Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hinata has been staring at Kageyama instead of studying, and while it isn’t abnormal for the redhead to be neglecting his school duties for another time, Kageyama doesn’t know how much longer he can ignore the boy’s intrusive gaze before he snaps at him.

Homework doesn’t provide an able distraction, unsurprisingly, and sooner rather than later the setter has given up, turning to glare at smug eyes and snapping, “What?”

When all he gets in return is a wide grin, Kageyama’s temper boils over and he's considering what would hurt being hit with the most. But before he can decide what to throw at him, teasing words bubble out of Hinata’s mouth.

“Tobio doesn't suit you at all,” he says, and Kageyama is caught off guard enough to forget his intentions for a moment. “You're too awkward and scary for such a cute name.”

“Dumbass,” the awkward and scary boy hisses. “Who cares? Stop staring at me so I can finish my homework.” Even as he says it, actually going back to finish his homework puts a terrible weight in his stomach that makes him want to do anything but. Kageyama pins the blame on Hinata for getting him out of his earlier homework groove. (Whether or not Kageyama actually had been in a “homework groove” is irrelevant, obviously.)

But Hinata doesn't stop staring. In fact, he goes on as if Kageyama hadn’t said a word. "Even animals are scared of you. I don't know why Natsu likes you, really, you make terrifying faces."

Kageyama actually does throw something this time—a pillow because that's what was closest—and smothers Hinata with it until he stops laughing. They don't finish their homework, as usual.

The team is attempting to cool down during a water break when Hinata brings it up again.

Kageyama's head snaps around at the mention of his name—his full name. He doesn't know what was said, only that Hinata said it and that he and Suga are looking right at him. The uncomfortable feeling of being talked about washes over him, and the response doesn't make him feel any better; in return to his pinched expression, Kageyama gets a reassuring smile from Sugawara and a smug look from Hinata. Glaring at Hinata, he knows his message of wtf is your problem is getting across perfectly well, but all the redhead gives in response is a shit-eating grin. Kageyama just glares a final time before turning his back to the pair and downing the rest of his water.

Suddenly, there's a hand slapping at his back and he struggles to keep water from shooting out of his nose. He looks to his left and down to see Nishinoya grinning up at him and wearing a look far too similar to Hinata's. "Oi, Ryuu!" he shouts. The other distasteful senpai turns around from where he's been bothering Asahi to look over at Nishinoya and then Kageyama, who the shorter is currently latched on to.

Without a word, Tanaka comes bouncing over. Apparently, Nishinoya's mischievous mood is contagious, because before long the spiker has the same gleam in his eyes as the libero. "Yes, Noya?"

"What's Kageyama's first name again?" Kageyama tenses, knowing exactly who was behind all of this. Nishinoya's grip tightens, probably taking Kageyama's tension as preparation to flee.

Tanaka's face twists up painfully as he thinks, and Kageyama has the bitter thought that Tanaka doesn't get enough practice with his brain and would rather let it sit in his skull uselessly.

"Tadashi?" he guesses, and Kageyama frowns at having him and Yamaguchi get mixed up. Nishinoya is already shaking his head as if Tanaka has made a grave mistake, even as his grin stretches wider.

"Why don't you tell him," Nishinoya addresses Kageyama, sounding way too smug. And then, "Tobio-chan?"

Kageyama pretends to forget that the obnoxious pair are his senpai as he shoves them off of his shoulders, the two having leaned on him for support as they doubled over in laughter. He doesn't pretend not to hear Hinata's laughter, though, and instead serves a volleyball straight into his flushed, smiling, dumbass face.

Hinata must have made it his personal mission to get Kageyama mad enough to cut the redhead up and sell his organs.

He calls the navy-eyed boy by Tobio all the time, and it is driving him insane. The way it makes his palms sweat is not normal, and he's started noticing things he really shouldn't, such as how the reflection of the sky get caught in the decoy's soft eyes when they walk home together and the way the sunrays slant in from Kageyama's bedroom window to cast an orange glow in place of Hinata's silhouette. Luckily, the ginger brings the Tobios to a minimum when they're in public.

He forces himself to be mad, because he knows that angry is how he's supposed to feel about it; why would Kageyama, of all people, let such an annoying idiot call him by the same name as only his family does? When the other people on the team do, at least, he gets mad. With them—namely Tanaka and Nishinoya—he gets mad quickly and fiercely. Then there's Natsu, who likes Kageyama for some reason and has taken to calling him Tobio-chan, but that's okay because she's an adorable little girl (and although Kageyama would never admit to agreeing with Hinata, he's surprised that she actually likes him, and doesn't plan on ruining it).

Sometimes he looks at it the other way and thinks that maybe it's at the point where Hinata should be allowed to call him by Tobio (they're friends, right? They eat lunch together and have extra practices with only themselves and Hinata walks beside his bike in the afternoon instead of riding it so that they can head home together, so definitely probably), but even with the raven’s glaring lack of social experience, he doesn't think they're at that stage.

(He's not sure if they ever will be, really, but he doesn't like to think about that.)

The two are together to do some homework at Hinata's house a week or so after the incident. Frankly, they're not even trying to study when they go over to Hinata's; the house is too warm and loud with the redhead's mother constantly poking her head in to ask if they want refreshments, and Natsu constantly slipping in and demanding to sit in Tobio-chan's lap while he works. He'd gotten used to the fidgeting of the little one a while ago, and it's entertaining to watch her eyebrows crunch up as she tries to make sense of the math or English or Japanese or whatever other homework Kageyama brings over to maybe finish this time, so he doesn't mind.

It's at the end of the visit that Kageyama finds himself on the front porch of the Hinata household. The sun is half an hour away from setting and Hinata's mother had offered that he stay over for dinner, but the setter's parents are always working and dinner is the only time his family gets to see each other, so he declines.

The back of his shoe gets folded in when he shoves it on, and Kageyama is struggling with pulling it back out, balancing on one foot and trying to keep his bag on his shoulder. As Kageyama hobbles in front of him, Hinata, still with only his socks on, taunts, "See you tomorrow, Tobio."

Scowling at the way his heart skips in his chest, he growls out, "Have a nice night, Shouyou."

There's a beat of silence instead of the smart-ass response he'd been expecting that drags out even when Kageyama has managed to tug his shoe into its proper position. Turning around to see if Hinata had gone back inside or something, he's surprised when he instead sees the boy staring at him with wide eyes and pink cheeks. Confused, Kageyama raises an eyebrow at him. Hinata stutters out a goodbye as he closes the door, consequently separating the two.

That was certainly a strange display from Hinata, but Kageyama guesses that anyone would be surprised if someone so unlovable suddenly called them by their first name. He guesses that the best comparison he can come up with is if that setter from Nekoma started calling him by Tobio. It would just feel wrong, because they're rivals.

But are Kageyama and Hinata really rivals anymore? He can say with 70% certainty that he and Hinata are friends, but at the same time everything with them is a competition; getting to practice first, eating lunch fastest, getting a better grade (although it’s not like they really try so hard on that one). Before, they were definitely rivals; Hinata pushed Kageyama to be better because Kageyama wanted to make sure the shorter boy could never catch up. Now, he does it because he wants to hear Hinata go on about how cool their play was during that one game, or how Kageyama's serve is getting good enough that it will soon be better than even the Grand King’s.

The raven-haired boy forces himself not to worry too much about it, because the redhead seems back to normal by the next day and Kageyama should be able to bounce back just as quickly. It would seem like Hinata had forgotten about it, almost, if the names hadn't become another one of their numerous competitions.

Now, at least, Kageyama can sort of ignore the stuttering and coughing his heart seems to do when Hinata calls him by Tobio via forcing Hinata to go through the same thing. At least, he thinks is the same, if the flustered state it sends him into is anything to go by. It's a little insulting, really, that Hinata reacts that way, because plenty of other people call the decoy by his first name and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it. Is it only Kageyama that doesn't deserve to be so familiar with him?

Hinata is calling for one more toss in their own practice after the official one, like he does every time. After their tenth-or-so "last toss", Hinata calls out again, like he always does. But not like he always does, because he says, "Come on, Tobio! Just one more!"

Kageyama almost doesn't even notice the name, the way it sounds so natural, not teasing or testing him. But he does, so his scowl deepens and he gets ready to throw a particularly hard toss awkwardly far away from the boy (that he knows Hinata can still get).

Unlike the spiker’s, Kageyama's words spit out like acid. "This is really the last one, Shouyou." And lets the volleyball fly.

But Hinata doesn't get to the ball. He doesn't even move, actually. Forgotten, it rolls across to the other end of the courtyard as Hinata stares at Kageyama and Kageyama glares back.

"What's wrong with you?" Kageyama scolds, scowl still etched onto his face. Hinata hadn't spaced out like that when he'd called him Shouyou not even an hour ago. "Go get the ball."

Another moment and Hinata responds, squeaking out an apology and tripping over himself as he shoots off to fetch the blue and yellow sphere. Kageyama thinks something is up when he doesn't ask for another toss, and he knows so when Hinata isn't his usual chatterbox on the way home. The silence isn't awkward, just... abnormal. The setter hadn't realized before, but he'd gotten used to the background noise the shorter is constantly providing. Everything feels off when he isn't going on about one thing or another, whether it be that Natsu threw a tantrum the night before or he found a new manga artist that he really likes.

They're at the fork where they part ways when Kageyama finally says something. "What's wrong?" he asks, forcing the words out. Outwardly caring about someone else is completely foreign to him.

Hinata has the gall to look surprised, and Kageyama hates him for it. "What?" he asks, incredulous, and Kageyama barks that he's not going to repeat himself, dumbass.

After way too long of fiddling with the strap for his schoolbag, he mumbles, looking at the ground, "It's nothing."

"Bullshit," Kageyama shoots back.

"Really. I'm just bummed out from all the homework I have to do."

Kageyama isn't sure how to tell Hinata to cut the crap, but he settles on, "I'm not an idiot, idiot."

Hinata just runs his fingers over his strap and refuses to meet the eyes of the frowning boy.

Kageyama was never a patient person, and he considers yanking the decoy by his unruly hair so that he's forced to look up. A moment more and Kageyama thinks that he still can't bring himself to show that he's bothered by Hinata's behavior and cares, maybe, a little bit, even if his way of compassion is sandwiched between his usual insults and crudeness.

His hand reaches for the orange hair anyways. Hinata flinches at the contact, expecting the usual pain from Kageyama pulling at his locks, but Kageyama's hand just sits there as he debates what to do with it. Then he's ruffling the soft, sunset hair, not the usual noogie but closer to the way Suga does it, light and comforting and tugging on the strands just a little, almost like a massage. Hinata's head tilts up, eyes wide and filled with wonder and confusion, but Kageyama pushes him back down because he doesn't want Hinata to look at him now, when Kageyama isn't even sure of what expression is on his face.

Kageyama takes his hand away to place it on Hinata's back and shoves the boy towards his house, striding off in the other direction before the redhead can turn around. He can feel Hinata's eyes on his back, even when he closes the door of his room behind him and plants his burning face into his pillow as an attempt to get it to cool off.

He promises that he'll never try to comfort someone ever again, because the embarrassment isn't worth it.

The next day Hinata is more excitable than ever, sending Kageyama emoji-filled texts that the setter pretends to ignore and showing up at his door unexpectedly with a blinding smile and casual clothes, a bag swinging at his side. Confused, Kageyama just opens the door wider and steps aside, and Hinata immediately bounces in and kicks his shoes off as if he owns the place.

Kageyama's mom and dad are pouring over the newspaper with mugs of coffee in their hands, having just woken up even though the time of day is beginning to spill into the afternoon. They're dressed, luckily, having been about to go out to have lunch and watch something the cinema (a movie Kageyama apparently isn't mature enough to see), and don't miss a beat as they introduce themselves to Hinata and say unnecessary things, thanking the short boy for putting up with their unpleasant son and mentioning that Hinata is just as cute as Kageyama described (and Kageyama points out that he never called him cute, of all things). Kageyama all but pushes his parents out the door until they finally leave, calling from the car that Hinata can stay as long as he wants and should sleep over, really, it's no trouble.

When his hovering parents are finally finished bugging them, Kageyama turns to Hinata, who looks far too happy with himself for any good.

"You called me cute, huh?"

"Like hell I did," he hisses. Except that maybe he did, one time, but his parents weren't supposed to take note, let alone bring it up to the very boy he was talking about. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

In answer, Hinata lifts up the bag at his side and states, "Smash Bros."

"Smash Bros?" Kageyama echoes. The words feel foreign rolling off of his tongue. He hasn't played that game in a long time, the last such event being back when he had people to play it with.

Hinata's jaw drops. "You've never played it?"

"I have, dumbass. It's just been a while."

Kageyama can see gears turning, and he hopes that Hinata doesn't come to the too-true conclusion that it's because he hasn't had any friends in a while, either.

The short boy's head tilts, and Kageyama shouldn't find the way his button nose scrunches up so intriguing. "So, did I have to bring all of this or not?"

Kageyama shrugs. "Depends which one you brought. I don't have the new one. Console, either."

"Good," he beams. "I didn't want to lug all of this here for nothing." Kageyama wants to ask why Hinata is acting so friendly all of a sudden, but he feels like that would be breaking some sort of rule. Instead, he just goes along with whatever Hinata has in mind, although he would usually classify that as a terrible idea.

It turns out to be an okay idea, though, this time, Hinata hooking up the WiiU and popping the game in remarkably quickly. When he pulls out from his bag two ordinary WiiMotes, however, Kageyama is horrified and thinks that Hinata can't be this dumb, that's not possible.

"What the actual fuck," is the first thing that comes out. Hinata looks over at him, surprised, having been waiting for the menu to come up. Kageyama struggles for a second as he attempts to put his disgust into words, but instead finds himself digging through the basket under his television until he finds what he was looking for.

When Hinata just blinks at the gift from God Kageyama holds in his hands, the taller boy scoffs. "Really? You've never seen one of these before?"

He blinks again. "That's one of the old controllers."

Kageyama's eyes narrow at the boy as he seats himself on the couch behind Hinata. "It's a GameCube controller, you ignorant piece of shit."

"They look really awkward," the spiker observes skeptically, but Kageyama really doesn't care that, yeah, after not that long of playing, your hands start to ache.

"Whatever. You can use your insufficient WiiMote bullshit, I'm gonna use my motherfucking GameCube controller."

Hinata takes it as a challenge, as he takes everything else, and shoots back that it doesn't matter what controller you play with, I'm gonna win because I'm better, and Kageyama almost smiles one of his terrifying smiles as he responds with yeah, right, in your wildest dreams.

Kageyama is confused by the name Hinata pulls up for himself. "L.G.?"

"It stands for Little Giant, obviously," Hinata enthuses, far too cheerful. Kageyama just puts in KAGS for himself and thinks that he shouldn't have expected anything less from the bubbly boy.

Kageyama beats Hinata to the ground. All the memories of those hours playing Smash, eyes glued to the screen, come rushing back, and the teen is back in his glory days.

It's sort of painful to watch the redhead lose so badly, really—except that Kageyama loves it. The setter has no idea of what he's yelling when they play, but he doesn't think Hinata does, either. All Kageyama really remembers is telling Hinata to play someone other than Kirby, Jesus Christ.

"But Kirby is my favorite!" he whines.

"You think I give a shit?"

"But! I don't know how to play anyone else!"

"They play the same, dumbass. The controls don't change."

Then Hinata tries to use Kirby to suck up Marth, Kageyama's current character, and spit him off of the edge, and Kageyama has had enough, ripping the controller out of his hands and ordering Hinata to change characters now, or blood will be spilled. His face must have been scarier than usual, because Hinata ducks behind the couch and immediately complies.

Even though Hinata gets his ass kicked, Kageyama has to admit (not out loud) that the redhead is a good loser, seeming to be genuinely enjoying the games even though he's won maybe two times. Hinata tones down his bratty complaints when he loses, so Kageyama tones down his egotistical bragging when he wins. It's an all-around good time, honestly.

So good, in fact, that the two don't notice the parents have gotten back from the movies until they suddenly realize that their stomachs are growling and the stars have come out. They run into Kageyama's mom getting some water in the kitchen and she explains that they've been home for about an hour and that there's lasagna in the oven, if they want it. Kageyama just reels about how they'd been playing for over four hours—four hours—as Hinata thanks his mom and helps himself to the food.

He's surprised that his eyes don't hurt, but forgets about being thankful when he attempts to unroll his hand to grab a cup and it becomes painfully apparent that his hands have suffered terribly. The boy tries to massage all of the many kinks out as he asks Hinata if he's staying the night or what. Hinata's expression lights up, probably for some stupid reason, and says that yeah, that sounds fun, and Kageyama lumbers back to the living room to pick out a movie.

He pops in Spirited Away and has gotten himself comfortable on the couch when Hinata plops down next to him, saying something about how Kageyama should probably mention that he's going to sleep over to his parents. Kageyama responds that Hinata should tell his parents, and then the boy is fishing in his pockets for his phone, the idiot. Kageyama considers telling his parents, as well, but he's really comfortable where he is, bundled up on the couch, and they were the ones that invited Hinata to stay in the first place. Hinata makes the other unwrap himself from his cocoon, however, complaining about how he's cold, too, and that Kageyama needs to be a good host and share.

Throughout the beginning of the film, Hinata continues being his usual annoying self. Can you get me some water, he asks, and Kageyama says get it yourself. Do you have any popcorn, he asks, and Kageyama says probably not. Any candy? I don't know. Soda? Doubt it.

“Do you have anything that could qualify as movie food?”

“Shut up and actually watch it, dumbass.”

About half an hour into the film Kageyama gets hungry, but he doesn't want to actually get up. Instead, he just eats the rest of what's on Hinata's plate that he'd apparently fit the entirety of the pasta on. The setter doesn't notice the way brown eyes follow the path of the fork that had been in his mouth, covered in his spit, get swallowed up by and covered in Kageyama's, as well. Hinata also inevitably notices the awkward way the taller boy holds the fork, and how sometimes the muscles twitch under his skin.

"Do your hands hurt?" Hinata asks, when Kageyama is finished and the plate and fork are back on the coffee table. Kageyama is currently massaging them out, which finally pushed him to ask.

"Yeah," he grunts, flinching a bit as he presses into a particularly adamant knot. His eyebrows crunch up when small hands reach out and take one of his larger ones.

He almost yanks his hand away, as he would any other time, but even though the bunched muscles still hurt as they're pressed against, it feels strangely relaxing, and he doesn't question it. He still doesn't question it when Hinata deems his left hand done and reaches for the right.

Kageyama is fighting back tears along with Chihiro when there's a snore from his shoulder. He looks over to find a bundle of red hair pressed against him and wonders when they got so close, let alone when Hinata fell asleep on him.

He doesn't mind as much as he would have said that he does, had someone else been there to see. He just goes back to watching the movie, pretending not to notice that their hands are still entwined.

Kageyama's eyes open again to see the movie menu screen, watching it loop once as he comes to his senses. The living room has been cleaned up: WiiU supplies organized, the television's volume muted, and the plate of lasagna gone from in front of him. Kageyama is too tired to put the pieces together that his mom or dad or both had seen them in the position they're in, leaning on each other as they sleep, and be mortified. Instead he just shoves and pulls Hinata, back and forth, until the decoy wakes up, eyes blurry and hair messier than usual.

"Wha?" the boy breathes, and if Kageyama were more awake he would have questioned the thought of how adorable a sleepy Hinata is.

"Get the hell up," he mumbles. "We have to go to sleep."

Hinata pulls the shared blanket over his head and Kageyama wouldn't have caught his words if they weren't so close and it wasn't so quiet. "I was asleep, stupid."

"Dumbass. You know what I mean." Kageyama peels the blanket off the two of them, Hinata letting out a long whine the whole time.

"Noooooooo, I was so warm, you're mean. Tobio is a bully, what a surprise."

"Oh my God, Shouyou, shut up," he groans, not really putting any venom into his words when Kageyama calls the other by Shouyou and not really caring when Hinata calls him by Tobio (although it still fills his stomach with butterflies). "Fine, stay here," he grumbles, mostly to himself. "I'm going up to my bed. Idiot."

"Noooooooo," Hinata whines, again, but the noise gets soft enough to ignore as Kageyama stumbles away. He falls onto his bed and can't remember it ever being so comfortable before.

The tall teen is jolted back into consciousness as a heavy weight falls against his back. He lets out a groan at the feeling of being crushed.

"Get off of me." The body above him doesn't move. "I will slam you onto the floor." The body above him rolls over to lay beside him.

"You're supposed to get out a mat for your guest. You're a terrible host."

"Stop talking. Go back to the couch, then, if you're gonna be a bitch about it."

"Noooooooo—"

"Oh my God. Shut the hell up already."

"Noooooooo—"

"Shouyou," he growls, and the dumbass finally shuts up. Except that he doesn't.

There's a shift beside him before Hinata says something that Kageyama doesn't catch.

"Huh?"

Another moment of silence where Kageyama almost falls asleep. "You called me Shouyou."

"So?"

"I didn't call you Tobio."

"Liar. You do it all the time."

"Not that time."

Kageyama honestly can't remember. "Who cares. Be quiet."

Blissful silence. Then Hinata starts saying something else, about Tobios and Shouyous, and Kageyama gropes around until he finds Hinata's face. Startled, the boy stops, and long fingers brush over soft cheeks before they find lips and clamp down.

"Shut. Up."

Kageyama immediately falls asleep. It's a while before Hinata does.

Everyone knows that Hinata is a kicker and a bed hog and a drooler and a snorer and everything, really, and Kageyama is surprised that he didn't get pushed off of the bed. Even more surprised is he to wake up and find Hinata taking up as little space as possible, pressed up against his chest. When the hell they got in that position, he has no idea. He doesn't care as much as he probably should. In fact, he kind of likes it, although he refuses to question why.

Kageyama isn't sure why (and doesn’t reflect on it, in his groggy state), but he moves his hand so that it's buried in orange hair and hooks a leg so that it's sandwiched between Hinata's before falling back asleep. He's gone by the time a blushing boy nuzzles impossibly closer to his chest, unable to keep a wide smile from stretching across his face.

The team has gotten used to Hinata and Kageyama calling each other by their first names. It's just another one of their competitions, after all, the two constantly trying to piss each other off. Daichi has had to step in a couple of times and tell them to knock it off when one too many stray balls happened to hit Karasuno’s decoy, though.

The others are still taking their water break when Hinata and Kageyama are getting in a few extra tosses like they've started to do lately. Hinata keeps spacing out, unfocused eyes staring at the ground or wall or Kageyama, sometimes. To get the idiot's attention, the setter calls out, "Ready, Shouyou?"

Hinata's eyes snap up to Kageyama's, and they're focused, but he seems frozen to the spot. Then Kageyama looks around and notices that all of the team, excluding Tanaka and Nishinoya, who seem to be attempting to climb onto each others' backs, were also staring at Kageyama.

He narrows his dark blue eyes at all of them. "What?" Is there something on his face?

"You called Hinata by Shouyou," Suga breathes, eyes gleaming, and he doesn't mean in the spiteful way Kageyama usually calls Hinata by. Kageyama rewinds his memory a bit and doesn't remember doing that.

"No, I didn't."

"Sorry to tell you that you did, King." Kageyama glares at Tsukishima, who looks like the smug bastard that he is. "We were all expecting it, really."

"What?" Hinata and Kageyama say at the same time.

"That you two would get together and be that gross, overly-affectionate couple."

Before Kageyama and Hinata can even react, Suga is swooping in as damage control and pressing one hand on each of their backs to drive them away from the situation. Kageyama tries to twist around and gets a glimpse of Tsukishima sending them an expression that is way too satisfied (and everyone else, excluding Tanka and Nishinoya, looking way too fond and amused) before Suga pushes him harshly enough to make him stumble.

Only after Kageyama has gone home, eaten dinner, and is lying down to sleep, do Tsukishima's words sink in. His face flares up and he shoves it into his pillow a second time.

They're walking home on a Tuesday when Kageyama realizes that Hinata is the best friend he's ever had.

At first, Kageyama, always one to be cynical, thinks that Hinata being his best friend isn't saying much, seeing as Hinata is basically his only friend, if he don't count the rest of his teammates (Kageyama doesn't count them). But then he thinks about how close they are, having had his first sleepover with the redhead and constantly going over to each others' houses to study, or more likely get some more tosses in or do nothing. Kageyama is welcomed as part of the family at the Hinata household, and the ball of raw energy is welcomed all too enthusiastically at the Kageyama household.

Then, Kageyama thinks that there's no way Hinata can hang out with anyone as much as he does with Kageyama, right? They're constantly with each other most of the time they're awake, almost all of the time if class and sleep hours aren't counted. They race to morning practice, they eat together for lunch, they race to afternoon practice, they walk partway home together, half the time going to the same house, and they've seen each other every Saturday and/or Sunday for at least a month.

His train of thought continues and Kageyama thinks that he might be Hinata's best friend, too. The idea fills him with a warm satisfaction, and then his heart sinks into his stomach as he remembers all of the other friends Hinata has, that pudding head from Nekoma and everyone on the team except Tsukishima and all of those people from middle school and doesn't one of them call him Shou-chan and why would Hinata pick Kageyama to be his best friend out of all the people who aren't awkward and scary with a name that's too cute for them.

Kageyama realizes that Hinata has been calling out to him with Tobio, Tobio, and suddenly the name doesn't suit him again. He turns his attention to the boy by his side, walking along with his bike, eyes slowly focusing on the small body with a pout on his face.

"What are you mumbling about? Were you listening at all? Don't even answer, you never listen."

"That's not true," Kageyama growls, but he doesn't say anything else because he isn't sure how to explain that, yeah, he doesn't pay attention to what Hinata actually says, but he could listen to his voice all day.

"Well, then, what was I talking about?"

Kageyama honestly has no idea.

"Thought so." When Kageyama doesn't reply with a biting remark, Hinata glances over, confused. "What?"

"What do you mean, 'what'?"

"You're being weird."

"No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are."

"Well, you're acting like a dumbass."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yeah, you are, because you're a dumbass."

"Asshole."

"Idiot."

"Meanie."

"Shorty."

"Bully!"

Kageyama yanks on Hinata's mess of hair, the decoy begs for mercy (that Kageyama doesn't provide), and Kageyama forgets what they were talking about in the first place.

Hinata has a big, dopey smile on his face like he just won something, but Kageyama doesn't even bother to try and figure out why.

Kageyama's house is quiet, with his parents not home until eight or nine or ten at night, depending on the day, and no siblings to speak of. His eyebrows are crunched together as he stares at the problem a little harder, because can numbers even do that? He feels Hinata drape across his back, having given up on his homework a while ago and probably bored to death, but doesn't bother trying to throw him off because it always turns into a wrestling match, resulting in neither of them get their work done.

The longer he stares the more the numbers seem to bend out of shape and twist together into something unsolvable, so Kageyama just sighs and bullshits an answer, like he usually does. He doesn't need to get all of them right, anyways; he just needs to get enough right to be able to keep playing volleyball.

"Tobio?" Hinata breathes against Kageyama's neck. Kageyama grunts to show that he's listening. A beat of silence and he almost twists around to look at the weight on his back. "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

He does turn to face Hinata this time, and the expression on his pink lips and in his brown eyes are too serious. "No," he answers slowly, trying to look for clues in the boy’s face.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"No," he says, again, eyebrows crinkling. "Why does it matter?"

Hinata breaks his gaze from Kageyama's, looking at the work on the table but not really looking at it, and asks, "Do you think it's weird for guys to date each other?"

This time his response is quick. "No. I'm not homophobic, idiot."

Hinata lets out a long breath, but it doesn't seem to ease any of his tension. He seems tenser than before, actually, and it makes Kageyama nervous. Hinata is supposed to always be smiling, not looking like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Before Kageyama can think it through, he asks, "Are you gay?"

Hinata's expression crumples and he pulls away so that he's sitting on the ground instead of leaning on the other boy’s shoulders. "Is it that obvious?"

The setter has a hand running through orange hair before he knows what he's doing. "No, you dumbass." But the insult doesn't have any sting to it. "I just thought, maybe, since you brought it up."

The usually-bright, shining eyes are about to brim over with tears, and his bottom lip is quivering. Kageyama pulls the redhead into his chest, wrapping his arms around the poor boy, and he hates that expression on Hinata's face, he hates it. "It's okay, Shouyou. Don't make that face."

There's a wet sniff against his chest and he feels tiny hands grip onto the back of his shirt. "It's okay?" The words come out thick.

"It's okay."

The tall boy keeps running his hands through thick strands of sunset until tears stop getting soaked up by his shirt, and long after.

Hinata sleeps over, even though tomorrow is a Friday and they'll have to go to school, because when Kageyama's mom and dad get home they tell him to sleep over, it's no problem, really, and Hinata's mom and dad give permission for their son to stay at his best friend’s house because who can they trust Hinata with if not Kageyama, the boy the Hinata family has practically adopted as their other son.

The navy-eyed boy doesn't bother to get out the mat, again. Hinata calls him a terrible host but climbs in under the sheets Kageyama holds up for the other even as he does so.

(Kageyama maybe secretly likes the way his oversized shirt continues to slip off the ginger's shoulders, no matter how many times the small boy pushes it back up.)

Kageyama has a dream about Hinata, the sort of dream that can’t be so casually brushed off as the strange one the setter had experienced a week or so prior, with a glittering Suga, flying Hinata, and a zooming Nishinoya. This one has him waking up with arousal stirring in his stomach, a taste of guilt sticking to the insides of his throat. Tan skin burns with color at the mess in his pants confirming that the dream had actually just happened before he jumps into an icy shower that instantly wakes him up.

Regretfully, the day is a school one, so he has to prepare himself in an amount of time more limited than usual because of the impromptu shower. Even worse, Kageyama will have to somehow look Hinata in the face after having less than appropriate thoughts about him.

The setter tries to convince himself that this sort of thing is normal, that it’s just his hormones causing all of this and that it isn’t his fault. When Kageyama had woken up sweating and panting from such dreams before, however, the face on the other end had been faceless and had the body swells of a girl, not the rough hands of a volleyball player or obnoxiously bright hair or sweet, brown eyes that fogged up as the dream went on. Most noticeably, the other person hadn’t made so many noises. They’d just been another body, not someone that Kageyama had been focusing more on giving pleasure to than getting from. Just thinking about the moans and mewls that dream-Hinata had shamelessly let out sends Kageyama’s body into another fit of red.

The sense of having somehow betrayed Hinata makes his feet drag and his stomach sink on the way to morning practice, not having the purposeful stride usually present when something concerns volleyball.

Kageyama walks up to the gym only a few minutes before practice is scheduled to start, having been in no rush to get there. Still, Kageyama is surprised at how he had somehow managed to miss the entirety of the pre-morning practice he and Hinata ritually get together for. As he thinks this, it’s no surprise that a messy bundle of orange comes marching up to the navy-eyed boy.

“Where were you?” he huffs, small hands placed on his hips and feet placed solidly on the ground. “I had to practice all on my own the entire time!”

Kageyama can’t bring himself to look the other into the same eyes that had been pooling over with tears of pleasure only an hour before. “Woke up late,” is his clipped answer, and Hinata mumbles something about how of course someone gloomy and grumpy wouldn’t be dedicated to anything he does before shoving his way back into the gym Kageyama has yet to even set foot into yet.

Being unable to look at the spiker is extremely inconvenient when Kageyama has to toss for him, and when the ball has been too high or low or quick or slow for Hinata to hit at least a dozen times, Suga is sending Kageyama a concerned look and Daichi is asking Kageyama if he’s sick and needs to go to the nurse’s office. For once, the Karasuno setter doesn’t put up any fight as he makes his way past the other members to head over to the bench and down some cold drink from his water bottle, even when he hasn’t been practicing hard enough to really be thirsty yet.

At the first water break, Hinata trots over to Kageyama in a way that reminds him of a puppy. Forgoing the water he obviously needs, if the flushed cheeks and drops of sweat running down his neck and causing his shirt to stick to his skin are any indicator, the decoy instead chooses to question Kageyama; Kageyama, who never wants to have to spend a moment off of the court, almost as much as Hinata, and will force himself through the worst sickness without speaking a word of it to anyone just to play a game of volleyball.

“Is something wrong?” Hinata looks all too innocent, plopping himself down on the bench next to Kageyama, chest heaving. “You never sit out of a practice.” A moment of silence before Hinata prompts, “Tobio?”

Kageyama wonders when the two of them got on the basis to call each other by their first names. He remembers when he thought the moment would never really come, back when he was too scared to think about Hinata always remaining just a rival and not feeling the same sort of connection that Kageyama had, back when calling each other by their first name was just another competition.

“I’m fine,” Kageyama mumbles, still not looking Hinata in the eye. At this point he should have gotten over the dream, he realizes, but there’s still the feeling that Hinata will somehow be able to know that Kageyama had thought stuff like that about him, the same person Kageyama considers to be his best friend. Just thinking about it makes his skin feel grimy and his chest fill with shame.

Hinata bumps his shoulder into Kageyama’s and says, “I’m not stupid,” giving him a look that implies genuine concern even as Kageyama meets the other’s eyes for the first time to give him a look that says yes, you are. “Come on, it’s obvious that something is wrong, Bakageyama.”

The younger gives the redhead a look. “Haven’t heard that one in a while,” he mutters, before sighing and deciding that he needs to grow up already. “I’ll be fine.

Hinata is never one to give up easily, and he gives Kageyama a thoughtful glare, like he’s trying to work out his next tactic. He continues to do this over the cold water bottle as he drinks it. Kageyama is too uncomfortable to meet such an intense stare at the moment.

The redhead eventually sighs, the sound uncharacteristically resigned, and puts down his sweating bottle of water. Hinata looked him in the eyes again, brown eyes soft and sad, and Kageyama felt like he was being faced by a disappointed older brother. It was disconcerting and comforting at the same time. Mostly just weird to think that he had a wet dream about someone he just compared to an older brother.

“Feel better, okay? You’re making me worried.” The sincerity of the boy’s words made Kageyama’s eyes prickle with emotion, confusing and overwhelming. Having someone worry about him this much made his problems seem valid and tangible, like he couldn’t continue to ignore them as he had been hoping. Kageyama has to look away, because Hinata is somehow more engulfing than usual, like his sweet eyes would swallow him up.

“Yeah, okay,” Kageyama says when he finds his voice, and then the water break is over and Kageyama watches the other players step back onto the court.

They’re walking home a week later and Kageyama is trapped in his mind, thinking that he has to tell him, this has gotten ridiculous, the dreams have gone from hot and sultry to mild and sweet, featuring things like holding hands and Hinata’s smile and hugs and dates. The new dreams are worse than the old ones, in their own way, because while there’s no longer any shame, there’s still the guilt, and the dreams are just as invasive as the old ones; instead of avoiding Hinata’s gaze he finds that he can’t look away, and yesterday during practice Kageyama had tried to set to Asahi while looking at Hinata. Tsukishima looked like he could have about died from amusement.

Under the overcast sky, Hinata is talking about something because he’s always talking about something, and Kageyama isn’t processing a single syllable. Luckily for him, the other hasn’t noticed his lack of attention, or maybe he’s talking for his own amusement like Kageyama is pretty sure he sometimes does. It’s probably a result of Kageyama never really contributing much to the conversation other than to call Hinata a dumbass or argue about something. Thankfully, Hinata doesn’t seem to mind too much.

Why doesn’t Hinata mind, by the way? Why does Hinata hang out with Kageyama at all? Even when they’re as close as they are, seeing each other almost every day and somehow not getting tired of having the same company, Hinata’s loyalty to him remains a mystery. He knows to some extent that Kageyama’s previous volleyball experiences have made him used to the idea of being abandoned, but mostly he just can’t understand. Kageyama doesn’t even find himself interesting, so how could someone else? Why pick him out of everyone?

…And these thoughts are why Kageyama hasn’t addressed the issue of this (what should he call it? A crush? Does he have a crush on Hinata?) thing that seems to be consuming him, because wouldn’t admitting his thing to Hinata just put a weight on the ginger? It would be unfair, like binding Hinata to the one boring person of himself. It would be like a rip off, if (when) Hinata found out that Kageyama wasn’t all he was hyped up to be. And then, even worse, if Hinata rejects the idea of Kageyama’s… thing, Kageyama has lost his best friend. Game over, no replays.

The fork in the road is coming up, and Kageyama has to address all of this somehow, and how is he going to do that, and whatever it is has to be done quickly because otherwise they’ll go separate ways in about ten seconds.

“Why do you call me Tobio?” Hinata and Kageyama both have to take a few seconds to absorb the question. Like a lot of occasions, Kageyama had acted without tact, interrupting the other’s enthusiastic story and literally not even thinking about what he was going to say, how stupid can he get?

“Uhm,” Hinata stumbles, staring at Kageyama like he’s missing some key clues. “I don’t know? Why do you call me Shouyou?”

Kageyama scowls because he knows why he calls Hinata by his first name, and that’s not what he needs to know. “That’s not what I asked, dumbass.”

The shorter looks away, and Kageyama notices that he’s starting to blush. They’re standing in the middle of the road, and the beginning of a light rain is starting to fall, feeling but not seeing the droplets of water as they hit his skin.

“Because,” he says, like that alone is enough of an answer. And then, “I don’t know. It suits you? I like it.”

Memory provides Kageyama with a contradiction to Hinata’s reasoning. “You said the name is too cute for someone so awkward and scary.”

“You’re cute,” Hinata says, and if the red that sweeps across his face afterwards is anything to go by, he obviously hadn’t thought that out.

Kageyama feels like he’s about to burst. A thousand things click into place, and a thousand other things are left unanswered. Somehow, Hinata grasping for words and his face getting redder and gripping his bike handles with white knuckles seems inexplicably important, like something is being blatantly spelled out for Kageyama, but it’s in a language he’s annoyingly influent in.

His fingers reach up over Hinata’s bike to touch Hinata’s burning cheeks, and he’s a little in awe at how hot his face is. Any other situation and Kageyama would have assumed he was having a hot flash. The boy’s incomprehensible stuttering comes to a stop, and his latte eyes widen to the point where he might be looking at a ghost. Kageyama gets closer so that he can see the specks in Hinata’s eyes, the misleadingly pale freckles on his nose, the tiny, tiny bits of water as they come in contact with his skin. And then they’re kissing.

Kageyama’s hands treat Hinata like something delicate and priceless and fleeting, thumbs tracing the boy’s cheeks and palms tilting his head back. It feels like everything finally overflowed, to the point where Kageyama had made the semi-conscious decision to kiss his best friend in the middle of a dreary Wednesday afternoon.

Right as Kageyama is starting to come back to his senses (which is ironic, because everything happening around him seems crystal clear), he feels a returning pressure against his lips, and now whatever had overflowed isn’t just spilling over, it’s pouring out, and energy tingles in the tips of his fingers and bottom of his feet and up and down his spine. He feels like he could run for ten miles and be itching for ten more.

They pull back after only a handful of seconds, and Hinata looks the way Kageyama feels. The rain drops around them are getting thicker, and they make a pattering noise as they hit the ground. He watches a few of them harmlessly collide with the smaller boy’s black uniform.

“You just kissed me,” Hinata says, like he can’t believe it.

Kageyama blushes. “You kissed back,” he says, but the importance of it is just starting to sink in. He blushes harder.

“Wahhh!” Hinata exclaims, startling Kageyama more than it should have. “That was all—bam! and then it was all—GWOHH! And my brain was like—”

Kageyama put a hand over his mouth so that he would stop making those ridiculous noises. Hinata licks his hand and Kageyama recoils in disgust, and now Hinata has a dumb, smug look on his face, but Kageyama can’t find it in himself to be mad because Hinata’s cheeks are still a really cute pink, and the way his eyes look at him are like a puppy in love.

“So, you like me?” Hinata asks, singsong.

More blushing. “Of course I do.”

“Like like?”

“Yes.”

“Like like li—”

“Shouyou!” he growls.

Hinata laughs, the most pure sound Kageyama thinks he’s ever heard, and his chest feels light enough for him to float away. He’s never been so happy. It feels like a promise.

They start actually walking again, because the rain will only pick up the longer they stay outside. They can probably outrun the rain if they hurry.

“Hey, Tobio.” Kageyama grunts to show that he’s paying attention, and then there’s a hand on his neck guiding him down to a waiting set of lips.

The kiss is different, charged more with content and less with uncertainty, although there was still plenty of that. Kageyama had certainly never kissed anyone before, and he knows that the last kiss Hinata had before today was with a cute girl in elementary school. Kageyama is still embarrassed when they pull away, but also excited. Kissing Hinata gives him an adrenaline rush.

“I like you too, by the way.” Kageyama feels trapped in brown eyes an inch from his own. He doesn’t want to leave.

The hands around his neck disappear, and then unfortunate distance is placed between them as Hinata walks away. His smile is just as blinding as ever. “Bye-bye! See you tomorrow!”

Kageyama can’t help but smile. “Bye, Shouyou.”

Now he knows that, impossibly, Hinata and Kageyama have the same reasons for calling each other by their first names.