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Shoyo had never really thought about his sexuality. Ever since the topic of crushes or relationships started to come up more often, he was always too focused on other things, whether it was getting better at volleyball, being an older brother, or passing the entrance exam to get into Karasuno. So while his male classmates were trying to get girls’ attention, he was working to get a team together to be able to finally play an official volleyball match. The first person he ever felt anything different towards was Kageyama, but he had already established that it was a combination of their rivalry and his admiration of the more skilled player. Their friendship was the best one he’s ever had, regardless of how other people perceived it.
Yet, here he was, listening to Tsukishima berate him for showing up to the camp, feeling extremely attracted to his taller teammate. Honestly, Hinata couldn’t even tell what Tsukishimaa was saying to him at that moment, all the ginger could focus on was how hot the other boy was when he was angry. He should probably say something, but he doesn’t trust himself to not embarrass himself even further. He's hoping that his flushed face can be passed off as being a result of being yelled at. He could see the two Seijoh players out of the corner of his eye and silently wished one of them would say something and distract Tsukishima, but sadly, no one spoke up until he was done.
Tsukishima didn’t say anything else after yelling at him, everyone else just stared. One of Shiratorizawa’s coaches cleared his throat, nodded his head in the direction of the gym doors and started walking, Shoyo following. The coach led him to the office so that he could call Karasuno’s coach and inform him of where Shoyo was. The coach talked to Ukai for a few seconds and then passed the phone to Hinata. He heard Ukai yelling at him and responded as best he could, but all he could remember was how close Tsukishima was and how he could feel his warmth. He snapped out of whatever trance he was in when Ukai passed the phone to Takeda. Takeda was scarier than he realized, his low voice rumbling in his ear. Shoyo couldn’t help but feel terrified of the usually bubbly teacher. He answered as respectfully as he felt he could and felt a leap in his heart when the head coach of Shiratorizawa implied he could stay as a ball boy. The other coach then took the phone and confirmed with the Karasuno staff that Hinata would be in fact staying.
One on hand, Hinata was ecstatic. He could stay and learn from all these different players! Though, on the other hand, he didn’t know if he could face Tsukishima without his head replaying the moment the taller boy lost his cool. The head coach, Washijo, then stood up and spoke to Hinata. “Without that setter, Kageyama, I can’t say I sense any worth in you.” All thoughts of Tsukishima halted and Hinata looked him in the eyes, determined. He refused to let this man get to him. He knew he was capable of getting better, no matter what anyone else told him.
Washijo started to walk out of the room with parting words, “If you don’t want to be a ball boy, you can go home at any time.” Hinata clenched his fists and stared at the floor. Could he really do this? He had to! He was going to be the next small giant, no matter what it took. He took a deep breath and turned towards the door. The thought that he was going to see Tsukishima when he walked back into the gym terrified him, but if he was going to get better, he was going to have to suck it up. He took the steps out of the office, towards the gym doors, and took a deep breath once he was outside them. Shoyo walked into the gym, immediately apologizing for previously interrupting practice and announcing himself as a ball boy. He met the eyes of every player, except Tssukishima, not wanting to get flustered and make an idiot of himself (again). Once he was done, the coaches called the players attention and practice had begun.
On his ride home, Hinata was thinking about how, in the short time it’s been since the realization of his feelings for Tsukishima, he’s had a difficult time balancing that and trying to improve his volleyball skills. He’s really trying his best here, but it’s so hard when his teammate looks that good while he’s stretching or when he can slightly catch a glimpse of the other boy's toned stomach when he’s using his shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. And he’s more than sure that some of the other players have caught on, mostly Kunimi from Seijoh and Tendou from Shiratorizawa. Kunimi, who strangely reminds him of Kenma, raised an eyebrow at him when he was caught staring at Tsukishima for a little longer than he should’ve, while Tendou took to blatantly looking between Hinata and Tssukishima in suggestive ways when only Hinata was looking.
Still, all of this divided attention was making it hard for Hinata to concentrate. He needed to decide on what to do about these feelings, or even what they were, if he wanted to be able to focus on anything else. What he knew was that Tsukishima was incredibly attractive, even if he was only recently made aware of it, but also incredibly mean, which made him hesitate on further pursuing these feelings. Maybe if he ignored them, they’d go away, then he wouldn’t have to deal with the inevitable rejection. That seemed like a good plan to him, so he decided he would stick with it.
“Come with me for a sec.” Tsukishima stood in front of Hinata as he cleaned the gym floors after their practice.
Hinata’s heart skipped a beat. Oh no, he somehow found out. didn’t he? That damned Tendou, Hinata knew someone would notice. He felt shaky, but tried to speak anyways, “C-come with you? For what?” He sounded too nervous, dammit.
“Blocking practice. You’re allowed to do something other than ball boy if we’re just practicing on our own, right?” Oh. Shoyo panicked for nothing. Though, he still felt his heart beating faster. Here he is, trying to ignore these feelings and here comes the stupid mean blonde, offering to practice with him, no, asking to practice together, even explaining a loop hole on the condition placed for him to stay. He fights the smile threatening to creep onto his face and excitedly announces to the other players that Tsukishima would be joining them for the extra practice. He turned back to put things away and finally let a small smile take place, maybe Tsukishima isn’t the absolute worst person to have feelings for.
Shoyo was happily skipping along, excited to go back to actual practice, while Tsukishima grumbled behind him. Kogane ran up, excitedly asking for Tsukishima’s and Goshiki’s email addresses, which they, reluctantly on Tsukishima’s part, gave him. The taller Seijoh player, Kindaichi (not Onion Head as Shoyo previously referred to him as) approached him to ask about Kageyama until the other one, Kunimi, came by and announced they’d be beating Karasuno in their next official match. Hinata just smiled and watched them walk away as Tsukishima walked up behind him.
“Hurry up, I don’t wanna miss the bus just cause you were just standing around,” Tsukishima said, now walking past Hinata. Hinata took a few larger steps to get into step with him and walked beside him. They reached the bus stop and waited silently until the bus pulled up. Once on, Tsukishima surprisingly took a seat next to Hinata, but still said nothing. As rambunctious as he usually was, the silence was comfortable to Hinata. After about five minutes of silence, Tsukishima turned to Hinata and started to speak, “You uh… You did good over there. Not that I’ll ever tell you this again, but good job, Shimp.”
Hinata gasped and then beamed at him, “Stingyshima?? Is that really you? Complimenting me??” He started bouncing around in his seat,excited to be praised by his crush.
“I called you a shrimp.”
“Yeah, but after telling me I did a good job!”
“If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.” With that, Tsukishima put his headphones over his ears and looked away, a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Shoyo almost felt his heart burst. Yeah, Tsukishima definitely isn’t the worst person to have a crush on.