Chapter Text
When Hinata first coughs up gardenia petals he wants to think it’s a joke. He wants to wake up from the terrible dream he’s having. He just couldn’t believe he fell in love with the person that hates him the most. He starts to cry knowing that Tsukishima will never love him back, not the way he loves Yamaguchi. Hinata knows he has to keep it a secret.
All day Hinata has been in a daze just going with what happens. He’s been hit with Kageyama's sets all day except a few he’s managed to hit. Everyone on the team is looking at Hinata with worry in their eyes. Tsukishima on the other hand is getting annoyed with him messing up and not taking practice seriously.
“HINATA STOP BEING STUPID AND SPIKE THE BALL!! THERE’S NO REASON TO BE MISSING IT WHEN THE KING IS SETTING IT RIGHT INTO YOUR HAND” Tsuki yells at him with a scowl on his face.
Hinata snaps out of his daze and apologizes “Sorry guys I guess I’m not feeling so well today”.
Daichi and Suga yell at him, asking him why he didn’t tell them. Hinata just tells them he didn’t want anyone to worry. He ends up sitting out the rest of practice.
“Dumbass why didn’t you just sit out of practice… You know if you get sick I won’t toss you anymore” Kageyama says with a smirk on his face.
He knows just what to say to rile up his best friend on a bad day. Hinata looks at him with a smile on his face, but with a sad undertone in his eyes. Kageyama notices but decides not to comment on it, he doesn’t want to force his best friend to tell him until he’s ready.
Hinata and Kageyama decide to walk home together since Hinata wasn’t feeling well today. As Hinata is about to say goodbye to Kageayama he has the urge to cough. He grows in panic and runs inside.
“No, no, no, no, no… Not in front of Kageyama” he thinks in his head. As he rushes inside of his house to get to the bathroom Kageyama follows him. Hinata finally makes it into his bathroom, and starts to throw up the gardenia petals. Kageyama looks at the toilet in horror as he sees his best friend throwing up flower petals. He starts thinking “ I thought Hanahaki was fake. I’ve never seen anyone with it or ever heard of actual cases.”
He looks at Hinata expecting an explanation, but Hinata looks at him with a sad smile on his face. “Hinata who is it?” Kageyama asks, knowing Hinata won’t give him an answer. Kageyama already knew Hinata was bisexual, he would never judge his best friend knowing he had a crush on a guy.
“Don’t worry about it Kageyama I bet it’s going to go away in a couple of days anyways!! What are you worried about me…?” Hinata said with a teasing smile on his face. Kageyama decides to spend a bit of time at Hinata's house just to make sure he’s okay. They end up playing some mario kart that Kenma let him borrow. After losing a few rounds Hinata suggests they do some homework they haven’t done. They end up not understanding so they just leave it alone.
“Just go home already. I’m tired of looking at your face and I want to spend time with Natsu.” Hinata says with a smile on his face.
Kageyama reluctantly leaves Hinata's house and leaves Hinata all alone. Once Hinata walks Kageyama out the door he runs up to his bedroom and starts to sob knowing that Hanahaki is never going away. It’s either going to kill him or he is going to have to get it removed, but he doesn’t want to lose his feelings for Tsukishima. Hinata knows that Tsukishima doesn’t actually hate him. He’s just not Tsukishima’s favorite, sure they’re teammates but that doesn’t mean that they’re friends. He sobs all night while throwing up the flowers. He finally falls asleep from exhaustion. He wakes up the next morning with his throat burning and feeling like shit. He gets ready for morning practice not really wanting to go, but again he doesn’t want anyone to worry. He meets up with Kageyama halfway to school, and Kageyama sees how tired Hinata looks. He’s not going to force Hinata to talk after what he saw yesterday.
“Why are you coming to practice? You look like absolute shit….” Kageyama said while looking straight at Hinata.
“I don’t want anyone to worry about me and ask where I am.”
“Dude Suga and Daichi are gonna ask you all types of questions looking the way you do now. You look like death hit you with a bus” Kageyama said with a smirk on his face. Trying to keep the conversation light.
They both finally walk up to the doors of the gym and change out for practice. They set up the gym and wait for everyone else to show up to start practice. While they’re waiting they work on their quick attack. Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Suga, and Daichi all walk in and see Hinata and Kageyama working on the quick.
“Nice work with not having the ball hit your face!!!” Tsukishima said with a small laugh and smirk.
Once Hinata heard those words the ball hit him square in the face since he was focusing on Tsukishima words.
“HINATA ARE YOU OKAY???” Suga and Daichi both yell while running up to him.
“Yes I’m okay I just wasn’t paying attention” Hinata says while looking sheepish. Suga and Daichi look at him with suspension but let it go once he starts to banter with Kageyama.
“He’s been looking like a wreck these past two days, Daichi.”
“He knows that if he needs to talk, he can always talk to us. And if he gets worse we’ll talk to him.”
“ALRIGHT LET'S START PRACTICE!!!” Coach Ukai yells to get everyone to start stretching. He separates everyone into partners to work on teamwork and to help each other with their weaknesses. He partners Yamaguchi with Kageyama, so Kageyama can help him with his serves. He partners Tsukishima and Hinata, so Tsukishima can help Hinata with blocking better. Everyone just falls into pairs. Coach Ukai specifically broke the first years up to better their relationship with each other.
“I’m stuck with shrimpy…Wow so much fun”
“You don’t have to be so rude to me Tsukishima!”
“Well maybe if you weren't such a bad middle blocker I wouldn’t need to be teaching you how to be better.”
“You know just because I’m not tall doesn’t mean I can’t do what you do!! There’s no need to be mean to me.”
“Whatever, let's just get this done. I’d rather not spend more time with you than necessary.”
Suga and Asahi are working on setting and spiking trying out this new technique they’ve been working on for the past couple of days. Tsukishima and Hinata use Asashi’s spikes to try and better their spikes against their ace. At this point they’ve been practicing for about an hour and class was about to begin so they start cleaning up the gym. As they’re cleaning Hinata starts to feel a coughing fit coming up. He runs to the restroom to make sure no one sees him, everyone looking with confusion in their eyes. Kageyama runs after him to make sure he’s okay since he knows exactly what’s happening. He chases Hinata to the restroom as fast as he can. He ends up hearing Hinata crying and heaving in one of the stalls, he walks up slowly and knocks. Hinata opens the stall door with his eyes red from crying. Kageyama sits down on the floor with him to give him some comfort.
“Hinata you can’t let this control your life! You either need to tell the person you’re in love with or get it removed!! I can’t stand seeing you in pain like this.”
“Kageyama I can’t do that, you know I would never do either of those things. You know what the surgery would do. And I could never tell him because I know he would never feel the same for me.”