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At first, Tsukishima thought Hinata was just going to be one of those annoying guys that have way too much energy for their own good, that was, after he got told that him and Kageyama got kicked out of the club court for arguing on the first day.
He was definitely right, but in a way that surprised him in more ways than he predicted.
Everything happened after the day that they met. The tall, blonde boy was teasing the short, ginger boy as he wanted to do, since his personality just annoyed him in every possible way.
But, even after firing almost every mockery he could think of, Hinata didn’t back down, he continued being the annoying person that Tsukishima visualized him as.
Until, he got fed up with the teases and jumped a little bit higher than normal to get the ball that Tsukishima was holding. That was definitely not on his lists of things he expected from Hinata.
Furthermore, he really did not expect for that to be a trigger of a feeling he had lost years ago. Interest. At first, he didn’t think about it as something romantic, and it probably really wasn’t, but change does come with time, after all.
Honestly, Tsukishima would go as far as to say he absolutely hated the fact that he was so interested in Hinata. How could, he, of all people, be interested in someone with a personality he completely despised just a couple days ago?
Although, on Hinata’s side, it wasn’t really that different. He was also interested in Tsukishima, he saw him as a rival, someone he looked up to. But that made him question why. Okay, Tsukishima might be tall and look cool, however, he’s also mean, annoying, and honestly just felt like he never gave his all to any volleyball training session they would have.
Both of them have such opposite personalities, with Hinata being very genuine, dumb, loud, and impulsive most of the time. And Tsukishima being more quiet, sarcastic, smart and thoughtful of his own acts. So why the hell are they so interested in each other?!
Maybe that’s the exact reason why. The fact that they are so different from one another makes them pay attention to each other more than they would like to admit.
Tsukishima wants to hold Hinata’s wings for one second and ask why in the world is he so persistent on playing volleyball, even if he loses a thousand times. To add on, he wants to know why does that motivate him to actually take the volleyball club seriously.
Hinata wants to crack Tsukishima’s heart open and ask him why doesn’t he give his all in anything ever, even though he is a model student and has a huge potential to be the main blocker for the volleyball team, he just seems not to care. He wastes all the talent and intelligence he has by simply not putting any effort on neither.
But, for some reason, they never do. And that’s a good thing. They find their answers more naturally than they could ever imagine. Which encourages them to grow closer to one another, somehow.
After the summer camp training, their rivalry grew, however, it was not in a way that they became more distant, but in a way that they became closer. And closer. And closer.
Nevertheless, Tsukishima still continued to be a teasing prick, so did Hinata continue to be that genuine ray of sunshine. However, they could actually work together. Something that they couldn’t even dream of just a few months ago.
They grew in such a way that they could even call it friendship. Even if, most of that interest they had, turned into romantic feelings, they would never admit that. Becoming friends was already weird enough for both of them, romantic feelings would possibly just make it worse, right?
Maybe, or maybe not. This thought made them both more curious than they’d like. But, just one of them was genuine enough to let them slip through one of their conversations after club practice.
Tsukishima almost immediately understood it, and, fortunately or unfortunately for them, that led into both them having their first kiss. That was weird. Weirdly good.
Maybe romantic feelings wouldn’t be that awful after all. Specially since their relationship just grew even closer after that. Being someone close to one another was in neither of their lists, that’s for sure.
Looking back at it now, they definitely were insecure teens, weren’t they? They’d even refuse to admit that their shoppings were just an excuse for them to have dates. Well, I guess they weren’t even that romantic either.
Day after day, week after week, they grew closer. To the point where Tsukishima was able to open up with Hinata about almost anything, and that went the other way around as well.
Then, after a long amount of time, they kissed again. And then again. They enjoyed their mutual feeling so much they could almost say I love you. At least, Hinata did.
Tsukishima wanted to say it back, but the thought of it made him completely red. Fortunately enough, Hinata knew that this was a sign of reciprocation.
Seconds kept passing like they were hours to Tsukishima, though. He wanted to say it, he wanted to affirm it to both Hinata and himself that he actually learned how to love.
And, after just a couple more minutes, he was able to blurt out an “I love you”, almost like he was whispering it. For some reason, that made him want to say it again.
“I love you too.” he said, in an audible whispery voice. That completely broke the two of them, Hinata never expected Tsukishima to even know these words, and, honestly, neither did him.
Still, that was the proof that Tsukishima wanted, both him and Hinata had finally learned how to love, more so, one another out of all people.