Work Text:
"Kageyamaaaa!"
Tobio hunches his shoulders by reflex and is only barely braced for impact when Hinata jumps up and clings to his shoulders - a bad habit he's learned from Nishinoya.
"Idiot! I nearly spilled my milk."
Hinata completely ignores his scolding, leaning to shout directly into Tobio's ear. His breath is warm on Tobio's neck, and he restrains a violent shiver. "Kageyama! Has your class been given that social project? You wanna work on it together?"
Tobio's class had, in fact, been given the project Hinata was talking about, but he ignores the question, and instead shakes him off in the way he always does when he climbs on him. Hinata lands like a cat, staring up at Tobio as they walk, eyes wide and glowing with intensity.
Tobio scowls down at him. "You're too noisy! If I go deaf and can't hear on the court, then it'll be your fault!"
Hinata's mouth falls open. "I am not noisy!" he squawks indignantly, bounding along at Tobio's side. Tobio is never surprised at how easily Hinata keeps pace with his longer legs, not when he knows what his smaller ones can do on the volleyball court, but it's still kind of annoying.
Tobio opens his mouth to retort, but is beaten to it by a cackle of laughter from behind them.
Suga's grinning unabashedly at them, cheeks rosy from the cold wind as he approaches. "Hinata, you're at least the third noisiest team member, after Tanaka and Noya of course."
Hinata considers this, then his eyes gleam. "Cool, so I'm like a second year! Hear that, Kageyama? I'm third in line!"
"Yeah, for something crappy."
"So," Suga interrupts smoothly, sliding in to walk between them with another smile as they head for the clubroom stairs. "What's so exciting that you're yelling about it, Hinata?"
Tobio stuffs his free hand in his pocket, more than happy to let Hinata explain while he finishes his milk. He hates being hungry or thirsty during practice.
"Oh, we've got this new project, and I really want Kageyama to study with me for it!"
Suga tilts his head. "You guys are in different classes, right?"
"Yeah, but it's the same assignment!" Hinata explains excitedly. Tobio doesn't see why he's so ramped up about this project particularly, but he's learned not to question Hinata's enthusiasm.
"So what's the project about?"
"We have to do a research project about attraction - like, the psychology and science and culture of it and stuff!"
Suga hums interestedly. "I see," he says, and Tobio doesn't get it, but his voice is warm with humour, like he has a secret joke that they're not in on. "Well, Kageyama? Are you going to learn all about attraction with Hinata?"
Hinata abruptly stumbles on the stairs, and, with a pang of alarm, Tobio shoots a hand out to grab him by the back of his coat collar, scruffed like an orange kitten.
"Careful, dumbass," he hisses, making sure he has his feet under him before releasing his hold. Suga is still watching him with interest, so Tobio grunts his assent. "Yeah, guess so."
"Sweet!" Hinata whoops. "We can study at your house, 'cause it's quieter than mine!" He starts hopping up the steps, light-footed and cheerful. Tobio keeps his hands ready in case he stumbles again; for someone with lightning reflexes on the court, Hinata can be stupidly clumsy off of it.
"Don't just invite yourself over," Tobio grumbles reflexively, this being a conversation they've had a thousand times before. Despite Tobio's best efforts, Hinata always ends up at his house, feet on his bed and voice filling the quiet.
"Look at you two being good students," Suga says sweetly. Tobio can never tell if he's teasing them or if he really is that nice - or maybe both? "I hope you learn all there is to discover about the finer points of attraction!" He holds a hand over his heart, smiling beatifically at them, and Tobio gets the bone-crawling feeling that somewhere along the line he's got himself into something he'll regret.
~
"Alright, where do we start?" Tobio flips his notebook to an empty page, uncaps his pen, and looks to Hinata, who stares back at him blankly from the opposite side of the table.
"Uhh?" Hinata shrugs. "I dunno, have you got any ideas?"
Tobio reaches and flicks the end of his pen against Hinata's forehead with a satisfying smack to ease his sudden surge of annoyance at being stuck studying on a Sunday.
"Ow!"
"Dumbass, you're the one who wanted to work on this, so you better think of something!" Tobio snaps. He's not really mad, though, and Hinata knows it - squabbling has always been their modus operandi, and these days, Tobio feels weirdly empty if he doesn't get to shout at Hinata at least once per day.
"Gaaahh, I thought I'd have an idea by now," Hinata moans, squeezing his eyes shut.
They sit like that for a long few minutes, staring blankly at their empty sheets of paper. Tobio can faintly hear his mum cooking downstairs, clattering pans and singing to herself. Maybe if they have a snack they might get an idea? Tobio is sure he heard Suga telling Daichi once that food is good for the brain, right before he bought himself two meat buns and an ice cream. He opens his mouth to tell Hinata to go get something from downstairs (his mum always gives Hinata the best snacks and fusses over him, like he's some special purebred puppy or something), but then jerks back as Hinata suddenly sits bolt upright, slamming his hands onto the table, face bright with excitement.
"I've got it!" he crows, and Tobio feels his heart speed up, like it always does when Hinata gets seized by an idea.
"Yeah?"
Hinata's suffused with energy. "Yeah!" He leans over, right into Tobio's space. "We can ask Yachi!"
Two minutes later and Hinata's chattering away into his phone, pacing the room and whipping his free arm all over the place. Tobio can just about hear Yachi's voice, all faint and high-pitched, like a teeny tiny version of her is in the phone - although she's already pretty tiny to start with, he muses.
"Yeah! Okay thanks Yachi, you're the best! Okay, bye!" Hinata tosses his phone onto Tobio's bed, and whirls to face him. His eyes are all big and shiny with excitement, and Tobio feels his heart rate pick up even more when they land unerringly on him. "Kageyama! Yachi said we could just look on the internet for some facts, and then, like, write some examples and stuff!"
Tobio shrugs. "Okay.”
It takes some fussing and squabbling, but eventually they settle with Tobio’s laptop in front of them on the table, pressed together shoulder to knee so they can both see the screen. Hinata’s really warm, squeezing into Tobio’s space unabashedly, and Tobio wonders how his small body can produce so much heat.
Hinata’s hands hover over the keyboard. “What should we search for?”
“Oi, it’s my computer, I’ll type,” Tobio says, batting his hands away and ignoring Hinata’s squawked protests. He puts his fingers on the keys with a righteous smirk, then pauses. “Uh, what are we searching?”
Hinata sniggers, and Tobio barges his shoulder into him with a scowl. There’s a brief scuffle, cut short when they nearly pull the laptop off the table by its charger. (Tobio still thinks it counts as his win though - he definitely almost had Hinata pinned.)
“Okay, okay, so we need to find out some facts about attraction,” Hinata says, pursing his lips in deep thought. He has a funny mouth, Tobio thinks idly, all expressive and weird and soft and smiley. “So try searching for the psychology of attraction or something!”
Tobio obediently taps it in, and they both lean forward intently, shoulders jostling as they scroll through the search results.
“There! That one!” Hinata jabs a finger at the screen.
“Idiot, you’re getting the screen dirty!”
Hinata transfers his jabbing finger to Tobio’s side instead. “C’mon Kageyama, stop complaining and just click on the link already, I wanna get started so we can practice some tosses outside afterwards!”
Tobio was ready to start another scuffle - serves Hinata right for poking him - but the thought of finishing this stupid assignment quickly and practicing instead has him focusing on the screen immediately.
The 5 Psychological Factors of Attraction, the article reads. The 5 elements of attraction are proximity, similarity, physical attractiveness, reciprocity, and responsiveness. Find out more in our analysis below, and walk into your next romance armed with knowledge!
Tobio skims down the page, noting that there's a short paragraph for each of the factors. If they can explain their findings and give their own examples, then that should be enough, right? After some short discussion and fighting over the laptop's trackpad, Hinata agrees, and they set to work.
Hinata shuffles around to his own side of the table and begins writing, head ducked close to his notebook as his pen flies across the page. There's a pink flush of what Tobio assumes is concentration across his face. It's weird seeing him so focussed on schoolwork - that gleaming look in his eyes is usually saved for the volleyball court only, when Tobio sends him the perfect toss.
Tobio's own pen hovers with uncertainty over his page. He can't say he's ever given much thought to the idea of attraction; his priorities have always been too focussed on volleyball for anything people-related. In middle school, he'd struggled to get along with his teammates, let alone have the opportunity for a crush or anything like that. He knows that he's changed since coming to Karasuno, but his blinkered focus on volleyball is still the same. Hinata's really the only person that Tobio spends any significant amount of time with outside of school and practice, and if he's honest, he doesn't really want to see anyone else, so that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
Still, Tobio's watched enough boring romcom films with his mum (and has listened to Noya and Tanaka wax poetic for hours about girls) to understand the basics of attraction, so he manages to scribble some generic explanations and examples that he hopes will be enough to keep his teacher happy. That done, he puts his pen down and frowns at Hinata, still absorbed in his work. He's so close to the page that the tips of his hair sometimes brush the table. Tobio's palm itches to push it back out of the way, and he scowls irritably. Stupid, messy Hinata.
"Oi, show me what you put." He reaches for Hinata's paper, but is arrested by his small, strong hand suddenly darting out to smack him. "What the hell?! You littl-"
Hinata yelps in alarm and grabs for him as Tobio lunges across the table. "Ahh! No, no, you can't read it yet, it's not ready!"
There's something wild about the way he says it that has Tobio pausing in his leaned position, table edge digging into his stomach. He narrows his eyes, not sure how to interpret this new tone of voice.
"You're acting weird," he says bluntly, pulling his wrists out of Hinata's grip and sitting back down heavily.
"No, I'm not," Hinata protests immediately, but there's a splotchy flush climbing up his throat. "I promise you can read it when it's done, but not yet, okay?"
Tobio sees his hands clench, white-knuckled as his eyes get wider and wider, and scowls afresh. He hates it when Hinata gets nervous.
"Fine," he mutters, silently relieved when Hinata immediately subsides into a shaky grin. "But you are acting weird." He can only think of one way to get Hinata to act normal again, and clambers to his feet. "C'mon, let's go practice outside."
~
Monday morning brings miserably cold rain, dragging feet, and the vision of Hinata's bright hair all soaked and slicked down as he lingers by the gate in their usual spot.
Tobio can't help a smirk as he approaches, his morning mood already lightening. "You look like a drowned rat, all flat and small."
Hinata pulls a face at him. "Like you can talk, your hair is always flat!"
Tobio growls and lunges at him, and is just quick enough to ruffle some wildness back into Hinata's hair before his friend manages to slip away. Tobio makes chase, as always, the spirit of free competitiveness making them laugh wildly as they splash through puddles and skid around wet concrete corners.
"I," Hinata pants, slapping the pillar outside the gym, "win!"
Tobio pulls a face, breathing hard. "You had a head start, doesn't count."
"It so does!" And he looks so small and ferocious and wet that Tobio can't help reaching out to ruffle his rain-soaked hair again. This time, Hinata doesn't run away, just stares up at Tobio with pink cheeks as his fingers gently tug the slicked hair back into some of its usual disarray.
"There," Tobio grunts. "Better."
Hinata blinks once, and then his eyes are darting around them as if checking for witnesses. Finding that they're alone - they often get to morning practice well before anyone else does - he starts rummaging in his bag and finally pulls out a folded piece of paper, only slightly damp. He thrusts it at Tobio unceremoniously.
"Here, it's ready now," he mutters, and Tobio stares as his face slowly suffuses into a furious blush and he starts hopping from foot to foot. "Kageyama, hurry and read it!"
Tobio stares for a moment longer, now weirdly concerned. He hasn't seen Hinata this antsy in a while - is he nervous? Frowning, he unfolds the paper. When his confused gaze refocuses, he realises that this is Hinata's homework, the one they'd worked on yesterday.
He looks up into Hinata's wide, amber gaze. "What-"
"Please, Kageyama, just read it!"
So Tobio does. He skims the page, first, seeing the title and each of the factors of attraction laid out as subheadings. Unlike his own assignment, though, there doesn't seem to be any explanation under each, just one or two simple lines of examples:
The 5 Elements of Attraction, by Hinata Shouyou
These are the 5 factors of being romantically attracted to someone.
1) Proximity - How close someone is to you, like how Kageyama and I spend so much time together playing volleyball and practicing tosses and eating meat buns and he's my best friend and stuff.
2) Similarity - How similar someone is to you, like how Kageyama and I both love volleyball more than anything, and how we're super competitive and we’re going to get to the top together!
3) Physical Attractiveness - How physically attracted you are to someone, like how I think Kageyama's height is so amazing for volleyball, and how he has really nice setter's hands, and he looks good in our game uniform. (Also he has really silky hair.)
4) Reciprocity - Is the feeling mutual? I don't know this one. But Kageyama said that I was invincible as long as he was around.
5) Responsiveness - How you react to the attraction, like how I try and spend as much time with Kageyama as possible (e.g. making him do extra volleyball stuff with me even after practice).
Tobio reads it carefully, and then reads it again because he doesn't really get it. He frowns.
"I don't get it, why didn't you want me to read it yesterday? And why did you write all this stuff about volleyball instead of putting any proper explanations?”
Hinata stops fidgeting, and his jaw literally drops open. "Are you serious?"
Tobio glances down at the paper, thoroughly confused. "Uh, yeah?"
Thunderclouds form over Hinata's sunshine face. "You- I-... Stupid Kageyama!" He picks his bag up, aiming a kick at Tobio's shin. "Stupid, stupid!"
And before Tobio has a chance to even think about reacting, he's dashing away, still shouting insults about how idiotic Tobio is over his shoulder. Tobio stands there with his mouth agape in an echo of Hinata's first expression, rubbing at his sore shin.
"My, my, what's the king done this time to upset Shrimpy so early in the morning?"
Tobio's too bewildered to snap back at Tsukishima as he and Yamaguchi appear beside him, watching as Hinata vanishes around the corner.
"I don't know," Tobio says blankly.
Yamaguchi peers over his arm at the paper. "Is it to do with that?"
"Yeah?" Knowing that the other first years were given the same assignment, Tobio holds it out for them to see.
As they read, Tsukishima's mouth twitches once, and Yamaguchi slowly begins to get redder and redder until his freckles are hardly visible.
"Well? D'you get it?" Tobio's snapping now, cross with Hinata for being so weird, and with the others for their silent reactions.
"Well, it seems like our little Shrimpy has the exact kind of bad taste that I'd expect from him," Tsukishima drawls, smirking furiously as Yamaguchi buries his mouth in one hand.
Tobio is still bewildered, and is starting to feel like there's something big he's missing. Stupid Hinata. "What? We all like volleyball. How is that bad taste?"
Yamaguchi squeaks, and then bursts into peals of helpless giggles, waving apologetically in Tobio's direction. Tsukishima, the bastard, doesn't even bother trying to hide his laughter, simply pressing the paper back into Tobio's hand and walking off as he wipes tears away. Yamaguchi hurries to follow, quaking with amused aftershocks.
"What the hell?!" Tobio shouts after them, still rooted to the spot with his frustration.
He stands there for an unspecified number of minutes, rereading the paper and muttering the words under his breath as if they'll suddenly reveal some secret of the universe. A hesitant touch at his elbow makes him jump, and Tobio looks down to see Yachi peering up at him worriedly.
"Um, Kageyama, is everything okay?"
"Yes," he answers automatically, and then scowls. "No. Stupid, dumb Hinata!"
Yachi winces sympathetically. "Did you guys have another fight?"
Tobio's rage melts in the face of her gentle expression. "No, not exactly," he mutters. "We did that assignment and he gave me his to read this morning, and then got mad and kicked me and ran off, and I don't get it."
"Oh." Yachi's eyes are round with curiosity. "Do you, um, do you want me to try reading it?"
Tobio hesitates, but Yachi is nice, she probably won't laugh at him, so he hands her the paper which is quickly becoming extremely rumpled.
She reads quickly and silently, eyes wide but otherwise calm. Two faint spots of pink appear on her cheeks, but Tobio doesn't think it's from holding back laughter, so he just waits.
"Okay," she says slowly. "Which bit did you not understand?"
"Why did he write all that stuff about volleyball, and why did he get mad about it and run off when I asked him?"
"Oh, well, um." She tucks her hair behind her ear, shifting a little from foot to foot before starting again more gently. "Kageyama… I don't think he was writing about volleyball. I think he was writing about you."
Tobio wrinkles his nose. "But the assignment was about attraction, so-" It hits him then; why Hinata ran off, why the others were laughing, and why Yachi is being so gentle with him. "Oh."
Yachi holds the paper out, and Tobio takes it with numb hands. It feels like his brain is still buffering this new information. So Hinata was writing about him? Hinata is attracted to him?? All of a sudden Tobio's face is unbearably hot, and his spine prickles all the way up his back.
"Thank you," he mutters stiffly, and Yachi simply hums and pats his arm before making her way over to the gym.
He follows her at a distance, feeling vaguely like the Tin Man, all his limbs creaking and stiff as his brain uses every ounce of energy he has to try and understand this new development.
Luckily, morning practice starts before anyone else tries to talk to him - Tobio doesn't think he could muster up conversation with even his mum at this point. Hinata slinks into the gym just as they start, and everything is normal, except for the way Hinata goes bright red every time they make eye contact, and the sound of Tsukishima's nasty sniggering every time Tobio jerks his gaze away hurriedly.
Hinata sneaks off as soon as practice is done, and has vanished by the time everyone else makes it to the clubroom. Tobio changes mechanically, only realising he has his trousers on backwards when Tanaka begins howling with laughter.
Since they're in different classes, Tobio passes the rest of the day without seeing Hinata. He feels weird not seeing his stupid bright hair bobbing in the doorway of his classroom at lunchtime, and buries himself into rereading Hinata's assignment. This time around, knowing what it means, Tobio can see exactly, in exquisite fine print detail, how dumb he has been. Hinata had literally spelled out that he liked Tobio's hands and his silky hair, and Tobio had still somehow thought he was talking about volleyball!
And why had Hinata decided to do this all of a sudden? Did he think he could beat Tobio at even this? He feels a flare of heat go through him at the thought. Then he thinks of the way Hinata is the only person he wants to spend time with, and how when his eyes go all big and shiny, it makes Tobio feel alive. Tobio doesn't know anything about attraction or romance… but luckily he's got a research paper in his hands on exactly that. His mouth thins into a determined line.
Ignoring everything in the classroom around him, Tobio fishes out a red pen, and sets to work.
~
"Hinata! Idiot, stop hiding from me!"
Hinata freezes and looks back at him, one leg already buried in the shrubs. "I'm not hiding from you!" he says hotly, face already flaming bright enough to match Nekoma's team colours.
Tobio scoffs, strides over, and pulls him out of the shrub by his sleeve.
"Let me go, stupid Kageyama!"
"No. Not until you've read this," Tobio says through gritted teeth, slapping the now well-worn sheet of paper against Hinata's chest.
"Huh?" Hinata looks at the paper quizzically. "But this is my-"
"Yeah, I know. I fixed it for you," Tobio says impatiently. His heart is racing, like it does before the first opening whistle of a game. "C'mon, read it."
Hinata scowls fiercely at him. "Don't tease me."
"I'm not!" Tobio retorts hotly, and then sighs, letting his automatic argumentativeness ebb away. "I'm not," he says more firmly. He hesitates for a second, and then reaches out and ruffles Hinata's hair. It's soft now, all stuck out and fluffy where it dried at weird angles. Stupid, cute Hinata.
Hinata gazes up at him for a long moment, and then Tobio sees a small spark come into his eyes, and he finally opens the paper in his hands. It is, in fact, Hinata's paper about attraction, but the neat writing is now annotated and scribbled over by Tobio's red pen.
The 5 Elements of Attraction, by Hinata Shouyou and Kageyama Tobio
These are the 5 factors of being romantically attracted to someone.
1) Proximity - How close someone is to you, like how Kageyama and I spend so much time together playing volleyball and practicing tosses and eating meat buns and he's my best friend and stuff. This is correct, I don't spend as much time with anyone else.
2) Similarity - How similar someone is to you, like how Kageyama and I both love volleyball more than anything, and how we're super competitive and we’re going to get to the top together! Yes, this is true.
3) Physical Attractiveness - How physically attracted you are to someone, like how I think Kageyama's height is so amazing for volleyball, and how he has really nice setter's hands, and he looks good in our game uniform. (Also he has super silky hair.) Hinata has really strong legs and his hair is weird nice. Also when he's excited he gets stupid little stars in his eyes. And I like his mouth.
4) Reciprocity - Is the feeling mutual? I don't know this one. But Kageyama said that I was invincible as long as he was around. Yes. It is.
5) Responsiveness - How you react to the attraction, like how I try and spend as much time with Kageyama as possible (e.g. making him do extra volleyball stuff with me even after practice). You can't make me do anything, dumbass, I just do that because I want to.
Tobio watches Hinata carefully as he reads, and it’s a study in strange expressions. First, a frown as he sees the red annotations all over his carefully written words. Next, a stare of concentration, eyes wide and intent as he reads down the page. Then his cheeks, which had started to cool down in the fresh air, begin to flush hot red again, and he makes a strangled gasping noise.
“Kageyama! You like me too?!”
Tobio almost steps back under the heat of Hinata’s excited gaze as his head snaps up to stare at Tobio like a bird of prey, but the thud of his heart isn’t exactly unpleasant, and he finds that Hinata’s excitement is catching.
He smirks. “Didn’t it say so on the paper?”
Hinata lets out a wordless yell and springs straight up into the air, paper still clutched in his fist. Tobio just manages to brace his feet before Hinata is colliding into him like a cannonball of wild red hair, beaming grin, and bright, flushed cheeks. His arms and legs wrap around Tobio’s torso, clinging to him like a spider monkey, and Tobio quickly grabs onto him before he can do something stupid like fall off and hurt himself.
“Wah! Stupid Kageyama,” Hinata is babbling in his ear. “Stupid, stupid! I like you so much!”
“You’re the stupid one,” Tobio tries to growl, but finds that he’s smiling widely. “I like you too, idiot.”
Hinata’s warm, super warm, clinging to him and rubbing his cheek on him affectionately like a really weird cat. Tobio should’ve known he’d be like this, that he’d throw himself fully into whatever this is. They’ve never half-hearted any aspect of their relationship, whether it was as enemies or friends or whatever they are to each other now. He feels a spark of competitiveness kindling within him as Hinata squeezes him tight - Tobio won’t just sit back and let him win at this without a fight.
Prising Hinata away from him just slightly, Tobio lets him slide to the ground. When Hinata is finally standing safely, still beaming up at him, Tobio reaches out and cups his face, pressing his cheeks between both palms, squishing until they plump up under his fingers and Hinata makes a little noise of query.
Then he leans down and kisses Hinata square on the forehead.
When he pulls away, Tobio’s own cheeks are burning hot, but he feels a wicked grin growing on his face at the dazed look Hinata gives him, eyes blank with shock and his mouth caught in a little ‘o’.
“I win,” he says smugly, and feels the truth of it deep inside. “I win.”