Chapter Text
Kageyama does not like walking his old, stinky dog. It makes him hate going on walks in general.
And after having to witness a young Hinata Shouyou shout for rescue in a tree, he definitely will not be going on anymore any time soon.
Kageyama wakes up to the usual state of his house— dark and silent.
The faint smell of burnt toast and eggs, a probable result of his mom trying to prepare breakfast while scurrying to work, wafted through the air, invading his nostrils. His dog, or rather his family’s dog, Shelby, was at the foot of his bed. Tongue out and panting. Kageyama stared distastefully at the sight; he had always disliked the dog.
Memories of Shelby peeing on all his toys, and even his bed had haunted him since forever. Kageyama slowly got off his bed, walking towards his toilet to start his day.
As he suspected, once he reached the kitchen, there was a plate of mostly burnt toast and eggs set for him, with a glass of water. Upon hearing his shuffling footsteps, his mom turned around
”Tobio! You’re awake,” his mother smiled at him. She was already in her retail work attire, her face caked with heavy makeup— mainly concealer. Despite this, beneath her eyes, there was still a tiny peak of bluish-gray, which Kageyama does not notice.
Beside the food he had questioned if it was even edible, there it lay— a leash, a dog leash. More specifically, the demon (as Kageyama called it)’s leash. He grimaced at just the sight of the leash, immediately trying to retreat back into his room.
“Tobio,” his mom sighed. He turned back to face her. “Could you, just for today, please take Shelby out for a walk?” She pleaded with him, eyes desperate. Kageyama could tell that she was late for work, the house was usually empty by the time he woke up. Not to mention, she never made breakfast. He guessed it must have been an attempt at a bribe, as he stared at the disheveled eggs and charcoal-black toast.
He had wondered why Shelby even needed to be taken on a walk so bad until he spotted the scratches on the couch and pee stains all over the carpet. Shelby was going through one of those episodes again.
She was still his mother. He couldn’t just refuse her. She had gone through all this trouble in trying to get him to agree. Kageyama nodded, biting his tongue.
The last time he had walked Shelby was not pleasant. She had ran away from him and hid for 4 hours straight, which landed Kageyama in a very harsh situation. He shivered as he recalled, the scar on his lower back tingled.
It was just one more time. And he was older now, even if it was just by one year. He may still be 7, but he was mature enough now to keep a dog on a leash.
And that’s how Kageyama Tobio found himself walking the, what he personally thought of as the foulest creature in the world. It was only for maybe a few hours, he thought. Shelby would calm down by then.
He strolled through the park with Shelby occasionally tugging and biting at the leash. Other than that, nothing major had occurred so far. Maybe this wasn’t that bad. It was a chance for him to get fresh air too—
“HELP ME!!!” A voice shrieked, piercing through Kageyama’s ears. Was somebody shouting for help? Kageyama looked around, the park was mostly empty, with the few people there looking absolutely in a normal state of mind. So where was the yelling coming from—
Kageyama was interrupted once again by yet another, maybe even louder, ear-piercing shriek. He swore he felt his eardrums tremble. “HELP ME!! UP HERE!!”
Kageyama wondered if he should even react, maybe he should just ignore it. However, curiousity got the best of him as he hesitantly perked his head up, eyes falling on the large oak tree next to him. And in the oak tree was a small, ginger-haired boy, maybe around the same age as him. He looked terrified to say the least, clutching and pinning his whole body onto the bark of the tree.
Kageyama squinted his eyes. The boy was holding something in his hand. It looked like a small stick.
“Hey! Are you gonna help me or not?” The boy shrieked even more. Not today, Kageyama thought as he attempted to walk away, but karma instantly got him back as he felt Shelby tug on the leash, running towards the big oak tree. Kageyama was unfortunately dragged along by this sudden movement as Shelby stood under the oak tree and started barking at the boy.
“Hey..! Ask your dog to go away, it’s noisy and stinky and I need to get down!” The boy yelled again, his eyes starting to water.
“Can.. Can you stop yelling?” Kageyama hissed.
“I’ll stop when you help me down— OH MY GOD!! Get your dog to stop PEEING below me!”
It was now clear as to what Shelby’s goal was as a steady, yellow stream, apeared beneath the tree. Kageyama cringed. This was way worse than last time, way, WAY, worse. If his dad found out—
He shook his head. He should focus at the tasks at hand— First, get Shelby away from the tree and then maybe rescue the boy. Kageyama slowly picked up the leash he had dropped earlier on and led Shelby to a nearby bench. “Hey! Where are you going? Don’t just leave me here.. Hey!” He heard the boy whine. Kageyama tied his end of the leash to the bench, before walking back towards the oak tree.
He looked up at the boy who was now shaking more than ever. “How did you even get up there?”
”I was.. It doesn’t matter! Just help me down!! Um, please?”
Kageyama sighed as he stood under the tree, tiptoeing to reach out his hand to the boy. Welch. Kageyama grimaced as he realised he had stepped in Shelby’s mess. Whatever, he’d just wash his shoes later, he just wanted this to be over with.
“Here, take my hand,” he said as he offered his hand. It took the boy a few seconds to process as he slowly grabbed ahold of Kageyama. “Okay, now—“
Before he could even finish his sentence, the boy came tumbling down, squashing Kageyama square in the face as they tumbled down— right into Shelby’s yellow pool.
Kageyama blanked for a few seconds before he felt the disgustingly warm liquid seep into the back of his clothes. He shot up, trying to wipe away the liquid he had landed on.
“You idiot!” Kageyama glared at the boy, who was also covered in pee, as he tried to regain his balance, not even seeming to care about the piss. “Why did you just jump down? Look what happened!”
The boy looked up to meet his gaze. Kageyama, for the first time, noticed his round amber eyes, peering back at him in astonishment. “Well, I didn’t mean to! I was shaken up, okay?” He huffed.
“So are you going to tell me how you even ended up in a tree?”
Kageyama hadn’t done all that work for nothing. He at least deserved some answers, even to a situation like this.
“I was saving Wiggly!”
”Wiggly?” Kageyama raised an eyebrow. He then, again for the first time, noticed that the boy had not been holding a stick, but rather a whole lizard.
“I caught him the other day and decided I’d take him on a walk today when he ran up into the tree! So of course I had to go after him,” the boy said like it was his biggest accomplishment ever.
Kageyama had been hit by a whole body in the face and landed in piss because of a lizard? He scoffed. “That’s— Are you actually stupid?”
The boy looked back offended, his eyes challenging Kageyama’s. “No, in fact, you are! You’re the one who stood on your dog’s pee! Which kinda makes us landing in pee your fault—“
”This wouldn’t have even happened if you weren’t in a tree!” Kageyama hissed. “You know what, never mind, I’m not wasting any more time on this.”
Kageyama untied the leash from the bench and stormed off, ignoring the yells coming from the ginger he had left behind. He just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, scrub himself from head to toe clean and just relax.
At least he’d never have to encounter the ginger again, he thought as he stomped home. If he ever saw him again, Kageyama swore that one of his blood vessels would pop.
Kageyama was wrong, so very wrong, as he’d learn soon enough. He would have never expected to see the ginger—
“—in my class?!” Kageyama yelled as he pointed his finger towards a familar ginger, the only ginger he knew, to be exact. “You’re in my class?!”
”I have a name, y’know? It’s Hinata Shouyou, future volleyball star, so get that in your head you dumbass!”
Somehow, they had been enrolled into the same Grade 1 class.
“Who cares about your name?” Kageyama growled. He had hoped that he’d seen the last of Hinata— and now he was in the same class as him! To make matters worse, they were deskmates. “Why you—“
Before they pulled eachother’s hair out, their teacher stepped in to prevent them from poking eachother’s eyes out.
As they returned to their seats, Kageyama had thought his next few school years were going to be pure hell. In fact, he knew for a fact it would, thanks to the fiery gingerhead next to him, who was now pouting, his whole face red with a mix of embarrassment and fury.
This is going to be torture, Kageyama thought.
Kageyama was, once again, wrong.
Sure, it was awkward at first with a lot of banter. But it wasn’t so terrible after awhile. Though, Kageyama will never admit this as long as he lives.
They both had similar interests— with the main one being of course, volleyball.
“Kageyama!” a voice next to him quipped, as Hinata slid into his chair, the dragging sound of the chair ringing in his ears. “Did you see that volleyball match yesterday? With Japan vs Brazil? It was amazing! It was so— so.. fwoosh! And wham!..”
Hinata was on his usual daily ramble. At first, Kageyama had hated it, even regretting the fact he told him that he played volleyball too.
”Saving my lizard was not stupid!” He still remembered Hinata’s face after he had expressed how idiotic it was of him to climb a tree to save a wild lizard when it could obviously manage on its own. Kageyama scoffed. “Don’t you have any other hobbies? Other than wrecking people’s days?”
”Yes, of course, volleyball!” Hinata’s eyes had sparkled while saying that. A bright passion burning through them. “Not like you would understand, you probably just sleep at home all day!”
Annoyance filled the pit of his stomach. “I play volleyball too, probably much better than you actually.”
Hinata’s eyes widened. “You do?!” He practically jumped out of his chair. “What position?”
”Setter.”
After that, it had been non-stop ramble from Hinata. “I’m a spiker, you know! Maybe we could play together some day.”
”Spiker isn’t even a position.”
”Whatever! I forgot what it’s called, I just love spiking!”
That was the day their relationship had took a turn. Slowly but surely, they had settled down and were somewhat comfortable with eachother, maybe even friends.
Kageyama blinked back to the present. Him and Hinata friends? Pfft. He thought. He didn’t really have any friends anyway, and he definitely did not need Hinata to be his first. But sooner or later, he found himself warming up to his presence, even feeling lonely once when Hinata didn’t come to school because of a cold.
He had ignored Hinata the next day he came, giving him a hard stare whenever he started rambling. “C’mon, Kageyama! Don’t be so mad that I didn’t come yesterday, I was sick!” He squealed as he kicked Kageyama’s shin under the table.
Kageyama kicked back. “I’m not mad at all. In fact, it was nice to have a break from you.” He rolled his eyes as Hinata punched him on his arm.
Hinata’s eyes slowly shifted to the small box on Kageyama’s table. “Hey, Kageyama, did you bring lunch today?” Kageyama never brought lunch to school, he thought.
A rosy hue quickly rushed to Kageyama’s cheeks as he muttered something that Hinata couldn’t catch. “What?? Speak louder you dumbass!”
Kageyama grumbled as he shoved the box into Hinata’s arms. “It’s soup for you. Don’t get sick again you turd,” he huffed as he turned his head away from Hinata, not wanting him to catch the look on Kageyama’s face. Hinata’s eyes watered.
”Aw, ‘yama, you didn’t have to!” Hinata said. He lifted the lid of the box, sniffing the soup. “You didn’t poison this, did you?”
Kageyama had bought the soup using his small portion of an allowance from a nearby restaurant. Hot corn soup— Hinata’s favourite.
“What? Just be grateful— also what’s a “yama”? Don’t call me that!”
“Okay, ‘yama!”
As months fly by in their elementary school, he can’t help but feel more grateful everyday that he has someone like Hinata as his friend (he is finally able to admit that they might have somewhat of a special bond with eachother).
It’s not like Kageyama didn’t want to make friends, he just didn’t put in effort. It’s not like he could even if he tried anyways, he thinks to himself. Their classmates all thought of him as the weird outcast. He had barely made any kind of effort in interacting with his classmates, other than Hinata.
To make things worse, even his face is scary, according to others. He had heard the many things said about him by his peers, of course. Maybe they weren’t even trying to be discreet, maybe they had wanted him to hear it.
”Kageyama-kun is so weird, all he does is stare at the whiteboard during class. It’s like he has no emotions!” He overheard a boy outside his toilet cubicle say to another during his 4th year in elementary school. Soft laughter followed.
”Right? And the only person he talks to is Hinata-kun. And I heard he always yells at him, sometimes even hitting him too!”
Well, they weren’t wrong about that. Bickering was their thing, Kageyama thought. To outsiders, it may seem that they can’t stand eachother, which to be fair, was the truth at one point. In actuality, all their banters were of course, light-hearted. No real hurtful meaning behind them. Yet, of course, people were quick to judge.
“Poor Hinata-kun! I feel bad for him, having to put up with somebody like Kageyama and all—“ Kageyama suddenly heard the door of the cubicle at the end fling open. He heard shuffling of footsteps approach the two boys at the sink.
“Don’t ever say that about Kageyama again!” It was Hinata.
“Not that it matters, but I’ll have you know that I don’t “put up” with Kageyama. He’s my friend, I like his company. If anything, he puts up with me! So don’t ever insult him like that again!” He had never heard such fury in Hinata’s usually sickeningly sweet voice.
Now against the toilet door, Kageyama heard the faint mumbles of an apology before he heard faint footsteps running out, followed by another one walking out.
Hinata had defended him. Called Kageyama his friend. It makes him feel a little warm on the inside. He shakes it off, washing his hands before going back to class.
Back in class, Hinata was already sat in his seat. “Yamayama!” He waved as he saw Kageyama approaching. “Where did you go? I need to tell you about the match against Greece yesterday! Did you see…”
Just this once, Kageyama decided to listen to every part of Hinata’s rambling, the whole 25 minutes of it. Just this once, he thought.
Surprisingly, they both stayed friends, even though they had went to different junior highs.
Kageyama had just finished his first day of junior high. He couldn’t help but feel something missing when he went to his class and sat next to his new table partner, though. Nothing was wrong with his new table partner, he was friendly but not overly chatty for the most part.
But that was the thing. He wasn’t a social butterfly that rambled on and on non-stop. He didn’t have ginger hair and big brown doe dyes, and he did not play volleyball. He wasn’t Hinata.
Kageyama brushed the thought away. He should have felt grateful that he wouldn’t have to hear the high-pitched word jumble every second of the day now. Instead, he found himself missing it— just a little bit.
Maybe he just felt lonely, knowing not a single soul in the big school. His volleyball teammates had been somewhat welcoming, just the basic introductions. He did talk to a guy called Kindaichi more than anybody else, but they weren’t friends, at least not yet.
Volleyball practice had went by rather smoothly. Although, his teammates couldn’t seem to keep up with his tosses, which annoyed him. He decided to just bite his tongue for the rest of practice, not wanting to start something on the first day. As he stepped out of the school gates, wiping the sweat off his forehead, he was greeted by a burst of orange hair.
“Yamayama!” Hinata yelled. Kageyama stood frozen in his tracks. Had Hinata travelled all the way here for him? The boy stood with his bike parked by his side. Kageyama stifled a giggle. Hinata had just gotten his bike and insisted on parading it to his new school even though he couldn’t ride it yet— which was evident as Kageyama acknowledged the dirt marks on his shirt and small scratches on his knees.
“Did you seriously walk all the way here with your bike?” Kageyama said as Hinata wrinkled his eyebrows.
“Hmph! I just wanted to tell you about my first day and here you are attacking me on my biking—“ Kageyama covered Hinata’s mouth with his hand before he said anything more.
“Let’s just go.”
They lived relatively close to eachother, so they ventured on the same route. Hinata walked as he talked about his day, reeling his bike by his side as he did. “Can you believe it? There’s nobody on the boy’s volleyball team!” He huffed as he kicked away a rock.
“You better get a team together soon, or else you won’t be able to go against me during competitions,” Kageyama remarked.
“I will! I won’t give up.” Hinata’s face shifted into his usual, determined, almost heroic look. He turned to look at Kageyama. “Hey, so did you make any friends?”
Kageyama silently nodded, blatantly lying. Hinata raised his eyebrow. “Hah! Liar! You can’t just be a loner forever, ‘yama. I don’t think I’ll survive being your only friend, your only shoulder to cry on, your fav—“
Kageyama kicked Hinata on the shin. Hinata, dramatic as ever, made a show of pretending to fall down and clutch his leg. “What was that for?” He huffed as he stood up.
“I’m gonna get Shelby to piss on you again someday.”
”Get that demon dog away from me at all times!”
”We’ll see.” Kageyama said as they walked down the road, Hinata still clutching his bike. “And maybe learn how to actually ride your bike, idiot.”
Hinata just sticks out his tongue in response. “I’ll show you!” Kageyama doesn’t stop him in time as he stubbornly got onto the bike, trying to balance as he fails miserably, shaking the whole bike. After shifting a bit, Hinata actually manages to balance on the bike.
”Hah! See! I told you, don’t underestimate me!” Kageyama sighed in relief, he had expected Hinata to tumble onto the ground. Unfortunately, Kageyama must be a fortune teller as that is exactly what happens the next second.
“—Oof.” Hinata is on the ground, his knees bruised, seeping out blood. Kageyama widened his eyes as he helped the boy up, placing his arm over his shoulder for support.
“What did I tell you, you idiot?” Kageyama says, half yelling. He sees tears well up in Hinata’s eyes. He never had much of a pain tolerance. “I’m fi.. I’m fine!” He stutters out, smiling up at Kageyama.
”You idiot,” he sighs. “How are you almost crying over a fall?” Kageyama grabs ahold of Hinata’s bike and starts pushing it as he walked with Hinata, still supporting him. “I’m— I’m not crying..!” He sniffs.
Kageyama walks with him all the way to Hinata’s house. He checks his watch as they reach— it was already almost 7pm, he was going to arrive home late. Kageyama helps open Hinata’s door with the keys he gave him. Placing his bike against the outside wall, Kageyama helps Hinata stumble into his house.
“Thanks, ‘yama,” Hinata smiles at him.
“I’ll go get a band-aid,” he looks away, as he shuffles through the medical kit his mom kept in the kitchen.
After dabbing water onto the wound to clean it, which in turn makes Hinata shriek at the sting, he places the band-aid over the wound. Hinata sat on the couch as Kageyama stood up.
“Stop being such a klutz, Hinata,” Kageyama huffs as he stared down at the boy, tears, thankfully, long gone. “I need to get going now, you sure you can manage?”
Hinata nods his head. “Thank you, Tobio,” he says, barely even a whisper. But Kageyama heard it. He was taken aback a bit by Hinata calling him by his first name, but he decided to let it slide. “Whatever,” he turns away.
“You were nice-yama today, hopefully you’ll stop being grumpy-yama everyday now!” Hinata teases as Kageyama walks out.
By now, the sky had darkened— a sign that he was very, very, late.
As Kageyama walked home, he realised that he had never seen Hinata cry before. Not even when they ran out of his favourite ice-pops at the convenience store. He grimaces as he recalls the memory, he had looked so blue, before Kageyama offered to buy him 2 other ice creams instead.
But today, Hinata had teared up, almost letting tears fall. That would have been the first time Kageyama saw him cry, he thinks.
And he doesn’t think he wants to see Hinata cry, ever.
The first time Kageyama sees Hinata cry isn’t pretty.
A year had already flew by, they were now at the ripe age of 14. It was the day of the volleyball tournament. He would be going against Hinata and his team today, he thought as he leaned against the locker, blocking out the loud chatter from his teammates.
Hinata had managed to form a team, if you could even call it that, but barely. He recalled Hinata telling him that some of his friends from other clubs had accepted his invitation to play, even though they knew nothing about volleyball. Hinata’s friends must like him a lot, he thinks.
Before he knows it, his team is being called out to line up, to get ready to play. Play against Hinata. He lines up with his teammates in front of the net as Hinata and his team does the same. Hinata sticks out his tongue as they make eye contact.
This would be the first time they really saw eachother play volleyball. Sure, they had practised tossing the ball and spiking, but that was it. They’d never seen eachother in a real match before. Something deep inside Kageyama desperately wants him to play his best ever, not wanting to disappoint Hinata.
As the referee blew his whistle, they gathered into formation as Kageyama’s team starts the first serve.
Hinata’s team only had six people.
Kageyama’s team had more than enough, even with benched and reserves. Obviously, they had the advantage both in number, height and skill.
Hinata’s team loses, badly. Kageyama can only keep looking over at Hinata, who was assuring that everything was okay to his friends, as the referee announced Kitagawa Daiichi’s win. Even though Kageyama’s team had won, he doesn’t feel estatic. Instead, he feels somewhat sad for Hinata.
As they shook hands with the other team, he doesn’t say anything to Hinata.
Hinata doesn’t say anything to him either, as he kept his head down, then walking off back out the court.
Kageyama’s team continues to play and wins their next match. But Kageyama can’t stop thinking about Hinata.
After the match finally ends, he rushes off, without a word to his teammates, to find Hinata. They had agreed to meet up outside the building after the tournament.
He runs out, not expecting Hinata to still wait. But he does. Hinata stands there, his bicycle still at his side. But he doesn’t smile.
As Kageyama approached him, he doesn’t even say as much as one word as they began to walk. After minutes of silence, Kageyama finally says something.
“…You played well today,” he manages to choke out. He looks down at Hinata, who of course, is still avoiding his gaze. “…Thank you, Kageyama.”
He nods as they continue to walk. Silence again. Kageyama decides that maybe he should just stay quiet for the rest of the walk— until he hears it, the quiet sobs coming from Hinata.
“Hinata..?” Kageyama whispers as he stops in his tracks. Hinata does not stop walking, his head still kept down as he continues. “Hinata!” Kageyama yelled out as he went up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
They stood there awkwardly, the sound of Hinata’s cries filling in the silence. Kageyama swallows, he doesn’t know how to comfort people.
“..Why are you crying, you idiot?” Kageyama says, gently. Maybe calling Hinata an idiot at this time was not the best decision, but Kageyama doesn’t take it back.
Hinata was an idiot. But even he didn’t deserve to cry.
“I..” he sniffed, his voice quivering. “I did so bad today. We lost so badly. I disappointed you, didn’t I?”
Kageyama swears he felt his heart shatter at Hinata’s words. His chest physically aches, he barely manages to get words out.
”Your team was low in numbers and you were the only real volleyball player there,” he stops, uncertainty blooming in him. “Even if you lost, I still think you did amazing. You always do.”
Hinata stops for a moment as he finally looks up at Kageyama. He can see it all so clearly now— Hinata’s eyes puffy, tear-stained as streaks of tears rolled down his cheeks. His nose snotty as he sniffs uncontrollably.
“You’d never disappoint me, Shouyou.”
For a moment, Hinata looked stunned. Kageyama almost instantly regrets calling him by his first name. He cursed himself out internally until he feels something crash onto his chest— Hinata.
He’s still silent and crying, but Kageyama pays no mind to that. His instincts almost makes him pry away from Hinata’s sudden intrusion, making him jerk a bit. But he relaxes, and decides to let Hinata cling on. He felt his shirt getting increasingly damp with what felt like a mixture of snot and tears, but he’d just wash it later.
Hinata needed him right now, so Kageyama was going to be there, as his support pillar.
Kageyama steals a look at Hinata, whose tears have left streak stains on his cheeks, and his nose a little red. But he had since stopped crying. Shortly after Hinata had broken away from the embrace, he had began walking in silence again. Kageyama decided against saying anything. He’d wait until Hinata said something.
So here they were, walking in silence again. Kageyama can’t help but feel something ache in him every time he remembers how much Hinata was crying, his face crumpled and dark, unlike his usual smiley self.
“Kageyama,” Hinata whispered as he stopped suddenly. Kageyama looked at him. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Kageyama’s breath hitched.
“I feel the same, Hinata.”
Hinata looks at him, looking dazed for a moment, before breaking out into a smile.
And there it was— Hinata’s smile. Maybe not as wide and bright like his usual grin, but still a sincere one.
“Enough about me, you were amazing, ‘yama! Your tosses were so amazing! You were like—“ Hinata started chatting away, like his usual self.
Kageyama doesn’t mind the ramble this time. In fact, maybe he never minded in the first place.
Neither of them brought up that day again after that. Maybe it was for the best.
Kageyama thought as he stared at Hinata, sprawled over his bedroom floor “doing” his homework, he was really just doodling weird faces onto his math worksheet. His tongue was stuck out on one side, against his upper lip as he concentrated on scribbling on and ruining his homework.
“Idiot,” he muttered. Hinata was, of course, too busy to have heard that. “Oi, idiot, what are you—“ He was cut off by the sound of a door slamming, accompanied by voices shouting at eachother. Kageyama stiffened. His parents were back early. Hinata was definitely not supposed to be here.
“Listen to me, you can’t just waste mon—“
”You’re overreacting again, and you better fucking stop before you ruin my mood.”
”Have you ever thought of us? Our family? About To—“
A loud thud resounded, followed by the sound of dishes clattering. They were at it again, Kageyama thought. He was definitely going to get it too— he—
He felt a soft arm squeeze him. “Kageyama.” Hinata whispered.
Kageyama looked at him for a moment before he looked back at his bedroom door, hearing the approaching footsteps on the staircase. Kageyama couldn’t move. Why here? Why now?
Hinata shot up as he grabbed ahold of Kageyama’s hand again as he dragged him into the closet, right before Kageyama’s door flew open with a loud bang. Kageyama’s breath shuddered. His father.
”Fucking brat isn’t even home yet,” a low, grumbled voice spat out. Kageyama silently prayed that his father wouldn’t see Hinata’s math paper and stationery lying on the floor. Luckily, his father did not see anything and went back downstairs after a few seconds.
He felt tears slowly rise up into his eyes as he tried to desperately blink them away. No— not here, he thought as he felt Hinata’s eyes on him.
“..’Yama,” he heard Hinata say to him softly. This made it even harder for Kageyama to maintain holding back his tears. They didn’t dare to move until Kageyama heard the argument die down downstairs, and being reaffirmed by the loud thud of the front door swing close. His father must have left for the night again.
Kageyama creaked open the closet door as light blinded him. He stepped out, before staring back at Hinata. He looked shaken up, but looked more concerned than anything.
”I think you should go now,” Kageyama said hoarsely, looking away. He couldn’t look Hinata in the eyes and tell him to leave, because he just couldn’t.
”Tobio,” Hinata reached out for his hand. Kageyama doesn’t pull away. He looks at Kageyama again before pulling him into a hug. “Your dad is a huge fucking asshole.”
Kageyama doesn’t hug back, he just stands there. “Don’t let him get to you. You’re better than him.” He felt Hinata’s hands trail his back, rubbing it.
And Kageyama lets him. He lets Hinata whisper sweet nothings into his ears, an attempt at comforting him. It works, though, as he feels his muscles relax. Hinata always had a way to make him feel at peace.
This hadn’t been the first time he had comforted Kageyama about his father.
He recalled it— back when they were just 11, their final year together in school. Kageyama’s dad had walked in on Hinata and Kageyama in his bedroom hanging out. His dad had yelled at Hinata to leave. The look on Hinata’s face almost hurt more than the slaps he had received after that.
Later that night, Hinata had come back. He’d climbed the tree right next to Kageyama’s window and knocked on it. Kageyama jolted up upon hearing the sounds. He went up to the window and was met with round brown eyes. He scowled and opened the window, Hinata jumped in without invitation.
”Wha— did you climb a tree again? Don’t you remember what happened last time?” Kageyama said, a sense of deja vu washing over him. Hinata did not respond and instead hugged Kageyama instead, rubbing circles over his back. He was taken aback at first, but relaxed.
”Next time, we can go to my house.”
Kageyama nodded, even though he knew Hinata couldn’t even see his head. He thanked heavens for that, as he felt the smallest tear leak out from his eyes, his face still stinging from the slaps he had received.
And they had been going to Hinata’s house ever since, thanks to Hinata himself. He always insisted on it, never giving Kageyama a chance to say no. But this time, Kageyama thought that it’d be okay. His parents weren’t supposed to be back home early, so he gave Hinata the green flag. He was so very wrong.
But with Hinata, everything magically seemed okay. It was always okay with him.
On the last day of junior high, they had agreed to meet up in front of Kageyama’s school. Kageyama leaned against a wall as he waited for Hinata. Junior high was definitely a chapter in his life that he wanted to get away from and forget as soon as possible.
Being benched and abandoned by his teammates had hurt. All he wanted was for his team to win. He hadn’t meant to be self-centered in any way.
Ring! Kageyama looked up. His mouth fell agape.
Hinata was riding his bike. He was finally riding his bike, after countless falls into the mud and failed attempts. Hinata immediately noticed Kageyama’s reaction. “Surprised, eh?” He giggled. Kageyama’s jaw to the floor.
“Well, congrats you idiot, you finally learned how to ride your bike,” Kageyama snapped out of it. Hinata stuck his tongue out at him. “I’m just gonna pretend you didn’t say that, ‘yama!”
Hinata jumped off his bicycle and started walking with Kageyama, his hand pulling along his bike. “You’re still walking with me?” Kageyama eyed his bike.
“Of course, dumbass!” Hinata said as if it was the most obvious thing ever. Kageyama instantly felt heat wash over his face. He ducked away before Hinata could see.
“Aaaanyways, I wanted to ask you something, that’s why I asked to meet up,” Hinata said, his tone quickly subsiding from sarcastic to a little.. nervous?
Kageyama raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. Hinata suddenly stopped walking.
“Kageyama,” he breathed.
”I want to go to the same high school as you.”
Kageyama slowly blinked in surprise as he processed what Hinata had just said. Why would he want to be in the same school as Kageyama? He definitely had other friends, didn’t he? Why stick to him?
As if Hinata read his mind, he continued. “I want to be able to walk with you after school everyday. I want to be able to sit with you during lunch and poke my chopsticks at your stupid wrinkled face. And most importantly, I want to play volleyball with you, be on the same team.”
Kageyama’s eyelids fluttered. He stared longingly at Hinata, who waited for an answer as his eye stared back. Of course Kageyama felt the same way. Of course he wanted to be on the same team as Hinata. Of course he he wanted to walk home with Hinata everyday. But he didn’t really want him to poke him in the face with chopsticks. Still, majority wins.
“You idiot,” Kageyama finally said. “Why are you asking me as if you’re asking for my hand in marriage? Stop looking at me like that.”
Hinata’s mouth spread into a wide grin. “So is that a yes?” He really was the biggest idiot ever. “Do you even need to ask?”
Hinata squealed in delight, jumping up and down as if he had just won the lottery. They received strange looks as people passed by them, which made Kageyama kick Hinata, making him stop embarrassing them.
”I want to go to—“
Hinata didn’t need to finish. Kageyama knew.
”Karasuno.” He finished for him. “I know, Hinata. You literally talk non-stop about the ‘Little Giant’.”
Hinata’s eyes glittered for a moment at Kageyama’s answer before looking up questionably at him again. Kageyama sighed. Did he have to spell everything out for Hinata?
“And yes, I’m fine with going there with you.”
Hinata let out yet another squeal in delight. He started saying something about buying ice pops to celebrate, but all Kageyama could think of was how they were finally going to be together again.
On the same team.