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Sometime during their Third Year of high school, Hinata becomes ridiculously attractive, and Kageyama notices. What’s worse, everyone else notices too.
This is deeply problematic, in Kageyama’s opinion. For multiple reasons. First and foremost because it is absurd how attractive Hinata is. Like, “sometimes Kageyama just has to hit Hinata in the head with a volleyball because of how distracting Hinata is” levels of absurd. Or, worse, “sometimes Kageyama drops a volleyball on his own face instead of setting it” levels of absurd. Because that’s how attractive (and distracting) Hinata is now.
It’s the muscles, for one thing. And the fact that his hair is now long enough to tie back in a tiny ponytail (and damn that should not be as sexy as it is), but also the confidence that comes with being Karasuno’s Ace. Hinata is everything he said he would be, and now everyone knows it.
That’s the other thing.
It was bad enough, Kageyama thinks, when Hinata was a First Year and he captured the volleyball world’s attention en masse. Because every team they played against realized how impressive Hinata was. And Hinata made friends with literally everyone and so at any given moment there were probably at least two dozen volleyball players across Japan who had a crush on Hinata.
But back then, Karasuno itself had very few people who noticed how amazing Hinata was. His classmates, in fact, didn’t seem to understand that he played in the games at all. He was everyone’s pal, but the fact that Hinata Is Amazing was one of the best kept secrets in the school.
And now, everyone knows. Everyone knows that Hinata is on the team, everyone knows that Hinata is the Ace, and everyone has a crush on Hinata Shouyou. Hinata gets love letters at least once a week. He’s a heart throb for the First Years and this is just ridiculous.
(Kageyama knows he keeps using that word. But it is ridiculous. And absurd. And annoying.)
“You know, you could just ask him out,” Tsukshima says.
“Shut up, I don’t want to hear that from you,” Kageyama says. “You get almost as many love letters as Hinata.”
“So do you,” Tsukishima says, rolling his eyes dramatically.
“Yes, but I always got letters. I don’t care.”
Tsukishima rolls his eyes again. Tsukishima has eye-rolling down to an art form. “All I’m saying is, you have been pining after the shrimp for almost three years now. If you drop any more volleyballs on your head you might start to lose brain cells, and you didn’t have many to begin with.”
“Shut up,” Kageyama says again, although this has never been an effective strategy on Tsukishima.
“Also, you’re scaring the First Years, which is upsetting our Captain.”
Which is the real reason Tsukishima is having this conversation. Kageyama doubts Tsukishima would have said something unless Yamguchi had prompted him first.
Kageyama doesn’t want to say “Shut up” for a third time, so he just scowls and walks away.
“You know, he always rejects those letters,” Tsukishima calls after him. Kageyama ignores this too, but he knows that he’s blushing and Tsukishima can probably see the tips of his ears go red. He can practically feel Tsukishima’s smirk behind him.
“Oi, Kageyama! Stop dropping the ball on your face and set it for meeeee,” Hinata says.
“You’re supposed to be training the First Years, Dumbass,” Kageyama says.
“Yeah, but I got boooored and now I want you to set for me,” Hinata says, grinning wide in that stupidly attractive way of his.
“Yeah, yeah,” Kageyama says.
He supposes that as long as Hinata still goes to him for volleyball, it’s probably fine how many other people seem to notice that Hinata is good-looking.
But all things considered, Kageyama probably should confess soon. Before Hinata does yes to one of those letters he gets tucked in his locker.