Work Text:
chapter one
“soft spot”
cold autum winds rush through the hallways, the chilling breeze brushes up against the rather short third year. his hands intertwined with eachother, rubbing them softy, he sighs loudly. “geez, is he gonna be late to practice again?” he murmured softly, it was the fourth time this week that kageyama had been late to practice. what was up with him? his passion for the sport was never interrupted by something, so, what could it be? crunchy leafs plummet to the ground, loud and quickened paces deteriorate the brown and orange pieces of nature. “shoyo!! sorry i’m a little behind schedule today..” his voice slightly shaky, hinata nudges his arm with a small smile. “no need to say sorry dummy, maybe you should give someone else the job to open the gym though.” kageyama’s eyes widen a bit, he realizes that hinata had been waiting for him out in the cold. his shoulders relax and he stares at the ground. someone outta put me back into shape. he shakes the feeling away and shoves his hand in his pocket, his fingers fumbling around for the keys. his hand suddenly stops. i didn’t grab the keys off my nightstand today. “kageyama, are you alright? you seem really out of it today..” hinata puts a hand on kageyama’s tense shoulder, he whips his head in his direction and sighs. “i..i forgot about them today..” his hands fall out of his pockets and hit his sides. “ah well, that’s not such a huge problem!!” hinata takes his hand off of kageyama and pulls his backpack off his shoulders, his hand reaches inside and pulls out a spare volleyball. “i always like to bring a spare no matter what!!” he says with a smile. zipping up his backpack once more, he slings it over his shoulders and walks far from the gym and closer to the school’s soccer field.
hinata turns around to see kageyama slowly trailing behind him. “it’s a bit uncomfy to have this in my backpack all day, but it’s definitely worth it on days like these.” kageyama lets out a small chuckle and catches up to the ginger. “you could say that again, shorty.” kageyama gives hinata a sly grin and snatches the ball from his hands. tossing it into the air with such a calm aura, it filled hinata with joy. this is the tobio i know. calm and collected when he wants to be. he leaps up into the air, backpack and all, and spikes the volleyball onto the ground and back into the cloud filled sky. “one more time kageyama!! one more!!” hinata shouts, putting his arms in position, ready to receive and spike whatever ball kageyama had to set to him. kageyama runs to the spot where the ball plans to land and lets his hands do the work for him. the ball lands perfectly on his cold and already sorta sweaty palms. launching the ball back into the air was his favorite part, but seeing hinata with all the confidence in the world, and the brightest smile on his face, was even greater than any feeling volleyball has ever made him feel.
after hours of practicing while the sky turns violet and the clouds slowly deteriorate, the two take their last few long breaths and stop. “hey shoyo, don’t you think it’s time we go home? i um, don’t want you to catch a cold or anything like that..” kageyama begins to fiddle with his hands in his pockets, hinata lets out a deep sigh. “ah, no problem tobio!! we can always come and practice tomorr-.” “shoyo how about we hang out tomorrow instead.” he projected his voice, making sure his overlapped hinata’s. “oh, you wanna invite me somewhere?” hinata slings his backpack off his shoulder once more and places the volleyball back inside. “what time would you like tobio?” he looks back up from his bag to see kageyama staring intently back at him, with a small grin upon his lips. “afternoon, maybe around five. it won’t be too cold tomorrow and we can hang out at my place, just to study and maybe watch a movie.” hinata notices the light tint of red that appears on kageyama’s cheeks.
he smiles and nods. “a movie sounds great actually, maybe we could put off the studying for later though..” kageyama interrupts him with a bonk on the head. “don’t be stupid, we should be smart about our grades if we wanna stay in the club.” hinata’s hands go to rub his sore head and sighs. “yeah yeah you’re right..” his hands go from his head to his pockets, taking out his phone to check the time. as he turns on his phone his eyes widened in shock, quickly shoving his phone back into his pocket to go grab the volleyball off the leaf littered floor. “i didn’t realize the time until now!! let’s hurry up and go home before we get kicked outta the field again.” the ginger said with a grin while walking towards kageyama, grasping his hand, and running towards the school’s exits. “w-what’s your deal dumbass?!” his voice going high pitched in embarrassment, hinata began to laugh. “c’mon yamayama!! you afraid of a little hand holding? hmmm?” teased hinata while continuing to run out of the school and into the nearby neighborhood, kageyama tugged at hinata’s hand, stopping him in his tracks. he turns around to face kageyama in confusion. next thing you know, tobio’s hand is at the cuff of hinata’s shirt, pulling him closer towards him. their faces are inches away from eachother, he let out an exaggerated sigh, a puff of warm air becoming visible in the cold. he doesn’t notice hinata’s features until now, the slight tint of red upon this cheeks, the light freckles littered across his face, his peculiar colored eyes. he notices his lips last. looking a little too long at them, he darts his eyes to the side in embarrassment. “i don’t really mind. we’re good friends. it’s not..” he lightly pushes him away, plastering his hands on his face. “just..whatever!!” he frantically smothers his face in his palms like a child throwing a tantrum, then quickly throwing his hands down at his sides.
his gaze is low; god he’s embarrassed, hinata can’t help but let out a chuckle.
soon, chuckling turns to buzz of laughter, kageyama throws his fists all over hinata. “gaahh!! you’re unbelievable!!” he then sniffles, wiping away his tears from all the laughing. “i’m unbelievable? you’re the one acting like a flustered first year girl!! all i did was hold your hand, dumbass.” kageyama seems taken aback, flustered? first year?? GIRL??? “oh piss off!! you’re the one built like a first year girl, short-ass!!” as he continues a brigade of punches, aiming for every open space on hinata’s body. through punches and bellowing laughter, the two feel a synchronized calm. the type of feeling one would feel being at open sea, watching the worries you hold, drift away with the beautiful crashing of waves. or perhaps being with someone you love most, embraced in eachothers arms, slow and rhythmic breathing. claiming each other with every touch, every breath, every subtle movement given to each other, is another reason to love each other more. love? is that what this is? a love between friends can be easily confused with a longing, aching love for someone whom they you cannot express it towards. a good friend? that’s all we are, loving friends. i love him. my good friend, shoyo.