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Day VIII: Solar Eclipse
Hell if Kageyama had even prepared for the twenty first of June or even as remembered the importance of such a day, but at 8:00AM exactly his phone awoke him in a start after a single ring. His hand came down on the device roughly, annoyed by the sheer sound of the ringtone. Without even looking the caller ID, he answered.
“This better be a hell of a reason to wake me up,” he hissed into the phone without bothering to even open his eyes.
“KAGEYAMA! DO YOU KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS TODAY?!” Tanaka Ryunosuke, who else would yell into the phone at such hours in the morning for whatever stupid reason he had come up with that day? Well, maybe Hinata, or even Nishinoya-senpai, but Kageyama wasn’t really thinking about any of them at the moment, he was thinking about going back to sleep.
“Tanaka-senpai, it’s Sunday morning. Go back to be—“
“NOT JUST ANY SUNDAY MORNING, KAGEYAMA!” His enthusiasm was seriously killing Kageyama. “IT’S SUNDAY, JUNE 21ST, ALSO KNOWN AS THE DAY HINATA-CHAN WAS BORN!”
The day Hinata-chan… was born?
Kageyama shot right up from his bed, eyes wide open.
Today was Hinata’s birthday? Since when?!
“So get your butt out of bed, we’re coming to pick you up!”
“E—Eh? Pick me up? What are you--?”
With that Tanaka had ended the call, leaving Kageyama with question marks above his head.
We? As in the whole team?
Only time could tell.
…
The doorbell to the Kageyama residence rung repeatedly without rest. Kageyama was glad his parents weren’t home or Tanaka and whoever was accompanying him would have the yelling of their lives.
Not that Kageyama wouldn’t fill the part for them.
“Stop it, dammit! I’m here already! Do you want to break my doorbell?!” he growled once he opened the door. Before him was, well, the whole team all dressed in casual clothing. It was rather unusual seeing them all together without their uniforms or practice attire, but at the same time it felt kind of cool.
“Good morning, Kageyama!” Suga greeted the raven along with the rest of the team that gave him waves.
Kageyama was dumbstruck and opted to lock the door behind him to take the situation in. He gave a sheepish good morning as he did so.
“Are you feeling any better?” Noya-senpai asked as Kageyama turned to meet the guys. The boy frowned down at the libero in slight annoyance by the belated question. Shouldn’t that have been asked before they came to get him?
“I’m fine,” he mumbled before asking the real question. “So, where are we going?”
“To get Hinata’s present of course,” Yamaguchi answered with a sweet smile.
“And…what exactly are we getting him?”
“You ask too many questions, just shut up and come with us,” Tsukishima scoffed at the setter, turning around to go in the direction of the shopping district. Yamaguchi followed along his best friend, telling him how mean he’d sounded and that he’d acted really cool.
Kageyama rolled his eyes but followed along as well with the rest of the team.
“Tsukishima’s right, Kageyama. Just follow our lead,” Tanaka said and, along with Noya-senpai, gave him a thumbs up.
A drop of sweat slid down Kageyama’s forehead. This was probably not the best idea they’d come up with but he didn’t have much of a choice then.
…
It was amazing how on a Sunday morning the shopping district was full. People could barely walk around (or maybe it was because a whole volleyball club had taken over the whole district that everything felt so crowded to Karasuno’s black haired setter). They’d gone into various shops, from clothing shops to sports shops to shops that sold a variety of things and Kageyama was still not sure what to get for Hinata. Tanaka, Nishinoya and Asahi had all pitched in to get Hinata a DVD they’d heard the spiker go on and on about during practice. Daichi and Suga had also gotten together to get the boy some knee caps (which they’d notice Hinata had broken his own a few days ago) and some of the second years got together along with Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to get the spiker a tee shirt with his name on it. Each of them had asked Kageyama if he wanted to help out in buying the gift so he wouldn’t be stuck without anything, but Kageyama declined, saying he’d find something eventually.
It’d already been two hours of walking around and he was empty handed.
“What are you even gonna do? I mean, didn’t you like anything?” Noya-senpai asked the setter who had been staring into space with a blank expression, contemplating how he wouldn’t get Hinata a gift by the end of the day. He turned to his senpai and sighed.
“I… have no idea,” he shook his head.
Perhaps it was the fact he didn’t know what to get Hinata that made him unable to choose something. What would Hinata even want? was what he’d been wondering throughout the whole time. Something that he would love. Something that he would really appreciate. Something that would last…
What could it possibly be?
“I’m…gonna look around one more time, senpai,” he told Nishinoya before walking off again. He went into some isles he hadn’t gone into before. They didn’t look like they’d have anything useful since they were filled with candles and home goods, but Kageyama was out of options so he decided to look everywhere.
Of course he wasn’t going to get Hinata a damn comforter for his birthday, but maybe there was something around…something…
As he walked down one of the corridors containing furniture he noticed something that surely did not belong to this section of the store. An orange greeting card sat completely out of place by one of the chairs on sale. He approached it with curiosity, reading the contents within it.
It was so stupid. He’d never read anything so corny in his life that he could literally puke.
But something clicked in his mind and he continued to the nearest check out.
…
“So you just got him a card after two whole hours?!” Noya-senpai questioned in disbelief when he found Kageyama leaving the store. Everyone else reacted the same way, looking disappointed in the setter.
“I also got him this keychain in case that doesn’t work.” Kageyama held up a little keychain in the form of a volleyball with a heart inside. He wasn’t sure if Hinata would even like it, but it was worth a shot.
The group sighed.
“Well, we should get going. Next up’s the cake,” Daichi announced to the group, taking the lead as usual.
“Ah, I saw a bakery down by the street. It looked like a decent place to buy the cake,” Ennoshita pointed ahead towards the direction he’d indicated.
“Oh, good look out, Ennoshita~” Tanaka praised his classmate and friend with a smile, patting him on the back. The brunette smiled upon the praise.
They all headed for the bakery and settled for a vanilla cake with fruits on top, which looked very Hinata-like, Kageyama thought. Everyone pitched in and purchased the cake.
Next up, the Hinata residence.
…
This was all improvised.
Kageyama was growing nervous by the minute they approached Hinata’s house. Yes he had gotten the boy a gift and he was rather proud of it, but he was having second thoughts about the card.
“So, you never showed us the card you got Hinata,” Daichi said innocently to start up a conversation. Everyone turned their attention to the setter, curious by the card’s content.
“A—Ah, it’s nothing. Just a greeting card I thought was…kinda funny.” Or not exactly.
Desperate times had called for desperate measures. He didn’t think he’d find anything else, but when he found the keychain he’d already purchased the card, so he might as well hand both over.
“Oh, nice. I’m sure Hinata will love it,” Sugawara smiled. “Can I see?”
Kageyama held his bag protectively upon the request. “N—No,” he cleared his throat. “No. I mean…I’d rather have…Hinata read it.” Just not with everyone around.
His plan was to be the last one to hand over his gift. Yes, that would work out.
“Oh, is that so,” Sugawara looked disappointed, but thought it’d be fine if Hinata were to read it aloud.
Kageyama prayed he wouldn’t.
“Ah, finally, we’re here!” Tanaka announced with enthusiasm.
“Everyone, get into position!” Daichi ordered and it was all set.
Nishinoya and Tanaka held onto the cake despite everyone’s complaint that they’d probably drop it with all the excitement, but the two swore they would protect it with their life. Daichi and Sugawara stood besides them for precaution. Kageyama stood besides Suga—he’d be the one to knock on the door—and the rest of the team stood behind them, ready to yell out surprise when Hinata came into view.
This was the moment of truth.
“Ok guys, don’t yell surprise until we’re sure it’s Hinata, got it?” Daichi instructed and everybody nodded enthusiastically. “Okay, Kageyama, knock.”
Kageyama did as told and awaited for an answer. He heard steps rushing to the door and a faint voice he could not make out, and after a few seconds the door was pulled open, not by Hinata, but by his little sister, Natsu.
The whole team had to hold in the yell of surprise they’d been about to release.
“E—Eh? Aren’t you Nii-Chan’s friend?” the little girl pointed to Kageyama who in response, placed a finger to his lips in hopes she would lower her voice.
“Natsu! How many times am I gonna tell you not to open the doo--- Oh!” Hinata’s mother was next to come into the room and for a moment the whole team was about to yell out surprise, only this was a woman, so of course it was not Hinata.
But they all looked so alike!
“A—Ah, Shou-chan is in his room,” she whispered, motioning for the group to follow her.
The team nodded at each other and followed the woman into a hallway that lead to the rooms. She knocked on one of the doors, calling out to her son who in response told her to come in.
Hinata sat at his desk, working on homework. Was this even real life? It almost looked like a lie but he was actually doing homework. Kageyama would definitely mock him about it later, but right then he had other things to focus on.
The whole group walked into the room, circling around Hinata, wearing huge grins until the boy turned on his chair to see what his mother had come in for, only his mother wasn’t who he saw and he was definitely not expecting a party to suddenly appear right before his very eyes.
“Surprise!” the whole group yelled and Hinata was speechless.
The group switched into an up beat version of the happy birthday song, clapping and laughing along with Hinata who couldn’t even believe his teammates would do something like this. He had no idea how they all got together for this, but he had never before had such an amazing surprise as this.
In the midst of the singing and the laughing someone had lit up a candle for Hinata to blow out.
“Make a wish!” Noya-senpai shouted out and Hinata made sure to do so before blowing out the candle.
…
“You guys…seriously. I…Something like this…You guys are the best!!” Hinata was crying out loud, wiping away the exaggerated tears that were streaming down his cheeks like waterfalls.
“Aw, Hinata! Don’t cry!” Tanaka was crying as much (or possibly more) as Hinata, hugging him tight as he made sure the neighbors could hear them as well.
“Ohh, and this is just the beginning, Shouyou!” Noya-senpai said, casually separating Tanaka from Hinata. The redhead stopped his dramatic crying, his eyes turning from waterfalls to hearts at the sound of there being something more.
“Really?!” Kageyama couldn’t help but stare at Hinata as he smiled in pure happiness, something Kageyama had only witnessed a few times.
It was pretty amazing, seeing Hinata smile.
How dumb.
“We got you some gifts!” Sugawara chimed in, smiling as everyone took out what they’d purchased earlier for the spiker.
Hinata was glowing brighter than the sun, Kageyama swore.
They all repositioned themselves at the living room in order to fit better and open up the gifts. Hinata sat on his couch besides Tanaka and Nishinoya when Daichi and Sugawara handed over a medium sized box wrapped in paper.
“This one’s from both of us,” Sugawara smiled.
“Happy birthday, Hinata,” Daichi grinned as he watched Hinata tare the paper apart.
He thanked the two fondly for the kneepads, expressing how much he’d been worrying over buying new ones. The rest of the group handed over their gifts, Hinata expressing his gratitude, nearly in tears by the end of the whole ordeal.
Kageyama had avoided his turn enough. By then everyone expected him to step up and hand over his present, but on his part he was not ready himself.
“Eh? Is it possible…Kageyama-kun, you didn’t get me anything?” Hinata didn’t look disappointed, as Kageyama had expected after finding out he wouldn’t be receiving something from the one he liked. Hinata was still smiling though and the raven swore he could kiss him as a birthday present instead of handing over the damn card.
But that’d be just as embarrassing, and they hadn’t exactly discussed their relationship yet so he wouldn’t push his luck.
“Y—Yeah, I did, it’s here…”
Finally he rummaged around his bag and got out an envelope. He opened it and took out the keychain, handing it over to the setter.
“Here.”
“Ah! This is so cute! Thanks so much, Kageyama-kun! I’ll hang this on my school bag.” He was smiling from ear to ear and it was seriously overwhelming Kageyama, almost making him forget all about the card.
“Ah, Kageyama, I think you forgot to give him the card,” Asahi suddenly pointed out to the envelope Kageyama was still holding.
Yes the card was in his hand, yes everyone was now looking at him, even Hinata, and yes he had no other choice but to give the card away. He’d basically paid 122 yen for the public execution of his reputation amongst his teammates.
But what the hell.
Hinata looked confused at Kageyama whose hands were shaking as he handed over the envelope. “I…also got you this,” he mumbled sheepishly, making sure to look Hinata in the eye in hopes the message would somehow transfer.
Don’t you dare read it aloud!
But Hinata was already taking a breath as he pulled the orange greeting card out of the envelope. “Happy birthday to the most special person. My gift to you is…” Hinata opened the card to read the missing part.
By then Kageyama was praying to Kami-sama that he’d end his life right there.
“Right in front of you.” Hinata raised his gaze from the card to the one standing in front of him.
Kageyama Tobio.
Hinata blinked, not exactly getting it right away, but around him Nishinoya was snickering into a pillow, Tanaka was kneeling down on the floor, holding in his laughter and Daichi and Suga were no better in keeping their cool as they turned around from the pair so they couldn’t see their faces. Tsukishima was the only one to laugh aloud while the rest just kinda sat there not sure if they should laugh or run.
Kageyama was probably gonna go on a killing rampage and they didn’t exactly want to be the first ones on the list.
“So…what you’re saying is that you’re my birthday present, Kageyama-kun?” Hinata questioned just to be sure, but the words had sounded better in his head than in the air.
He was so glad his mother had gone to search for her camera and had yet to return.
Kageyama felt the heat in his face rise to the point he wasn’t exactly sure how his face wasn’t boiling. “I—I uh…didn’t know what to get you at first and I thought that I wouldn’t find anything so it…was a last resort…”
His explanation was definitely not helping his cause.
And when everyone gave up and started laughing, well, Kageyama was seriously considering punching everyone across the face.
Hinata was no better. His face was beet red, he wasn’t sure where to look, and when his mother came back with the camera she worried that her son had actually caught a fever because his face was heating up.
Kageyama just wanted the earth to either swallow him whole or swallow everyone else so they wouldn’t bring this up at every waking moment.
…
“Well, I guess we should leave these two lovebirds on their own~” Tsukishima was definitely not gonna let Kageyama live this down for as long as he breathed air. A few of the guys chuckled along with him as they gathered their things, ready to take their leave.
“Yeah, Hinata might want to spend some time with his personal gift,” Yamaguchi followed along his friend’s mockery and snickered.
“Please leave my home immediately,” Hinata ordered as politely as his vocabulary allowed him to, but his eyes were glaring daggers at the pair and his voice was uncharacteristically low.
“I—Heh, I’m sorry for the whole embarrassing thing, Shouyou. But it seriously made my day!” Nishinoya patted his junior on the back only to receive a glare from him. He felt a pang of guilt suddenly for embarrassment the boy had faced on his birthday, and his smile instantly dropped. He held Hinata aside for a moment, turning to look at him solemnly. “Hey, I’m…actually really sorry about laughing at that. I mean, if you and Kageyama are together or whatever then that’s all right. You don’t need to be embarrassed about it, Shouyou,” he spoke sincerely.
Hinata shook his head, feeling rather abashed by his senpai’s words. He hadn’t exactly thought about where his relationship with Kageyama stood by then, they hadn’t really discussed it, but it fell somewhere along the lies of being together, of that he was sure.
He tried smiling up at Nishinoya, grateful overall for his words.
“Thanks, Noya-senpai.”
With that the boy was out the door.
Everybody seemed to hold their own way of giving their apologies to Hinata, either by expressing it out loud or simply giving him a look, as the one Yamaguchi had given him before stepping out.
Before leaving they all waved back at Hinata, saying their goodbyes and wishing him happy birthday one last time before fanning out.
Hinata hung out by the door watching his teammates leave.
He had to admit that, despite the embarrassing incident, he was grateful for every second they spent together.
Kageyama had just finished pulling on his sneakers and headed for the door. “Hinata,” he called out before he could take his leave.
Hinata turned around, not exactly sure how to meet the raven’s eyes. The embarrassment of the card was still lingering about even when the event had occurred long ago. They’d seemed to forget about the card whilst they ate cake and took some pictures, that was up until their leave.
Kageyama felt the same way, but he wasn’t about to feel weakened by the incident even if he’d started it.
He took Hinata’s hand in his own and led him to the entryway, closing the door behind him so they could talk alone. “I was really stupid for buying that damn card. I’m sorry, it’s my fault your birthday was ruined.” Kageyama seemed to fall under the same pattern as Hinata, averting his gaze, looking the other way as he said those words.
“Well, I guess it was really stupid of you to buy a card like that and hand it out to me in front of everyone…” Hinata chuckled drily, looking down at their linked fingers. He felt a surge of warmth rush through him, not by the memory of the incident but by Kageyama himself. He never would have thought he’d be in such a situation with him, that they’d be holding hands so casually. It was like a dream, and Hinata thought he was spoiling it. “But my birthday wasn’t ruined at all,” he declared, looking up at his face. “And the truth is I really liked the card.”
Kageyama thought Hinata was dumb. He was the dumbest, most stupid guy he had met in his whole life. He was the cutes and the most precious and important person in his life as well and he cursed him for being so damn distracting.
Kageyama was in deep, he could tell when he met Hinata’s eyes and could not turn away.
He was smiling, like an idiot probably, but Hinata had that effect on him. His silly compliment made him happy to the core and this time he could not hold himself back.
“Hinata, I really do like you,” he mumbled, leaning closer to the redhead, closer until his lips were on his own. They kissed slowly, but the time went by in a flash. Hinata pulled away much against his own body’s will, but there was something he still needed to know.
“Now what?” he asked, like Kageyama had all the solutions in the world.
The raven smiled down at him. “What? Do you want me to ask you out all formally and stuff?” he questioned with a laugh.
“Y—Yeah! You do that! Get on your knees!” Hinata pointed to the ground as though he was dead serious about this, except his cheeks were tainted red and his hands were shaking a bit.
Even so it managed to make Kageyama as abashed as him. “Idiot, that’s what you do when you propose.”
“O—Oh, I knew that, Bakayama!” Hinata scoffed.
Kageyama rolled his eyes at the naivety of the spiker, but was instantly reminded of the origin of the reason he thought so, and the hand he held in his own with such care.
He stared back down at Hinata, who, with a pout, got on his tip toes and, reaching one hand to his cheek, brought his lips to his own.
“Let’s stay together, Kageyama,” Hinata suggested and Kageyama complied.
This time that was enough for Hinata to understand.
There were many things Kageyama and Hinata were to each other, but for once they could each decide on at least one of the dozen words that the list was composed of, and that was special.