering how the heck Kag's parents hadn't woken up yet.
Kageyama was already putting his shoes on in the entryway while hinata slid down the hallway in Kageyama's overlarge socks. "Wait, wait, wait! I'm still wearing your clothes!"
"It's okay. I already put your other stuff in the wash, so you can just wear those until we get to your house."
"Oh, okay." Hinata crouched down to tie his shoes and winced.
"Hey, are you okay?" Kageyama knew that Hinata had taken a much worse beating than he had. "Are you going to be able to play?"
Hinata stood quickly, any sign of pain washed from his face. "I'm fine. Let's go." He marched out the front door to his bike and kicked the kickstand up.
"I know you're hurt, Hinata," Kageyama said quietly. "Just let me ride us there."
Hinata pouted. He felt like a scolded child, and he hated that, but he also knew that riding up the mountain would be hell like this. "Okay, but isn't two people on a bike illegal?"
"It's fine, there are no cops around this early." Kageyama leaned forward and patted the seat. "Come on, it'll be fine."
Kageyama stood above the bar in front of the seat while Hinata clambered on awkwardly. "Okay, grab my shoulders."
"Huh?"
"It's okay, just grab my shoulders."
Hinata warily reached up and put his hands onto Kageyama's shoulders. Although he didn't quite look it, Kageyama's arms were really defined. Hinata had never really noticed how broad his back was, either.
Hinata blushed gently. This was a side of Kageyama he'd never seen. He was confident, and very persuasive. Hinata had thought Kageyama completely lacked people skills, but for some reason, he felt strongly pulled to his words.
They started to ride, and Hinata almost lost his balance, gripping hard into the fabric of Kageyama's jacket. He leaned his face against his warm back. "So cool..."
They stopped suddenly and Hinata almost flew off. "Oh, SHIT!! Helmets!" Luckily they were only halfway down the block when he had noticed.
Hinata giggled quietly as Kageyama sprinted back down the road. Cool, but still dorky.
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When they finally arrived at Hinata's house, it was about 6:30.
Kageyama denied being tired at all despite his heavy breathing and sweating.
"Okay," Hinata whispered, "We've gotta be really quiet because my baby sister is still sleeping, an–"
"Good morning!" The door swung open and a tiny girl that basically looked like Hinata with pigtails stood before them. She sipped at a mug of coffee. "Who's that?"
"Hey, gimme that! It'll stunt your growth!" Hinata made a grab for the cup.
"He's right, you know," Kageyama added. "I mean, look what happened to him."
"HEY!!"
"Shhh," Natsu held her finger to her lips. "Mommy and Daddy are still asleep."
"Oh right." Hinata tiptoed through the house with his party in tow, up a pair of carpeted stairs and into a small room.
At the foot of his bed was his volleyball uniform, neatly folded and on display. Cute, Kageyama thought.
Hinata just shoved his supplies and uniform into his bag out of fear that they would be late.
Natsu and Kageyama shuffled out of the room as Hinata gathered himself, and then began to have a conversation of their own as they headed back to the entrance.
A few minutes later, Hinata walked out the door to see Kageyama setting up his bike.
"Why are you wearing your mom's helmet?"
"Because it's cool! What's wrong with that?"
"It's pink! Can I wear it?"
"No!" Kageyama stopped bickering with his partner's sister as he walked out the door. "Ready?"
"Yeah. Bye Natsu! You can see us on TV today!" He began to mount the bicycle.
"Wait! Why do you guys both have bruises on your faces?"
Hinata and Kageyama stood frozen. She was so sweet, so innocent. Telling her the truth would break her. "Did you guys have a fight or something?"
"Oh, um, yeah! Yeah, we did." Hinata looked at Kageyama quickly, who still looked dumbfounded.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that."
"You better be sorry," Natsu said, squaring up. "I'll beat you up if you hurt my brother!"
"Ah, definitely! Okay! Bye!" Kageyama sped off and Hinata had to cling onto his chest for dear life as they started the descent down the mountain.
"Hey, Kageyama, are you actually scared of my little sister?" Kageyama didn't say anything, so Hinata just assumed he couldn't hear him. He snuggled his head into Kageyama's back as they rode.
When they finally got into a downtown area, they had to hop off to avoid any trouble with the law enforcement. It was already 7:10 and they started to jog. Because of Kageyama's height, Hinata had to run twice as fast just to keep up with his stride.
"Ow, ow, Kageyama! Wait!" Hinata stopped suddenly and hunched over.
"What's wrong?" Kageyama doubled back to help him. He didn't necessarily know how to help Hinata, but he wanted to. He felt like a boyfriend should be protective. Were they even boyfriends? Silly questions swarmed in his head, blocking out the current situation.
"Kageyama! Earth to Kageyama!"
"Oh, sorry. What were you saying?"
Hinata shifted uncomfortably, looking at his shoes. "I almost forgot earlier, but everyone is gonna notice our injuries. What do we say?"
"Your sister thought we were in a fight, let's just go with that."
"Okay, that works." He looked satisfied, and they started walking again. "Oh, and Kageyama?"
"Yeah?"
Hinata got a scary look in his eye, the way he sometimes does. It made Kageyama shiver. "We can't tell anyone what happened. No one."
"Of course."