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“Dumbass!” shouted Kageyama. “Aim towards me - and not into the damn bushes!”
Hinata just laughed in response.
“My bad! Let’s try again?”
Kageyama took a few annoyed moments to brush the leaves of the clothes, but obliged. The ball landed in Hinata’s hands after a perfect toss. Hinata jumped and tried another serve. It was better this time. Kageyama had to lurch forward to prevent it from touching ground.
He succeeded at the receive, but misjudged the speed. Sliding like this would work perfectly on a volleyball court, but this was a park. Kageyama tumbled over, and came to rest face down into the grass.
“Kageyama!” rang out a shout. “Are you okay?”
There was less concern in Hinata’s voice that than glee. Kageyama spit out grass and said: “I'm fine.”
“What did you say?”
“I said I’m fine, dumbass!” snapped Kageyama. Turning, he found Hinata crouching next to him, examining Kageyama as a six-year old would a bug flailing on his back. Noticing Kageyama’s frown, Hinata smiled suddenly.
Dumbass had a smile as radiant as the sun. Kageyama felt dazed, considering his options. Should he call Hinata a dumbass again, for propriety's sake? Or demand that Hinata helps him up? One could shove Hinata to make him fall to the ground, as retaliation.
Before Kageyama had decided, a hand touched his hair and began ruffling it.
“What are you doing?” said Kageyama, trying to twist his head out of reach of the Hinata.
“You got leaves on your head,” said Hinata brightly and demonstrated proof. “And grass. And dirt. And… oh, even a ladybug!”
Kageyama did not share Hinata’s delight, but allowed Hinata to catch the insect all the same. Hinata looked much younger than he was, gently putting the bug on his hand and then letting the bug crawl from his finger unto the grass halm. It was a sweet gesture.
“You’re such a child,” said Kageyama.
“Shut up,” said Hinata and punched him in the stomach. It was a light punch, but it still demanded retribution.
They wrangled on the grass for some time, but ran out of steam quickly. They had been training for most of the day, and while the heat had subsided towards the evening, it was still hot. So the brawl ended with a tentative draw: Kageyama holding Hinata by the wrist and blocking him from landing another punch. Whereas Hinata was sitting on tio Kageyama, but both knew that Kageyama could easily overthrow him. But that would mean moving and for now Kageyama was content with not sparking more aggression. Maybe later, when one could be sure that it would be the last decisive action that would make Hinata admit defeat.
Hinata was breathing heavily. Then he muttered something that Kageyama did not catch.
“What?” said Kageyama with a frown.
“Popsicles,” breathed out Hinata. “Do you think the shop still has any?”
“No.”
When Kageyama was leaving the shop at midday, hordes of children that flooded the shop. He sincerely doubted the tiny stack of popsicles survived their attack.
“Damn.” Silence for a short while. “Do you think anyone will mind if I jump into the lake and swim for a bit?”
“You’ll drown,” said Kageyama and released Hinata’s wrist. Since he knew that that response wouldn’t be enough to stop Hinata, added: “Or even worse, they’ll see you, raise a panic and we’ll be banned from the park. Dumbass.”
Hinata sighed with the most dejected face expression and flung himself to the ground, They were lying next to each other now. Kageyama raised himself on his elbows, wondering whether he should grab freedom by the throat and throw a few passes to Hinata before the sun set.
Kageyama threw a glance at Hinata but the question “Another?” got stuck in his throat. Hinata was staring vacantly at the sky. To a passerby, it would just look like absent-minded kid like any other - but Kageyama felt chills, reminded of his intense stare during their first meeting. “But we haven’t lost yet.”
Again, Kageyama felt as if someone was pulling the ground from underneath him. Watching Hinata like this was exciting - no, it was scary - it made it impossible to look away. Dammit, Hinata had a thrall on people. He commanded their attention like the sun did.
For that reason, Kageyama did something stupid. The gravity made him do it. It was like trying to resist falling into a black hole.
One could say… Kageyama kissed Hinata. Though it wasn’t really a kiss - it was more like slipping. Yes, Kageyama just slipped.
Judging from Hinata wide open eyes, that excuse wasn’t going to pull very well.
“Did you just kiss me?” said Hinata at much higher volume than it was proper.
“Sh-shut up! I didn’t!”
“Kageyama, are you having a heat stroke?” Hinata had the gall to put a hand on Kageyama’s forehead. “You’ve been too long in the sun! You’re hot like asphalt!”
With impatience, Kageyama shook his head. The only reason why Hinata’s hand was cool compared to his face, was cause Kageyama was red as a lobster and dying with embarrassment.
“I’m fine,” stubbornly insisted Kageyama and tried to stand up. But Hinata clung to arm and made him fall back into the grass.
“No, really! Kageyama, what was that?”
Nothing, thought Kageyama.
“Actually, don’t say anything. It was obviously a kiss. Just a very bad one.”
Kageyama couldn’t contain a snort and commented under his breath: “Looks who’s talking.”
“Hey!” Kageyama yelped, feeling a blow to his ribs. “What does that mean?!”
“Dumbass, keep your hands to yourself! And I’m plenty sure you never kissed anyone, so who are you to judge?”
Hinata squeezed his eyes menacingly: “Does that mean, you think I’m a bad kisser ?”
“I think you are bad at everythi - ”
The rest of the sentence went under as Hinata attacked. With his mouth. One couldn’t call it a kiss, it was more like a tongue wrestling competition. At first was Kageyama was shocked into placidness, until he came to his senses and decided to retaliate.
There was drool and muttered curses. Tongues fought for control. Lips were bit. Noses were smashed against each other. It was messy, wet and violent. Not at all how the movies showed it.
A short time later, they separated to catch a breath and glare at each other with contempt.
“That was… awful,” concluded Hinata.
“You’re awful,” retorted Kageyama.
“No, you’re awful!”
They glared at each other again. Pushing blame back and forth wasn’t going anywhere. Throwing a punch to defuse the situation was an option, but Kageyama felt deep inside that close physical contact would just make things even more awkward. Not as if there was much more room for that.
Therefore Kageyama looked away and cleared his throat. Maybe it was time to be the voice of reason
“Anyway, I think... this is like volleyball.”
“How is… that doesn’t make any sense. How is that awful making out session anything like volleyball?” said Hinata skeptically, but Kageyama saw that the magic word ‘volleyball’ got Hinata’s full attention.
“Cooperation and teamwork,” said Kageyama intensely. “If we don’t work together and instead keep competing, it will just…” Kageyama made with his hand a motion like a floundering fish.
Hinata nodded, full of thought.
“Alright… let’s give it a chance. Just don’t,” warned Hinata, “drool on my chin. And don’t bruise my lip. And stop pressing your nose against…”
“I got it, I got it,” snapped Kageyama. Did Hinata himself forget how this madman bit Kageyama’s lip? Kageyama was pretty sure it was still bleeding. “Anyway, let’s get it over with.”
Leaning back, Kageyama waited for Hinata to come closer. His heart was beating fast for some reason. What were they doing here - kissing on a dare? Hasn’t it gone too far to be called that?
Yeah, Kageyama kissed Hinata out of the blue. But it wasn’t serious, was it? Kageyama certainly wouldn’t make out with a guy in a public park where anyone could see him and falsely assume that might be gay.
Besides, Kageyama was pretty sure he wasn’t really gay. It was all Hinata’s fault. The loud dumbass made it hard to think sometimes.
Hinata’s breath smelled like milk. Kageyama closed his eyes when their lips touched. This time Hinata’s was gentle and slow and Kageyama tried to respond in kind. He’d grabbed Hinata’ shoulder to steady himself and tried… tried something.
When they drew away from each other, Kageyama felt disoriented. What happened here was too strange to comprehend. Kageyama needed a map. A freshly drawn map with detailed instructions how to proceed from here.
But there was no map, there wasn’t even anybody around whom Kageyama could ask for directions. Hinata was here, staring at Kageyama with big eyes, but Hinata was not qualified enough for giving any sort of advice.
Here they were, an idiot and a dumbass staring at each other.
“Kageyama,” said Hinata. “Is this a date?”
“What- no, you dumbass!” Kageyama was pretty sure that dates involved coffee shops, and there weren’t any here. He added tentatively “But we could, suppose… go on some.”
Hinata nodded. It seems that the matter was resolved to him. He plopped on the grass, staring at the sky again. Kageyama hesitated a bit, but eventually lay down next to him. His crazy beating heart needed a moment of rest right now. Kageyama felt faint right now. Maybe he really had a heatstroke just like Hinata said?
“Kageyama?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you gay?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
A bunch of kids ran by them. They were eating popsicles. Hinata looked at the melting icecream in their hands with an yearning, but did not stand up to go to the shop and buy himself some.
“Kageyama?”
“Yeah?”
“Another toss?”
“Sure.”
Kageyama wouldn’t have it any other way.