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Kageyama Tobio realized his feelings for Hinata Shouyou late in their first-year. His heart always beat faster whenever the red-haired boy spoke to him, when the bright look on those brown eyes and that bright smile were directed at him. Fondness filled him when they bickered, when they trained together. He had never known someone who loved volleyball as much as him, who was as competitive as him. That is until he met Shouyou and his world turned upside down.
He fell in love slowly, and then all at once: all of a sudden he knew that what he felt for Shouyou wasn’t just friendship, nor only fondness and admiration: it was love. A strong, deep love. He had fallen hard for the boy. It would be a lie if he were to say that he wasn’t scared: after all, he never had those feelings for anyone. Much less, for a boy. Was he… gay? Yeah, he probably was. Tobio didn’t know if that bothered him or not (turns out it didn’t).
The dark-haired boy had little experience with friendship and much less with love. What was he supposed to do? Should he tell Shouyou? He was sure the other boy didn’t return his feelings. Confessing would probably ruin their friendship and their coordination on the court. It would mess with the team, he didn’t want to ruin another team. So, yeah, he made up his mind on keeping those feelings for himself and hoping that they would go away someday. After all, how could a ray of sunshine love someone as broken as him? Someone as awkward and weird as him? Yeah, it would never happen.
Tobio was wrong, really wrong. His feelings for Shouyou didn’t go away. Not at all. In fact, they grew stronger and stronger day by day, as their friendship and closeness did. He had been in love with Shouyou for three long years and… he still hadn’t said a word to the other boy and it was slowly killing him.
He guessed now of all the times would be a great time to confess. They had just graduated, their third year was over. And Shouyou was leaving to the other side of the world so if things ended badly, at least they wouldn’t have to see each other every day. They wouldn’t be on the same team, thus, if they ended up being on bad terms, it wouldn’t affect the whole team. Still… fear gripped Tobio’s heart every time he tried to confess because, after all, he didn’t want to lose what he and Shouyou had, he didn’t want to lose contact with the other boy. After all, Shouyou was what his grandfather promised him: his someone better. And he didn’t want to give that up, even if that meant not telling the red-haired boy about his feelings. Even if that had been killing him little by little every single day.
Yet again, he didn’t manage to confess —he was such a fucking coward—, and before Tobio knew it Shouyou was already on the other side of the world, without knowing his feelings for him. The setter guessed he would never be able to confess, but at least he would still have the spiker’s friendship.
Tobio and Shouyou kept in touch the whole time the other boy was in Brazil. They messaged almost every day, and some days they even called each other and, like the old times, started bickering for hours and taunting the other regarding who was gonna be the best out of the two. Every time Tobio heard the ringtone he assigned to Shouyou his heart fluttered and he could feel butterflies in his stomach. No one had to know that every time he heard Shouyou’s laughter through the phone, his cheeks went red as a tomato.
Then, fate brought them together once again. Shouyou came back to Japan and they met on the court again. Although the Adlers lost the game, Tobio couldn’t stop smiling. Shouyou had improved so much and he had missed him so much… So, when the game ended, and they shook hands, Tobio wanted to hug the other boy so much that, before he knew it, he was already doing that.
Shouyou, although surprised, hugged him back and laughed, with whispers of “I missed you too, boke and… guess who’s the loser now, huh?” Tobio, despite the obvious taunt, couldn’t stop himself from laughing. And if everyone, especially Shouyou, saw how rosy his cheeks were… well, no one said anything.
Shouyou had to go back to Brazil as he got accepted in a Brazilian team and Tobio was gonna play in Italy, but they would still be together on court whenever the Japan National team played: they both made it that big.
Before Shouyou had to start training with the new team, he invited Tobio to Brazil as he wanted to show his best friend his second home and he, of course, accepted the invitation. Kunimi and Kindaichi also tagged along, as they were trying to repair their friendship.
Tobio was really happy with how his life was going, but there was still something gnawing at him. He knew he would never be happy if he didn’t express his feelings for Shouyou out loud. He was not a teenager anymore, so maybe, he could give it a try now? But still… the same old fear reappeared. In fact, it never went away.
Shouyou took them to all the places he liked in Brazil, the places every tourist knew about and the places only the local people knew. But what they did most of the time was play beach volleyball —to Tobio’s disgrace, as he hated the stupid sand. It was so hard to keep his balance and set correctly! But Tobio took it as a challenge and he always came out victorious from a challenge. Although the first day, Shouyou was practically the setter, as he was already a pro on the sand, so his sets were the accurate ones. No one had to know that this made Tobio’s heart flutter.
Kunimi and Kindaichi always left the beach way earlier than them, claiming that they didn’t have that much energy and that they were fucking monsters. So, at the late hours of the evening, only Tobio and Shouyou were playing at the beach.
And, one night, after playing almost the whole evening and after swimming for a bit on the sea to cool down, Tobio and Shouyou went for a walk on the beach. Shouyou claimed he wanted to show the other boy a small, hidden spot at the other end of the beach and the setter couldn’t say no to the spiker, as he cherished all the moments he spent with him.
The night was starry, there was a full moon, shining brightly and staring at its own reflection on the sea. The sky was truly breath-taking that night.
“Today was fun! But you still fell twice on the sand, boke! You keep claiming that you have already beaten the “stupid sand”, but that’s far from the truth!”
“Shut up, boke! I fell because your sets were way off, so it’s all your fault!”
“Sure, sure, whatever you say, Tobio!”
They kept bickering and talking about small things while walking through the beach. Suddenly, Shouyou stopped walking to look up at the sky.
“Wow, Tobio! Look! There are a lot of stars tonight! And the moon is so bright! It’s so beautiful!”
“Yeah, the view is surely breath-taking…”, said Tobio. But he wasn’t looking at the sky, he was staring at Shouyou.
It was now or never. His feelings were too much for him, he had to say them out loud, no matter the consequences. He couldn’t take it anymore. He was done being a coward. So, mustering all the courage he could find in his body, the setter spoke.
“Hey, Shouyou…”
“Yeah?”, said Shouyou, staring back at him with curiosity.
Tobio could feel his cheeks heating up under Shouyou’s gaze. Fuck, he was probably red as a tomato.
“I… I have something to tell you.”
Great. Now he was stuttering too. He felt so stupid, but he needed to keep talking. If he stopped now, he would never be able to say it.
“You can tell me anything, you know?”, said Shouyou in a surprisingly soft voice.
“Yeah… Just… please, promise me, you won’t hate me after this”, whispered Tobio, almost as if afraid.
“Hey, hey. I could never hate you, you’re my best friend!”
Tobio winced at the word best friend. It didn’t go unnoticed by Shouyou, but he remained silent, waiting for Tobio to gather his thoughts.
“I… I love you, Shouyou. I’ve loved you for a long time now.”
Shouyou’s eyes widened as saucers, but a soft smile was on his face. Although Tobio couldn’t see it as he adverted his eyes. He was trembling, that confession took too much of his energy. And he was horribly scared of what the answer would be. He feared the rejection, but most of all, he feared that Shouyou would hate him and that this would be the end of their friendship, despite Shouyou’s earlier reassurance.
All of a sudden, Tobio could feel a pair of hands grabbing his, a thumb stroking gently over them. His gaze went back to Shouyou, who was smiling softly at him, his eyes shining. A chuckle could be heard, before he spoke, almost whispering.
“Eu também te amo.”
Tobio tilted his head, frowning.
“What did you say, boke?”
Shouyou laughed wholeheartedly.
“I said… I love you too, Tobio. I’ve been loving you for a long, long time.”
“Are you… is this a joke?”
“Of course not. I wouldn’t joke about that. I just… I thought you didn’t love me back. That’s why I never said anything, as to not make it weird between us. Seems we have lost a lot of time, huh?”
“Yeah… Maybe we’re both idiots, after all.”
They both laughed wholeheartedly at that, their fingers still intertwined. Their cheeks were rosy and Shouyou tugged at Tobio’s arm so he would lean down.
Tobio cupped the other boy’s face gently, looking at his eyes. His gaze flickered down to Shouyou’s lips, who nodded in response to the unspoken question. Their lips met in a soft, soft kiss. Both boys sighed into the kiss, pouring all the longing and love they've been feeling for all those years. When the kiss ended, they both smiled softly before kissing again. And again. And again.
That night, the stars, the moon and the sea in Rio were the witnesses of two boys having their love requited; of two boys proclaiming their love for each other to the whole world.