Chapter Text
“Oi, dumbass. Just pick something already.”
Kageyama lazily leaned against the wall, savoring the flavor of the orange creamsicle in his hand. It was a little too sweet for his tastes, but it wasn’t too bad. He could deal with it. The two had stopped by a small convenience store for a snack after their weekend volleyball practice, before they headed back home. It was still pretty early in the day - past lunchtime, but not quite late enough for dinner yet. The team had an early lunch of meat buns on their way to practice, but by the time the weirdo duo stepped out of the gym, both of their stomachs were growling like rabid dogs. So here they were, buying ice cream.
The taller boy glanced over at Hinata, who had been hovering over the dessert freezer for the past 5 minutes. Kageyama wasn’t amused. He would have just left when he made his own purchase, but he had to pay for the spiker’s ice cream himself, because the idiot decided not to bring any money with him. Not like this wasn’t a normal occurrence, though. But it was fine, really. Hinata sometimes paid him back. And the ice cream didn’t cost that much anyway.
“Hang on. I need to consider my choices. I don’t want to choose the wrong one,” the ginger-haired boy replied, still gazing intently into the freezer. Kageyama scowled.
“What do you mean, ‘the wrong one’? Ice cream can’t be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, dumbass. Just pick one and eat it. What one do you usually get?”
Hinata finally looked up, sending him a glare. “The orange creamsicle.” He stared pointedly at the one in Kageyama’s hand, before puffing his cheeks and stepping back over to the other boy. “But you took the last one.” He crossed his arms and fixed his gaze onto the floor, pouting. There was silence between them for a good minute or so, as Hinata kept glancing between the linoleum tile and his partner’s quickly melting ice cream. Kageyama almost found it comical how the shorter boy could hold both hope and frustration within one expression. Instead, he let his scowl deepen.
“I’m not sharing,” he decided to announce, holding his creamsicle closer to his body before Hinata could have the chance to try to steal it. It might not have been the setter’s favorite flavor, but Tobio wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of taking his already half-eaten snack.
The spiker let out a puff of air before ambling back to the freezer. “Your nasty saliva is probably all over it anyway,” he scoffed.
Nasty? The dark-haired boy furrowed his eyebrows with a scowl. “There’s nothing wrong with my saliva. Your spit is more gross than mine.”
“No way, Bakageyama, my mouth is fresher and cleaner than anyone’s! You probably didn’t even brush your teeth this morning.”
A vein popped up on Tobio’s forehead. “I brush my teeth three times a day, dumbass! I’d be surprised if you brush yours once a day.”
Hinata opened his mouth to retort, but closed it again as he thought of what to say. After a moment, he silently mumbled “I brush twice a day, stupid. Who even brushes their teeth three times?” He’d clearly lost the fight of cleanliness though, and he didn’t want his rival to know.
“Haah? What was that?” Kageyama leaned a bit in Hinata’s direction, a small smirk making its way onto his lips.
“I said, your spit is still more nasty than mine!” He chucked the closest wrapped popsicle from the freezer at Kageyama’s face, who promptly caught it with his free hand and began to walk over to the other boy in annoyance.
“If you think my mouth is so gross, then here, have a taste for yourself.” He tried to shove the remainder of his orange creamsicle into Hinata’s mouth, relishing in the way the boy protested. He tried pushing Tobio away for a few seconds, a disgusted look plastered on his face, but then paused. Quickly, before Kageyama could back away, Shouyou smirked, and gracefully plucked the ice cream stick from the taller boy’s hand. Chiming a sarcastic ‘thank you’ in a sing-song voice, and then chuckling maniacally, he bolted for the door, ecstatic that he was able to trick the setter so perfectly. Even if he didn’t plan on actually ending up with the creamsicle at first, it all worked out for the best. Kageyama wouldn’t be able to appreciate the tangy flavor of the orange sherbet, perfectly balanced with the extra-sweet creaminess of the vanilla hiding underneath. It was the perfect dessert, and only Hinata would be able to see its greatness for what it was.
Hinata was already at the door by the time Kageyama had registered what happened. The raven-haired boy began to move, planning to chop the idiot on his head, and get his cold snack back. He rushed to put the wrapped popsicle that he had caught back into the freezer, plowed through the front door, and raced to catch up to the shorter boy.
“Oi, dumbass! Come back here!” His angry expression mixed with one of determination as the battle for the ice cream turned into a race down the sidewalk towards who-knows-where.
The sound of tires screeching almost made Kageyama trip.
Hinata was still running full-tilt, clearly blocking out any sound besides the pounding of his own footsteps, and the wind whipping past his ears as he sped past the countless buildings on his right. He’d left his bike at the shop, but he didn’t care. He’d come back for it later. The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight, and the trees were full and beautiful in the quickly maturing Summer. It was a picture-perfect day. In that moment, everything was right in the universe. Nothing could go wrong – nothing was allowed to go wrong – and the exhilaration of the run caused the sunshine boy to beam at the world, a laugh filled with pure freedom bubbling past his lips. He didn’t care so much about winning the race anymore, he just wanted to run.
When Kageyama averted his gaze from Hinata to look towards the source of the commotion, it made his heart skip a beat. The anger on his face quickly morphed into terror, and he looked back to his orange-haired companion who was still running ahead with a wide and open grin on his face, oblivious to everything around him. In that moment, he looked like he was being blessed by the heavens, the shine of the sun reflecting gently off of those orange locks. It made the tips of his hair emit a glow that seemed to completely encircle his head, like a halo of divine light. He was bright, so unimaginably, impossibly bright right then, and Kageyama’s breath caught in his throat for just a fraction of a second – the world began to move in slow motion at that point, and that minuscule moment felt like eternity.
And then he became aware of his surroundings once again, the shrill scream of rubber on asphalt, and the strong, pungent presence of approaching disaster right at the forefront of his senses.
“Oi, Hinata!” he shouted louder, trying to catch the other boy’s attention – or at least get him to stop running so fast. Hinata wasn’t listening. Kageyama sped up. “Hinata!” he screamed again, sounding increasingly more desperate by the syllable. The scene flashing in his peripherals was doing the opposite of improving, and the desperation quickly turned into panic.
“SHOUYOU!!”
At the sound of his first name being shrieked with such intensity, Hinata faltered a bit, finally slowing down to a jog and turning to Kageyama with a frown. “Since when do you use my f—” His words were cut off as a body slammed into him, hard. The boy’s breath was knocked out of him when a pair of hands pushed him with enough force to send him airborne, rocketing him forward several meters. The crack of his head meeting the sidewalk would have sounded sickening, if it were not drowned out by the screech of stressed metal scraping against the ground, and the deafening explosion that sent brick, concrete, and glass in every possible direction.
Shouyou wanted to scream in pain and shock, but no sound was escaping, and after a few seconds, the whole world seemed to follow suit, going as silent as death itself. Only the patter of stray pebbles and dust settling back into stillness permeated his ears, but his mind was reeling and his head hurt too much to register anything around him. By the time he could regain the wits to question what happened, what had interrupted that perfect Summer afternoon, darkness stole control over his vision, and then his mind began to lose its grip on reality. The last thing he remembered from that day was the sickly sweet smell of oranges and vanilla, and the sharp, tangy scent of metal as two substances began to pool around his body. Before he could think of what that meant, Hinata unwillingly found himself plummeting into a cold and dreamless emptiness.