Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Oi, guys, you gotta stay for just a sec!” Tanaka called over after they’d finished the final stretching in the end of the practice and were about to go to the locker room. Kageyama yawned, earning a couple of glances and slowly coming over. Well, it wasn’t his fault, darn it — Hinata had to leave early today because of his sister and, as much as Kageyama was trying to deny, without him it was a bit... dull. Not as exciting as usual. They trained well, of course, but it still felt like something was missing.

Someone. Someone dumb enough to volunteer to pick his sister up from the dentist, without realizing that it was at the same time with their practice. Seriously, what kind of a moron one had to be to mess up like that? Kageyama’d never understand that.

Karasuno gathered around, including the managers, expectantly looking at Daichi, who had Sugawara and Asahi standing beside him, obviously attracting all the attention — the former third-years, now already the students of different universities, still tried to come by for some practice once in a while, taking interest in how was the team doing, which was a very good thing. Daichi often had some conversations with their present captain, Ennoshita, probably giving him advices or something, but if you ask Kageyama, he was a great Captain already.

Everyone kept glancing at Noya, who seemed to be trying to not bounce for some reason. Has Kageyama missed something exciting? Although, with Nishinoya, or Tanaka for that matter, it wasn’t necessarily the case — it took little for him to get excited, too little to Kageyama's understanding. 

Ennoshita came up to their former senpais and everyone shut up.

“Alright, so what we need to discuss is—” he started, only to be interrupted by the third-years.

“Hinata's birthday is in two days!” they yelled, Nishinoya managing to bounce up from Tanaka’s shoulders after all, earning an irritated and meaningful glare from the Captain which instantly made him seemingly shrink and hide behind his taller friend, smiling in a relieved “wow-that-was-a-close-one” way. Daichi gave Ennoshita a proud gaze, grinning widely.

“Yes, that’s true,” he confirmed softly, and a wave of different noises, from whispers to loud surprised gasps, flowed through the team. Everyone seemed to catch that spark of excitement, beginning to talk and discuss the news all at once — expect for Tsukishima (who didn’t move a muscle, most likely because he didn’t care), and Kageyama.

Kageyama, who was just standing there, feeling as if Oikawa has served right in his head about twenty times in row.

Hinata’s birthday. Those words felt foreign even in his mind. Holy crap, it was Hinata’s birthday coming. He couldn’t quite understand why it startled him so much, but for some reason it did seem unreal — like those aliens Oikawa used to rant about on some practices. But now it was there, in front of him, staring him right at the face — and he had, like, zero idea of what to do about it.

“We’re being quite late already…” Suga noticed with an apologetic smile.

“Like usual,” Kinoshita nodded with a bittersweet expression. That was true — for some reason, Karasuno always started preparing for celebrations two-three days in advance at best, even when it required quite some effort or time.

“…but, of course, we still need to come up with something.”

“It’s a shame all our first-years are on the field trip!” Nishinoya wailed, Tanaka joining him.

“Yeah, it’d be so much more fun with ‘em!” Ennoshita stared at the duo, his look obviously wondering about the so much more fun part. Their new first-years were actually… unique. And two of them, being half of the newbies and also twin brothers, were getting along with the third-years like a house on fire. If anything, Ennoshita was probably feeling relieved that at least he wouldn’t have to deal with the whole bunch of them.

“We could arrange a small celebration here or in the club’s room?” he suggested. Nishinoya and Tanaka nodded eagerly.

“Damn right, Chikara! Shouyou’d love to spend his most important day in the gym!”

“The way you put it sounded sarcastically,” Narita noted. 

“No, he's right,” said Yamaguchi. “Hinata loves volleyball more than anything? I'm sure he’d be delighted to celebrate here with us,” Tsukishima stared at him, as if not being able to imagine why would Yamaguchi even talk about such trivial things, per say, his teammate’s birthday.

“Bringing here food would be a bit... risky, though,” Asahi commented, casually eyeing their hyped third-years. Suga exchanged meaningful glances with Daichi and Ennoshita, obviously having a silent conversation.

“We could congratulate him in the gym first...” Sugawara began.

“...and then go to the club’s room to eat a cake or something,” Daichi continued.

“As long as you don’t destroy the place,” Ennoshita added, eyeing Nishinoya and Tanaka strictly.

The faces of the third-years weren’t reassuring in the slightest.

“What about the food?” Kinoshita asked. 

“We’ll take care of it,” Kiyoko intercepted, sounding quite confident and reliable as usual, with Yachi nodding along enthusiastically.

“O-of course! I can even help bake the cake!” she announced just a bit louder than required, and then hurriedly added: “If you want me to, certainly!”

“I'd be glad to have you helping me,” Asahi smiled, relaxing her a little. It was probably kind of a given that Asahi would be responsible for the cake — he always was when it came to celebrating something with the team. But recently Yachi was helping him, too, and they seemed to get along pretty well. “And Suga, too.”

“We'll leave the cake to you!” Tanaka yelped in a tone of voice, which implied some sacred mission being given to someone. 

“Still baking freestyle, aren't ya, Asahi-san!” Nishinoya bumped him in the shoulder, making Asahi wince just a bit and smile wider. As long as their libero wasn’t in the mile’s radius when their Ace was making the cake, he could probably live with that.

“I'll give you a hand, Asahi!” Sugawara confirmed. “But we still need to decide one more thing: what do we do with the present?”

Silence fell when the question was asked. 

“Maybe you have some ideas, Kageyama?” Ennoshita wondered and everyone else turned their heads to him.

To be completely honest, Kageyama still felt really... off. They were talking and discussing things quickly, while his poor brain was still stuck at the “Hinata’s birthday is in two days” part. Perhaps, if brain were a muscle, it’d be working more sufficiently. 

Kageyama finally realized that he was asked a question, and he looked around, trying to find something to say. 

Why was he freaking out so much because of a simple birthday in the first place? It seemed to have shocked him to the core, and while he, of course, knew that Hinata had a birthday, just like any other human being, he probably just didn’t quite expect having to face it one day. How naïve of him, really.

“Kageyama?”

He only had two days, and he didn’t even know what to give him at all.

“Yeah?” he heard Tsukishima’s snicker, but surprisingly, that wasn’t really bothering him at the moment as it should’ve been.  

“What do you think Hinata would like?” Yachi asked, moving a bit closer to him from behind Kiyoko.

“The two of you spend the most time together,” Sugawara said with a weird, sweet voice. “Maybe you could help us out?”

Oh, did they?

Then why did Kageyama only get to know about his birthday now, not even from Hinata himself?

Although, now that he gave it some thought...

“Are we there yet?” Hinata asked in a muffled voice. Their classes might’ve been cancelled, but not the practice. Gods forbid.

“What, forgot where the gym is already?” Kageyama snapped in return.

“Shut up, I wasn’t talking to you!” Hinata spat out, sneezing loudly and making a couple of crows fly off the nearby trees. “ ‘s f-freezing today!”

“No, it’s not.”

“I knew you weren't human,” Hinata mumbled, earning a slight punch in the shoulder but being too busy to dodge, attempting to warm his hands up. “I’ll have to leave a bit earlier today, by the way.”

Kageyama tensed up just a little bit.

“How come?”

“It’s Natsu’s birthday, I gotta help her out,” he answered, seemingly resigned to his fate. “B-but I'll make up for everything I miss, I promise!” he sounded even scared a bit.

“And when’s yours?” Kageyama’s brain almost came to a halt after he registered what he’d just asked. Why a little unnoticed twitch, he made his legs keep moving. Why the hell would he even ask something like this?! That idiot looked at him curiously, as if Kageyama was offering him a new, but very suspicious, untested set up. 

“Why do you care?” he asked in return.

“I don’t,” Kageyama said sharply, annoyed with his sudden interest in Hinata’s life. “Forget it.”

Well, okay, that might’ve sounded a bit rougher than he wanted, but Hinata left him no choice. 

Nevertheless, after struggling through uncomfortable silence for a while, Hinata broke it.

“The 21^st of June,” he muttered, hiding his nose in a collar of his jacket, which was definitely too short for that. Kageyama hummed something under his breath, not finding a reply. When he saw the gym around the corner, he couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

“There we are!” Hinata’s eyes seemed to light up as he lunched forward, forgetting about the cold completely. Kageyama grimaced in an exasperated way, clutched his bag and raced after him.

“That wasn’t fair, you idiot!”

So, yeah. Hinata mentioned that ages ago, but he still did. Kageyama should’ve probably memorized that, since Hinata was his...

Uh. Whatever.

Meanwhile, the others were still waiting for him to say something, and even though those memories flashed up in his head for mere moments, it was probably getting ridiculously long by now.

“U-uhm, I... I don’t quite know..?” Kageyama staggered, feeling some weird stiffness taking over his body. Something wasn’t right, it didn’t feel right. He should’ve known what to give Hinata for his birthday, but... his mind was just blank, right when he actually needed it.

“Oh, what a shame,” Tsukishima smirked. “The king was too busy to learn anything about his favorite peasant’s life.”

“He’s not—” how did Tsukishima call him even?!

“Hush, both of you,” said Daichi. “Well, we can think about it together now, can’t we?” There was silence in the gym for a while, but then everyone started offering ideas, one by one, developing an approximate description of what they’re looking for.

“Should be someone all of us can participate in making or doing,” Kinoshita suggested.

“Something from the whole team,” Narita nodded.

“Has to be something Hinata’ll like, obviously,” Asahi added.

“But it gotta come in handy, too,” Nishinoya continued.

“Something to show him how much we love him,” Yachi smiled. 

“Cool and awesome!” Tanaka yelped. 

“But not too complicated,” Kiyoko noticed. 

“So that we could do or make it quickly,” Yamaguchi agreed. 

“Something meaningful and heartwarming,” Sugawara sighed.

“And it shouldn't take long,” Ennoshita concluded, followed by silence with disturbing lack of ideas.

Something snapped in Kageyama’s brain at those words, though. Something was triggering him, something he saw at home…

Shouldn’t take long. 

Oh. Kageyama felt his eyes widening and his cheekbones definitely getting warmer. Oh damn.

“Kageyama, is something wrong?” Sugawara asked him, and Kageyama tried his best to mask with embarrassment with a confident look. Oh god...

“N-no, it’s just... I have... an idea? I think?” some raised eyebrows, some turned to him, eager to hear it. Kageyama tried to swallow a lump in his throat. Damn, he shouldn’t have mentioned it. The idea was... uh, he couldn’t even say that out loud for shit. Tsukishima would never let it go. He just accidentally thought about it, because, well... for reasons. And now everyone was looking at him, silently urging to tell what had he come up with. 

He was so going to regret this, but there was no escape. Even though the idea wasn’t exactly that creative or special, Kageyama doubted he could figure out something better in a short span of time, so he had to make it such. Seeing his teammates’ determined faces boosted his confidence a bit more and, clenching his firsts slightly, Kageyama started talking.

* * * 

Kageyama didn’t even quite remember coming home. Seemed like he was just set on an autopilot, maneuvering through the streets in a strange silence, which he could only usually grasp at home, late in the evening, when nobody was around. And even though it was quiet around him, his head seemed to have turned in a busy hive full of anxious thoughts swimming in his skull, hitting it and making him feel a bit nauseous. He didn’t really fancy taking to his mother, too, at the moment — he told her something in a tired voice, which made her gaze sharpen with concern and ask whether he was alright, but Kageyama just nodded and hummed something, going upstairs to his room and dropping the bag on the floor.

He sighed, relaxing his senses that were on alarm, preventing him from slamming into various objects on his way home. It was even quieter around him now.

Reluctantly regretting all his life choices, Kageyama plopped down on his bed, falling back and staring at the ceiling. His arm reached for the closest volleyball on its own record, and Kageyama could tell which ball was that without even looking, mere moments before his fingertips rip touched smooth leather.

He stretched his arms, slowly turning the ball and looking at the all too familiar black carvings, which were already imprinted into his memory every since his last birthday. His last... incredible, he found himself staring at the word on the top of the ball, where all the lines came together. His last incredible birthday.

Kageyama felt so conflicted that he just couldn’t quite grasp the situation. He didn’t even know why he never felt this way with any of the people he’d interacted with. The importance of the event dawned on him like pouring rain — slowly at first, but with full force a few seconds later, leaving his soaking wet with no umbrella. 

As weird for him as it was, because he’d never experienced anything like this, Kageyama knew that he should arrange a good birthday for Hinata, or at least help with this. He remembered all too well how damn emotional he got back in the end of December, how grateful — and also how that idiot managed to fall sick because of him. It was so overwhelming and unusual, but Kageyama did want him to spend this celebration if not as food as he himself did, because Kageyama would probably never be able to make anyone feel as happy as Hinata made him at the time, but still with that sparkling smile of his. 

Kageyama wasn’t a complete moron, and he wanted to thank him for what he did on his birthday (even though he wasn’t actually sure he could ever thank someone for something like that). He wanted to pay him back, and he... didn’t want to seem selfish. He’d been there, he’d done that, he didn’t like it. Kageyama didn’t want people to think that he stayed the same as he was in junior high — because he most definitely didn't. 

The only problem was that he had absolutely no experience in that area, didn’t know any protocols or must/must-not do things, and also had no idea what to give Hinata as a present. 

Now that he thought about it, despite the fact that most members of the team liked his idea and supported it, especially Suga, who even made sure Tsukishima would participate in that, too, much to his disgust, it appeared that he made a poor choice, and now he wasn’t sure whether it was worth it. That present wasn’t even connected to volleyball all that much, the thing Hinata liked more than anything. Kageyama just offered the first suggestion he thought of, even though he was still wondering why the hell would something like that be in his mind even... presumably, he had to thank his mother for that, making presents for her friends. It probably wasn’t even appropriate to give a thing like that to a teammate? He had another idea as well, a much cooler one in his opinion, which he voiced out just for the sake of it, but it was most likely simply impossible, to which his team had to agree. So he only had that first thing that came to his mind.

What if... what if Hinata won’t like it at all? 

Kageyama failed to suppress an annoyed growl as he turned on his side, pressing the ball to his chest. It was a bit cool in the room, air smelling of some blossoming flowers outside, but the ball always appeared to be warmer for him than it actually was, for some reason. Damn, why did this have to be such a pain? How could Hinata come up with a present that cool? He did have a prototype, but still. How was Kageyama, who sucked at anything that had to do with social interactions, supposed to think of something at least relatively that good for him? He really wanted to, he did, but... he was just probably not made for this. And the last thing he wanted was... to disappoint Hinata on his birthday. 

Nevertheless, he still had to at least try and do his best. Simply giving up wasn’t like him at all.

Additionally, apart from the team’s present, Kageyama kind of wanted to give him something from himself. Maybe not that significant but... Kageyama pressed his fingertips against the ball. It was so strange and unfamiliar — feeling such an unexplainable urge to just... make a person smile, make him a bit happier. But it was also really, really nice and made him feel warmer in his chest. 

He was restless for a long while, shifting the ball in his hands and thinking about potential presents, about what would Hinata like to get. He wondered if these thoughts were actually routine for someone more sociable that him (and that was almost anyone). Kageyama remembered things, many of those small, tiny things, usually connected with Hinata, which made him feel a bit warmer, or even twisted his mouth in a weak attempt of a smile (which resulted in everyone around him thinking that he was planning a bloody murder for some reason). Most of those had something to do with volleyball — usually them managing to pull off a cool spike or something, Hinata doing a seemingly difficult trick. Or how he sometimes tried calming Kageyama down when he didn’t feel right and that influenced their practice. He remembered that one time when he almost got in a fight, arguing with an upperclassman about what was cooler — volleyball or basketball (the answer was just right there, but he didn’t seem to want to admit it). The teachers prevented the fight, but before they interfered Hinata had actually joined and supported him. Naturally, Hinata defended and praised volleyball whenever he could, but that basketball player was taller than Tsukishima and bigger than Asahi — Kageyama knew how much was Hinata scared of such guys, but he still joined him and, apparently, was even ready to fight at some point. Maybe he simply felt safe doing that because he wasn’t alone, but something was persistently telling Kageyama that it wasn’t just that. Or maybe it was just him, hoping.

His gaze involuntarily drifted back, his head turning, where there stood a frame with his birthday photo. Obviously, Karasuno were a complete total mess, but the picture characterized the team really well, and no matter how much would Kageyama deny that, it was his favorite. He himself was smiling so wide, happily and kind of giddily, that he barely recognized himself when he first saw it.

And he could see his goal now. He might’ve not known how to achieve it right now, but at least he realized what he wanted to get in the end, what he wanted to see — Kageyama wanted Hinata to be just as overwhelmed, just as surprised and just as happy as Kageyama was when this picture was taken. 

* * *

It was really difficult to keep all the noise down, since Natsu and their mom were already asleep — Hinata was so, so excited that he could barely handle it. Like, he just wanted to lunge up and jump on his bed, which was a bad idea — he didn’t want to wake anyone. So he was just lying there, all anxious and fired up, even though it was far past his usual bedtime.

His birthday was so close, so incredibly close! It was even hard to believe it! Who thought it would actually come so fast? It seemed like he only gave Kageyama his present yesterday on...

Hinata’s lips formed a soft smile as he turned on his side, gazing at the moon outside. It was almost full and really bright today, not making it any easier for him to fall asleep. It was pleasantly cool and refreshing in the room, which happened to be thought provoking.

Kageyama’s birthday... his heart seemed to swell as he was recalling everything that happened back then. Jeez, Kageyama’s sickness wasn't really one of the memories he was fond of, but everything turned out well, right?! He got sick later too, but that didn’t even matter back then anymore. 

Hinata made his friend happy — what else he could possibly ask for?

He couldn’t help but wonder about his own celebration too, though. Like, he knew Kageyama had troubles with stuff like that, so... he probably wouldn’t really be mad if he doesn’t get him a present? Presents weren’t the end of the world after all. Hinata clutched the blankets, pulling them up. He just hoped Kageyama wouldn’t forget to congratulate him...

Although, something was telling him that he should probably expect something from the team, which was awesome! They always celebrated each other’s birthday, and Hinata couldn’t wait to see what had Karasuno prepared for him! Even if something small — it didn’t matter! He just wanted to spend some time and have lost of fun with best friends!

And knowing their senpais, they’d probably make sure that Kageyama is aware of his birthday as well. Would he go that far and trouble himself with an actual present? Hinata bent his knees, bringing them closer to his chest. Gee, he probably wouldn’t. But Hinata really didn’t mind that, though. Once again, he knew Kageyama was bad with people and expressing his emotions... besides, he has probably seen everything he needed back when Karasuno barged in to celebrate his birthday together after that rainy day.

Hinata huffed quietly. Man, that was such an unbelievable day...

He wondered whether his birthday was to bring him some surprises, too.

To be honest, it felt a lot like he used to be even more excited for Kageyama’s birthday than he was for his own now, which was probably really weird, but... He had things to wait for. And he was pretty sure that was really worth waiting for.

When the moon hid behind a silver cloud, Hinata finally fell asleep, still smiling as if he was thinking about the best birthday present in the whole world.

* * *

Next morning Kageyama felt a lot better, but somehow still nervous like hell. Brushing his teeth, he managed to almost drop his toothbrush in a toilet and down in the kitchen was close to putting his cereal into the bottle of milk instead of the other way round. Fortunately, his mother noticed that and grabbed his arm in time. Kageyama froze for a moment, beyond embarrassed by such a ridiculous almost-incident, and then carefully pulled his arm out of his mother’s grip. 

“What is all this about?” she demanded, and he didn’t even need to look at her to feel her penetrating gaze. Oh god, he was in trouble. It was quite stupid of him to let his guards down, because well, his mother always knew when something was going on, it was close to impossible to keep certain things from her sight already… He knew she was trying her best to be a good mother, but sometimes he’d rather simply not worry her with trivial nonsense that happened to be his problem only. 

“It’s nothing,” he said, already aware of how his voice was failing him. Damn. Even though he slept long enough, it wasn’t really a decent sleep, he had some pretty weird dreams and was still really preoccupied with a certain day knocking at his doorstep. Why couldn’t he just pull his shit together and deal with it?

“Yeah, I can see that quite clear, judging by your ever outstanding cookery skills,” she parried, already off to put his breakfast on the table. Kageyama smelled the delicious food and could already tell that it was pork curry — oh, did his mother know how to make him feel better and distract from bothersome pondering. Kageyama turned around, trying to make his face look as neutral as possible in this awkward, even tense atmosphere, but food was actually a great help as he sat down and started eating. Tasty just as usual, maybe just a little bit too hot still, but he didn’t really care, feeling his stomach demanding more. 

His mother was still watching him, though.

Kageyama pretended to be very busy looking at the various forms made of rice, mixing it and absent-mindedly drawing some lines and circles there, silently praying for the morning to not get even weirder and pass quickly.

“Why are you drawing a volleyball in your breakfast.”

Kageyama jerked at the sound of her voice, sharp, but still with that… light and smirking tone, as if he was doing something suspicious but ridiculous. He made himself focus on the lines he was making and realized that it actually resembled a volleyball in a way… that didn’t seem big of a deal for him, though. If anything could make his breakfast better, it was a volleyball.

(Actually, a few months ago Kageyama once tried to bring a volleyball to breakfast with him, but his family forbade that, even though he only wanted to put it on his knees.)

He didn’t know what to answer to that, so he decided to kind of change the topic.

“The morning practice was cancelled today,” Kageyama informed her, because that was the first thing that came to his mind. With his peripheral vision he saw his mother eyeing him warily, as if deciding whether to give him the benefit of keeping quiet and ignoring her questions, and apparently, what he told her was enough for that.

“How come?” she asked, sounding genuinely surprised. It suddenly hit Kageyama that the reason the morning practice was cancelled was actually also due to that very reason he was freaking out about, so he basically brought himself to a dead-end. What impressive improvisation skills. He nervously poked his curry with his chopsticks, stabbing the pork excessively strongly. “I’d expect you to be more disappointed than… stressed out,” she continued, not getting a reply and obviously trying to make him talk. “Although, actually, you’d usually be outside already, busy with making ball-prints on our walls, or at Hina—” he didn’t know what exactly gave him away, but it was probably the fact that he dropped the piece of pork he was holding, his mouth left open for a couple of seconds nevertheless, and that his cheeks suddenly felt warmer along with his fingertips, reacting to his heart rate rising slightly. It was so, so weird that Kageyama honestly just wanted to vanish in air and disappear for a while, but the way his mother’s stance suddenly gained confidence and determination told him clearly that even if he did manage to evaporate, his mother would somehow make him condensate back into existence for mere purpose of interrogating him on the subject of what the hell was going on. 

And he was so, so screwed now. 

She sat in front of him, on the opposite side of the table, and stared at him, making Kageyama lower his head even more to hide his embarrassment. But of course she didn’t wait for long.

“Son, I’m waiting,” she pronounced slowly, even a bit reassuringly, but obviously implying that there was no chance to escape this now. Kageyama made himself swallow that poor piece of pork he’d dropped earlier, which turned out surprisingly difficult, because his throat seemed to contract. He wasn’t sure what to expect out of this conversation and whether he was even able to make himself talk about it in the first place, but when he finally looked up and met her eyes, he was her sincere wish to help and nothing more. Well… maybe a bit of curiosity, too. But he decided that it couldn’t get any worse if he told her anyway, so, swallowing a lump in his throat, he said the thing.

“H-Hinata’s birthday is tomorrow.”

He might’ve expected many things, but not the blank stare his mother instantly gave him.

She blinked a couple of times, not moving a muscle, and Kageyama tensed up even more. What did that mean? What was her reaction about? Did she figure out that he had nothing to give Hinata and was shocked or mad at him? Was she just surprised like him? What in the world did that mean?

They sat like that for a few seconds, but then his mother sighed, smiling softly and closing her eyes, and shrugged slightly. 

“Oh my god, Tobio, you…” Kageyama stared at her, anticipating some scolding for being so careless about something that important, but that wasn’t what he heard after all. “I thought something serious happened between you two, dear lord…” she laughed casually a little, while Kageyama was still all stiff and desperately trying to figure out how to react at what and what was generally going on here. “Thought maybe you had a fight or something, you scared me even!” She thought they… had… a fight? Why would she suspect that in the first place..? “You acted all frustrated and stressed out, apathetic, I even wanted to call Daichi and ask him on my own!” Okay, that was surely like her, but… he was sort of conflicted with the fact that him acting frustrated and stressed out associated with him having a fight with his teammate. He used to get in lots of fights back in Kitagawa Daichi, even though his mother didn’t know about many of them, but still, as far as he remembered, he wasn’t described like that after those conflicts. So why now?

His mother straightened up, leaning back on the chair, and gave him her gaze — sharp, confident and determined, as if she had every second of a certain event planned out by her herself and she was ready to hold it perfectly well. The thing was, it actually proved to be a bit… contagious even, to some point. It tended to boost his confidence as well, gave him some reassurance. 

“But I knew about it,” she told him, making his eyes widen a bit. What, now?!

“What do you mean?” Kageyama asked, confused. “How did you—”

“As any caring mother, I knew this day would come from the moment I saw the two of you together,” she stated solemnly, clearly suppressing a grin. Kageyama’s fingertips dug in the table. Oh god.“So, I have my ways, Tobio,” she smiled at him, all innocent, making cold shivers run down his spine — he was all too familiar with that smile, the “I-can-find-out-anything-I-want-even-if-you-can’t” smile, serving as a sign of her power. Oh god. “Well, I didn’t pick up the connection straightaway for some reason, but at least it makes sense now, why you seemed so worried and troubled,” she said, sounding all sweet and strangely reminding him of Sugawara a little. 

“I wasn’t—” his defense mechanism kicked in on its own record, but as soon as the first words spilled from his mouth, he realized that he basically had nothing to oppose her with. He did act weird, after all. He just hoped it didn’t look that bad and that it didn’t seem like he was actually worried about choosing a present for Hinata, because pfff. Who would be worried about things like that, huh. Certainly not him, no. 

Of course not.

He was just… taking part in making the team’s present… and he wanted to do that well… and stuff…

(Nevertheless, some quiet teasing voice, reminding him Oikawa’s, was whispering him that he failed miserably at trying to avoid making such impression, which made him even more annoyed.)

His mother smiled knowingly, probably aware of what exactly was going on in that messed up head of his. Sometimes he hated her ability to do that. 

“Tobio, you can try to deceive yourself, but don’t play this game with me,” she smiled at him, as if mocking him in this kind, motherly sort of way. He felt his cheeks heating up even more. Goddamn. Then her face turned a tad more serious. “It is a reason to be worried, though…” she glanced at the stairs, as if involuntarily recalling what happened six months ago on Kageyama’s last birthday. “I think I know what you’re feeling right now, because, to be honest, I can relate to that,” she grinned. “You want to get him a good present and thank him for what he’s done for you, don’t you?” she looked right at his eyes, making it impossible for him to avert his gaze.

Did she just have to ask it so straight?

Kageyama’s mind was shaped in one big word: DENIAL. Even though he knew that the answer to her question was positive, of course (even the presence of of course in that thought made his head spin), he still couldn’t quite admit it to anyone, barely to himself. It seemed so unreal to actually have a person like that in his life that it seemed like if he believed that, if he actually accepted it, something would change drastically and it would all disappear. 

And he really, really didn’t want it to.

“Okay, Tobio,” his mother said slowly and softly, as if talking to a frightened animal or something. “I get it, you don’t need to answer, just don’t hyperventilate, I still need you to stay in the family.” He wasn’t going to hyperventilate, he just..! Whatever.

“I guess asking whether you’ve come up with something to give him would be stupid, wouldn’t it?” Kageyama didn’t reply, staring into his bowl again. Naturally, that was pretty much obvious. “Now, that’s actually quite an issue…” she sighed, raising her voice a little. Yeah, he figured that out on his own already. Then she suddenly looked at him again, narrowing her eyes. “Tobio, are you going to say anything or will you just nod and gesture, expecting people to read your mind, right until tomorrow? Even when you’ll go shopping?”

“Of course I—” he faltered, finally registering all her words. “Wait, shopping?”

“For the present, of course,” his mother nodded, sounding like she was explaining something obvious. And it most likely was, but still… shopping? He never did it, especially not alone — only when he had to buy some clothes or something for volleyball, but that never took him long, while here shopping implied wandering from one shop to another with no idea of what to buy, just hoping that he’ll find something. “Do you have any general ideas?” she questioned him, perhaps, trying to prompt him and help him think of something.

“Well…” that didn’t really work to be honest. “Something connected with volleyball?” he suggested, talking quieter than he intended to. His mother stared at him in an “are-you-being-serious” way, which didn’t make sense to him. What exactly was wrong with making a present have something in common with volleyball, Hinata loved volleyball! She must’ve noticed his confused gaze after all.

“Y-you’re right,” she confirmed, “it’s just that it’s already obvious? Like,” she shifted and started using her hands to gesture as she spoke, “of course, Hinata-kun loves volleyball, that’s great, but your present doesn’t have to be all about it, see? You should also consider what you,” she put her index finger to his chest, “want to give him yourself.” 

Kageyama nodded, attempting to not let his face give away just how confused he felt. He kind of understood what his mother was talking about, but volleyball was his only clue... and he sucked at this. He’d never be able to get something decent, he just didn’t know, he couldn’t read people when they weren’t standing on the court. 

“Tobio,” his mother said in a calming way, gently lifting his chin up a bit with her fingertips and making him look her in the eyes, “just don't let it get to you, okay? I know how important it is for you, and how afraid are you of failing here, but still, trust me,” she smiled with that radiating, shining smile of hers which almost made him forget just how strict and even scary she could look when she wanted, “Hinata-kun will like anything you get him. And no, I’m not trying to just reassure you, it’s...” she chuckled softly. “Mother’s intuition. And mother knows best!” she ruffled his hair, making him tense up a little, but, to his own surprise, he did feel... better, much better. Less nervous and worried. It’s like some weird, unfamiliar confidence was flowing through his veins, making him relax and gain at least some reassurance, saying that he probably wouldn’t screw up that much. Probably. It was still better than certain failure. 

His mother stood up, walking up to her purse, which rested on a coffee table, and fished out her wallet. Oh, that wasn’t necessary now, was it?

“But I still have my own—”

“Take that,” his mother interrupted, putting the money on the table. “And choose whatever you like. I’d recommend you that shopping center by the river — we used to go to the cinema there once in a while, remember?” Kageyama nodded. He usually didn’t quite like going to the cinema, but spending time with family wouldn’t hurt. “There’re many gift shops and lots of others, including sport ones. I think it’s your best shot.” She put some plates in the dishwasher, running her fingers through her hair and making some final adjustments. Kageyama was already distracted, thinking where he should go first, when she asked him something again:

“What about the team, by the way?” she paused, using just a bit of perfume. “I mean, do you have a team present or something?”

Unbelievably so, Kageyama thought, feeling weird tugging in his stomach.

“Yeah, we do,” his voice sounded higher than he meant to, and his mother turned to him, her arm holding the vial freezing in air. “I-I’ve already done my part.” Hell yes he did.

“Mind telling me about it?” she was obviously really curious, possibly because of his reaction to the question, and gods know did Kageyama not want to tell her about it. But then he did anyway, because, once again, hiding such stuff from her was pointless, and she laughed softly, apparently, being very amused.

“Tobio, who knew you could come up with something like that!” she chuckled, making the embarrassment Kageyama felt so strong that he could almost feel it in the atmosphere around himself, even a volleyball would most likely bounce off it. He didn’t even tell her it was his idea, but of course she figured that out straightaway. “Well, it might not be the best timing, but… you know, I have to agree with Suga here! I think it’s a very thoughtful and… creative!” she said with a hint of mischief in her voice. “A very creative present!”

Yeah, just… hella creative. Kageyama shuddered just thinking about it, he could only pray that Karasuno wouldn’t let Hinata know that it was actually his idea… Although, even if that could work out with Karasuno, while chances of that were already way too small, there was still his mother, who wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see her son turning red from embarrassment for life. 

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you — I’m leaving to Tokyo for two nights now,” Kageyama could only sigh quietly at that. It occurred frequently, but the timing just wasn’t the best right now. “But I already made something for Hinata-kun yesterday, you’ll find it in the oven” she winked at him, rummaging through her purse, probably checking whether everything was in place. Lucky for her, she always had a hotel room reserved and her travelling kit waiting for her, so she didn’t need to drag a suitcase along every time she had a business trip, which was often. She hummed with satisfaction, finding her car keys, and then grabbed her phone from the shelf, already texting someone, most likely from work. Kageyama wondered whether she actually baked something for Hinata, and what was it, but decided to take a look later. His mother’s bakery was really good, actually, and he didn’t need to tempt himself more than he had to.

“T-thank you,” Kageyama found himself stuttering, his ears pinking a little. He turned his head slightly, looking at the window and bright green branches outside, swaying from the wind a little, but he still glanced at his mother, noticing how seemingly… fond she looked, eyeing him and smiling gently. It made his heart do a little summersault. 

“You’re welcome,” she answered, still with that loving smile of hers. “If you need anything — just call me, okay? And don’t come home too late! It’s a good thing you don’t have school today.” She puffed a wayward string of her from her forehead and came over, ruffling his hair once again. “Don’t worry, you’ll know what to get him once you see it,” she assured him, kissed Kageyama in the top of his head and headed to the doors after giving him one last smile. “Just make sure that your present has the same meaning for both of you so that there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding, sweetie!” she walked out and closed the door, her car beeping as it was unlocked. 

Wait… what sort of misunderstanding she was talking about? Could a present actually cause any..? What did that even mean?!

Kageyama sighed, being unable to figure out his mother’s last words before leaving, quickly finished his pork curry and came to collect the money she left for him. Wow, that was… quite a lot, at least certainly for him. It was really kind of her to just give him such an amount. He stuffed it in his pocket, basically ready to go. Kageyama scanned the kitchen and the living room quickly, making sure that he didn’t forget to turn something off or clean up, and went up to the door, snatching the keys from the hook. Just before clicking the latch, he accidentally caught a glance of himself in the mirror and the way his eyes shifted to have a better look made him stop and go back to actually do that. 

His hair was a complete and total mess, sticking in different directions as if he was wiping his head with a pillow. It actually resembled his bedhead a little, but was even worse, and generally reminded him of… Hinata’s hair. Just a bit. 

Once that thought hit him, his eye twitched and his shoulders seemed to rise up in tension, while one of the locks gradually slipped down from its position. He was surprised his cheeks were still intact, because it was like only the morning, but it already felt as if he got sunburn. 

He was so not going to go outside looking like that.

Running his hand through his hair and searching for a hairbrush, Kageyama realized that he had his mother to thank for that, who ruffled it twice this morning. He could almost see her smug and all amused face, seeing him like that. His father would probably frown seeing that, though, but while he was in the work trip, his mother was enjoying herself even more than usual. Nevertheless, sometimes he could expect something like that even from the father, when he was in the right mood. 

He was finally done after a couple of minutes, bringing the hairbrush back in place, going outside and locking the door. It was quite warm today, hot even — he was lucky to wear just a dark-blue T-shirt and black shorts. Wincing from the sun, he chose the shortest route to the shopping center, coming closer to the river — it was quite small, running through the edge of the city, but it could still provide him some small refreshing breeze and shadows of the trees around it. 

It’s a pity he couldn’t see that one particularly stubborn strand of hair, which rose up a bit, spoiling everything, like a sunflower sensing the sun. But even if he did, he probably wouldn’t pay much attention to it, being already engrossed in his thoughts on the most important matter of the day: what to buy for Hinata’s birthday. 

* * *

It. Was. So. Hot. 

Tooru swallowed the last bit of his ice cream, or rather his second ice cream, wincing from the bright sunlight and desperately trying to hide in the shadows of the buildings. How could he have possibly considered it was a good idea to actually walk here on such a hot day? It wasn’t really that far, but sunrays were exclusively merciless today. Even though he wore his white T-shirt and light-blue shorts, it wasn’t helping him as much as he’d like it to. It was pleasantly cool in his mouth and throat, but that wouldn’t last long, because unfortunately, ice cream could only bring him some short-term relief. What a pity! Strawberry one was actually quite tasty, but he probably couldn’t eat anymore if he didn’t want Iwa-chan to yell at him later. He somehow always found out whenever he did something “wrong” — how was eating ice-cream wrong in the first place?! He trained enough for it to not be called overeating, and there was such heat today that the poor ice creams would probably evaporate from his body before he gets home anyway. 

But now that he’s already sacrificed so much for this, he just had to get the present for Iwa-chan today! He had this idea for quite a while — they had a fight a couple of weeks ago, right after Iwa-chan’s birthday, because Tooru was… “overworking.” Even though he actually wasn’t and everything was under control, but well. Have you ever tried convincing Iwaizumi Hajime of something he thought was wrong? 10/10 wouldn’t recommend. Especially in Tooru’s case, because Iwa-chan always seemed to not exactly trust him when it came to things like that, preferring to check everything on his own. Sometimes it really annoyed Tooru, because he wanted to practice more, but then again, he realized all too well that his friend was doing that for no one else but him. 

So, he kind of wanted to apologize to him by buying something nice. Like, actually nice, not a prank or anything. Iwa-chan was his Ace after all, and it was good to cajole him once in a while! And also show him just how caring he was, buying him birthday presents even when it was way past the celebration.

Oikawa grinned, and the breathed out blissfully as he saw the roofs of the shopping center from behind the closest buildings. 

Finally!

It took him a bit of his willpower and the second water bottle to get to the shopping center called The Flying Fish, which still resulted in him grimacing. Why would anyone even call a shopping center like that?! For some reason, the owners decided to put a big tank full of actual flying fish in the middle of it, and it was kind of a symbol of the store. He only came here because Maki and Mattsun told him it was his best option, because there were lots of gift shops, but that didn’t mean he liked it anyway. But well, not like he had any other choice, especially after plodding here for so long. 

He had to admit that it was actually quite nice in there  — wide alleys, which made it seem bigger on the inside, bright but yet not blinding background, nice friendly environment and wide range of shops wherever he looked. It even gave him some trouble to find his way around, but he could locate the big tank quickly and decided to start from over there. It attracted lots of kids; the tank wasn’t too high, so tall people could actually look at it from above, but had glass walls so that fish wouldn’t jump out of there.

It was actually even... kind of beautiful; the water was sparking and shining in the rays of sunshine, which were falling down through the round glass roof right above it. Fishes were chasing each other, jumping up and soaring over the surface, seemingly flying, their wet wings glistening and sending water drops flying everywhere, creating an enchanting, almost magical impression. Tooru found himself gazing at it, ignoring happy squeals of children and looking at two fishes, who caught his eye quickly, chasing one another, jumping over each other, as if trying to be annoying. One of them was all dark-blue with black wings, while another was lighter and had reddish lines on its fins. He smirked. Looked like they were having some fun there. One thing Tooru was actually jealous about was the fact that they were swimming in pleasantly cold water and didn’t know a thing about what the violent heat was. Lucky scaled jerks. They seemed to have heard his thoughts, racing past him, and he looked over the glass wall right as they splashed him right in the face.

“Hey!” Tooru jerked back, rubbing his nose and eyes and grunting exasperatedly. How dare they! Fortunately, there wasn’t much water, but it still wasn’t an experience any pleasant for him. Looking around with his eyes still narrowed, he tried to find those guys again to at least silently scold them, when his gaze unexpectedly and involuntarily drifted a bit higher, away from the pool to the row of people standing in front of him. Noticing the familiar features, black, silky hair and intense dark-blue eyes, his own widened as the two of them stared at each other, both visibly surprised to no extent and unable to decide what the hell to do now. They were completely caught off guards, and this shock seemed to freeze them on spot; Tooru could feel a sudden wave of cold rushing through his body. Somebody walked in between them, almost making him believe that it was only his imagination, that’s all, but next second he could see those eyes again — that piercing, strong look he couldn’t possibly fail to recognize, and he knew that there was no mistake. And so there they were — staying still and staring at each other. 

Just my luck, isn’t it.

Tooru had a weird mix of feelings fluttering in his chest — he was sort of disgusted to meet his goddamn rival even here. Like, seriously?! He just couldn’t get some rest from him, could he. For some reason (and while he knew exactly what the reason was, because he’d never be able to forget, Tooru still always tried to not think about it much) he could always feel himself tensing up whenever they happened to stumble upon each other, and it was very unsettling, not at all nice. But at the same time, as much as he tried to suppress that weird acknowledgement that was growing inside of him, Tooru realized that he was... interested. He was interested in how Tobio’s life has changed by now, interested in how he was progressing (or hopefully not) in volleyball and learning something new. Interested in how he was getting along with his new team, now that it’s been a bit over a year since he joined Karasuno. Even Tooru himself has already graduated, which still felt quite weird. He didn’t know where was that bloody interest coming from, didn’t know what exactly to do with it or to not do, but, seeing his rival’s scrunched up, frozen face, he breathed out sharply, relaxing a bit and finally making a decision.

Tobio was going to be his official rival yet again in only about two years from now. First of all, it wouldn’t hurt to know how exactly is he developing at the moment and what kinds of new skills is he getting. Secondly, who said that you couldn’t have some fun messing with your adorable kouhai just a little bit? Even Iwa-chan wasn’t anywhere close to be seen, how could he possibly miss that chance!

Tooru took a deep breath, putting on that sweet, if only slightly mocking smile of his, and then waved at Tobio, closing his eyes in a friendly gesture, maneuvering through the crowds and coming over to him, at the same time trying to convince himself that his interest was, for sure, mostly purely professional. When he got a glimpse of Tobio in midst of the people, he looked like a cornered animal, desperately scanning the environment for a chance to escape, but realizing that moving anywhere would mean getting shot on spot. Tooru grinned.

That’s right, Tobio — you might’ve defeated me back in high school once, but we’re only even now. You just wait till you get in a university, I’ll show you just how much I’ve learned in these two years.

“Hi-i there, Tobio-chan! It’s been a while!~” Tooru smiled even wider, wishing to relax him a little bit, too. It was fun watching Tobio struggling with words and being generally uncomfortable, of course, but this way he wasn’t much of a use for him, and it got boring quick enough. I don’t bite, okay?

“H-hello, Oikawa-san,” Tobio managed to say, his shoulders lowering gradually. Well, that was way better. Tooru shifted the bag on his shoulder. “It’s good to see you.” Ha, don’t overdo it, stupid. You’re no actor — that’s only for your senpai to shine at.

“Can say the same about you!” he answered nevertheless, suppressing a weird urge to laugh at this ever-fake exchange of niceties. He turned around, gesturing and telling Tobio to come along. That tank was beginning to… unsettle him for some reason. It was probably just the bright shining.

“So, how’ve you been there, Tobio-chan?” Tooru asked, doing his best to sound as casual and cool as possible. Although, he suspected that he didn’t really need to try that hard in this case — Tobio was one of the densest people he knew. Only Ushijima probably beat him at that. Uh, these two. “Anything new going on?”

Talking to Tobio was often actually a lot like talking to a very humble and closed off kid, and Tooru knew exactly what that meant. With Tobio it was about his desire to choose the words correctly, because he sucked at social interactions, and his caution of saying appropriate things only without expressing too much of his feelings (even though he still frequently failed at that simply due to not having enough social experience). It was always entertaining, to be honest — he could almost hear gears turning in his head strenuously. They had some rocky experience in junior high, which probably taught Tobio just how important talking to his senpai in the correct way was. Tooru hummed with satisfaction. He wanted the kid to rack his brain a little bit.

“Oh, well, there’re many things…” Tobio looked up, choosing from that long list of his. “The third-years graduated,” groundbreaking, Tobio-chan, “and we have four freshmen now.”

“Is Ennoshita the new Captain?” Tooru asked, knowing the answer already. Tobio glanced at him — was he surprised that Tooru called the guy by his actual name? Duh, that was his blunder.

“Yes, he is. A really good one, actually,” well, that guy didn’t have any choice, did he? The baldy and that overly hyped libero were definitely out of options, the other two weren’t the regulars. Tooru hasn’t seen much of his play, but he could tell that he had some certain potential and definitely the leader’s qualities. So, naturally, it wasn’t any surprise for him.

“What about the new first-years? Anyone interesting?” That was actually quite a subject. Seijo had enough newbies every year, some of them fell out during the first few weeks, and so it was close to impossible to distinguish anyone particularly good in the beginning of the academic year (obviously except for Kageyama Genius Tobio, damn it). But Karasuno wasn’t really a school specializing in volleyball, so every first-year was important for them. Additionally, Tooru’d give a lot to see Tobio handling the youngsters. Knowing his kouhai, that was probably worth watching.

Seeing how his lips formed a thin line, face scrunching in a disapproving frown, Tooru realized that he was absolutely right.

“They’re all… interesting,” the way he pronounced it made Tooru chortle. “Two of them played volleyball in junior high a little, they’re sort of mediocri, but they’re both quite tall and I think they’ll make good blockers in the future if they keep practicing, potentially even spikers,” getting to talk about the only topic he never got tired of, Tobio finally loosened up, became kind of engrossed in the conversation. “The other two are twin brothers,” Tooru almost lost it at that line. I bet Daichi’s thanking all the gods for graduating in time. “They’ve been playing volleyball since primary school and are good enough — one of them intends to be a libero, another one — the Ace,” his voice got lower, whether he noticed that or not, and Tooru couldn’t help but glance at him, wondering what was that about.

That was easy to figure out, though — no new setters this year. Thankfully, or maybe not, Tooru never faced such a problem because of the school he used to attend — it taught him all too well that there weren’t any indispensable players. Unique once, perhaps, but not irreplaceable. On one side, it wad good to know that if something had happened to him, the team wouldn’t have been left without a setter completely, especially with such an interesting player with lots of potential like Yahaba, but on the other it was quite… unnerving. Always somebody behind, breathing into the back of your neck. Especially with the likes of Tobio. But still, he understood the way Tobio felt, and quick calculations told him that he was basically close to the only one without a kouhai to teach. Eh, he could live without that, right? He wasn’t sure what kind of a senpai would Tobio make even, or whether he even wanted that in the first place, but he still had two years anyway. But he suspected that it wasn’t even as much about that as it was about the whole team depending on his well-being and skills only, because there was no one to have his back in case of emergency, especially in Karasuno, where players weren’t as flexible and adaptable in terms of technique as in Aobajousai, where almost everyone could play almost any role. Last year he had that Mr. Refreshing, who proved to be a surprisingly effective if not powerful, if not even a unique player in a certain way, but this year there was no one else. So, yeah, he could still feel kind of left out and loaded with responsibility even more so, Tooru guessed, because being the only setter in the team always gave you that.

Jeez, were those his… senpai-hen senses waking up or something?? Unacceptable!

He still had something interesting to figure out, though.

“And what about you and your chibi-chan?” he asked in a sweet, teasing voice, definitely noticing how his kouhai’s cheeks got red, his eyes widening a little and shoulders rising; he was also yanking and creasing the edge of his T-shirt. Oblivious as ever.

“W-well, that…” now we’re getting to the exciting stuff! “It’s the usual, I guess?” what do you mean the usual, it can’t be the usual, not with two idiots like you. “Nothing particularly new. We still play together and all that…” All that? Seriously, Tobio-chan? Seriously?

“Is he still that short?” Tooru asked, mostly just wanting to lure him back into his normal talking mode.

“Of course he is,” he replied. “But he jumps even higher now, though.”

Tooru couldn’t help but glance at his rival, as if expecting him to crack up and admit that he was just joking, even though a) that was definitely not to be expected with Tobio, and b) that made sense, because players developed physically overtime, but still. Damn, that’s… that’s some bad news for him, heh! He could still remember that time he first saw that guy doing his broad cross attack, just how impressed and overwhelmed he felt with his movements and reflexes and agility, and that feeling never quite left him, not when they played against Karasuno, or whenever he happened to come across him. He always looked reckless and kind of dumb, but sometimes he could get that intimidating air around him, probably without even realizing — yet that didn’t make it any less powerful.

“Even higher, huh…” Tooru repeated absent-mindedly, thinking back to the times when he also wanted to jump higher, to serve better, and that almost caused all his efforts to crumble under his senseless attempts to escape the genius chasing him. Even though he knew what it was fraught with, could tell where it was going to get him and what would it result in, he just couldn’t stop. Knowing that there was someone as talented and gifted as Tobio, he simply couldn’t sit down and rest, feeling an irresistible urge to practice, practice even more and more.

He wondered if Hinata, who also sort of sucked at basics back when their teams were playing together, has ever felt the same. He probably has.

It’s a good thing Tooru had Iwaizumi, who managed to beat some sense into that stupid head of his, quite literally.

“I’m sure Hinata’ll become Karasuno’s Ace after all,” Tobio said, his voice sounding… softer than usual? He chuckled. Ah, those young ones. So hopeless, so oblivious.

“What about you, Oikawa-san? What is your new team like?” Tobio questioned, making Tooru raise his eyebrow ironically. It wasn’t like Tobio really cared about stuff like that, was it? It was probably just his professional interest too or something? Or he was simply asking to be polite. Well, at least that question had its place in their conversation either way. Additionally, glancing at his kouhai, Tooru noticed that he was watching him expectantly, as if waiting for an answer. There was something in his eyes… something that actually resembled simple curiosity.

“It’s really strong, strong enough to help me crush my dearest kouhai!” Tooru exclaimed, clenching his fist victoriously and smirking as Tobio twitched because of his little outburst. “I didn’t go there for nothing — there’re quite many players, they’re all skilled enough — we haven’t had any official games yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be the official setter real soon!” he bragged, clenching both fists in front of him now. Tobio never commented that, walking silently, engrossed into his own thoughts. Tooru liked that effect — that’s right, he should be afraid of his team. He didn’t lie or exaggerate in his speech about it, they were quite powerful — and he was really damn sure that with practice and eagerness to win they could crush any opponents together!

(The only thing that did trouble him was how quickly Iwa-chan tended to make friends there, even quicker than him! He knew that his Iwa-chan was really cool, but come on, things had to be more realistic! Additionally, sometimes, especially lately, he got that weirdest expression as if they were conspiring behind his back.)

Tooru suddenly heard some weird yet familiar noises, which turned out to be little children screeching in delight and splashes of water as the fish was jumping up and diving back in. They didn’t even notice it, but they have apparently wandered around the shopping center and came back to the tank, only from the opposite side from where they’d started. He got that engaged into talking to Tobio-chan? Just how ridiculous was that?

“Oh.” Kageyama seemed to realize that as well. How long had they even been ambling like that around here? Hopefully nobody saw them, not the people Tooru knew. But what were they supposed to do now?

Wow, Tooru almost forgot why he’d come here in the first place — the present for Iwa-chan wasn’t going to buy it itself. But now that he thought about it…

Tooru turned to Tobio-chan suddenly, all determined and eager to know:

“What were you even doing here in the first place?!” he demanded, upset of how late it dawned on him. Was Tobio-chan really the type to simply hang out in the shopping center near the fish tank? Right when Tooru had to come here as well? Could it be…

“Were you spying on me?!” he asked, sounding offended and all that. The idea seemed ludicrous even for him, but hey, he wanted to mess with Tobio-chan just a bit. And, not surprisingly, it worked — Kageyama jerked and stiffed, looking at him with wide eyes.

“N-no, of course not!” Of course? You could really use watching some of my plays, dearest kouhai. “I was just…” he suddenly faltered, swallowing and averting his gaze — did he blush even more or was it just the colorful glass overhead?

Something told Tooru that it wasn’t the glass. He smiled evilly knowingly, smirking and standing in front of Tobio, implying that there was no chance to excuse himself now. Gotcha, Tobio-chan! Turns out I haven’t heard everything interesting from you yet!

“Enlighten me, dear Tobio-chan,” his voice was so sickly sweet, it was almost like a demon part of him was talking. Gods knew did he love seeing geniuses embarrassed and actually helpless.

“I-it's nothing, just...” Tooru gave him an unimpressed stare, because was he seriously trying to avoid the unavoidable? If there was one thing he enjoyed about his kouhai, it was teasing him and making him a bit uncomfortable. Just a bit. And he definitely wasn’t going to back away now. 

“Just what?” Tooru almost sing-sang, hurriedly a little; they couldn’t keep standing here for the whole day, could they? 

Tobio lowered his gave, his fingers wriggling nervously as he spoke, not daring to look him in the eyes. 

“H-Hinata’s birthday is tomorrow.” 

There was silence for whole three long seconds.

Oh. O-o-o-h. 

“And so you came here to buy him a present, didn’t you?” Tooru asked, adding his knowing voice to the knowing smile, making it seem as if Tobio-chan has painted his cheeks red. Ha! Everybody had their weaknesses, even prodigies like him — it only took to find just one, but such an important person~

Tooru patted Tobio’s shoulder before even realizing it, jerking back as if he was about to get electrocuted. Jeez, he should be more careful! That was totally uncalled for. Fortunately, Tobio seemed to be so wrapped up in the thoughts concerning the new topic that he barely even noticed that, wavering on spot slightly. Tooru narrowed his eyes, examining his face and stance, and grinned.

You’re screwed up all over, aren’t you, Tobio-chan.

“I have no idea what to buy, though…” he murmured, seemingly more to himself than to Tooru. Well, that was to be expected — has Tobio-chan even bought anyone a birthday present before? Ever? Parents were the best-case scenario, but this matter was of completely different nature. Tooru even felt some weird, twisted sort of pity towards him, because, once again, he witnessed such situations quite often, even in his team and school (watching people never hurt, even if those were just trivial things, because he was getting better in reading the players this way).

Maybe it was his turn to shine?

“You must’ve thought of something, right?” he prompted, earning a confused, if not an apologetic look. Jesus Christ, Tobio, what has that boy done to you?

“Something connected with volleyball?” his kouhai suggested, and Tooru was proud and amused to realize that it was probably the most helpless Tobio he’s ever seen before, because well, the situation at the junior high match was different, and he was at fault just as fine. But here it was, something so ordinary, so common that it was even kind of strange to watch a person radiating confidence and power on the court behaving like a blind kitten. And of course he took the obvious route, which was always volleyball.

Tooru kind of wondered when would Tobio finally realize that life wasn’t just about playing a game, not as much as it was of living it.

Although, despite the fact that he didn’t know much about that chibi-guy, he could already tell that in their case this route was actually the safest and the most reliable one, considering their shared burning passion to volleyball.

…wait.

For just a moment, Tooru wondered what the hell was he doing here. So what, he accidentally bumped in his kouhai — former kouhai, if you say so — but he wasn’t obliged to nanny him, right? He could remember all too well what he used to feel for that boy — jealousy, envy, anger, frustration, some sort of hatred at some point even. And those feelings weren’t gone entirely, they were still in there somewhere — simply suppressed by the fact the he grew up and learnt how to accept things, how to acknowledge his failure and how to use rivals to get better himself.

It was a lot like being the first-hatched nestling, yet somehow not the best one — it could be compared to the evolution’s trial-version or development of certain software. That accidental bird analogy almost made Tooru grunt in displeasure, but it was a good one. Taking the two of them, he was born the first, and so, making sure that everything succeeded, nature gave birth to the second one, even better — the best one. He had longer wings, lighter body, sharper beak and eyes, everything to rule the sky. And the first one was only almost as good, as if being a used model for some developments made in the “update.” And to fly as high as his predecessor, he had to climb to the higher branches.

And whenever he fell, it hurt all the more.

But still, even though the second bird could fly higher than anyone, even over the clouds — what was the use of it if no one could see it? What was the point if there was no one to fly with, even if he supposedly enjoyed that?

Besides, the higher you fly, the colder it gets. And if there’s no one to keep you warm, you’re going to fall down, just like a stone. Who would want to try catching a stone, which could drag them down as well?

As ironic and unbelievable as it seemed, Tobio seemed to have found that very person.

As much as Tooru was conflicted about the kid, as much negative as he felt for him, as much as he wanted to destroy him on the court once and take his own back for all those years he spend, trying to at least touch the clouds he was soaring in, he involuntarily gained respect for him, mostly as a player, particularly after Tobio joined Karasuno. He was never a bad person on purpose, he just probably… wasn’t quite made for it?

But Tooru knew everything there was to know about people who “weren’t made” for something. It didn’t matter in the slightest, as long as they were eager to surpass that. He didn’t give a damn about what fate had prepared for him or whatever. He found what he loved doing, and he was going to get as good at it as possible, whether he “was made” for it or not.

Tobio might not have realized that before, but those were his teammates who changed him, and with them he was progressing faster than ever, taking up new heights and speeds. And for some very, very odd, incomprehensible reason, Tooru felt a very weak but distinct impulse to if not help him, then at least push him in the right direction. Geez, was it him becoming mature or something?!

He was too kind for his own good, wasn’t he.

Ah, thank the gods for my suddenly awoken senpai senses, Tobio-chan.

Taking a deep breath, Tooru decided that it wouldn’t actually change anything, right? He’d just ask him a couple of questions and maybe, maybe give some hints… if he’d have any. Tobio probably wouldn’t even notice that.

Finally getting back to earth, Tooru noticed how Tobio-chan was eyeing him with a surprised facial expression. Huh? What was going on? He got so engrossed in his own thoughts… what was the last thing he said even?!

“And what are you doing here, Oikawa-san?” Tobio-chan asked, making Tooru tilt his head to the side. Oh. Oh, right. Blimey, he completely forgot what he came here for in the first place yet again.

He felt that reluctance to answer any of Tobio’s questions at first, reminding him of their junior high years, but then thought that hey, he actually had something good to reply with.

“I came to buy a present for Iwa-chan!” he announced proudly, comprehending that it didn’t sound close to as cool as it was in his head. Tobio tilted his head as well, hearing this, which made Tooru frown. What was that about just now? Unconscious mimicking?

“Wasn’t Iwaizumi-san’s birthday on… 10^th or 20^th of June?” he wondered, which actually surprised Tooru a lot. Whoa, hang on, since when did Tobio remember Iwa-chan’s birthday all of a sudden? What the heck? He knew that Iwa was always a bit… protective of the kid, if you could put it this way, but was he really so important to Tobio for him to remember his birthday?!

“It’s 10^th, Tobio-chan,” Tooru imparted, adding quickly: “I hope you do remember when is your stunning senpai’s birthday, too?”

“Uh… summer?” Tobio’s face when he was trying to recall it was so innocent that Tooru felt an urge to push his head in the tank and hold there for a while. “Was it July..? I’m sorry, I can’t remember the exact date…” Stop testing me, Tobio-chan, by patience isn’t eternal.

“20^th of July!” Tooru yelped, raising his hand and pointing to the ceiling. “20^th of July!”

“O-okay,” Tobio-chan uttered, sounding disgustingly sincere. “I’ll memorize,” he assured him. Tooru only sighed tiredly, the realization of what he signed up for slowly dawning on him.

“Never mind. Tobio, use that smart head of yours and think — what would you like to get him, or rather, what would he like to get from you?” Honestly, it wasn’t even all that different from talking to Takeru after all. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be connected with volleyball, you know.” Tobio-chan stared at him, his expression on verge of neutral and panicked, but his eyes screaming HELP. Tooru decided to wait a bit, he wasn’t going to do all the talking here! He’s already done way too much, if you ask him.

“You reminded me of my mother just now,” he blurted abruptly, stopping all the thinking process in Tooru’s head in an instant. What.

“What, now?” he asked without even quite registering it. “How exactly..?”

“S-sorry, Oikawa-san!” Tobio-chan added hurriedly, probably realizing his mistake. “It’s just that you’ve said something along the lines of what she told me.”

Ah. Ah, okay. Well, that wasn’t surprising, though. Tooru could vaguely remember Tobio’s mother from that one time he had to take the brat home after he almost accidentally sprained his ankle in the beginning of the year, doing a twisted set-up. She was quite… an interesting woman. Tooru could see straightaway who did Kageyama took his appearance and especially glares after.

“U-uh, could you, maybe… uhm… show me something?” Tobio suddenly asked, almost making Tooru smack his face with his palm. He knew his kouhai had issues, but come on! There had to be some sort of a line or something.

Although, he could also see just how difficult it was for him to actually ask for his help — it seemed Tobio was going to bite his tongue off before finishing the sentence. The fact that he did ask him anyway, however, told him a lot.

Okay, let’s assume that you’ve suffered enough for now, dearest kouhai. Watch, listen and learn.

Tooru quickly scanned his surroundings, looking for the closest match in wide range of different shops. Locating one of those, he hummed, clapped his kouhai’s arm, making him twitch in surprise and grinning satisfyingly about it, and headed straight over there. Something of his comfort zone would be a good start. Tobio visibly relaxed, especially his tensed up face, when he saw the signboard.

Lucky for them, that happened to be one of Mikasa branches — not a particularly big one, but still full of various balls, including, of course, volleyballs, and nothing could possibly made a player happier.

Tooru noticed how Tobio’s pace seemed to rise as he sped up towards a big volleyball stand — did he already mention how much he actually behaved like a kid? And now he was a kid who found a truck of toys. His eyes seem to even sparkle as he looked over the stand, his fingers trembling a little. Huh, he should’ve seen himself, really. Tooru was surprised that Tobio-chan could even look so affectionate.

Tooru gazed at the stand, too, leaning his head back a little, and caught himself feeling some sort of aesthetic pleasure, his lips parting slightly. Ah, good old volleyballs, the smell of leather, warm yellow, blue and green colors. This reminded him of Seijo’s gym, their practices and matches, all those times Iwa-chan threw balls at him with such force that he fell to the floor, even bleeding sometimes... it made him feel at home.

Tooru turned around, fished his mobile from his shorts pocket and made a cute face, showing a V-sign to the camera with his left hand, and snapped a selfie. He smiled widely, checking it out. Aw, it was such a symbolic one, he could even give it to Iwa-chan to use as wallpaper on his phone! It depicted two things most important in his life, after all — Tooru himself and volleyball (not necessarily in that order, though). Giggling excitedly, he sent it to everyone from his former Aobajousai team, at least to the ones who attended the matches with him, because it’d take too long to choose everyone from the contacts. He should make a list!

Throwing his phone back in the pocket, he turned to his left, looking at Tobio again. He was holding a blue-yellow ball, his hands so gentle and the expression of his face so... melancholic? Gods be good, Tooru wouldn’t call the way his facial features... kind of twisted a melancholic one, but if he were to guess, that would be the closest match. 

Of course he knew that Tobio had s thing for volleyballs, but would possibly make him hold one as if it was a baby or something? 

It didn't take long for Tooru to explain that.

“Did that chibi-chan give you a volleyball for your last birthday?” Tooru asked insinuatingly, instantly making Tobio jerk up and clutch the ball with his fingers. Ah, so smart he was~ “Tell me more!” he demanded, coming closer and taking another volleyball, throwing it up and down, up and down with his one hand in a steady rhythm. That could actually help him to get their situation better and come up with something appropriate, maybe. 

Get their situation better... Urgh, just how low he’s fallen! 

It was a nice chance to mess with Tobio a bit, though.

“I-it was a signed volleyball,” Kageyama managed, sounding so hoarse as if he hasn’t used his voice for years. “Everybody from the team signed it with an adjective that characterized me in their opinion,” but his speech was becoming calmer, softer even with every word to flow from his mouth. An adjective from ever team member? Oh, Tooru could offer so many already — annoying, ridiculous, dense, unbelievable... but he had to keep listening for now. “And they...” he loosened up his grip on the ball, now it was just laying in his palms. “They congratulated me at my home, because I got sick the day before,” his ears pinked a little, voice getting quieter, as if he was actually still in a dark, empty room, not wishing to disturb the silence — but at the same time, he seemed a bit embarrassed yet fond of those memories. 

A signed volleyball from the whole team. What can I say, shorty, you hit it right where it hurt, I’ll give you that. 

No wonder Tobio was so anxious when it was his turn to congratulate his teammate. Even Tooru couldn’t help but admit that finding something meaningful like that would be tough. Although, that chibi-chan probably wasn’t as dense as Tobio, so it wouldn't be that problematic. And taking into consideration the fact that he managed to tolerate his kouhai for so long, it was definitely something more than being just teammates. 

Tooru looked at Tobio again, now gazing at the volleyballs in front of him, his worried and busy thoughts almost reflecting in his eyes. Tobio, genuinely concerned about choosing a present for his friend. 

You really changed him so much, didn’t you, Hinata. 

“Well,” Tooru began, “a volleyball wouldn’t really be that creative, but a Mikasa one would actually say a lot, costing a fortune, you know,” he spun it around and put back on the stand. “By the way, do you have money?” He wasn't going to lend him any, even his kindness and awesomeness had limits! 

Tobio looked through the price tags and, to his surprise, nodded, frowning a little. 

“My mother gave me enough,” he said. Whoa, enough for a Mikasa ball? That’s generous. He couldn’t blame her, though — it’s no wonder that Tobio actually wishing to buy a present for someone gave her a reason to give him enough money for that. How thoughtful of her.

“Could you please help me choose?” Tobio suddenly asked, sounding as if he was trying to swallow a big piece of food. Tooru twitched and looked at him sharply, his eyes widening just a bit. 

Was Tobio seriously asking him of that?! Just what kind of effort it required for him to actually do that, how desperate he was?! Wow. Just, wow. It was a day of unexpected things, or so it seemed.

He grinned, regaining his smug facade expression.

“I guess I could give you some hints, dear kouhai,” he said slowly, corners of his lips going down and creating, helping with that amused look of his. “My hands have experienced many ba—” Tooru faltered abruptly, suppressing an awkward smirk and correcting himself. “Volleyballs, lots of different volleyballs.” Tobio wouldn’t understand anything either way, though, he didn’t really have to watch his tongue here. “Have to admit, Mikasa’s are my favorites. Being as generous, nice and amazing as I am, I’ll be kind enough to give you some general hints for choosing a decent volleyball, so watch and learn,” the fact that Tobio’s actually concentrated face gave away nothing concerning his arrogant, carefully constructed speech, pissed the hell of Tooru, but well, what did he expect here after all. 

Tooru turned to the stand, examining the volleyballs, and picked the one he liked most from the first glance, telling Tobio about certain things to take into consideration, little details, the ratio between quality and price and all that.

They stood there for a while, or at least that’s how it seemed, but surprisingly, even Tooru seemed to be taking his time, explaining everything thoroughly and with great attention. He found that being surrounded by volleyballs did actually create some special atmosphere, as silly as that might’ve sounded, which managed to suppress most of those negative feelings he had towards Tobio. Telling him about volleyballs made him remember watching him play and remember that grudging respect he felt to his kouhai as to a player — his determination, will to win, almost insuppressible desire to develop and train more, practice harder, combined with his burning passion for volleyball. Whatever their relationship was outside the court, when it came to the game and them being two setters, long-time rivals, he respected him. When things went wrong, it was natural for a person to blame someone, but Tooru’s situation wasn’t Tobio’s fault, not really. He wasn’t born to make his life miserable, despite all those times Tooru had put it this way. His all-time goal wasn’t crushing Tooru — it was getting better and better at playing. 

And with a weird tugging feeling in his chest, Tooru realized that they both had something in common concerning that matter — they both refused to acknowledge the existence of the word “perfect.”

He was telling him lots of things, and Tobio kept nodding, only occasionally asking some questions as they examined one ball after another. Tooru realized all too well that some of those things, probably even many of them, he’d already known, but he didn’t intercept him once, never showed any displeasure of boredom, just kept listening. That was also one of those ridiculous aspects, which made Tooru acknowledge him eventually — Tobio didn’t consider himself gifted. He never gave his talent any special role or something, never thought of himself higher than of other players or setters, and naturally, he didn’t thank his “talent” for his abilities. He didn’t even let him see once that he actually thought of himself as of a prodigy. Tobio didn’t use that in order to gain anything, he kept practicing even harder than others and kept thinking that it wasn’t enough. He was willing to learn from others and accept those better than him, accept his defeat — yet he was never willing to live with it. 

Tobio was going to be just such a troublesome opponent in two years, even more so after spending his high school with Karasuno. Tooru grinned, telling him something without even quite following his train of thought, probably on some sort of an autopilot. 

To his own surprise, he found himself eager for that to happen faster, already anticipating an official match with his archenemy — a match when he’d avenge himself and show just how much he’d developed since Tobio once defeated him. 

Those were definitely going to be one hell of exciting years for their rivalry, huh!

“So, I’ll guess we stop with this one?” Tobio raised a blue-yellow ball in his hands, looking at him expectantly. Oh. Oh, right. Wait-wait, we?

Blinking a couple of times and coming back to reality, Tooru eyed the ball in front of him and nodded slowly. 

“Yeah, this one is good,” Tobio lowered his arms and turned around, apparently going to pay for it. Tooru sighed — well, at least they were finally done with this. Not that he hated talking to his kouhai, but it was kind of exhausting after such a long break. Fortunately, he wasn’t stuttering and taking long when the talking came to volleyball, which was far better than when it did to that chibi-chan of his.

He returned after a couple of minutes, holding a colorful Mikasa plastic bag with his face reflecting some of the relief he probably felt, since he wasn’t empty-handed anymore. 

Just as Tooru was about to turn around and leave the shop, Tobio suddenly bowed to him — definitely with some awkwardness and stiffness in his movements, but he barely noticed that, surprised to no extent by such an unexpected gesture. 

“T-thank you for helping me to choose a volleyball, Oikawa-san,” he uttered, sounding ridiculously grateful. “I hope it wasn’t that much of a trouble for you.” Tooru wished so hard he could detect some irony or sarcasm in his words, but he couldn’t — he doubted Tobio was even familiar with what those were in the first place. That must’ve been quite an effort for him, though. And strangely, he did feel kind of... he didn't quite know how to describe this. Flattered? By his kouhai thanking him? Pfff, no. Honored? Honored his ass. A teeny-tiny bit fond of that confession? Ha-ha-ha, of course not, why would he be! But still, he didn’t know how to convey that weird way his heart seemed to be tugged in, or why would it do that in the first place.

Giving up, he sighed, patted his shoulder a bit awkwardly and laughed quietly.

“You still have tons to learn, Tobio-chan~ So you’re welcome!” He eyed the plastic bag, and then looked through the exit, examining the other shop’s signboards, rubbing his neck with his palm. “Still, I’d recommend you to get something not connected with volleyball as well...” he commented, gesturing with his head for Tobio to follow. “...at least not as bluntly.”

Now that seemed to make Tobio nervous, huh. Yeah, dear kouhai, life isn’t about the game only, get used to it already before it’s too late. 

“What for example?” he asked, clutching his poor plastic bag so hard that it crackled, close to getting torn. They’ve entered the shop, and Tobio looked around quickly, clearly unsettled, trying to grasp the atmosphere and understand why did they come here at all. The shelves were full of different colorful things, starting from dishes, snow balls, mugs and finishing with statues, fountains, paintings and creative clocks.

“Gift shop!” Tooru proclaimed in an optimistic voice. “Heaven for people who’re looking for presents of any kind. Ah, so many memories~” he gazed at a cute doll he gave Iwa-chan a few months ago, reasoning it with the fact that he wanted him to have “at least some kind of girlfriend.” Iwa-chan practically broke it against his head. Pink “I Love NY” T-shirt he tore to rags and used to wipe dust, even though pink didn't look all that bad on him. 

But this time, however, he had big plans. This time he wasn't going to fail! Or play a prank. He was going to get Iwa-chan a present so good even he’d be helpless in twisting it into one of those forms of that violent affection of his! Even though it was indeed quite a task to come up with stuff that strong. But who if not him to handle it, after all!

Tooru was quite surprised to find Tobio going somewhere on his own — that was quite a progress, ha! So he followed him, already curious about what he had spotted — right until he understood that those were some calendars with sports themes, including, take a guess, volleyball ones with different beautiful photos. Tooru instantly grabbed Tobio’s T-shirt’s collar from behind, stopping him and pulling back (nevertheless thinking about getting one set of those later).

“Tobio, no,” he said firmly, “people don’t give calendars to each other on one’s birthday.” Naturally, finding himself in a new environment, he headed to the only thing familiar to him — what a nerd! They stopped, his kouhai looking quite embarrassed, and Tooru looked around, trying to find something more conventional. He doubted that shorty was waiting for anything that much creative from Tobio, besides, he couldn’t really spend all day coming up with a present for one of his rivals with his kind of an archenemy, so he needed something simple but presentable, preferably useful.

His gaze finally caught something as he hummed quietly, considering that item.

Oh. Now that seemed like not that bad of an option.

Showing the direction with a tilt of his head, Tooru moved to the side-shelves, Tobio following him — coming up closer, those proved to be cluttered with tons of different photo frames. There were actually so many it was almost overwhelming — with flowers, seashells, stars, brushes and pencils, animals; wooden, metallic, made gods know of what ones… That was quite a variety. Maybe Tooru should look for a photo frame for Iwa-chan? He’d love to have Tooru’s selfie on his desk, wouldn’t he!

Tooru grinned and noticed with what an interesting expression Tobio was examining the frames. It was almost as if… he considered this idea a decent one. Tooru wondered whether his kouhai already had some sort of an emotional picture experience — that wouldn’t be much of a surprise, considering how his last birthday went.

Leaving him to his thoughts and ponderings, Tooru turned to the shelves again, walking along them and looking for something appropriate. That wouldn’t be his number one present, but could work as a nice addition. The problem was that there were so many that it was hard to focus and detect something he actually needed or liked. However, after a while something caught his eye, making his foot freeze in midair and him turn on his heel to take a better look at that glimpse.

A familiar blue-yellow colors combo.

Tooru grinned, clenching his fists victoriously as he came closer to the shelf, which was on his head level, and started shifting the frames to get to the wanted one. Blowing a lock of hair from his eyes, he finally reached what he wanted to — which was definitely a volleyball frame — and sighed contently. It was actually quite a cute one! In warm blue and yellow colors with a couple of volleyballs in the lower left corner and even a small piece of volleyball net put over the space for the picture in the opposite corner, with a small antenna going up from its right side. The only thing it needed was a nice picture in it! Tooru didn’t even care that he acted like his kouhai a bit, buying a volleyball souvenir (No, he corrected himself, it was Tobio who acted like him, because he was older). It was absolutely perfect~

The moment Tooru was about to pull it back and examine the frame closely, somebody else wrapped his hand around it, tugging it in the opposite direction. Tooru frowned. What the heck, he was the first to get it! Pulling a bit tighter, he found himself wondering — it couldn’t be Tobio-chan, could it? He was just away over there a minute ago…

The person competing with him suddenly let go of the frame, making him sway back a little. Puffing some air, all smug about getting his prize, he involuntarily glanced at the newly formed window in the shelf, his heart missing a beat as he heard all too familiar voice:

“I’m sorry, you were the first to take it—” his voice faltered as their eyes met, Tooru reflexively squeezing the frame real hard as they gawked at each other in surprise.

“Oikawa?!” the person in front of him reacted quicker, his voice as firm as ever, his expression, however, clearly asking “the hell are you doing here”.

“Iwa-chan?!” his own response was more of a squeak, but Tooru didn’t really care, shocked to the core with the sheer irony of this situation, but also freaked out just a little bit — he was holding the very thing he meant to buy for him, after all.

And that’s how Oikawa Tooru found himself staring at his best friend Iwaizumi Hajime, face to face, as he was trying to choose a present for him, overwhelmed with how so many things decided to just go downhill on one day.

* * *

He could never escape that guy, could he.

Goddammit! How could they possibly have ended up coming to the same bloody shopping center and the store? Hajime just couldn’t wrap his mind around that. He knew that Oikawa had some “special, extremely secret plans” for today, but who would’ve thought.

Although, for gods’ sake, it was Oikawa. No wonder his “plans” stood for “shopping.”

But still, it was quite unnerving, especially considering why Hajime had come here in the first place. That jerk’s birthday was looming over him, being in exactly a month from now, and he wanted to maybe try looking for something already. Like hell he was gonna admit that, but well, not giving a present for a birthday is impolite, even when it was Oikawa he was talking about.

That frame seemed like not that bad of a choice… he thought it was someone else at first, so he let it go, not being lucky enough to grab it faster, but no way he’d even guess that it was Assikawa. One way or another, he saw the frame now — so it was automatically out of options. He just had to screw this up!

“What are you doing here?” Hajime almost snarled, coming around the shelf and facing him. Oikawa eyed him with great attention, possibly trying to understand why was he here, too. Well, good luck guessing that, asshole.

“Shopping,” Oikawa answered, regaining his composure and that annoying sweet, confident tone of his. Did he really think Hajime would just buy this?

“Then where’re your shopping bags?” he confronted him. “You told me you’d get here early in the morning, what’ve you been doing up until now?”

“Not your business,” Oikawa protested with high voice, showing him his tongue. Hajime wanted to kick him real bad, but he was afraid that this clumsy idiot would fall epically and drag all the shelves around them down with him. He just needed to wait till they were out of the shop.

“Besides, it’s a gift shop. The hell do you need in a gift shop?” Hajime raised his eyebrow ironically.

“Could ask you the same question!” Oikawa pointed with his index finger at him, his face as challenging and irritating as ever. They really, really needed to step out of this gift shop.

“My cousin’s birthday is in two weeks,” he answered calmly, quickly saving himself without even lying, adding before Oikawa could say anything: “The one from Kiyoto, she’s in primary school but has already started playing volleyball.” The only little lie was that he’d already sent his present this way, but who cared — as long as Assikawa didn’t know it was about him. Nobody needed his ego to be fed even more.

After that there was silence for a while, both of them just standing, facing each other a bit awkwardly, thinking of what to do next. Of course, Hajime could simply leave and come back later, since he had a whole month ahead of him, but actually, he was still kind of wondering what in the world was Oikawa doing in a gift shop.

“Oikawa-san, I think I—” the voice was really, really familiar, but Hajime simply couldn’t believe that it was actually that very person he instantly thought of, not until he turned around and met an ever deep gaze of those dark-blue eyes.

Wow. Wow, that. He really didn’t see that coming.

Kageyama Tobio, in flesh and blood. Just a bit taller than he remembered him, but still the same — athletic, imposing, especially for those who knew what he was capable of on the court, but a little tensed up as he always appeared to be off the game, his facial expression leaking some hints of confusion and high alarm, stressed out self-awareness. Kageyama blinked a couple of times, and then his eyes widened a little, as if he suddenly got more relaxed, as he tilted his head backwards in surprise.

“Iwaizumi-san!” he exclaimed, sounding quite pleased. Hajime grinned and held out his hand almost on a reflex, catching Kageyama off guards; but the kid shook it firmly nevertheless. They were in different categories now, couldn’t compete officially, so the atmosphere doesn’t have to be hostile, especially since they’ve met in a shopping center.

“Hi there, Kageyama,” Hajime nodded as they pulled their hands back. He noticed how Oikawa’s eyes narrowed at that and chuckled. Messing up with him from time to time could be kind of fun. “How’ve you been, how’s Karasuno doing?” he wondered, and Kageyama instantly started talking. Well, volleyball topics always did that to him.

“Uh, I’m fine, I suppose?” always so cautious talking to people older than him, always trying to be polite. Hajime liked and respected that. “Karasuno’s doing good, too. We have four new first-years this year.”

“Four?” Hajime smirked. “Not bad.” Well, at least for Karasuno, who weren’t exactly specializing in volleyball. “How’s Ennoshita holding up?” with his peripheral vision he noticed how weirdly Oikawa was staring at him — was he wondering where did he know all that from or why was he making small talk with Kageyama The Damn Genius Tobio? He was pretty sure that Oikawa was just as curious about that as he was, if not more, but Hajime still hasn’t even found out why they were, apparently, hanging out there together, and how did Oikawa not end up leaving or making an argument flare up in between them. But that could wait a bit.

“There’re two twins,” Kageyama said, his voice grave, like that answered Hajime’s question fully. The thing was that it did, actually. Aobajousai Volleyball Club, being a big one, had a couple of more pairs of twins during Hajime’s years there — they were different, of course, some of them calmer than others, but if they were talking about the general type, they tended to form quite a hyped duo of players, especially being young. Additionally, he remember all too well their monk guy and their libero… R.I.P. poor Ennoshita. He felt pitiful for the poor lad.

However, something from those last Karasuno’s games he watched, Ennoshita coming on the court more often, was telling him that he was going to do his job just fine. Daichi was most likely proud of him already.

“What about you, Iwaizumi-san?” Kageyama asked in return, making Iwaizumi tilt his head a bit, eyeing him attentively. Huh, was it just him or did some of his social skills actually improve a bit?

“Maybe I should leave the two of you alone?” Oikawa intercepted, earning an angry glance from Hajime, which made him quiet down for whole lot of five seconds, long enough for him to answer the question.

“Doing great, too, practices are going well,” he confirmed, noticing how Kageyama’s lips seemed to have almost twisted into something apart from his usual neutral, awkward expression. Interesting. But it was about time to get down to business.

“Were you shopping with Kageyama?” he asked Oikawa, making him jerk up and wave his hands in denial. Ha, good one.

“O-of course not!” he yelped. “We met accidentally and I was simply helping him because I’m that kind and generous and amazing, and you should actually know that too, Iwa-chan!” Hajime wasn’t listening to him from that very moment he heard the phrase “helping him”, which definitely flew out of Oikawa’s mouth, because his eyes never failed him before, and which was also meant to be about Kageyama. And that barely made any sense. Why in the world would Oikawa voluntarily help Kageyama? Was world going to end sooner than he expected after all?

“And what exactly are you helping Kageyama with?” Hajime demanded, putting his curiosity in a less controversial form. He realized that Oikawa grew up a lot both like a player and a person (well… mostly, because he often still behaved like a little kid) and that he more or less got over their ferocious rivalry and his own junior high “I am not good enough” crisis. But to this extent? If this were for real, it’d be a nice surprise, though.

“His chibi-chan’s birthday is tomorrow and that idiot doesn’t know what to get him!” Oikawa exclaimed, giving Kageyama a scolding look, as if getting angry because he had to deal with Hajime because of him. Hajime himself, however, was still trying to collect pieces of this mosaic, which seemed to be trying to mix up every second and confuse him even more.

Too many things didn’t make sense. Oikawa helping Kageyama? Kageyama being concerned about what to buy for his teammate’s birthday? Oikawa helping Kageyama in choosing what to buy for the latter’s teammate’s birthday? The world has definitely gone astray.

Well, Kageyama’s situation he could more or less understand, he just didn’t expect things to develop this fast for him — which was, however, still a good sign. Chibi-chan meant Hinata, and considering that it was their second year together in the same team already, he could see why his birthday was worrying Kageyama so much. Hajime grinned. He really changed him so much, it was almost unbelievable.

Now that he thought about it, Oikawa was probably just enjoying his time messing around with Kageyama, wasn’t he? It was still strange, though. A few months ago he could barely stay in his presence for a few minutes if that happened to be off the court, and now they were actually… hanging out in the shopping center. Who would’ve thought he’d see this with his own eyes once.

Then he finally noticed what Kageyama was clutching in his hands — it was the same photo frame as the one he and Oikawa had stumbled upon, but it seemed to be broken in at least two places. Was that why Kageyama came here?

“So, were you choosing the frame for him, Oikawa?” Hajime wondered, earning a shocked gaze.

“Of course not! I just brought him here and suggested an option! It’s for me!” he said, gesturing widely as if attempting to excuse himself. Huh, that was actually quite intriguing — was he acting like that because Hajime caught him wandering around with his rival?          

He came up to Oikawa and with a strong, swift motion of his arm grabbed the frame and whipped it right out of Oikawa’s hand, which caused him to mutter a protesting “Hey!” in return. If he was going to buy it for himself, then Hajime didn’t really care, the selfish idiot could live without it. Turning around, he gave the frame to Kageyama, who took it in his hands carefully, glancing at Oikawa still.

“Is it really—” he wondered, but Hajime intercepted him.

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” he replied, ignoring his frustrated setter in the background. “He’ll find something else for his royal ass.”

“So mean, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa resented, but surprisingly, he stopped right there, saying nothing else, while usually he’d keep his shit up at least until Hajime gave him a nice punch or something. Humming satisfyingly, he took the defective frame away from Kageyama, placing it back on the shelf, and urged him to go pay for it. When he did, Hajime turned around and eyed Oikawa once again, making him narrow his eyes and stare back.

“What is it?” Oikawa asked, suspicion dripping from his voice. Iwaizumi tilted his head a bit.

“I still can’t get why would you help Kageyama on your own record,” he stated, looking him right in the eyes, as if preventing him from averting his gaze — Oikawa could never lie to him, especially not when their eyes met. “It’s a good thing that you’re actually capable of that, I even respect that… kind of,” he added — no need in boosting his self-confidence now, “but I still probably wouldn’t believe this if I weren’t standing here right now. What changed?” he questioned him, noting how his mocking and arrogant facade was gradually slipping, exposing his thoughtful, perhaps a bit troubled face. He didn’t deny anything Hajime said, that was already something.

“It’s not that something has really changed,” Oikawa said, making Hajime frown at that, because Yeah, sure, he could definitely see that, “but at the same time… everything’s changed, which is even quite stunning, and yeah, confusing in a way,” he shrugged slightly, his lips twisting into an almost bitter grin. “Tobio is really different from what he used to be, even counting from the last time I’d met him,” Oikawa continued, visibly half-engrossed in his memories, “and that’s actually really fascinating, you know. After that junior high match of his, as selfish as that sounds, I felt better for myself — safer even. I could tell that with that attitude, he’d never make a decent setter, and with that reputation he’d never be able to stay in one team for long, for long enough to potentially change, but… who would’ve thought that Karasuno would turn out to be so influential, huh,” his smile turned just a bit… malicious, with a weird mix of melancholy in it. Oikawa rubbed his neck with his palm, putting another hand on his side. “When we had a practice match with Karasuno, I just wanted to try the waters, see,” he was looking somewhere behind Hajime’s back, where Kageyama was probably standing right now. “And I was honestly even kind of intimidated by what I’d seen back then — all that power, confidence, the ease he was handling the ball with after poor couple of moths from that incident, but especially all that… trust,” the word sounded somehow bitter yet softer than Oikawa probably meant it to pronounce. “Mutual trust, which I actually thought he’d never come to experience,” his facial expression suddenly relaxed, his smile easing, as it appeared to become… sincere, which made Hajime’s eyes widen as he kept listening. “But I’m actually kind of even proud of him, Iwa-chan. We were never that close and I never supervised him much, but I can see how many things he didn’t fail to learn from me and other setters, even when he didn’t have an opportunity to interact with them or was rejected. And all this determination, his unwavering will to win…” his fists clenched, weird sparks of excitement making his eyes glisten. “It’s motivating. When I see that strength, all that talent sparkling on the court, it makes my heart beat faster, my muscles tense up, ready to work, it fills my mind with thoughts like, “I want to pull that off, too!” or “I could definitely upgrade that move!” and what I’ve come to learn is that for any person who’s passionate about something, who wants to become better and even more better at something, there can never be a better teacher, motivation and a gift than a good rival,” he grinned triumphantly, but then his face went slack and sore, just as Hajime heard Kageyama coming back over for some reason.

“I’m sorry, Oikawa-san, I found another one, could you please advice which one is better?” he asked, definitely with some effort, but still genuine. Oikawa chuckled and rolled his eyes just a little bit, sighing reluctantly.

“Alright, Tobio-chan, but that’s the last time I’m helping you today, just because I’m that good of a senpai, you hear me?” he stated, coming closer. “I just can’t say no to people in need, it’s so difficult to live when you have a hard-working conscious like mine. Okay, show me what you’ve got there…”

Kageyama started explaining the situation to him, with Oikawa talking over him and them beginning to argue eventually, while Hajime settled with just watching the situation. Oikawa was right for once, it was in fact quite entertaining. What Hajime also concluded, though — from how close could they stand now, what kind of trivial, casual things they could discuss, and how almost non-threateningly their voices sounded when they had a disagreement — that it wasn’t just Oikawa whose attitude to Kageyama kind of… evolved, if you could put it this way; Kageyama has also changed his perception of Oikawa. Hajime could still clearly remember how his face used to scrunch up whenever they met, even if in a barely noticeable way, how reluctant he was to talk to him in the first place, much less ask him of something (Oikawa told him about that time Kageyama came to ask him for advice, that was enough of a shocker — and now, a few months later, this is how far they’ve come.)

They started arguing louder at some point, but right as Hajime wanted to interfere, Oikawa shook the frame he was holding and made Kageyama look there, brushing his finger against the surface and showing him something with a concentrated look on his face, explaining something at the same time.

From this perspective they seemed like a couple of acquaintances, or friends even, who never had years long fierce rivalry and were never at each other’s throats. They appeared to be two ordinary people, without a history of unbelievable overworking or being a selfish king.

Grinning, Hajime realized that he couldn’t help himself — he fished out his mobile from the pocket and snatched a picture of the two of them. The frame could barely be seen, but that didn’t matter — the looks on their faces were more than enough. Wearing a smug smirk, Iwaizumi quickly sent the pic to every regular from Aobajousai whom he knew — fortunately, he had a list, so that didn’t take long. Hanamaki and Matsukawa were so gonna like this. It didn’t matter to Kageyama, but some sharp remarks would definitely be there once the third-years of Seijo meet up again.

After all, Hajime had all the rights in the world to mess up with Oikawa, and it wasn’t even that bad, not really.

Those two didn’t notice a thing, oblivious to everything, but after a couple more minutes Kageyama finally nodded and headed back to the counter. Oikawa puffed a lock of hair from in front of his eyes, running his hand through his hair.

“Gods be good, that kid has yet so much to learn,” he waved at his own face with his palm. “Jeez, it’s so hot and stuffy in here! Iwa-chan, buy me some ice cream!”

“Go buy it yourself if you want some,” Iwaizumi muttered back, already getting and reading some funny comments on the latest pick he’d sent to everyone. Oikawa seemed to have picked up on that, glancing at his phone and looming over it, trying to see something.

“Why are you so rude and uncaring, Iwa-chan,” he mumbled, leaning forwards, closer to the screen. “What’s so funny you’re reading, share with me!” he demanded, but Iwaizumi simply pushed him to the side, hearing a surprised and offended yelp, and went straight to the exit, noticing that Kageyama was already done paying and was now carrying two plastic bags in his hands. The first one had Mikasa logo on it and the object inside was definitely round-shaped.

“You bought him a Mikasa ball as well?” Iwaizumi asked, and Kageyama nodded in return, with a bit of caution, as if he was expecting him to criticize his choice.

“That’s good,” he nodded. “What can make a volleyball player happier than a new Mikasa ball?” Kageyama seemed to actually ponder that thought for a second, but then hummed and quieted down.

The three of them stood in front if the shop, pretty close to a big wide exit, which looked like gates, not quite sure of what to do at that point. Well, Hajime didn’t quite know where to go from here either — his plans to look for the present were ruined for today, because chances of running into Oikawa again were too high, and then they couldn’t really spend all day choosing presents with Kageyama, because he still had some stuff to do. Oikawa probably wouldn’t stay here for long, either. Maybe it was good for him to go back home, take the bag and head to the swimming pool? It was quite hot today, some swimming definitely wouldn’t hurt and would only be appreciated. He wouldn’t like Assikawa dragging after him and joining him, though — drowning him a month before his birthday would be kind of inappropriate, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, before he could voice any of his thoughts out, he finally saw that there was some sort of a ruckus outside, and people seemed to be gathering on the bank of that river that was flowing in front of the shop; some were rushing past them, he could hear some yelling but couldn’t really make anything out in all the noise around him. Oikawa definitely noticed that as well.

“Is there something going on..?” he wondered, squinting and trying to take a better look over people’s heads. The sun was shining too brightly, they could barely make anything out, but people appeared to be circling a tree, which trunk was actually growing from down the declivous bank made of stone; as far as he remembered (having almost thrown Oikawa over the fence once when he really pissed him off), this river, being relatively narrow, had high cemented banks and a few trees growing right from them; there was a special opening made for every tree in the cement, providing it with access to the actual soil, and so the tree was looming over the water beautifully, decorating the scenery. But right now it seemed to be the reason behind all those people’s worry. So what exactly..?

The very same moment the sun hid behind a cloud, making it possible for them to discern the situation outside, Hajime could hear two plastic bags dropping down on the cold tile floor close to him, as Kageyama — slowly at first, but picking up speed — broke into a run.

Only noticing that with his peripheral vision, Hajime couldn’t turn away from the tree itself, seeing a messy mop of warm orange hair somewhere in midst of the branches first, instantly remembering only one person it belonged to from those he knew. He could hear Oikawa gasping to his right, and even though he couldn’t yet tell why was he seeing what he was seeing, some weird, numbing dread seemed to have filled his limbs and chest as he watched Kageyama’s back disappearing in the crowd.

Hajime didn’t know why, but for some reason he could already tell by the concentrated, just a bit frightened look on Hinata’s face as he was clinging to the branches and doing his best to not lose the balance, that this was so, so not gonna end well.

* * *

What the actual hell is that idiot even doing?!

Kageyama couldn’t help but curse at how his heart was picking up speed too fast as he was pushing through the crowd, even though it wasn’t like he was running a marathon or something. He even forgot about the heat, which was far worse in midst of so many people, and forgot about his plastic bags, hoping that Oikawa-san or Iwaizumi-san would pick them up, as he was struggling his way through sweat and sticky bodies and screams, not taking his eyes off Hinata and trying to figure out what was happening at the same time.

Hinata was balancing, standing in his full height on a branch that was definitely way, way too thin for that, holding himself up with his hand, grabbing something that looked more like a twig than an actual branch. He seemed to be looking at something on the tree, and so Kageyama followed his gaze to an even thinner part of the branch (He wasn’t going to climb there, was he?!) and finally noticed something weird, a bit roundly-shaped, which didn’t belong there… not a bunch of leaves or a nest but… a cat. Hissing and pressing itself down to the branch it was sitting on, there was a white cat with black and ginger dots on its fur. Apparently, it got stuck on the tree and that idiot decided to help it, since well, the damn tree was looming over the river in about four-five meters above. For gods’ sake, it was a cat, if it climbed there, it could definitely climb back down…

Kageyama finally reached the stone fence, which separated the river’s narrow bed from the pedestrian zone. The trunk of the tree was in about two-two and something meters away from the wall, and since the river’s water level was higher at the moment, its base and its roots were hidden underwater. So it appeared that Hinata had actually jumped from this wall to the trunk. If Kageyama had been nearby, he’d have probably served a ball in his thick stupid head and shoot him off the course right into the river, because how freaking stupid one had to be to pull of something like that?!

“Hinata!” he found himself screaming before he could even realize that, louder than anyone else close by. Hinata turned his head to his sharply, his eyes widening and his ever wild hair sticking in different directions because of the wind, which could’ve been funny if the situation wasn’t this serious.

“Kageyama!” he yelled in return, clenching the branch tighter and sitting down a bit when the wind blew. Kageyama could hear the cracking of the tree way too clearly and it sent shivers down his back.

“Get your ass down here!” he demanded, gesturing in the direction of the pavement. Hinata shook his head firmly, slowly moving forwards at the same time.

“I have to help him!” he answered, letting go of the twig above him and grabbing the branch underneath him with both hands, lying down and wrapping his legs around it, crawling. Kageyama honestly wanted to throw something in him, and he probably would if he weren’t so damn scared that this idiot could fall into the river. It wasn’t deep, and its current wasn’t really fast, but a 5-meters fall into the water from a tree wouldn’t really do anyone any good. Apparently, it dawned on the cat as well, because it stopped hissing, but was still probably too scared to move, clinging to the swaying branch for dear life.

“Do you know that boy?” an adult man next to him asked.

“You have to stop him,” a woman said, looking up, “that’s crazy.”

I fucking know that already! he wanted to snap at them, but decided to focus on his goddamn teammate instead.

That overwhelming fear he felt was something completely new and unfamiliar to him, setting his senses on fire as he was struggling to stay as calm and collected as possible. However, the way his fingers were trembling kindly let him now how miserably he was failing at that. On one hand, it was weird to be so damn frightened because his teammate was in danger, or at least so it appeared to be — basically because he’s never felt this way before, not about anyone. It was a bit like the feeling you got when your team was loosing and you were desperately trying to keep everyone afloat, being a setter and all, but this was much, much stronger. And as horribly conflicted as he felt, he didn’t have any time to figure things out in his head — he had to drag Hinata down and give him a nice kick first, better a dozen.

“Hinata, go back, it won’t last!” Kageyama screamed, goose bumps crawling all over his skin as the wind intensified. Perfect bloody timing as usual.

“He will fall if I don’t help him!” Hinata answered, making Kageyama unbelievably furious with every second to pass. Did he have no self-preservation instincts at all?! Did he even think about anyone but himself and that cat?!

The wind was getting stronger, even though the sun was still shining brightly, which seemed extremely ironic at the point.

“Hinata, you—” Kageyama wanted to try again, but that idiot had the guts to outshout him.

“If you want me to get down, better help me than just yell from down there!” he told him, slowly getting closer to the cat, as the branch was swaying more and more. Kageyama involuntarily gripped the stone wall so tight that it hurt his fingers, but he barely registered that. Better help me… He knew full well what a dumb, reckless idea it was, and he’d definitely beat some sense into Hinata once he’s gotten back down (and he would, safe and sound), but some little part of him was whispering him things, screwing up his rationalism entirely. That little part of him, which was terrified to no extent and sent his bloodstream going rampage, as if trying to pull him up there against his own will, cell by cell, made his brain short-circuit and his breathing get shallower.

He was right. Kageyama couldn’t just stand here, couldn’t just… watch it. Literally every part of his body that had some sense left was yelling at him to stop thinking nonsense and back the fuck back, but just a group of small, tiny cells inside his brain and heart seemed to be enough to outshout everything that appeared to be so logical.

Taking a deep breath, Kageyama quickly jumped on the wall, making the people around him step back as they stared at him with horror.

“What are you doing!” a man screamed.

“Come back down, it’s insane!” a woman protested.

“Somebody, get him back!” a guy yelled.

“Stay out of the way!” Kageyama cried back angrily, because those people were seriously messing up his concentration and attempts to calm down at least a little. He backed away from the edge as far as he could, which wasn’t too far anyway, and examined the way to the tree. He was afraid that somebody would try holding him back or dragging down, but fortunately, they were probably too afraid that he might accidentally fall.

If only they could hear how rapidly was Kageyama’s heart pondering, making everything in his ears ring, his arms and knees shake and his chest hurt a little for some reason. If only they knew how frightened he was, as much as he was suppressing and ignoring it — ignoring one simple thought that could set him on fire with panic.

The tree wasn’t really that far from the wall, he was pretty sure he could make it — no wonder it was an easy trick for Hinata. But still, he’d better be careful, because the stream was getting stronger just like the wind; besides, the slightly inclined stone bank wasn’t really anything about nice landing either. Kageyama picked a couple of branches that looked thick enough to grab them, and bent his knees, lowering his torso for an impulse before he could overthink this.

“Kageyama, no!” he heard Hinata’s screaming which almost, almost stopped him as he got up sharply and pushed himself off the edge, throwing his arms forwards for better momentum, and basically flying over to the trunk. He could see Hinata’s shocked and scared, protesting face for a moment, which made his jump seem much longer that it actually was. Thankfully, he got his focus back in time as he raised his arms higher and grabbed the branches as tightly as he possibly could, pressing his knees to the opposite sides of the trunk. Uh, that wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience, slamming into solid wood like this — plus he landed a bit lower than he thought he would. But he didn’t fall, so he wasn’t going to complain or anything.

Don’t look down, he told himself, instantly making his head snap up and search for Hinata, who was a bit hidden by the leaves. Kageyama took that time for a couple of deep breaths. Rough bark against his palms felt kind of reassuring, wind slapping his cheeks helped him to regain his concentration on the main task. He shifted his feet and started climbing, quickly and easily. There were many branches on that tree, it was probably an old one…

“Are you insane?!” Hinata yelled at him again, but Kageyama couldn’t let himself lose his focus again just yet, and so he kept ignoring him. He could hear the murmur of the river under him all too clearly, and it sounded almost threatening, almost as if it was luring, waiting for them to fall down so that it could wrap its cold waters around them, get into their lungs and make them die slow, painful death, gradually taking all the oxygen away…

His heart squeezed and his limbs suddenly started tingling as his foot suddenly slipped down, not finding any support under it. Thank the gods for his reflexes, because Kageyama barely managed to grab both branches above him tight enough to hold himself, his gaze instantly falling down to the river, ears registering vague screams from the bank. Whoa… it seemed much higher from here. Damn, he could literally feel that numbing fear, that panic which seemed to wrap around his head and throat and made it harder to breathe, harder to focus and simply think clearly — it was as if he was hearing his own thoughts and all those various noises around him from above the surface while being underwater: decipherable, but hard to understand. It was freezing him on spot and making it seem like he couldn’t move at all, couldn’t take his eyes off the dark waters.

The only more or less clear voice for him was Hinata’s, though, which he could hear when he almost fell down, full of sheer panic and despair and criticism, screaming his name.

“You idiot!” Hinata yelled again, so loud and offensive and challenging that it even made Kageyama turn his eyes away from the water and look up at him, frowning reflexively. “Hold on tight, moron!” he finally met Hinata’s eyes with his own, which was difficult with all the sunlight, and the way they were filled with concern and terror made something twist in his stomach. Obnoxious familiar voice actually made him tighten his grip and even cast him an irritated glare.

“Shut up!” he replied, pulling himself up and finally finding some branch to put his leg on as he regained his balance. His knees were shaking and he scratched his palms, but it wasn’t getting in his way too much as he turned around, breathing heavily, and started climbing again, paying more attention to what he was doing now instead of his useless, poisonous thoughts. “I didn’t mean for you to actually climb here, stupid!” Oh really?! Then he shouldn’t have gotten here in the first place!

Kageyama grunted as he finally grabbed the same branch Hinata was half-sitting, half-lying on, but he didn’t jump on it just yet, eyeing it carefully. It was still holding, but swinging and cracking so bad it surprised Kageyama that it still hasn’t broken by now. The cat was barely able to avoid falling down, wrapping even its tail around the twig. If Kageyama were to climb there as well…

“Kageyama!” he heard a familiar voice from the bank, which made him look down along with Hinata — it was Iwaizumi. He was standing near the wall with Oikawa, waving at both of them, his facial expression incredibly serious and as intense as it tended to get during important matches, but somehow painted with more… concern than usual. What surprised him even more was Oikawa’s gaze — the frown on his face, slightly widened eyes and parted lips, all his features screamed of fear and panic just as much as his heart seemed to do. He didn’t really expect him to be that bothered by the situation, not even after their… meeting in the shopping center.

Was he actually worried about them?

The question that seemed to have come out of nowhere troubled his mind, but got shaken out of it as even the trunk of the tree shook under a powerful gust of cool wind, making Hinata yelp in surprise and cling to the branch tighter, looking at the cat, probably with fear reflecting in his eyes that Kageyama couldn’t see now.

“You have to climb back, the wind is getting stronger!” Iwaizumi screamed, and Kageyama had that weird urge to listen to him, which perhaps came from his junior high years when he always listened to him, because his rare advices were always valid and he treated him better than anyone. But he knew that he couldn’t turn back now. Glancing at the cat and how terrified it was, its yellow eyes as wide as ever, glistening, he couldn’t help but feel that weird sting of pity and compassion for the animal — even though cats never really liked him, not a single one deserved something like this. He swallowed, hearing the growing thundering of the waves below him, as sunshine disappeared completely and dark clouds took over the sky overhead. They couldn’t just leave the cat like that, could they? Even if Kageyama would maybe prioritize himself over it before climbing over here, Hinata was already in front of him, one step ahead as usual, determined to help. That started and angered him, but at the same time he somehow knew he had to accept that, simply because it was the right thing to do. Hinata rarely did any mistakes when making such decisions, his intentions were always good, and Kageyama learnt to trust that in a certain way.

He was definitely too heavy for that branch, and so the only thing he could do was to try and make sure that idiot wouldn’t fall while trying to save the damn cat.

He sighed and shifted his legs, climbing a bit higher, so that his legs were supported by a branch lower than Hinata’s, while with one arm he was holding a branch higher, and another was pulling him closer to the one Hinata and the cat were on.

“We’ll be back in a minute!” he shouted down, not daring to look at Iwaizumi’s face and too conflicted to look at Oikawa’s, meeting the eyes of Hinata who turned his head back instead with his own and, to his surprise, noticing some weird happiness sparkling inside of them. This was beyond Kageyama. What was there to possibly be glad about in such situation?!

“I’ll try and bring him back here, be ready to catch him if anything,” Hinata warned him, and apparently, Kageyama grimaced obviously enough to make him frown slightly and ask: “What is it?”

It was really, really embarrassing to talk about things like that, but he could at least be sure that not a single soul was going to overhear, and they didn’t have much time to beat around the bush anyway. Kageyama could feel the smell of ozone filling the air already.

“Animals don’t like me,” he admitted, casting a glance at the cat, who was, for some reason, staring at him. Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows at that. It was almost as if it was thinking something along the lines of Are you really gonna discuss that now or maybe do something to actually help me instead?! Hinata shook his head, already turning away from him.

“Animals are smarter than you… think,” Kageyama definitely didn’t like that pause. “Don’t worry, it’ll be okay, I think even the cat would rather tolerate you for a couple of minutes than fall down into the cold river,” he smirked, and it almost felt as if nothing abnormal and dangerous was happening right now, which was even stunning in a way. How could Hinata stay that undisturbed, how could he be so… him, despite the extreme circumstances?

Although, now that he gave it a thought, Kageyama’s seen that during the games many times, it was probably just a bit unusual to adapt it for something off the court. So he probably shouldn’t be surprised. Still, as powerful as Hinata’s aura was, watching his back getting smaller as he was slowly, carefully making his way to the edge, was unbelievably unnerving.

It also suddenly dawned on Kageyama that he forgot to return that insult, and now it was too late, since Hinata crawled too far to hear it, and he wouldn’t want to distract him now anyway. Duh, dammit. He’d totally do that once they’re back on the ground.

Thunder rumbled over their heads, making him clench the branch Hinata was climbing on tighter. His heart seemed to forget about its normal amount of beats per minute, because he could hear it in his ears, off the rhythm and just as freaked out as he was. Some locks of his hair were waving in front of his eyes, making it a bit harder to see, but he couldn’t let the branches go, and it wouldn’t be of much help anyway. He was watching Hinata, almost not blinking, as he was getting closer and closer to the terrified cat.

Please get it done quicker, please come back faster, please, please let it hold for long enough.

People down there seemed to get quieter as well, maybe accepting their determination to save the animal or simply losing their interest — Kageyama didn’t care either way, as long as they weren’t screaming and distracting them. As much as his heart was squeezing every time the branch seemed to sway just a bit too much, everything seemed to be going fine, even the rain hasn’t started yet (it did get colder, though) and so naturally, something inside of him was whispering, or rather even yelling of bad presentiments and hundreds of worst-case scenarios about how exactly could thing go wrong, but Kageyama had to suppress and ignore all that. It was simply his own mind messing up with him, he could definitely handle that.

He found himself feeling the opposite of what he felt when seeing Hinata’s back on the court, when he basically flew up, his arm already in a swing, ready to spike the ball, which was rushing to meet it with unbelievable speed. When Kageyama was doing set-ups, especially from the back of the court and could only see Hinata’s back, he was watching it with confidence and some passive pride even, because that was the back of his partner who was about to spike his toss, and not that many things could make him as… happy as that, if he could call it so. While now, seeing Hinata’s white T-shirt flapping because of the ferocious wind, he could feel his body being taken over by overwhelming and all-consuming fear, crawling in his every cell and thought and making it seem as if it wasn’t even his reactions — he’d never panicked about someone like that before, and he would never assume that it could be this bad.

It was actually bad enough for him to be able to keep ignoring the little fact that almost made him think better than climb up here back on the shore, being his biggest reasoning to why was this idea so stupid, especially when Kageyama decided to follow Hinata’s example.

He just desperately hoped that they’d both get back on the ground without any unfortunate events to prevent them from doing so.

The cat meowed loudly, bringing him back to earth, and Kageyama realized that Hinata was really, really close by now. It was hard to determine, but the branch under him was probably as thick as his shin or about that, which was driving him crazy. People seemed to begin talking louder, too, pointing at them and shaking their heads and nodding.

“Hinata, it’s too dangerous!” Kageyama screamed at him, making him freeze on spot as the branch swung even more than before. He was about to climb on a branch on an impulse at the sight of that, his heart swelling painfully, but had to hold himself back, because that definitely wouldn’t do any good at the moment. This was really too much! “Hinata, don’t go any further!” he told him, and well, at least he didn’t move. For a couple of seconds, he seemed to be thinking, and then he reached out with his hand, which was just a foot or two away from the cat, calling it gently.

“Hey, come over here, we’ll help you,” the wind almost disappeared for a while, and Kageyama could hear what Hinata told the animal, gesturing softly and wrapping his legs around the branch tighter, using the opportunity to secure himself better. “I won’t hurt you, we only want to help,” he repeated, but that was hopeless. Even if the cat could miraculously understand his intentions, it was simply too freaked out to move from its spot, meowing loudly and helplessly. Kageyama clenched his fist. It would only take the damn animal a couple of steps or one careful jump, come on!

He heard the way leaves on upper branches of the trees a few dozens of meters away from them started rustling as a new powerful gust of wind hit them, and his stomach seemed to tie itself into a knot, his heart falling in his chest as the realization of what was about to happen hit him. For a second everything seemed to go silent — people down there, rampaging nature around them, even the cat and the sound of his own breathing. His eyes widened as he reflexively pulled himself higher up to the branch, almost climbing on it, and screamed as loud as possible:

“HINATA!”

If only he were a millisecond late. Only a millisecond.

The wind hit them strong and hard, sending the branches swinging up and staying there for mere moments before sharply coming back to their usual form. Even before that happened, Kageyama could already tell it would — and he knew that this time the branch wasn’t going to hold for sure.

Apparently, the cat predicted it as well as it quickly brushed its chest against the bark and leaped right into Hinata’s arms the moment he reached out for it, letting the branch go and pressing the cat to his chest. Kageyama was already on the move, watching the catastrophe unravel with horror and feeling as if he was climbing on pure adrenaline, his heart telling him to leave it the fuck alone with all that stress and nervousness. Nevertheless, underneath layers of fear and terror he could still hear it beating rapidly, as if pushing him forwards and trying to give him some extra speed. When the branch reached its highest limit in bending upwards, he heard something he’d probably hear many times in his nightmares, a noise he’d probably never be able to throw away from his head — loud, disgusting, almost mocking crack of wood, like a zap of electroshock which numbed his limbs for a second. People on the bank screamed, he could even make out Iwaizumi’s voice, which was surprising, since it seemed like he has lost his ability to think completely. It was almost ironic for that memory to flash up now, but he supposed he could compare it to that “zone” Hinata told him about once — when he could see the blockers in front of him in slow motion of some sort. And so Kageyama could see how the lower part of Hinata’s body suddenly turned down right after that crack, but what shocked him was the fact that despite what was happening, Hinata was apparently able to somehow not get lost and actually throw the cat in the direction of the bank. It really wasn’t that far, especially not for a spiker with a powerful hit like him, and that was one of those moments when Kageyama really admired Hinata’s reflexes, at least in the retrospective, because back then he certainly didn’t have any time for that. His peripheral vision, however, still allowed him to notice that the cat seemed to reach its destination… was there someone bending over the fence so much to catch it or?.. He couldn’t afford getting distracted further, balancing on the branch as he was practically running to its edge, one thought ringing in his mind:

Just let me make it in time.

Hinata didn’t see him because his back was facing Kageyama, and he could hear his muffled scream, full of fear but weird kind of acceptance, when, after a moment of freezing in midair, he started falling down with the broken part of the branch, his legs unwrapping and letting it go. It seemed as if Kageyama’s body was acting on its own record, following the goal his mind set up to fulfill no matter the cost — to make it in time, just make it in fucking time.

Seeing that he was close enough now, Kageyama carefully but quickly slipped down from the branch, extending his right arm to grab it firmly as he reached out with his left hand at the same time, thanking the gods for the fact that Hinata was probably just instinctively holding his arms upright, second-mindedly hoping to grip something and stop his fall. It was probably one of those times he was so grateful for a skill that every setter needed — counting the distance. He would never have thought it’d happen to be so useful in real life, but now he was just bloody grateful, feeling as if he was blessed with it.  

He never realized that his mouth opened and that his throat was still capable of making sounds, not until he heard his own voice ringing in the air, pronouncing the thought that somehow seemed to become everything that mattered at that moment:

“I’m here!”

Hinata’s body seemed to tremble at that, Kageyama could practically see it. It was so ironic for the first thing to come to his mind in such situation to be Hinata’s words that once turned his life upside down, back when it still seemed that everything could fall apart any second and there would be no one to seek support from. And now Kageyama managed to prevent him from falling, quite literally.

One moment his hand was empty, and the next one it was already clutching Hinata’s wrist, making Kageyama gasp from sudden, but such a relieving contact. He never braced himself in time, too caught up with the fact that he managed to prevent Hinata from falling, and felt a pang of pain when his right arm stretched out to its limit, and it was as if something was pulling him up and down at the same time in an attempt to tear his body in two pieces. He groaned and inhaled sharply at that, his torso convulsing, as if trying to pull itself back together. His right elbow didn’t feel right either — he probably failed to turn it properly fast enough before it sprained. But to his own shock, all of that didn’t even matter when he could feel Hinata’s cool wrist in his scratched palm, gripping it with all his strength. He did it. He made it in time.

He didn’t have to look to feel Hinata slowly turning his head up to him, staring at him with wide, seemingly a bit watery eyes, his mouth opened a bit. Something really pissed Kageyama off in that expression — it seemed that Hinata actually didn’t expect Kageyama to help and catch him in time, so shocked he appeared to be. Did he really think that he was the only one with good reflexes?! How naive of him.

Their eyes met, and it seemed like both of them suddenly managed to suppress their panic and calm down a little, the realization that none of them was alone slowly dawning on them. The look Hinata gave him… sent goose bumps all over Kageyama’s body. He was still scared but somehow managed to doze his expression with so much gratitude and… something else, something Kageyama couldn’t quite find a name for. But Hinata somehow managed to convey it to him without words, closing his mouth and wrapping his sweaty, scratched fingers around Kageyama’s wrist in return.

It was probably really stupid, but for just a second it seemed like everything was gonna be okay, like they would just casually climb back down from here and go back to solid ground, away from this old cracking tree, strong wind and murmuring river. It seemed like now that he’d caught Hinata, nothing could possibly go wrong and everything would be just fine, because that goddamn idiot wasn’t going to get away from him, not when his grip on Kageyama’s wrist was as firm as ever.

But then he could feel the branch vibrating even before he started slipping down, as it cracked again, definitely too weak to hold the weight of both of them. His hand was barely able to keep its grip tight now, too, his elbow flaring up in pain from its strained position, his fingers numb and barely there. However, Kageyama only knew one thing for sure — he couldn’t let go. 

Looking back on it now, Kageyama can barely remember mere moments before the branch gave away, because it feels like those were the scariest moments of his whole life. All that fear that he’d managed to struggle through before seemed completely irrelevant in the face of the feeling that struck him back then, after he heard that crack. It was filling him like ice-cold liquid, head to toe, making it almost impossible to breath and to keep his mind clear, his chest swelling as if his heart was trying to break his ribs, beating ferociously, protesting and denying of what was apparently happening. He never told anyone about it, because he had really hard time processing it himself, no matter how fresh the memories were in his mind, even though he didn’t want them to. Anger, despair and terror flooded him instantly as he felt something missing around his own wrist.

Never before had he felt as frightened as when Hinata let go of his hand.

He couldn’t even say anything at first, only gripping Hinata’s hand tighter on a reflex and gritting his teeth, an irritated growl falling from his lips. There was a subtle suspicious that Hinata might’ve felt sick, or worse — passed out completely, but then his voice rang in the air, clear as usual, but filled with some weird acceptance and urgency, which was making Kageyama furious. 

“It won’t last!” Hinata yelled, as if mimicking his own words, which he’d smack him for if only they weren’t hanging over the river on an almost broken branch. “Let me go!” he screamed insistently, with such a tone of voice as if he couldn’t understand why in the world was Kageyama still holding him.

Oh, did that piss Kageyama off to no extent. 

He knew that he was far from a good teammate, gods forbid — far from a good friend, but did Hinata really, really think that he didn’t care enough to save his ass in a situation like this? Or did he actually come to think that everything that mattered to Kageyama was volleyball alone? That might’ve been his fault, but he wouldn’t have thought Hinata could be that stupidly dense. 

“Kageyama, what the hell, let me go!” Hinata yelled again, his arm shaking in an attempt to make Kageyama loosen his grip. But his anger only gave him power to grab his wrist even tighter, looking down on him, frowning.

“Shut up, you fucking idiot!” he growled in return, making Hinata stop moving altogether. “I’m not letting you go and you can wriggle as much as you want, but I’m not letting it happen!” to his surprise, Hinata was hanging still, staring at him with the weirdest expression he’s ever seen on his face. The problem was, he didn’t quite have any time to examine it or at least try guessing what it meant and what it was trying to convey — the branch cracked again, long and heart-wrenching, as he felt them sliding down. God fucking dammit! 

He had seconds. He realized that there was no way to escape this now — the branch was definitely bent too much, and even if he theoretically hanging to it alone, it’d most likely still break under his weight. He didn’t have time or strength to lift Hinata up with one arm either. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let them fall.

Looking down, feeling the wood breaking a few feet away from his grip on the branch, he swallowed, eyeing the dark waters. For a moment it seemed like the river was laughing at him, mocking his inability to avoid what was going to happen. He could feel his bloodstream filling with even more adrenaline and panic now, his limbs tingling and his chest lifting heavily as he realized that there was no way around it — and he wasn’t prepared for it in the slightest.

But Kageyama simply didn’t have any other choice, and so he was not going to let nature toy with him that simply. It’s not that high, he was convincing himself, knowing that this was actually true. It was supposed to be deep enough there, too. They would most likely not even break anything, they only needed to land—

Crack-crack. 

The moment the cracking quieted down completely was when Kageyama’s heart seemed to stop beating, and he couldn’t feel it picking up speed for all too long. But that didn’t matter, not any longer. 

Feeling the branch finally giving up, Kageyama wasted the rest of the strength in his arms in one last effort — he suddenly lifted Hinata with his left hand as high as he possibly could, which was right about his shoulders level, and their eyes met for just one second.

Hinata’s eyes were glistening, widened with shock and confusion. Kageyama wanted to apologize in his mind for some reason, but didn’t find any time to, when right in the next second they started falling down. 

He barely managed to wrap his arms around Hinata and press him against his chest as tight as he could, his own back facing the water as the wind made his T-shirt flap really loudly. Kageyama didn’t really know how this was going to turn out, but he realized that Hinata was much smaller than him and had way less chances to get out of this intact, and so he secured him and let his panic finally overflow him. Surprisingly, Hinata was still in his arms — maybe because everything was simply happening too fast, at least definitely faster than it seemed to Kageyama. He heard vague screaming to his left, where the people were standing, but what good could it do for him? The best Kageyama could do was to try curling in on himself a little, arching his back so that he wouldn’t meet the surface lying flat, which was far more dangerous. He closed his eyes, smelling the air around him getting more humid and sensing the first drops of water on his skin, and finally gave in to his cold, overwhelming panic, numbing his body entirely. He knew that he was pretty much useless from this moment on, because of that very stupid, stupid thought he kept rejecting up until now, up until avoiding this proved to be impossible and he screwed himself up all over. As much as it sucked, he was of no help to Hinata any longer, and he could only hope that he wouldn’t mess up and make it difficult for him to get to the shore, because he himself was most certainly incapable of that.

Kageyama couldn’t swim. 

* * *

Everything was happening so fast and made so little sense that Tooru could barely follow this trail of unfortunate events. 

The moment Hinata’s branch broke at last, he found himself frozen in place, clutching the plastic bags Tobio had dropped so hard that it was surprising how he managed to not tear the handlers off already. The feelings taking over his body weren’t exactly foreign or unfamiliar to him, but he would never think that he could experience something like that concerning Tobio, and even his stupid orange-haired teammate. 

He felt his heart lowering and squeezing in his chest as every cell of his body was yelling at him to help them, yet all he could do was stand there, more useless than ever, and just watch the catastrophe unfold. He was so concerned and worried he could feel his fingers tremble, like before a particularly important game, but much, much worse. Cold shivers ran down his body as he found himself desperately trying to convey just one thought to Tobio with his penetrating gaze: Just make it in time. 

He was surprised to see Hinata managing to still take care of that damn cat, being in such a hopeless situation like his — he somehow twisted and legit threw the cat in their direction as far as possible, as it instantly turned round in midair, its paws looking down as it was trying to see where to land.

Something clicked in Tooru before he could even process that, while he was standing there, squinting at the cat. He dropped the bags on the ground and rushed to the stone fence, yelling at the same time:

“Iwa-chan!”

Thank gods his friend was quick to react and close enough to trust him without any explanation. Even though he voice was as urgent as ever, if it was anyone apart from Iwaizumi, they’d probably lose just one second in their confusion, which could cost way too much.

Tooru bent over the fence, lying on his stomach and feeling the dread settling in there as he was slowly but surely slipping down — but he trusted Iwa-chan completely and so he made no effort to stop, focusing on the cat. A powerful gust of wind was against it, messing up Tooru’s hair completely from the back and at the same time preventing the cat from actually reaching the edge of the stone wall to land on. 

Some small part of him panicked as he realized what position was he about to fall down in — only his legs up to like half of his shins were still on the wall, but his knees were going down, definitely heading for a very unfortunate and unpleasant meeting. Tooru only had time to grit his teeth, as his right knee was, of course, the first to hit the stone. It flared up in pain, and then the left one joined it, too, but it wasn’t half as bad as his right one. Tooru bit his lip, wincing and muffling a yelp. It was just one hit, nothing was going to happen to him… And so he reached out as far as he could, ignoring his knees, holding his palms up and not taking his eyes off the cat, counting and recounting as to where would be the closest spot it’d pass by him. 

His setter gaze never failed him, and not this time either. 

He could feel two touches at the same time — the cat’s soft but wet fur as it flung in his hands, scratching his forearms with its limbs waving in different directions, and Iwa-chan’s firm grip on his shins as he was dangerously close to simply fall down from the wall, headfirst into the river, but then froze suddenly, supported from above.

After a moment of utter silence (or maybe it was just him deafened by all the screaming around him and the sound his own heartbeat somehow reaching his ears) Tooru finally exhaled the breath he didn’t know he was holding, his heart slowly picking up speed from its sudden stop when he was still falling. The cat was in his arms, and he himself was in Iwa-chan’s strong arm.

That damn cat would probably never feel itself safer than this for its whole life. Or well, nine lives. 

Because Iwaizumi’s hands were definitely the safest place in the whole world. 

Feeling the grip around his ankles tightening, Tooru found himself being sharply dragged upwards, and for a second his right leg was left without any support, but then he instantly felt his shoulder getting grabbed firmly as his knees were already behind the fence, and then his chest was being hold up as well as Iwa-chan dragged him back to the solid ground. The cat in his hands was unbelievably still, breathing heavily and probably trying to recover from such shock.

Phew. Tooru noticed how shocked the closest people around him looked, but for once he didn’t care about being kind of a spotlight. It was even kind of amusing, because he’s never felt such an urge to save an animal before, and it was nice to see him succeed.

Iwa-chan didn’t look that pleased, though. He seemed to be studying him, as if looking for some indications of the fact that he was hurt. Tooru could feel that he was absolutely fine, though. Apparently, Iwa-chan picked up on that, too.

“You dumbass, don’t you dare scare me like that ever again!” he yelled, swinging his arm to smack him slightly, but as it turned out, Tooru, who was already anticipating his friend’s strong punch, didn’t even have to dodge this time.

The cat in his arms suddenly came back to life, jerking up and hissing at Iwa-chan, quickly scratching his hand before he could even touch Tooru. Iwa-chan hissed angrily, shaking his bleeding arm, while Tooru, with his eyes widened and lips twisted in a satisfyingly surprised smile, gazed at the cat fondly, then at his friend, and then laughed. 

“Look at that, Iwa-chan, even cats know that I’m the best!” he giggled nervously, watching as Iwa-chan casted him a furious glare, but then something happened that he definitely wasn’t anticipating — the cat meowed and hissed again, struggling free and scratching everything in its way, which were, for most part, Tooru’s arms. 

“Ow-ow-ow-ow!” he protested, instantly letting the cat go and watching it disappearing in midst of people’s legs, waving its tail angrily. What an arrogant creature! Doing that to its saviors, how dares it! But Tooru could only cast it an offended glance before it finally hit him that he almost forgot about what was happening a few meters away from him. Turning around sharply, he was right in time to see the branch the kids were hanging on breaking.

What his saw next if didn’t make him reconsider everything he knew about Tobio, than definitely made it much difficult to match what he was watching now to his memories from junior high. It was almost as if it was his twin or something, but Tooru knew he was an only child.

Tobio-chan, being a setter, surely counted everything out, dragging his teammate up with his left hand a second before the branch gave away completely, and then Tooru froze on spot, seeing him pressing Hinata to his body and letting himself fall down with his back down, obviously deciding to take the full blow. Now, don’t get him wrong, he knew perfectly well that Tobio has changed, changed a lot, but still… this was something of a whole different level. People weren’t just risking their health and lives for those they didn’t care enough about, no. And especially not Tobio, whom one had some hard time imagining finding a compromise with any human being just about a year ago, much less actually saving someone, taking so many risks upon himself. It was… fascinating. Fascinating and weird and unsettling even, because that was a change he never saw coming, a change so big he couldn’t even quite find any analogy to it from his own experience, something groundbreaking.

And the worst part was, he could feel it affecting him as well. Making his heart race, his breathing get shallower, making his palms sweatier and his shoulders heavier — making him with reluctant yet such clear worry for a person he used to envy so much once. But at the same time, he understood that game and real life were different things — and while beating his kouhai up on the court brought him pleasure and glee, seeing him on verge of death didn’t in the slightest. Nobody deserved this, not even Ushijima. And he wanted to just make it stop.

Fortunately, Tobio was smart enough to arch his back a bit, which might’ve helped him land as he smacked in the surface, sending splashes everywhere around and instantly disappear under the waters, swallowing the two of them up. The current wasn’t strong enough to carry them away quickly, but the hit could probably disorient them and generally even do some harm, since there were still those four-five meters. After a couple of seconds of not seeing them swimming up and trying to turn the voices around him down, because they distracted him a lot, Tooru looked down, his fingers almost digging in the stone wall he was holding to. There was a narrow cemented ledge close to the surface of the river, reminding him of some sort of a path and probably used to clean it when necessary, and one person could definitely fit there. He just had to be careful sliding down, he warned himself, shifting his weight on his arms and raising his left leg to climb on the fence. Slowly and care…

He couldn’t even finish that thought when his right knee suddenly erupted in pain, as if being pierced with a hot wire, making him slack down and almost fall to the side — but Iwa-chan caught and supported him, eyeing his leg carefully.

“Did you hit it?” he asked, frowning. Tooru nodded, knowing that there was no time to deal with this — how long could they have stayed underwater even?! Thankfully, Iwa-chan seemed to share his thoughts and let go of him carefully, making sure that Tooru was leaning onto the wall.

“Iwa-chan, I—” he started, gritting his teeth and trying to forget about the damn leg, but didn’t have to finish, just as usual:

“Stay here,” Iwa-chan said, his arms already on the wall, but his eyes lingering on Tooru’s knee for a couple of seconds. “And don’t strain it even more, I’ll be back soon.” Tooru’d usually protest and go with him, but he realized that he was useless at the moment and would only get in his way. So he nodded and watched Iwa-chan casually jumping down from the fence and gradually slipping and stepping down from the sloping bank. The angle was roughly about fifty-sixty degrees? Manageable for sportsmen, quite easy for Iwa-chan. Sometimes Tooru wondered if there were things he couldn’t do even.

He couldn’t get distracted in its favor then, but his knee was working up and that really unsettled him. He’s been wearing support for quite a long time and hoped that all the consequences from that accident have already faded away, but apparently, that was naive of him.

When Iwa-chan was almost down there, descending quickly and confidently, Tooru finally saw someone emerging from the water and squinter, leaning further onto the wall and ignoring his aching knee, trying to take a better view. It was definitely chibi-chan’s bright orange mop but… where the hell Tobio was?

His fingers turned cold and tingled as he found himself wondering about one simple yet terrifying due to the circumstances question — can Tobio swim?

Somehow it felt like he knew the answer already, wishing that he didn’t.

The shorty dived almost simultaneously with Iwa-chan, who, of course, simply jumped in the water and made his way to the spot where he saw them last time, swimming freestyle, and then disappear underwater just before reaching it. It appeared that Tooru’s heart was beating out something along the lines of “Why are you stressing me out so much today, moron, what is happening” on his ribs. He didn’t even notice when he held his breath, too.

This suspense, the bloody obscurity sucked the worst. It always seemed much longer than it actually was, numbing his body, making him stiff in anticipation of the worst.

When three heads emerged from the water a few seconds later, Tooru felt like something broken in his chest started moving again, as he sighed in relief. Tobio was obviously coughing, being hold up by Iwa-chan, and his teammate was right next to him, patting his shoulder with his hand and murmuring something Tooru couldn’t hear.

Iwa-chan helped them to make their way to the shore (although, that chibi-chan barely needed any help, perfectly capable of swimming there on his own) and sat down heavily on that ledge, all soaking wet and dripping. Iwa was still supporting him, a hand on his back, probably asking him how he was feeling. Tooru couldn’t make out everything, but Tobio looked shaken yet intact, coughing a little by now — he managed to hold his breath after all. He drew his legs closer to him, as if willing to get away from the river as far as possible, which was understandable. Hinata was sitting next to him, holding his hand with both of his and telling him something, almost instinctively, his intense gaze on him definitely not following his own speech, which Tooru couldn’t hear because of the wind.

Tooru let hit head fall down on his arms that rested on the fence, covering his nape with his forearms and massaging his scalp gently. Everything was over now and seemed sort of unreal, even though some of those pictures were probably to stay burned in his mind for good. It happened so much quicker than it seemed for him, because his mind interpreted it as if it took forever, processing everything and giving him even more useless thoughts and ponderings. The smell of wet stone was even reassuring in a way now. Thunder rumbled overhead again, making Tooru close his eyes for just a moment, regaining all his lost to hell composure and clear mind. What an unbelievable, tiring day it’s been.

Feeling small, almost timid but at least warm droplets prickle his skin, Tooru straightened up, seeing Iwa holding his hand out to help Tobio stand. The shorty wanted to help him, too, but Tobio waved his hand so that he wouldn’t. Well, not surprising, considering this whole unfortunate event. On one side, it seemed ironic that Tobio rushed there to save his teammate and ended up being the one in need of saving in the end, but thinking it through, Tooru realized that it wasn’t legit. He didn’t call that guy chibi-chan for no reason — he was much smaller and lighter compared to Tobio, additionally, without getting caught by him first, he’d fall from one-two meters higher even. And Tooru really wouldn’t want to bet on how that fall could’ve possibly impacted him.

Since Tobio was standing, then his back would be alright. Tooru found himself actually thanking… he didn’t know whom or what, or more importantly — why — but he still felt that loathing relief, which he tried to suppress at first, but then decided to just let it go. He didn’t have any enthusiasm or irony left for that.

There were less people behind him now, with them seeing that everyone was seemingly going to be okay, but some still stayed, calling for those three to go out already. Tooru heard some of them talking about calling an ambulance, but neither Tobio nor Hinata wanted it, insisting that they were both fine, so they dismissed it — they really didn’t look that bad, didn’t jostle anything (Iwa-chan made sure of that) and only needed warmth with some dry clothes now. Iwa-chan was helping Tobio, who was still kind of swaying on his feet, to climb up, using different small ledges as supports, but they were relatively slow; chibi-chan, not being able to help there due to some climbing and busy hands required, simply ran up, jumping from one ledge to another with short stops to catch his breath. Tooru watched him carefully, fascinated — he seemed to jump at such ease, as if he's been doing it for quite long, but somehow managed to make his leaps long despite the fact that he was most likely tired and shaken. At some point, when he almost reached the upper edge, he simply sat down a bit and then lunged up, jumping to a level seemingly even higher than the net and making Tooru's eyes widen. He hasn't just “progressed” — seeing this difference in such span of time, Tooru could tell that this guy has been working like crazy with his jumps. He backed away when shorty reached the fence and held to the edge of it, but after a moment of hesitation decided to grip his hands and help him to pull up. He rolled over the wall, thanking Tooru hurriedly, plopped down on the ground, crunching and breathing heavily, but the next second he was already bending over, watching Iwa-chan and Tobio making their last feet up. Tooru joined him, looking down, and that was when Iwaizumi assisted Tobio up to the fence, creating a footstep with his palms and pushing him up, naturally, right to Tooru’s eye level. 

Their eyes met, and Tooru got quite surprised by the amount of... composure he saw? There were definitely confusion, panic and fear, all those never really left, but still, Tobio was less shaken than he expected him to be for some reason. Maybe it was just him miscounting, but could it be... could it be Tobio simply being in the situation for not the first time already, could it be him having a more or less similar experience? It was still difficult to say anything about his condition, though — his gaze was kind of lost when Tooru grabbed his hands firmly, empty even, as he suppressed a frustrated moan when his knee kindly reminded of itself again and pulled him up carefully yet quickly, Iwa-chan doing the donkey job from below anyway. He grunted, feeling his knee straining — and then shorty was there to help, grabbing one of Tobio’s hands and pulling him up for sure. Tobio put one of his legs up on the edge of the wall to help himself and then lifted himself up from Iwa-chan’s support, relying on Tooru's and shorty’s arms for a few seconds only. But that wasn't for long as he was already basically lying on the stone wall, sliding down carefully yet still barely managing to not simply fall to his side, but being supported in time by Tooru and Hinata. They helped him to lean back on the wall and just stand there, catching his damn breath. Tooru was looking at the two of them, his chibi-chan standing really close, their sides brushing, and couldn’t help himself but feel a pang of relief, which quickly found its way outside:

“You’re quite heavy, Tobio-chan!” he complained, hearing his voice definitely being higher than required. “I wonder if I can even call someone that big “-chan” in the first place,” he tried to redeem himself, and then got casted with Tobio’s best “seriously” glance, exhausted and neutral as ever, but his eyes giving everything away. 

“Gr… Oikawa-san,” Hinata blurted out all of a sudden, making him turn his eyes to him. “Your knee, you’d better, uh...” he nodded in its direction, and Tooru reflexively lowered his gaze, seeing all too familiar twitching and feeling that gnawing ache. He frowned at that — it was most likely going to pass soon, but still, not like it was particularly comfortable or anything.

The shorty, however, definitely sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and that sort of unsettled Tooru.

Iwa-chan jumped over the fence, clapping his hands and looking almost casual, apart from the part where he was soaking wet with his arm scratched badly. But he didn’t seem to be paying attention to that, turning it to Tooru and his knee instead, crunching down and examining it, running his fingers around the joint gently, which made Tooru hiss in pain quietly at time point. Goddamn leg, for how long he was going to be paying for it! 

“Nothing much, hopefully,” Iwa-chan confirmed, rising back up, “you should’ve been more careful, idiot,” he added, earning an offended glare from Tooru as he protested loudly: 

“I was saving a life, you know!” but Iwa-chan wasn’t even listening to him anymore, turning all his attention to the kids. How rude and impolite of him, huh! But while he wasn’t looking, Tooru at least had a few moments to quickly study him, making sure that he didn't hurt himself in the process. He knew just how skilled his friend was at hiding things like that, especially from him, and he wished he didn’t. 

 “You idiot!” shorty yelled at Tobio suddenly, not even caring that there were still people around them. The latter jerked up weakly, his expression, however, not quite changing, still too empty, which kind of unsettled Tooru. But the shorty was probably too angry to hold back now. “Why in the world did you climb there?! I wasn’t being serious about it! Kageyama, what the hell!” his voice almost broke at that and Iwaizumi put a hand on his shoulder, making it visible just how badly he was shaking. Kageyama was simply staring at him, as if not having any idea of how to reply to that. “Did you even use your brain, you could’ve drowned, you could’ve damaged your back in the fall!” he screamed and gestured, waving his hands, his eyes sparkling with rebel spirit. For some reason, the way Tobio suddenly tensed up and lowered his head a bit seemed to change the atmosphere, making Tooru glance at him. “I could’ve managed on my own just fine, why would you even—” he suddenly went quiet at that, closing his mouth and piercing Tobio with his gaze, because apparently, his kouhai couldn’t hold back any longer, too.

“And did you use your brain, moron?!” he yelled back, leaning forwards and making Tooru instinctively put a hand on his shoulder as well, pulling him back slightly, but not interfering. Surprisingly, Tobio didn’t shake it off as he expected him to. “Did you think before climbing up there — about the consequences, about the traumas you could’ve gotten, about what your injury would do to the team!” Unvoiced and to me was all too clear in the air, his tone reminding Tooru of sharp icicles, as cold as his wet skin under his fingers, and he squeezed it even tighter without even noticing. “Was I supposed to just stand here and watch you risking your life in the dumbest way possible without doing anything about it?! Would you do that?!” he demanded even louder, sounding furious, but somehow Tooru could still hear that momentary wavering in his voice, as he was probably unsure of what he was going to get as an answer. He still wasn’t sure whether the shorty would do something like that for him, and Tooru sighed at that, convinced that Tobio wasn’t loosing Ushijima that much in his denseness. 

The shorty was speechless, which wasn’t a surprise. Tobio was breathing heavily, coughing quietly and shivering under the cold wind, but not averting his glare from his friend, who stared back at him with some sort of an unbelieving face, seemingly shocked to the core and left with no excuses or ways to defend himself. It was obvious that Tobio drove him into a corner there: the shorty’s face clearly gave away the fact that he couldn’t raise any objection — he knew perfectly well that if it was his setter on that tree, he’d jump to him as well.

But jeez, none of them was apparently going to say anything useful and actually resolve this situation. These two were just too stubborn and a bit too dense for that, which could’ve been amusing if they weren’t standing on the bank of the river, three out of four of them soaking wet, while thunder was still rumbling overheads, as if subtly telling them to get the hell out. So, just like usual, Tooru was left to deal with this. Blinking and sighing, he waved his hand and pointed at the sky, catching everybody’s attention.

“It’s going to rain real soon, we’d better go away now, giving that you’ve already swam enough,” he glanced at Iwa-chan, remembering his “some swimming wouldn’t hurt” phrase. Oh, if only he had known. Tooru bent down carefully, trying not to jostle his leg too much, and picked up the plastic bags so that they wouldn’t get really dirty. Fortunately, the shorty wasn’t paying any attention to them whatsoever. 

“Where do you two live?” Iwa-chan asked the scholars suddenly, making Tooru look up from the purchases. Huh, so he didn’t want them to go home alone or something? That was certainly… nice of him, but as far as he knew, Tobio’s place wasn’t nearby, nor was the shorty’s, and they lived quite far away from each other. 

The duo vaguely explained where their houses were to Iwa-chan, who frowned, hearing that, and looked at Tooru meaningfully. He squinted and clutched the handlers of the bags. Somehow he felt like he knew what Iwa-chan was thinking of, but at the same time he couldn’t believe that he was actually thinking of that.

“Let’s go to Oikawa’s place,” Iwa-chan suggested, and Tooru felt his throat contracting. “It’s way closer, his parents are in Tokyo for now and you really need to dry and change your clothes, or you can catch some nasty cold,” Tooru looked at his friend, feeling totally betrayed, but the worst part was that… he was left without any chance of objection as well. Iwa was right, of course — they couldn’t really keep standing here and the way home for both of them was too long to walk it in wet clothes under the rain. He noticed how Tobio and Hinata exchanged awkward, conflicted gazes, definitely just as unsure about the whole idea as Tooru was. He even felt some sort of loathing pity to the two of them — that was quite a way to make them as uncomfortable as ever. They were all victims here, though, so it’s not like there was much of a choice left. 

“Okay, I’ll be kind enough to give you the privilege of visiting my residence, dear rivals,” he said slowly, suppressing a weird desire to yawn. “But we really need to go, it’s getting quite chilly…” he shivered and took the bags in his arms as he was about to make the first step in the needed direction, but then something made him stop. That something was the strained, tensed up feeling in his knee, which he wasn’t sure was or wasn’t capable of a walk right now. Tooru wasn’t fond of cussing too much, but now he felt like it. He didn’t want to let the damn knee interfere even more or hold them back, he just wanted to get to warmth, was it too much to ask?! Maybe, if he’d just be careful, it was going to be alright as it is…

He could tell that it wasn’t going to be alright as soon as his weight started shifting on the bad leg and he felt like swaying, but to his surprise, somebody steadied him from his side, allowing him to lean onto him a bit and putting a hand on his shoulder. Blinking as he saw Iwa-chan standing in front of him, looking caught off guards just like he felt, he turned his head to meet dark-blue eyes, eyeing him carefully and awkwardly at the same time.

Tooru was quick to regain his balance, and Tobio was quick to let him go, averting his gaze, his cheeks flushed a bit. Whoa. Okay, he really didn’t see that coming. 

“I’m sorry,” Tobio murmured really quietly, lowering his head a bit and shifting to his teammate. Tooru swallowed and turned his head to Iwa-chan, who was already beside him, his eyes still lingering on his kouhai’s form. 

“ ‘s alright,” he answered just as quietly, sounding more stunned than he’d like himself to. Iwa raised his arm, making him lean onto him from the right side, and Tooru squeezed his shoulder gently, their position being painfully familiar and surprisingly comfortable, considering the circumstances. Even though Iwa was already wet, he still radiated some pleasant warmth, which always managed to somehow comfort Tooru. They slowly started moving, Tobio and his friend walking not far behind, heading to Tooru’s place.

“What do you think was that?” Tooru asked Iwa-chan in hushed voice. His friend stared at him, as if mentally wondering just how dumb he was, which made Tooru furrow his eyebrows slightly. 

“No idea what evil motives you could’ve already detected there, but from my unbiased view, it’s gratitude, you dumbass,” he replied, tightening his grip around his chest as he helped him to move faster, in silence broken only by soft murmur of starting rain, leaving him to his thoughts.

Gratitude, you say, Tooru hummed quietly, pondering that idea. His lips involuntarily twisted in a slightly crooked smile. 

Fascinating. 

* * *

Fortunately, it didn’t take them long to reach Tooru’s house and practically a moment later after they’d entered, rain intensified even more and started pouring onto the streets with new strength. It was quiet and dark inside, which was unusual for his house, but as soon as Iwa-chan turned the lights on, a relieved sigh escaped his own lips. It was good to finally come back home after such a catastrophic day. He would finally get his deserved rest.

Glancing back, Tooru noticed that his kouhai and his teammate were still standing in front of the doorway, looking as uncomfortable and conflicted and confused as ever. His mouth twisted in a weak grin. That was even amusing in a way.

“Come on in,” Iwa-chan urged them, following Tooru’s gaze and helping him further inside, to the coach in the living room, where he quickly but carefully sat him down. Tooru could hear the youngsters taking their shoes off and then they joined them in the living room, glancing around and taking in the atmosphere. He noticed how water was trickling off them, and how their arms were covered in goose bumps, and how they were shivering, obviously cold. They should really change and warm themselves up, or instead of two scholars Tooru would have to deal with two sick scholars, and he really didn’t want that. 

“Hey, you’re gonna drip all over the floors!” he complained, instantly catching their attention and trying to sound as offended as ever. They looked at him, then at the floor under their feet, which was actually already covered in some drops, and shifted uncomfortably, seemingly attempting to mumble something incoherent, apologize maybe. Duh, those two! “Bathroom is upstairs, first door to the right,” he told them, then nodded in the direction of the chest of drawers. “Iwa-chan will give you some clothes and towels, then we’ll see what to do about the two of you.” He finished, and Iwa-chan got up, walking up to the commode, rummaging in there and quickly fishing out two big towels, some T-shirts and shorts — he already knew where was what in probably every corner of Tooru’s house already. He gave Tobio and Hinata everything he managed to find and then added:

“Come down for dinner after you change,” he invited them, making Tooru turn his head sharply at that. Wha-at, come on, they already gave them shelter, and now they were supposed to feed them with their own food, too?! Iwa-chan casted him a penetrating glare, as if hearing his thoughts, and Tooru averted his gaze, pouting slightly. Uh, so rude, Iwa-chan. It wasn’t like they were starving or something. It’s just that… things were weird enough as they were, and the more they had to interact… the weirder it got. And it made everyone uncomfortable, Tooru being the first.

Although, well, maybe not everyone. One had to try real hard to actually make Iwaizumi Hajime uncomfortable, because Iwa-chan seemed to always know what to do or say, or where to hit when it came to Tooru. Even though Tooru couldn’t really complain about his self-control either, he was still far from fond of what was going on, and he wanted to end it quicker, not turn it into a fancy dinner of some sort. 

When Tobio and Hinata were gone, Iwa-chan instantly turned his attention to him, bending his left leg and sitting down on it, carefully running his fingers on his skin. Tooru twitched when he touched the area where it hurt most, making Iwa-chan involuntarily glance up at him with concern. Such looks… didn’t exactly help him to feel any better, even though he realized that it was only natural, because Iwa-chan was his best friend and of course he was worried and simply couldn’t help that, but still…

He didn’t like making people worry, especially those closest to him. And that damn knee had already made them waste their time with him and lose quite some nerve cells. Tooru’s leg flared up when Iwa-chan started massaging it gently, but he bit his lip and kept quiet, his fingers digging into the soft cushion. As much as he tried to convince himself and others that he was okay, that he could handle it, he always knew he was lying, and it sucked, because he couldn’t say anything else, couldn’t ask people for help. He messed up. And now others had to deal with it instead of him. Just how selfish was that? Tooru heard the water tap being opened as muffled murmur of water reached his ears, and eyed Iwa-chan’s face, studying his features, as if he didn’t know them by now. The way he looked much more serious than ever, his frown, the way he pressed his lips together as he tried his best to make it as painless as possible, knowing that it had to be done.

Of course it made Tooru feel good in a way — made him feel wanted, loved even. But at the same time he hated it. He hated seeing people he cared about sick with worry and at the same time having the reluctant satisfaction from the realization that they cared about him, too. Sometimes that made him want to punch a wall with his bad knee, but so that no one would see that. Just for the sake of it. To… get a payback. 

“Your stupid thoughts are too loud, dumbass,” Iwa-chan said firmly, returning Tooru to the present and making him furrow his eyebrows in an offended way as well, tilting his head slightly.

“What,” he found himself asking, even though it was probably a dumb question, because he already knew the answer. Iwa-chan could read him like an open book, there was no way around that. And he usually did it for Tooru’s own sake. 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” he snapped back. See? Unbelievable. “And I hope that you also know that I’ll still find a safe spot to punch you in for that, even with a hurt knee of yours,” Tooru’s mouth was left opened as he wanted to protest but failed miserably at that, wincing and inhaling sharply when Iwa-chan hit a particularly sour place. His fingers lingered above his skin for a second, hesitating when he was hurt, but then still lowered down on his knee, almost stroking it, as gently as possible. Tooru could feel the ache slowly, gradually fading away as he sighed and closed his eyes, letting go of the cushion, and embracing the relief it brought him. He could hear Iwa-chan standing up and going back to the commode, quickly fishing something out of it and coming back, sitting in front of him again. 

“For such a smart setter, sometimes you appear to be quite a dumbass, Assikawa,” he told him, somehow restraining all the possible sharp remarks, the quietness and determination in his low voice making him keep silent and just listen. “I know what you’re thinking, and I just want you to finally accept that you’re wrong and get rid of those stupidest ideas,” feeling cool touches on his skin, Tooru opened his eyes, watching Iwa-chan wrapping a clean bandage around his knee. He was doing it with such great care and attention, but also skillfully, just because he was used to it already, was used to handling situations like this and helping him out all the time, that it made Tooru’s heart swell and slam against his ribs a couple of times. He didn’t deserve this. “It’s not about deserving something,” I’m not worth it, “or being worth, you hear me?” Iwa-chan frowned, shifting the bandage as he readjusted it in a better way. Then he took a white support, carefully lifting Tooru’s leg a bit and slipping it up on his knee. Tooru swallowed, studying the smooth yet confident movements of his hands. He knew that he was awesome, but he also knew how difficult he could be sometimes, and what it probably took Iwa-chan to deal with him. But he has never ever failed him — always capable of figuring a way out of everything, always ready to help, always here. 

But did Tooru give him back enough? Did he live up to this friendship? Recalling all those years together, all the accidents, happy moments, sad moments, breaking points and everything… Could he really say that he did? Even with this damn knee — how many times had Iwa-chan told him not to overwork? How many times did he warn him about what it was fraught with? And did he listen to him, just once?

You deserve a better friend than me. 

Iwa-chan finished wrapping the support around his knee, covering it with his palm and brushing it against the fabric once, and then looked up, some weird spark of concern lighting his eyes up. He seemed to glance at his palms, and Tooru realized that his fists were clenched, even though he didn’t really notice that. He was good, really good with wearing masks and only letting people know what he wanted them to know, but it was way harder with Iwa-chan, who’s known him for so long — and despite his experience, his hands somehow ended up giving something away. Tooru was always honest with his hands for some reason, and of course Iwa-chan took note of it as well. Tooru couldn’t quite decipher that gaze of his, and he didn’t really have enough time to. Iwa did something he really didn’t see coming, standing up and wrapping his arms around him tightly, but softly, making his face nuzzle into his shoulder, and surprisingly, as unexpected as that was, Tooru didn’t find himself that shocked or uncomfortable, more like… relieved. As if Iwa-chan did something he wanted him to do, without even saying it out loud, and reassuring him with his embrace. His friend wasn’t exactly stiff, either. He wasn’t that type of guy who’d do this often, but the way he always chose the best timing, when no one could see them, when he could fully give in and was on some verge, never failed to amaze Tooru. 

“You’re shaking,” Iwa-chan stated simply, as if rightfully explaining his actions like that, but with a quiet, barely noticeable hint of worry in his voice, slowly stroking his back with his right hand in circles. “Feeling alright?” His voice seemed to not even change, yet somehow there was just so much care and fondness and genuine concern in it that it made Tooru slack down and press his face against his shoulder, sighing in relief. He didn’t feel himself shaking, at least definitely not anymore, not now. Not when he was in Iwaizumi’s embrace.

Because Iwa-chan’s arms were definitely the safest place in the whole world. 

He breathed in that nice familiar scent of his, closing his eyes and allowing himself to relax completely for just a few moments. Just as long as there was a person who’d definitely protect and take care of him while he does, someone who wouldn’t let him fall. 

“Yeah,” he answered, his voice sounding hoarse, but stronger than he was anticipating. That somehow encouraged him to go on and get himself together, not letting go just yet, though. “Sorry, I got tired a bit, I guess!” he told him, grinning weakly. “Looking after kouhais turned out,” he paused right there, realizing that he said kouhais in plural. Oh. Uh, that was too much, but there was no way back — maybe Iwa-chan didn’t even notice it? “…to be much more troublesome than before, huh,” the way his friend’s body jerked slightly with a short smirk, his fingers knocking on his back in a quick rhythm, somehow delivered to Tooru that he did notice it anyway. What a pity. He didn’t really consider that shorty his kouhai, okay? It was just… simpler to put it that way. He was younger than him, too, just like Tobio. So that was fine. It didn’t mean anything. He simply misspoke. That’s it. 

Iwa-chan pulled back, standing up as they both heard the sound of the bathroom door opening. 

“Do you want to take a shower?” he said, going up to the chest of drawers to snatch two more towels, throwing one to him. Tooru shook his head, roughly wiping himself dry — he wasn’t all that wet either way, being the only one who didn’t take an unexpected dive back in the city. “I’ve already dried as well, I guess,” Iwa-chan murmured, quickly finishing it with the towel and going to the kitchen. Tooru wanted to protest, insisting for him to take a shower, but he knew all too well how stubborn Iwa could be. “We need to get some food now,” he added, and Tooru heard the fridge opening in the kitchen as Iwa-chan started preparing them dinner. Some part of him even regretted having strangers in his house right now, to be honest, but well. At least he didn’t have to deal with it alone. 

Tobio and Hinata walked down the stairs, changed and seemingly looking much better, their cheeks reddish and hair a bit fluffier than usual; that was especially funny with Tobio’s mop. Hinata wore an orange T-shirt with aliens (Tooru’s heart skipped a beat when he realized that this one used to be his favorite once) and some black trousers on him, which Tooru didn’t even remember. Tobio got his old blue T-shirt for practicing (ironically, the color of Aobajousai) and dark-blue shorts… were those Iwa-chan’s? Whatever. They both had towels on their shoulders and unsettled looks, which also matched them. But they didn’t seem that uncomfortable anymore, at least not as if they were walking through a minefield. Tooru wasn’t quite sure whether he was supposed to feel better or worse seeing that. 

“You’re on time,” Iwa-chan commented, coming back and putting four bentos on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Tooru tilted his head, wondering why weren’t they going to eat in the kitchen — did Iwa-chan not want to move him or something? Well, he was okay with that anyway, not that he wanted to move all that much right now. And as much as it was frustrating — having to share a dinner with them, tasty food was above everything, because Tooru was really hungry already. 

Unfortunately, Tooru’s sofa wasn’t really big, and chairs were too high for a coffee table. When Iwa-chan picked the chopsticks and gestured their guests to sit next to Tooru, they humbly suggested that they could just sit on the floor, which made Tooru open his mouth and stare at them disapprovingly in a “is-sitting-on-the-floor-better-than-sitting-with-an-amazing-person-who-is-me” way, while silently hoping that they would, actually. But Iwa-chan couldn’t let that happen, of course not…

“Come along, take a seat,” he encouraged them, plopping down next to Tooru clapping on the cushion next to him. “This isn’t warm food, but there’s some tea getting ready,” Tobio, being more familiar with Iwa-chan, finally got closer, put his towel away and sat down carefully, Hinata following him. Iwa opened the bentos and gave them away at random.

“Itadakimasu,” Tooru and Iwa said in unison, just like usual, while Tobio and Hinata hurriedly followed them, too, like an echo. That sounded ridiculous, but who cared when they could finally eat something. 

The food was good, and after all that has happened today, it tasted even better. Tooru didn’t even notice when he finished his portion, wiping his mouth with a napkin and glancing to the side, seeing the youngsters sitting there uncomfortably and shifting on the sofa, their bento boxes empty already. Huh, were they actually that hungry? Although, well, that was fair enough — at least Tooru didn’t take a swim in the cold river. 

Iwa-chan calmly ate his last piece of meat and clapped his thighs.

“I’m going to the shower now,” he declared, attracting everyone’s attention. Tooru couldn’t really understand how could his friend behave so casual in such a thorny situation, but he couldn’t lose to him, could he? Yet there was still a very important unresolved question hanging in the air, seemingly being radiated by everyone except for Iwa — the so now what question. Because seriously, what were they supposed to do now, after all?

Fortunately, Iwa-chan didn’t need any special hints. 

“You can wait down here, I’ll be quick and then bring the futons to both of you,” he suggested, starting to make his way out, politely asking Hinata and Tobio to give him some space. Those airheads were too baffled with what they’ve just heard to react on the first notice, though. Tooru couldn’t blame them for that. 

Something was really, really wrong with today; the evening was somehow screwed up, spiraling out of control and dragging everyone down with it. It wouldn’t be that much of a surprise for Tooru to find out that it was some aliens’ business, because everything appeared to be happening according to a particularly evil keikaku and he could almost hear its creator laughing with grim satisfaction, because he managed to pull it off indeed. He turned today in a catastrophe and left no survivors. First meeting Tobio, which was bad news already; then having to babysit him and help him find the damn present, even though he was aware that he didn’t have to, but something, were that feelings or consciousness or whatever weird crap going on in his head, made him stay and assist his rival. He could only hope that no one else saw that together... shopping. But that surely wasn’t enough — those jerks had to have an act of true love and idiotic self-sacrifice, involving half the street in it, save that damn cat, which ended up with Tooru’s knee flaring up again, and fall epically into the bloody river, having Iwa-chan saving their sorry skins. And of course neither Tooru, nor Iwa, being that cool and amazing (maybe Tooru just a bit more) couldn’t leave two soaking wet kids under the rain, and guess whose house happened to be nearby, guess who had food in the fridge and heart big enough to let the scholars in. All of that was already unbelievable and only getting worse, even when Tooru thought that it couldn’t. 

Wasn’t it clear that a perspective of such a sleepover was making everyone uncomfortable? They could just call their parents and be done with it! They weren’t any of their responsibility, so why bother? 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Iwa said, making Tooru snort, “and trust me, I’ve considered it already. Now try to tone down your great arrogance and imagine yourself on their place,” no thank you. “After such an accident, would you want your parents to know? How would they explain the fact that they ended up here, at your place, of all people? And so late?” Glancing at the clocks, Tooru was surprised to realize that it was getting close to 11 pm. “It's a long drive from there, too. So you,” he nodded at Tooru, “quiet down; and you two,” he nodded at the kids, “message your parents and come up with something plausible, got it?” Tobio and Hinata exchanged glances, which kind of annoyed Tooru and made him squint, trying to decipher what they were thinking of, but at the same time... reminded Tooru of him and Iwa-chan. Ridiculous. 

“My mom is on a business trip,” Tobio muttered, looking down. 

“And mine is at our aunt’s with Natsu, they’ll come back tomorrow,” Hinata followed, mimicking his actions. Honestly, these two could probably do well at synchronized swimming...

Oh right. Never mind that. 

Iwa spread his arms slightly, standing in front of them, his expression just a little too smug for neutral. 

“See? We’re done here,” he concluded firmly, turning around and going straight upstairs, turning the main lights off and leaving some dim ones, much to Tooru’s satisfaction — at least he could finally relax his eyes now. Iwa-chan’s towel was probably already in the bathroom, like usual. That fact, however, did not help him in the slightest when he was left sitting on the sofa with his kind of an archenemy and his partner/teammate. Hinata was sitting between him and Tobio, all tensed up, his fingers digging into his legs. His former kouhai was probably no better, and increasing his self-awareness, Tooru realized that he managed to turn stiff as well. 

Uh God. That was so not going to end well. 

* * *

Actually, that ended just a bit better than he was anticipating. 

The awkward and unsettling silence was deafening, but at least mutual. Nobody wanted to talk. It felt like he should’ve broken it, maybe embarrass Tobio even more or something, but at some point he didn’t give a damn anymore, just sitting at looking at the photographs on the wall. He was there with his family: parents, Takeru, his elder sister and, of course, with Iwa-chan. He was mostly kind of gloomy on the pictures, looking at Tooru with his expression, annoyed by default, or punching him, or hitting him. He looked happier on team photos though, his soft, gentle smile pulling corners of Tooru's lips up a bit. He loved Iwa’s smile, and he wished he could give him reasons to show it more often. Nothing made him as happy as seeing his best friend happy, as much as he could hide it. But even on the photos with only the two of them, where Iwa would mostly be hitting him in one way or another, Tooru could see that spark of... something he would definitely call affection in his eyes. Something that kept Iwa beside him and made him tolerate all the stupid things he did and said. Something Tooru would call love, probably. In its violent representation, but still, huh. 

With his peripheral vision, he somehow noticed Tobio’s head turning the same way, too. He glanced at him, but his gaze lingered as he found his kouhai looking at those photographs as well. He couldn’t see his eyes properly, because they didn’t even turn he lights on when they entered, and it got pleasantly dark by now, relaxing even. But he had an idea of what he’d see there... Tobio himself probably didn’t have many photos like those, not with friends — except for that one from his birthday. It should’ve probably made Tooru feel superior, being more accomplished socially and all that, but for some reason it didn’t, not really. It was a bit pitiful, if anything. 

Some part of his brain wondered why could he see Tobio so clearly, remembering that there was supposed to be an orange mop between them, and shifting his focus to the left a bit, he found the missing part of the picture asleep on the coach, leaning back completely, his head lolling to the left slightly. His features were relaxed, and it even seemed to make Tooru's heart beat slower, too, that contagious peacefulness. It was getting strangely calm even, especially considering who he had to share his couch with. Tobio turned his head to the right, probably wondering what Tooru was looking at, and then frowned a little, his gaze stumbling upon his asleep teammate. Although, if you ask Tooru, he’d say the frown was more of a reflex than something Tobio actually felt — underneath that cold and neutral facade, he could see trust and faith and that bond all too clearly. A couple of months earlier, it would probably make him a bit jealous even, or frustrated over the fact that his rival managed to find a perfect partner after all. Not even a partner, though... someone much more than that. 

Hinata moved his arms, roughly covering his right knee with his palm. Tooru followed his hand with his gaze, losing his focus as he found himself studying the shorty’s knee, too. He could still remember the distance between the stone wall and the tree — and for someone his height, that jump was close to impossible. He could remember all those broad crosses, too, and the way he could lunch himself right to the floor after the ball to receive it and then lunge up to spike it in a matter of mere seconds. Such jumping power was a gift, an amazing one, but that wasn’t it. Tooru did enough research and had enough experience to say that it was also a product of long, regular and exhausting practices, some of which he could possibly even hide from their team. 

It was even amusing in a way. At first glance, people would probably say that there’s nothing in common, nothing to connect Oikawa Tooru, an exceptionally skilled setter and captain with tons of experience and witty strategies, and Hinata Shouyou, an unbelievably short and middle blocker with no technique, who could jump real high. 

Yet there was something: their endless passion for volleyball and that horrible feeling of not being good enough, which could, of course, fit more players, but made them more similar in that dangerous way they were dealing with it — practicing, practicing and even more practicing. Developing their stamina and endurance, bettering their skills, making sure that they’re worthy of their place in the team. And in both their cases, their legs were the ones to take the most of the impact, being crucial in both spikes and powerful jump serves. 

Tooru probably knew better than anyone else just how badly this could end up. Of course he didn't know for sure whether Hinata was even doing any extra practices in the first place, but something suspiciously alike his own experience and intuition was telling him that he was right. 

So would Tobio be able to do something about it before it’s too late? 

Hinata shifted in his sleep again, exhaling sharply, like he was shivering, and turning slightly away from Tooru, as if... as if slowly moving to Tobio. That dumbass didn’t seem to react, though, still watching him calmly. How could one be so dense, like? Really, Tobio-chan? 

His voice suddenly broke the silence, sending unexpected goose bumps over Tooru’s skin as he dived out of his thoughts to listen.

“D-do you have a blanket here, Oikawa-san?” Tobio asked humbly, almost making Tooru smirk with satisfaction. Even though his expression was still more or less neutral, with a hint of awkwardness painted over it, his kouhai was a hundred years too early to hide stuff like that from him. Would you look at all that... concern and innocence mixed with genuine care. So gross!

He was too lazy, proud and worried about his own knee to actually get up and get a blanket, but he felt one lying on the sofa right under his back and snatched it from under himself, throwing at Tobio, who caught it carefully.

“Thank you,” he said gratefully, putting the blanket on Hinata with awkward movements, swallowing as he made a pathetic attempt to tuck him in. He looked so ridiculously helpless it was almost painful to watch as Tooru reached out and assisted him quickly, pulling the blanket up to the shorty’s chin with a swift movement. It wasn’t the first time he did it, after all, while Tobio was probably exploring a whole new world suddenly spread out in front of him. It was almost like watching a kitten who has just started seeing making his first steps and getting to know the environment — quite entertaining. 

“Tobio,” he found himself saying before he could even process it, noticing a glint of curiosity in dark blue eyes and realizing that he forgot his -chan suffix. Duh, what an unfortunate blunder! But correcting himself would look stupid, now that a couple of seconds have passed already. 

Wait, what was he going to say in the first place?! 

He was lost for moment, trying to identify what made him open his mouth, because he didn’t actually want to talk to him, but... seeing the two of them sitting next to each other and looking so damn natural and right, as if it was supposed to stay like this forever, he realized that there was one topic which kept gnawing him from the inside. His memories and setter’s predictions were cooperating against him, involving him into potentially quite an unsettling conversation, which meant showing something he wouldn’t like to show to Tobio at all, and yet here he was. Magnificent self-control. 

“You have to keep an eye on him,” Tooru managed, instantly catching Tobio’s full attention, since he probably didn’t quite understand what exactly he was talking about yet. He seemed to know perfectly well who that “he” was, though. “His jumps are amazing, you’re right, but you should realize that it doesn’t come just from talent or a birth gift alone,” he said, seeing Tobio tilting his head just a bit, his fingers nervously knocking against the sofa. “I haven’t seen him playing in a while, but it’s pretty obvious that his jumping power has increased tremendously, which is mostly a good thing, but you also know the consequences it might bring him,” Tobio clearly tensed up, not averting his gaze, as if feeling that Tooru wasn’t done yet. “It’s good that he practices a lot and tries his best, because his determination will certainly bear its fruit, but if he doesn’t know when to pause or take care of himself properly, take a break — then his overwhelming light will kill the tree right in midst of its bloom,” his kouhai swallowed, his gaze involuntarily shifting to his teammate, filled with honest to god worry and desire to keep him safe, one of his fists clenching the blanket. Tooru could bet that he’s never experienced that before and now felt as lost and helpless as Tooru did back when Iwa ended up in trouble because of him and it was his turn to actually help him. But that’s exactly what friendship is, after all — helping each other no matter what in times of need, no questions asked. And Tobio was most likely scared that he wouldn’t live up to it, wasn’t he? 

Tooru could barely remember his life without Iwa-chan, who was there from the very beginning, but could still tell just how much he’s changed him overtime. He knew for sure that he wouldn't be close to where he was now without him. Tobio had the same situation, but in a much shorter spectrum of time, and so the change was much clearer and more drastic. 

But still for the best nevertheless. 

“His legs shake after practice sometimes,” Tobio muttered, making Tooru stare at him again; his knuckles went white, probably close to tearing the fabric. “And he still has a thirty minutes ride home from school every time. I...” he took a shuddered breath, expression on his face speaking of some sort of a gnawing ache. “I think he might be doing some extra practices without telling m... us.” He sounded pretty sure of that. Well, Tooru thought so. The situation was beyond unsettling by now, but as much as he didn’t really like dealing with it, he knew that he didn’t want anyone to follow his path like this. He remembered all too well just how many problems it caused to all of them, and how stressed out Iwa was when Tooru had to spend a while in a hospital. He might’ve liked mocking his kouhai, kicking him out of his comfort zone and using him to entertain himself, but this was something completely different. It was about health and a whole possible career, life even. He couldn’t stay away. 

“Everyone can do dumb things from time to time,” he told him, trying to sound as calm as possible. “Some more than others, but that’s exactly how you can pay him back, Tobio-chan. You grew quite attached to him, didn’t you?” he asked, and the way Tobio swallowed again, his ears and cheeks reddening visibly enough to notice it in dim light, gave away everything Tooru needed to know. “I know you don’t want to lose him,” even the potential thought made Tobio twitch slightly. “So you have to save him from himself,” just like Iwa-chan once did. Tobio stared at him, obviously without a single idea of what that was supposed to mean. Well, Tooru wasn't going to turn it into a philosophical heart-to-heart talk, was he?! Those were things for him to figure out on his own. “Sometimes it means beating some sense into him,” his own forehead gave a weak pang of ache at that, “and sometimes...” Hinata suddenly started slipping down at that, attracting both their attention, and Tobio caught him, grabbing his shoulders (even though he’d simply fall on the cushion anyway), tensing up in an “oh-God-what-did-I-do” manner. However, Hinata, who was asleep and totally oblivious, seemed to know what he was doing, reaching out for warmth and leaning against Tobio’s chest, sighing quietly. 

Tooru regretted not having a phone close by so much — his kouhai’s confused and embarrassed face was so priceless that he couldn’t suppress some giggling. Tobio gazed at him, all lost and frustrated, raising his arms, but Tooru caught his hands in time, moving closer and putting them down slowly. 

“You don’t wanna wake him now, do you?” he asked insinuatingly, and that seemed to take its effect on Tobio as his lips formed a thin line and his arms relaxed, seemingly accepting his fate. Tooru grinned again, looking at the two of them. Gosh, they were indeed adorable, he had to give them that. “Wait a bit, then go,” he advised him, still wearing that smug smile of his, and Tobio nodded, lowering his gaze on his sleeping teammate. He could see him relaxing gradually, letting his stiffness go as he got used to their awkward position. When it seemed like enough time has passed and Hinata wasn’t moving, he suddenly pulled himself closer and nuzzled into Tobio’s shoulder, making Tooru cover his mouth with his palms to muffle his uncontrollable laughter as he watched his kouhai’s face going from reddish to a bed sunburnt red. Dammit, he was having the time of his life there!

Tooru could probably help Tobio get out safely without waking Hinata up, but why would he? It was so much fun, and these two could definitely do some bonding time, too. At some point Tobio seemed to give up and finish his second cup of tea, which was still relatively hot. Grinning at that, Tooru spread his arms on the back of the sofa, his left hand close to Hinata’s head, and closed his eyes, leaning his head backwards. 

His kouhai was so dense, wasn’t he. 

He was doing good, though, with all that character development. It made him feel some sort of twisted pride, even. How low he’s fallen, huh.

He seemed to have dozed off for a couple of minutes, because once he woke up for no reason he felt a weird urge to look to his left, seeing Tobio falling asleep and almost dropping the cup he was holding. Fortunately, he managed to catch it in time even being sleepy, sighing and putting it back on the table. Eyeing the duo again, he noticed that Tobio was completely relaxed by now, one of his arms resting on Hinata’s back. His features seemed so... free, it was really unusual. What a peaceful scene, huh. Tooru could relate to it, though — that amazing feeling of freedom and calm you got when being close to someone really dear to you. He always felt that with Iwa-chan, and he was never allowed to forget how it felt. 

In moments like those he felt like he could do anything. He felt as if he was flying, sunshine rays gently bathing his wings, soft wind washing over and fluffing his feathers as he sore over the clouds, higher and higher. But his stomach wasn’t twisting as it usually did when he reached such height, because there was his friend right beside him, ready to catch and help him any moment he might need that. The best part of it — the feeling was mutual, and it did make both of them actually invincible.

It was wonderful, really. And as much as Tooru might not have liked his annoying kouhai, he couldn’t really deny his own opinion that everybody deserved to know how that feels like, even such dumbasses like him. 

He was kind of glad that Tobio didn’t have to fly alone and be scared of falling anymore, now that he had a friend to soar him up. 

* * *

Hajime took his time, he didn’t have anywhere to hurry, after all. He had a nice hot shower, finally washing away the cold waters of the river and that bloody rain. It felt so good to feel clean and refreshed again. He wiped himself dry, only leaving his hair slightly wet, rearranged some stuff on the shelf and threw a couple of Oikawa’s bottles of hair products into the trash can (seriously, nobody needed that much stuff, it was only occupying extra space.) Unfortunately, he knew he couldn’t get it wrong and accidentally get rid of somebody else’s bottle, because after so many years he had already gotten to memorize which kind of stuff Oikawa used. He wished he didn’t know that, though.

When he finally went down to the living room to check up on them again, it was already quite dark — granted, he could find his way around here with his eyes closed. Going down to the first floor, he could see dark figures slumped together on the couch, but he couldn’t quite believe his eyes, not until he circled the sofa and stood in front on it, his arms crossed on his chest. He wasn’t surprised to see Hinata seemingly all comfortable, nestled in his setter’s arms, because he was already dozing off when Hajime had left them. Kageyama gave in as well, his head resting on the side of the couch, his chin touching Hinata’s head. But apparently, Oikawa has fallen asleep as well, his head falling to the left, dangerously close to Kageyama’s. When did they even shifted to sit that close, huh? Hajime has probably underestimated them. Of course he realized that Oikawa didn’t do that on purpose, he was most likely simply too tired after today and he used the first chance he got to black out and get some rest, allowing his knee to heal, too. But it was really ironic to see this — just a few months ago Oikawa could barely spend extra moments in Kageyama’s presence when they were outside of the court without complaining about him every five minutes, coming up with evil revenge and game plans and all that childish crap before Hajime made him shut the hell up. Thankfully, the two of them didn’t really meet anywhere apart from the games, so it wasn’t an often thing to happen, but what he got was more than enough. Yet now he was sleeping peacefully, his head just a few centimeters away from that of his “archenemy.”

Hajime couldn’t help but feel some sort of reluctant pride growing in his chest.

Such interactions changed Oikawa a lot, even if he wasn’t noticing it right away — they taught him how to handle different people better, even when it wasn’t beneficial for him, how to adapt to various behaviors and adjust his own. Of course his childishness was one of his many facades, but still, it was nice to see that serious side of him from time to time. And communicating with people he didn’t like, his rivals being an example, made him understand them better, grow up in a way. So it was only for the best in Hajime’s opinion.

Besides, Kageyama wasn’t actually that bad of a kid, not really. Things happened in a way that now they were stuck in this infinite race of setters, which was good for their personal development, as long as nobody fell off the rails, but sometimes Hajime found himself wondering what would it be like if Kageyama happened to be on the same team with Oikawa in high school. Even more so, he wondered how would these two play together now, after they’ve both changed a lot and experienced lots of new things.

…well, they’d probably still try to somehow outplay each other even while being on the same side of the court at first, one as stubborn as another, but that’d have to stop, and that’s what Hajime was interested in. They could’ve made quite a combo, too, huh.

But even this was a miracle for now, and it was quite interesting and sometimes kind of entertaining to watch them, though. Grinning, he fished another blanket out of the wardrobe in the living room, tucking that moron in and shifting his head, putting a pillow underneath it — it’d be Hajime to listen to all is whining if his neck got sore after such a sleeping position, after all. Turning around to leave to Oikawa’s room where he could take his bed now, he suddenly realized that no, he couldn’t help himself here… it was a perfect chance he simply couldn’t miss.

He went back to the coach, standing from Kageyama’s and Hinata’s side, where one couldn’t even really tell how far Oikawa was from his rival, or was there any distance at all, grabbed his mobile from his shorts and snapped a couple of pictures, quickly choosing one and sending it their former teammates with a calm yet smug grin on his face. The picture was nice despite kind of bad lighting, all peaceful and soft, one of those that might warm one’s heart and make you a bit sleepy. Hajime messaged: “Archenemies taking a nap” into Seijo’s chat and threw the phone back into his pocket, skipping steps when heading to his friend’s room, anticipating the morning already.

Oh, that dumbass was so going to regret his lack of self-control.

* * *

It seemed as if Hinata’s world got turned upside down in less than one day.

Whose fault was that? The cat’s, of course. He always knew cats were strange. And now he got to get assured of it.

Clutching his backpack tighter, he jumped on his bike, moving the gears sharply as he started moving forward. Cool wind did feel nice against his skin, ruffling his hair, which he didn’t even bother to brush today, but it still couldn’t keep his anxious thoughts at bay. He shivered just remembering about what they'd already been through since they woke up. 

This morning was surely something.

He woke up first, wincing when sunshine violently attacked his heavy eyelids, making him roll further into the coach and stumble upon something else, seemingly a cushion, but somehow... different. He couldn’t understand what was wrong in his sleepy state, not until he identified somebody's cool skin brushing against his own and the fact that his pillow smelled... not like a pillow was supposed to. It smelled of milk and gym and leather, and that was a very pleasant scent, actually. 

But once his rational thinking finally kicked in, he jerked up as if the sofa he was lying on suddenly got on fire, almost stumbling down from it. It was Kageyama sleeping right in front of him, leaning back onto the pillow, his arm shifting after it slipped from Hinata’s back. He made a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down. 

Holy shit, he fell asleep right in his lap, didn’t he? 

Now, he remembered feeling sleepy after eating yesterday, but he definitely hadn’t seen this coming... It was a miracle he survived through the night.

But it was okay, though. Nobody saw it, right? They simply fell asleep, that’s all. They were sleeping, not responsible for their actions. At least that’s how he was trying to reassure himself as he blinked a couple more times and shook his head. How did he even manage to fall asleep next to Kageyama The Terrifying Monster Tobio? Did his self-preservation instincts turn off completely? What was he thinking?!

To his surprise, now that he more or less managed to sooth his ragged breathing and racing heartbeat, Kageyama didn’t actually look that scary when he was asleep — on the contrary, his face was relaxed, the usual frown gone, his expression somehow being... peaceful. Honestly, Hinata wasn’t even sure Kageyama could actually look like that — not like he was about to bite your head off at any moment. And he found himself realizing that it was even kind of nice for a change. 

Blinking again and swallowing the lump in his throat, Hinata carefully scrambled down from the sofa, casting a quick look over Kageyama again. The windows were open, and it was quite chilly in the room, so he quietly bent down and picked up the blanket, draping it over his shoulders almost on a reflex. Kageyama didn’t stir at first, leaning into warmth a few moments later, twisting his neck and slowly but surely slipping down the back of the sofa. 

“No, no-no-no, Bakayama...” Hinata cursed as he sort of caught him by his shoulders before he would’ve fallen face first into the sofa. Even when sitting, Kageyama was still pretty heavy for him, even half of him, especially when he was completely relaxed, sleeping. Hinata was prepared to feel him stirring in his hands and probably going to bite his arms off for waking him up, but surprisingly, that didn’t happen. Kageyama wasn’t a heavy sleeper, his instincts were always quick to wake him up (proven by Hinata’s experience after a few beach trips whenever he tried drawing something on Kageyama's face when he dozed off — it just never worked, which fascinated and frustrated him a lot). Yet here, even after stirring so much, he was still sleeping and it seemed that if someone fired a gun next to him, he'd still stay this way. 

(If someone dribbled a volleyball against the floor, though — now that would’ve been much more effective.) 

He was about to make Kageyama lean onto his shoulder to straighten him up, when a quiet, but deeply satisfied giggle echoed in the air next to him, almost making him jump right up to the ceiling. He turned his head sharply, only to find the Great King sitting on the opposite edge of the couch, watching his struggle with an incredibly amused expression on his face. 

Hinata wasn’t even sure how to react at that, to be honest. 

Distracted and shocked as he was, he almost slipped down the couch himself, grabbing Kageyama’s side for support and sending his former senpai in a burst of muffled laughter, clapping his hands against the sofa lightly. Just how mean was that! 

“It’s not funny!” Hinata protested, trying to keep his voice down and wondering why the heck wasn’t Kageyama awake already. Was he unconscious or something?! 

“My, my, I wish my dearest kouhai would wake up now, what an awkward situation,” the Grand King chuckled, standing up on his knees (did he wince or was it just Hinata’s imagination?) and shifting closer. “Looks like you could use some help, chibi-chan~” he said, easily pushing Kageyama up and leaning him back on the sofa. Hinata only realized that he was staring at him during the whole process when he nodded in the direction of the blanket, making Hinata come back to reality and pull it over his partner’s sleeping form. He quickly looked back at the former Seijo captain, though. It was actually so weird, seeing him doing stuff like this, it didn’t really fit Hinata’s opinion of him as of a person, judging from Kageyama’s occasional comments. They always had such rocky relationships, and Hinata was genuinely in awe that he allowed them to spend the night here, but also... grateful. He didn't know how they’d make it home yesterday after something like that, but in the end they didn’t have to deal with it alone.

Not to mention that the Great King’s Ace helped Kageyama to get out of the water. They gave them food and shelter despite their rich and often frustrating rivalry history. Hinata had to admit, he really didn’t expect them to.

...oh, he never even thanked them. Oh!

“T-thank you, Gr—” he instantly thought better of it, that wouldn't sound too polite directed at him. “Oikawa-san. For your help and food, I mean,” he uttered, ignoring some weird feeling settling in his chest, and bowed slightly. Jeez, it was so strange, but he knew it was also right. They could’ve just sent them home, after all. 

“And for the meds, too,” Oikawa added, making Hinata furrow his eyebrows in confusion. 

“What meds?” he questioned him, looking at ever sleeping Kageyama, and then it dawned on him as he stared at the older player in shock. “You drugged him?!”

“Both of you, with cold meds,” Oikawa snorted. “And it wasn’t me, it was definitely Iwa-chan. He did it to me quite a few times, too, that’s how I know. He even used children’s ones in case you have allergies,” he snorted. “But you’re welcome,” he shrugged innocently, pulling his legs closer to him on the sofa. Hinata swallowed nervously. He was just probably used to cold meds already, while Kageyama never got sick ever since that birthday accident, so it made him really sleepy. He just hoped those were actually cold meds, but something in the way Iwaizumi behaved around them made him sort of trust him. 

Glancing up, he could see Oikawa smiling at him with the corners of his mouth pointing down, slightly tilting his head to the side. Hinata met his gaze and somehow it made him want to... get away. Hide behind the couch or something. He quickly dismissed that sudden urge, but couldn’t get rid of that scary feeling — feeling as if Oikawa could read all his thoughts and his piercing eyes just saw right through him. No wonder lots of people were unsettled by his presence. 

At some point Hinata realized that Oikawa wasn’t looking him in the eyes anymore. Following his gaze, he realized that the objects of his attention were... his legs? He raised his eyebrows in surprise, not quite understanding what was it about.

“How much do you practice, Hinata?” Oikawa suddenly asked him, sending shivers down Hinata’s spine. It reminded him of those times when he messed up really bad and Kageyama wasn’t yelling at him like usual, which indicated that he was pissed off beyond reason. Oikawa’s tone was lighter, though, as if he was making a casual conversation, but firm, not quite pressing yet but with a certain authority in it, leaving you with no choice but to answer. He barely ever heard him speaking this serious — not that they met lots, but still... 

And what’s with that question, anyway?

Why would Oikawa be interested in how much he was training? As hard as he tried, he couldn’t understand. They didn't have the same position, weren’t teammates or even official rivals so far. Could it be his professional interest? That was the only explanation Hinata could come up with, but somehow it seemed like there was something else behind it, something Hinata couldn’t quite grasp. 

Weird.

The Great King was weird. 

“Uh...” Hinata looked up, trying to quickly think of what to say. They had two practices every day, along with some occasional days off, but he did sneak out of the house to have some extra training every now and then... okay, basically every day. He was in his second year now and his skills have developed a lot, but it still wasn’t quite enough, not for him. He had so much to catch up, he just hoped he could make it till his third year. It wasn’t like he was overworking or straining himself too much, no, he wasn’t that—

The moment his eyes stumbled upon the white support wrapped around Oikawa’s knee was the exact moment his trail of thought vanished as pieces of this puzzle fell into place. The answer depicted on it, however, was so unexpected that it caught Hinata completely off guards. 

No way. It couldn't have been what he was thinking. He couldn’t even think this, oh god, it was absolutely ridiculous even in his mind... 

Oikawa couldn’t be worried about him, could he?

That didn’t make sense at all. They were rivals, quite passionate about their rivalry. They weren’t interacting, were never in touch, and had, like, nothing in common... 

Oikawa’s knee twitched slightly, making him realize that he was still staring at it. 

Or maybe they did, after all? 

Kageyama did tell him about that at least one occasion when Oikawa had overworked badly, and Kageyama found him lying in the gym, unable to stand, having to call Iwaizumi to help him. He didn’t know when exactly, but at some point his constant extra practices, especially for serves, damaged his knee badly. So was it about it? Did... did Kageyama ask him to find out? Since Hinata, well, never really told him... Because he knew exactly what kind of a reaction to expect. 

“I asked you a simple question,” Oikawa repeated, his voice growing firmer and stricter, but till remaining somehow cool. Hinata felt his palms getting sweaty and his heart speeding up a bit. 

“Just like the rest of the team, twice per day,” he knew Oikawa wouldn’t believe just that, it was definitely too blunt. “Also on my own a couple of times per week,” he added, trying to steady his voice — he didn’t like that quiver in it. 

“A couple of times?” Oikawa asked again, making Hinata’s lips press in a thin line as he clenched his fists slightly. He was pushing it, and Hinata didn’t like it, no. He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t need another lecturer. He knew what he was doing just fine, and nothing else mattered so far as—

“You don’t see it at all, do you?” Oikawa wondered, looking him in the eyes attentively again, as if searching for all the answers in there. Hinata frowned, utterly confused again. 

“Don’t see what?” he spat out, baffled. Oikawa closed his eyes for a second, grinning, as if he was waiting for that question.

“How much you changed his life and how much you made him care about you,” he explained, and Hinata instantly felt his cheeks heating up, his heart rate rising even more. It seemed as if the sofa he was sitting on was being boiled in hot water, taking him with it, while Oikawa appeared to be enjoying his uneasiness. 

Well, he certainly didn't need to explain who he meant by him. 

“I-I know that,” he muttered without much confidence in his voice, even though he pretty much knew it was true, but sometimes he simply found it hard to believe it. Which was kinda stupid — he knew Kageyama wasn’t a touchy-feely type and had troubles expressing his emotions, so he adapted to identify them quite skillfully on his own during their first year together. Besides, Kageyama’s actions spoke much more efficiently than his words. 

“You don’t,” Oikawa shook his head, still with that small smile on his face, the one adults tended to have when talking to their children, which made Hinata feel even more unsettled. “I’ve known him for longer than you do, and if somebody told me about your relationships, I’d never believe unless I saw it myself. You’ve done something to Tobio, something nobody’s ever managed to do before,” he said, tilting his head slightly. “But honestly, I couldn’t care less,” he signed and rolled his eyes slightly, “it’s not the reason I started having this absolutely inappropriate conversation with you. The thing is,” he paused for a couple of seconds, as if unsure of how to phrase what was on his mind. “I just wanted to warn you, okay?” he pronounced slowly, eyeing him attentively, as if mentally trying to make him listen carefully. “You might lie to anyone, even to Tobio or yourself, but I’ve been there, and you can’t deceive me like this,” Oikawa shook his head, while Hinata felt his cheeks heating up. “You’re a horrible liar anyway,” he shrugged slightly. “But still: whatever you do, reconsider it. Even Tobio noticed something’s up with you,” Hinata winced at that... of course he did. “If you keep this up, something might happen that you’ll regret deeply.”

Oikawa did sound like he knew what he was talking about. His only slightly sympathetic eyes told Hinata that he wasn't just making stuff up, and he realized that he wouldn’t bother talking to him unless he really considered it to be something serious. 

But then he should’ve been able to understand his reasons, too!

“I’m not doing anything that would—”

“Liar,” Oikawa cut in, his voice suddenly getting sharper. Hinata swallowed and stared at him in shock, not able to find something to answer with. “You know perfectly well that you’re lying to yourself, aren’t you? It’s all about persuasion, you keep telling yourself that it’s not a big deal, you even see some small improvements in your performance and you reassure yourself again and again that what you’re doing is only for your own good, for your team’s good even,” Oikawa took a quick breath, getting carried away, and Hinata suddenly noticed that he clenched his own fists. “But let me tell you something — it comes back to you,” he voiced slowly, as if trying to burn those words into Hinata’s ears. “It always does. Every time you tell yourself that it’s fine, every time you ignore that weak, gnawing ache somewhere deep inside your knee, every time you think that you’re not good enough to slack off and you must try harder — you only make it worse,” he sounded so bitter that Hinata found himself literally speechless, helpless in the face of all this personal experience and memories that seemed to be taking over Oikawa’s mind right as he was speaking.

It made cold shivers run down his spine and his throat seemed to dry as Hinata eyed Oikawa’s knee, bandaged and with a support wrapped around it.

Was there… was there an actual possibility of him ending up having that?

It wasn’t like Hinata did everything he could to get himself injured, no. He tried to keep an eye on his nutrition and sleep schedule, and regular exercises should be making him stronger too, right? Sometimes he happened to feel some sort of discomfort in his left knee, it even throbbed after some particularly long runs or practices, but you had to push yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve some results, right? Of course he was still being careful, though. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with it, he knew there shouldn’t.

Why was he feeling a weird, icy rope of doubt slipping up his neck and making it harder to breath then?

Hinata didn’t know how to respond, feeling completely at loss for words with such a sudden and unexpected conversation, but that was the moment when Iwaizumi-san, Seijo’s Ace, walked down from the second floor, eyeing the scene in front of him with a hint of confusion in his expression. Oikawa smiled instantly, waving at him, and his mood that changed so quickly probably implied that their conversation just somehow dropped. Or at least Hinata hoped so.

Then Iwaizumi suddenly looked right at him, making Hinata swallow nervously.

“Oh,” he said, as if he’d just remembered something. “Happy Birthday, Hinata.”

For just a moment he thought that he misheard something.

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The 21^st of June. His birthday. Today. Of course!

A giant rock seemed to be lifted form his shoulders as he felt smile spreading on his face. It was his day, and it was gonna be awesome, so everything else could wait!

“T-thank you!” he said and noticed Kageyama stirring next to him. Well, about time! Iwaizumi headed to the kitchen, completely ignoring Oikawa, who pouted at him.

“Let’s get you guys some breakfast,” he said, fetching something from the fridge. Hinata suddenly felt his ears tingling. As stern and even intimidating as he seemed, Iwaizumi was a surprisingly kind, generous person, incredibly hospitable, even though it wasn’t his house. But Hinata figured, judging by their interactions and what Kageyama told him about them, it wasn’t any unusual after they’ve known each other for so long.

“Iwa-chan, bring me some coffee!” Oikawa asked him loudly, his voice seemingly jerking Kageyama out of his sleepy daze. Hinata giggled at that, using an opportunity while Kageyama couldn’t strike him yet, too busy looking at the blanket covering him with utter confusion painted ac even though they were sitting next to each other, while Iwaizumi dead-panned:

“Get your ass up from the couch and make some yourself.” Oikawa gasped resentfully.

“So rude!” Iwaizumi gave him a threatening look, and it worked perfectly. Wow, that was actually scary. Hinata could understand why Oikawa kept quiet after that.

Kageyama finally sat up properly, holding the blanket with one hand absent-mindedly and rubbing his eyes with another. His bedhead was hilarious, causing Hinata to crack up again and earn a weak punch in the ribs, but Oikawa was grinning too, even Iwaizumi seemed to hide a small smile, quickly glancing at them and turning back to the cooker. And Kageyama can’t tell them anything, only blushed against his own will and got up, excusing himself to go to the bathroom. Hinata, forgetting that they were guests here for a moment, claimed that he’d be there first and quickly overtook him, hearing how Kageyama lashed out after him. But he was still the winner, ha! He closed the door and started washing his face and brushing his teeth with one of the toothbrushes left by the sink for them.

The rest of the morning passed by quickly enough, for which Hinata was eternally grateful. Oikawa’s words kept ringing in his mind somewhere in the background, haunting him and keeping him distracted up to a moment when he accidentally almost walked into Iwaizumi, making Oikawa laugh mockingly and earn a punch from his Ace. Hinata just blurted out a muffled apology and tried to flee as soon as possible.

They didn’t have their first lesson at school that day, which was a good thing, meaning that they could go home, take their bags and then make it in time for school. Even the prospect of having to sit through the lessons wasn’t disappointing Hinata as much as usual today, his mood was just too good for it!

They had a quick breakfast, Iwaizumi and Oikawa even congratulated him, kind of, they changed into their dried clothes and were off, much to Oikawa’s joy. Hinata noticed that Kageyama had a backpack with him now, which he probably borrowed from Oikawa… but why? Was it something he bought at the shop yesterday or..?

Hinata wanted to ask him, but some awkward silence that settled around them felt so thick that he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth. Kageyama seemed to be lost somewhere deep in his thoughts, clutching the straps on his shoulders tightly. Hinata frowned, seeing that. Kageyama seemed to be on edge every time he looked at Oikawa, obviously bothered by something, as if… as if they had a conversation Hinata didn’t know about.

And he still hasn’t congratulated him, either. Maybe he simply felt too awkward for that, waiting for the right moment?

And they also still haven’t talked properly after what happened yesterday, which was quite impactful on its own already without a sleepover at the Seijo’s Captain’s place. They both kind of tried to avoid discussing it and the unsettledness such conversation would bring, and Hinata was still a bit mad at Kageyama for jumping after him. Even though he didn’t want to imagine what could happen if he didn’t…

Whatever it was, it made both of them keep silent and part their ways almost without saying a word, only agreeing that they’d meet at their usual spot in half an hour, which was enough for Hinata to quickly reach home and come back, since he lived further from here (but they had quite a way to school still).

On his way uphill, Hinata glanced back at Kageyama’s slightly hunched figure for a moment and then huffed exasperatedly, turning forward again and accelerating his pace. This wasn’t gonna work! He’d get Kageyama out of that stupid slump of his and make him enjoy the day, too, instead of having that glum air around him!

Now the only thing he needed was to figure out how.

* * *

“Hey,” Hinata mumbled, getting off his bike and carefully eyeing Kageyama, who was already waiting for him with his school bag and that backpack on his free shoulder (what in the world could be there?), while trying to understand whether he was in his “killer” more or “I’m-too-deep-into-my-gloomy-thoughts-to-notice-you-and-hit-you” mode, because the second one was way safer for him. Although, after such a weird morning they were both still quite… off. Which made sense. It was hard to process everything that happened to them yesterday with the fact that now they were just walking to school as if it was nothing… except for the fact that it was Hinata’s birthday today.

Not like he was going to remind Kageyama about it. He could’ve actually forgotten about it… or maybe that idiot felt to uncomfortable congratulating him. Hinata caught up with him and started walking along, holding his bike, noticing that his teammate’s pace seemed slower than usual. He appeared to be looking down, too…

“Hey,” Kageyama muttered in return, his voice surprisingly quiet and calm. He made a weird noise, as if taking a deep yet quick breath, and then added: “Are you feeling alright?”

Hinata couldn’t help jerking his head to the side, wide-eyed, but next second he was looking at his trainers as well. What the hell was that about?! On their way here he was even more silent than usual, and now he was asking him this out of the blue. It wasn’t like Kageyama at all, to… express his concerns like that. Sometimes Hinata used to wonder if he ever gave a damn in the first place, but those times were pretty much over. It’s just that usually he still didn’t tend to do that, so it always caught him off guards. He wasn’t really in the mood to tease Kageyama about it, though.

“Yeah, ‘m fine,” in fact, he was sort of ashamed of himself, knowing where the conversation was going and bringing back the memories of the accident. Kageyama fell in the river because of him, and he couldn’t even swim, but he still didn’t let him go.

He could’ve actually drowned, and he knew it. Hinata knew he’d have done the same for him for sure, but it was too overwhelming. They’ve come so, so far.

“And you?” he was late with this question, since they spent their morning with Iwaizumi and Oikawa, which didn’t have much privacy to it for such a talk, but couldn’t help asking anyway, because he really hoped everything was okay with him. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if something happened to Kageyama because of him.

“Uh-uh,” he confirmed, not looking at him. Hinata swallowed, feeling his hands numbing a bit. He didn’t feel like bringing this up at all, but he also realized that they simply had to talk, or this unresolved tension would keep haunting them for a long time. And that would be stupid, especially on his birthday.

“I’m sorry for what happened yesterday,” Hinata said, his tongue loosening up somehow, yet he still wouldn’t dare look at Kageyama. “I… I didn’t mean to scare you,” too late did he realize that it just came out… wrong, and Kageyama snapped, too, suddenly turning at him and triggering Hinata’s reflexes to turn at this sharp movement as well.

“You didn’t scare—” for a second his blue eyes were wide and piercing as ever, still making Hinata want to back away a little, although not as bad as before. But the very next moment all his anger and exasperation seemed to just melt away with one quick thought that popped up in his head. He closed his mouth and turned away, looking at the ground, and Hinata didn’t see his face, but he could understand his reaction.

Naturally, Kageyama wouldn’t admit it, but Hinata remembered the expression he had when he saw him on the tree, or when he was watching that branch breaking all too well… And he knew that he never saw Kageyama that scared before. Unsettling, but true. Hinata doubted Kageyama could even look that terrified in the first place. Especially terrified for him. It kinda made sense, but…

“Never, ever do something like that again, you idiot,” Kageyama suddenly told him, his voice surprisingly firm yet with some hint of worry. It was weird to head Kageyama talking like that, but it felt impactful; Hinata swallowed and blinked a couple of times, trying to come up with something to say.

“I wasn’t eager to climb that tree either, you know,” he mumbled, tugging the edge of his shirt. “I couldn’t just let that cat fall, could I?!” he asked frantically, trying to convince his dense partner. Kageyama looked at him, seemingly quite irritated, as if listening to a kid talking, which angered Hinata instantly, but then he sighed and turned away again — did he get a hold of himself?

“I understand,” Kageyama replied reluctantly. “But just…” he made an irritated noise, yanking the zipper on his bag. “Be more careful, goddammit!” he scolded, raising his voice a little. “You could’ve had someone help you or even—”

“But you did help me, right?” Hinata interrupted him, causing Kageyama to half-stumble and stare at him with a deeply confused expression on his face, which almost made Hinata chortle.

“Of course I did,” he replied carefully, and it was quite fascinating to hear him talking about it in a way that implied it was something so natural for him now. “But it’s simply because I happened to be there, you idiot. And…” the words seemed to stuck in his throat, making his choke on them as he took a breath and suddenly cracked, stopping in place: “And what if we wouldn’t be that lucky?” he asked with a barely audible, angry tremble in his voice, with Hinata standing in front of him now, and feeling so… small at face of his accusations. “What if I hadn’t been there?!” Kageyama practically screamed at him in rage. “What if something had gone terribly wrong and I hadn’t caught you?! Didn’t you consider that, just for a moment!” he looked so angry and mad at him, but Hinata could also somehow see all the relief flowing through him, as if lots of weight got finally lifted from his shoulders now that he could yell at him about it. His fists were clenched, eyebrows furrowed and his expression completely disapproving and disbelieving, and yet it made Hinata feel as secure as ever, as ridiculous as it seemed (because angry Kageyama could do quite some damage).

But his emotions weren’t unreasonable, and Hinata, having a younger sister, knew exactly where it was all coming from — concern. As simple as that.

“But you were there,” Hinata chuckled, smiling softly at him and starting to walk again, making Kageyama to follow him. Judging by Kageyama’s lost, frozen face, he didn’t see that coming, and Hinata had to suppress a weak giggle.

“Huh?!” Kageyama asked him, his voice on verge of anger and confusion. Hinata made sure to step over a big rock on their way and then continued, half-heartedly listening to some morning birds singing in the distance.

“You’re always there, see,” he explained, marveling at how simple the answer actually was. “It’s like, when I jump, I know the ball will surely be there for me, you know?! And the same goes for you!” he laughed lightly at his partner’s shocked expression. Of course he wasn’t a physic to actually know that Kageyama would’ve ended up being in the same mall for some reason, but he wasn’t lying still, not really. Ever since they started working together, Hinata did feel much more confident about himself, much more secure and safe, braver even. And he ended up liking that change for obvious reasons. He only hoped that he could offer something to Kageyama in return.

“T-that’s not the same, dumbass,” Kageyama muttered, averting his gaze and staring somewhere in the horizon. “Trusting me with a ball is one thing, but this is—”

“Well, I trust you, okay?” Hinata interrupted, wishing for that moron to just finally understand. “It’s not like I just spontaneously decided to. We’ve known each other for over a year now, but it’s not about the time anyway,” he grinned, looking forward. “And…” he took a quick breath, unsure of whether he should say something like that, but decided that leaving it midsentence would sound stupid. “And I hope that you know you can trust me, too,” he spoke slowly, tensing up a bit, alert for the reaction. “I hope that you do,” he added, and when the silence fell, all the background noises seemed to grow loud — birds chirping, wind rustling through the leaves, cars passing by from time to time. Kageyama kept quiet for such a while that Hinata thought he meant to just drop the matter, but then he suddenly replied him:

“Of course I do, dumbass,” he murmured quietly, but distinctly enough for Hinata to hear. “And not only with my tosses either,” he added with some seemingly muffled yet strong confidence in his voice, which made something in Hinata’s chest clench. Huh, he was never wrong, wasn’t he. They did need some work — lots of it, actually — but it seemed that this could really work out… they could work out. Of course, Hinata’s promise to surpass him was still valid, but… well, they still had almost two years together. They would figure things out.

Hinata side-glanced at Kageyama again, who was walking beside him, feeling a smile tugging his lips, and his gaze fell on his backpack again. His eyebrows arched in curiosity, and he finally remembered one simple question he forgot to ask him until now.

“What were you doing in the mall anyway?” Hinata wondered and heard Kageyama’s breathing getting off rhythm. Huh, that was interesting. Was there something he wanted to hide? Something in that backpack, by any chance..?

“Can ask you the same, dumbass!” he parried, but his voice sounded too tense to not be suspicious. Hinata grinned. He had a couple of guesses of why he would go to the mall, but he decided not to torture him too much.

“I wasn’t in the mall, I was just walking around,” that was true, actually. Well, he considered buying a new pump for his ball since Natsu broke his old one trying to play with it, but he was also just getting some fresh air. “And you?” he couldn’t resist asking, interested in how would Kageyama reply.

He didn’t make a big deal out of it.

“None of your business,” was his response, and Hinata gasped indignantly, accusing Kageyama of his sneaky yet stupid attitude. Kageyama only tried to squish his head in return, but Hinata dodged and laughed at him, saying that even though he was older now, Kageyama still couldn’t catch him! That pissed him off even more, making the situation funnier and the atmosphere lighter, which was a relief.

But Hinata didn’t want to push him much with that question anyway — some things were better left a surprise, he thought.

* * *

The bell rang, announcing the long-awaited break after such a boring subject like history, and Kageyama quickly got up, muffling a yawn, grabbed his belongings and headed right to the staircase. He needed some fresh cold milk to clean his mind and moisture his throat. Milk could indeed do wonders. 

Kageyama was almost on the first floor when his phone buzzed in his pocket, making him stop and fish it out in surprise. Who would even call him now? His parents didn’t tend to, not during the lessons. He hummed questioningly, seeing an unidentified number on the screen. What the heck was that about? 

Kageyama cleaned his throat quickly and pressed the phone against his hear. 

“Moshi-moshi?” he said, furrowing as he still heard a hint of hoarseness in his voice. It was probably thanks to his yesterday bath after all...

“Oi, Kageyama!” he could feel his head bending to the side, confusion welling up inside. Female voice was very familiar, but for some reason he just couldn’t remember the name of the speaker, even though it hit really close... “Hopefully you haven’t freaked out too much on your best buddy’s birthday yet, have ya?” she smirked and Kageyama’s eyes narrowed as he started walking again, only slower, wondering.

“Good afternoon, Saeko Tanaka-san,” he greeted politely, still having not a single idea of why would she, of all people, call him. Call him today. On Hinata’s birthday. And where did she even get his number? 

“My bro gave me your number, kid,” she explained, as if reading his thoughts. Kageyama’s curiosity was quickly getting replaced and mixing up with confusion, lots of questions almost popping out of his mouth. But he decided to keep quiet and listen first, hoping that her words would make sense. “Bet ya didn't expect this call, but trust me, you’ll be more than happy about it once you hear me out. But before that, I gotta ask — do you have anything for Hinata’s birthday?”

Kageyama swallowed a lump in his throat. Why did he have to talk about this at all?! He was still nervous like hell with every second that brought him closer to the celebration in the gym, and she wasn’t going to make it any easier, but for some reason, Tanaka siblings just had this kind of aura... you couldn’t refuse them, and not because they asked so nicely or something, but because you just knew that it’s better not to. 

“I do,” he muttered, opening the door and walking outside of the building, instinctively heading to the drinks machine. “Why?” Kageyama could practically see her sharp, wolfish smile that could make anyone tremble and recognize an actual dangerous predator in that woman. He turned around the corner, already rummaging through his pocket for some change, when he suddenly saw two familiar silhouettes standing right in front of the machine, as if waiting for him — it was Tanaka-senpai and his respected older sister, both of them actually grinning satisfyingly, as if they’d come up with the best prank in the world and were right about to pull it off. It made him stop in his tracks, staring at them without a single idea of what to do. Saeko looked him right in the eyes and spoke, still holding her mobile against her ear:

“Because we’ve got a little something for both of you today, and you’re gonna love it,” confidence and glee in her voice made goose bumps dance down Kageyama’s spine as he looked a bit down to the side and found a single plastic back standing on the ground, leaning onto the machine. 

What in the world was going on here?! 

* * *

The last bell buzzed through the building, jerking Kageyama right out of his sleepy daze on a history lesson and the whole class around him started to fuss excitedly, glad about the end of school for today. He was about to sigh satisfyingly when he heard Hinata whooping in the background, flipping his books in his back and almost bouncing up to him.

Crap. He almost fell asleep and was about to forget what was waiting for him ahead. Kageyama swallowed, getting up and steadying himself. Now he just had to not let him know.

“Kageyama, don’t be so slow!” Hinata yelped, beaming by his side. “Come on, it’s practice time, you gotta wake up, sleepyhead!” Kageyama snorted at that. This dumbass was practically drooling n his sleep just five minutes ago, and look at him now. Kageyama shook his head, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.

“I know,” he replied, trying to sound as casual as possible. Their classroom was the furthest one from the gym, so Daichi told him that they’d already be there by the time they come and change in advance. The morning practice was cancelled so that they could clean up and decorate the gym, but Kageyama wasn’t helping, because he was asked to make sure Hinata wouldn’t end up anywhere near the team, plus as to not raise any suspicions. All in all, he could barely remember any time he felt so intense and uncomfortable at the same time.

They walked to the gym, and Kageyama could see and hear that skip in Hinata’s excited steps, noticed how his fingers trembled and how he kept glancing around all the time, as if expecting someone to jump from around the corner. Kageyama understood that he was waiting for some sort of surprise, which made sense, since it was, well, Karasuno. They always congratulated each other. (There was even that one time when the whole team congratulated Hinata and Kageyama on getting As for an English test, which was only possible, in the duo’s opinion, because the topic was sports, while the team thanked Tsukishima for working with them, even though he clearly wasn’t fond of it but couldn’t refuse their senpais’ request. They even brought the damn balloons.) The thing was, they didn’t quite celebrate Hinata’s birthday last year, because his family left south to visit some relatives, if he remembered correctly. Once he came back, the team gave him some presents, but Kageyama wasn’t there either, being on a trip with his father (the idea that Hinata had left and Kageyama decided that it’d be better to miss a couple of practices at least when he was away, too, was absolutely ridiculous). He simply sent him a “Happy birthday dumbass!!” message, and even that caused him some trouble, since he’d never congratulated a teammate like that. Hinata replied with a “thanks!! and stop calling me a dumbass already!!!”, and that was it. So now it was so strikingly different that it made Kageyama really, really nervous, as much as he didn’t want to show that.

Because he really, really didn’t want to screw up.

They entered the locker room from another entrance (Hinata didn’t even pay attention, just following Kageyama absent-mindedly, probably too engrossed in trying to guess something about the oncoming celebration) and their uniforms were already waiting for them, washed and ironed. Hinata guwaaaed happily, as if he saw it for the first time, and quickly started changing. So did Kageyama, but he was kind of surprised to find himself distracted enough to start taking his shirt on from the wrong side, which Hinata fortunately didn’t see.

Kageyama realized he felt kind of stressed because there weren’t just team presents… The thing that Tanaka Saeko-san gave him, actually somehow managing to bring his other idea to live, was probably going to make Hinata combust or something, he didn’t even know how to give it to him in the first place. And he was also surprised by how persistent she was, convincing him that he should give it to Hinata in person, since it was his idea, and her brother seemed to agree with her. And when either of Tanakas was being persistent over something, it was about time to start freaking out.

The turned around the corner, walking out of the main corpus and entering that small hall that lead to the gym. Hinata’s pace accelerated after he bounced up and ran to the door, stopping just a few steps away. He looked back, staring at Kageyama and tilting his head slightly. An unspoken “you behave weird and I know it’s most likely about my birthday but it’s getting really weird for me to not notice” was reflecting in his eyes bright and clear as Kageyama realized that he didn’t move any further than the corner, staying there without even noticing.

“You coming?” Hinata urged him, opening his eyes a bit wider, and it seemed as if he was trying to suppress a joyful smile of anticipation, which was about to spread on his face. Seeing his patience running out, making him fuss and wiggle, seeing him moving his toes inside his sneakers to le out at least some of that excitement burning inside of him and watching his eyes sparkle, looking gold, as if lit up by sunshine, Kageyama could feel something completely new for the first time in his life — it was a thrill for someone else’s celebration.

It was a bit like that feeling he’d get before showing someone their new quick strike, but stronger, more impactful, overwhelming even. The whole “giving is better then getting” phrase seemed to gain a whole new meaning. It was difficult to figure things out there and then, but he could sense something resembling excitement rising up from his stomach. He wanted to nod and enter the gym with Hinata. He wanted to see his face when his teammates would rush to him, congratulating him loudly, possibly tackling him to the ground. He waned to see his reactions to all the presents — his eyes shining, cheeks reddening and those stupid loud noises escaping his throat.

And maybe, just maybe, he wanted to enjoy it with him, too.

“Are you gonna stand there all day, Bakayama?” Hinata asked him, narrowing his eyes and grinning just a bit. Kageyama frowned, huffed something under his breath and walked forwards, clutching his bag strap.

“I was giving you a head start, dumbass,” he answered, slapping his nape but missing, since Hinata simply dodged his hand. Huh. He really had to better his game here.

Usually Hinata’d whoop victoriously and try teasing Kageyama some more, as if testing his limits, but for now it seemed that both of them didn’t really care. Hinata reached the door handle in one quick jump, turned back for a second, unable to hide his smile, seemingly making sure that Kageyama was still following him. Kageyama nodded, urging him to finally get the damn door. Next second he grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

* * *

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” the whole Karasuno yelled loudly the moment Hinata stepped over the threshold, surrounding him and smiling excitedly (except for Tsukishima, obviously, who was standing nearby with an expression just a tad less exasperated than usual, but still irritated, holding a few balloons in his hands). Kageyama blinked a couple of times, shaking his head slightly, surprised by all this striking brightness. His eyes widened a little and he walked in, too, joining Sugawara, who was holding crackers. Casting a quick look around, he could tell that everyone was there, in their official uniforms (wow, they sure could change quickly when they wanted to), apart from the coach and sensei, who were always busy in the afternoon (since evening practice was usually held later). Everyone had something in their hands — balloons, crackers, volleyballs (at least something sensible), seemingly some sweets and other things Kageyama didn’t even bother to look at. Nishinoya and Tanaka, beaming like light bulbs, were already either ruffling or trying to rip out Hinata’s hair, enthusiastic as ever, while Hinata appeared to be trying to stead himself at face of their cheerfulness. Daichi, Suga and Asahi were standing together, grinning at that and patting his shoulders whenever the hyped third-years let them, shifting around. Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita stood on the other side, laughing, arms busy with sweets and crackers. Kageyama was surprised, though not too much, to see Yachi standing by Kiyoko’s side, both of them holding flowers and each other’s hands. Apparently, their former manager couldn’t miss such a celebration — actually, she never did, always showing up for the team member’s birthdays, apart from some rare occasions when studying got in her way.

Looking around, Kageyama noticed that Karasuno sure let all hell loose with decorating the gym — balloons, confetti, paper volleyballs, actual volleyballs were scattered all around, and “Happy Birthday, Hinata!” inscription was pinned to the net letter by letter. Judging by how different each piece looked, almost the entire team participated in making them. It looked ridiculous, but somehow fitting, too.

Seeing all of them here, together, gathered on such a special occasion, Kageyama couldn’t help but feel that gnawing pang in his chest, growing into dull ache of nostalgia yet again. The new first-years were nice players, but he could often find himself missing the former third-years; Asahi’s unbreakable strength he could always share, Daichi’s reliability and confidence, boosting everyone’s morale and, of course, Sugawara’s advice and experience most of all. It was him who often managed to help Kageyama get himself together when needed, gave him lots of valuable recommendations, shared his experience and observations, sometimes even stayed to practice with him some more. And Sugawara was almost always the one to organize everyone for events like this and make sure everything would be alright about it along with the managers. Not that mane people might’ve known about it, because Sugawara didn’t want to let them know, but Kageyama could see just how hard-working he actually was, often noticing dark circles under his eyes before some games. But now he was lively as ever, hugging Hinata and telling him something nice, judging by the latter’s dumb smile.

Somebody suddenly clapped him on his shoulder, making Kageyama jerk and tense up, his thoughts tangling in a tight knot.

“Relax, Kageyama!” his Captain told him quietly but reassuringly, letting go of him the next second in order to raise his cracker up in the air. “Karasuno!” he called, catching everyone’s attention, and a dozen more crackers were instantly lifted overheads. Kageyama didn’t even have any chance to prepare his ears.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HINATA!!!” everyone screamed again, along with the crackers clapping and showering everyone with confetti — even Tsukishima, to his disgust (the look on his face, combined with colorful pieces of paper circling in the air around him and the balloons floating over his head, was priceless. Nishinoya and Tanaka yelled right in Hinata’s ears — Kageyama’d go deaf after that, but his partner’s eyes sparkled, his mouth opening wide in awe. It seemed like he simply didn’t know where to look, surrounded by all that pure joy and eagerness to make it a worthy day for him, He kept turning around, making weird noises, his face a mix of radiant smile and adoration with a hint of disbelief even. Well, Kageyama could certainly relate to that.

Everyone gulped and stared up when there was another bang and a new wave of confetti fell all over everyone. The team quickly located the source — it was Yamaguchi, standing close to Tsukishima with mildly surprised and embarrassed face, clutching his cracker and its thread in his hands. Apparently, the thing didn’t work straightaway.

Karasuno laughed sincerely, but completely without any mocking tone, lightening the atmosphere and making Yamaguchi giggle along. Everyone was so cheerful and ready to celebrate, their mood boosted up to the skies, it was almost unreal. Kageyama rarely saw people being that happy around him — only his parents sometimes and Karasuno…

Could he call them his family, too? Was that okay or inappropriate? He didn’t know, but didn’t have any time to think about it at the moment. Reluctant excitement was gurgling in his abdomen, and it felt really weird, different even from what he experienced on his birthday, it kind of freaked him out, and he wanted to let it out.

“Congrats, birthday boy!” Tanaka bellowed, catching the shorty in a tight grip and rubbing his head fondly, making Hinata laugh and wince a bit. Sugawara pulled the third-years shoulder, urging him to release Hinata.

“He still needs to survive today, Tanaka,” Daichi chuckled. “And I’m sure he’d appreciate not having his life span cut down for a few decades,” Tanaka grinned at that and let go of hi, replaced by Nishinoya, who immediately threw his arm about Hinata’s shoulder, grinning wider than ever.

“Our favorite decoy’s gettin’ older, ha!” he exclaimed, clapping his back. “Not any higher, though!” everyone smirked at that, even Tsukishima, and Hinata blushed just a bit. Kageyama personal couldn’t imagine Hinata growing any taller… no. Not in this lifetime.

“Come on, guys,” Asahi said with a soft smile on his face. “Give him some space already,” the team shuffled at that, making a few steps back and forming something resembling a semicircle around Hinata, who still looked really stupid with his mouth open and eyes really wide.

“T-this is so cool!” he uttered, his fists clenched and shaking. He looked lost and completely overwhelmed, but happy — ridiculously so. “You all gathered here and!! Guaaah!!!” he yelped, unable to properly express his emotions. Everyone around was grinning satisfyingly, pleased with such reaction.

“You bet!” Kinoshita commented, shifting the sweets in his arms.

“We had to make it way cooler than last year,” Narita nodded along.

“Guys, let the girls pass,” Ennoshita interrupted, touching the third-years’ shoulders as they moved to the sides and their managers came forward, smiling — Kiyoko softly and gently, and Yachi widely and radiantly, like a small sun.

“Happy Birthday, Hinata!” the both said at the same time without even cooperating, giving him the flowers they were holding — and those were sunflowers, huh.

“You’re growing into an amazing Captain,” Kiyoko complimented him with Yachi nodding vigorously in agreement.

“And A-Ace, too!” she squeaked, golden sparkles reflecting in her eyes. “Strong and cool Ace! You are one for us already,” she spoke, her smile softening and her trail of thoughts obviously getting lost someplace else. “And, ah—” judging by her face, she got really embarrassed and didn’t know what else to say, but the next second Hinata caught the flowers with one arm and hugged her with another, pressing his face against her collarbone and causing the girl to stumble forward, but beam and hug him back still. Kiyoko watched them fondly and couldn’t resist, too, coming closer and humbly embracing both of them.

“T-thank you so much,” Hinata mumbled in Yachi’s jacket and then pulled back, giving them his widest smile and the most amazed face, as if he’s jut seen the greatest wonder. “Thank you!!” he repeated, and then Kiyoko suddenly bent down a little to catch the flowers Hinata was about to accidentally drop. He thanked her again, and it could probably go on for long if it wasn’t for Yamaguchi, who spoke up.

“We’ve got some more stuff for you, Hinata,” he proclaimed, causing the latter to stare at him in awe. The girls turned around and came up to the plastic bags that stood in the corner, and Kageyama noticed that the whole team somehow managed to shift by now and was standing practically by the net. The girls picked the bags up and carried them to the team.

Hinata stared at them, looking so shocked and caught off guards, unprepared to what was happening, that it even kind of surprised Kageyama. He did realize Karasuno would make this work, didn’t he? And they surely weren’t just going with sweets and flowers.

Yamaguchi came over first, rummaging through the bag, and called Tsukishima, too. He rolled his eyes just slightly, quickly tied the balloons to the net and came closer to help him get something, lots of something, from different bags. When they turned around, facing Hinata and everyone, Kageyama could see that their arms were full of some small plastic boxes… DVDs. Right.

Hinata’s smile got wider, just like his eyes, when Yamaguchi started talking, looking directly at him,

“These are some volleyball DVDs we’d managed to collect for you,” he said. “Almost everyone who had some to spare helped me and Tsukki get this together, especially Ukai-san, and Kiyoko-san with Yachi-san provided the list of the ones worth getting, too!” he grinned, eyeing Tsukishima’s bunch, as if looking for something in particular. “And somewhere here… oh! Here,” he pointed at a few discs in the middle of the pile. “There are the ones with the Small Giant we could find, including his coolest games!” he commented and then looked back at Hinata shyly. “It’s not that many, we didn’t have that much time and recourses, but, uh…” he paused, not sure about what to say, his free hand frozen in midair. Hinata got himself together and used that moment of confusion to speak.

“N-no! I-I mean, come on! Woah, I don’t even—” he kept stuttering, torn between lots of things he wanted to say. “This is so! Yamaguchi, it’s awesome!!” he told him, making Yamaguchi beam, and lunged forward, studying all the discs quickly and whining excitedly. “And there’s so many!!” the girls took flowers from his hands so that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima could give him all the DVDs. His arms seemed to shake — most likely because of that childish delight reflecting clearly in his eyes. It usually tended to annoy Kageyama a lot, but today It felt amusing, fulfilling even. All those smiles appeared to be lightning up the entire gym. The air around them seemed to shine with all the joy concentrated in it.

“I-I don’t even!!” for a second Kageyama was almost scared that Hinata was going to combust on spot. Wait, not scared, of course not. If only… slightly concerned. “This is so cool, thank you so much!” he repeated again, bowing and pressing the DVDs to his chest so that they wouldn’t drop to the floor. Yamaguchi chuckled satisfyingly, the girls still smiling, and Tsukishima just snorted, humming something incoherent in exasperated tone.

“You’re welcome!” Yamaguchi said, patting his shoulder.

“But that’s far from it!” Ennoshita continued, coming forward along with Kinoshita and Narita, taking Yamaguchi’s and Tsukishima’s place. Each third-year appeared to be holding something behind their backs, rather small — unlike their smiles, meaningful and full of anticipation.

“This is a combined present, purchased by us and Kenma with Kuroo and the rest of Nekoma,” Kinoshita explained, causing Hinata to gasp, which sent his jaw down to the ground.

“N-no way!” he squawked, blinking rapidly and clutching the discs tighter.

“Kuroo and Kenma actually meant to come here at some point,” Ennoshita shrugged.

“Along with Lev and Inuoka, who were also really enthusiastic about it,” Narita added, grinning a bit.

“And that would bring along the whole Nekoma anyway,” Sugawara commented, making everyone grin knowingly.

“But Kuroo managed to break his arm just a few days ago, so they settled on staying and forcing him to recover properly,” their Captain finished.

“That cheeky bastard really wanted to go anyway, though,” Daichi smirked. “Probably for Kenma, but he’s still stubborn like hell even with his bones broken. Bet it’s just for free food.”

“But this gift wouldn’t be possibly without their help.” Asahi nodded at the third-years hands.

“Yeah, this came straight from Tokyo,” Ennoshita confirmed, grinning and looking at his friends left and right, as if silently counting. Then, without saying a word, they simultaneously stretched their arms forward, holding out a piece of paper each… tickets, Kageyama realized.

“These are for the Premier League game two weeks from now,” Ennoshita explained, and Kageyama felt his throat going dry. His heart missed a bit and his vision tunneled, focusing entirely on three blue pieces of paper, suddenly viewed as one of the most precious things in the gym (which they undoubtedly were). How much did they even cost?! Swallowing and cleaning his throat, Kageyama side-glanced at Hinata, who wasn’t even moving for a whole lot of a few seconds, just staring at the tickets. His jaw trembled as he was trying to utter something, but failing miserably — and Kageyama would mock him for that, if only he wasn’t feeling the very same.

“I can’t take it,” Hinata muttered, still somehow managing to not drop the DVDs, just barely. “Captain, I just—”

“No buts, Hinata,” Ennoshita shook his head firmly.

“Don’t even think about it!” Kinoshita and Narita protested.

“It’s a gift, Hinata,” Daichi supported them. “You can’t give it back.”

“We won’t let you!” Nishinoya assured him.

“Besides, we’ll go all together!” Suga proclaimed, smiling knowingly. Hinata gasped yet again, his fists clenching with all the emotions circulating and vibrating through him.

“You don’t mean—!!” Tanaka and Nishinoya whooped loudly at that, not letting him finish.

“We’re all gonna see the game and go to Tokyo together, have some practice matches with Nekoma, too,” Ennoshita told them. “Even with our new first-years.”

“We already have the tickets,” Kiyoko mentioned.

“And we took a couple of days off in the universities,” Asahi said. “It’s for a weekend, so it’s fine.”

Kageyama eyed the former third-years attentively. He didn’t know anything about the trip. It was probably Daichi who contacted his mother. But he didn’t really care now. Going to Tokyo to see a Premier League game and even have some practice matches with Nekoma — it was way better than Christmas! It was quite a shame that their Captain has broken his arm, though — Kageyama even felt kind of sorry for him, it was a horrible injury for a volleyball player. He’d rather survive a concussion any day. It would be good to practice blocking against him, since he was really experienced, but Kageyama decided that it could wait till another opportunity. The trip still had lots of promising prospects, especially for their first-years, who now had a chance to meet their former third-years, talk to them and, most importantly, play with them. It would surely be very useful for starters, and they could certainly help the newbies determine their strengths and weaknesses better. Kageyama could feel the corners of his lips twitching up, his held down delight slowly taking over him.

Karasuno was amazing.

Meanwhile, Hinata’s mouth kept getting wider, even though Kageyama wouldn’t think it could get any bigger, but apparently he underestimated his childish nature.

“B-but that’s a-awesome!” he cried out, quickly looking at everyone around. The third-years stepped closer and gave him the tickets, helping to put down the DVDs. Hinata’s hands were trembling so bad while he was staring at them that Kageyama hoped he wouldn’t accidentally tear them in half.

The Captains ruffled his hair, but well, Hinata wouldn’t be Hinata if he didn’t slam into him, holding the tickets in one hand and hugging him, making Ennoshita smile softly. Ennoshita was always a very sympathetic and helpful teammate, he knew how to boost your confidence when you were down in the dumps, and ever since he became the Captain, he got much closer with the whole team. But he never lacked the necessary strictness, which was vital when dealing with their hyped third-years duo.

Hinata pulled back, and Narita with Kinoshita patted his back affectionately.

“We’ve got tickets for the rest of the team, so you can call whoever you like with you,” Narita said, and the next second Kageyama met Hinata’s gaze for some reason, but his partner looked away rather quickly. Wait, why would he look at him now? Was he actually thinking of calling him and wasting a ticket for him..?

With his peripheral vision Kageyama noticed that Tanaka and Nishinoya were scouring through the bags. He wondered what would they get.

Kageyama got a glimpse of a box before they hid it behind their backs. Although, it did look somehow familiar…

“Oi, Hinata!” Tanaka called him, getting his attention on spot. “We’ve got something for ya, too!”

“Don’t forget to tell him who bought it,” Daichi intercepted, visibly making both of them go rigid, but Nishinoya quickly caught up.

“We got this one with your mom!” he exclaimed, trying his best to not drop the box he was holding along with Tanaka. Hinata seemed to have swallowed his words back, tilting his head to the side.

“Wha… whaaat?” he asked with a completely shocked look on his face. “My-my mom?”

“We had to call her to find out whether she was okay with you celebrating with us today,” Daichi explained. “She told us your family celebration would be help on Sunday, so it was fine. And she also wondered if she could help us with a present for you.”

“Saeko-nee helped us choose!” Nishinoya commented excitedly with Tanaka nodding along vigorously.

“My sis sure as hell got style!” he agreed, grinning wildly.

“Just show it to him already,” Kinoshita urged them. Kageyama already had an idea of what it was, since he remembered hearing glimpses of those conversations and the size of the box finally made sense, but he was still curious about the present’s final appearance. Nishinoya and Tanaka stepped to the sides a bit and held it out — it was a wrapped box with black and orange paper all over it, so Hinata couldn’t guess what was inside just yet. He put the tickets onto the pile of DVDs and took the box carefully, trying to not shake it. His eyes were definitely glistening now.

“Come on. Open it! Open!” everyone cheered, and Hinata picked one of the pieces of paper, eagerly peeling everything off the box.

It was way more recognizable now.

Hinata gave out an indignant squeal of pure delight as he quickly took the lid off the box and guwaaaed so loud that there was an echo in the other end of the gym. He rummaged through it and took something out with one swift wave of his hand, then put the box down without taking his eyes off the actual present.

“New trainers!!!” he yelled, causing Tsukishima to snort at his overreactions again, even though Kageyama knew that a person like him would definitely appreciate good sneakers, being such a picky bastard. The bright patters left no room for any doubts — Asics. Real Asics trainers for volleyball. Hinata was holding them firmly yet gently, like a great treasure, and Kageyama whole-heartedly agreed with it. He could feel his eyes and chest widening as he took the sight in — the sneakers were black with orange Asics striped all over them and orange shoe laces. It suited Karasuno’s uniform perfectly well, and even Hinata’s appearance, too. To be honest, Kageyama got used to his white-and-red ones, but it wasn’t an issue. New trainers were always a reason for a mood boost, especially new Asics sneakers, especially such cool ones. Kageyama felt really happy for Hinata to his own surprise, and he kind of admired his mother. She spend quite some money on it, which wasn’t that surprising, since Hinata is her son, but she didn’t mind him spending this day with his friends and his team actually delivering that present. It was really thoughtful of her.

“H-holy—!! This is too! Much!!” his voice sounded quite weird now, barely resembling his own; it sounded on verge of happy yelling and overwhelmed whimpering, if you asked Kageyama. Really weird. It made Kageyama feel weird in return, as if some invisible force was urging him to step closer and do something, even though he had no idea what. But it was stupid anyway, that kind of thinking.

“How did you even—” he gulped, taking the sneakers in both hands; he looked as if he was holding a baby or something. “They look so cool and they are so cool, I just!!” his smile grew a tad less surprised and a whole lot more delighted as he practically fell down on his butt, placing the sneakers on the floor next to him and picking his own laces. He froze for a moment and stared at everyone around him; his cheeks were really pink.

“I-Is it okay if I try them on now?” he asked, but it sounded more like a demand he simply couldn’t hold back; Karasuno laughed fondly around him.

“Of course!” Suga chuckled.

“Go for it, Shouyou!” Nishinoya nodded ferociously.

There were some other cheers, but Hinata definitely wasn’t going to wait for them, untying his shoes in one go and pulling them off his feet, carefully taking the paper out of the new sneakers and putting them on, one by one, carefully and thoroughly managing the laces, tightening them properly. Kageyama didn’t even have a chance to blink before he was on his feet again, marveling at his new trainers. Even though it was just shoes, he looked kind of different now? And Kageyama found himself kind of liking it.

“The size fits perfectly!” he uttered, flexing his ankles.

“It has really good soles, too,” Asahi noticed.

“It does,” Sugawara nodded, giving Hinata a meaningful gaze he failed to dismiss. “It’s made for spikers, who always have to jump lots yet still care about their knees and keep them in check,” maybe, maybe it was just Kageyama’s imagination, but for a single moment it seemed that Hinata sort of… zoned out, glancing at him guiltily, his smile fading slightly. That vision vanished too quickly, leaving the same cheerful Hinata in its place; however, Kageyama couldn’t help but wonder whether he did see things… or, on the contrary, didn’t, but should’ve.

“You look so cool now, Hinata!” Tanaka told him, and the others hummed and nodded along approvingly, while Hinata did some test jumping, warming up and getting used to the new shoes. In a certain way he looked like a baby bird flexing his newfound wings.

“Thank you s-so much, they’re amazing!!!” Hinata cried out, bouncing up and down, radiating energy and awe and happiness. Everyone around him was smiling too, satisfaction never leaving their faces, and then the former third-years stepped forward, hiding something behind their backs as well. Kageyama’s blood seemed to freeze in his veins at that sight, his palms getting a tad sweaty and his heart gaining an erratic rhythm.

Judging by Suga’s smile, there was only one team present left — the present.

Being so caught up in this holiday atmosphere, Kageyama had almost forgotten about it, but now that he was reminded of its existence, he could feel some really strange dread settling down in his stomach, which was absolutely ridiculous. Or at least that’s what he tried to tell himself. The thing was, Hinata got so many cool presents today already, and he was definitely really happy, and now there was this…

Why would they even leave it for the very end? From what he knew, it was the last present on their list. But it wasn’t nearly as good as the tickets for the Premier League or Asics sneakers for that matter… Hinata’d probably not even like it that much. Why did Kageyama suggest it? Would he even like it at all?

He could only pray that it wasn’t that bad and that no one would tell Hinata that it was actually his idea… goddammit.

“Hinata, we’ve got something else for you,” Daichi called him, and Hinata stopped bouncing, turned to them and stood still, swaying a bit from the anticipation eating him on the inside. He had an expression of a kid ready to see some sort of a wonder.

“It was made in quite a rush, but we hope you’ll still like it,” Asahi smiled at him.

“The whole team participated in this,” Suga said, and Hinata’s grin got wider. The former third-years chuckled, gave each other a quick conspiring glance and then Sugawara, who was standing in the middle, held out a bundle — something visibly soft packed in a wrapping paper. It crunched in their hands, and the sound sent cold goose bumps down Kageyama’s spine. He felt a weird yet reasonable urge to just run over, grab the thing and toss it out of the window. He swallowed and kept quiet, trying to act as unaffected as possible.

Hinata inhaled sharply and carefully took the present, touching it to try understand what was it like. His face became quite confused when he probably realized that it was actually something soft; his eyes narrowed a bit, but his smile radiated even more excitement as he started tearing the wrapping paper away. Everyone got quiet, close to practically holding their breaths. The only sound in the gym was rustling of the wrapping paper. Kageyama could barely remember the last time he was that nervous and it was driving his insane. His palms tingled. Maybe he should really just…

The rustling stopped, and Kageyama saw bright orange fabric in Hinata’s palms. The silence was almost deafening for a few seconds, and then Hinata pulled the rest of the present out of the packing, presenting it to everyone, even though they have already seen it, just not finished — a long orange scarf with black striped on both ends.

Kageyama had to admit, in the end it turned out to look less horrible than when he did his part — that was most likely Suga’s doing. He was standing close enough to see that some loops were loose, some tight, a couple of threads seemed to be out of place, but it looked surprisingly okay despite that. You could see the borders between the zones with slightly different loops — proof that each and every member of the team, including the managers, participated in making it. The wool appeared to be soft and comfortable, the orange wasn’t annoyingly bright, but warm, pleasant for one’s sight. And most of all, the scarf looked really, really warm.

The silence was probably getting overbearing, even though at some point Kageyama could tell there was ringing in his ears, and Sugawara disturbed it, stepping closer to Hinata on the right.

“See?” he asked him, tracing different loops with his fingers. “Everyone knitted a small part of it. Even Tsukishima,” everyone giggled at that, and Yamaguchi clapped him on the shoulder, the middle blocker looking completely displeased.

Kageyama shifted his gaze on Hinata’s face. Hinata didn’t look like he saw a wonder — he looked like he witnessed a magical miracle. Kageyama thought that he simply saw what he wanted to see, but every passing second assured him that it was real — Hinata’s expression was real, his delight was real, his surprise was real. His smile got less bright than before, but somehow even more expressive — soft and gentle, unbelievably sincere. One could rarely see it on Hinata’s usually beaming, radiating face. And even though he was calmer now, there were still some sparkles in his eyes that made them look golden, as if somebody collected a few rays of sunshine and liquefied them. His fingers were moving slowly, getting a feel of the scarf, and Kageyama, standing to the left from him, saw goose bumps covering his arms.

One simple thought invaded Kageyama’s mind, soothing his ragged nerves and reassuring him, defying his fears and doubts, but replacing it with some weird, unfamiliar pleasure and satisfaction, happiness even — something he never thought he could feel when looking at another person.

He liked it. Hinata really liked it. 

Kageyama might not have felt it, too engrossed in his own thoughts, but he was smiling now, too. And that surely didn’t pass by unnoticed.

“It was the King’s idea, you know,” Tsukishima suddenly informed him with a sweet yet poisonous voice, pleased with himself to no extent. Kageyama’s shoulders jerked up as he inhaled sharply, feeling his throat drying up. He glanced at Tsukishima, his eyes narrowing, but couldn’t get himself together enough for a proper response. 

“S-shut up, bratstard!” too late did he realize that he failed to choose between brat and bastard, spatting out something ridiculous instead. He felt his cheeks pinking, but decided it was better to keep his stupid tongue in place now than try and fix the situation. Everyone around them was cackling or cachinnating already anyway... Damn it. 

“W-what?” Hinata uttered, and his voice sounded really off, so he cleared his throat and added quickly: “Whose?” Hinata turned at him, eyeing Kageyama suspiciously, probably trying to come up with any sensible reason to have words like “Kageyama” and “knitting a scarf” in one sentence, and well, Kageyama knew he wasn’t the kind of person to do that, but still — there was no need to look at him as if he’d grown a second head.

“Yes, it was!” Suga confirmed, smiling and patting Hinata’s shoulder. “Quite a nice one, huh?”

“We chose the colors of the team to make it more symbolic,” Asahi added, even though it was pretty obvious.

“You might not wear it outside, since it’s quite messy, but we still want you to have it,” Yamaguchi said, pouring earnest confidence into his last words. 

Meanwhile, Hinata couldn’t take his eyes off the scarf again, clutching it tighter, and it freaked Kageyama out a bit. He was already embarrassed beyond reason, and now he wasn’t sure what the hell was going on with Hinata. Why was he behaving like this? Why wouldn’t he say something? Was something wrong with it after all?

“I-it’s beautiful,” Hinata muttered, and Kageyama could barely make it out — so quiet it sounded, but when he did, it felt like his heart did a small somersault in his chest, beating against his ribs ferociously. He didn’t trust his tongue yet to try saying anything in return, but fortunately, they had like twelve other people on the gym.

“It is!” Yachi beamed, coming closer and putting her hand on Hinata’s chest, pointing at the scarf with another. “See, that’s the part I knitted!” she traced the wool down some more. “And that’s Kiyoko’s!” Hinata’s eyes seemed to glisten a bit as he listened to her, nodding thankfully.

“Oh! Here’s mine!” Yamaguchi pointed. “And Tsukki’s, too!”

“Ours are in the middle!” Tanaka said proudly, while Nishinoya was already looking for their loops.

“Here they are — mine and Ryu’s! A tad messy, but hey!” he smirked. “It’s gonna keep you warm still!”

“Ours are over there,” Ennoshita spoke, stroking the scarf, and Kinoshita and Narita smirked knowingly. “And here,” he clapped over one end lightly, “is Daichi’s, Asahi’s and Suga’s doing,” he explained.

“We’d never have done it without Suga’s help, though,” Asahi smiled, shrugging.

“Yeah, he knits really well, we have to give him that,” Daichi noted loudly, and Sugawara simply laughed in response.

“It was nothing, really, I just had to show them how it’s done, that's it,” his gaze turned a bit more serious and he met Kageyama’s eyes, some sort of... pride reflecting in his own? He tended to look this way during their practices sometimes, especially when Kageyama learnt something new from him, and that was the only association Kageyama had to offer. “But it wouldn’t work out without Kageyama, since it was his idea in the first place, just like Tsukishima said,” he smiled softly. “We just helped him along,” Kageyama’s cheeks seemed to be on fire already, even though he wouldn’t dare objecting. It wasn’t that big of a deal, was it? It was just an idea, and he only got it accidentally thanks to his mother, who happened to be busy doing the same for some of their friends. His knitting was quite lame, too. There was nothing to praise him for, not really. So why were they—

Hinata looked at him, and somehow Kageyama managed to stumble over his own thoughts in his own head. His chest stiffened, his body numbing and hands tingling. Kageyama didn’t quite fancy admitting it, but sometimes Hinata was capable of that - he could cast a look so intense, or rather meaningful, that it even unsettled him to some point. But this one was such a weird mix of feelings that Kageyama wasn’t even sure what to take of it. His expression was somewhat like the one he had after a successful quick, but calmer, softer, yet still excited, full of wonder. It brought Kageyama back to the times about a year ago, when they were on the Golden Week training camp and managed to pull off that oddball quick strike with Hinata controlling the ball together with Kageyama for the first time, only there was less of that intense awe in his eyes, replaced for more... gratitude?

Huh. Hinata could really be so stupid sometimes.

But that definitely wasn't the reason Kageyama’s heart swelled and warned, making him feel as if something melted in his chest, no.

“Stop staring at me, dumbass,” Kageyama muttered, trying to make his voice sound casual. “You’re always cold, and we don’t need you getting sick every time and miss practices,” Hinata’s eyes widened slightly at that, as if the situation finally started to make some sense. “Besides, my mom was knitting scarves for her friends,” he added a tad louder, to remind everyone why had he come up with such an idea in the first place, “and Sugawara-san liked that thought.”

Kageyama caught a glimpse of Sugawara’s kind of amused expression, one eyebrow raised; it was as if he was asking him, So that’s how you're trying to get away with this, isn’t it?, but he kept quiet. Just a couple of moments later his gaze involuntarily drifted back to his former senpai, who was clearly suppressing a grin with a you-tried face. Kageyama would usually see him giving such an expression to Daichi whenever they had something to argue about (because, obviously, most of the times it was Sugawara who was right), and it was quite unnerving to find it directed at him. However, he didn’t have much time to ponder that.

Hinata blinked, still staring at him, and Kageyama could tell that his blinking was off for some reason. He was blinking too often. Did he have something in his eyes or what? 

The situation must’ve gotten way too ridiculous, because Tanaka just laughed loudly. 

“The youngsters!” he cackled, closing his eyes. 

“So oblivious,” Asahi smiled.

“You’re touched, aren’t you, Shouyou!!” Nishinoya lunged up to him, examining his face carefully. “Yup, absolutely, he is!” he concluded, which seemed to have finally gotten Hinata down to earth. 

“W-wha— I’m not! Not at all!” he protested, gesturing vaguely, and even Kageyama, who had trouble reading people off the court, could tell just how lame that was. 

“Look at that, turns out the King had feeling, too!” Tsukishima pronounced evilly, making Kageyama flinch with anger. 

“Shut up!” he replied.

“You make me.”

“Oh for gods’ sake—”

“Are you blushing, Hinata?”

“Wha—”

“He is! Totally!”

“No, of course not! It’s just—”

“Quiet!” two voices suddenly rose above the out folding mess, holding such strong authority that it instantly made everyone else fall silent. Kageyama turned his head and saw Ennoshita and Daichi looking at each other with slightly surprised expressions on their faces, but soon after they both smiled apologetically and chuckled. 

“Sorry — reflexes,” Daichi excused himself.

“It’s fine, I get it,” Ennoshita assured him.

“Scary,” Tanaka and Nishinoya whispered somewhere in the background, and Kageyama could totally agree with them. Both their former and current captains had their leaders’ auras on spot, and when they used them together it could easily get from convincing to straight terrifying.

“Why don’t you try it on, Hinata?” Sugawara suggested, pulling Hinata out of his fazed condition, and he nodded slowly, carefully wrapping the scarf around his neck. It ended up being quite long, but despite that didn’t look wrong on Hinata — on the contrary, it looked like it... belonged there. And it seemed that Hinata felt cozy wearing it, too, which was the most important thing. 

However, Kageyama noticed that one end was hanging down loose on his back, spoiling the whole picture. So he simply stepped closer, without thinking much, picked it and tucked it carefully so that it'd look decent. Hinata tried to turn his head back see what Kageyama was doing, but it was useless.

“Don't jinx your neck, dumbass, or I’ll strangle you accidentally after all,” Kageyama warned him. 

“You won’t,” Hinata shook his head, turning to him and grinning. “Not with the witnesses.”

Their teammates smirked, and somehow the situation suddenly grew much less awkward. Hinata looked kind of weird, wearing his Karasuno uniform and a scarf, but the colors matched, and he seemed to be happier than Kageyama’d ever seen him before, so it didn't quite matter. He felt satisfied with what was happening — he was glad for Hinata. Because if he knew something for sure, it was that simple fact he never bothered to phrase, but already believed in: if anyone from the people he knew deserved any of this, then it was Hinata who did. 

“See?” Sugawara suddenly elbowed Kageyama out of his thoughts. “Told you he’d love it.”

Kageyama felt his cheeks getting on fire yet again, recalling just now hard he tried to not let this happen when he first told the team about it, horribly embarrassed. 

“Giving someone a scarf in June,” Tsukishima stated meaningfully. “How thoughtful of you, King.”

Kageyama’s head tilted backwards defensively as he blinked and glared at Tsukishima. Why couldn’t that jerk just keep his mouth shut?!

That was true, though. He didn’t think about it much, but getting someone with birthday in June a scarf as a present might’ve been... inappropriate in a way. Goddammit! 

“I don’t care!” Hinata suddenly cried out; his voice rang in the air clearly and instantly attracted everyone’s attention. He opened his mouth to say something else, but froze like this for a couple of second, looking extremely confused, as if he lost his trail of thoughts. Somebody grinned, but Hinata took a breath and continued quickly: 

“I-I mean, I don’t care that it's summer, or anything else! I like it!” he swayed back just a little, then added: “No, I love it, actually. All of it!” he raised his arms, seemingly without noticing, and clutched the ends of the scarf tangling from his neck. “It’s all... it’s all just so unbelievable, I don’t even! I-I knew you wouldn’t forget, but THIS!!" he gestured and accidentally threw one end of the scarf right in his face, which made the whole team erupt in laughter; even Kageyama couldn’t help but breath out a soft grin. Hinata rapidly put the scarf in place, his ears pinking, and giggled along. Once it somehow naturally quieted down, he continued: 

“I’m sorry, I just really don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t worry, we didn’t expect you to,” Tsukishima commented, but everyone around shushed him and didn’t really pay more attention. Hinata chuckled, but still looked quite lost. 

“I-it’s just... amazing, really,” he finally managed, silence falling in the gym again. “You all came here, even Daichi-san, Sugawara-san, Asahi-san and Kiyoko-san—”

“And you want to say you didn’t expect us to?” Sugawara asked sternly, putting his hands on his hips, playfully strict. Daichi gave him a he-has-a-point expression and Asahi smiled apologetically.

“N-no, I mean, I don’t want to say you wouldn’t care or anything, I know that’s not true, but still... it’s so wonderful that all of you came here,” he looked around, over the whole team, which was standing in a rough semicircle closely around him. “I-I’m not good with words, but I want to thank you so bad! But I can’t! It’s just too much,” he sighed sharply, a goofy smile playing on his lips. “Kiyoko-san and Yachi-san, thank you for your flowers, they’re very beautiful,” he bowed a bit clumsily, but the girls smiled fondly and thanked him in return. “Yamaguchi, Tsukishima,” there was barely a pause in between two names, “the DVDs will be really helpful for me, I’ll learn lots of tricks from them, I promise!” Yamaguchi gave him both thumbs up, while Tsukishima’s face came all the way from the steel one to the stone one in his spectrum and had some less apathy and irritation in it now. Wow. “Tanaka-s—” the corners of his mouth twitched up and he corrected himself right in time. “...senpai, Nishinoya-senpai,” third-years cooed immediately, flailing like children who were given a permission to buy some ice cream. Kinoshita and Narita shushed them, though, so that they wouldn’t interrupt Hinata. “The sneakers are the coolest thing ever!!” he clenched his fists and raised them up to his face, sparkles practically flying from his eyes. “I’m gonna spike more balls than anyone and jump higher than anyone in them!” he threw both fists up in the air, while Nishinoya and Tanaka whooped approvingly, Nishinoya jumping up on Tanaka’s shoulders.

“Way to go, Shouyou!!” he yelled cheerfully, landing back on the floor.

“My kouhais are growing up so fast!” Tanaka declared proudly, and Hinata high-fived both of them simultaneously, one palm for each, but then the third-years hushed the hyped duo again. Hinata turned to them, looking at the Captain with clear admiration shining in his eyes. 

“Kinoshita-san, Narita-san, Ennoshita-san, thank you very much for the tickets!!” he bowed yet again and sounded quite off... as if he was trying to hold himself together. Kageyama frowned slightly. What was that about? “I-I couldn’t even imagine going to see such a game!! In Tokyo!” Ennoshita pulled his shoulders, making Hinata straighten up, but the latter kept talking: “And practice matches with Nekoma!!” his voice had that childish excitement in it now, and even Kageyama could tell that it was becoming kind of contagious for some reason, even though it’d usually annoy him. He wondered how was this occasion so different that it changed his opinion, even if for one day only. Kageyama realized he zoned out a bit and tried to catch up on what Hinata was still saying: 

“...meet Kenma and Inuoka and everyone again! It’s gonna be so awesome!!” he exclaimed, jumping up and waving his arms, trying to express all the delight clearly overwhelming his body. Nishinoya and Tanaka cheered with him, clearly anticipating meeting their friends from the capital, too — it’s been a while since they’d seen each other. As for Kageyama, he might not have had any actual friends there, but he was still really looking forward to that trip. Nekoma was a perfect team to practice with, a very motivating rival — and, being dedicated volleyball players, they were that kind of people Kageyama could actually spend time with; they had things to talk about, after all. Sugawara told his lots about the importance of communication for his skills of reading people, and he’s been trying to practice more at that... Hopefully, he was getting better at least a bit. 

Meanwhile, Hinata was bouncing close to him so eagerly in his excitement that at some point he jerked back in his jump, and one end of the scarf flew off his neck again, slapping Kageyama right in the face this time. Kageyama twitched, clearly not expecting anything like that, but didn’t have time to do anything else, because Hinata landed and took the scarf with him. Once his nose and eyes were free of wool that was tickling him, he instantly found himself looking so Hinata, staring back at him carefully, as if expecting a kick or a punch for screwing up just now. Kageyama found it harder to catch Hinata off guards — that dumbass somehow always knew when and where would he hit him, but that wasn’t it; he could often predict his behavior and reactions to certain things, just like Kageyama could do with him, too, and he realized that they sort of adapted, because handling (and often tolerating) each other definitely became easier, even if they wouldn’t admit it and kept behaving almost the same way from the day they met. 

But sometimes there were some situations when it hit Kageyama just how long it seemed that they’d known each other for, and how well they could communicate. 

Sometimes, it almost seemed as if just looking at each other was enough. 

Perhaps it was essential for a setter and a spiker, but for Kageyama, who could never ever imagine that before, it was simply beyond fascinating. 

Hinata tilted his head, narrowing his eyes and looking slightly confused because of Kageyama’s lack of action. But Kageyama knew too well that trying to hit him now, when he was alarmed, would be pointless, if only to embarrass himself even more. 

“Consider yourself lucky, dumbass,” he said instead. “It’s your birthday, so I won’t punch you.”

“I’d dodge it anyway!” Hinata parried cheerfully, making Kageyama’s arm twitch in an insuppressible desire to grab the shrimp’s head in a deadly grip. He inhaled sharply, getting a hang of himself. No need to embarrass myself, he repeated again.

“Don’t be so sure,” Kageyama replied and Hinata simply grinned back widely, but for some reason the didn’t feel like continuing that meaningless exchange of replicas. It wasn’t exactly meaningless, though; as dense as Kageyama knew he could be, he could detect those hidden lines in that short dialogue — if only he could read them properly, too. He always doubted himself when it came to stuff like that, he really didn’t like misunderstanding. Were he and Hinata thinking about the same thing?

“I’ll wear it,” Hinata suddenly said, pretty much beaming at him and making Kageyama wonder whether he had a light bulb installed inside his skull somewhere (possibly instead of brains). Although, for a moment it was Kageyama who couldn’t quite process his words properly. “The scarf, I mean,” he added, and his smile suddenly softened, and Kageyama inhaled deeply against his own will, facing him intensely while feeling some warmth tingling in his fingers and chest. “It’s wonderful, really,” he said, putting all his persuasion skills in his words, as if trying to assure Kageyama of something — of the fact that he actually loved his present. “Thank you, all of you,” he spoke louder, “for knitting this for me!!” okay, now even Kageyama could tell that he sounded touched, which made goose bumps dance over Kageyama’s arms. “And thank you for the idea,” Hinata told Kageyama quieter, meeting his eyes with his gaze, somehow... fond. Amazed and fond. “It’s incredible, Kageyama,” Hinata smiled that gentle, just a tiny bit mischievous smile of his; it seemed to throw Kageyama's body and gears into some sort of an overdrive — as if he was about to play volleyball, already warmed up and prepared, feeling the strong, almost solid aura of his tram around him, providing him with all the necessary support. 

“It’s incredible, and it’ll definitely keep me warm.”

It was one of those rare moments — Hinata’s eyes were telling Kageyama much, much more than his words were. 

It couldn’t last forever, though, could it. 

“Who would've thought you could come up with such a cool idea that doesn't have anything to do with volleyball, Kageyama!” Tanaka smirked, lightening that slightly tense atmosphere and making everyone at least snort along. Kageyama’s torso stiffened and he felt his face getting hotter. He heard a sharp sound that was most definitely a high-five; Nishinoya’s and Tanaka’s, judging by his harsh it sounded. A year has passed and they were among the oldest team members, but kept their... flashy characters nevertheless. Well, it wasn’t any surprising, so. Ennoshita patted him on the shoulder, his smile clearly saying, I’ll get to them later. But of course Kageyama wasn’t that frustrated or anything, it wasn’t a big deal, and nobody meant any offense. It just seemed that his senpais liked embarrassing him every so often. 

Hinata lugged lightly with his eyes closed, and Kageyama calmed down a bit. He watched his partner, who was standing almost right in front if him, still holding one end of the scarf in his hand, and a weird fulfilling sense of accomplishment fluttered somewhere in his stomach. He... no, they did it. They managed to prepare all the presents on time, they managed to cooperate and choose wisely, and most importantly, they ended up making Hinata that happy — could he even ask for something more? 

Feeling that happy for another person was so, so weird — and yet at the same time so, so right.

His body was filled with a strange, vague but persistent urge to do something, which Kageyama couldn’t decipher, and it puzzled him a lot. 

Fortunately, Karasuno was way less mysterious. 

“Less words — more action!!” Nishinoya yelped as he suddenly leaped up and practically slammed into Hinata and Kageyama, grabbing their shoulders and half-standing with Hinata to his left and half-hanging down with Kageyama to his right, whooping happily and instantly luring Tanaka into joining them. Their other senpai hugged them both from the other side, standing in front of Nishinoya now.

“A group hug!!” be bellowed with a booming voice, as if he was about to fight a bear rather than invite someone for an embrace.

Kageyama could hear Tsukishima’s exasperated sigh from all the way there. He most likely knew that there wasn’t a chance for him to escape.

To his own surprise, Kageyama didn’t really mind it that much anymore. There was an occasion, and besides, it wasn’t like he had any choice left — not with Nishinoya dangerously close to climbing on his back already. His own shoulder was getting really uncomfortable because of that, so, being in the “eye of the storm”, he shifted and put his left arm around someone’s shoulder to steady himself.

When he instinctively lowered his arm like thirty centimeters down to find that supporting shoulder, he realized all too late that it was Hinata’s. He wanted to let go of him (with his impressive height he was useless to lean onto anyway), but Tanaka squished them together, and Kageyama didn’t make it in time. He grumbled quietly, but couldn’t protest, because the others were already closing in.

Yachi hugged Nishinoya, who was thrilled beyond reason, and Hinata; Kiyoko joined her from behind, her slightly stern, but very meaningful look cooled down Nishinoya’s fervor (even though then he flailed about Kiyoko giving him such a gaze with Tanaka admiring him deeply). Ennoshita, Kinoshita and Narita came almost at the same time; the Captain stood between Kageyama and Tanaka, putting arms on their shoulders and fixing the latter on spot, while Kinoshita and Narita joined him close by. Sugawara and Daichi came from Nishinoya’s side, embracing them too; Yamaguchi hugged Yachi with one arm and put another on Tsukishima’s shoulders, and he returned the gesture, a tad more reluctantly putting his second arm on Daichi’s shoulder. Asahi embraced all of them in the end, pressing almost everyone even closer to each other. They grumbled, but then laughed relaxingly, patting each other’s backs. A few arms reached out to ruffle Hinata’s hair, and at some point they got so earnest about it that it was Kageyama who ended up having to steady him.

They glanced at each other, and memories flashed up in Kageyama’s mind — his birthday was half a year ago, but now it seemed as if he was living those moments again. They hugged, too, back in December, and it was quite similar in many ways; all of them were smiling (even Tsukishima’s face wasn’t that sour anymore) and laughing light-heartedly, standing really close and creating some kind of an unique atmosphere in the middle. There was an occasion, there were presents, there was the hero of the day and a whole enthusiastic volleyball team who were thanking their member for everything he’s put into their common goals and brought to everyone’s lives. Even though it wasn’t Kageyama’s birthday, he found himself being just as happy as six months ago, feeling a nostalgic pang in his chest.

However, there were some things — really small, but at the same time really important things, like those centimeters most of them gained (except for Hinata and Nishinoya, obviously), Ennoshita’s newly found leadership aura, Yamaguchi’s noticeable confidence, the former third-years’ kind of “adult” presence and even the fact that Tsukishima didn’t requite two people pushing him in a group hug, looking relatively relaxed while being a part of it… Only such things indicated that half a year has passed; over a year since he’d met Karasuno. Naturally, they all changed — gradually, but surely, and that was truly amazing. Karasuno was amazing.

There were their first-years missing, though, which was one of the biggest changes he’d come to experience. They’d be back in two days, and they’d have to tell the guys that they had to celebrate Hinata’s birthday without them. But knowing those boys, they’d pretend to be deeply offended and then bring a shit ton of presents next day, trying to beat their senpais as they always tried to. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to celebrate with them, not at all — but still, he really appreciated a chance to spend time with their original team, his first real senpais, especially Sugawara, because for some reason, which was simply too big and complex to try describing it, just being with them always tended to reassure Kageyama and give him some extra or lacking confidence, or sometimes advices. It just had that influence on him — one he could never quite explain, but always really appreciated.

All of this was exactly what made Karasuno incredible.

He didn’t realize that he zoned out again, but when it did dawn on him, it was too late.

“…two, three!” he heard Ennoshita’s voice and it hit him that the team was about to say something in unison, but what?! When he looked at their mouths, somewhat desperately, trying to understand what were they saying, he heard and caught a glimpse of “Hap—”, which was definitely an oncoming “Happy Birthday, Hinata”. He attempted to join in and pronounce it with everyone, but forgot to take in account that they’ve already started and began speaking from the beginning — and that ended up with him sounding like an echo of the team:

“Happy Birthday, Hinata!” the whole Karasuno shouted, and somewhere around “bir” Kageyama joined in:

“Happy Birthday, Hinata!” he reflexed weren’t fast enough to detect that his voice was the only one left ringing in the gym, way louder than require, and kind of… awkward, clearly hurried. Silence lasted for about five more seconds, and then all the Karasuno erupted in tremendous laughter, shaking and letting go of each other in order to either cover their mouths or wipe their eyes. Kageyama, whose only need was to vanish in midair there and then, didn’t take his arm off Hinata, but when the latter bent down to laugh, too, he pulled it back sharply.

“You tried, Kageyama!” Tanaka uttered, still cachinnating wildly along with Nishinoya. Tsukishima was smirking smugly with his typical I-told-you-so expression. Everyone around them looked amused in one way or another, and Hinata appeared to be having lots of fun too.

“Well, at least you didn’t sneeze at someone’s face, did you,” Daichi suddenly told Kageyama, smiling knowingly and making sure that everyone heard it, and that caused another way of laughter ripple through the team. Kageyama thanked his senpai silently when Hinata shut up, his ears pinking, and he cackled along awkwardly.

Oh, did Kageyama remember that unfortunate incident. It was his face that got sneezed at, after all. And on his last birthday.

But six months later it became one of those typical Karasuno moments they could reminiscent from time to time and laugh at.

So many memories tied them together, it was truly incredible. So many good memories.

With all of them laughing sincerely around him, it suddenly occurred to Kageyama that he was almost halfway done with his life in Karasuno. Just another year and a half, and all of this would be gone — practicing together, competing together, losing and winning together, even celebrating together… All that bickering, all those cheers and mood boosts, even the stupidest ones, all those smiles would be gone, too. Only volleyball would stay, being the only constant thing in his life so far. And the people would have to change.

But did he want that? Could he adapt to new ones that well? Could he… could he let Karasuno go?

He glanced at Hinata, feeling some weird ache welling up in his chest. Did that mean he wouldn’t be able to play with Hinata anymore once they choose their separate ways? Not ever?

“Kageyama,” a familiar voice led him out of his trance and someone — Asahi, as it turned out — patter his shoulder, bringing him back to reality. He looked at the source of the voice, which was Suga; he was standing close to the net, holding a volleyball with one hand. His smile was expecting, if not… challenging a little.

“I think you still owe Hinata something,” he told him, tossing the volleyball right in his hands. Kageyama caught it easily, looking at the blue and white and yellow pattern and turning it with his palms, kind of puzzled by his senpai’s words. They gave him all the team’s presents, right? Nobody, except for Tanaka, knew about the stuff he had left… what could he possibly mean by that?

He looked up, seeing Hinata staring at Sugawara with the same quizzed expression on his face, and the memories suddenly came rushing back and breaking out like fireworks — those from about a year ago, back when they weren’t even teammates carrying the full meaning of that word.

The first time Kageyama found himself thinking that all this crazy, ridiculous tuff might actually work out, as hopeless as it seemed. But something — someone made Kageyama believe in spite of all the doubts he had, and he has never regretted his decision ever since.

Ever since the first toss he gave Hinata practically on that very spot.

He could see his tensed up muscles and arms raised triumphantly — and that smile of his, drunk with happiness and delight. Nobody has ever been so glad and grateful for getting Kageyama’s tosses before. We have the ball tossed by the setter. That’s something we take for granted, he remembered Sugawara’s words he heard back then.

But for Hinata, it was something so, so much more.

He felt corners of his mouth twisting up in a grin, and Hinata looked at him at the same time questioningly, with a clear hint of anticipation, even though he clearly didn’t guess what to expect yet. But his expression and presence, which seemed to somehow always call out for the ball, call out for Kageyama, was all he needed.

He threw the ball up in the air and caught it, meeting Hinata’s gaze. The way his expression changed the next second — his features relaxing, lips stretching in a pleased smile and sparks of excitement flaring up in his eyes; all that proved him one more time that they really didn’t need any words to communicate.

They took off in different direction at the same time, bringing the whole team into action, making them give some space for the duo. Kageyama turned around on his spot under the net, clutching the ball tightly, and saw Hinata nodding at him, already on his position, too.

Nishinoya was standing in the back of the court, grinning wildly with his arms stretched forward.

“Bring it ooon!” he called, and Kageyama simply couldn’t wait any longer — he carelessly threw the ball up and spiked it to Nishinoya, who quickly lunged forward and received it perfectly well with his forearms, the familiar thump of the ball seemingly getting in synch with his breathing, evening it out but accelerating his pulse, his heart racing up excitedly in the anticipation of the play. A mere moment later he heard Hinata’s new trainers screeching against smooth floor, and that sound almost made Kageyama breath out sharply, making his fingers tense up for just a second, feeling that through. It wasn’t even a real game, but it seemed to him that he somehow got in the zone of some sort, knowing where was who on the court without even looking and feeling the ball flying above and in front of him. Hinata didn’t call for the ball, but he didn’t have to — his presence was so bright and clear that Kageyama had no trouble concluding that he couldn’t wait to touch the volleyball already. He could almost see him smiling really wide, throwing his arms backwards and crouching down, ending his run-up.

Kageyama’s fingers felt a soft, almost gentle touch of leather, but surprisingly solid nevertheless — he didn’t even have to think, trusting his instincts completely when it came to Hinata’s (and, uh, well, his, too) favorite kind of toss. The silence got drowned out in the team’s cheers, getting louder and louder, but at that moment he only needed to hear one sound. And so he pushed the ball, helping it find its way up to the edge of the net with quite an impressive speed. It swooshed up, and Kageyama knew that the trajectory was perfect. Hinata’s arm swung and slashed through the air, meeting the ball at the perfect height and at the perfect angle. There was one hit — skin against leather, and before it could even quiet down there was the second one, leather against parquet this time, booming even louder, drowning out all the other voices for a second.

Kageyama never thought of such an analogy before, but those two hits in row, sharp and solid, sounded a lot like heartbeat.

The cheers around them were tremendous and enthusiastic yet again, and Kageyama watched Hinata landing — it seemed as if he was in slow motion, and he could almost see wings spreading behind his back. Kageyama’s heart felt warm and thoughts a bit fuzzy — just how thrilled and happy he looked, wearing that amazed smile of his. He yelped happily and bounced up, not taking his eyes off Kageyama.

That dumbass forgot to take his scarf off.

They used to turn away from each other once, almost on reflex, when they were celebrating their little victories, but now their first instinct was to share that triumph.

Kageyama’s mind seemed to have turn into one big “wow” by now.

The team closed in, still cheering and yelling happily, they got caught up in the very middle of that unbelievable mess, and all that Kageyama knew was that just a minute or two later all twelve of them somehow ended up splitting in two random teams and standing on the different sides of the court, ready for a full-out practice match with managers being the referees. It wasn’t exactly planned, from what Kageyama knew, but nobody cared, their hands itching to play. It was surprising that they gym hasn’t blown up with all the excitement it had to withhold. Kageyama was really glad, thanks to two most obvious reasons: he got to play volleyball and that made Hinata’s birthday celebration even cooler, which made Hinata happier, too. It was stunningly a perfect continuation of such a messy, emotional but ridiculously happy day.

Kageyama looked to his left, eyeing the players: Hinata, Yamaguchi, Kinoshita, Ennoshita and Tsukishima, some strategies rushing through his mind already, buzzing somewhere in the background. The former third-years got to play in what was really alike their original formation, too — and that was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

Kageyama looked at Hinata, who grinned happily at him and reached out with his fist clenched.

“Let’s win another one?” he asked loud enough for the other team to hear, which caused some smirks and sharp replies, but Kageyama only grinned in return and hit Hinata’s fist with his own carefully.

“Of course,” he answered, seeing sparkled shining in Hinata’s eyes again. The whistle cut through the air and they took their positions immediately, getting ready for the receive. As unbelievable and strange and confusing yet… amazing as this celebration proved to be so far, all the odd thoughts could wait, getting upstaged by something way more important, something that would always be Kageyama’s top priority, no matter what — volleyball.

Well, except for maybe some people he realized he really cared about. Because life was much more complex then the game, and people were much more precious than volleyballs.

A few wished of a nice serve were voiced on the other ide, and Kageyama concentrated on his task fully. He couldn’t allow himself to slack off or even relax — they were playing with their former senpais, after all.

And from what he could tell, it was going to be quite an interesting match.

* * *

When they walked out of the club’s room, a cool gust of wind washed over his skin, soothing it pleasantly and making him take a deep breath to smell some flowers blossoming nearby. It wasn’t sickeningly sweet, just enough to feel nice. Goose bumps covered his forearms as he jumped up, swinging his legs in different directions and waving with his arms, saying last goodbyes, to his teammates, who could finally go home now after cleaning up. They told him he could leave earlier, but he wanted to help anyway! And wanted to spend more time with them, too!

The rest of the celebration was just as amazing as the beginning. They played! Volleyball! With their former senpais!! That hasn’t happened for a while, but it has no Hinata’s birthday, and he was so, so happy about it. The game — or rather games — were thrilling, it’s been quite a while since Hinata had that much fun, because he still really missed Asahi, Sugawara and Daichi. Even though they might not have been playing that often now (being members of their respective volleyball clubs nevertheless), they were still better than god, their experience helping them to parry almost anything that they could use against them! They tried switching players in the end, too, to have some more fun and make it more interesting. Somehow, one game grew into two, then another one happened, and by the evening Hinata simply lost count. He didn’t remember how many matches they won and lost, or played for that matter, but he couldn’t care less — he had awesome time and practiced lots, there couldn’t be any more perfect way to celebrate his birthday! Besides, everyone enjoyed playing with each other, so it was only fair. He wanted everyone to enjoy the day!

Once they were tired enough (and that took them a while), they showered, changed and went to the club’s room, which also had lots of surprised waiting for him! Since there wasn’t much space, it seemed to be packed with food — coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei took care of it, pretty much sponsoring the celebration, and nothing could be better than tasty, nutritious dinner after a series of games! Especially with his team sitting hazardously, chatting and still congratulating him.

And when it seemed that his stomach could take no more, even though the food was exceptionally delicious, Asahi presented him the cake he, Sugawara and Yachi had baked for him — it was a very one with white, yellow and blue topping covering it, making it look like half a volleyball (hearing protests about the cake having to be shaped like a proper volleyball, Sugawara told everyone that Tanaka and Nishinoya had destroyed the other half already — which wasn’t true, but did sound plausible). So, upon seeing that tasty treasure Hinata’s stomach, unsurprisingly, decided that it still had some space spared for it. He wasn’t thinking much when making that decision, but who could blame him anyway?! Obviously, not a person who’d never tried Asahi’s cakes before. They were godly.

Hinata blew the candles and for once didn’t have any trouble making a wish. It actually seemed like he was living it, but now he just wanted it to last longer. Hinata cut the cake, they gave out the pieces and apparently their bodies kind of forgot how much they’ve eaten before, because the cake was gone in a matter of minutes (fortunately, they managed to keep a couple of pieces aside for Oikawa and Iwaizumi after exchanging a meaningful glance, since Kageyama’d have to return that backpack anyway). And the cake was so, so incredibly tasty! Hinata’s probably east Asahi’s bakery for breakfast, lunch and dinner if he could!

They talked about different things: their former senpai’s universities and new teams (that was always one of everyone’s favorite topics), volleyball in general, just a tiny bit about studying (Tanaka, Nishinoya, Kageyama and Hinata were particularly willing to change that topic as soon as possible and some other things they wanted to share (usually to laugh at). Tanaka and Nishinoya were gazing at the managers again, Daichi and Ennoshita had some captainship FAQ session, Yamaguchi had a conversation with Asahi about serving; naturally, Tsukishima and Kageyama got in a fight over some nonsense, and Kinoshita with Narita smacked some sense in their dull skulls. (Hinata laughed at them getting told off by Ennoshita and Daichi so eagerly that he even forgot to dodge Kageyama’s punch. That idiot had no idea about how to treat a person of their birthday, did he.)

Basically, the atmosphere was amazing, light, heart-warming and so… Karasuno. Time simply flew by, and evening came completely unnoticed. They cleaned everything up, packed the poor remnants of food for later and parted their ways. Before leaving, their senpais told Kageyama to help Hinata carry all the presents home, even though he told them dozens of times that he could do it on his own just fine, which was surely true, but they insisted, and Kageyama, cringing, told him he’d lose half the presents on his way back like this, even his bike wasn’t of much help, because the boxes were big and he had some stuff from his classmates and other school friends as well, so he decided to leave it locked till tomorrow at the school’s parking lot. It frustrated Hinata, but he didn’t have any choice left, not with his oh so caring senpais who could cast unbelievably meaningful looks when they wanted to. Besides, Kageyama’s house was like, in exactly the opposing direction, and that must’ve been quite a troublesome delay for him, but who’d listen to Hinata? When it came to his health — nobody.

And there he was, pouting silently at how Kageyama was carrying the bag with the DVDs and sweets. Hinata took two bags with the sneakers, flowers and the scarf. Even though he really didn’t want Kageyama to go so far to just help him carry the presents, which he could definitely do himself, he couldn’t stay even slightly upset because his mood was somewhere beyond cloud nine. Besides, such a long walk would definitely be kind of dull and boring on his own, especially after such a cool day. So he even appreciated Kageyama’s company — well, bickering with him was better than silence, anyway.

There was one thing that got him stumped, though — after they got changed, Kageyama went out with quite a big plastic bag of his own, and his backpack seemed bigger than usual, too. Hinata wondered what could that possibly mean, but didn’t bother asking. Kageyama could be weird, who knew what was he carrying there.

His mind was too busy trying to process such an unimaginable day to ponder things like that. He couldn’t think of anything else but of how stunning was this celebration as a whole. Once again, of course he knew they wouldn’t leave it unattended, because they never did, and Hinata participated in all the other parties they had, but what they did for him was simply too marvelous to accept. Congratulations in the gym, yummy food and the coolest presents one could dream of — how could his team be so illegally amazing, huh?!

Hinata glanced at Kageyama, noticing how he appeared to be completely engrossed in whatever thoughts troubled him. He had that barely visible crease in between his eyebrows and an expression of passive frustration, which Hinata could see every so often. That sight made him frown, too, as he slowed down his pace a bit. Kageyama unconsciously tuned to his tempo, not paying any attention and staring somewhere in the woods absentmindedly. Hinata turned his head at him, tilting it. He knew it wasn’t just him seeing things when he thought Kageyama was being sort of quiet, especially closer to the end of the evening. Not that he tended to be all chatty most of the time, but he was… more solemn than usual, Hinata could tell the difference. But he couldn’t recall anything that would make him behave this way? Did something happen he didn’t know about, or was that idiot maybe still doubting whether Hinata liked his present or not?

Duh, what a pain!

“Hey,” he called him, finally getting some attention when Kageyama’s head snapped to the side and their eyes met. Hinata was trying to drop a hint that he was being strange non-verbally, but Kageyama looked as blank and lost as ever. Okay, moving on. “What’s going on with you?” he questioned, shifting the bags in his hands and minding the road. He already had experience of arguing with Kageyama and almost falling face-first on the ground. His partner, however, still didn’t quite understand what was asked of him as his frown deepened and his expression clearly gave away confusion. Hinata kept silently peering at him, hoping for some sort of a response.

“What do you mean?” Kageyama finally asked him, tapping the hand of the plastic bag with his index finger. He sounded normal, but Hinata knew him to well to not see that there was definitely somewhere behind that stone face of his.

“You’re being all gloomy and grim!” Hinata stated, and Kageyama tilted his head back a bit at that, as if surprised by the accusations. But Hinata knew for sure that it wasn’t his usual expression he was wearing just a minute ago, no! Something was definitely troubling him. “Did you not like the celebration?” Hinata blurted out something that came to his mind first, and his heart sank at that. Did he really? He seemed to be enjoying volleyball, like he always did, but maybe he felt uncomfortable in the club’s room for some reason? He wasn’t that good with people, after all… Did Hinata not notice that?

Kageyama’s eyes widened and he turned away, looking forwards wistfully. He fell quiet for a few seconds, only the sound of rolling stones and their soles shuffling against the ground disturbing the silence. The birds were long gone, last rays of sunshine lighting their way.

“Sorry,” he finally pronounced, which really caught Hinata off guards. What in the world was he apologizing for? If that was about the scarf again, Hinata could swear that he was going to kick him, all the consequences be damned… “I was just thinking,” Kageyama went silent again, but then hurriedly added: “The celebration was… good, really,” his expression seemed to soften just a tiny bit, which was a sign of him at least telling the truth.

So, okay, he was thinking. But that wasn’t enough! He only managed to get Hinata curious now. But he had to be careful and not push too much, maybe then he’d manage to get something else out of him.

“And what were you thinking about?” he prompted, making Kageyama swallow and press his lips tighter together. So not volleyball. One problem — Hinata didn’t have any more guesses, because Kageyama tended to think about volleyball almost all the time. Uh, just why did he have to be so stubborn?! “Come ooon, Kageyama,” he whined, swinging the bags in his hands and kicking some stone on his way, raising dust in the air. “It’s still my birthday, you can’t be like that on my birthday! You gotta tell me!” he pleaded,, not even caring about how it sounded anymore. Sometimes Kageyama just loved making things much more complicated than they actually were, when all he needed to do was to talk. “If you tell me what is it, maybe I can help you…” he said, noticing how Kageyama suddenly looked at him again, apparently surprised by his words. Did he say something weird? Hinata turned to him right in time when Kageyama stopped, eyeing him quizzically. What the heck was this about?

“I…” wow, Kageyama was gathering his strength to tell him something. That was intriguing. “I’ve got some other presents for you,” his voice was really quiet, he seemed to almost trip over his own words, and Hinata saw his cheekbones flaming red as he said that, but he quickly dismissed that in favor of stopping dead in his tracks and staring at him with probably deeply shocked expression on his face.

More presents?!

Kageyama stopped text to him, too, swallowing nervously and looking away, clutching the bags tighter. Hinata would’ve thought he was joking, but Kageyama was obviously stressing out, so most likely telling the truth. But, wow… Wow! Hinata completely didn’t expect anything like that, especially from Kageyama! He had something he wanted to give him personally, without anybody else watching?

“Are you trying to pull a prank on me, Kageyama?!” Hinata suddenly demanded, taking a defensive stance and squinting at him, feeling a twisted grin tugging his lips nevertheless. Kageyama stared back at him incredulously.

“N-no, of course not!” he stuttered, and his ears pinked even more when Hinata laughed at his distressed voice. Apparently, it helped Kageyama to concentrate a find a way to parry Hinata: “I’m gonna keep them if you don’t shut up now, though,” he warned him calmly, and Hinata quickly restrained himself. No, he was way too curious about what would Kageyama get him! At first he thought it’d be nothing, except for something from the team, but then it turned out that he came up with such an awesome idea, and he was still managing to surprise him even after that! Hinata felt excitement creeping up his throat again. This day was too good to be real!

“Okay!” he told Kageyama, placing his bags on the grounds carefully and swaying back and forth on his feet in anticipation. “Show me!” Hinata asked, and Kageyama tilted his head to the side.

“What? Now? Can’t you wait till we get to your place?” it sounded reasonable enough, but now that Hinata knew Kageyama had something in that bag and backpack of his, he was too impatient to wait! Curiosity was eating him from the inside, and besides, the street lanterns got turned on, so it was light enough to see everything. He had to see it!

Kageyama was still eyeing him confusingly, but then he shrugged and put his bags down as well.

“Fine,” he answered, shifting further away from the road with Hinata following him. He pulled his backpack off and put it on the grass, placing the bags nearby neatly. Kageyama loomed over them and froze, as if not sure what to start with. Hinata tried to peek, but the bags were big and black, so it gave nothing away. He shifted his toes in his shoes nervously, taping his fingers against each other and only thinking Come on, come on, just show it to me already, Kageyama, I wanna see it! But of course his partner didn’t react, taking his time.

And time seemed to go on and on.

And on…

Guaaah, what could it possibly be?!

“Can you just shut up already?!” Kageyama snapped at him, making Hinata jolt in surprise. What the heck, he didn’t even say anything! He was about to protest when Kageyama sighed exasperatedly and finally bent down, picking something from the bag and turning back at him. Hinata’s smile grew wider on its own, and next second he found himself staring at… a box.

He forgot about the packaging already!

Hinata practically bounced closer and his hands stopped centimeters from the lid, his eyes darting to Kageyama restlessly, silently asking for permission. Hinata just tried to be polite, unlike him!

Kageyama arched his eyebrows just a bit and nodded, some weird hesitancy reflecting in his eyes. It wasn’t as awkward as with the scarf, but still a bit alarming — but Hinata decided that if there was a way to solve the tension, it was to have a look inside! So he took the lid carefully and lifted it, eyeing the content of the mysterious box.

If his heart had been any weaker, it’d most likely have stopped back then. At least his breathing surely did for a few seconds.

Hinata dropped the lid to the ground and took a very, very deep breath, feeling his fingers tingling. It was a sign that he wasn’t dreaming, even though he was almost sure that This! Can’t! Be! Happening!

He felt his jaw going down and his hands worked their way to the present on their own will. Cool smooth surface under his fingers, distinct smell of fresh leather and such a soft, pleasant touch against his skin — his heart either somehow tied itself in a knot or did a somersault. Maybe both.

“H-Holy cow!” he screamed, opening his mouth in the widest smile he was capable of. A new Mikasa volleyball!! What could even be cooler than that?! He was vaguely aware of the weird noises he kept making in his stroke of delight, but he couldn’t care less. He had quite a few volleyballs at home, but most of them were kinda old and worn out, and this was an absolute treasure! The colors were bright and the surface was glossy, without a single scratch! This ball was the most awesome one he ever held in his hands! And he honestly felt like never, ever letting go of it — maybe even sleeping with it tonight. If he were able to fall asleep after a day like this in the first place!

He looked back at Kageyama, breathing heavily from all the glee being close to choking him, and saw a very weird expression he was wearing — something that looked suspiciously like he was actually glad for him, like he was pleased watching him being happy. That crease in between his eyebrows was gone for once, his eyes were opened a bit wider than usual and the corners of his lips were definitely pointing up. There were also those sparks in his gaze he simply couldn’t misinterpret. He grinned at that rare sight, which brought Kageyama back to earth and his default more or less neutral expression (even though Hinata clearly saw him having trouble with keeping it up) and turned away before Hinata had a chance to say something.

He didn’t quite know what he could even say at this, though. How was it even possible to thank Kageyama for something as precious as this? It probably cost lots, too!

His thoughts were in a complete mess when he opened his mouth, just sort of hoping for the best in his attempt to say something sensible to Kageyama while his back was facing him, but then he heard the zipper, and before he could say anything, his partner turned back to him, holding…

Another. Another bloody volleyball in his arms.

“Do you want to bury me in those,” was the first thing that Hinata partly involuntarily spat out a second later, but it came out… choked, which seemed to surprise Kageyama.

“I wouldn’t waste volleyballs for something as stupid as that,” he replied calmly, and then shoved the second ball in his arms, which were actually still busy with the first one. “Here,” just like that. As if he was giving him a candy or something.

This was so beyond Hinata. He took a shuddering breath, keeping his tongue in place, because he somehow realized that Kageyama really wanted him to take a look at this ball. He tucked the Mikasa in his armpit, pressing it against his side with his elbow, and took the one Kageyama offered him, brushing their fingers together briefly. This one was definitely older, definitely used on quite many occasions; a white-green-red Mizuno one. Hinata hummed quietly. Like, he was happy to get his hand on absolutely any volleyball, as long as you could play with it, but Kageyama’s face surely looked… anticipating, as if he was waiting for Hinata to discover something. He span the ball in his hands slowly, wondering what was so special about it to make…

He noticed it. Something black. An inscription made with a marker.

Furrowing his eyebrows he took a better look at it. It was a signature with two small wings, strangely resembling crow’s ones, drawn on its side. It didn’t look any familiar to Hinata, but he only need to give it a bit of thought.

Kageyama’s anticipation. The wings. All the clues were right there for him.

His heart beat against his ribs heavily, blood rang in his ears. He could feel his fingers trembling as he found himself unable to take his eyes off the signature with one question filling up his entire mind:

Could it be?

“It’s the Small Giant’s signature from when Karasuno were at the Nationals,” Kageyama finally told him, some impatience and caution sneaking in his voice. “Saeko-san and Tanaka-san found it for you, so you should thank them.”

“It c-can’t be,” Hinata muttered, still staring at the inscription as if it enchanted him, which it probably did.

“It is, dumbass!” Kageyama sounded slightly offended. “You need your eyes checked or something?”

Hinata needed everything checked to believe that he was holding what he thought he was holding.

How… how did they even manage? Why would they bother so much to get a present, such a cool, marvelous, incredible present for him? Hinata was about to suspect that he accidentally sold his soul to one of those crossroad demons Yachi told him about, at least from what she heard on TV. Because how could this be real? How could this day be so amazing? How could his friends be so amazing?

Hinata felt the corners of his eyes getting wet, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. Like, this barely ever happened to him, but he knew how this worked — you could be happy enough to smile, to yelp in surprise, to straight scream in delight or just make startled noises while trying to express your gratitude. But he already went through all that, and he didn’t have anything similar left to offer, anything but his tears. He sniffed and noticed how Kageyama instantly tensed up. His fingers clenched on the ball. Hinata felt himself gradually losing control, because the more he thought about what happened to him today — the bright celebration, the presents that got his breath sucked out of his lungs and his eyes to sparkle, and most importantly, his friends’ caring, loving smiles that surrounded him all day long, making sure to keep up his own smile, too… the more he remembered it, the more he tried to comprehend — the more he realized that this was too much for him. All this wonderful mess brought him to the point where he was left with no way of expressing just how happy, how grateful he felt, and so many emotions piled up inside of him that they simply started to spill out.

He felt a tear running down his cheek, and Kageyama seemed to start panicking.

“Oi,” he called him, and Hinata could see his arm reaching out, meaning to touch him, but then, as far as he could see (and tears were really getting in his way now), Kageyama frowned and turned away for a couple of seconds, shuffling through the bags, only to bring up a small transparent plastic bag in his hand. “My mom made some cakes for you, too, if you want some—”

“Shut up!” Hinata shouted, sniffing again and failing to withstand this any longer. He closed the distance between them in one small step and slammed into Kageyama, making the latter step back to not lose his balance, wrapping his free arm around his neck as tightly as it was possible with his damn height. Their position ended up being quite weird, though — Hinata was still holding the first ball under his armpit, and the second one got stuck in between their bodies. And so Hinata, not thinking much about it, let the balls drop to the grass (he really didn’t want that, but at the same time it wasn’t like he wasn’t going to show Kageyama his face at the moment).

With the obstacles removed, he could finally snuggle closer, putting his foot back next to the other one and wrapping both his arms around his shoulders (if only Kageyama wasn’t that tall!). His partner’s body went rigid at such a rapid flow of events, but Hinata knew that he simply surprised him, that’s all. Unwanted tears kept rolling down his face right into Kageyama’s jacket for some reason, and his heart was beating like crazy, he could feel it even in his fingers. He could feel Kageyama’s heart too, to his own surprise, even through his clothing — much like his, it wasn’t beating any slower.

But a few moments later Kageyama did relax, raising his arms and slowly embracing Hinata with them. He put one arm around his shoulders and another on his back (still holding the bag with cakes in it), pressing him closer to himself and brushing his cheek against his head. Even though Kageyama didn’t hug nearly as much until Karasuno, it kind of came natural to him eventually, because somehow it always managed to calm Hinata down and make him feel safe, secure.

“You’re gonna regret just dropping the balls I carried around all day to the ground, you dumbass,” Kageyama pronounced quietly, and Hinata breathed out a grin, tightening his grip a bit.

“It wasn’t even me who found it, though,” Kageyama muttered a bit later, but Hinata simply shook his head against his shoulder, feeling his partner practically melting into their hug at that.

Of course it wasn’t about volleyballs. It wasn’t just about volleyball anymore.

He knew it might’ve been quite awkward, and now he was kinda glad Kageyama gave him these presents in private. He also appreciated that he didn’t push him away now and just held him close, giving him the necessary time to get himself together… at least relatively.

“Thank you,” he mumbled in his jacket, sniffing and feeling his lip trembling. Kageyama patted his back carefully, making his heart swell with warmth.

Being hugged was always pleasant, but being hugged by Kageyama was… particularly nice and cozy, which he wouldn’t admit till the end of his days (he didn’t even realize it for quite a long time). Maybe because he was simply bigger than him. Or maybe because his close presence actually made him feel invincible.

When Hinata finally knew that he could say two actual words in order and make it sound sensible, he gradually pulled away, wiping his face with his sleeve quickly as possible. Kageyama snorted at that, but well, some things couldn’t be helped. It was their fault for making him feel so fuzzy in the first place!

His stomach growled out of nowhere, making Hinata widen his eyes in surprise and gesture vaguely with his hands, as if it’d help to shush the sounds. Kageyama gave him an unimpressed stare, still holding the bag of cakes in his hand.

“Don’t tell me you’re hungry.”

“No, of course I’m not!” Hinata objected, and that was true. “It was just a reflex upon seeing food, probably…” Kageyama raised his eyebrows at that, and Hinata sighed indignantly. Yeah, and he was the one talking, his eyes practically sparking when he saw a milk box!

“Just keep them for later, dumbass, or you won’t even be able to jump with the amount of food you’ve eaten,” Kageyama scolded him, handling him the bag. Hinata stuck out his tongue at him, dodging his arm ready to squish his head, and eyed the cakes. They were small, perfect for biting, and had blue and yellow topping on them! That’s why they looked so nice to begin with! Hinata guwaaaed against his will, feeling a very delicious smell of bakery, but then lowered the bag to not tempt himself. He really didn’t need to eat any more tonight.

“P-please thank your mother for me!” he asked, smiling. “I’m sure it’s very tasty!” Kageyama nodded.

“My mom cooks really good,” he confirmed, sounding somehow… wistfully? Hinata smirked at that. Duh, did Kageyama really think he wouldn’t share?

Hinata carefully fished out one cake and offered it to Kageyama. He frowned and stared at him quizzically.

“I said it’s for you, dumbass,” well, there was no fun eating all this alone!

“They’re mine, so I can do whatever I want with them and I can share, too!” he insisted, placing a cake in Kageyama’s palm and making sure he hold it well. He didn’t want a single one to go to waste. “I saw you weren’t eating nearly as much as everyone else today,” he commented, and Kageyama looked at him with surprise flashing all over his face. “And you still have quite a walk home, don’t you? Might as well eat it on your way,” Hinata told him. Kageyama studied the cake for a few seconds, then shrugged and lowered his hand. It’ll do!

He didn’t notice it because of the lantern close by, but it was getting kind of dark around them already, so it was probably about time they went home. Hinata placed the bag with the cake into one of the bigger plastic bags and quickly picked up his volleyballs, carefully wiping the dust away. He would honestly feel better having them in his arms, but carrying them like this all the way home…

“I can put them back for now,” Kageyama suggested, as if reading his mind (which could sometimes be very disturbing and creepy) and crouched down to get his backpack. Hinata was still busy marveling at the balls and the signature, but even like that, after a while he noticed Kageyama wouldn’t turn back to him, looking inside his backpack as if there was something… embarrassing hidden inside. Hinata tilted his head to the side, confused, and just before he wanted to ask what was it, Kageyama breathed out something like:

“Ivegotsomethingelseforyou.”

Hinata’s eyes widened and he blinked, clutching the volleyballs tighter in his arms. Something else? What was going on with Kageyama, being generous like that?! Was he hypnotized or something?!

Once again, he didn’t get a chance to say anything, because Kageyama stood up and turned back to him, pressing a relatively thin rectangular box to his chest, somehow protectively.

“Oikawa-san helped me choose it,” he muttered, sounding like he was trying to excuse himself. But a present is a present, and Kageyama clearly didn’t have much experience congratulating people, so Hinata simply gave him the volleyballs and took the box instead, opening it quickly. He could tell that his lips forming a wide smile when he pulled the thing out, and for some reason, he felt really warm inside.

The photo frame was actually quite a surprise.

Naturally, it had volleyball thematic as well, which was an awesome bonus — it had volleyballs on it, even some net with antennas and nice colors, too! Now it finally made sense what brought the Great King and Kageyama together in the shopping center, even though he still couldn’t put his finger around the fact that Kageyama’s former senpai actually helped him find something, but he was grateful nevertheless. The frame was amazing, he loved it instantly!

“I-It’s so cool!” Hinata exclaimed, gesturing with his free arm. Maybe it was just him, but he thought he heard a small sigh of relief from Kageyama. He looked up at his partner to find his passively curious expression directed at him. “Thank you, Kageyama!!” he said it as sincerely as possible. “Now all it needs is a cool photo inside!” he grinned.

Kageyama’s smile wasn’t like everybody else’s, but Hinata spent enough time with him to detect that. Being kind of unused to such a simple and indicative way of expressing his emotions, Kageyama didn’t tend to let everyone know what’s on his mind, frowning constantly, but even when his features stayed more or less stoic, his eyes always gave him away. His was always honest with his eyes. And he could smile brightly with them, too, and for Hinata it was even more significant.

Still, Kageyama was definitely getting a hang of it, because it was visible how his lips were tugged up in a muffled smile. And if Hinata was interpreting all that right, which he was pretty convinced he was, it meant that Kageyama felt happy, too — just like him.

Something fluttered and warmed in his chest, his heart swelling with fondness he’d never thought he’d come to experience to his rival, and he found himself wishing to see Kageyama being that happy much, much more often.

He remembered that the managers took some photos along their celebration, but he realized he wanted to capture this, too — the tender atmosphere of the late evening which made even his overwhelmed self to calm down a bit. And Kageyama’s face, with an expression he could barely ever see. But that’s the deal with such things, isn’t it — they’re rare, and that’s what makes them so precious.

His smile widening, Hinata carefully put the frame in the closest bag to him and reached up quickly, standing next to Kageyama on his tiptoes and wrapping his right arm around his neck while fishing out his mobile from his pocket. Good thing he knew how to turn the camera on instantly, and the frontal one was chosen already, just his luck. He beamed at his mobile and pulled Kageyama down a bit, closer to him, snapping a few pictures quickly. Kageyama stumbled to the side, grabbing Hinata with his left arm to steady himself and grumbling something unhappily. Fortunately, he didn’t drop the volleyballs, pressing the one with the Small Giant’s signature to Hinata’s chest so that it wouldn’t fall to the ground, using his palm, and holding the other one against his own body with his forearm. And then, from what Hinata saw on the screen, Kageyama glanced at him and then looked in the camera, apparently deciding to let him do it just this once (because whenever Hinata did try to take a photo with him, he’d always kick him away or squeeze his head, which sometimes resulted in quite hilarious pictures, though).. It was only fair, since it was still Hinata’s birthday, after all! So he quickly took a few photos, then even tried to give Kageyama bunny ears (for which he was delivered a light punch after all).

Laughing, he let go of him and scrolled through the photos to take a proper look at them. Kageyama stood beside him, staring at the screen as well. The very first one was nice, because Kageyama didn’t have time to get confused yet and was still wearing that “dreamy” face of his (Hinata giggled, voicing it out for his partner, and got another kick. Come on, he was just saying what he saw!). The next few were a bit messier, with Hinata “laughing like an idiot” and Kageyama’s face “scrunched up like he’s seen a ghost” (it wasn’t actually that bad, but still kinda funny). Kageyama was gradually nearing him, being pulled over, until their faces ended up being really close, Hinata half-hanging on him and Kageyama crouching a bit lower so that their position wouldn’t be too uncomfortable.

Those photos actually ended up being cool — he captured that moment Kageyama side-glanced him, but then he directed his look at the camera, and Hinata found his finger frozen in midair, unable to scroll past one, probably the best picture he’s taken. He was smiling really wide, his face radiating happiness and delight — just like a proper birthday boy should be. The volleyballs were a nice and bright addition, too. And then there was Kageyama, whose eyes were widened slightly, as if he was pondering what was happening, but his lips were stretched out in a humble, barely noticeable, muffled smile. Even then, his eyes were much more expressive — filled with fondness, gentleness and even a hint of awe that one would never even associate with his seemingly cruel character. It’s a good thing Hinata was way past that stage — he knew that once you got to know him, Kageyama wasn’t what people thought of him at all. That’s why he never cared what people might’ve told him about Kageyama, or the looks they gave him sometimes when he wasn’t watching, especially meaningful among volleyball players on different tournaments.

But Hinata knew for sure that it was definitely gonna change. They were gonna change it, by playing together and winning together.

And there was nothing in the world that could stop them.

Kageyama huffed something under his breath, and Hinata hurriedly scrolled to the last photos. Yeah, there was that bunny ears episode — wow, he managed to snap a picture before Kageyama..! Right, before Kageyama punched him. Hinata returned to that bunny ears photo, laughing at Kageyama’s totally displeased expression. Kageyama growled at that and tried to snatch the phone to delete it, but Hinata was able to jump away and hide it before he did. No way he was gonna delete any of those!

Hinata loved them way too much.

“It’s time to go already, dumbass,” Kageyama scolded him, picking the backpack and then his school bag up. “It’s getting really late, I still need to jog home from your place.”

Hinata frowned, looking around and noticing that it became sort of darker away from the lanterns. The moon was faintly lighting up the sky and some of the stars were already out — their party at Karasuno sure took a while. And for just how long they’ve been standing here?! And more importantly, was Kageyama really dumb enough to go back home this late all alone?!

“You can’t just go home on your own so late!” Hinata protested, and Kageyama scowled at him.

“What am I, a baby?” he deprecated. Hinata was about to reply, when he remembered something really important — something where he’d always have some advantage, no matter what.

“I am older than you,” Hinata announced smugly, putting his hands on his sides and lifting his chin up.

“And who’s the one of us looking like a primary-scholar, anyway?” Kageyama dead-panned, leaving Hinata huffing at him with no proper response. Tall intimidating people, damn them!

“But!” Kageyama was about to turn away and head off to the hill, the plastic bags in his hands already, yet Hinata managed to catch his attention. “It’s dark outside and the monster always gets you when you’re alone!” he blurted out, and some deep, suppressed fear reflected on Kageyama’s face as one of his eyes twitched a bit. Hinata had to swallow himself — both of them were probably thinking about that scary movie night with Karasuno, which went far from good…

Kageyama froze for a few seconds, but then sighed in acceptance and frowned again, looking at him disapprovingly.

“Fine, whatever, if you want that so much,” he didn’t forget to clarify. Hinata snorted. As if it was just him. “But just let’s get going already, I still have to call my mom, you dumbass,” he grumbled, shifting his bag strap and setting off uphill. Hinata grinned, then shook his head, picked up his bags and ran after him, feeling a light skip in his step.

And maybe his heartbeat, too.

“It’s not like she’s gonna lose you. Where else would you be, idiot?”

“I’m gonna change my mind, turn back and leave all the stuff to you.”

“Oh come on, Kageyama!”

“Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.”

They bickered some more with Hinata teasing Kageyama a bit and avoiding some punches on his way, and it was definitely not awkward or unsettling. The atmosphere between them was light and friendly, feeling like a pleasant routine they both grew fond of. It used to be forced once, long time ago, but now it was essential for both of them without even discussing it.

Laughing loudly at Kageyama’s yet again displeased expression at the mention of Hinata still being older then him, forever older, Hinata couldn’t help but ask himself for real — where would they both be if they didn’t meet each other?

Feeling the weight of the presents in his arms and listening to Kageyama trying his best to insult him as seriously as possible, and failing miserably at that, Hinata realized just how glad he was that he didn’t have to answer that question.

* * *

The weather was exceptionally good for running, and Tooru decided to take his time, creating a hook and adding up another couple of kilometers. With his favorite music humming in his headphones, he thought he was pretty much distracted from the world and all the trouble it brought with it — up until he heard somebody’s scream close by.

Curiosity taking over him, he stopped, pausing the program and his music, and looked around. At first he didn’t see anything — he didn’t even quite recognize the area, not thinking much about where his legs would take him, but then it dawned on him that he wasn’t that far from Karasuno. Huh, what an unfortunate coincidence!

A few seconds later he heard some other sounds that definitely weren’t trees or birds and turned to its source — he snorted out loud, not even ready to think about how he managed to stumble upon his precious kouhai and his friend again, after being relieved that he no longer had anything to do with them in the morning once he saw them off. (Tobio-chan still needed to return him his backpack, though.)

He meant to just keep running, but something caught his attention — their postures, the bags and, most importantly, the volleyballs. Was Tobio-chan really giving him his presents here, in the woods?! Oikawa didn’t know where the second one came from, and at first he thought that for gods’ sake, isn’t giving a person two volleyball dull, even for Tobio-chan, but when the shorty took it, he seemed to zoom straight past the cloud nine from all the happiness he was radiating like a damn kid who was given a year-long candy stock. Well, it’s not that he was screaming in delight or anything, but Tooru could clearly see from his body language just how much it meant for him, whatever the deal was.

Seeing how badly the shorty’s arms were trembling, Tooru wondered how he was going to handle that. He knew how emotional he was, so, estimating, he was most likely about to cry. What was he going to do about…

Tooru felt holding his breath involuntarily for a moment. Oh, right. Of course. He simply hid his face in Tobio-chan’s jacket and hugged him. How predictable.

As much as he tried to stay skeptic about it, when his kouhai’s arms found their way around his friend’s back as well, Tooru found himself watching with more interest. When they were in the same team, the words “Tobio” and “hugging” didn’t belong in one sentence or maybe even a text. What he saw now, however, was remarkable and… fascinating, if he could put it this way. They looked so comfortable with each other, especially Tobio, whose face he could see from his spot — who would’ve thought he’d find a person he could let so close to himself? The scene felt so intimate he realized that his own ragged breathing evened out, even after such a run, and his fingertips felt warmer in the cool evening air.

This kind of development — it reminded him of the one he had with Iwaizumi at some point, years ago.

It wasn’t really the same, but his memory was good enough to remember that gnawing sense of loneliness before his natural athlete started blooming, when he wasn’t welcomed among his peers. He tried not to think if it much, always finding something else to do, but of course it kept bothering him, especially when he started taking interest in volleyball yet never had anyone to play with — up until Iwa-chan showed up. He wasn’t persistent and touchy like Hinata, but they both did share that stubbornness, their dedication in dragging their partners out of their shells.

And from the look of it, they both succeeded.

Tooru watched Tobio-chan giving the shorty the volleyball frame, too, and them taking pictures together, which was kind of funny (especially watching his kouhai’s distressed face when he was grabbed around his neck). At some point he quickly opened his WhatsApp, still absent-mindedly listening to those dumbasses bickering about something, and sent one photo he managed to take just a couple of minutes ago with a message: “you’d better keep an eye on your kids, sawamura-kun!!” Smirking, he threw the phone back to his pocket, only to look up and see the boys going uphill already, still managing to keep arguing and even occasionally punching (for Tobio-chan) and dodging (for the chibi-chan) their blows. He watched them for a while, not even quite sure why (just taking a break, most likely), but then his mobile buzzed in his shorts. He took it out to see Iwa-chan’s message flashing up on the screen:

“where the hell are you, asshole?! if you won’t wrap up your bloody run right now and head home i’m gonna scatter all that sweet popcorn you brought for the movie on your own bed, understood?”

Tooru couldn’t help but grin softly at that, still hearing Tobio’s and shorty’s voices echoing through the woods. He plugged his headphones back in, taking a quick breath and setting off home, typing a quick: “on my way, iwa-chan!! <33” in response.

He had his best friend waiting for him at home, and that was all that mattered for him, all he needed at the moment. His legs and chest felt way lighter for some reason as he maneuvered around the trees to take a shorter path. Accidentally becoming a witness (and a participant even) of the youngster’s sweet drama was kind of amusing but significant as well. Naturally, they were different people with different lives and goals and views, but they shared lots of them still. And the main point of their sheer existence was that as long as you weren’t alone, it was always, always worth it. No matter what kind of pain or loss you had to suffer through, it’d undoubtedly fade away in face of that person, that one damn person that was going to turn our life upside down and make you thank the destiny or whatever was responsible for it. He still remembered their last official game with Karasuno and the shorty’s words directed at Tobio (later he finally learned that it was originally his kouhai who said that, but it didn’t really matter): As long as I’m here, you’re invincible. Tooru wouldn’t expect to hear something like that from Tobio to begin with, yet the fact that he said something that meaningful was only another solid prove for his own words. Even Iwa-chan appreciated that. And Tobio’s friend seemed to have the very same intention.

“The team with the better six is stronger,” “As long as I’m here, you’re invincible” — sometimes Tooru was haunted by a very weird and completely unreasonable feeling that Tobio has learned from Iwa-chan just as much as he’s learned from him.

Keeping each other invincible, huh. Sounds like something Tooru could live with, too.

Shaking his head against the cool wind washing around him, he decided to push those thoughts aside for a while in favor of accelerating his pace carefully, not to stress his knee too much. The support, put there by his friend, seemed to feel warm. Tooru grinned softly. 

He didn’t want to make Iwa-chan wait, after all.