Work Text:
Tsukishima turns towards him while they’re cleaning up after practice and says, “Hey, Hinata, you must feel lonely now, huh?”
The reply is instant. He’s too used to this now for it not to be.
“Shut up, Tsukishima!” After a pause, when his brain actually processes the blond’s words, Hinata adds, “What do you mean, lonely? I’m not lonely. I’ve got volleyball and Suga-san and Tanaka-san and Daichi-san and Kage-”
“What I mean,” Tsukishima cuts in, pushing up his glasses with a smirk. “Is that the egocentric king’s got a girlfriend. Won’t have time for your nonsense anymore, will he?”
Tsukishima’s laughter is drowned out by the sound of something going thump. Multiple somethings. It could be the volleyballs that have just fallen out of Hinata’s hand, or it could be the world falling down on all of them, cracking from the weight of the knowledge that Kageyama has a girlfriend.
“Hinata?”
He jumps at Daichi’s sudden voice coming from behind him, and then quickly scrambles to put away the multiple volleyballs scattered on the floor. “S-sorry!” he squeaks, then freezes when he feels Daichi’s hand on his shoulder.
The senior’s face is wrinkled with worry, and his eyes reflect nothing but concern. “Are you feeling alright, Hinata? You look a little red. Are you sick?”
He hears Tsukishima’s muffled chuckle coming from somewhere behind him and really, really wants to punch him (or shout verbal abuse at him, at least), but Daichi hates it when they fight, and the last thing anyone wants is for Daichi to get angry. So he swallows the anger down and stutters, “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just feeling a little dizzy. Do you mind if I head home early?” (Kageyama left practice early too- saying he had some ‘home business’. Home business indeed.)
“Yeah, of course, good work today.” Daichi claps him on the back before getting to work, putting away the rest of the volleyballs. Hinata digs his nails into his palms, mustering all of his self control in order to not break out into a run the moment he gets the okay to leave.
The whole ride home he’s thinking about it. It’s stupid, he knows that, because panic shouldn’t be the first reaction to hearing that your friend has gotten a girlfriend. Is he jealous that Kageyama’s gotten a girlfriend before him? Getting together with someone has never been a top priority for Hinata, but had he wanted it, somewhere deep inside? Or maybe he’s worried that Kageyama won’t have time for volleyball anymore? A large amount of Hinata’s skill does depend on Kageyama after all.
Or maybe he’s just afraid of being lonely, like Tsukishima had said he’d be. Hinata can’t really remember the last time he walked home alone. Kageyama’s always accompanied him, and they had filled the silence of night by chatting and bickering with one another. The path does seem to be surrounded by more darkness than usual, and the air sits calm and undisturbed. Hinata can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not.
Hinata’s… Hinata’s happy for him, of course. Kageyama is his friend after all (his heart thumps loudly in his ears) and it’d be good for him to get some social interaction outside volleyball. And maybe it’ll boost his mood a little bit, too, wipe the small, constant frown off his face once and for all.
Maybe it’ll get him to smile more. Really smile. Not those evil grin-things he does sometimes, but the smile he gets when Hinata stuffs a whole meat bun into his mouth, the one he gets when they win a match. The smile that he gets when he and Hinata pull off the amazing.
It’d be nice to see Kageyama smile more often. It looks good on him. (Except Hinata’s not in the equation this time.)
Hinata hopes the girl is nice.
A few moments after he arrives home (his steps had been slower than usual) he hears the faint buzzing of his cell phone. Hinata hardly ever uses the thing, and when he flips it open, he’s surprised to find Kageyama’s name staring back at him from the screen. (Kageyama never uses his cell phone, either)
“Hey, dumbass.”
Hinata feels some of the weight from his shoulders float away as he replies, “Right back at you,” and flops down onto the bed. He wonders if Kageyama knows about him knowing. About the thing. The girlfriend thing. Is that why he’s calling?
“I heard from Sugawara-san that you went home early,” says Kageyama. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t get lost in the forest, or something equally stupid.”
“Shut up! I’m not stupid, unlike a certain someone.” He sticks his tongue out at the screen, even though Kageyama has no chance of seeing it.
“Yeah, sure. Anyway, that’s all I had to-”
The words are spilling out of his mouth before he knows it, before he has a chance to stop them. “Hey, Kageyama, can I ask you a question?”
There’s a careful pause. Hinata feels his mouth go dry.
“If it isn’t dumb. What is it?”
“It’s…” Hinata feels his face heat up and stop it stop it stop- “Are you coming to practice tomorrow?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Kageyama responds. Hinata can hear the hidden why are you asking as clearly as if it was being shouted in his ear. Wonderful.
He lets out a couple trembling laughs before replying, “Ah it’s nothing anyway see you tomorrow bye,” and then hitting the end button before Kageyama lets out a single word.
And then he proceeds to bury his face into his pillows because he realizes that he’s being utterly pathetic.
It’s been a couple of days since what Hinata has come to label as ‘the day’, and he’s starting to wonder if Tsukishima had just been making the whole thing up.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, Hinata’s been sticking around Kageyama a little bit more the past few days and as far as he can tell, nothing suggests that Kageyama is involved with a girl in some way. Which… Is disappointing because Kageyama could’ve been happy with a girl, right? And it would’ve been good to see Kageyama happy.
(Who are you kidding, Shouyou?)
“Hey, Kageyama!” Hinata calls, running up to the taller boy and holding up his bento box. “Lunch? I have sausages!”
Kageyama stares for a second, getting this weird, twisted frown on his face as if he’s just swallowed something sour. Then he opens and closes his mouth a few times, like a fish, before biting out, “I can’t.” And then a few seconds after, “Sorry.”
Even though it’s a crowded hallway, Kageyama’s retreating steps vibrate in his ears like rolling stones, and for some reason, Hinata feels like he’s been punched in the face.
And then, to satisfy his burning curiosity, he shakes off the feeling (a black hole, getting wider and chasing it away is like sealing a leaky drain with paper) and starts to shadow Kageyama. It’s pretty easy, considering his height and how Kageyama seems to stand out from any crowd he’s in.
He ends up in the school courtyard, hiding behind one of the pillars and trying to get a glimpse of the two figures talking a short distance away. He does accept that the girl is more-than-average-pretty, and is happy for Kageyama that he somehow managed to land a girl like that. Because for a stupid idiot like him the task should be impossible, even if he is a little good-looking himself.
Hinata can barely hear the girl’s voice. It’s soft and chirpy, like a bird’s song, but it’s raspy due to the girl’s breathlessness. Her eyes are shining in the light of the summer sun and the string of words from her mouth are swift and never-ending. Kageyama’s back is turned to him, so Hinata can’t see his expression, but he does see that Kageyama doesn’t flinch when the girl reaches out and takes his hand.
Does it feel soft? Hinata can’t help but wonder. But since Kageyama spends most of his time handling hard-textured volleyballs for fun, probably not. Does the girl mind that it doesn’t feel soft?
No, she looks positively ecstatic. She giggles, and then begins to lead him to the back of the school, gesturing to the two packages in his hands as she does so. Hinata doesn’t know what to think.
He’s happy for Kageyama. Really.
His reasoning is that it’s not stalking if he knew about the event beforehand, but he feels awkward anyway, standing outside the cafe with his hood drawn up. Too bad his shockingly-orange hair is a natural eye-puller; maybe he would feel less weird about this if he wasn’t dressed up like a creeper. His apparel almost rivals Kageyama’s ‘disguise’ in terms of horrible.
Again, he blames his natural curiosity. It wasn’t his fault that Kageyama fell asleep on the floor while they were studying (turning the 3-hour study session into a sleepover), it wasn’t his fault that Kageyama’s phone didn’t have a lock feature on it, and it wasn’t his fault that he saw that the sender was a girl’s name, but someone he didn’t recognize, asking Kageyama to meet her at the nearby cafe on Saturday.
So he settles in, sipping a strawberry smoothie he had picked up, just for this. A few people give him weird stares and a woman even pulls her child quickly away from him, but he pays them no mind.
Fifteen minutes before the promised arrival time, the girl arrives. Anyone could tell she was here for a date. A pink flower pin sits prettily in her hair, and a small gift box is clutched in her hands. It shakes slightly as she shifts her feet, staring at the ground while biting her lip.
Kageyama arrives five minutes before the promised time, looking shocked to see the girl there, waving at him with a bright grin on her face, and even more so when she thrusts the gift box into his hands. He gets this uncomfortable look as he says something to her (most likely thanks) and Hinata can’t help but notice that Kageyama’s gaze keeps shifting towards the left as he talks, and that his fingers keep tapping his sides repeatedly. It lessens the apprehension that’s been stewing inside him for the past day, at least.
They get food and talk in the cafe for a good ten minutes (not ‘they’, really, the girl does most of the talking) before the girl suddenly stops. Hinata counts the seconds they sit in silence (five) before the girl moves to put her hand over his.
And then she starts to lean over the table, slowly arching over the tabletop surface, her hair barely brushing Kageyama’s key lime pie and-
Hinata turns, face bright red and hands trembling like crazy, and stands up abruptly. He barely feels his feet crashing against the pavement with each step he takes because he’s too busy trying to chase away the fact that- fuck-
He can feels his breaths coming out in short bursts, and the fact that it’s not just from running makes it a whole lot worse.
It makes it worse because what he’s feeling is totally ridiculous, and he has no right to feel like this at all and he needs to be happy, happy for his friend who, as he’s said before, is a total idiot and an asshole at times but everything more than that, too, and he deserves what makes him happy, whether it be volleyball or a girl.
Hinata is happy for Kageyama Tobio.
(And he justifies it by jabbing the remains of the strawberry smoothie into the trash can with a lot more force than necessary.)
Hinata decides to settle it once and for all by calling Kageyama over before practice on Monday. (After avoiding him all morning, he needed time, okay?)
“What is-” Kageyama begins, and then tenses when Hinata puts a single hand on his shoulder.
“I’m proud of you,” Hinata says in the most serious voice he can muster, while awkwardly patting the other’s shoulder a few times. “Congratulations, really.”
Kageyama brushes the hand off, eyebrows twisted. “Oi, are you okay? First you refuse to look at me in the hallway and now this-”
“You got a girlfriend, right?” Hinata interrupts, smiling. “Wow, why didn’t you tell me? I heard from-from Tsukishima-”
“Girlfriend?” Kageyama repeats, scoffing. “Well, no, because… Why would you even listen to that asshole in the first place?”
Hinata’s brain technically stopped functioning at ‘no’, but he’s desperate to hear the rest of that sentence so he waves his hands around and says, “Wait wait wait, because what?”
“She wanted to be my girlfriend, but I didn’t know. Like, she first wanted to have lunch with me as a friend but alone, she said. So I thought she was just trying to be friends with me, and that she was shy, or something, but then she tried to kiss me, so I rejected her. She doesn’t really like volleyball either, so…” Kageyama’s eyes narrow. “Damn, how did Tsukishima-”
Hinata swipes his hand through the air, effectively stopping Kageyama from continuing. “So, you thought she wanted to be friends with you? Even after she was holding your hand and all that stuff?” Hinata wants to burst out into a crazed laughter session, or maybe into song, because Kageyama doesn’t have a girlfriend after all. A misunderstanding, Hinata should’ve figured.
Kageyama frowns and pushes him slightly, clearly disturbed. Hinata can’t blame him; he can feel the smile on his face stretching out for miles. “Well, I got a little uncomfortable, but I thought- Hey, how do you know about the hand-holding?”
“Doesn’t matter!” Hinata laughs, slapping a hand to his forehead. “Wow, I should’ve known! ‘Cause, you know, how could a dense idiot like you get a girlfriend, right?”
Kageyama growls and swipes for his head, which Hinata dodges easily, trailing laughter about him.
“Hey, Kageyama, race you to the gym!”
How could anyone fall for a dense idiot like him, anyway?