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It started out as mild jealousy.
Ayaka, the new girl Yachi had brought along to the gym to be her successor, watched with star struck eyes as he scored yet another service ace.
‘Wow!’ she said in awe. ‘He is amazing!’
Yachi smiled. It was amazing. Watching Kageyama Tobio play on court was always an experience, especially for the ones watching him for the first time. Now that he was in his third year, the commanding confidence that came with seniority and age was really hard to ignore.
‘Hiitoka-san’, Ayaka, staring at the players now towelling off close to them, turned to her with a furtive smile. ‘Does he have a girlfriend?’
Yachi’s smile froze.
Did she just-
A girlfriend? Kageyama Tobio? A girlfr-
Did he?
‘What?’ she stuttered nervously. ‘A girlfriend? No- not as far I know! But of course-’ He could. But he didn’t, right? But how would Yachi know, they weren’t friends, they were just part of a team, they-
‘-Kageyama-kun doesn’t really-’
But Ayaka was already walking to the group of players, where the object of her attention was sitting on a bench, bickering with Hinata.
‘Hello everyone! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Takahashi Ayaka, I’ll be taking over from Hitoka-san by the end of the year. It’s-’ she fixed Kageyama with her gaze, ‘an honour to be able to work with you.’
Yachi was losing it.
This girl was the opposite of her! So confident, so straightforward!
Yachi walked towards them with a slightly shaky stride. Hinata was already introducing himself to her, as well as the others. Trust him to do most of the talking.
But a small part of Yachi only cared about…
She finally joined them, standing slightly to the side, as Hinata introduced Tsukishima with a ridiculous nickname that made Tsukishima bite back with a nasty retort. As they quibbled, Yachi couldn’t help but glance at Kageyama.
He was filing his nails, ignoring both his teammates, utterly absorbed in his own world. It was a familiar sight to Yachi by now. Kageyama in his element was completely focused, concentrated on volleyball and nothing else in his surroundings.
His hair was slightly longer than it used to be in second year, bangs hiding his forehead. She had heard from Hinata that his sister was a hairdresser. Did she cut them for him? He did have the nicest hair among all of them. Sometimes Yachi wanted to touch it just to-
Ack! Just to what, Yachi Hitoka?
‘Yachi-san?’
Kageyama was looking at her.
As were the rest of the teammates.
‘Is there something on my face?’ he asked, genuinely concerned, and that was when Yachi realised that-
THAT-
SHE HAD BEEN STARING AT KAGEYAMA ALL THIS TIME.
AND THE OTHERS HAD STOPPED TALKING.
BECAUSE-
THEY WERE STARING AT HER STARING AT KAGEYAMA.
‘I-’ she stammered, starting to shake. ‘I- I just-’
Why were they all staring at her!? She wanted the ground to split and let it swallow her. She wanted a meteor to collide with the earth and end it all. She wanted to-
‘The er-’ she had to say something! ‘the b-bangs, your bangs-’
Hinata let out a roar of laughter.
‘They are hideous, aren’t they?’ he said - and the whole team burst out laughing.
Everyone except Kageyama of course.
‘Even Yachi-san said it, Kageyama! Now you have to accept it!’
‘Shut up, boke!’ Kageyama replied predictably, looking put out.
‘N-no, that’s not what I-’
‘It’s okay Yachi-san, you don’t have to pretend’, Hinata said, patting her on the shoulder. ‘We’ve been telling him since the day he got them, he won’t listen. Maybe now that you said it-’
‘Shut up!’
The team broke into another round of laughter, this time accompanied by the sounds of Kageyama cursing out Hinata. Yachi joined in nervously, glad to have been saved at the last moment.
But then Hinata turned to look at her, and winked.
He knew.
‘Yachi-san’, Hinata said to her one day, ‘Valentine’s Day is coming up.’
‘Hmm?’ Yachi paused in the middle of picking up a stray volleyball. ‘Are you demanding chocolates, Hinata-kun?’
She could joke around with him like this. They had three years of friendship to count on, and Yachi had a feeling Hinata had his chocolates reserved from elsewhere.
‘Of course! I need my share’, he said with a grin. ‘But I meant for someone else.’
Yachi started sweating.
‘Wh-what do you mean, Hinata-kun?’ she said, voice shaking, avoiding looking at Hinata.
He had been dropping hints all year. Yachi was not stupid, and Hinata was not good at being subtle. And yet they hadn’t openly discussed it yet, so Yachi was allowed to claim ignor-
‘Kageyama’, he said.
Yachi shrieked and dropped the balls.
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’, she stammered hastily, Hinata hurrying forward to help her with a grin. She fumbled awkwardly with the balls, and then the cart, and then with the towel she had picked up god-knows-when in her hands, face heating up due to embarrassment and worry, hands fidgeting. ‘Hinata-kun’, she said in a strained voice, ‘what do you mean by that?’
‘Calm down, Yachi-san’, Hinata said kindly, with a chuckle, ‘it’s okay. I won’t tell anyone, not even him. But’, he added, ‘maybe you should tell him.’
Yachi shook her head vehemently.
‘No no no’, she stuttered out, ‘there’s no way! I don’t - it’s not even that- it’s not like- it’s not that serious and I-’
‘That’s okay! I mean it doesn’t have to be-’
‘And he’s - there’s no way he- he is so into volleyball! He’s never - I don’t -’
Hinata put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
‘Yachi-san, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to’, he said, ‘but I think…you want to, right?’
‘Huh?’
It was true that…after that one moment of awakening months ago, she had started noticing Kageyama even more. Or maybe she had started to notice herself noticing him more. She had watched him play with awe, of course; but there was hardly a person who wouldn’t notice Kageyama Tobio while he was playing. No, it was how often she found herself glancing at Kageyama when he wasn’t playing that was a problem.
It had been terrifying how aware she had initially become in his presence, almost reminding her of her fierce crush on Kiyoko in her first year, though she was externally less of a mess about it. She found herself looking for him as soon as she entered the gym, and any time she ran into him in their school corridors made her heart a little giddy. And for the person she used to be before, that would have been enough. A secret she’d have taken to her grave.
But halfway through, she found herself actively seeking out interactions with him, to her own surprise. It was bold, audacious, daring, absolute madness for Yachi’s standards; but something about Kageyama had proved to be less intimidating than Kiyoko. For one, Kiyoko wasn’t the one struggling with English lessons in front of Yachi, looking utterly lost (which always made her stifle a smile in front of him).
And Kageyama, when he wasn’t on court, was really sometimes as much of a dork as Hinata could be: fighting over silly things, squeezing his milk carton a bit too tightly only for it to spray on his face, getting hit by a serve Hinata had fumbled, quietly excited about food whenever there was an occasion for them to eat together. Yachi still hadn’t forgotten the moment she had caught him in his “disguise” when he was trying to sneak into Aoba Johsai to spy on the Grand King; it still made her laugh.
So yes, maybe Yachi had unconsciously talked more to Kageyama this year than she used to, initiated an awkward smile and wave, hello and goodbye routine for them which Kageyama had reciprocated equally awkwardly, but all of this had been done with no obvious intentions of ever, actually, owning up to her feelings.
‘That’s just what I thought’, Hinata said after a while. ‘Maybe I was wrong-’
‘It’s not that-’ she began, trying to explain. ‘There’s no point…’
‘Point? There has to be a point to a crush?’
Yachi turned tomato-red at the word, putting her hands in front of her as if to protect herself from it. ‘Don’t-don’t just say that, Hinata-kun!’
Hinata laughed. ‘Hehe, okay, I won’t say it. But really, why does there have to be a point? If you want to tell him, you should tell him!’
‘But it would be so embarrassing to be around him after!’
‘It’s not like we've got a lot of time left together’, Hinata said, shrugging. ‘I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, how we are all going to drift apart. That’s also why I…’
He broke off, looking into the distance a little forlornly.
That was…something Yachi had thought about as well. But looking at Hinata’s face made her see it in a different light.
It didn’t matter, because they had such little time left.
It didn’t matter, because they had such little time left!
‘Hinata-kun’, she said, a fresh wave of determination rising up inside her; the last time she had felt something similar was when Hinata had helped her run to her mother and tell her about her new position as their club’s manager: it had been exhilarating; a feeling she had come to crave since then. ‘I will do it if you do it too’, she blurted out, holding out her hand.
‘Yachi-san?’
‘C’mon Hinata-kun’, she said, riding on a high, ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’
Hinata looked at her with shining eyes.
‘Yachi-san, you are amazing!’
He shook her hand enthusiastically.
‘Let’s do it!’
‘Hinata-kuuuuuun’, Yachi said, legs shaking so hard she had to lean on the wall to steady herself, ‘I don’t want to do it!’
‘Yachi-san! Don’t back out! You are the one who said it: what’s the worst that could happen?’
‘I could die!’
‘You won’t!’
Yachi did feel like she was about to faint. They were both outside the gym, looking inside, at their respective crushes. Ayaka had already thrusted a big bar of chocolate into the hands of a shy second-year. Tsukishima had also received quite a few, a fact that pissed off Hinata greatly. Yamaguchi was treasuring the one he had received from a cute classmate, and someone had managed to sneak a couple into Ukai’s bag, but no one knew if it was a joke or an actual confession (he had eaten them all without much fanfare).
But it was Kageyama who was completely empty-handed so far; not because he hadn’t been given any, but because he had refused to accept any of them with a blunt ‘no’. Tsukishima had sneered at him for it. Kageyama had merely retorted with a ‘shut up.’
So Yachi’s nerves were totally warranted.
‘Yachi-san, we’ve to do it’, Hinata said, sounding as if he had a stomach ache, ‘we promised each other.’
‘Y-yes, b-but -’
‘We’re both usually the last ones practising. I’ll leave early, to, you know’, Hinata gulped. ‘You can give it to him then!’
It was the best shot she could have. At least she wouldn’t be embarrassed in front of everyone else.
‘What if he starts - shouting or- or he gets angry-’
‘He won’t’, Hinata actually laughed. ‘Yachi-san, he’s always respectful around you. Has he ever raised his voice at you?’
That calmed Yachi down slightly.
It was true. Kageyama was always…nice to her.
‘Well then’, Hinata said, putting a brave face on, as they walked inside with a stomach full of nerves, ‘let’s get it over with.’
It felt like the longest practice she had ever been a part of. She was jumpier than usual, barely avoiding the stray volleyball coming her way (Ayaka had to jump in a few times), dropping things here and there, and breaking out in cold sweat generally.
Get a grip, Yachi! she told herself. But the closer she came to the practice ending, the worse the anxiety in her stomach became. She had memorised what to say in her head, but she couldn’t remember a word of it now. She couldn’t even look at Kageyama today, because it would remind her of what awaited later.
Why had she agreed to this? She really didn’t want to! Even though she had given Hinata her word. But she could easily apologise and back out, right? Hinata wouldn’t mind it that much, would he?
Although she had been the one to propose this…
Still, what if she just didn’t? Yes, she could just - not say it. Back out. It was a cowardly option, sure, but Yachi had never been one for heroics. Yes, that was it. This was a task the level of which she wasn’t prepared for yet. She would either pass out or throw up, this was a life-threatening situation! For her own sake, she should just…
Not…
But to her shock, the thought of just not doing it didn’t make her breath come easy.
In fact, it made her stomach twist further into knots.
So what did that mean?
A whistle marked the end of the practice.
Yachi stood there with leaden legs. Hinata met her gaze and gave her a confident thumbs-up. Yamaguchi waved at her as he left, Tsukishima passing her with a small nod. Ukai called out to Kageyama to finish up quickly, before leaving.
She was right. This was a life-threatening situation. And Yachi Hitoka faced plenty of them in her life to chicken out at this point.
It’s better when you voice your nerves, she reminded herself of what she had once told Yamaguchi.
‘I’m so nervous’, she mumbled in her breath, ‘what should I do?’
‘Yachi-san.'
Kageyama was looking at her. She looked around; she was the only one left in the gym, apart from himself, ‘are you not leaving?’
She knew what to do.
She took out the chocolate from her pocket with an overwhelming calm flooding her body, as if she had already made peace with whatever was to follow.
‘Kageyama-kun’, she said, walking towards him in a daze, ‘I had to tell you something.’
‘Oh?’
Kageyama looked surprised. He hadn’t seemed to have understood what was happening, despite the chocolate in her hands, and Yachi forced herself not to dwell on that. He was sweating from the practice, his bangs (that he had slightly altered after that day; that ,had to mean something, right?) sticking to his forehead, blue eyes fixing Yachi with all his attention.
Yachi opened her mouth.
‘Kageyama-kun’, she said in a shockingly steady voice, completely incongruous from the red alert flashing through her brain, ‘I- I wasn’t sure if I wanted to say it, but- but- I just think - I just realised - that not telling you would actually be worse than confessing. And I don’t expect you to say anything back - or - or ruin our team dynamics. I just think you should know-’
She sank into a bow, unable to meet his eyes.
‘I LIKE YOU! Please accept this chocolate from me!’
The gym fell into pin-drop silence. The wooden floor of the gym swam in front of Yachi’s eyes. She waited.
And she waited some more.
And then her back started to hurt so she had to straighten up.
Kageyama had stopped breathing.
‘K-Kageyama-kun?’
He looked absolutely stunned, as if all the neurons in his brain had stopped firing at that exact moment. He hadn’t moved an inch; in fact, Yachi was starting to wonder if he had even blinked.
‘Kageyama-kun’, she said weakly, ‘I don’t expect anything from you. It’s okay if you-’
Kageyama snatched the chocolate out of her hands, making her jump in fear.
‘No!’ he burst out.
Yachi let out a squeak.
‘No, I mean, yes- I-I will accept it - I will- I like this chocolate - it’s-’
Oh.
He wasn’t- he wasn’t rejecting her.
At least not outrightly.
He had accepted her chocolate. The only one in the entire day. That- did that- did that mean -
And that’s when Yachi’s confidence gave out.
‘I need to go!’ she screeched, and before he could stop her, she was already running out of the gym, overwhelmed with a strange feeling she couldn’t put a word to.
It was only after she was halfway home, adrenaline still rushing through her, that Yachi recognized the feeling. It was euphoria.
She had done it!
For the first time, something other than volleyball had overtaken Kageyama’s mind.
It had come out of nowhere. Yachi-san, of all people! Granted, he wasn’t great at reading people off-court, but he had never really thought -
She had always seemed more cheerful around Hinata. He was always awkward around her, struggling to sound smarter than Hinata when they studied together (it shouldn’t have been that hard, but it was), and somehow managing to get spotted in his most embarrassing moments, like donning a useless disguise using a HOLLYWOOD cap, or getting into tiffs with Tsukishima that made him look like an idiot.
This was alien territory for him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. He was used to rejecting chocolates from girls on Valentine’s without a second thought, since he barely knew any of them. Nothing was worth not thinking about volleyball. And yet, when Yachi had bowed down in front of him, earnest and sincere, and looking calmer than Kageyama would have expected her to, something had tugged at his heart.
He couldn’t say no. He couldn’t reject her.
And what did that mean?
‘Little brother’, Miwa greeted him with a cheeky grin, ‘what’s making you look so constipated?’
He had heard from Hinata that it was best to approach a girl to deal with matters that concerned girls; and the only other girl in his life apart from Yachi herself, was his sister. Although they didn’t talk much these days, with his practice and her shifts at the salon she was training at, she had immediately walked out to meet him once he had appeared at the door, everyone at the salon looking at him.
‘Is that the volleyball prodigy?’ a busty hairdresser asked Miwa, beaming at Kageyama.
‘Yep, that’s my brother’, she had said proudly, ruffling his hair. ‘Soon to be a national player!’
‘We’ve all heard so much about you’, a client said from their chair. ‘She talks about you a lot!’
Kageyama blushed at the praise, not used to women fawning over him like this. He had never visited Miwa’s salon before, but it was as if her enthusiastic bragging had turned him into everyone’s little brother inside.
‘I’ll be back in a few minutes, please bear with me’, Miwa said with a bow, leading him out.
‘So’, she asked, once they were outside, ‘what’s the matter?’
Kageyama rubbed his neck in embarrassment. Miwa was definitely going to make fun of him for this.
‘Do-do you have a- a boyfriend?’
Miwa looked surprised, then a little shifty.
‘Not really, no’, she said. ‘Why? Do you?’
‘Not yet - I mean, not - I mean, it’s a girl, but not my girlf- it’s-’
‘Oh!’ Miwa said, grinning. ‘So my brother has a crush! Finally!’
‘What do you mean finally?’ Tobio muttered, turning maroon.
‘I had been waiting for this! All you talk about is volleyball! It’s nice to know you think about other things too.’
‘Yeah about that’, he said, trying to get it over with, ‘I wanted your advice.’
‘Ask away, dear brother’, she said. ‘It’s Valentine’s day today, isn’t it? Did you confess to someone?’
‘I got confessed to’, he forced it out. ‘And er - I don’t know what to do next.’
Miwa looked at him quizzically.
‘What to do next?’ she repeated. ‘Just do what you feel like.’
Kageyama gritted his teeth in frustration. ‘I don’t know what I feel like!’
‘Huh’, Miwa tilted her head. ‘So you - you accepted the confession?’
Tobio said slowly, ‘I accepted the chocolate. Then she ran out.’
Miwa chuckled. ‘Cute.’
Cute. Was it cute? Now that he thought about it, Yachi was kind of…
‘She’s the manager of our volleyball team. And I couldn’t bring myself to say no to her. But I couldn’t outright…accept it either.’
‘You don’t like her?’
Kageyama thought about it. ‘I…don’t know. It’s less that I don’t like her and more that I…I’m not sure what to do about it’, he admitted. ‘What are you even supposed to do? If I- if I went up to her and said I like her too-’
The thought itself made Kageyama’s heart beat faster, like the thrill of a good set, the feel of a good service ace. But it also scared him a little.
‘Okay, how about this?’ Miwa said after a pause. ‘Why don’t you take your time to figure out your feelings till White Day? It’d be the perfect time to reciprocate if you do feel the same way, and if you don’t, you can just not do anything.’
‘But-’ there was something else. ‘If I did feel the same way- what am I- what do we do-’
‘Hehe’, Miwa smirked, ‘are you looking for makeout tips from your sister?’
Make-makeout?!
‘No! Miwa, don’t be- that’s not what I meant!’ Was there steam coming out of his ears? The thought of making out - with Yachi -
The vivid image that Kageyama’s brain then conjured up stirred up feelings inside him that he didn’t even know he had.
He turned around and broke into a run.
‘Keep me updated, little bro!’ Miwa half-yelled, half-laughed from behind. ‘And I’d love to meet her someday!’
The next day, a cheery Hinata was accosted by a brooding figure suddenly appearing out of the shadows, right outside their gym.
'Woah!’ he cried, taken aback. ‘Kageyama, why are you like this!'
'Like what!'
'So scary!' Hinata replied, shaking his head, stepping inside. As usual it was just the two of them in the early hours of the morning.
'I need to ask you something.'
Hinata looked at him curiously. 'Yes?'
Kageyama looked nervous. Like he was about to face the Grand King on court again or something. That was a matter of concern.
'Are you alright?'
'Yes. Shut up and listen.'
'Hey-'
'Suppose someone who had a friend, but not a very close friend, but someone they liked, someone like the manager of a club-
Oh. Ohhh. That's what this was about.
There was no way Hinata wasn't going to let him struggle with explaining it though. So he waited.
'- so that someone told them that they like them-'
'Someone told someone they liked them?'
'Yeah', Tobio replied distractedly, 'so now this someone isn't sure, but it's not that they don't like them back, but it's that they aren't sure-'
Hinata's head was spinning a little now.
'- so what I am asking is', Kageyama said finally, 'how should someone react around the other someone until they figure out what they feel.'
Hinata had to admit he was surprised at how complicated Kageyama's feelings were. He had expected either a blunt No, or a casual Yes.
But this also meant Kageyama did not take Yachi's feelings lightly.
'Well, I think it would be best to act normal till then.'
'Normal?'
'Yep.'
Kageyama stared at him for a second.
'I don't know why I even bothered to ask you.'
'Okay, fine!' Hinata held up a hand to stop Kageyama from stalking out of the gym.
'By normal I mean you should just - be nice. Be respectful of their feelings. If you act too differently, it would only make them feel awkward. But-' he added, as Kageyama continued to frown, 'if you want to maybe talk more, you can try that.'
'How?'
'Well', Hinata said thoughtfully, 'maybe try greeting them with a friendly Hi when you see them.'
'Hm. And?'
'And, you could try to make small talk- although, that seems to be beyond your capability.'
'It isn- hey, who said this was about me!'
'Bakageyama please! I know.'
Kageyama looked at him blankly. 'You know what?'
Hinata shifted. 'About Yachi-san.'
'What - how do you - were you eavesdropping you asshole-'
'She told me!' Hinata interrupted him.
Kageyama frowned.
'She did?'
Hinata nodded.
Kageyama deflated slightly. 'So you knew that she…'
Hinata nodded again.
Kageyama clenched his fists. 'Well, I- I don't know what to say to her.'
Hinata patted him on the shoulder. 'It's okay, she doesn't expect anything from you. Just act like you usually do, you know? She was happy just to have confessed to you.'
'She was?'
'Yeah. And when you think about it, the Yachi we knew in first year would never have. It takes guts to confess something Iike that.'
Kageyama looked thoughtful. 'That's true', he said eventually.
'Just do what feels right to you', Hinata said with an air of finality. 'I'm sure you will figure it out.'
Act normal.
It will be fine.
Just act normal.
But despite the number of times she repeated the mantra in her head, Yachi could not just be normal.
She had confessed to Kageyama yesterday! She had done that! And while she didn't regret it the slightest bit, she still felt embarrassed, and nervous, and honestly, terrified of how she was going to spend the day around him.
What if he was disgusted by her feelings? What if he thought she was annoying? What if he thought she was distracting and demanded she no longer come to the gym? What if-
'Hitoka-san! Why are you standing outside? Let's go in!'
And before Yachi could protest, Ayaka was already dragging her inside. And the first person her eyes met as she walked inside was: Kageyama.
Both of them froze, looking at each other like deer caught in front of headlights.
Then he did something weird.
'G-good morning Yachi-san!' He exclaimed loudly, making everyone around him stare at them in confusion.
That's what they needed. More attention.
Yachi, who had gone ramrod straight, abruptly folded herself into a deep bow.
'Go-good morning!'
Hinata looked at them with half-exasperation, half-amusement.
'What…is going on?' Yamaguchi asked, looking genuinely bamboozled.
Tsukishima snickered in reply, but kept his mouth shut. It had already been awkward enough; Yachi found herself wondering if she could maybe pass the rest of the school year without ever seeing any of them again.
But, weirdly, gradually, it went back to normal. To Yachi's surprise, neither did Kageyama ignore her, nor did he appear disgusted or annoyed by her presence. Instead, he diligently made it a point to greet her good morning or goodbye every time he saw her. It was slightly strange the first few times it happened, since he had never been so formal with her before, but gradually it became a ritual that made her smile, and she even caught him smiling back at her once or twice.
He did need to work on it to make it less terrifying though.
Kageyama never bringing up her confession did sting. It was a rejection as polite as it could get, but that didn’t lessen the pain of unrequited feelings.
And yet, the small, new interactions were equally precious to her, making her heart less and less intimidated every time they talked. There was something relaxing about being around Kageyama once you got to know him; and although her heart still beat faster if he ever stood beside her or focused on her completely while talking, Yachi realised it was a good kind of faster, the kind that led to slightly embarrassing thoughts later when she was alone.
And so, having made peace with the situation, Yachi had almost forgotten about White Day, until it arrived.
‘You have my blessings, baby bro!’ Miwa yelled cheerfully, as Kageyama hurried out of their house on the morning of White Day. ‘Make your sister proud!’
Kageyama ignored her, nerves making him second-guess everything.
This past month, he had made it a point to talk to Yachi more, and slowly it became clear that he…liked being around her. And that he wanted to be around her more. It was easy to tell when she was nervous, so it wasn’t hard for Kageyama to figure out that she was much calmer around him these days, initiating conversations even when Kageyama couldn’t. She had a way to put him at ease, once she had calmed down herself, and it made Kageyama less conscious of things he was usually conscious about while interacting with other people. It was…like being with Hinata, or Suga-san, but with a strange thrill added to it, that made him feel more alive around her, like the anticipation of a good match.
Hinata, of course, spotted the chocolate in his bag before he could even try to hide it.
‘Kageyama!’ he gasped. ‘I can’t believe this- you are going to-’
‘Shut up!’ Kageyama snapped, looking around nervously.
She wasn’t here yet…
Hinata wiped a fake tear from his eye. ‘They grow up so fast’, he said dramatically, ‘Not sure what she sees in you, but as long as she’s happy…’
‘That’s gross. Stop talking’, Kageyama muttered. ‘Anyway…’
‘Anyway what?’
‘What if-’ Kageyama decided to say it aloud, admitting his fear, ‘what if she doesn’t- feel the same way- and she has changed her mind-’
‘Then you’ll just have to wait and find out, won’t you?’ Hinata said easily, shrugging.
Kageyama glared at him. He had hoped for something more positive.
‘What? It’s up to her, not me! You’ll just have to be brave like her and risk it.’
And wasn't that the worst thing about love?
When Yachi entered the gym later that day, she didn’t appear any different, smiling at Kageyama even as he forgot to greet her due to nerves. While on court he could stave off his nerves by focusing on the ball, as the practice came closer to ending, he found himself panicking a little, wondering if he should just -
‘Kageyama-kun? Are you okay? You look a little tense today.’
It was Yachi, peering up at him. Most others had left, and the rest were walking out, chatting and saying goodbye to both of them, eventually leaving them alone, just like the day a month before.
She looked genuinely concerned, and Kageyama suddenly felt extremely aware of how much shorter she was, and how -
Oh, cute.
‘Yachi-san’, he blurted out, before his courage abandoned him. ‘Happewhitachocoladay!’
Yachi stuttered in confusion.
‘S-sorry, I didn’t understand wh-’
‘Happwhitachocolday!’
‘Er’, Yachi was turning pink, ‘you are talking too fa-’
‘I LIKE YOU!’
Yachi froze, before letting out a whimper.
‘TOO!’
‘Ka-Kage-’
‘HERE!’
He whipped the chocolate out of his pocket and into her trembling hands, finishing it with a deep bow.
Then he waited.
‘Kageyama-kun’, Yachi said in a small voice.
Tobio straightened up, heart sinking.
Yachi was looking at her feet, face as red as Nekoma’s uniform.
‘Can you- can you lean down a little bit?’ she asked in a shaky voice.
Lean down? That wasn’t the reaction he had expected. Was - was she going to slap him?
He obliged, resigning himself to his fate.
But all he felt was a small puff of breath on his cheek. A peck.
Kageyama’s eyes widened.
‘Is-is that okay?’ Yachi immediately asked in a shrill voice. ‘I’m sorry if it wasn’t, I just-’
Kageyama leaned forward, bumping his nose against her forehead.
They stood like that for a moment.
‘Er’, Kageyama said, face flaming, ‘that was supposed to be a -’
‘Do you want to kiss?’
He had seen Yachi look nervous before, and she looked nervous now, but - there was a smile on her lips that hinted at something else, as well as the hint of excitement in her voice that reminded Tobio of the feelings he had never paid much attention to so far, except when Miwa had instigated him, and now when -
‘Yes’, he replied breathlessly, ‘please.’
Yachi stood up on her tiptoes, and Kageyama bowed down to meet her halfway. Their lips met, hesitantly at first, then curiously, a slight push and pull, and then desire won over nerves, making them impatient - Yachi running her fingers through Kageyama’s hair (finally!), and Kageyama’s unsure hands eventually settling on her hips, keeping her close.
It didn’t matter, Yachi had convinced herself before, because they had such little time left. But as Kageyama kissed her again, making the butterflies in her stomach flutter in excitement, she realized she had been wrong.
It did matter. Even though they had such little time left.
POST-CREDITS -
The door to the gym opened. Yachi and Kageyama jumped apart, looking around in panic.
It was Tsukishima.
For once, he looked truly lost for words.
‘Kei, I told you not to - oh.’
Hinata paused at the door, mouth open, gaping at the two like a goldfish.
It was Kageyama who recovered first.
‘Kei?’
Tsukishima immediately turned around on his heels.
And thus, all cats were finally out of the bag.