Work Text:
"So what you're telling me is," Oikawa said, "Not only are red strings of fate real, but there's other colors and they all stand for different types of love?"
"Yeah," Hinata said, taking a swig of his drink. "...you believe me, right?"
He bit his lip, waiting for Oikawa to jeer or laugh at him or call him crazy.
Oikawa surveyed him carefully, tilting his head to one side. "Yeah. I do."
Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. "I guess I should've known the guy who thinks aliens exist would believe me," he grins and nudges him.
"Aliens are real! There's so much evidence--but never mind that, tell me...how does it work? Can you see any strings right now?"
Hinata nodded, glancing around the bar. With his mysterious power inherited from his mom's side of the family, he could see colored strings connecting people in the room. "I can see them when the two people are in the same area. We're surrounded by them."
"So, who are the soulmates in this room?" Oikawa leans in, his elbow touching Hinata’s arm.
"It's not just soulmates. Everyone has a whole bunch. Because you can love more than one person, and in different ways. For example, orange strings are for platonic love, what the Greeks used to call it philia. The kind of bond between brothers-in-arms." He glanced around the room. "There aren't that many in this room, but you should see what it looks like on the court. Orange EVERYWHERE."
"That sounds distracting."
"It is! Like you'll be about to serve and then you notice that Yaku and Nishinoya's string that used to be orange turned red and you're like "ahhhh!"
"Is that why you flub your serves all the time?"
"I do not."
"I'm kidding," Oikawa said. "It's amazing that you manage to concentrate with so much going on, Shouyou." He looked sincerely impressed.
Hinata blushed under his friend's intense gaze. "I'm used to it."
"So, what about the other types of love?"
"Well...there's green for family. Storge. That's usually like, your parents or siblings. But you and Iwaizumi-san have a green thread, too."
"Makes sense. Iwa-chan is like my brother," Oikawa paused. "Or at least a really annoying second cousin who shows up at your house uninvited and eats all your cereal."
Hinata laughs.
"So what about...yellow?"
"That's pragma. It's hard to explain, it's like...deeper than orange. It's like, mature and practical. Daichi and Suga have a yellow bond."
"Ah, so kind of like a married couple."
"Yeah. A lot of old couples have yellow, like my parents," Hinata said. "But...a couple like that..." He nodded towards the two women accross the counter who were practically sucking each other's faces off, "...their string is red."
"Oh, let me guess," said Oikawa. "Eros."
Hinata gaped. "How did you know?"
"Everyone knows eros," Oikawa said.
"Yeah."
"How about...blue?"
"Ludus. Playful, flirtatious love."
"Hmmm...pink?"
"True love," Hinata said, sitting up straight. "More than lust."
Oikawa leaned towards him, his knee touching Hinata’s. "And what color is our thread?"
Hinata could not breathe. He was close, so close that Hinata could smell his scent. The dim light of the bar made the gleam in his eyes all the more noticeable. Hinata glances down at their hands, at the few centimeters of scarlet thread between their pinkies. Originally orange, the string had now gone red though neither of them had acted on it past small glances and flirtations.
The thing was, he wasn't the only one with a red(ish) thread connecting him to Oikawa.
"Orange," he said, swallowing. His eyes were cast down, staring at his hand. "It's orange."
Oikawa frowns. "Orange? But I thought...never mind." He moved his leg away from Hinata so that their knees were no longer touching. "I guess I read the signs wrong."
No, you didn't.
Hinata gulped. "Y-You know who does have a red string?"
"...who?" Oikawa said, putting on a false veneer that concealed his disappointment.
"You and Kageyama."
Oikawa's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. Well, more like maroon but close enough. It used to be purple."
"Purple?"
"Mania. An obsessive love that sometimes manifests as hate. I'd never seen a purple thread before I saw yours."
"...hate is a form of love?"
"Kinda."
"Isn't it more like the opposite of love?"
"No, the opposite of love is apathy. Sometimes people's strings go black, losing all color," Hinata said. It made him sad to see it happen, the black thread of nothingness where something once was.
"Anyways, a purple bond...It's passion, and obsession. You two have always been important to each other." In the three years since he met Kageyama, Hinata had seen the magnetic force drawing them to each other. The fire in Kageyama's eyes that lit only for his former senpai. Hinata had been sure it was an unhealthy obsession, but he wasn't so sure anymore.
"And you also have a purple string with Ushijima..." Hinata continued, to which Oikawa rolled his eyes. "...but for you and Tobio it's always been more of a red-purple than a true purple."
Last week, their string had seemed redder than ever.
Hinata had been meeting up to practice with Oikawa all summer long, which Kageyama had been mad about ("What can he do that I can't?") and Hinata had invited him to join them. Kageyama scoffed, but when Hinata had Oikawa call up Iwaizumi so they could play 2-on-2, Kageyama couldn't resist the chance to try and beat his old senpai. Kageyama and Hinata did not beat Oikawa and Iwaizumi, but they met up several times to try again.
During their most recent session, they'd decided to switch things up and have Kageyama and Oikawa go up against Hinata and Iwaizumi. The latter pair was crushed--while their combined power made a strong offense, neither of them had the finesse of the two setters.
Afterwards, in the locker room, Oikawa had complimented Hinata on his skills, saying that he'd improved a lot. Hinata had beamed, then went off to stepped behind the lockers to get his bag when he heard Oikawa speaking again.
"You did good too," Oikawa said, so softly Hinata almost didn't hear.
He'd peeked around the lockers to see Oikawa sit down on the bench behind Kageyama as the boy undressed, his hungry gaze on Kageyama's bare back, his eyes tracing Kageyama's spine the way his fingers would. "Really good," Oikawa said.
Hinata felt like it was the moment before a steamy scene in a movie, and the video was paused. He anticipated the scene unfolding in front of him as soon as someone hit the play button. Oikawa would reach out and start to run his hands over Kageyama's body and kiss him on the back of his neck and suck his skin hard enough to leave hickeys that Hinata could tease Kageyama about tomorrow.
Hinata picked up his bag and walked towards them, making loud footsteps. Oikawa jerked. He pulled away from Kageyama and tried to look natural. If Hinata hadn't witnessed it, he wouldn't have thought anything of Kageyama's slight blushing, or the way Oikawa hastily covered his crotch with his bag.
The thread connecting the two shone fushia in midair.
That day had led to a lot of thinking on Hinata's part. He couldn't resent Oikawa for liking them both or Kageyama for developing feelings for the older boy. Kageyama didn't have very many strings; this was a deep bond and maybe he deserved to be happy. Hinata would get over it.
(It hurt. Just a little.)
"I think you should go for it," Hinata said. "He feels the same about you."
Oikawa was listening attentively, his hand clenched tight around his glass. "Do you really think so?"
"Yes. If it was one-sided, there wouldn't be a string at all." Hinata didn't look at him, or at the glistening red string tied around each of their pinkies.
They drank their drinks in silence, the hustle and bustle of the bar filling the quiet between them.
%%%
"I'm going to propose today," Oikawa said. He glanced over at Hinata, the light sea breeze ruffling his hair as he spoke.
Hinata was so surprised that he dropped his phone in the sand. "What?"
"It's been two years, and I feel like it's time for the next step," Oikawa gestured towards the beach house. "After Tobio wakes up, I'm going to pop the question. I got a ring and everything." He patted his pocket.
"...are you sure?"
"Yes," Oikawa looked him in the eye seriously. "I want to spend the rest of my life with him."
"Oh...." Unsure what to say, he looked off into the distance at where the rising sun was peeking from behind the horizon.
"I want your blessing, Shou-chan. It's thanks to you that Tobio and I are together." Oikawa's hand idly traces patterns into the sand, making lines in nature's ultimate canvas. He tenses up, his fingers halting to a stop. "...unless there's a reason I shouldn't go through with this?"
Hinata bit his lip as he looked at the string that connected their pinkies, which was as orange as his hair.
"No. I think you should do it. Definitely! Your string is pink."
"True love?" he asked softly, to which Hinata nodded. Oikawa thought about it. "So...what's the difference between red and pink?" he said, a hint of doubt creeping into his voice. "I mean, isn't pink just pastel red. Red mixed with white?"
"Yeah. Eros mixed with agape."
"What's agape?"
Hinata took a deep breath. "Agape is the highest form of love, the purest. It's white. So, a pink bond is more than desire, it's more than fucking, it's even more than taking someone on fancy dates and buying them things. There isn't a Greek name for it but I call it true love. It's when you love someone unconditionally and you want to be with them even when they're shitty or rude or have the flu. It's when you give to someone without expecting anything in return, just because you love them, from the bottom of your heart."
Hinata glanced at the other man. "Is that the way you feel about Kageyama?"
"Yeah. It is." Oikawa looked at the sky. Hinata thought he could see tears forming in his eyes.
"That's the way I feel about Kenma," Hinata said, lying on the sand with a sigh. "We started out orange, and it never went full red--he's ace, you know--and the string just went like an orangeish-pink. Like this sunrise."
"It's a pretty sunrise."
All of a sudden a magenta thread appeared in midair, stretching from Oikawa's pinkie to the beach house. "Oh! Tobio's awake," Hinata informed Oikawa. They both glanced back to see Kageyama peeking out on the patio and then going back inside, the string disappearing as he went out of range. "Come on," he nudged Oikawa. "Let's get ready."
He helped him get ready and write TOBIO WILL YOU MARRY ME? in the sand with a huge heart around it.
He went inside to get Kageyama. "Come out," Hinata said, poking him while he tried to read his sports magazine.
"It's cold out there," Kageyama grumbled. Hinata threw a hoodie in his direction.
"Put that on and come outside."
"I don't feel like it."
Hinata could barely contain his excitement. "He's waiting for you!"
Kageyama gave him a suspicious look. Hinata grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. "Where are you taking me--?" Kageyama muttered.
Then he looked up and his expression totally changed as he read the question written in the sand. Kageyama's face went pale. Eyes wide, he glanced at his best friend, unsure if this was real. Hinata nodded vigorously, grinning.
Oikawa came over to him and got down on one knee. "Kageyama Tobio," he said, his voice unwavering, "You make me the happiest person on earth. Will you marry me?"
Kageyama said nothing, staring down with an impassive face for so long that Hinata could sense Oikawa beginning to panic.
And then his face broke into a smile. "Yes. I will." Oikawa slipped the ring onto his finger, and then the two men kissed and looked into each other's eyes and in that moment they were both the happiest people in the world. Hinata cried. It was so beautiful.