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It starts with sneezes. Hinata insists he's fine, even after sneezing in the middle of a receive and ending on his back with a red mark on his forehead. He sneezes again when Nishinoya reaches down to help him up. He's sure it will pass by the end of the day, or the next morning at the very least, and he really wants to keep practicing. Hinata hates being benched more than anything, and it's only after promising to be extra careful of what he's doing that the captain allows him back on court.
He sees Kageyama eying him, and sticks his tongue out. He's totally fine. They're overreacting over some dumb sneezes. He's not going to let Kageyama show him up, especially not since he's been feeling sort of weird around him lately. He ends up focusing way too much on Kageyama's form when he's playing, the fluid motion of his arms down to his legs and the expression he has on his face when he's concentrating. It's already made Hinata slip up a few times, and he's not going to let it happen anymore.
He makes it through practice without any further mishaps, although Kageyama's still side-eying him.
“If you're sick, you know they're not going to let you play,” he says, and Hinata bristles.
“I'm not sick, stupid!” He's sure the flush to his skin is just because Kageyama's arm is brushing his and that's not really any better, is it. He moves away. “It's just allergies.”
Kageyama's watching him distance himself, and slides his hands into his pockets. Hinata feels a pang of guilt; maybe Kageyama thinks he was moving away because he didn't like the touching, which is completely the opposite, he wants to tell Kageyama, he loves it when they're touching-
No, that's not it either. Maybe he really is getting sick. He ends up gravitating closer just so their arms are touching again.
Xxx
The next morning, Hinata wakes up feeling like someone has stuffed his head full of cotton, his throat is sore, and he just wants to go back to sleep. He rolls out of bed with a groan, telling himself he can take some medicine and he'll be alright, because he really doesn't want to miss practice with a game coming up. Kageyama would never let him hear the end of it, either, after the fuss he'd made about definitely not being sick the day before.
He gets dressed for school, downs some pills, and then he's out the door, trudging along like he's moving through syrup. The medicine is working a little, his head feels less congested, but it still feels like he's fighting an uphill battle just to make it to the front gate at the time he usually does. It ends up taking longer than normal, and he sees Kageyama loitering by the gate, obviously waiting to catch him and gloat over how he really did get sick, after all.
Hinata is definitely not letting that happen. He takes a deep breath, steels himself, and tells his body to be fine at least for the morning practice. He knows he can do it. He makes himself jog up to Kageyama, waving like always, pretending he was running late.
“I totally overslept!” He grins, secretly praying that Kageyama's buying it, already feeling way too hot in his clothes. Kageyama stares at him, then shrugs.
“I got here first anyway, so it's an automatic lose for you. I could have made it to the gym ten times over before you got here, but I was nice enough to wait to make sure you weren't dead in a ditch or something.” Kageyama starts out for the gym, and Hinata breathes a sigh of relief, wincing at the feeling of sandpaper in his throat. He's already made it past test one, though, so he thinks he'll be fine.
They're walking fast, and his head is swimming by the time they make it to the gym. He gets dressed like usual, trying not to space out, but it's hard because it feels like his body is screaming at him to knock it off and sleep, and he's cursing the medicine he took for not living up to what it said on the box. He couldn't get sick now, not when he and Kageyama really had to practice to make sure they were ready for the next game.
So he gets dressed, ties his shoes, and shuffles out onto the court, well behind almost everyone but Kageyama, who is lagging behind as well. Hinata's sure he's just waiting to catch him slipping up so he can make him go home and gloat that he was right all along. He just has to make it through the morning, and then he can slack off for the rest of the day.
It's going well, for the most part. Hinata misses a few tosses, earning him an earful from Kageyama (“If you're not going to try seriously, get off the court, dumbass”), but he thinks he hits more than he misses. He's not really sure. It's kind of hard to focus, and he feels hotter than usual. He has it under control, though, he keeps telling himself.
And then he jumps up, misses, and he's hitting the floor and his own weight sends him toppling over to the smooth, mercifully cool court floor.
Xxx
When Hinata wakes up, he thinks maybe he's dreamed the whole thing. There's no way he actually passed out during practice, and he half expects himself to be in his own bed, listening to his alarm, ready to try again.
Instead, he finds himself propped up against the wall, and there's a cool hand on his forehead. He almost leans into it, but he's aware enough to stop himself and croak out that he's fine.
“I think you definitely have a fever.” Sugawara, the owner of the hand on his forehead, frowns at him. “Did you come to school sick this morning?”
Hinata furiously shakes his head, but has to stop when he feels the room spinning. “I'm not sick, I'm fine! I was just a little dizzy, I can-”
“Shut up.” There's another voice at his side, and he turns to see Kageyama sitting next to him, looking righteously pissed off. “I can't believe you're stupid enough to actually pass out in the middle of practice. I knew you had a one-track mind, but seriously.”
“He's right.” Suga looks at him sternly, and Hinata shrinks back a little. “You should tell us if you're not feeling well, Kageyama had to carry you off the court. You're lucky you didn't hurt yourself.”
Hinata glances at Kageyama, who is still glaring at him. Now he's got even more to answer to. This is not how he imagined the day going at all, and that thought is punctuated with a fit of awful sneezing, during which Kageyama has to grip his shoulder to keep him from falling over.
“I can still play,” Hinata says feebly after it's done, but both Suga and Kageyama exchange a look, and he knows he's done for. He sighs and sinks back against Kageyama's shoulder, because he really does feel like shit and if it's going to be like this, he might as well give up now and take his punishment.
Xxx
His punishment comes in the form of Kageyama walking him home. He's not allowed to ride his bike, which is a good thing because the way he's feeling, he would probably fall off and die, so he just trudges along quietly next to Kageyama, who wheels his bike for him.
“You're an idiot,” he keeps saying, and Hinata wants to roll his eyes but doesn't, because he is kind of an idiot. “Everyone was seriously worried when you collapsed, don't do shit like that when you could seriously injure yourself just because you didn't want to miss practice.”
Hinata groans in reply. “You would do the same thing.”
Kageyama's quiet for a minute, and his face turns red and Hinata knows he caught him, Kageyama would totally do the same thing. They walk along in silence, Hinata wobbly on his legs, and it feels like it's taking even longer than usual to get home.
They finally reach it, and Hinata unlocks the door. His movements are sluggish, and he's honestly glad to be home because he feels so warm and tired and awful, he almost falls over again while he opens the door and calls out that he's home. There's no answer, and he remembers his parents are at work and Natsu is at school.
“Is anyone here?” Kageyama seems to realize the same thing, and Hinata shakes his head. He watches the taller boy drop his stuff by the door and take Hinata's bag to do the same, and then he's being pushed down so Kageyama can take off his shoes and isn't this kind of weird, he can do this himself.
“You're not doing shit.” Kageyama's voice is gruff and he swats away Hinata's feeble attempts to untie his own sneakers. They're both still in their gym clothes, not even having bothered getting changed since Hinata was just going home to sleep anyway. He's resigned to his fate at this point.
Kageyama finishes with Hinata's shoes and props him up while he takes off his own, sitting them neatly side-by-side and Kageyama's always been pretty neat. It's kind of endearing, weirdly in-line with his focused personality. Hinata watches absently, noting how even Kageyama's shoes are bigger than his are.
His thoughts are interrupted when he's hauled up by his arm, and then the room is turning weirdly when his feet lift off the ground and he feels an arm behind his knees, supporting them like the one at his back. He doesn't even bother protesting, feeling a tiny bit annoyed that Kageyama's actually carrying him like this, but he doesn't feel like walking up the stairs, either. Kageyama's arms feel nice and supportive around him; arms that Hinata's watched often enough, muscles flexing when he hits the ball with enough force to send it flying towards him so he can spike it-
Hinata's dragged out of his daydream by the sound of his door being nudged open with Kageyama's knee. His room is a mess, like usual, but a bit worse because he'd been so out of it that morning. He has dirty clothes on the floor, and vaguely realizes he's apologizing for the mess when Kageyama just grunts in response.
He barely realizes it when he's lowered onto the bed and left staring up at Kageyama, who is looking a bit warm himself. Hinata watches at Kageyama shrugs off his jacket, tossing it onto the bed beside Hinata, and then Hinata's being pulled back up and he feels dizzy but that's definitely Kageyama wrestling him out of his own jacket, and Hinata's face flushes with something other than fever.
“Hey, I can undress myself!” He tugs at the jacket that's already in Kageyama's hands. His body feels warmer at the idea popping up in his head and he shoves it down, hard.
Kageyama's glaring. “I'm not undressing you! I'm getting you out of your jacket so you don't overheat!”
For some reason Hinata feels a little disappointed, and releases his grip on the jacket. Arguing is making him tired, or more tired than he already is, so he just watches as Kageyama throws his jacket aside and then there's a hand on his forehead, again, but it's different and this time Hinata does lean into it.
“Did you take any medicine this morning?” Hinata realizes Kageyama's talking to him, and opens his eyes. He hadn't even realized he'd closed them.
“Yeah, but it didn't really do much.” His whole body feels hot, and he's glad he's still wearing shorts because at least it's a little cooler than it would be otherwise.
Kageyama's going to remove his hand, and suddenly Hinata finds himself holding it there, and Kageyama stills.
“It feels good,” Hinata feels himself saying, and his voice sounds distant to his own ears. “I'm soooo hot.” He sneezes again, and Kageyama sighs and sits down on the edge of his bed.
His hands are bigger than Hinata's definitely, strong and callused with short, blunt nails. Hinata's always liked Kageyama's hands, the ones that toss to him and grab his hair and shove him into the bushes when he gets too cheeky. He's got long fingers, and if Hinata concentrates enough he can visualize them against his skin, moving down to his cheek and against his neck and lower-
He's suddenly making a noise in the back of his throat and Kageyama's jerking away the hand that is still on his forehead and definitely not anywhere else on his body. Hinata's eyes open, and he finds himself staring at Kageyama, who looks visibly startled.
Hinata feels himself pouting. Kageyama is here, in his room, and he feels like shit and Kageyama's not close enough at all. He's had a dream like this before, he thinks, and what if this is another dream? He's pretty sure he remembers how it goes.
It's hard, because he's still dizzy, but Hinata pushes himself up onto his hands and knees, steadying himself before shuffling forward. Kageyama looks like he's frozen, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights, and for some reason Hinata finds that hilarious and he has to stop moving because his laughter is making the room spin.
“Dumbass, lay back down.” Kageyama's found his voice, and he's moving forward with his hand outstretched like he's going to push Hinata back into bed, but Hinata knows that's not how this is supposed to go, so he launches himself forward as best he can.
He connects, and the two of them go tumbling to the floor. Hinata ends up sprawled out, Kageyama underneath him, and they both lie there for a minute before Kageyama's desperately trying to push him off. Hinata's having none of that, and he locks his arms around Kageyama's neck, slender and smooth and this is more like it. Hinata nuzzles into his neck, and the taller boy freezes.
“Hinata. What are you doing.” His voice is tense and low, like he's trying to compose himself. “You need to go back to bed, I'll go get you some medicine-”
But Hinata's having none of it. Kageyama's finally where he should be, maybe not on the bed but the floor is okay too, and Hinata's comfortable and he doesn't want to move. Kageyama is warm underneath him, his breathing measured and heavy and this feels exactly like Hinata has maybe imagined it would.
Kageyama's still talking, though, completely rigid, like he's talking to a scared animal or someone who doesn't know what they're doing, and before Hinata can even bother thinking about what he's doing, his lips are pressing against Kageyama's and he finally, finally shuts up.
It's amazing, for the five seconds it lasts, until Kageyama's shoving Hinata and he lands on his back, hard. He finds himself staring up at the ceiling in a daze, and Kageyama's standing over him, looking panicked and like he's going to run out and this isn't how it's supposed to go at all, Hinata knows it because he's practiced it enough in his head during class, during lunch, when he's lying awake in bed at night. Did he do something wrong? He tries to push himself up, to his feet, and then he's lurching forward and he can feel something wet on his face.
There's a pair of arms around him again and he sags against Kageyama's chest, suddenly sobbing into the front of his shirt. All he can get out is a wailing “Kageyamaaaaa”, while his friend tries his best to shush him, sounding as bewildered as Hinata feels.
“No, come on, I'm sorry for pushing you, get ahold of yourself, you jackass.” Kageyama sounds panicked. “Stop crying, shit-”
Hinata feels himself being lowered to the bed and he sniffles. He can't even really remember what he'd been crying about, because Kageyama's still there and there's a hand smoothing through his hair and he feels his eyes closing. Hinata takes a shuddering breath.
“Don't stop,” he murmurs, and there's a moment of silence before there's a weight on his bed next to him, and the hand remains in his hair. “I feel like I'm dying.”
“You're not dying, dumbass, you're just sick.” Kageyama's voice makes him feel warmer than he already is. “Scoot over.”
Hinata feels himself being moved, and tries his best to help out, but he feels like he's full of lead. There hand moves away and he whines, but then there's a warm weight against his side and he's being pulled against Kageyama's chest. He smells nice, like laundry detergent and Kageyama, whatever that smells like, and Hinata feels himself relax immediately. The hand is in his hair again, and he sighs.
He really, really likes Kageyama like this. Kageyama, who is always there for him despite the bickering, who is awkward and stupid and attractive and sometimes makes it hard for Hinata to focus on anything else, even volleyball, which is practically unheard of. Hinata thinks maybe he's mumbling, but he can also feel himself drifting, and he can't be bothered to focus on what he's doing. He's probably just dreaming, anyway.
Xxx
The first thing Hinata realizes when he wakes up is that it's darker, he's still hot, and there's someone else in his bed.
Yeah, he hadn't been dreaming.
He's about to scramble backwards but his head still hurts and he's being held in place by a soft, warm arm around his upper back. He might as well enjoy this if Kageyama's going to never want to talk to him again when he wakes up.
“Hey.”
Apparently, he's already awake.
“Uh,” is all Hinata can croak, with his throat feeling like it's been through a meat grinder.
“So, your mom came home.” Kageyama shifts next to him, but he doesn't move his arm. “You passed out for like, eight hours.”
Hinata groans and rolls onto his back, Kageyama's arm shifting to accommodate this new position. He brings one of his arms up over his eyes. “I can't believe this.”
“She said to just let you sleep, so...” Kageyama's voice is starting to sound a little awkward, and Hinata seriously wants to just disappear, and he probably would if there wasn't that arm anchoring him there. “We managed to get you to take some medicine. Are you feeling any better?”
He is, sort of, the room isn't as swimmy and his head hurts a little less. He shrugs.
“Come on, you have to talk sooner or later.” Kageyama nudges him with his knee, which is twined with one of Hinata's own legs. “Unless you...did you lose your voice-”
“No!” snaps Hinata, and then he feels bad because Kageyama's being pretty nice about this whole weird thing. “I'm just...tired, okay, you can leave now.”
Kageyama's quiet for a moment. “Are you upset about earlier?”
Hinata moves his arm, just enough so he can peek out at Kageyama. He tries to muster his scariest glare, but he still hasn't mastered it like Kageyama has.
“You know I'm probably going to get sick after this, since you rubbed your germy mouth all over mine.” Kageyama sounds kind of awkward, like he's trying to be delicate about this but doesn't know how to be, and Hinata wishes he'd just get it over with and tell Hinata he's gross and weird and maybe he can play it off like he was delirious, which he was, because he'd never do that when he was fully aware-
Kageyama knees him again, harder, and Hinata's teeth click shut. “Stop thinking out loud, stupid. I don't think you're gross or weird. Okay, you are kind of gross, since you look like death, and you're kind of weird always, but...not because of that.”
“Because of what?” Hinata moves his arm, properly, and it falls to his side. He wants to make sure they're on the same page before he lets his heart start pounding like it wants to.
This time, Kageyama's face is flushed and he's looking away, somewhere, maybe at the ceiling. He licks his lips, like he's remembering. “You...kissed me, right?”
Hinata's heart clenches, and he doesn't know if he's warm because of a fever or because that had really, truly happened. “Sorry.”
“I told you I don't care.” Kageyama's eyes slide back to his momentarily before they're flicking back to the ceiling. “Just next time, make sure you aren't going to make me sick, too.”
Did he hear that right? He's trying to push himself back up but he's dizzy again and Kageyama's arm pushes him back down into the mattress. The taller boy's face is definitely red now, and he's covering Hinata's face with his hand.
“Shut up and go back to sleep, stupid Hinata. You have to get better because I'm definitely going to get sick after this, and if both of us are out the captain's going to murder us and I'm going to be stuck with your shitty ghost for the rest of eternity.”
Hinata feels even warmer than he did before, but it's not bad warmth, with Kageyama next to him, and so he figures he'll finally do as he's told and get some rest. Maybe he'll feel well enough in the morning to go to practice (he can dream, right).
Xxx
They both wake up the next morning to Kageyama's impromptu sneezing fit, struggle to school, and have to apologize to the captain while the rest of the team gazes on knowingly. Hinata doesn't know how the know, or why, but as he sits out on the bench next to Kageyama, knees touching, he lets himself tentatively reach over. He's met with a hand in his own and Kageyama staring straight ahead in red-faced, sniffling embarrassment, and he thinks maybe this wasn't such a bad punishment after all.
He'll apologize for getting him sick later, maybe. At least he can't get him any sicker.