Chapter Text
“Hey, Kageyama, why’d you invite me over?” Hinata asked, his friend jolting in response. Hinata tilted his head, questioning. The other boy hadn’t done much so far except set his books down. He had been avoiding Hinata like he was the plague, eyes darting around the room, settling everywhere except for him. Hinata was more than annoyed, and a little frazzled by it all.
“It’s not really because of homework, is it?” Hinata pressed, scooting his body closer to Kageyama, his hand reaching to brush the other boy’s arm.
Kageyama grumbled something softly, flinching away from Hinata. He frowned, his lips turning downward in a pout.
“Are you getting bullied?” Hinata’s eyes widened with shock, mouth falling open. “Do you need help?”
“It’s nothing like that, idiot!” he snarled, quickly pushing his palm against Hinata’s chest roughly. It didn’t feel natural, not like they normally quarrelled and bit at each other. He was watching him now though, no longer ignoring him.
Hinata brought his knee to where Kageyama’s palm had just been, resting his chin on it, deep in thought. A deep furrow creased itself into Hinata’s brow as he continued to watch Kageyama huff and hiss.
The black haired boy in front of him was scowling. Hinata was sure Kageyama had been born with a scowl on his face, scowling wasn’t the problem. It was that Kageyama looked frustrated, flustered even, his cheeks dusted pink and his eyes fluttering nervously as he glanced back and forth between Hinata and the floor.
“Have you ever kissed someone?” Kageyama asked.
Kageyama’s blue eyes stared at Hinata now, their eyes making contact for the first time that night. He was no longer skittish, a firm resolve revealing itself, and yet Hinata could still see the small trembling of his hands. Hinata swore Kageyama’s eyes were analysing his every move, waiting for a twitch of a finger or a whisper of a word. A nervous silence settled over the two, each intake of air almost painful to Hinata’s ears.
“W-What?” Hinata blundered, the intensity of other’s gaze jumbling his speech, “I mean, yeah, but I was, like, ten.”
His hand nervously found the back of his neck, threading through the soft small curls that lay there.
“Everyone has, right? We’re seventeen,” Hinata offered, avoiding the eyes of the boy, shifting uncomfortably.
“No.”
“What?”
“I haven’t.”
Hinata’s eyes widened. A quick ‘oh’ stumbled from his lips, heat rising to his face. Kageyama’s hair shielded his face, black fringe falling past his eyebrows and into his eyes as he hung his head shyly. Kageyama cleared his throat, shifting to stand, knocking the books off the table with his sharp movement.
“I’m sorry for bringing it up-”
Hinata reached forward to grab Kageyama’s wrist, his knee digging into the textbook on the floor.
“No, no, it’s okay.”
He was standing now too, a nasty red indent where the textbook had been. Kageyama glanced down at his wrist, and Hinata quickly dropped it. He rubbed his arm nervously, his palm flattening the pale orange hairs.
“So what, do you want me to ask Yachi to kiss you for practice or something?”
“Or… Something…”
“Do you want to kiss me?” Hinata jeered, a sly smile creeping onto his face.
What he didn’t expect was for Kageyama to flush and turn away. It was only meant as a jest, he didn’t have to act so offended. Hinata coloured after a moment, realisation sparking, a clear depiction of a certain situation flashing into his mind.
It wasn’t that big of a deal right? Kageyama could prepare himself for whatever girlfriend he had in the future, and Hinata could too. It was win-win, if you removed the actual aspect of kissing from the equation. He gulped, setting himself down rigidly on edge of Kageyama’s bed.
“Sit down.”
Kageyama did. He sat carefully, not disturbing the blue sheets.
Hinata placed his hands shakily on the boy’s arms, steadying himself, and looking up at Kageyama. He drew a breath, staring up at the blue eyes looming above him, the black hair wisping across his forehead, before screwing his eyes shut childishly.
“Just do it.”
He could feel Kageyama nodding and shifting, his hands moving as he did, and then he felt Kageyama leaning down slowly, the gap between them closing excruciatingly slowly. Hinata tensed up anxiously, his shoulders tight and lips pursed.
There was a soft warmth against his taut lips, unexpected and foreign, but not unwelcome at all. There was a certain bubbling feeling within Hinata, one unsure of whether he wanted to be doing with Kageyama or not. Hinata pressed against it after a second or two of contemplation, leaning into him, his hands sliding up Kageyama’s toned arms and resting on his clothed shoulders. Kageyama needed practice, after all. He had to show him what to do.
And then the warmth was gone. Hinata opened his eyes, blinking up at Kageyama. He frowned at the boy, his mouth devoid of the warmth he was just becoming adjusted to. Kageyama’s face was incredibly red, all semblance of calm composure he may have had lost in the past few minutes. Hinata knew it was likely that he was in the same situation, cheeks a blossom and eyes blown wide.
“Hey, didn’t you want my help?”
Hinata reached out for him, and Kageyama took a stood up, leaving Hinata to only grasp air. Kageyama took a step away from his bed. And another. He stepped backwards until Kageyama’s back was square against his door, one palm flattened against the oak wood, the other pressed tightly against his mouth.
“I-” Kageyama began, muffled behind his hand.
But he did not finish. His palm slipped down to the doorknob, clumsily turning it open and stumbling out the door. Hinata could hear Kageyama thumping outside, saying something soft to his mother. Hinata sat patiently, picking at a scab on his knee, the pink skin underneath it becoming spotted with new blood.
Hinata perked up again when he heard footsteps coming towards him, yet no one entered, confusion mixing into a swirl of emotions in his chest.
“Hinata, you should go,” came Kageyama’s voice from outside the room, disjointed and disconnected from Hinata sitting lonesome on his bed.
Hinata didn’t know what he did wrong. His face twisted and contorted with concern, vision muddy and fuddled, wetness pooling in his eyes.
“Okay.”
-
The next time Hinata saw Kageyama was the last day of school.
Hinata had been searching for him since Monday, the raven-haired boy nowhere in sight for almost a week. Situations had flashed through his head as he kicked himself for not grabbing the other boy’s home phone number when he could’ve.
Maybe Kageyama had fallen ill. Maybe he hated Hinata. Maybe he was so disgusted by him that he’d ran away to go to Australia. Hinata couldn’t help but feel a waves of embarrassment and guilt.
Hinata was sitting in his classroom, students rowdy and waiting for the clock to tick over to bell time.
His classmates were buzzing for the holidays to begin. They were ready for the heat to be baring down on them, their hands forming fans and their clothing sticking to their skin. It would’ve usually enticed Hinata, volleyball clasped in his sweat clad hands, calling out to his teammates for a toss. They would be outside, perhaps in a park, basking in the sweet heat from the golden sun. Except there was a factor missing from the equation, a small (tall) part: Kageyama. Kageyama was still missing.
He sat as students around him stood up in a rush, chairs squeaking against the floor as a horde of teenagers ran out the door and into the holidays. He stared down at his desk, slowly packing his stuff away, in no rush to go anywhere at once.
By the time Hinata was ready to leave everyone had already left the school grounds. There wasn’t any training, so Hinata walked straight to his bike, feet trudging against the gravel. He unlocked it, hands fumbling slightly with the code on the lock. He was disgruntled, bothered.
Hinata hoisted himself onto his bike and kicked the stand up. He began to pedal, the wind rushing through the hair that had stuck to his face, cooling him down as he made his way down into the town. He pedalled aimlessly, not sure if he was even going to make his way straight home.
He wiped beads of sweat that had begun to form away from his forehead, using the shadow of his hand to shield himself from the light of the setting sun.
He studied his surroundings, his eyes adjusting under the shade, finding that he had biked to a part of the town he rarely visited. Well, unless he wanted good luck on his exams.
To his left was the local shrine, shrouded in lush greenery, tamed by the locals who tended to it on a regular basis. He came to a stop outside, parking his bike on the ground next to the road. He doubted anyone would be stealing his bike in the light of the day.
Hinata’s eyes wandered from the shrine and landed on an unkempt part of the forest, surrounding the shrine and leading out into other parts of the region. The trees trailed up and behind hills, only a simple dirt path cut into the foliage that overtook the un-urbanised landscape. Hinata had never stayed long enough to notice the small thing, almost hidden in the bush.
His feet were moving before his brain was, stepping off the path he had stood on and onto the dirt. His shoes scratched against rough ground, his arms getting caught on twigs that stood out from their trees, ducking underneath branches slightly too short. He continued down the path, his eyes wide, taking in detail as he walked.
The world around him was natural and unrefined. Light shimmered down through the breaks in the leaves, dusting his path with specks of the colours of the setting sun. Flowers bloomed on the sides of the path, small mushrooms cluttering at the bases of the trees. He let his heated body be cooled by the shade of the leaves, his racing heart slowing in the serenity of the unhurried environment and his troubled mind ceasing in the quiet calm of the area.
The path grew twisted, more undergrowth making its way onto the dirt, making the path into the woods less clear. Hinata spotted a clearing in the distance, not too far away from the moss covered path. He broke away from the path, winding around trees in his way and pushing branches out of his face.
He drew in a breath as he reached the clearing. A wide expanse laid in front of him, edged by a river and surrounded by hanging trees. In the corner was a small bench, timeworn and decrepit, green with mould. It looked barely stable, made with pieces of uneven wood.
He stepped forward, his shoe catching on something soft. He glanced down and saw he had stepped on clothing. Intrigued, he picked up the blue fabric.
Heat rose to his face, discovering that they were someone’s boxers. He dropped them hastily, eyes catching on a shirt and shorts that lay nearby, leading over to the water. Someone was naked.
He no longer felt as if he had discovered some hidden beauty, and instead felt as if he was intruding on someone’s secret hideaway for cooling down in the heat. That someone had to be in the water.
He avoided the clothes, carefully stepping around them and onto the patchy grass. He peered at the blue river, turning his body around a low hanging tree. A figure came into view, pale body lazing in the pool of water, black hair splayed into the water. It was indeed naked person.
The person turned, standing in the water. Hinata covered his eyes, but not before he glimpsed the person’s face.
“Kageyama?” he shouted, voice cracking at the ‘ge’.
He heard splashing, nearing closer and closer to Hinata.
“Hinata?!”
“Don’t touch me with your naked hands!”
Naked-Kageyama-in-the-river laughed, the noise coming from Hinata’s side now.
“Idiot,” he heard from behind him, snarky, but filled with amusement.
A hand brushed his ankle, picking up the shirt that he had stepped over before.
“You can look now,” Kageyama’s tone was soft, “though it wasn’t anything you hadn’t seen already.”
Hinata turned, fists furled firmly at his sides. He glared up at Kageyama, who was now thankfully fully dressed. Brown cargo pants and blue shirt. His eyes drifted to his crotch, only for a second, because there was something else blue underneath those shorts.
“How’d you even get here?”
“Why weren’t you at school?”
They spoke at the same time, their almost-shouts deafening in the quiet forest.
“I was worried, you know!” Hinata yelled at him.
Kageyama’s mouth had formed a firm line. His hands gripped the edge of his shirt. Hinata waited, eyes prickling dangerously as he stared at the taller boy, threatening to pool over onto his cheeks.
Kageyama shoved his hands in his pockets, turning his body away from Hinata.
“I-I was just, really sick,” he mumbled, head hanging slightly, “for the most part.”
“For the most part?”
“You’re embarrassing.”
“Idiot! That’s not an answer!”
Yet Hinata’s hand had found his own lips, pressing softly against the chapped surface. Was he embarrassed? Kageyama stood firmly away from Hinata. Hinata frowned at the back of his head.
“Let’s just forget about what happened,” was what Kageyama eventually said.
Kageyama walked over to the bank of river, his feet dipping into the water slightly, mud slipping between his toes. Hinata took the moment to observe his surroundings, the black haired boy outlined by a pool of blue, trees edging the picture that was presented to him.
“Okay,” was how Hinata eventually responded.