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Kageyama
Today was going to be a bad day.
Kageyama knew this from the moment he woke up, tired, and twenty minutes after his alarm. “Shit, shit, shit,” he mumbled before letting out a defeated groan and covering his face with his hands. He laid there for a moment before forcing himself to get out of bed.
He quickly changed out of his pajamas, deciding to skip breakfast in order to make it to practice on time. As he was putting on his shoes he realized that he’d have to admit defeat to Hinata today, since he would barely make it to practice on time. He scrambled out the door, silently cursing the lock for not cooperating with him in his rushed state.
After a minute he managed to lock the door and he turned around, only to see a mess of orange hair in front of him. “What are you doing here, dumbass,” he scowled, walking past Hinata.
“Well, you weren’t at my house today, so I thought I’d wait for you,” he exclaimed, skipping alongside Kageyama and smiling softly.
Kageyama sighed. “Dumbass, now we’re both going to be late,” his voice was low and laced with sleep.
Kageyama had his hands in his pockets as he walked to school, Hinata skipping beside him the whole way. Despite the fact that they’d usually both be running, racing each other to the gym, neither of them said anything about it.
Until they were inside the gym.
“Hey lovebirds,” Suga sang. “You don’t seem as lively as usual, what’s up?” he sounded a little concerned now, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“I didn’t feel like running today,” Hinata announced. Everyone could tell that he was lying by the way he was rocking back and forth on his heels and avoiding eye contact.
Kageyama sighed and went to the club room to get changed after dropping his bag off in a corner. Hinata followed him, dropping his bag next to Kageyama’s.
Neither of them spoke on the walk to the club room, or when they were changing, and by the time they were walking back to the gym, the silence seemed unbearable to both of them.
Hinata was getting antsy, so he dashed into the gym and immediately started to hunt down a volleyball. He was stopped a few feet before the cart, though.
“Nuh-uh,” Daichi scolded, “we have to stretch first. We don’t want anyone to pull a muscle now, do we?”
Hinata didn’t say anything, he just stood there, defeated.
—
Practice continued on as normal, Hinata finally becoming less restless as he was able to dart around the court. They were having a practice game with half of the team on either side of the net.
Kageyama was getting more and more annoyed with every shoe squeak and all the footsteps and game calls and, just everything was becoming too loud. Way too loud. He didn’t let it show, however, trying his best to play his A-game and not worry the ginger spiker anymore, or the rest of the team for that matter.
“KAGS TOSS TO ME,” the ginger called, already jumping up to hit the set.
Kageyama set the ball to Hinata, but their attack was blocked by Tanaka. Normally Kageyama would have better plays and not just toss on a whim, but today his brain just wouldn’t cooperate. He couldn’t think properly and it was starting to bug him.
Suddenly a whistle blew, signaling the end of the short match and morning practice. Kageyama sat down against a wall, catching his breath. Then, when everyone else had left the gym, he brought his knees to his chest and covered his face with his hands, letting out a small, frustrated groan. Today was going to be hell.
—
Kageyama sat at his desk, the teacher rattling on about their assignment, but he wasn’t really listening. His mind was clouded with doubts and strategies on how to redeem himself at practice after school.
“Kagayama,” the teacher called sternly.
His eyes immediately snapped to the figure standing at the front of the room.
“Uhmm, yes,” he said, his voice a bit unsure.
“I asked you to answer this question,” the teacher said, pointing to a question on the board.
Kageyama’s heart dropped, he was clueless.
He studied the question, hoping that he could come up with the answer if he stared at it for long enough.
The seconds ticked by, time was moving all too fast, yet not fast enough at the same time. Just think godDAMMIT! The more time passed, the less Kageyama was able to think properly, his mind clouded with the growing intensity of the passing time and the unanswered question sitting in front of him. The whispering and hushed snickering from his classmates only fueled his anxiety. His heartbeat was getting stronger and faster, his thoughts were getting more and more frantic. Everything was quickly becoming overwhelming.
“Thirty-four!” he called out.
The snickering grew louder.
“Nice try,” the teacher said calmly, “but I’m asking you to tell me what the products of photosynthesis are.”
Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. His panicked state only grew more intense, his leg bouncing uncontrollably. The only thing he could think about was how he had messed up in front of the whole class and how he really, really needed to start paying attention to the lessons.
He zoned out for the rest of the lesson.
—
He only came to when the bell for lunch rang. Kageyama, grabbing his lunchbox, decided that he was going to take his time getting to lunch today. He knew he would be overwhelmed by the loud chaos of the cafeteria.
On his walk to the cafeteria, Kageyama spotted an empty classroom and decided to eat in there, just for today. He desperately needed the peace and quiet.
—
Hinata
Hinata scoured the cafeteria for Kageyama, but couldn’t find him anywhere. Defeated, he decided to sit by Yamaguchi and Yachi.
“Hey, have any of you seen Kags?” he asked, setting his tray down.
“No, shrimp, why would we be keeping tabs on your boyfriend?” Tsukishima cut in before the other two had the chance to speak.
“I don’t know… I just… he’s been acting weird all day and I don’t know why and it’s starting to feel really weird and I just… don’t know what to do,” he mumbled, picking at his food.
“Well, I’m sure he’ll be okay later, and if not then you two are so similar that I’m sure you’ll have no problem helping him out!” Yachi exclaimed.
Hinata stared at her incredulously for a few seconds. “We’re very different, thank you. Kags is a setter and I’m a spiker!”
“Middle blocker, decoy, but whatever,” Tsukishima mumbled under his breath, earning him a light warning flick on his shoulder from Yamaguchi.
“Whatever is going on, I’m sure you’ll be able to work through it together,” Yamaguchi said calmly, with a small smile.
“Okay…” Hinata said, a bit uncertain.
They all fell into their own conversations while eating and Hinata was lost in thought about how he could help his boyfriend.
—
Kageyama
After school practice rolled around faster than Kageyama would have liked, though Hinata thought it took way too long.
Each of the boys got changed respectively before going to the gym. While they waited for everyone to arrive, they sat around in the gym and talked.
Though, today when Hinata walked through the doors and scanned the gym, he found that Kageyama was huddled up in a corner by himself. “KAAAGEYAAAAMAAAA!” he called out, briskly walking towards the setter with a wide grin.
Kageyama flinched at the sudden noise and curled up into himself more.
Hinata noticed and his smile dropped a little. He also slowed down his pace a bit, in an attempt to not overwhelm the setter even more. He stopped a few feet in front of Kageyama and crouched down, speaking gently, “Hey, what’s up.”
Kageyama didn’t say anything, his eyes staying glued to the floor.
Hinata was confused, his mind racing with ways he could try to comfort his boyfriend. “Uhmm… what’s… wrong?” he whispered hesitantly.
Again, no response. Kageyama didn’t want to ignore his boyfriend, but he couldn’t get himself to talk in that moment. Everything was so overwhelming. His jersey felt weird and kind of uncomfortable against his skin. The lights felt like they just kept getting brighter. The buzz of conversations kept getting louder. The smell of the gym seemed potent. The way he was sitting against the wall was gradually getting more and more uncomfortable.
Everything was just too much.
Kageyama felt like his brain was focusing on everything at the same time and it was exhausting. He just wanted it all to stop.
“Hey, Kags…”
Hinata’s voice caught his attention again.
He could see the mess of orange hair hesitantly come closer.
“Can I… see your hand?”
The question caught him off guard and he looked up slightly, seeing worried brown eyes stare right back at him. He slowly reached out one of his hands towards Hinata.
Hinata slowly scooted towards Kageyama, still leaving a foot or so between them. He linked his pinky with Kageyama’s, not yet sure how much contact the setter would be okay with in this moment.
The moment Kageyama felt Hinata’s touch he started to feel better. His surroundings became a bit less overwhelming.
Testing the waters, Kageyama held onto Hinata’s hand.
“Kags..?” Hinata whispered.
Kageyama sat there, carefully considering his next actions. “Sho… can you…” he struggled to get the words out, “sit here,” he patted the floor next to him.
Hinata was a bit confused, but let go of Kageyama’s hand and moved to sit next to him, still leaving a few inches between them.
After a moment, Kageyama pulled him into a hug.
Hinata froze for a second, before scooting closer to Kageyama and leaning into him. “Hey, Tobio,” Hinata whispered.
“Hm?”
“Are you okay?”
“I will be now,” He said, closing his eyes.
They sat there in silence, oblivious to everything around them.
—
“Should we tell them that practice is gonna start soon?” Yamaguchi asked.
“Nah, leave ‘em be, they needed this,” Suga said softly.