Chapter Text
Shouyou looked over his shoulder, the blue shimmering lights reflecting onto Tobio’s face, the cascading light highlighting all his features, from his strong jaw line, long nose, surprisingly soft, round cheeks, to his hair, shiny and tousled slightly from when Shouyou had ruffled it earlier, the blue lights accentuating the deep darkness of his hair, highlighting it perfectly, taunting Shouyou, daring him to reach out again and thread his fingers through, and last but not least, the light was doing absolute wonders for his already beautiful blue eyes, making them glow, the slight reflections of fish in them as they casually swim by, unknowingly passing by someone currently suffering a mild mental breakdown.
He suddenly became aware of every inch of his body, his hand, hot, slightly slick with sweat and perfectly intertwined with Tobio’s much larger one, his face heating up, a blush slowly creeping up and painting his face a deep red, his legs suddenly feeling a lot more weak than they were moments before, shaking slightly with the effort to keep him standing.
Shouyou slowly let out a breath he had no idea he was holding and looked back into the tank, suddenly wishing he could run into the tank and live there with the fishes, not having a care in the world and not having to think, to come to conclusions like the one he was currently facing.
Hinata Shouyou was 100%, head over heels, crazy in love with his best friend slash rival. He internally groaned as he watched a shark meander along slowly, looking down at him and almost smirking, mocking him and the situation he’s in.
How did it end up like this…
(Two Weeks Before...)
The MSBY changing room was loud,and rambuncious. Most of the players chatting about plans for the day or week, laughing, and teasing each other. Shouyou looked around at his teammates and smiled, feeling happy to be a part of such a fun team, he was truly having the time of his life playing professional volleyball, he has never once regretted the path he chose for himself. He pulled his shirt on quickly and zipped his bag up, finishing getting changed quicker than he normally would.
“See you guys later!” Shouyou called out, getting a few farewells in response. On any normal day he would stay back and chat with his team, socialise with them and maybe go out with them for the night, or they would stay back but still be together. He loved his team and got along with them all very well, though today was different, there was someone else today that had been swimming around his mind, someone else that had taken the forefront of his mind.
Shouyou skipped out of the changing room, humming whatever tune was stuck in his head for the day, a song that he heard playing on the radio a few days ago. Adjusting his gym bag that was slung precariously over his shoulder he walked tentitively down the hallway, he turned his head when he head the familiar footsteps up ahead, he smirked, keeping his stride casual but speeding up slightly, unconsciously. His heart started beating faster, preparation for what he knew would happen soon.
As he walked by a hallway, he was unsurprised to see exactly who he thought he would see. Kageyama Tobio was walking down the hallway, the second changing room door closing loudly behind him, the muffled sound of quiet talking coming through the door, quieter than the MSBY changing room, the quieter voices occasionally cut through by a louder one, Hoshiumi probably. He looked up at Shouyou as he was walking in front, passing by the hallway, his steps didn’t falter at all, speeding up and a competitive smirk spreading across his face.
Time seemed to stop, as it always does, when they locked eyes, Tobio’s brilliant blue eyes locking with Shouyou’s dark honey eyes, a spark seemingly travels through both of their bodies, bringing them into action, an unspoken language that they both understood took over, as strong as always, ever since highschool. Without a single word having been spoken between the two since their departure after their game together, they both took off, racing towards the exit.
The entire world was shut out as the two of them focused on only each other. It was always like this with their competitions, the world around them was shut out as they hyper focused on only one thing, which was winning, of course. Fast footsteps and heavy breathing filled the hallway, the small clicks on the zippers from their gym bags and the heavy fabric sounds from them adding to the melody. Playful taunts were thrown around occasionally and as they both saw the building's exit approach, they locked in, like a predator who sees its next meal. They both sped up, focused on their prize.
As they both barrel through the exit, a loud screech accompanied by two other yells follows, unheard by the two competing, their attention still fully onto each other, they missed Yachi getting pulled out of their way by Yamaguchi, who in turn was pulled out of the way by Tsukishima.
“I won!” they both screamed in unison as they regained their balance.
Shouyou looked at Kageyama who was looking at him with an indignant expression, one that was surely also mirrored on his face, “Huh? In what world does that count as your win?” Kageyama yelled, slightly out of breath, leaning towards Shouyou, pouting. In any other situation, Shouyou would have maybe relished how surprisingly cute he was when he pouted, or jokingly reached over to smooth the wrinkles between his eyebrows and teased him, but this was serious business, there was no time for all that, he had to focus on defending his well earned win.
“What do you mean in what world? This one! I touched the door first, it’s my win” Shouyou yelled back, leaning into Kageyama’s space the same way he did, leaving barely any room between them.
“No, I touched it first, dumbass!” Kageyama scoffed. Shouyou opened his mouth, about to retort when a third voice interrupted them, effectively silencing them and bringing them out of their tunnel vision.
“You’re both idiots, who cares who won?” Tsukishima said, his harsh tone cutting through the fight as he looked down at the two fighting in front ofd him.
No longer engrossed in each other, they finally got to look at the scene in front of them. Yachi stood to the side, clutching Yamaguchi'a arm tightly, shaking slightly, looking frazzled. Yamaguchi stared at them with a stern expression, the same one he would use on them as their third year captain. A gaze that made them both freeze and stand up straight. No amount of time out of highschool would make them forget that look and what a stern captain he was. Tsukishima stood beside Yamaguchi, his arms crossed, smirking at them.
“Hey guys! What happened? when did you get here” Shouyou asked, his eyes wide and taking in the scene in front of them. He had been so caught up in his race with Kageyama that he hadn’t seen his three friends appear at all, they’re always like that they both get tunnel vision when it comes to their competitions, no matter what sort of competition it was.
“Seriously, you guys haven’t changed a bit,” Yamaguchi sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms, despite his words and harsh tone, there was a small, amused smile playing on his lips, despite them all growing up and moving into professional fields, at the end of the day they’re still the same people from highschool, the familiar antics almost comofrting them.
“It’s so good to see you all though!” Shouyou sang out, jumping over to the group of three, arms stretched out for a hug. Tsukishima quickly moved out of the way as Shouyou pulled Yamaguchi and Yachi into a hug, they both laughed and hugged him back.
“Good to see you too, Sho,” Yachi replied warmly, giggling and ruffling Shouyou’s hair playfully, Yamaguchi laughed along with them and joined in on messing up Shouyou’s hair.
“Yeah! We don’t get together enough!” Yamaguchi laughed as they all stepped away from each other. Shouyou looked up to the two that weren’t involved in his little group hug, Tsukishima stood next to Kageyama with a smug smile, talking quietly to Kageyama who was wearing his usual scowl, though to trained eyes, you could see that he wasn’t actually mad, his pout was almost cute.
Almost.
Shouyou bounded over towards the two, using his speed to his advantage and throwing his arms around Tsukishima and Kageyama. They both wiggled around but Shouyou kept them in place squeezing them tightly. Yachi and Yamaguchi giggling at them from the side, amused at their friends' actions.
“We really don’t get together enough,” Shouyou said, letting go of the two who quickly took a step away from Shouyou, smoothing out their clothes, “I missed the old gang so much!”
“What are we doing tonight anyway?” Tsukishima said, walking up to stand next to Yamaguchi instead, shielding himself from the very real threat of another hug attack. Yachi clapped her hands together, getting everyone's attention, her eyes lit up with excitement.
“Well, I booked my absolute favourite restaurant!” Yachi exclaimed, bouncing up and down, "So we're heading there right now! i'm absolutely starving!" Shouyou joined her bouncing in excitement, the promise of a good meal already filling him with renewed energy He latchedonto Kageyama’s arm and jostling him around with his jumps.
“Stop it, dumbass,” Kageyama complained, despite making no effort to move or stop him or move away or get him to stop. Shouyou smiled, taking the opportunity to pull him close, playfully ruffling his hair.
“He’s just mad because I won the match,” Shouyou laughed, Kageyama finally reacted and pushed him away, walking away with a glare on his face.
“I am not. Whatever. Shut up” he growls, walking away with a pout, Shouyou laughed and they all started walking, Yachi laughed lightheartedly at them, quickly walking ahead to catch up with Kageyama and lead the way.
“Yeah, we know,” Tsukishima laughed, walking next to Yamaguchi, he smirked at the back of Kageyama’s head as he talked, projecting his voice to make sure he could hear his teasing, “We watched the entire match, good win, shorty.”
Shouyou scoffed at the nickname, but not even that could break his smile, because Tsukishima was right, it was a good win and Kageyama knew it, his silence on the matter spoke louder than anything, he also knew it was a good win. Shouyou straightened up, a playful, yet cocky smirk plastered on his face, despite Kageyama not facing him, he watched his body slightly stiffen, as if he could feel the smug aura radiating off of Shouyou.
“It was a good win, wasn’t it?” Shouyou said, his words drawn out and very obviously directed at a certain tall, dark haired setter that was walking in front of him. Kageyama turned his head slightly to hear better, most likely a subconscious action, Shouyou’s smirk grew bigger and made sure his words were louder, “Honestly, almost as good as my win in our race just before!”
Kageyama whipped his head around quickly, eyes blazing and ready for an argument. Shouyou felt a rush of excitement flow through his body like electricity. It lit him and made his hair stand on end, anticipation coursing through his veins. He’s always felt like this when it comes to competition between them, it ignites something inside them both, they almost crave it.
Before Kageyama could say anything, Yachi grabbed Kageyama’s arm, tugging it slightly and grabbing his attention away from Shouyou. He looked over at Yachi, ignoring and pushing down the disappointment he felt when Kageyama’s gaze left him.
“You two, quit it,” Yachi said, her voice loud and clear despite facing forward, still leading the group towards the restaurant, “It doesn’t matter who won the race.”
Shouyou and Kageyama both open their mouths to argue back, but quickly shut them when Yachi turned around, giving them a stern glare, effectively shutting down any argument that they would make. Yamaguchi snickered quietly, playfully elbowing Shouyou lightly in his side. He sighed wistfully, linking his hand with Tsukishima and swinging them together between them.
“It’s nice to know that despite everything, we’re still the same friend group,” He said, smiling at them all, Kageyama and Shouyou wore matching confused frowns at his statement, Yamaguchi continued to explain, “You guys are like, super famous professional athletes you know! It’s easy to get lost in all that but then I see you two argue and act stupid and… It’s just nice that not much has changed!”
“Yeah! I agree!” Shouyou said, nodding vigorously, choosing to ignore the comment about them acting stupid. He looked at all his friends, and his eyes naturally landed on Kageyama, who was staring back at him, the same as always, they were always going to be together, they were always going to be friends, always going to be rivals. Nothing more and nothing less. That’s what he wanted, it’s what he’s always wanted, to stand on the same stage as Kageyama and he finally has that, he doesn’t want anything else. He doesn't want it to change.
“Oh, there it is!” Yachi announced, pointing to a small building, sort of hidden between two other bigger buildings, there were two nice, slightly overgrown pot plants at the front and a small white cat curled up, the brick exterior was slightly faded despite it being on the smaller side, it looked like there were quite a few people in there. Probably a good thing yacchan booked then, Shouyou thought, before lighting up, a wicked smile appearing on his face before he bolted forward, slapping Kageyama on the back and continuing his sprint, ignoring the calls of dumbass! Behind him
Shouyou happily ran through the restaurant doors, swinging the doors open fast, causing it to hit the wall next to them. The loud noise drew attention to them, some people stared at them but continued their conversations shortly after. Kageyama slapped the back of his head, light enough for it to not hurt but Shouyou still stumbled forward, glaring at Kageyama who glared back at him.
“Oi, why did you do that!” Shouyou hissed
“You slapped me first and you’re asking why I did it back?” Kageyama hissed back at him as the three others walked ahead, ignoring the two fighting to get their table.
“Are you two coming?” Yachi called out to the two while Yamaguchi and Tsukishima had already taken their seats. The bickering two straightened up and started walking towards their friends, Kageyama pulled Shouyou closer and leaned in. Shouyou could feel his hot breath on his ear and the side of his neck, it sent shivers down his spine that he chose to ignore.
“And that didn’t count, by the way, you cheated” Kageyama whispered, Shouyou pulled back to look at Kageyama’s face. He was serious. Shouyou started laughing, making Kageyama’s pout grow deeper. He reached out, grabbing Tobio’s wrist to drag him along faster to the table.
Maybe he was feeling merciful, or he was still feeling happy from his two back to back wins, or maybe it was the way the light reflected in Kageyama’s pleading eyes. Whatever it was, it made him turn around and smiling softly at him and say,
“Okay, sure, it didn’t count.”
“Dating is so hard these days” Yachi complained,her words slightly slurred, taking a sip of her third drink of the night, her cheeks were a rosy pink colour and she was swaying around, making exaggerated gestures.
“Yacchan is definitely drunk” Shouyou whispered, leaning over to grasp Kageyama’s shoulder. Kageyama nodded while watching Yachi’s display, his own cheeks a soft pink and eyes sl;ightly glazed over. Shouyou snickered quietly looking at him, making a mental picture of him to remember, so he could tease him later for it, NOT because he thought the soft blush on his cheeks was cute and endearing, or because the way he spaced out softened his face and made him have a ghost of a smile on his face.
Shouyouy blinked, realising that he had been zoned out looking at Kageyama. He turned back to his friends watching Yachi animatedly waving her hands towards Yamaguchi and Tsukishima.
“You two are soooo lucky” she slurred, leaning her head on Yamaguchi’s shoulder and sighing, “Together since highschool… imagine finding your soul mate that early!”
Yamaguchi laughed and stroked Yachi’s hair, Tsukishima rolled his eyes and put his drink up to his face, not to take a sip, but to hide a small smile that appeared on his face.
“Yeah, some guys get all the luck, right, Kageyama?” Shouyou laughed, joining in the conversation, ignoring the way the subject made his stomach tighten. Kageyama blinked at the mention of his name and looked around, pouting when he realised he had missed the conversation, he looked over at Shouyou, cocking his head like a confused puppy, Shouyou couldn’t help but laugh, leaning onto his side and grabbing onto his arm for balance, the room was spinning slightly, maybe it was time to lay off the drinks.
“What about you two?” Yachi said, sitting up straight again, looking at the two, now with bright shining eyes, they both stiffened as the focus shifted, Shouyou let go of Kageyama’s arm and shifted uncomfortable in his seat, he glanced over to Kageyama who just shrugged in response, while picking at his food.
“I mean… we’ve been busy” Kageyama said, glancing over at Shouyou who nodded in response, backing him up.
“Yeah yeah!! Just busy with volleyball and stuff!” Shouyou responded, suddenly finding the wooden grain patterns on the table the most interesting thing at that moment.
“Aw come on!” Yachi said, leaning forward trying to get their attention back on her, “A couple of professional athletes like you two should have people begging to date you!”
“They’re too stupid to date,” Tsukishima interjected, taking a bite of his food. Yamaguchi elbowed him, hissing out a small ‘Tsukki’ and Yachi glared at him, staring daggers as he laughed.
“That’s not true!” Shouyou scoffed, pouting and crossing his arms, “I really am super busy with volleyball! I could so date if I wanted to! Kageyama probably is too stupid though” he added, a joking little jab at Kageyama.
“Yeah I- wait what?” Kageyama began to say and then paused, fully registering what Shouyou had said, he looked down at him, glaring while everyone else joined in laughing, “What the hell do you mean dumbass, I could date if I wanted to! I’d probably be a better boyfriend than you anyway.”
“ Huh?! ” Shouyou gasped, fully turning around to focus on him, genuine shock painting his voice, “You would not , what makes you say that, what the heck!” Shouyou sputtered, not expecting the challenge, instinct kicked in and he immediately responded to the competition.
Kageyama shrugged and continued eating his food, content with riling Shouyou up a little.
Shouyou was having none of it though.
“I guess there's no way for you two to know who would be the better boyfriend,” Yamaguchi laughed, finishing off his drink, “Unless of course you two dated each other and competed for who would be better!” He joked. Tsukishima and Yachi joined in on the laughing, joking about different ways they would compete in a dating competition.
Kageyama and Shouyou froze, watching their friends laugh at an idea that was ridiculous. It should be ridiculous, it was absurd! Fake date and see who was the better boyfriend? It was stupid.
It was so stupid...
Shouyou looked over at Kageyama who was smirking down at him, his face slightly flushed from the alcohol that they had been drinking, Shouyou glared back at him, his face heating up, surely matching the red on Kageyama’s face. His head was swimming slightly, jumbling his thoughts around, he could barely concentrate on one but he knew one thing.
He would win this competition.
They both nodded, turning back to their friends, determination radiating off them, the laughter from the three others slowly tapered off as they took in the expressions of the two, their eyes going between the two. Recognising the look in their eyes, Tsukishima and Yachi both looked to Yamaguchi to be the voice of reason. He sighs and places his chopsticks down, sitting up straight, giving them an unwavering serious expression.
“You know I was just joking right?” Yamaguchi said, laughing a little as he looks between the two, “You're not ac tually considering this right? Please don’t actually fake date”
Maybe it was because they had more to drink than they thought, but they both looked at each other again, seeing the same determination reflected in each other's eyes, instantly ignoring their friends all backpedalling, trying to talk them out of it, their voices getting quieter as they focused in on each other. Shouyou’s vision was soft around the edges as he tried to keep Kageyama’s gaze, they both stared at each other, unmoving until something clicked, they both felt it at the same time, an unknown wave of emotion hitting them, Shouyou watched as Kageryama scanned his face, slowly trying to configure a thought, which was seeming to be the most difficult thing in the world for him right about now.
Finally after a while, longer than it probably should have taken him, he nodded, “okay,” he said, straightening up and downing the rest of his drink in one go, he looked back at Shouyou, “I’m not afraid of losing, let’s do this.”
He sounded confident, like he had already won. It irritated Shouyou a little, stirred up a weird feeling in his stomach, how did he have that confidence? Where did it come from? Has he had some experience? Shouyou couldn't recall him ever dating in high school and he never told him about anyone when he went to Brazil. A hint of jealousy bubbled up inside, Shouyou chalked it up to his competitive nature. Well, no matter where Kageyama’s confidence came from, he knew he could beat him easily.
The words of their friends begging them to stop got quieter and quieter as the two began to plan out their bet, setting up boundaries and rules. They would fake date for two weeks, finishing up with a final date on valentines day. They created a strict point system, going back and forth between deciding what sort of activities and gifts would equal the most amount of points.
“Okay, so,” Kageyama said, reaching clumsily for his phone so he could take notes and finalise the rules, “ we both take turns in planning dates and at the end we rate them out of 10.” Tobio looked up at Shouyou with a very stern and serious expression. “And you have to be fair, don’t rate it low just because you want to win,” Shouyou nodded confidently, agreeing with the terms. When Kageyama was confident that Shouyou was taking the rules seriously, he continued, “Gifts and romantic gestures will give extra points and by the end, we tally everything up and whoever gets the most points overall wins a point for our tally.”
Shouyou hummed dramatically, trying to form a thought in his hazy state of mind, “If we do this then it should be worth five points on our tally,” Shouyou said, his words coming out slightly slurred. How much did he have to drink again?
Kageyama frowned, he seemed to be thinking over Shouyou’s words pretty hard, which he should, it's a lot to consider. They’ve been having a lot of competitions recently and Shouyou has been slowly but surely catching up in wins, five wins would be enough to give Kageyama a nice current lead, however it’s also enough points to push Shouyou into the lead and with the way he’s currently going, it could be what he needs to get more ahead. Shouyou watches as his face contorts into different slightly pained expressions as he weighs up his odds.
“You both are idiots” Tsukishima mumbled as he looked over at the two, downing the rest of his drink while Yamaguchi chuckled at their antics.
“Alright then,” Kageyama nodded, finally agreeing to the terms and holding out his hand. Shouyou eagerly grabbed it, squeezing Kageyama’s hand tightly, watching his face slightly grimace, “Let’s start tomorrow then.”
“Perfect!” Shouyou said slightly too loudly, ignoring Tsukishima shushing him,
“I can’t handle this without another drink,” Tsukishima said, standing up and walking towards the bar, leaving behind his confused and slightly flustered friends. Yachi stared at this, squinting her eyes slightly as if trying to solve a complex math problem.
“Are you guys sure this is okay?” Yamaguchi questioned looking at them both skeptically. Shouyou caught his eye and just smiled in return.
“Yeah! Why wouldn’t it be!” Shouyou responded cheerily, almost laughing at Yamaguchi’s uncertainty, “It’s just a friendly little competition to see who would be the better boyfriend, right ‘Yama?” Shouyou said, turning to Kageyama, who was suddenly strangely quiet.
“Huh? Yeah,sure, it’ll be fine,” He replied, staring at his plate of food and pushing the food around, Shouyou turned back to the other two with a beaming smile on his face.
“See? It’s fine!” Shouyou looked over and Kageyama with a smug smile, “and I'm looking forward to my five points, I'll be winning on our tally in no time”
Kageyama chuckled slightly, glancing over at Shouyou slightly, “Whatever you say, dumbass, I'm winning,” He said in retaliation. Shouyou laughed brightly and turned away from Kageyama, looking at Yachi and Yamaguchi who were looking at them with a mix of confusion, apprehension and acceptance.
“I guess some things really do never change,” Yachi sighed, fighting a fond smile that forced its way through.
“You guys are kinda insane, you know that?” Yamaguchi said, directing his attention to Tsukishima who finally came back with two drinks in his hands, animatedly telling him about what he missed.
Shouyou looked at his friends as they slowly moved on from the topic, discussing their day, their jobs, their classes, anything that comes to mind. Yachi has taken the odd graphic design job to build up her portfolio, Tsukishima’s been doing tours at his museum, Yamaguchi’s started at his electronics company, and Kageyama gave an update about his cat.
Shouyou subtly gazed over at Kageyama, a quick idea forming. Hiding an amused smile, he nudged him slightly, grabbing his attention, when Kageyama looked at him questioningly, Shouyou grabbed his arm and pulled him closer, something that was made easier since he had caught him off guard and he was slightly tipsy.
Shouyou leaned in, feeling Tobio’s heavy body stiffen by the unexpected movement, Shouyou smirked, his lips just barely grazing Tobio’s ear as he spoke.
“Just, try not to fall in love with me, Tobio.”
Shouyou then pulled back, proud of himself and excited for the win, he started eating his food, blissfully unaware of Tobio next to him, stuttering through whatever half hearted insult his melted brain was desperately trying to conjure up and his three other friends, staring at them both.