Work Text:
It’s not like they hadn’t kept in contact.
They were together for three years, spending almost every waking moment training and laughing and learning side by side. That’s not the sort of relationship that you just... forget about. It had become habit for them to greet one another in the mornings, talk until late at night while walking home, meet up for lunch to compare notes and ideas about new plays. The ‘freak duo’, they were called. ‘Inseparable’, by those who knew them a little better.
Despite all the time they had, though, there were still things that never got said.
So when Hinata left for Brazil, and Kageyama to train, they left each other as friends. Definitely much closer than the pair of first years who spent almost every waking moment for months butting heads and challenging each other, but the healthy rivalry that both had been so insistent at keeping up had acted as a thin barrier that kept that friendship from growing into something... else. Both were happy to keep one-upping each other and acting as if their ridiculous chemistry on the court had to stay there. Happy to ignore the funny feelings in their stomachs when they held eye contact for just a moment too long after a successful quick, or the feeling of safety and rightness they felt when they woke up on the bus home and realized that they had accidentally fallen asleep on the other’s shoulder. They were friends. And as far as they had resigned themselves to, that was all they would ever be.
The barrier had always been thin, though. It would just take the right moment for it to break.
“Not gonna have any bowel issues today, are you?”
Hinata stopped in his tracks. It was the same sharp, careful voice that he knew better than his own, this time clear of any phone static, filled with an unmistakable fondness that only Hinata would recognize. He turned around with a grin, meeting his old partner’s eyes. Kageyama was smiling, his eyes hard with determination and soft with unspoken meaning.
In that moment, both were thrown back six years into the past, each remembering the moments that made them, them.
“Heck, no,” Hinata scoffed after a moment too long. “I’m not the kind of guy who gets stomach troubles before games anymore.” He stared back at his rival with a challenge, feeling that familiar fire flare up again with a vengance.
Kageyama looked down at him with an expression of practiced disdain. “You’d better not, you runt.”
A rush of affection and familiarity swept through Hinata. This was still his Kageyama, alright. Although...
“Kageyama-kun,” he teased, “you’ve grown up!”
Immediately, Hinata ducked backwards so that he was well out of the way when Kageyama lunged at him with a swipe. It was a practiced movement. Familiar.
Right.
Before Hinata’s proudly delivered challenge for an arm wrestle could be followed through with, teammate after teammate started to crowd the hallway, masterfully turning their banter into that of pre-game trash talk. The pair’s eyes barely left the other through the chaos. It was a silent promise that, after the game, they would talk.
“You’re here.” You’re really here .
“I’m here.” I’m not going to let you get away from me again.
It was hours before they were alone again.
The old Karasuno gang wanted to get together again to celebrate the match, so Daichi and Suga reserved the team’s usual spot and gathered everyone for dinner. It had been about four years since the entire team had been in one place, so they got a little excited, to put it lightly. After a few rounds of drinks, Noya started a round of Two Truths and a Lie, “ to know what you all have been uuuuup to! ” he shouted, falling back into Asahi’s waiting arms. Asahi rested his chin on top of Noya’s hair with a contented smile, gently shushing him. The smaller man waved him off with a grin to the rest of the team’s chuckles. Daichi untangled his hand from Suga’s and raised it, clearing his throat to start.
“First one: I have gotten really good at cooking. Two: I got Kuroo to join our neighborhood association. Three...” he trailed off, brow furrowed in thought. Suga snickered, leaning over to Asahi with a conspiratorially raised hand to cover his mouth.
“The lie is that he’s good at cooking,” he whispered loudly, setting the whole table off into giggles. Daichi glared at his partner, who in turn grinned and blew him a kiss.
“The third fact is that I’ve been cheating on Suga with Yui since we’ve graduated,” he declared, smirking at Suga’s expression of pretend hurt.
“Bullshit!” Tanaka called from further down the table. “Yui’s a lesbian and has been dating that tennis player who graduated from... from...”
“Tokonami,” Kiyoko supplied, smiling as she received a grateful kiss on the cheek.
Asahi laughed. “Hey, isn’t that where your ex graduated from, Dai?”
“Oh shit, maybe he really is cheating on me then,” Suga said lazily, earning an exasperated eye-roll and fond smile from Daichi. As he took Suga’s hand again, he reached for his drink. “Well done, Tanaka. That’s the only reason why that one was a lie. And,” he added pointedly, “that means my cooking is fantastic.”
While the rest of the table shook their heads and booed good-naturedly, Hinata grinned at his former captain. “I totally believe it, Daichi-san. Let’s cook together sometime- I picked up some great recipes in Brazil!”
“Good to see you’re still as much of a kiss ass as before,” Tsukishima drawled with a smirk. Yamaguchi hit him lightly in the shoulder, hiding a smile, but Hinata puffed out his chest proudly.
“‘Course I am! It’s my most valuable skill- I wouldn’t have made it this far without it,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“Actually,” Kageyama spoke up, putting down his glass of water. “You wouldn’t have made it this far without me.”
A collective ooh rose up from the group, all waiting eagerly to see Hinata’s famous temper flare. He surprised them all, though, by letting out a loud laugh. “Thanks for the help,” he said, grabbing a bite of food from Kageyama’s plate. “Without it, I would never have been able to kick your ass today.” Kageyama surprised them all further by not responding, but instead simply smiling to himself and stealing Hinata’s drink. The red head protested half-heartedly, but Kageyama easily kept the glass out of reach as he took a sip.
“Since when were they sharing food?” Narita muttered. Kinoshita shrugged, looking just as confused as the rest of the table felt.
“I mean... It was just a matter of time,” Ennoshita murmured back, reaching for another dumpling. “You saw how they were in our third year.” Narita nodded at that, while Yamaguchi, overhearing, started to reach for Tsukishima’s plate. His hand was slapped away immediately, the blonde glaring at him before Yamaguchi could even open his mouth.
“ No .”
“They’re not even dating, and Kageyama lets Hinata steal food,” Yamaguchi fake pouted, putting on the face he knew Tsukki was weak to. Yachi, on Yamaguchi’s left, stifled a laugh as she grabbed her drink and turned her attention back to Hinata and Kageyama, still quietly teasing each other. Tsukishima sighed, waving a hand over to the pair, seemingly lost in their own world.
“They’ve been separated for two entire years with little more than infrequent phone calls. If the wonder duo isn’t dating already, they will be in less than a day,” he explained, exasperated. Yamaguchi smiled. Even his super cynical boyfriend couldn’t always keep the affection out of his voice when talking about people he loves. He sighed contentedly, resting his chin on his palm and watching as the couple in question suddenly realized all conversation had stopped. Kageyama cleared his throat, and Hinata slammed his fist onto the table.
“Okay, who next?” he asked, eyes bright, cheeks pink.
The team almost wrote it off as the alcohol. Almost.
The conversation quickly picked back up into the game, each member dutifully taking their turn and the heat that came with it ( “ Ryu I have you crying at your wedding on tape don’t try to tell me it was Shimizu! ”), and doling it right back out to their former teammates. They went on like this for hours, relishing in the familiarity of the group and enjoying the short moment they had back together before life inevitably took over again. The shop owner, as always, was more than happy to let the group stay past closing (provided they clean up after themselves), so they did. And they laughed, and they talked, and they remembered, and when it came time to go their separate ways, they cried. They were bittersweet tears, and went along with promises to see each other soon, but for a moment, they were in high school again, and no one really wanted to leave that feeling.
Before long, Kageyama and Hinata were left alone on the sidewalk. The rest of the team had partnered off and gone home, so the two had found themselves walking back to the hotel both teams were staying at together.
It was an oddly cold night for May. Hinata shivered as a gust of wind blew by, burrowing into his thin coat. Kageyama looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. “Y’know, it’s really not that bad out.”
“Easy for you to say,” Hinata grumbled. “You didn’t just get back from spending two years living by the equator.”
The corner of Kageyama’s mouth turned upwards in a smile. “Rio might be warm, but it’s not even close to the equator. Also, you got back five months ago. You would’ve adjusted by now if it weren’t for your abnormally small body.”
The red head huffed. “At least I’m not like you, a dead tree walking.” That earned a chuckle out of Kageyama, a somewhat rare sound around anyone else. “Besides,” Hinata continued. “I’ve grown a lot since I was at Karasuno.”
“Yeah,” Kageyama said quietly. “You have.”
He stopped walking, pausing on the edge of the road and looking over the dark mountain vista. Hinata, realizing his partner was no longer beside him, turned back to look at him. The wind blew as the two faced each other in silence, tousling their hair and sending another chill into Hinata’s back. He shivered again, but was fairly sure that this one was different. Kageyama snorted softly in amusement, shaking his head. “Moron. You’re going to catch a cold.”
Hinata smiled. “Only from how cold and uncaring you are.”
The two stood there for a moment, taking a moment to drink in the presence of the other, letting a thousand words run silently between them. All the things left unsaid.
Turns out they weren’t unsaid. Not really. They never had been.
“I miss setting to you. No one else is fast enough for me,” Kageyama exhaled, speaking quietly. I miss you , his words said.
Hinata could feel his heart squeeze in his chest. I love you too , he thought. “Spiking a ball from anyone else has never felt right. They don’t fit in my hand the same way yours do,” he said.
It took five seconds. Five seconds of eye contact, five seconds of silent conversation, five seconds of simply taking in that the other was there , right here, right now, and they didn’t have to wait anymore.
The barrier broke.
It didn’t matter who took the first step forward. Each would later claim that they made the first move, but with them, they probably moved in sync, not wanting to be second in the race to reach each other. When they collided, their lips moved together, bags flying, arms holding tight. Hinata’s cold fingers brushed lightly against Kageyama’s jawline, while Kageyama’s warm ones drew Hinata’s chin up gently. It was a kiss filled with intense desperation and, at the same time, an overwhelming sense of rightness.
This was always going to be the first time.
Kageyama broke off first, leaning his forehead onto Hinata’s and trying to catch his breath. Hinata smiled, wrapping his hands behind the taller man’s neck and running a few fingers through the black hair. “Looks like I win this one,” he said, feeling his cheeks warm from Kageyama’s breath. He heard a soft chuckle, before his partner withdrew his forehead to look into Hinata’s eyes.
“I’ll kick your ass next time, so you’d better not let your guard down,” Kageyama murmured, running a thumb across Hinata’s cheek. The red head laughed.
“What, in kissing, or on the court?” Hinata teased. Kageyama swatted his shoulder lightly, hiding a smile, earning another soft chuckle. Hinata moved his hands from where they were clasped behind Kageyama’s neck to interlock with his fingers, shivering again. “Brr. Not that I’d ever admit that you’re right about something, but I would like to get out of the cold soon. My fingers are freezing!”
Scoffing, Kageyama put his left hand in his pocket and re-adjusted his grip on the cold one in his right. “I’m acutely aware of that fact, dumbass.” He turned away, jerking his head in the direction of the hotel. “Come on, then. You’ll do me no good if you get sick because you had to be all lovey-dovey dramatic.”
Gaping, Hinata started walking. “Hey, Mr. Cold-Hearted, I seem to remember someone else stopping first!” he pouted, turning his face into his scarf and muffling his voice.
Smiling, Kageyama held tighter to Hinata’s hand. Hinata huffed. Silence stretched between them, broken only by the light whistle of the wind. It wasn’t an awkward silence, as might be expected if it were any other two people, but a practiced one, where all the two needed from each other was their company. Just the constant of being side by side again, hand in hand, with a singular goal in mind meant more to them than any words. The goal was slightly different than it had been five years ago, and so were they, but at their cores, it was still just Hinata and Kageyama. The inseparable freak duo.
Walking back to a hotel together on a brisk May night, they had no idea what the future was going to look like for them. One thing was sure, though. No matter where they went, or what they did, they would always find their way back to one another.
Soulmates are funny that way.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Hey, Tsukki, looks like you were right!” Yamaguchi leaned over the back of the couch, holding his phone in front of Tsukishima’s book so he could see it. Illuminated on the screen was a blurry selfie, lit only by the orange glow of a streetlamp. Hinata, holding the phone, was kissing a very fondly exasperated Kageyama on the cheek. The text he sent with the photo read “ truth or lie? does adlers champion setter tobio kageyama is gay for newly crowned black jackals champion wing spiker shoyo hinata? dont ask him bc he’ll deny it!!! :P ”. Tsukishima scoffed as both his and Yamaguchi’s phones started buzzing incessantly with responses to their group chat.
“Of course I was right. Anyone with eyes saw how they were back in high school,” he said. His tone was scathing, as always, but he betrayed himself by pulling out his phone and simply reacting to the image with a thumbs up, which quickly got lost among the chorus of “ took you long enough!” and “ok so when’s the wedding” that the rest of the team was sending in. Yamaguchi smiled to himself. Placing a quick kiss on the side of Tsukishima’s head, he took his phone back and started to walk back into their kitchen.
“Aw, don’t be jealous, Kei,” he chided. “We were the original first year power couple.” Tsukishima snorted lightly before putting his phone down and looking back to his book.
“Obviously.”