Work Text:
Hinata sat at the empty bus stop and observed the last moments of sunset. The sky had already gone through the bright oranges and yellows, now a dark pink to purple to black canvas. As if a blanket was covering the last of the bright glowing rays.
Hinata smiled. He’d had a great day at the gym, feeling energised and just a little sore - indications of a great workout. The bike he usually took was currently being repaired, so he had to take the bus.
It was a very empty area, only a couple warehouses and industrial stores around so no one really used this stop much. However, the hidden gym in between the furniture store and a tool store was well worth the extra ten minutes biking. His friend, and now gym buddy, Bokuto, had introduced him to this place, and Hinata was hooked. Granted, his university had a gym a mere five minute walk from his dorm, but it was always booked and full and Hinata was never really one to schedule anything successfully.
It was a little eerie, now as the lanterns gradually turned on to break apart the darkness that was enveloping him. Plus, he was the only one here, so... except he wasn’t.
Hinata swiftly turned his head to observe the approaching figure. The person was wearing all black so his features were really hard to tell apart, especially when the lights from the streetlights were not hitting him. They probably had dark hair too, and they were pretty tall.
Hinata could fight him if they attacked him, right? He gulped. Well, he definitely could defend himself due to all the years of volleyball and gym if he needed to, but then again he never participated in an actual fight. Oh god, I hope this person won’t actually attack me!
So absorbed in his frantic thoughts, Hinata completely missed how the person, probably a male, joined him on the bus stop on the opposite side of the bench.
The mystery person threw him a questioning angry look and damn, his scowl was scary.
The red-head realised he was staring and looked in the opposite direction. Well, danger averted, he hoped. He checked his phone for any updates on the bus, and it seemed like it barely moved from its last stop. Fucking traffic. He was still a little uncomfortable sitting here alone with this scary stranger in the middle of nowhere-
In attempts to distract himself again, he looked up. There wasn’t too much light pollution in this area of the city but he couldn’t see any stars. He unlocked his phone again. Did the bus crash or something?
Suddenly, the street lights went out and all Hinata could see was darkness. He shrieked and jumped from his seat, falling over onto the ground. More whining whines and yelps seemed to have caught the attention of the mystery man.
“Hey, you okay?” He was shining his phone flashlight at him and Hinata winced at the sudden change in brightness. The stranger’s voice was gruff and deep, a little scary if you asked him.
“Not sure. I hope this isn’t an elaborate plan of yours to kill me while no one's watching,” Hinata couldn’t see his face, but he heard a tired sigh and the flashlight moved away from his face to shine at the man’s feet. Hinata blinked violently, trying to get his eyes to adjust again. He climbed up to sit at the very edge of the seat. He turned on his flashlight too, just in case.
They sat in silence. Hinata was drowning in his own thoughts and worries, thinking over their current situation. He realised he may have been rude to a stranger who technically had done nothing wrong. “Hey, um… I’m sorry, it was rude of me to say that. I’ve never taken this bus line before and it was a little scary even without the whole blackout thing.”
“Okay.”
Hinata wasn’t sure if the reply was relieving or even more unnerving. “So, um, do you go to the gym? Or were you visiting one of the stores?”
The stranger threw him a scrutinising and almost disgusted look.
The red-head was now able to tell things apart and could confirm that he indeed had black hair, laying straight and flat in locks over his forehead and sides. His eyes were a deep blue, almost black, but maybe it was just dark. And he was pretty attractive, save for his unpleasant expression.
Oh wait- “HEY! I recognise you! I’ve seen you on the treadmill a bunch of times, and the bench! You always seem to be on it whenever I want to use it,” Hinata grumbled.
“Huh? That’s not my problem.”
They both receded into silence again, Hinata deciding not to comment on the guy’s last remark. Every minute seemed to drag on for eternity, and the lights were still out.
“Hey, how long do you think it would be until the power returns?” Hinata asked carefully. He shifted a little away from the edge, as his thigh was uncomfortably pressing on the metal bench. Plus this guy didn’t seem like he would jump on him with a knife anytime soon… he hoped.
“Dunno, could be ten minutes, could be two hours,” Mystery Guy grumbled. Finally! A normal response.
Hinata took pride in this accomplishment.
“Do buses still drive when there’s no power?”
“I mean, they still have headlights, and stuff. But since the streets aren’t lit up... not sure, I don’t know the rules. I don’t have a driver’s license.”
“I have one! Though it took me five tries to pass the test… I actually don’t know whether vehicles are allowed to move in this situation.” Hinata felt the stranger’s stare on him again, silently judging.
“I’m not surprised. I wonder if it’s safe to let you on the road if you don’t know these things.” Was that a sneer coming from him?
“Hey! Was that really necessary? I don’t have a car anyway,” Hinata pouted.
“If I was learning to drive I’d look up the rules for any scenario. Do you not have any sense of self preservation?”
“I do! I’ll have you know that I’m careful on the road!”
“Sure, sure.”
“So careful, in fact, that I may just go and get a pilot’s license! Better yet, I’ll become an astronaut and learn how to fly a rocket!” Hinata sprung to his feet, thrusting his fist into the air and beaming.
The stranger actually laughed at him. A full-on hearty laugh, clutching his sides. Damnit, Hinata was itching to wheeze at that, but he couldn’t succumb to the weakness. “Are you a dumbass? Who will let such a shortie go to space?”
“HUUUH? What does height have to do with this?!” Hinata was seething. Forget anything he said about the stranger being attractive, no way was this asshole anything but rude. The fact that he was still laughing pissed him off even more.
“Sorry, sorry,” the guy choked out, “Well then, are you a student? What are you studying, Mr. Astronaut?”
“Sports coaching, don’t call me that!”
“Hmm, I don’t see how you would be useful in space. Only smart people like scientists who can actually handle things are sent out. You wouldn’t make the cut.”
“Well, if you’re so smart, then tell me what you’re studying!”
“Events management.”
“HA! You wouldn’t be useful in space either!”
“Good thing I’m not planning on becoming an astronaut.”
Hinata whipped his head to the side to look into the stranger’s eyes. He held the stare with a challenge. “What’s your problem? All you’ve done is insult me and you don’t even know me!”
“You started it,” the stranger shrugged, looking away.
“Is that any reason to be mean?” Hinata did not look away, glaring holes into the side of the stranger’s face.
“Guess not, my bad.”
“You’re not sorry at all, are you?” Hinata let go of his glare and slumped against the glass window behind the bench. “Aaaah, why did I have to be stuck here with someone like you?”
“How is that my fault?”
“Shut up, I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Hah, it’s not like I want to talk to you either.”
They sat in silence for what seemed like another eternity. Hinata checked the time, but only ten minutes had passed since their weird fight. It’s not like he could play on his phone; he only had 18 percent and it was better to conserve the battery just in case.
The stranger also sat there looking at the ground so he guessed that he was in a similar predicament.
Hinata turned off his flashlight. The light coming from the stranger’s phone was enough.
“Damn,” he said out loud, “I hope the bus comes soon, I don’t want to be stuck here all night...”
The stranger didn’t respond.
Hinata looked up at the sky again, at the part that wasn’t blocked by the bus stop’s roof and finally was able to tell apart the littering of the stars in the deep abyss of the night sky. His eyes wandered from one minuscule speck to another, and they never ended.
He wondered just how big the universe they lived in was. It made him small (well, smaller that he already was) which both excited him and terrified him. There was so much out there that humanity didn’t know about.
“I wonder if there’s an end to it all,” Hinata wondered, and the stranger clicked his tongue.
“The bus will come eventually, stop whining.”
“What?” He looked at him in confusion. “Oh, no, I was thinking about the universe, not the bus.”
The guy nodded, unsure. “Still stuck on that astronaut profession?”
“No! Y-yes! I mean… don’t you think it’s cool? There’s so much out there that we can’t even imagine. Like, what if there are other life forms with civilizations and technology much more advanced than ours?”
“Ugh, I don’t want anymore of this alien talk. Oikawa is more than enough.”
“Who’s Oikawa?”
“My roommate, so please. No aliens.”
“Then…” Hinata strained his brain to think of a topic that was deep and insightful and that he couldn’t mess up.
Come on think, think, think.
“What are your thoughts on the afterlife?”
Hinata went with philosophy because you could NOT go wrong with philosophy. Like, all you had to do was say your thoughts. Perfect for him.
“Afterlife? I don’t know, I’ve never thought about it. I don’t really believe in it.”
“Ehh, that’s boring. I like to think that there is an afterlife. Not the one where you live in heaven or hell forever, I’d imagine that’s incredibly boring-”
“If burning in flames for eons seems boring to you-” the stranger interrupted, scoffing.
“No no no no wait, not in that way. Also, why’d you think of that first? I meant like- okay, burning in flames is horrible but in a way, like, that’s all that happens. All you have is the flames and other people burning. Pain and the same thoughts.”
“Can you even have thoughts in hell? Isn’t it only a brain function”
“Details,” Hinata brushed off the comment, “Same with heaven. If it’s so idyllic then isn’t it incredibly boring?” He looked up into the stranger’s deep blue eyes again. Damn, why were they so captivating?
“If you have everything after death, then you have nothing to gain.”
“Wow, that..” The guy held his gaze, then seemed to study the rest of his face, “If you put it that way I see what you mean.” Then he leaned back onto the glass window behind him, relaxing his posture. “So what afterlife do you believe in then?”
“Reincarnation.”
It was mid-spring and the nights were still chilly. Hinata shivered slightly and buried his nose in the neck of his hoodie. It was his roommate’s Yamaguchi’s hoodie; he’d picked it up by mistake in a hurry to leave the house. It was a pretty cream colour, but also on the thinner side.
“It’s kinda comforting to think that your soul could move on to another body. That way we never die.”
The stanger’s brows furrowed in contemplation. Hinata decided to keep quiet, he wanted to hear what was going on inside that head of his. The guy sure took his time.
“So...” he said softly, “Does that mean your personality stays the same?”
“Please elaborate.”
“Well, if another you existed in a different body, would it look similar to you now? In that case, you’d never be original. Only a copy of someone else that lived before you. We’d only have the same people living over and over. But wait, the population is increasing. Does that mean that completely new souls form? Or do existing ones split? Can they split?” The stranger was now intensely rubbing his hair. It was ridiculous how worked up he got over the topic, if not a little cute.
Hinata giggled, “Firstly, no one grows up the same. We all have different environments and experiences shaping us.” He was retelling what he’d once heard from Yamaguchi, but he’d drop that detail. “And besides, this is all hypothetical. No one knows. Isn’t it exciting? Not knowing what awaits you? A little scary, also. But I like to think that there’s something there for us…”
“Yeah… I think I agree.”
They fell into a comfortable silence again, neither of them speaking. Hinata felt like they had a kind of special atmosphere around them. It was nice.
The bus was still not there, though, and the streetlights were still off. Surprisingly, the stranger spoke up first.
“Hey, so, my phone is at eleven percent. The flashlight is really draining it. Are you from Karasuno University?”
“I am!”
“You staying in their dorms?”
“Yep, block C.”
“Okay, cool. I’m in block F. I suggest we walk back, god knows how long the bus will take to come and I’m not keen on sitting here with no light whatsoever.”
“Sure! It should be a half hour walk at most,” the red-head exclaimed, excited at the idea of finally getting home. He jumped to his feet and looked to the stranger, waiting for him to follow suit.
“Oh, by the way, I’m Hinata Shouyou! Nice to meet you.”
The stranger smiled at him, which was a first for the night.
“Kageyama Tobio,” He replied and Hinata could finally connect a name to that pretty face of his.
They walked mostly in silence at first. Only the sound of their footsteps and occasional grunt from Hinata fixing his bag over his shoulders.
After the battery on Kageyama’s phone completely ran out, a mere three minutes later, Hinata turned his phone flashlight back on.
Suddenly, all the streetlights on the street switched on in unison and the street was so unusually bright it was funny. They just left.
So Hinata laughed. He dropped to his knees, unable to support his weight and laughed into his hoodie sleeves.
Kageyama threw an annoyed “Oi, let’s go dumbass,” at him, but Hinata needed another minute to collect himself.
After a mere twenty meters or so The Bus™ drove past them and Hinata burst into another fit of laughter. Though this time, Kageyama’s low chuckles joined the breathy wheezes and from then on their conversation picked up and flowed smoothly.
They talked about their hobbies, high schools, and bonded over their love of volleyball.
“You should toss to me sometime!”
“I doubt you’re any good.”
They talked about university and their studies and realised that they actually shared a couple acquaintances.
Kageyama was… bearable. Blunt and rude at times but he was honest and virtuous, which was pretty admirable.
The half hour walk passed in what seemed like barely five minutes before Hinata saw the top of their dormitory building peeking in the nightscape. He suppressed the bubbling feeling of disappointment, which honestly made no sense. He’d known this guy for barely a few hours and his only perk was his slightly better than average face.. yeah, that’s it. He unconsciously slowed his step, even though the cold was starting to get to him and he should really rush home so he didn’t get sick.
“We made it,” Kageyama commented quietly.
“That we did,” Hinata agreed. A few more awkward minutes later and they were standing in front of the entrance to Hinata’s block.
He halted in his steps, wondering what else he could do to prolong this experience, and turned to face Kageyama. Under the now bright lights, he noticed that his hair reflected in a slight blue-ish tint. So pretty.
“So, uh, I’ll see you around, I guess,” Kageyama spoke, not moving either.
“Yeah, sounds good. Goodnight, Kageyama,” Hinata smiled.
“Goodnight, Hinata.”
Realising that he really can’t stall any longer, Hinata waved and turned to head inside. Once he closed the door he sprinted up one flight of stairs to peek at Kageyama through the small window. Kageyama stood there still, looking at the door.
Hinata’s heartbeat picked up. Could this mean…? Did Kageyama also feel the mood that he was feeling?
He watched in awe as Kageyama shuffled some more in front of the door, and was honestly considering running back out and maybe asking for his number or something, but then Kageyama finally turned around and walked off.
Oh well.
At least Hinata knew that they were in the same university and dorm building. And, they went to the same gym even. There’d be plenty more chances to run into him. Hopefully. Actually no, he will.
Hinata made his resolve to spend more time with the stranger turned... friend(?) who made him feel a little funny in the head and stomach. He should think of some more small talk topics, because you know, one can never have enough of them.
Satisfied, Hinata made his way to his floor and told the incredibly weird story to his roommate Yamaguchi. He won’t be getting any sleep tonight.