Chapter Text
Hinata kicks the door of his room wide open before marching to the kitchen, slamming his butt down on the wooden chair, and gulping down half of the cold coffee cup lying on the dining table. It has only been 8 in the morning and Hinata seems to have the worst day of his life already. He then aggressively wipes away the remaining liquid on his lips and groans,
"I'm so tired of human"
His roommate, Goshiki, turns around from the kitchen counter and looks at that one disgruntled friend of him, brow raising and says, "Well, morning to you too, Shoyo"
"I don't understand it, aren't my paintings of scenery nice?" grumbles Hinata. He picks up the piece of bread that has just been toasted by Goshiki, smears an excessive amount of strawberry jam on it, and munches down. At this point, Goshiki has the illusion that what is being crushed inside Hinata's mouth is not just bread anymore.
"Did your fans ask you to draw men again?" Goshiki chuckles at the sight of grumpy Hinata. It's a rare view honestly, since the ginger appears to everyone as a dazzling ball of sunshine most of the time, well, except for when people demand too much from his arts. Hinata is a free spirit, Goshiki has figured that after being friends with him for ten years. He only wants to draw what comes from his heart, not from his comment section on Tiktok.
"Yeah," Hinata furrows his brows and rubs the bread crumbs on his fingers onto his paint-stained T-shirt, "All I did was posting a painting of you on Tiktok. And suddenly 500,000 people keep asking me to post more drawings of guys? Such a degenerate generation we're living in I tell you"
"They like the painting of me that much?" Goshiki asks in surprise, ears tinting a faint shade of pink.
"You mean the painting of you when I got rid of your horrifying bowl fringe? Yeah, they do," Hinata snorts out loud, ridiculing his friend's hairstyle.
To be fair, Goshiki's haircut is not exactly Pinterest-worthy either.
Goshiki unconsciously covers his fringe with his palm, voice grumbling lowly, "You little shit," he says before grabbing his bag and walks toward the front door, "I'll deal with you after work"
Hinata shrugs his shoulder and flips his hand in the air at Goshiki. The taller boy holds the doorknob and turns around one last time, "Remember to close the balcony window, I don't want Meatball to run off like the last time," he warns and tilts his head at the white-fur cat who is licking his foot on the sofa. Hinata nods mindlessly at the reminder, and although Goshiki barely has any trust in his friend, he has to leave his precious cat with the ginger anyway, since his shift at the cafe will start soon.
Hinata pours the rest of the coffee down his throat and clenches his fists, alright, he can do this, it's just a painting of hot guys right, he can totally draw them, considering how many attractive men he has encountered, Oikawa, Kuroo, Bokuto, and the list goes on.
Staring at the white canvas, Hinata painfully realizes he cannot draw them at all. He doesn't have any motivation to paint and his brush is just stuck in the air, unable to stroke any lines (and sticking the picture of Akaashi, the one gorgeous being with emerald eyes and navy curly hair on the canvas doesn't help either). Hinata throws his brush on the wood easel, he needs some fresh air. Yep, that would definitely help solve the problem.
The ginger opens the ground window and walks out to the balcony for a change of view. He has been hiding in his room for too long that his eyes immediately water at the luminous sunlight. Hinata turns his head aside to avoid the direct light when suddenly, he spots Meatball sprinting out of the apartment and jumping to his neighbor's balcony.
Hinata's heart jumps to his throat at the sight as he recalls the demonic glare of Goshiki when he accidentally let his cat out for the first time. Such a gaze that could easily kill off a person is definitely not something Hinata wants to see for the second time.
He shudders in horror and leans on the balcony's fence, hands reaching to the cat, "Common Meatball, come here baby," he coos. But Meatball pays no attention to him at all. That pompous cat turns around before gracefully flicking his tail on the sky and hopping on the chair of his neighbor's balcony, making itself comfortable on the stranger's property.
Hinata mumbles curses under his breath. He then estimates the distance between the two fences. It's not that far away, Hinata stretches his palm to predict the gap, he could actually jump to his neighbor's balcony and snatches the cat home.
Maybe it's the whole cup of black coffee he just chucked down, maybe it's the lack of sleep; regardless, Hinata spreads his legs after only a heartbeat of hesitation and lands on the balcony of a stranger's apartment without much struggle. Sparing no second to congratulate himself on that epic survival, Hinata quietly walks toward Meatball and picks the cat up. But before he could make his way home, his attention is caught by a person inside that apartment.
Dark hair resembles the color of the Styx river. Pursed lips display an absolute concentration. Lean yet muscular torso bends down near the triple-layers cake. Delicate fingers hold the piping bag firmly, painting graceful roses on his own white canvas.
Hinata's breath hitches at the sight, and the only word that is circling in his mind right now, is 'beautiful'.
The man raises his head up, and with that, Hinata's mind is dazzled by the sight of his eyes. Shattered morning sunlight dances on his cobalt blue eyes, glossing them with crystal droplets that remind Hinata of a thin layer of ice on top of the river on winter days. And if he gets close to them without much precaution, Hinata fears that he will slip and drown in those eyes. They are cold, yet alluring, and the ginger could not stop himself from melting into them.
To say the least, Hinata is mesmerized.
The man jolts at the sight of a stranger on his balcony, which, unfortunately, smears the whole corner of flowers on his cake. Looking at the disaster he just created, the man huffs loudly and throws the piping bag on the table, making his way to the balcony and opens the ground window, "Who are you?" he asks, voice husky punching through the thick air.
His voice wakes Hinata from the haziness of his brain. Staring at the man's deep crease between his brows, Hinata unconsciously parts his mouth, letting out nothing but long stretches of incoherent noises running free from his throat. And with that not-so-intelligent reaction from Hinata, the crease on the raven's forehead sinks another level deeper (as if that's even possible)
"What are you doing on my balcony?" he grumbles a little louder this time
"Right," Hinata shakes his head in the attempt to make the wires in his brains click, "I'm Hinata Shoyo, I live right next door, and I'm here to pick up my cat," he says before raising the small cat in his arm as a prove, "Sorry for the intrusion"
"You could have just knocked," the man clicks his tongue at the ginger's not-so-bright idea before unconsciously turning his head around at the ruined cake, drawing Hinata's attention there as well
"I'm...I'm really sorry about that," Hinata stammers, fingers clutching tighter to Meatball.
The raven directs his gaze back at the smaller boy in front of him, making Hinata avert his eyes to the nearby Irises pot to avoid such an intense glare.
Alright, maybe he's wrong, maybe Goshiki's glare isn't that bad. If his friend's glare is at an amateur level, then this guy's glare is definitely at the S-tier for the ability to kill a person off. And unfortunately, that person right now is Hinata.
"Just don't jump onto other people's balcony without permission next time, dumbass," much to Hinata's surprise, the man only gives him a warning before walking inside his apartment again.
"Wait," calls Hinata, "I...um...I could help you fix the cake,"
"Save it," the man sighs, "I don't want it to be ruined more than it has already been," he says then closes the window and pulls down the curtain, leaving Hinata alone with his cat, facing a covered glass.
"Wow," Hinata mouths. Taking no second to recover from that interaction, Hinata hastily climbs back to his apartment, throws Meatball on the sofa, stumbles his leg onto the coffee table, sprints toward the easel, puts on his apron, grabs his brush, and just starts drawing from his memory.
Three hours have passed, and finally, Hinata is able to put down his brush and squeeze the leftover paint on it out with his apron, panting softly because of his insane heartbeat from the excitement. Hinata gingerly traces his fingers on the deep blue eyes that are partly covered by Irises, completely immersed in them. He could feel the cold tickling his bones that somehow, blends so well with the warm and buttery smell of strawberry cake. Hinata breathes out and picks up his brush again, he wants to draw more...
Wait.
What the fuck is he doing?
Hinata throws his brush on the easel as if it could bite him. Did he really just draw a rude neighbor that he just met not that long ago? And be proud of that painting as well? What has gotten into him lately? Is he that sleep-deprived?
Thousands of questions circling in Hinata's mind without answers, and in the end, he just blames it on the excessive amount of black coffee and strawberry jam he just consumed this morning. Hinata brings the painting inside his room and covers it with a piece of fabric. He swears this will be the last time he draws this man.
~•~~•~
It was not the last time he drew that man. Hinata sighs as he shamefully slaps his forehead against the eighth painting of his neighbor. Despite a tingling feeling of being a complete creepy stalker, Hinata keeps comforting himself with an excuse that the raven is just too beautiful for this world, and there is no way a mortal like him could resist such beauty.
The beauty of drawing references that is, Hinata reassures himself clumsily.
Hinata takes another look at his painting. Out of the whole collection (yes, it's a collection now, apparently), seven of them show the raven frosting buttercream on his cake. And despite the elegance in such a simple movement, Hinata is slowly losing interest in that pose. He needs new drawing material, the ginger thinks to himself.
Much to his refusal of acting like a stalker, Hinata finds himself two minutes after dangling on the fence of his balcony, trying to peek over to his neighbor's window while pretending not to be a creep. But before Hinata could spy whatever is happening inside the raven's apartment, the loud knocks on the door rattle him, making him immediately sink his head back and scramble to the entrance.
And with the door swinging open, he meets eyes with those cobalt blue eyes that are all too familiar to him the past few days. Hinata squeezes the doorknob and curves his lips up into an awkward smile.
"H...hey," he stammers, voice cracking trying to cover his embarrassment, and other things as well, say, his paintings that are hiding deep inside his room and his actions just now that could totally be sued for stalking.
"What were you doing just now on the balcony?" the raven strikes him immediately with a question, giving a scowl signifying that he is clearly not in a good mood. But when is he in a good mood though?
"I...I was...looking for my cat," he stutters out a fumbling excuse
His neighbor raises his brow and tilts his head to behind Hinata's back, "Isn't your cat over there?" he says, and Hinata turns his head around at Meatball rolling on the floor.
Damn it Meatball.
Hinata mouths and turns back at the raven, lips hanging a dreaded Chandler Bing's smile, "Oh, y...yeah, thanks for helping me find him," Hinata blurts out. And at that sentence, he mentally slams his forehead onto an imaginary wall. Great, he just gives himself the intellect of a caveman, doesn't he?
As lame as Hinata sounds, he could swear that he heard an abruptly cut-off snort vibrating from the raven's throat. The taller man clears his throat and crosses his arms in front of his chest.
"Smooth lies," he mocks, "Just how much of an idiot do you think I am?"
Hinata raises his hand, mouth opens.
"That's a fucking rhetorical question," the man growls.
Hinata lowers his hand, mouth closes.
The raven sighs out loud in defeat and rolls his eyes back, "I saw it already, you were stalking my apartment just now, weren't you?"
Hinata screams curses inside his head. Of course, how could he forget that their balconies are at the entrance side of the building? Not just this guy, anyone who walks inside the building could just look up and see him hanging his whole torso on the balcony, trying to peek over to the apartment next door. Yep, that is exactly what a stalker would do.
"I'm not a stalker," Hinata says, trying to protect his last piece of dignity that is about to be blown off, "I was...I was looking at your Irises, yes, Irises" he cheers, secretly giving himself a round of applause for that quick save.
"My Irises?"
"Yes, I rarely see blue Irises these days. They are great references for my paintings"
Hinata didn't lie. He was actually trying to look at the references for his paintings, but well, not exactly the Irises per se.
The raven investigates Hinata's slight flushed face for a while and winces, again, "Fine, whatever. Just don't fall off the balcony. Your IQ has already touched the ground, don't let your body follow," he says then turns around to walk to his apartment.
Before Hinata could actually digest that insult, he unconsciously screams "Wait" and scrambles to his kitchen before showing up at the doorstep not five seconds later, "Please take this as my apology for jumping to your apartment the other day" he says nervously, fingers gripping on the cookies plate and pushing it toward his neighbor's chest, "they're the best cookies I have ever tasted, so please, have them"
The man looks at the cookies for merely a second before shooting his head up at Hinata, cheeks covering with a rosy color, "Where did you get this?" he asks, voice cracking, and Hinata wonders if it's the excitement or embarrassment or something else.
"My roommate got it from work," Hinata says, crooking his head in confusion at the man's exaggerated expression for a plate of five chocolate chip cookies.
The raven parts his lips, wanting to say something. But looking at Hinata's perplexed face, he decides to close his mouth shut before reaching for the plate, "Thanks, I guess," he says, eyes sticking to the round cookies, and hand scratching the back of his hair
Before the awkward silence could suffocate both of them, the man fumblingly nods at Hinata and walks toward his apartment. Hinata slouches and breathes out loudly from that interaction. He then closes the door and sprints toward the living room to set up his easel and canvas, wasting no second to record the rare existence of the flustered expression on the raven's face.
~•~~•~
Hinata throws the brushes on the can of water and sighs in satisfaction at the painting that he just created. Pitch-black hair, sharp cobalt eyes, rosy cheeks, white shirt, and blue Irises. This might just be his favorite painting out of them all. Hinata traces his fingers gently on those eyes out of habit one last time before turning aside
"What the fuck?" he screams as he turns around to Goshiki's curious face that appears out of thin air. Hinata immediately pulls his whole body back away from his friend, fingers clutching to his chest and pants softly, "Since when have you been standing there?"
"About 10 minutes or so," Goshiki answers absently, eyes still studying the painting of Hinata's, "Is that Kageyama?" he questions tentatively.
"Who?" Hinata asks.
"Our neighbor, Kageyama"
"What is his full name?" Hinata immediately grabs Goshiki's arm and stares desperately at his friend. As stupid as it sounds, the ginger only realizes just now that he never has the chance to ask for the raven's name (since the guy insulted him most of the time but let's not get there), rather, he has always been referring to him as that neighbor with freaking out-of-the-world stunning blue eyes.
Alright, the name he made up might be overly done but you get the point.
"Kageyama Tobio," Goshiki answers in hesitation, hand brushing away Hinata's fingers that are now clawing into his skin.
Hinata mumbles the name a few times to carve it into his brain before shooting his head up again, "You know him?"
"Yeah, he's the patissier in our cafe," Goshiki nods and answers while sitting down on the sofa, throwing his bag on the coffee table
"No way," Hinata squeals and follows Goshiki to the sofa before flopping down next to his friend, arms crossing in front of his chest, "Why didn't you mention him before?"
"I barely know him," Goshiki says, giving his friend a confused look, "And I have to tell you about him because...?"
"Because...," Hinata stretches his voice before realizing that his friend does indeed have no reason to just randomly talk about Kageyama. He then nudges closely to Goshiki, eyes sparkle at his friend, "Well then tell me now, what is he like?"
"Don't act like a 15-year-old girl please," Goshiki shudders at Hinata's flushed face, "I get that you like the guy, so stop it"
"I don't like him," Hinata flails his hands in front of his face and shifts glances across the room, voice raising loudly. However, facing his friend's 'yeah, right' stare, Hinata soon deflates like a worn-out balloon, slouching his shoulder and muttering quietly, "I don't think"
"Well, I mean he's pretty hot," Goshiki scratches his hair as he gazes at Kageyama's sharp eyes portrayed vividly in Hinata's painting, "But people complaint that he is short-tempered and an overbearing perfectionist"
"Bet he can't beat me in being a perfectionist," Hinata smirks as he recalls all the mental breakdowns he had when drawing something that does not meet his standard of 'perfect'. Now that Hinata says it out loud to his friend, he recognizes that it's not the best brag, to be honest.
"He once yelled at his underling for 15 minutes for messing up the color of the buttercream from deep pink to hot pink," Goshiki deadpans.
"I would be yelling too," Hinata swings his hands in the air and looks at Goshiki as if his complaint is a hate crime toward him but not Kageyama, "they are two completely different colors!"
Goshiki twitches his lips and lets out stuttered noises from his throat. "You guys will make a great pair," he says, making no attempt to hide the sarcasm in his tone
Hinata blushes at his friend's words, hand scratching his nape sheepishly, "I wouldn't say that"
"Definitely not a compliment," Goshiki sighs, "It's your turn to cook dinner, I'm gonna head to the shower now"
Hinata nods and flutters his hand in the air at his friend before walking toward the kitchen. As he hums mindlessly to a song and pulls out the plates from the cabinet, Hinata freezes for a few seconds and sprints toward the bathroom, fist banging loudly on the door
"Tsutomu, Tsutomu!"
"What do you want?" answers Goshiki with a tiring groan echoing from the shower stand
"The cookies that you brought home! Did Kageyama make them?" Hinata hugs his fists together and glues his left ear to the door. He questions quickly, words sticking together on the tip of his tongue.
"Yeah, why?"
"...Fuck"
~•~~•~
Hinata wakes up the next day with dark circles hanging under his eyes. It's now 10 in the morning and luckily, Goshiki has already left for work, or else he would have to witness his friend (who sometimes he doesn't want to admit so) in his cow-printed pajama standing against the ground window to the balcony, forehead banging rhythmically on the glass, and parted lips purring long stretches of unintelligible noises.
Alright, maybe it was not that bad. All he did was complimenting Kageyama for those delicious cookies, it was nothing, he was innocent. Hinata nods and reassures himself, that is before his brain ruthlessly replays the conversation from yesterday
"They're the best cookies I have ever tasted, so please, have them"
Hinata growls loudly with hands slamming his face and slides the window open, stomping out to the balcony. However, his anger dies out as soon as he turns aside and sees a rather unfamiliar sight. The pot of Irises that used to be in the corner of Kageyama's balcony, now being placed on a table near the fence, giving him the best view of the flowers.
Hinata's mouth agape and his eyes fixate on the new arrangement of the Irises pot, face soon drenching in the darkest shade of pink paint, and heart thumping deafeningly in his ears.
"...Well, shit," Hinata thinks, unwillingly aware of the growing feelings now lurking inside his chest.
~•~~•~
"Kageyama, can you check on that tray of croissants and bring them to the display counter?" Kita, the owner of the cafe, asks while checking the list of all the baked goods in the store.
"Sure, Kita-san," Kageyama nods and wipes his flour-covered hands in his apron before walking toward the tray of freshly baked croissants, eyes widen at how perfectly shaped they are.
These are some of the many reasons why Kageyama has absolute respect toward Kita, not only because the silver-haired man is his boss, but more because of how talented he is in baking. And as a fellow patissier, Kageyama has a lot to learn from him. However, there are times when he doesn't quite understand Kita, for example, his idea of having an open kitchen, suggesting that it would attract more female customers, for whatever reasons that are.
"Oh, right," Kita looks up at Kageyama and smiles, "Your experimented cookies are incredible, I'll put them on the menu soon"
"Thank you," Kageyama bows slightly at Kita before turning back to the croissants. However, his mind shifts to somewhere else, or more like, someone else, say, a particular orange-haired man with dark caramel eyes, a paint-stained T-shirt, and scrawny fingers with dots of faded oil paint.
"They're the best cookies I have ever tasted, so please, have them"
Kageyama's mind automatically replays Hinata's words without his permission and the raven has to physically shake them off. Of course they are good, he knows that already. But, well, it doesn't mean that Kageyama isn't happy hearing those words. But will he ever admit it? Probably not, at least not to Hinata's stupid, cute face.
Hinata's stupid face, Kageyama corrects himself, blaming it on the lack of caffeine.
Speaking of the devil, Kageyama spots the ginger jittering at the checkout desk when he brings the croissant tray to the front counter. As their eyes meet, Hinata gives him a stiff grin and nods at him before walking out of the store
"You guys are roommates right?" Kageyama asks Goshiki at the checkout counter, now remembering that Goshiki lives right next to his apartment as well.
"Yeah," Goshiki nods and hands Kageyama a piece of paper, "He gave you this," he says, seemingly fed up with his friend already.
In confusion, Kageyama takes the piece of paper in his hand and leans on the baking counter to open it. Scribbling inside is a line of dainty letters, slightly smudged at the right corner
"Amazing molten chocolate cake, made my tastebud melt as well! Definitely deserves 10 stars!" along with a doodle of an orange-haired chibi giving him thumbs up and beaming brightly.
"Oh? What is this?" says an obnoxious voice, "The tyrant King is actually smiling?"
Kageyama raises his head up and physically wipes off the questionable smirk, which he's not even aware of it being there. "Shut it Tsukishima," he snarls at the blond barista and crumples the piece of paper before throwing it in his pocket.
"A love note I see," Tsukishima whistles, giving Kageyama a suggestive look, "Who knows Spring is around the corner already?"
But before the raven could land some of his moves on Tsukishima, Goshiki informs them about the new order, and the blond just smirks and shrugs his shoulder before walking away, leaving Kageyama clicking his tongue in annoyance.
Spring my ass.
~•~~•~
Kageyama sees Hinata again the next day. From the baking counter, he could easily spot orange hair tips that Hinata thought he hid so well behind the pillar in the cafe. Although Kageyama is arching down at his macarons, he could feel Hinata stealing glances from him in a not-so-subtle way (because of course, how subtle that idiot could be?). Kageyama thinks in irritation, however, he unconsciously slicks his hair back, straightens his back, and holds the piping bag in the most graceful way he could think of.
This is not for show, Kageyama claims, this is a perfect position for piping out macaron batter.
"Kageyama, are you okay? Did you hurt your back?" Kita looks at the raven and asks in concern.
Kageyama coughs out loud as he chokes on his spit and immediately stands up from that awkward pose, face blushing slightly, "Yeah I'm fine Kita-san, I just messed up my sleeping position yesterday"
Kita nods and tells him to do some stretches before walking into his office. Seeing his boss off, Kageyama squeezes his piping bag and glares at the orange hair locks peeking out from the pillar. It's confirmed, idiocy is air transmitted, and that shit is highly contagious.
Hinata stays at the cafe for almost two hours before walking toward the checkout desk to pay, while secretly slipping another piece of paper to Goshiki. Kageyama, who shows that he clearly doesn't care about his neighbor at all, hovers around the front desk soon after Hinata left and secretly shifts glances at the piece of paper in Goshiki's hand.
"It's for you," Goshiki sighs and hands over the piece of paper to the raven.
Kageyama nods and walks toward his baking counter to open the message in private. Inside is a doodle of Ego from Ratatouille scraping the brownie bits on the plate and licking his finger, says, "My compliments to the chef"
Kageyama snorts at the drawing and puts it in his pocket (carefully folded this time).
~•~~•~
It has become a small routine between the two of them, where Hinata would sit on the table behind the big pillar, orders some desserts, and slips a piece of paper to Goshiki when he leaves. And just a few moments after that, Kageyama magically appears at the front counter and takes the note from the tired cashier.
Although Kageyama doesn't have high expectations for Hinata's IQ, he is always intrigued by the ginger's small notes.
"Madeleine, or more like Made me scream, because of how good it is!"
Kageyama reads it four times before putting it in his pocket.
"I posted a drawing of your fruit tart on Tiktok and my followers said that they would totally be fruity for it. These people scare me"
Kageyama pulls out his phone and opens Tiktok, searches for anything Hinata Shoyo related.
"If only there's Longjing tea to compliment your *chef kiss* cheesecake"
Kageyama suggests to Kita about a new addition to the drink menu.
"Been stuck on drawing ideas today, so I drew your cupcakes. It helps :), and now I have an obsession for cupcakes"
Kageyama googles "unique decorations that can elevate your cupcakes".
"Apparently olive oil and sea salt go well with ice cream Kageyama, who knows?"
Kageyama rubs at his name for a few seconds and adds olive oil to his shopping list.
The next day, just when Hinata is about to slip his note to Goshiki again, Kageyama marches to the front desk and looks at the flustered ginger, voice grumbling with a hint of embarrassment, "Next time just give them straight to me"
Hinata gulps and tentatively nods at Kageyama's words, mumbling "okay" under his breath and handing him the piece of note for today. As he watches Hinata walks out of the cafe like a malfunctioned robot, Kageyama walks over to his counter and opens the note
"Bet you broiled that creme brulee with just your look"
Kageyama twitches his right eye at that terrible pick-up line, however, his lips slowly morphed into what seems to be an actual smile. It looks like he just ate a fly, but somehow, disgusting as it sounds, he actually quite enjoys it.
He must have gone mad, Kageyama thinks and throws the note on the counter as if it could burn his hand. And a few seconds later, he puts it back in his pocket (carefully).
~•~~•~
After that day, their routine does change quite a bit. From Hinata slipping notes to Goshiki to him leaving them at the baking counter when he leaves. From Hinata hiding behind the pillar to him sitting right in front of Kageyama's working area. And from them stealing glances at each other to them exchanging small talks in between the loud sound of the stand mixer and coffee grinder.
Kageyama isn't sure how he ends up knowing the whole history of oil painting and agrees to accompany Hinata to the Van Gogh museum. It just happens. Their relationship grows bigger and bigger like his bread dough being proofed in the warm oven. It feels like something that is supposed to happen, it's easy and natural, with Hinata at least.
And Kageyama doesn't think he minds it at all.
Not that he likes spending time with Hinata, it's just that sometimes, he needs the ginger around for recipes testing. Yes, that is a completely valid reason.
"I didn't order apple pie today though?" Hinata looks at the slice of apple pie in front of him and questions, eyes staring perplexedly at Kageyama.
"I know," Kageyama scratches his nape and averts his eyes away from the ginger, "You said the apple pie yesterday didn't have that 'oomph' feel to it, so I changed the recipe"
"Oh I see~," Hinata says, voice singsong. He quickly takes a bite of the pie and chews carefully, imitating a strict food critic that no one asks him to do.
And weird enough, Kageyama feels his heart accelerate at Hinata's smallest actions, be it raising his eyebrow or moving his cheeks. It's almost like Kageyama is taking one of the most important tests of his life, even though it's just Hinata trying his new recipe.
"It's amazing," Hinata beams brightly at him, "What did you put in it?"
"Miso paste"
"For real?" Hinata takes another bite of the pie, eyes widen, and grins "I didn't know that you can put miso in dessert, that's cool Kageyama"
"That's just because you're an idiot"
"Wow, rude, not even trying to be subtle about it anymore, huh?"
Kageyama just shrugs his shoulder and walks back to the baking counter. And if Hinata pays a little more attention, he might see the giant ball of pride swelling in Kageyama's chest right now.
~•~~•~
"Will you be quiet for a while?" Kageyama snaps at Hinata now humming and bopping his head to the background music at the cafe
Hinata gives him a confusing look, "I didn't say anything though?"
"Well then stop moving so loud," Kageyama grumbles under his breath, hands pressing the wooden rolling pin down on the fondant and abuse it as much as he can
"Someone's not in a good mood," Hinata chuckles and investigates the crease in between Kageyama's eyebrows, "Did something happen?"
"Just...," Kageyama wipes the excessively abused fondant aside and looks up at Hinata again, ready to go off at the ginger. But when he sees those dark caramel eyes along with Hinata's warm smile, the anger seems to stuck in his throat. Kageyama sighs and mumbles, "I'm just pissed off at the new employee, he doesn't take this job seriously at all"
Hinata hums without any further comment, and just when Kageyama thought the ginger will go back to his work and disregard his complaint, Hinata raises his voice cheerfully, "Can I punch the guy in the face for you?"
Kageyama clicks his tongue to stop a laugh that is about to run free from his throat, "Absolutely not," he says
"Are you sure I can't do that?"
"Yes I'm sure dumbass"
"Ugh, fine," Hinata groans, but just within a few seconds, he grins at Kageyama again, "How about I just break his nose a little bit?" he says, pinching his index finger and thumb until they almost meet each other
"Nope," Kageyama immediately brushes off Hinata's suggestion, still, a slight smile lights up his face and eases the crease between his brows.
And with that, Hinata goes completely silent. Kageyama crooks his head as the ginger frantically scribbles down something before collecting his belongings and stands up from his table (which is way earlier than usual). As he watches Hinata about to take his leave, Kageyama furrows his brows again and calls, "Hinata"
"What?" Hinata looks at him without much patience, as if all he wants to do right now is to get out of the cafe as soon as possible
Kageyama chews his lips for a few seconds before muttering, "Your note"
"Huh?" Hinata asks again, unable to hear Kageyama's mumbles
"You haven't given me your note for today," Kageyama growls louder this time
Hinata blinks a few times at Kageyama's flushed face before covering his own face with a dark shade of pink as well. He thinks for a while, then quickly writes a few letters on his usual notepad before ripping it off and giving it to Kageyama
"I'll see you later," he says and smiles sheepishly at the raven before walking out of the store
Inside the note is not a compliment for the dessert or a lame joke about baking as per usual, rather, it's just a short, simple username, "@OrangeMilk"
What is this dumbass up to this time?
~•~~•~
Kageyama sits on his bed and peers at the note he receives today. He then types in that username on Facebook, doesn't work, Instagram, doesn't work, Twitter, doesn't work. Kageyama scrunches his nose up and rubs his thumb on the side of his phone for a while. And then it hits him. The raven hastily opens Tiktok and types in the username, and shown on his phone is an account of an artist with quite a large number of followers.
Kageyama clicks on the newest video and what's even more surprising, it's a painting of himself covering in warm sunlight. Dark hair, cobalt eyes, white shirt, a piping bag along with a triple-layer cake. Unmistakably, it's him working on the cake that is soon to be ruined by Hinata jumping to his balcony that day.
A crimson color snaking from his neck to his cheeks and ears as he stares at the gorgeous painting. And as if Hinata's drawing doesn't make him fluster already, the song lyrics hit him hard soon after
"...I wanna ruin our friendship, we should be lovers instead..."
Kageyama lets out a choked noise and his eyes widen, not being able to believe in what he's seeing and hearing right now.
It's just Hinata's stupid joke, right? He thinks and shakily opens the comment section
"OMG THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL I'M SOBBING"
"Please invite me to your wedding"
"Finally our little Orange has found the man of his life I can die in peace now"
"HOW COULD YOU HIDE THIS BEAUTIFUL MAN FROM US YOU SELFISH ORANGE?"
"This is too cute I'm crying in single"
"Alright now post a photo of both of you!!"
The color on Kageyama's face deepens as he reads through the endless comment, till a point where he starts sweating because of the heat, hand fanning his face in the attempt to calm himself down. He then scrolls up to the top again and spots a comment pinned by the creator
"Come out to the balcony"
Kageyama throws his phone on the bed and quickly scrambles to the balcony, meeting eyes with Hinata standing near the Irises pot, face blushing scarlet red, eyes looking at him sheepishly and hands tugging on the hem of his paint-stained T-shirt
Kageyama swallows the thick air between them, remaining silent for a moment before saying, "I told you not to climb to my balcony anymore, there's a thing called the front door"
"I know," Hinata grumbles at Kageyama's irrelevant scold, "I just thought it would be more romantic to replicate the first time we met each other"
Kageyama doesn't comment any further on that, instead, he walks closer to the ginger, face leaning near Hinata's flushed cheeks, "Do you mean it? What the lyrics say?"
"Of course," Hinata stares back at Kageyama, dark caramel eyes melt into sharp cobalt eyes
That's all it takes for Kageyama to snap, as he wraps his arms around Hinata's waist to press their bodies together, lips finding Hinata's that he didn't know he has been craving for, so tender, so sweet, sweeter than any of the cake or cream that he has created
All Kageyama wants from now on is to drown in those lips of Hinata.
And he did.
"W...wait," Hinata breaks away from the kiss, hands gripping the front of Kageyama's shirt and panting heavily, "We're still outside"
Needless to say, Kageyama quickly scoops Hinata up and brings him inside before closing the window shut, leaving the Irises shaking in the air from the impact.
~•~~•~
"Come out to the balcony", and under this comment from the creator, the replies are quite...interesting.
"Wait, hold up..."
"Does anyone else envision Orange holding a boombox outside of that guy's house?"
"Shit that would be so cute tho!"
"@OrangeMilk we need an update!!!"
"It has been 2 hours already why isn't he replying?"
"They are probably kneading dough balls..."
"OMG THIS COMMENT"
"Stop the kids are looking"
"We're desperate for part 2 @OrangeMilk please come back soon".