Chapter Text
Hinata Shōyō had always loved loudly.
It was in the way his eyes lit up when Kageyama so much as glanced his way, the way his laughter came too easily when they argued, the way his heart raced every time they stood shoulder to shoulder on the court. Everyone could see it—everyone except the person he wanted most.
Kageyama Tobio loved volleyball. He loved winning. He loved Hinata, too—but only as a partner, a rival, a friend he trusted with his life on the court. Never more.
Hinata didn’t realize when it happened—when his hope slowly turned into something heavier, quieter. When his smiles lingered too long, when the absence of something he never had began to hurt.
What he never realized was that there had always been someone watching him from the sidelines.
Tsukishima Kei noticed everything.
He noticed how Hinata’s gaze always followed Kageyama.
How his shoulders slumped just a little when Kageyama brushed him off with a careless “idiot.”
How Hinata laughed anyway—bright, resilient, pretending it didn’t sting.
Tsukishima never said a word.
Because liking Hinata felt like holding glass in his hands.
Beautiful. Fragile.
And guaranteed to hurt.
He stayed where he always had—behind sarcasm, behind indifference, behind teasing remarks that hid the truth better than silence ever could.
He walked Hinata home without comment.
Waited when Hinata lagged behind.
Defended him when others didn’t notice.
Hinata never noticed.
Why would he?
He was too busy looking at someone else.