Chapter Text
“Have you ever seen Hinata Shoyo playing?”
Kageyama stood frozen in place, one hand still wandering over the vending machine where he was supposed to take his milk box for break-time and go. But the conversation he was eavesdropping on had just become quite interesting for obvious reasons.
The girl who the question was meant for -and Kageyama couldn’t believe it while it was still happening- squealed, letting out a shrilly, excited little scream that answered both her friend and him that Yes, she indeed have already seen Hinata play.
“He’s just the coolest, isn’t he?” the first girl continued, hyped by the friend’s positive response. “Last year I brought all my family to help me and the school cheer the team up and throughout the entire matches all I could look at was him! He was so fast also! And sooo cool!”
“I think it’s normal to be struck by the spikers during a game, it’s the coolest role after all. But he’s just so nice and friendly even to his lower classmates I wouldn’t be surprised if he even accepted to hang out sometimes if asked, Yui.”
Kageyama, at that point, was already bored out of his mind for that to-no-end conversation the two girls were having - especially after the wrong opinion one of the two shared about what volleyball position was the best of all - but the other one, Yui, succeded in saying another thing before the former setter of Karasuno could escape the feminine discussion they were having; one that halted him in his place with no thought in mind.
“Do you think if I confess he would say yes? He got quite a few fans since he’s not a first-year anymore, maybe he already has a girlfriend…”
What.
“I mean, there’s no harm in trying, Yui. I’m sure he’s not the kind to let you down rudely if the time comes. Are you gonna do that?? I am sooo rooting for you two!”
Kageyama came to his senses, mechanically returning to his classroom as the bell was approaching, feeling even more distressed and pent up than before the break.
A girl wants to ask Hinata out. What the hell.
At least , Kageyama thought, that Yui’s friend was spot-on on one thing: Hinata will not be rude while rejecting her, even if it will probably be his first time ever receiving one, he will probably try to find the sweetest and stupidest things to say to cheer her up not go back to class in tears.
Because he was certainly going to reject her given that this was his last year playing at Karasuno and, being finally a third year, Hinata would never let a stupid girl ruin his chances to win National. Because volleyball comes first and Hinata certainly will remember that while a girl, for the first time, will ask him to become boyfriend and girlfriend, holding hands, kissing…
Kageyama stopped in the middle of his steps, for the second time in that afternoon and for the same topic as before, looking in front of himself lost in his thoughts, head and body full of nasty feelings he wasn't even capable of describing.
Hinata WAS going to reject that girl, right?
He had a bad feeling about all of this.
╡╬╞
”And so Yamaguchi was struggling to figure out a way to cheer the first years up after their lost game against Sheijou and Yachi came up with the cherry blossom thingy! I think it’s such a great idea, what do you think?”
He looked at Hinata, only half-listening to his rambling, too absorbed by the two underclassmen he accidentally eavesdropped earlier. Looking at him, Kageyama was not too surprised about the fact someone outside of the court finally saw the worth in his teammate - he was his rival after all, he deserved that and more for the way he outran so many of his upperclassmen in so little time, reaching the level of everyone else and never stopping to get better and better , like he couldn’t ever be satisfied by his game. Never fast enough, never high enough; Hinata was always looking at his achievements as a way to prove he was going to surpass even that level and go beyond.
There were so many reasons for keeping eyes locked on him, yet- .
Yet Kageyama never expected anyone outside of the court, who could fully understand the struggle and the strength it takes to be like Hinata, to understand his worth like they always did. And it’s not like the thing pissed him off, Kageyama was actually happy for him, but that new knowledge kind of left something sour in his chest, even if he couldn’t figure out why exactly.
“I don’t know how a picnic under the cherry trees would cheer someone up after losing in volleyball.” Kageyama objected, looking at the court and the first years still engaged with cleaning the floor. “Getting better would actually help.”
“Damn, don’t let them hear you or they’re never gonna get over it for real.” Hinata jocked with a playful smirk. “But not everyone is like you. Some people are normal and would likely stop thinking about volleyball for a day and enjoy themself in peace.”
Kageyama stared at him for a second before responding, with no doubt in his face or voice. “You’re just like me though.”
Hinata’s grin became even wider, breaking their eye contact and staring at the court in resolution. “Heck yes, I am. I wanna win .”
It was one of Kageyama’s favourite things to do while playing with Hinata: that look he made, the way his eyes lit up and changed, portraying his hunger so well… how could you ever look away from him, how could you not feel hungry too. How could you not want more of it?
Hinata Shouyou was amazing .
Of course people outside of volleyball figured it out eventually. Of course girls wanted to hold hands with him.
“But you know,” he continued “You can still learn something from it. What’s a win without the challenge of possibly losing? The adrenaline of having a strong opponent is what really makes volleyball fun.”
Kageyama watched him while responding, noticing without really thinking, how the hair at the base of his neck was kinda curlier than normal, probably because of training. “They’re gonna figure it out eventually, we did too.”
“Yeah.”
Hinata kept looking at the court, Kageyama kept looking at him.
╡╬╞
They had the picnic during the spring break. It helped, surprisingly; the sun was shining and the trees were everything you could ask for in a blossoming cherry park, even the fresh wind looked like it was inviting every idiot still inside their house to go out and enjoy themself in the springtime.
The Karasuno team was lucky enough to find a really pretty spot just under one of the furthest trees from the centre of the park: a perfect spot for not being crowded by all the other visitors and for having enough space around them to use the volleyball Hinata had brought and play a little.
From all the four of them, it was clear Hinata was almost everyone’s favourite upperclassman, probably for his personality and his ability to read what was written on their expressions more precisely than both Yachi or Yamaguchi. Tsukishima one time joked that it was probably because some of them were already taller than Hinata himself, and so they felt more comfortable near a micro-senpai , as he said, than a normal one .
It would have had probably pissed Hinata off to no end, first-year Hinata Shouyou at least, but the young man he grew into in those two years grinned right to Tsukishima face before giving the strongest pat on his back that he was capable of and responding.
“You don’t have to feel jealous, Tsukishima, I’m sure with time they’re gonna grow into at least liking a little bit of you, just keep believing in yourself.”
Yamaguchi scoffed despise his best intention to stand up for his best friend and Kageyama, like every time he was able to watch Hinata win at something, hid a small smile he could not fight over.
They were all playing under the blossoming flowers and falling petals when the topic fell in the thing Kageyama was absolutely not comfortable talking about.
“Hinata looks even jumpier than ever, could it be that the rumor about a girl asking you out is actually true?” A second-year asked, indirectly stopping the game when the ball bounced on an underclassman’s head, before falling to the ground until staying completely still.
Kageyama was the only one stoically keeping his eyes on it, not comprehending why but fully realising he did not want to look at Hinata’s face at that moment.
Because he was gonna find Hinata’s answer written all over his face and he didn't want to be wrong. He didn’t want things to change, he didn’t want that girl to become relevant to him.
He definitely did not want Hinata to have a girlfriend.
“Why does everyone knows?” Hinata whined, his embarrassment could be pictured by his voice alone.
“I mean, she did kinda ask you to meet her behind the gym. At least four classes saw you two from their windows.” Someone else explained, already caught up in that rumor -not a rumor, a truth . She did ask him, he did respond.-
“So you have a girlfriend now, Hinata?” Yamaguchi asked excitedly while Tsukishima shook his head in shame “Not that idiot with a girlfriend. Fucking unbelievable.”
It was indeed fucking unbelievable.
But why does the knowledge of it suck so much? Why was only Kageyama feeling like this? Why were all their friends okay with this?
It’s widely known that romance is a good thing growing up, a useful one for your emotional well-being even, and necessary or not Kageyama understood perfectly well years ago that if he didn’t want anything to do with it, most teenagers would like to have someone to like and be appreciated by.
But why does it have to be Hinata?
Anyone but Hinata.
“I…rejected her…”
Kageyama almost snapped his neck in half for how fast he looked up to the ginger, mirroring - without even caring nor knowing- the face of nearly everyone around him because he said that, he really said that.
“You did… what?” Yamaguchi said, the perplexion clear on his freckled face.
“Was she ugly?” A first-year asked, receiving an elbow in the hip from the young manager girl who joined Yachi that same year with another boy in her class. “If that’s the first thing you can think about I promise you’ll never find a girlfriend!” she snapped.
“She was actually… pretty cute.” Hinata murmured, still a little red in the face from earlier, interrupting the underclassmen’s bickering before it could grow bigger. Kageyama repressed a flinch, and at that point he didn’t know what confused him more.
“Then why?” someone said, not seeing how Hinata was already looking for words to explain his apparent idiocy in rejecting a pretty girl who liked you.
“Having a girlfriend sound fun, and amazing, I know,” Hinata started, and Kageyama did flinch this time, dropping his eyes to his shoes without even realizing it. Without even understanding what the fuck was happening to him since the whole deal starter to bother every single aspect of his school experience.
“But I’m not here for that.” The calm yet firm way Hinata continued was what drew Kageyama’s eyes yet again to his frame, finding exactly what he expected and craved .
He’s doing that look again.
Kageyama felt drained from every emotion he was quarrelling with yet so full of feelings hard to express, he could do nothing but stare; a slave to the power that set of eyes always hold on him.
“I’m here to play volleyball. I promised years ago that I would have given my all. ” Hinata left the void he always look at in those moments, locking eyes with Kageyama and taking away the last breath the setter was still holding for himself. He smiled at him, sincerely, truthfully; making Kageyama shiver.
“And I’m not backing down to that promise. There will be no exceptions.”
And at that moment Kageyama Tobio understood completely what that Yui girl was thinking looking down on the spiker during those matches.
Because how could you not fall for Hinata Shoyo?