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The day Hinata falls and twists his ankle, it's Kageyama's fault. He knows it and he feels absolutely horrible, the way only a shitty toss and a twisted ankle can make you feel. He's the one who carries Hinata to the nurse—he insists on carrying him, although Hinata complains and says that he's fine, he can walk on it; Kageyama sees him wince when he puts weight on his leg, and that settles it, as far as he's concerned. He shoves Hinata back down on the bench, who looks up at him, bewildered, and then he's kneeling down and grunting at the shorter boy to climb on his back, stupid, before something else happens.
Hinata hesitates for a minute, and Kageyama thinks he's about to protest, when he feels warm arms wrap around his neck and Hinata's chest against his back (he can feel him breathing, Jesus). Satisfied, Kageyama grips the backs of Hinata's thighs and stands up, careful not to jostle him too much. Hinata isn't terribly light, but he's not that heavy, either, and Kageyama has no problem carting him out of the gym while Hinata waves back at the others, telling them he'll be fine if Kageyama doesn't drop him (like hell he will).
Kageyama hovers outside the nurse's office while he waits, although he's been told he can go. He keeps seeing Hinata's leg give out from under him, sitting on the floor and clutching his ankle, red-faced and holding back tears. It's not abnormal for Hinata to tear up over something, but the fact that it's Kageyama's fault makes it worse. Kageyama does not ever, ever want to make Hinata cry, even if it's an accident. By the time the door opens, he's resolved to help Hinata any way he can, to make up for his mistake (he has to be better than this, he can't keep messing up, not with Hinata). When Hinata hobbles through the door on a pair of crutches almost too high for him, he freezes.
“Kageyama, you look like someone peed in your cereal,” Hinata says, but he doesn't sound terribly upset, so it must not be broken. “It's just a sprain, the nurse said if I stay off it for a week then I'll be back to normal. I can't practice, but...” He trails off, and Kageyama sees how much that bothers him.
He is going to be absolutely sure to help Hinata with anything he needs this week.
Kageyama starts by helping Hinata back to the gym to get his things, or at least trying to. Hinata is absolutely a disaster on crutches; he keeps almost tripping, nearly knocking Kageyama out twice in the process, to the point where Kageyama has to stop and forcibly wrench the crutches away from Hinata.
“You're going to fall and kill yourself, and you'll probably take me with you at this rate,” he says while Hinata whines at him.
“I just have to get the hang of it!” Hinata grabs at the crutches, and Kageyama evades. “Come on, give it back!”
Kageyama refuses, though. Instead, he loops his arm around Hinata's back, under his arm, and he can see Hinata staring at him, startled. Usually, he doesn't get this close; Kageyama knows it, and his face flushes while he tries to appear nonchalant.
Hinata eventually relents and rests his arm around Kageyama's shoulders, and they set out again.
It is absolutely worse than Hinata on crutches.
“You're too tall!” Hinata finally snaps, shoving Kageyama away from him and nearly falling over. “You keep hitting my ankle, you suck at this.”
“You suck at this!” Kageyama quips back, but then he sighs. Maybe he does suck at this. There's really only one way he can think of to carry Hinata. “Get on my back.”
“Hah?” Hinata's giving him that weird look again, like he doesn't understand, so Kageyama repeats himself.
“Get on my back.”
Hinata is stammering like he doesn't know what's going on and he looks stupid, Kageyama tells him, and then he's huffing and shoving at Kageyama's shoulders and telling him to kneel down. Kageyama complies, although that sounds sort of weird coming from Hinata's mouth (he plays it over in his head before he can stop himself) and then Hinata's scrabbling onto his back, pressing his knees into Kageyama's sides. Kageyama immediately goes to steady him again, to make sure he's okay up there, before he straightens up and carries both Hinata and his disaster crutches back to the gym.
“I'm okay!” Hinata calls when they enter, waving from up high. “Kageyama's going to be my slave for a week and then I can play again!”
Kageyama's suddenly spluttering because nowhere in any way had he agreed to something like that, but it's sort of essentially what he'd been planning to do anyway. He threatens to drop Hinata, who clings to his neck for dear life, and the atmosphere in the gym goes back to normal; Kageyama and Hinata are bickering again, Hinata tugging at Kageyama's hair; everything is the way it should be, aside from Hinata's ankle.
He can do this. It's only a week.
Xxx
It's only a week, sure, but Kageyama's forgotten one important detail: Hinata bikes to school. Obviously he can't do that in his condition, currently, so Kageyama's stuck picking him up before and after school. Hinata tries using the crutches again, and it ends up so absolutely awfully (they fall down a hill together) that Kageyama's once again lifting Hinata on his back. It's faster this way, he tells himself, pointedly ignoring the warmth seeping into the back of his jacket, Hinata's chin against his shoulder, breath near his ear. He points things out along the way (“look, Kageyama, look at that kitty”) and it actually ends up sort of...pleasant. Kind of. As pleasant as piggy-backing Hinata all the way to school can be.
Hinata sits out during practice, unused crutches sitting next to him, cheering whenever someone does something he deems as “awesome”. Nishinoya seems to be the main focal point, but Kageyama's ears turn red when he realizes Hinata occasionally cheers for him, too. It's hard to concentrate. It's even harder to concentrate when Hinata's not the one receiving his tosses.
Kageyama ends up carting him to class, after. Hinata protests at first, but it seems half-hearted, and he climbs up on Kageyama's back way too eagerly. They get stares, of course; there are a few girls whispering, but they don't fall, trip, or otherwise injure themselves, so it's already a better result than the crutches would have been. Kageyama drops him off at the door, watching as Hinata hobbles to his desk and sits down before waving to him, and his smile is too wide and Kageyama has to turn quickly and walk out the door before his face turns red. Hinata's way too happy about everything, including being carried around by another guy in front of all your classmates. Kageyama doesn't care, he has never cared what his classmates think, but he'd expected Hinata to be different.
He isn't sure if it's a good thing or not.
Xxx
It becomes routine for them, by the fourth day; Kageyama almost unthinkingly kneels down and Hinata climbs onto his back, not even bothering to protest anymore. They talk while they go, Hinata breathing things into Kageyama's ear, hair tickling his neck, and it's kind of scary how normal it feels when it is definitely not a normal situation. Nobody even gives them a second glance, now.
What's more, Kageyama has ended up spending more time at Hinata's house. The second day he carries him home, Hinata's mother invites him to stay for dinner, going on about how sweet he is to take care of Shouyou like that, and what a good friend he's made in his club, what a tall nice boy and Hinata's flushing nearly as much as Kageyama is when he bows and accepts. Kageyama sets him down in the doorway so they can take off their shoes, noting how Hinata winces as he carefully removes the one from his injured ankle. He feels another surge of guilt.
“Are you sure that's going to be alright by next week?” he asks, and Hinata looks at him.
“Yeah, of course! I know it's going to be alright because if I have to wait even longer to play with you, I'll go crazy.” The way he says it is so straightforward and honest that Kageyama's face heats up again. “Here, watch, I can even put weight on it now.”
Kageyama watches Hinata clamber carefully to his feet, holding onto the wall for support, and standing on his bad leg. He lets go of the wall and grins down at Kageyama, like he's accomplished something other than standing on both his feet, and Kageyama feels like he has to pinch himself because there's no way this kid is real.
He is, he's very real, proven by a warm hand gripping his wrist and pulling him up. “Come on, come to my room,” Hinata's saying, limping along gingerly in front of Kageyama. Kageyama follows, allowing himself to be led into Hinata's pleasantly messy room. He'd never thought a room could be messy and pleasant at the same time, but if anyone's is, it's Hinata's. It looks lived in, scattered magazines and clothes on the floor, a volleyball in the corner. It's very Hinata.
Dinner is good; Hinata's mother is surprisingly as good at cooking as Hinata isn't (he's only tried once, and fed Kageyama his creation. They'd both been sick the entire day) and Kageyama ends up staying the night, almost against his will; he protests, but Hinata's mom is as stubborn as her son is, saying she doesn't want him walking home in the dark alone. He doesn't have any pajamas, so he ends up sleeping in his boxers because none of Hinata's clothes fit him.
He feels sort of self-conscious sitting there, basically naked, while Hinata sits on his bed and grins at him like he knows exactly what he's feeling and couldn't be more smug about it. Kageyama grits his teeth and pretends he doesn't care, that he isn't pretty much naked in Hinata's room. Alone. With Hinata.
He presses his hands onto his lap. Kageyama doesn't like this situation one bit.
What's worse is when Natsu insists on sleeping in the room with them, and Kageyama finds himself pressed against Hinata's side in Hinata's bed, surrounded by a smell that is foreign and familiar at the same time. Hinata grins over at him, having the decency to look sheepish. His ankle is propped up on a pillow.
“I move around a lot,” he says.
“I know,” says Kageyama, sighing. He does know, he knows all too well.
“Yeah, I know you know.” They fall silent, then, Natsu already having fallen asleep, and Kageyama thinks Hinata's followed suit until he speaks up again.
“Hey, Kageyama?”
Kageyama looks over at him, but he's turned his head towards the wall. “What?”
“Um...so, thanks for helping me out this week. You were kind of surprisingly not a total ass, like usual. You're still kind of an ass, but not as bad.” Hinata draws the blanket up to his nose, and in the dark Kageyama thinks the pink on his ears is probably just his imagination.
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Kageyama kicks Hinata's good leg with his own, forgetting that he's only in boxers and wincing when their skin rubs together in all the wrong ways.
He's expecting Hinata to fight back, to kick at him or elbow him or something, but he doesn't. He's completely still, and Kageyama thinks he's sleeping, he's definitely sleeping this time, when his leg nudges Kageyama's, carefully. Kageyama almost thinks it's just Hinata moving unconsciously, but then his leg is hooking under Kageyama's and they're way too close, what is he doing, Kageyama wants to move away-
But he doesn't, and neither does Hinata.
Kageyama doesn't know what he's doing.
He wakes up the next morning, Hinata's face pressed against his bare arm, hair a mess. One of Hinata's arms is twisted around Kageyama's own, almost possessively, and Kageyama thinks he's going to faint.
This is absolutely the worst.
Xxx
Kageyama finds himself looking forward to the end of the week, when Hinata's ankle is better, because he's gotten way too close for comfort. There have been a few instances Kageyama cannot stop thinking about, the one when Hinata had fallen asleep on his back on the way home from practice, breath soft against his neck, or when he'd gotten a little too excited for something and kept bouncing around, which was absolutely too much friction for Kageyama's comfort. Things like that keep happening and Kageyama's at wit's end, honestly.
And then the day arrives, and he wakes up feeling wrong.
Today he's not going to have to carry Hinata around anymore, he reminds himself, he won't have to have that familiar weight on his back, voice close to his ear, or the smell he hates admitting is kind of nice.
He should be glad, really, and he is. Hinata will be back to playing. And it's stupid to enjoy carrying your (male) friend around on your back.
He arrives at Hinata's house, forgetting that technically he shouldn't have to pick him up anymore, he can ride his bike now, and then Hinata's making his way down the stairs, but something is off.
He's still limping.
“Kageyama!” he says, when he reaches him. He looks sheepish and disheveled. “Um...so, do you think you can last another day? It's still hurting.”
Kageyama's heart stops, because that's not right, Hinata shouldn't be this injured. If he's really hurt himself and he's not healing...Kageyama can't imagine being unable to play with Hinata. He's standing there, shocked, when he feels and arm at his elbow.
“Pick me up,” Hinata's saying, and this is the first time he's actually asked for it. Kageyama's heart thumps, but in a different way. Before he realizes it Hinata's scrambled onto his back, and they're starting for school.
Hinata sits out during practice, and Kageyama sees Suga hovering over him, worriedly asking about his injury. Hinata's waving his hand like it's no big deal, but it should be, he hates missing practice, even when he's sick. Kageyama hangs close, distracted, thinking about insisting Hinata go to the doctor.
Practice ends before he's decided, and he's carrying Hinata to his next class. It's then, when he's letting Hinata down gingerly, the way he usually does, that it happens.
Hinata stands fully and unthinkingly on both feet.
“What?” he says, when he notices Kageyama staring at him, and then he looks down, and steps back, too quickly. “Hey, I'm healed!”
But Kageyama isn't falling for that. He grits his teeth and grips Hinata by the arm, hard, dragging him out of the classroom and down the hall. They stop at the end, in an alcove under the stairs and Hinata shrinks back.
“Look, today was the only day I was faking,” he says quickly, spilling it. “I swear, and it's not like I wanted to trick you or anything, I just...”
“You just what?” Kageyama's glaring, thoroughly irate that Hinata would do such a thing to get him to continue being his stupid chauffeur, carrying him around and humiliating himself, causing his head to get all messed up and fuzzy and-
“I just wanted one more day!” Hinata says, looking away. He's got guilt plastered all over his red face. “It was fun having you carry me around. I was going to go back to normal tomorrow. My ankle really was hurting up until then, okay?”
Kageyama's staring at him, and he feels the anger seeping out and being replaced by confusion, and something else. Hinata'd liked being carried by him. Maybe it wasn't just Kageyama who found it kind of weirdly nice.
“You have a comfortable back,” Hinata adds, hopeful, like it's going to keep Kageyama from blowing up at him. “Anyway, I should go to class-”
But before he can turn and escape, Kageyama's arm is shooting out, hand gripping Hinata's wrist, and it's Hinata's turn to look shocked and kind of worried.
“If you liked it, you could have just said so.” Kageyama tries to keep his voice steady. He feels like there's something welling up in his lungs and he has to spit it out. “It's not like...we have to stop just because your ankle is better.”
Hinata's staring now, and Kageyama thinks he's made a mistake, that that was definitely a weird thing to say, he's gotta get out of here before... Hinata's beaming drags him out of his self-induced panic.
“Okay!” he says, his voice completely devoid of the guilt and anxiety it was laced with before. “Okay. Whenever I want?”
“Within reason.”
He looks like he's considering this, then nods. “You really don't mind?”
He's already gone this far, Kageyama thinks, and Hinata's gone and said he liked it already so...it can't hurt, right? “I sort of...didn't mind it. That much.”
Hinata's smile is back, satisfied, and he's about to turn away, when Kageyama decides hell, he's going to go all the way, he's going to do what he's been thinking about all week, what he wanted to do when Hinata would lean too close, pressing their cheeks together, to tell him something.
Kageyama leans down and kisses him.
It's a little hard, the force of Kageyama's decision crashing their lips together, and it only lasts a second. When he pulls back, shocked at his own action, Hinata's face mirrors his. His lips are red, really red, and Kageyama thinks about how he did that with his lips, and maybe he made a mistake, maybe Hinata's leg against his at night was just friendly touching, he doesn't know, maybe he's wrong-
And then Hinata's lips are on his again, tugging his collar so they're at a compatible height.
Its softer, sort of, although their noses hit, and Hinata's lips are really warm sort of chapped, but wonderful. He pulls back, and then he's sticking his tongue out and running off to class like he'd never injured his ankle in the first place.
Kageyama's left staring after him, dazed until the bell rings. He ends up late to class, but he can't say it isn't worth it.
Xxx
They enter the gym together, later, Hinata perched on Kageyama's back and legs wrapped around his waist. He sounds absolutely gleeful when he calls to Sugawara that he's all healed, miraculously, thanks to Kageyama (Kageyama threatens to drop him if he says one more word).
Hinata walks on his own, then, bouncing around the court, clearly ecstatic to be back to playing, giving everyone high-fives, and Kageyama's chest feels warm. He's glad to see Hinata in such a good mood, and he likes to think maybe it has a little something to do with the awkward, quick kiss he'd given him outside the classroom before hoisting a grinning Hinata onto his back.
He's busy thinking about it for the rest of practice, in fact, mind wandering to the sensation of Hinata's lips against his; he knows he should be paying attention, but it's hard when he sees Hinata right next to him, ready to spring for the ball, and he'd thought things would get easier after this but they are so, so much worse, really, and then suddenly there's a ball colliding with the side of his head and he hears Hinata yelling “sorry, sorry! Don't kill me!” as he goes down, landing funny.
When he sits up, his ankle is throbbing, and he fixes Hinata with the absolute worst glare he can manage.
He was wrong. Hinata is a demon. He is going to kill him.