Chapter Text
Kageyama stared dejectedly into the waiting room fish tank, tracking a googly-eyed goldfish as it swam back and forth in a lazy circuit. To his left, Tanaka was dozing, slouched awkwardly in his seat with his head tilted back against the wall – Kageyama could even hear him snoring faintly. Sighing, he allowed himself a moment of self-pity, reflecting on how he had ended up here, wasting his Sunday waiting around for Hinata.
He had just finished breakfast, and was settling in to re-watch last year’s Worlds when Tanaka had called him.
“Tanaka-san.”
“Hey, Kageyama! – what are you doing right now?”
“Watching tv...”
“Great! You know how Hinata is getting his wisdom teeth removed today?”
“…yes.”
Hinata had complained about it non-stop all week. He would have to sit out of practice for a few days after, and was as happy about that as you'd expect.
“Daichi called me. Apparently Natsu’s babysitter has some kind of family emergency. Hinata’s mom is at the dentist’s office now but she has to leave, so she called Daichi to see if someone from the team could take Hinata home and I’m the only one with a license so…”
“Okay…good for you.”
“You’ve gotta come with me Kageyama! He’s gonna be all loopy – what if he pulls out his gauze or jumps out of the car! Kid can’t sit still for more than two seconds.”
“…”
“Come on, man. Please.”
He was opening his mouth to turn Tanaka down when a thought gave him pause. If Hinata went tumbling down the highway and broke all his bones, he probably wouldn’t be able to toss to him for a while. More than a few days at least. He didn’t think the medicine dentists used made people that crazy, but he didn’t know for sure. It was Hinata after all.
“Fine.”
“Great, see you in 10, bro!”
The goldfish Kageygama had been staring at retreated into the hull of a sunken pirate ship, so Kageyama turned to glare at Tanaka instead. He didn’t know why they’d had to come right away. Hinata was still in surgery and they’d been waiting for ages now. Kageyama was bored. Maybe he could get Tanaka to do tosses with him in the parking lot. He’d seen a volleyball in the back of his car. Just as he was reaching out to shake him awake, a nurse finally emerged through a door at the back of the office and walked over to them.
“You’re here to pick up Hinata Shouyou, right?” she asked, smiling.
He elbowed Tanaka roughly as he stood and nodded to the nurse. He noticed that her smile was straight and gleaming and wondered if that was a requirement for working here. Hinata would fit right in.
“Great! He’s been resting in recovery but we’re going to wake him up now, so he’ll be out in about two minutes. We left his medication with his mom so don’t worry about that, just make sure he keeps the gauze in until he gets home, okay? He’ll be pretty out of it so keep a close eye on him. Nothing too serious, but he’ll be tired, prone to mood swings, giggle fits, that sort of thing. Just keep him calm until he gets home.”
Kageyama nodded again as Tanaka yawned widely and stood up to stretch his legs.
A few moments later, the door opened once more and Hinata came through with the nurse guiding him by the elbow. His hair was even more mussed than usual, and he resembled a chipmunk with all the gauze stuffed in his cheeks. He was wearing the “single brain cell” shirt Kageyama had left at his house after a sleepover a few weeks ago. It was too big on him. As Hinata looked around dazedly, Kageyama’s chest felt suddenly tight.
He looks even more stupid than usual.
Kageyama suddenly felt that they needed to get Hinata home as soon as possible. He couldn’t be allowed to just walk around freely looking that…that…dumb.
Hinata’s gaze shifted from dazed to confused when he spotted Tanaka.
“Tanaka-senpai?” Frowning, he turned to the nurse and whispered loudly, “That’s not my mom.”
Tanaka and the nurse laughed. Stage-whispering, she responded to Hinata,
“I know, Shouyou. Remember I told you some friends would be helping you get home?”
“Oh. Right,” he nodded seriously, reassured. Kageyama came forward to stand next to Tanaka, and Hinata spotted him, too.
“Kageyama!”
Hinata’s face split into a gauze-hindered semblance of his usual sunny smile, and Kageyama suddenly found wiry arms wrapped tightly around him as the redhead barreled into him, closing his eyes and sighing contentedly. Kageyama was grateful the nurse was still standing there, albeit looking excessively amused, because he was fairly certain he was going into cardiac arrest. The tightness in his chest had become almost painful, and he was sure his heart didn’t normally beat this fast. Flushed with embarrassment, he reached up robotically to pat Hinata on the back, when the spiker jumped away, striking a fighting pose.
“Wait! What are you doing here! Are you going to kidnap me?”
Kageyama doubted that kidnapping the idiot would be difficult, considering how much he swayed on his feet.
The nurse came forward, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hinata – friends – taking you home – remember?”
“Oh. Right.” He lowered his arms, and Kageyama saw him lean into the nurse’s support. He frowned.
Grinning, Tanaka chimed in, “I’ll bring up the car!”
As he left, Kageyama shuffled awkwardly, willing the heat he still felt in his cheeks to cool. The nurse gave him a pointed look as Hinata’s eyes began to droop. Right.
He moved forward and the nurse stepped back, letting him take hold of Hinata’s elbow as he had seen her do earlier. Hinata turned to look up at him, his head tilting back alarmingly, as though the effort required to support it was too much for him.
“Hi, Kageyama,” he sing-songed, smiling dopily.
“…hi. Let’s go.” As Kageyama began to edge forward slowly, Hinata gave another contented sigh and leaned into him, hard, forcing Kageyama to bear most of his weight and nearly sending them careening into the office fern. He quickly raised a hand to wrap around Hinata’s waist and steady them.
“Careful, dumbass.”
Hinata only snickered, closing his eyes fully. Kageyama thanked the nurse as they left, all but dragging Hinata out onto the sidewalk and into the bright afternoon sun. Tanaka had pulled the car up out front and came forward to help Kageyama get Hinata into the backseat. He needed all the help he could get, as Hinata seemed to be asleep on his feet, and to have more than the usual amount of limbs, all of which refused to stay in place as they struggled to fasten his seatbelt. Finally, they managed, but even after letting him go, Kageyama could feel one side of his body tingling all the way to the tips of the fingers that had been wrapped around Hinata’s waist.
Stupid idiot. Can’t even walk on his own, he thought, unfairly.
“You’d better sit back there with him,” Tanaka said. “Make sure he doesn’t get too excited; you know how he is.”
Kageyama thought that was a bit rich coming from Tanaka, but shrugged in agreement anyway, visions of Hinata rolling down the road popping into his head once more. As he fastened his own seatbelt, Tanaka started the car and they were off. Kageyama looked over to see that the motion of the car had shaken Hinata out of his doze. Or maybe he’d been faking the whole time. Bastard. Either way, he was now staring at Kageyama. Intently.
“Kageyama.”
“What, stupid?”
“I won.”
“Won what?”
“I got my wisdom teeth out before you,” he slurred, leaning forward and pointing helpfully at his swollen face.
Kageyama only grinned.
“My dentist said I actually won’t be getting any wisdom teeth. Know what that means?”
Hinata shook his head.
“I’m more evolved than you, idiot. I win.”
Hinata threw himself back in his seat dramatically, whacking a tiny fist against the window and shouting.
“Aghh! Not fair, Kageyama!”
Tanaka laughed from the driver’s seat as Hinata leaned his head against the window to pout. Kageyama turned away to see that they’d pulled into Hinata’s neighborhood now and would be getting to his house soon.
“Hey. Hey, Kageyama. Kageyaaaaama.”
Kageyama was disappointed he hadn’t sulked longer, but it looked like a doped up Hinata might be even more chatty than regular Hinata, as impossible as that might seem.
“Mm,” he responded, glancing over at the redhead from the corner of his eye.
“I like you.”
Kageyama turned to face him fully, squinting suspiciously. Kageyama knew that they’d come a long way since they first met. They were friends now, maybe even best friends, but it was still unusual for Hinata to be so direct. The tightness in his chest which had finally started to fade returned full force.
“…okay…”
“Do you like me?”
Kageyama’s eyes darted away. He was tempted to make a joke – Hinata’s question made him feel shifty and nervous for reasons that he couldn’t understand - but he glanced back and the look on Hinata’s face was so earnest that instead he shrugged and said,
“Sure, dumbass.”
Hinata’s face split into a huge grin again – ugh, he was drooling – but even as Kageyama leaned over to wipe it away up with one of the many spare shirts Tanaka kept in his car, he felt his heart skittering again, just like it had in the dentist’s office. If Kageyama was being honest with himself, he had been feeling this way around Hinata a lot lately. Off-center. Antsy. Every time Hinata smiled at him, or nailed a spike perfectly, or sulked when Sakanoshita was out of pork buns, Kageyama was overwhelmed by the urge to grab him by the collar and…shake him…or something.
“Kageyama is the best!” Hinata was shouting to Tanaka in the front seat.
“Wow. Okay. Don’t worry about your old senpai. He doesn’t have feelings. It’s fine.”
“…huh!?” Kageyama said incredulously, over Tanaka’s rambling, as he tuned back in to what Hinata was saying.
“I just think you’re the greatest, Kageyama. You buy me pork buns, and you always toss to me and help me when I freak out. Which is A LOT! You act like a big jerk but I think you’re a phony." He pointed a finger at Kageyama accusingly, "BIG phony! And your serves are like ‘whoosh!’ and your spikes are like ‘blam!’ and your legs are like ‘woooooeeeee’!”
“…legs?”
Hinata nodded emphatically, and continued over Kageyama’s muttered, “careful, stupid, the gauze.”
“Yup! And…”
Hinata paused, squinting up at Kageyama and attempting to inch closer in defiance of his seatbelt.
“What are you doing?”
He scooted forward a couple more inches.
“Nothing.”
Any closer and he’d practically be in Kageyama’s lap.
“I can see you, dumbass.”
“Shhhh.”
Kageyama bristled. Had Hinata just shushed him!? Tanaka was snickering now, and Kageyama was about to tell him to shut up when suddenly Hinata reached out and…pet Kageyama’s hair.
“Mmm. Soft.”
Hinata was looking up at him, his eyelids drooping heavily once again, and as he twisted Kageyama’s hair between his fingers a small smile of contentment replaced his usual wild grin.
Kageyama panicked.
Reflexively, he swatted Hinata’s hand back and shouted, “Oi, idiot! What do you think you’re doing!?”
Hinata flinched back, wide eyes immediately filling with tears.
“B-but you said…”
Seeing his mood change so quickly, Kageyama almost apologized, but Hinata had crossed his arms petulantly and start pouting again, turning to the widow in a huff and muttering under his breath between sniffles.
“Stupid Bakayama with his stupid hair. Stupid blue eyes. St-stupid m-muscles. St-stupid girls with th-their stupid confessions.”
Ah.
Kageyama’s head had been spinning up to this point, but now he understood. A girl had confessed to him this week before practice one night. He'd turned her down, obviously, but the whole team had been watching. So embarrassing! Most of the team had teased him about it afterwards, but Hinata had been oddly quiet. He hadn't even waited to walk home with Kageyama after. Tch, and people thought he was only a genius when it came to volleyball.
“Hinata. Are you jealous?”
Hinata rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
Gross.
“M-maybe,” he warbled.
“Don’t worry. You’re nice, and good at sports – everyone likes you, stu-er, Hinata. I’m sure girls will start confessing to you soon too,” he said confidently. And he meant it. Wait. Why did the thought of girls confessing to Hinata give him a stomachache?
Hinata, for his part, was looking more confused than ever.
“I’m not jealous of you, Bakayama.”
“...huh?”
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t a genius.
“I’m jealous of the girls. When you get c-confessions from girls you turn all r-red and shy and st-stupid. When I do it you…you’re so mean!”
.
.
“…bwah?” Kageyama responded, intelligently.
The sniffles were increasing in volume, and big fat tears were now streaming down Hinata’s face. Kageyama was baffled – he looked helplessly at Tanaka, making eye contact in the rear-view, but judging by the panicked look in the older player’s wide eyes, he was just as surprised as Kageyama. He turned back to Hinata.
“What do you mean when you do it? Do what?”
With a final sniff, Hinata looked at him like he couldn’t believe his ears. Waving his arms widely he shouted.
“Confess! How stupid are you! I think you’re hot and you have nice eyes and I like you! Like like you! Bakayama! God.”
Panting, Hinata placed his hands on his hips and glared at Kageyama. Kageyama stared back, stunned.
He looked into Hinata’s tear-bright, angry eyes and time seemed to slow. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears, the way it always did at the end of a long set, when he stopped thinking, acting on instinct, letting his body make the decisions because he was past the capacity for anything more. With crystalline focus, he saw each of Hinata’s tiny freckles standing out on flushed cheeks, watched the way his hair shifted from red to shining gold in the afternoon sun, the strength in the hands now clenched white-knuckled in his lap, the misleading delicacy of one pale collarbone peeking out from that idiotic t-shirt.
The tight line of his mouth, pinched in frustration instead of the impossibly bright smile that should be there instead, and always.
Kageyama came to a sudden realization. He wasn’t a genius. In fact, he was incredibly, unbelievably stupid and maybe, possibly, totally, into Hinata goddamn Shouyou.
“Oh.”
Tanaka cleared his throat, “Uh. So. We’re here.”
Kageyama jumped – he hadn’t even noticed the car stop. He turned back to Hinata to say…he didn’t know what – anything - but Hinata was already gone. Kageyama looked on, amazed – if he hadn’t seen Hinata’s tears only moments before, he would never have known he’d been crying. His mother was standing on the front steps holding a popsicle for him, and he was skipping towards her shouting,
“YESSSSSSS!! STRAWBERRY!!”
His mother waved to them from the doorway, and Kageyama watched as wild red hair bounced and disappeared behind a closed door. Kageyama slumped back in his seat. He looked at Tanaka.
"Tanaka-san"
"Yup."
“Did that just happen?”
“Yup.”
“Ah.”
Tanaka twisted around to face him from the front seat. Serious for once, he asked,
“So, what are you gonna do about it?”
“Do?”
Tanaka pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath. It sounded suspiciously like fucking hell you really are stupid.
Kageyama couldn’t be sure.