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1.
Simple. It’s supposed to be so simple.
Kageyama has spent three nights trying to come up with the perfect letter (“It’s supposed to be romantic!” “And all BAM! Make sure he feels all GUWAH and GYUN when he reads it!” “Noya-san’s so cool!”) when he gives up and just hurriedly writes ‘meet me at the gym during lunch – Kageyama’ on his crumpled piece of paper before he slips it into Hinata’s shoe locker.
(It’s only during second period that Kageyama realizes that he’s been using the same paper all this time and he really wishes that Hinata doesn’t notice the eraser and pencil marks because that would be embarrassing.)
(And also maybe because the last thing he erased went along the lines of: ‘I said that you’re invincible as long as I’m here, but I also feel that I’m at my strongest when you’re with me.’)
His senpai told him that it’s important to be there early, so Kageyama runs out of the classroom as soon as the bell rings. He stops by the vending machine, buys two cartons of milk, and puts them in the bag with the two pork buns he bought earlier.
Kageyama sits down on the front steps of the gym and checks his watch. About five minutes left to go. He takes a deep breath and thinks about what Nishinoya told him the day before.
“Write him a letter or something.” Letter, check.
“Choose a place that’s important to both of you.” Gym, check.
“Maybe buy some food that he likes?” Milk, pork buns, check.
“And then sweep him off his feet!” Ah yes, there’s still that part.
When he voiced out his idea of picking Hinata up and throwing him, Tanaka immediately told him that “No! That is not how you sweep someone off their feet, you idiot!” and so now he has no idea what to do.
But he reconsiders his earlier plan when he sees Hinata running towards him, a volleyball in his hands, with Sugawara and Daichi (who both look very apologetic) walking behind him.
“Practice! Practice! Look Kageyama, I got our senpai to practice with us!”
“We’re really sorry, Kageyama.”
“…You knew?”
“…Yeah. Hinata showed us the letter and we tried to refuse but–”
“Do the others know about what you two did in the equipment room last week?”
“Um, no, and it’s a secret, right?”
“Hmmm… Is that so…”
“Kageyama? Kageyama, what’s with that face?”
2.
It’s Sugawara and Daichi who suggest that he should say it while they’re practicing their oddball quick strike.
(“Kageyama, we can work this out, okay? You can always– Suga, control your son!”)
He lets them off the hook after he thinks about it and yeah, why not.
It’s almost six in the evening and the others have already hit the showers, leaving only Hinata and him in the gym.
“One more time!” Hinata shouts as he throws the ball towards Kageyama, who immediately gets into position.
He runs then jumps, and they both hear the satisfying sound of the ball being slammed onto the other side of the court.
And then Hinata gets this look on his face again, and Kageyama’s sure that he has the same expression. There’s always this feeling of euphoria whenever they get the quickstrike right.
(Kageyama’s happiness doubles when he sees Hinata’s face, because yeah, their quickstrike is amazing, but Hinata’s bright smile is nothing less.)
So Kageyama takes a deep breath before he calls, “Hinata.”
“Mm? Yeah?” Hinata’s still smiling and he’s sweating and his cheeks are flushed and his unruly orange hair is all mussed up and he’s still smiling and–
“I- I LIKE-”
“ME TOO!”
Kageyama starts to panic when smiling-and-sweating-and-flushed-face-ME-TOO-Hinata starts jumping up and down right in front of him. ‘Did he just say….?’
“Hinata, I–”
“I like it too! That feeling when we go all GWAH and BAM! Wow, we’re so amazing!”
“Really amazing! I mean, I know I’m great and all, stop giving me that look Kageyama, but you’re incredible too! We’re amazing!” Hinata’s eyes are practically sparkling.
“…”
“I’ll race you to the showers!”
“O-oi! GET BACK HERE YOU IDIOT!”
“Daichi told me that it didn’t work out well…?”
“…Yeah.”
“Then why do you look so happy?”
(“We’re amazing!”)
3.
Everyone in the volleyball team knows about Kageyama’s suffering now and it’s apparently getting really sad because even Tsukishima speaks up.
“Pathetic. Just invite him to a movie or something.”
While Kageyama hates the thought of actually following Tsukishima’s advice, he knows that the sequel of Hinata’s favorite movie (not that he knows or anything he just heard it from… people… yeah) is showing this week, so he waits for Hinata after practice.
Hinata looks absolutely surprised and immediately gets into a defensive stance.
“W-whatever you’re planning, I won’t let it go your way!”
“I just said that we’re going to watch a movie, dumbass!”
(Kageyama thinks that the date is jinxed right from the start.)
They meet right outside the movie theater, and just as Kageyama expected, Hinata points at the poster of ‘A Crow’s Family’ the moment they step in.
Kageyama pays for their tickets and feels his heart sink when he realizes that he’s forgotten his wallet and he doesn’t have any money left in the pockets of his jeans. Hinata notices and says “Hurry up, Kageyama! We still need to get popcorn.”
When he tells him about his problem, Hinata just laughs (Kageyama just wants to die in a hole but also to fly up to heaven because Hinata’s laughter is just) and tells him not to worry about it.
“You paid for the tickets, after all! I’ll get the popcorn.”
(Kageyama’s right, the date is jinxed. He’s not even sure if Hinata knows that this is a date. It’s jinxed.)
It’s too late when Kageyama finds out that Hinata chose a horror movie (Why the heck didn’t Kageyama notice earlier– oh yeah. Stupid Hinata and his stupid outfit.) and Kageyama is definitely not okay with horror.
And it turns out that Hinata is also not okay with horror because he hides behind Kageyama and holds on to his arm like a baby koala during the whole thing.
(Or maybe not?)
“Man, that was scary!”
“Why the heck do you like those kinds of movies when you get scared this easily?”
“Well, you’re with me and you’re ten times scarier– OUCH, KAGEYAMA!”
4.
Kageyama knows that the situation is getting out of hand when his own mother tells him to “Invite that sweet little partner of yours over again sometime.”
And then when he does, she suddenly has to “Go shopping with your father; There’s food in the fridge. Have fun, boys!”
(It really doesn’t help that she winked at him before she left.)
They spend the whole day doing anything but the reason why Hinata even came over in the first place (“Wanna work on some homework at my house today?” “Eehh, does Kageyama-kun need some help?” “SHUT UP, YOUR GRADES ARE WORSE THAN MINE!” “YOU’RE ONLY ONE POINT HIGHER THAN ME IN MATH!”). When it starts to rain while they’re playing volleyball in the backyard, and the light drizzle turns into a storm, and his mother calls to say that they’ll be staying at a hotel because of the rain, and Hinata calls his own mom to ask if he can stay over, Kageyama knows that the stars must be laughing at him.
‘Oh yes, they definitely are.’ he thinks as Hinata, who has just finished changing into the smallest pajamas Kageyama owns (but are still too big on him), starts jumping on his bed.
Kageyama manages to convince Hinata to sleep in the futon that he laid out, but it’s only been ten minutes since they’ve said their goodnights and he already hears Hinata whimpering.
(a sound that he definitely doesn’t want to hear again)
This continues for another five minutes until Kageyama can’t stand it anymore so he stands, grabs Hinata’s arm, and drags him to his bed. He pulls the covers over both of them and when a shaking Hinata asks him “Why?” he just turns his back to him (not to hide his blushing face or anything) and replies with a “Go to sleep, dumbass.”
It’s three am when Kageyama wakes up and sees that Hinata’s trying to bury his face in his chest and his own arms are around his small body and their legs are all tangled up and Hinata’s probably drooling on his shirt and wow how does Hinata’s hair manage to look like that and smell so great and feel so soft all the time?
It’s three am when Kageyama wishes that he’ll get to wake up like this every morning for the rest of his life.
“Mom?
“Yes, Tobio?”
“Thanks.”
5.
Boys his age often get excited when Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and Hinata is no exception.
“Valentine’s day! Valentine’s day! I hope I get some chocolates! Or maybe cookies!” Hinata says as they’re racing towards the gym.
“I’ll give you some.”
‘Oh shit.’ Kageyama didn’t mean to say that. Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no he’s screwed he’s fucked but Hinata just looked so endearing oh no–
“Can you even bake, Kageyama-kun?” Hinata’s sniggering behind his hand.
Of course.
Of course he’ll treat it as a joke.
Of course.
“COOKIES ARE EASY TO MAKE, IDIOT.” Kageyama reaches out to smack the back of his head, but Hinata easily speeds up to avoid it.
A couple of burnt pans, a kitchen powdered with flour, and a bag full of things that sorta resemble cookies later, Kageyama is ready to admit that Hinata may be right.
6.
Hinata is right next to him when he opens his shoe locker and sees that there’s a small pack of cookies on top of his outdoor shoes.
Kageyama picks it up to inspect it. There is no name from the sender, only a card that says ‘from your number one fan’. He is about to put it back when Hinata jumps and swipes it away.
“Oi, Hinata–”
“You… have an admirer?” Hinata disbelievingly asks.
Sigh. “I don’t really care–”
“Kageyama… has an admirer,” Hinata repeats. He puts a hand on his chest. “Weird.”
Weird?
“Hinata?”
“Hahaha!” Kageyama notes how forced his laughter sounds. “Wow! Congrats, Kageyama!”
“No, I,” He takes the pack that Hinata’s holding out. “I really don’t care.”
“What’s this? Kageyama doesn’t care?” Hinata glares at him before he pouts. “Che. At least you got something. I want to get sweets too!”
And then Kageyama thinks back to everything that’s happened, from the moment he’s seen Hinata near the bathroom during their first match in middle school, their fights, their unintentional flirting, their wins, their losses, and everything he thinks about is muddled with thoughts of Hinata and Kageyama thinks that he’s been doomed ever since the start and he might as well go through with this.
“Here.” Kageyama says, pushing the pack of cookies to Hinata’s chest.
Hinata takes it confusedly. “What?”
“For you. For Valentine’s day.”
“Um,” Hinata tilts his head at this. “No, this is for you. This is from your… ‘number one fan’.” He says, the last few words sounding a bit forced.
“Yeah, I know. And that,” Kageyama looks away. “And that’s from yours.”
+1
When Kageyama looks back at Hinata and sees how flushed his face is and how protectively he hugs the cookies, he resists the urge to pump his fist in the air because finally.
Four other people did though.
“Yes! Finally!”
“SHOUYOU AND KAGEYAMA ARE ALL GROWN UP!”
“Great job on the cookies, Suga.”
“Thanks.”
"But I thought that you were gonna bake me some.”
“….I did.”
“Really? Where are they?”
“Here.”
“Aaah! Thank you, Kageyama! I wonder how they taste li–”
“Hinata?”
“GAH THAT’S DISGUSTING, KAGEYAMA!”
“HAH? JUST SHUT UP AND ACCEPT THEM!”
“I guess I’ll just have to show you how to bake then!”
“You can’t bake.”
“Yes I can! Just wait! I’ll give you the best cookies you’ve ever tasted on White Day!”
“….”
“And you better learn how to bake properly, Kageyama. I won’t accept cookies like this next Valentine’s Day.”
“…Okay.”
“…? Are you alr– Kageyama are you smiling?”