Chapter Text
Kageyama Tobio.
Hinata had heard about him before they locked eyes.
He was supposedly really tall, really scary and the only other Japanese student in the school.
Adam had told him to steer away from him, he has killed a man. He said it slowly- too slowly, enunciating every syllable, distorting his face and using his hands to sign.
“Um-! I understand English by the way!” Hinata said, smiling slightly.
“Oh.”
Hinata didn’t care- this Kageyama person wasn’t in any of his classes so far and he was skilled at avoiding bullies and others who were gifted with intimidation.
He sat with girls for lunch- because they thought he was cute and tiny which he found annoying- but not annoying enough to leave. They also thought he couldn’t understand them.
He untucked his chopsticks from his wrapped bento pack. The girls laughed, called him cute while they stared.
He yelled he wasn’t cute and one of the girls- Ellie- poked the little dent around between his forehead. American girls were touchy, he had realised, and it caught him off guard. He blushed and stabbed at the pork cutlet his mother had made for him.
American girls were intimidating in such a loud way. They had wild hair- Ellie’s hair was fucking pink, Tania’s shirt was a blazing red- the whole cafeteria was swimming with colours. They laughed every time he answered their questions or when he would ramble on about Japan. He couldn’t tell what they were laughing at, why they were even laughing, he was just talking- maybe it was his voice? His accent?
He didn’t see Kageyama Tobio then, but both the girls tensed up when he passed their table, leaving nothing but a memory for those who were watching. Hinata’s head had been down, contemplating if he should eat the fried crab mushrooms or not.
The girls began talking rapidly, quick gasps of, “did you see what he was wearing? What the fuck- what the actual- how- he looks so good-?”
“Right? Right? Right? God, I’d pay him to step on me-”
“He got another piercing- fuck.”
It was a rush of words to Hinata, he was confused and genuinely concerned-
He tried asking, “you want someone to step on you? Why?! That’s a mean thing for them to do, why would you want that?!”
The girls laughed again. They never explained it, too busy trying to catch breaths between teary wheezes and snorts.
By the end of lunch, Hinata had decided Kageyama Tobio- whoever the fuck- was overrated. Just hearing his name pissed him off.
It took him three days to really meet Kageyama.
Hinata stopped by his lockers, to swap some books and to also think about how he could redecorate. There were Batman stickers on the door and Hinata scratched at it with blunt nails, frowning at the dried gum trapped behind the sticker. There was another figure next to him, tall- kinda threatening but then again, Hinata found everyone in this school threatening.
He looked over and he genuinely couldn’t stop looking.
The figure- guy, this guy’s back was facing him and he was staring into a stained mirror blu-tacked to his locker door. He was haphazardly smearing clear lip balm to his lips. It went over the lines of his lips which he wiped away with fingers covered in bandaids.
His hair draped over his face but if Hinata stared hard enough, he could make out the steel blue of his eyes.
He was really fucking pretty.
But at the same time, he looked dangerous.
Then he locked eyes with Hinata through the mirror and turned around, a scowl painting the sharp lines of his face.
“What do you want?” He asked, his voice deep, almost husky and Hinata felt his knees wobble slightly.
He had a slight accent and his collarbones were peeking out and it was all too much for Hinata to handle so he stayed quiet while his eyes roamed up and down.
He was tall and his ears were decorated in piercings. He was also waiting for some sort of an answer while all Hinata could do was make a series of “u-um’s” and “uhh’s.”
Either way, there was no reason for this incredibly pretty human to stay so he threw his lip balm into his locker, slamming the door before it could roll back out. His eyes flickered up and down Hinata before rolling them with a click of his tongue. Hinata touched the hem of his shirt, feeling self conscious about his fashion sense and general height or...lack thereof. The boy- the pretty boy left muttering under his breath while fixing the collar of his varsity jacket which spelt out “KAGEYAMA” in letters as bold as his presence.
Hinata told the girls about it the next time he saw them. They said he was a lucky bitch.
He thought about the hierarchy in the school, was Kageyama at the top? Was he to be crowned prom king or whatever?
No- the girls were just dramatic. They fawned over any attractive boy who passed, murmuring violent fantasies to each other while giggling. Hinata still didn’t get it.
Hinata shared two classes with Kageyama. He found out on Wednesday as he shuffled through pages of History notes with short Japanese translations next to them.
Classes were usually loud, teachers always yelled and students always yelled back. It scared Hinata at first but nothing much came of it. Sometimes students asked personal questions, grinning and staring at each other and sometimes the teachers answered, crossing their legs over their desks.
He told Yamaguchi all about it on his second day when they skyped.
They sit on their desks Yamaguchi, he had said, slipping back into his mother tongue. Yamaguchi had covered his mouth, even the teachers?
Especially the teachers, Hinata had answered, pressing his earphones into his ears.
It shocked him for a while, the Americans don't care for furniture, for teachers, for- for anything.
Yamaguchi had hummed when Hinata ranted, his cheeks turning red.
Yamaguchi told him he should understand that they are two different cultures, the Americans have different customs, different rules. They’re not disrespectful, Hinata-kun, just different to you.
Hinata had felt ashamed after that quiet talk, he shouldn’t be judging. He sat on the desk when he came early and Ellie sat on the desk next to him.
It took him a good week to adjust to the casual tone held by teachers, to the fact that students didn’t have to stand up when it was their turn to read, the fact that discussions were spontaneous but worthwhile.
It was fun and weird and when Kageyama sat down behind him, Hinata would forget how to move. Nothing changed in class, some guys would lightly punch Kageyama’s shoulder, “tired of skipping?”
Kageyama only grunted in reply, his chin lifted up to stare right into their eyes.
Hinata kept staring too, peeking over his shoulder to sneak glances at Kageyama. He looked away before Kageyama had the chance to catch his eye.
Class began, they had a substitute who seemed scarier than their actual teacher. Hinata avoided eye contact at all costs while Ellie tried to catch his attention by nudging his foot with her long leg just to say "hi."
His shoulders were unnecessarily tense the whole time, he could feel Kageyama’s shrewd stare on his nape, on his back, on both his ears at the same time. Perhaps he was imagining things. Perhaps he was too aware of Kageyama’s existence. He tried to not be awkward under his constant gaze so twirled his pen between his fingers, just so he had something to do with his hands when the teacher was reading off worksheets. His pen flicked to the ground and he bit his tongue. It rolled pretty far, it stopped under someone’s bag and Hinata gawked at his hands.
He didn’t want to ask, he didn’t want to interrupt the substitute, especially since the substitute looked like he could beat him to pulp with his voice.
Louis, the boy adjacent to him ducked down and grabbed the pen quickly before handing it over to Hinata.
“Thank you,” Hinata whispered and Louis nodded.
The substitute handed Juno who sat by the first row a thick wad of worksheets, “take one and pass them along,” he muttered with a tired sigh.
It was weirdly nerve wracking, Hinata realised he would have to turn around and hand Kageyama paper. It shouldn’t be nerve wracking, Hinata should be able to do this simply-
The wad of worksheets landed on his desk and his mind blew blank. He whipped around quickly with the worksheets and without breathing, he handed them over to Kageyama who was busy drawing black rings around his fingers.
“Um,” he said, trying to get his attention and Kageyama’s eyes snapped to meet his. The eye contact was too confrontational, too challenging, too scary and Hinata looked down to the paper.
“Is that all you can say?” Kageyama asked without looking for an answer. He snatched the sheets, leaving one for himself before leaning back. The long lines of his neck were exposed and his jaw seemed sharper from the angle.
Hinata couldn’t stop looking so he stared, his eyes refusing to blink. Kageyama slumped down into his chair and looked at Hinata’s awed gaze. He clicked his tongue, his eyes narrowed.
“What? You’re pissing me off,” He spat and Hinata whipped around, his heart beating too hard and his cheeks bleeding with crimson.
“Sorry!” he yelped, turning his attention to his faded pencil case, his blank book, the pen he tried not to touch.
He had forgotten to take a sheet for himself.
The substitute- Mr Lee- started reading and Hinata tapped his desk, contemplating the consequences for interrupting.
A minute- two minutes passed and he stayed quiet. It was too late to ask for a worksheet now, anyways.
Mr Lee asked a few students to read, reading their names off the roll with a frown.
“Sh- Show...you. Uh, Hi-nata, continue from the fourth paragraph.”
Hinata stood up even though he didn’t need to. He gaped at his desk, stayed quiet for a few seconds.
“I don’t have paper,” he said.
The class was usually loud, usually red with screeching laughter and whispered gossip. The chatter simmered down slightly as students absentmindedly turned their gaze to Hinata’s quiet shame.
“How...do you not have a sheet but Tobio does?”
Hinata fidgeted in his spot, “Uh, I forgot to take one,” he admitted quietly.
There were some snickers throughout the class and Mr Lee glared at Hinata as he glared at his own hands.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Mr Lee walked over to hand Hinata a spare sheet.
“I didn’t want...interrupt you,” Hinata fumbled, sitting down.
“Uh huh,” Mr Lee raised an eyebrow.
“Relax a bit, yeah sir? He’s new,” Ellie said and Hinata stared at her with wide eyes.
“Yeah? Where are you from?” Mr Lee asked, sitting on top of the desk.
“Japan,”
“Huh, Tobio’s Japanese too, right? Maybe he can help him out with passing paper around,” Mr Lee snickered and Hinata stayed both confused and offended. The class laughed and turned to Kageyama who had his head ducked down under his hood.
He didn’t move his head and Mr Lee swayed to stand next to him, staring down at Kageyama’s hands which were hidden under his desk. Kageyama moved sluggishly after a few seconds and looked quietly at Mr Lee.
They held eye contact for a while and Hinata screamed internally at the tense air. Mr Lee held out a hand and Kageyama sighed, handing him his phone.
It made Hinata feel better- Kageyama hadn’t been watching him stand up in front of the class and make a fool of himself. Maybe he didn’t think Hinata was an idio-
“Even a fucking kid knows how to pass around paper,” Kageyama remarked and Mr Lee yelled at him to mind his language, don’t say it like that, Tobio.
Hinata spun around to glare at Kageyama. It had no effect on Kageyama, he wore a bored look and Hinata turned back around, too annoyed and embarrassed to actually read.
Kageyama was a bit of a jerk, but he was hot so Hinata was internally conflicted.
Chemistry was usually fun. The class was uneven and Tania was in the class as well. They were ok with Hinata joining and class usually consisted of cheek pinches and ruffled hair.
“Why do you do that so much?” Hinata fixed his hair back and pouting.
“‘Cause you’re so cute, Shou...yoo,” Tania said.
“You can call me Shou, if you want to.”
Hinata yelled a lot in class, especially when the different beakers and chemicals were unpacked. The girls always let him mix first, laughing at his overdramatic yelps.
Kageyama showed up to class on Thursday and suddenly the class was even.
“Shouyou, partner up with Tobio ok? He can help you if you get stuck, you’re both Japanese right?”
“Uh, y-yeah!”
Kageyama only glared. He had an earring on today, it dangled by his shoulder and Hinata couldn’t look away.
It was stressful standing next to Kageyama but Hinata was determined to leave a better impression- he was talented with the ability to make friends with the coldest of introverts.
“Let’s work well together!” Hinata smiled, holding a hand out.
Kageyama glowered at his hand and tucked his own into his pocket.
“I wanna work by myself,” he declared. Mrs Jones regarded him with a glare.
“No, help Shouyou. And be nice.”
“I am nice,” Kageyama muttered while clicking his teeth, “whatever.”
Hinata tried to keep his eyes to himself throughout the whole equipment setup, it was rude to stare anyways, he didn’t want to come off as a rude idiot- but that was too late, probably.
Kageyama didn’t help, he sat on his stool, his safety goggles lying on the side. He stared at his phone, tapping away in boredom.
Hinata looked over at Ellie and Tania who shrugged helplessly, good luck, they seemed to say.
While Kageyama was pretty and intimidating, those weren’t valid excuses for him to not do anything and Hinata told him this much.
“Hey, you should help out a bit, I can’t hold and write results at same time,” Hinata said. He waited for Kageyama’s response, his eyes flickered over to him every few seconds.
“Don’t care,” Kageyama said finally.
“Sensei- uh- miss told you to be nice,” Hinata remarked.
“You saying I’m being mean right now?”
“N- yes! You have to help me... part of being nice.”
Kageyama snatched the worksheet from the table and looked at the instructions before slamming it down on the table.
“Are you seriously telling me that you can’t do this shit by yourself?” He asked, staring at Hinata in the most confrontational way possible.
Hinata blushed red, “N-Yea- I don’t know! What the point of you being lab partner if we don’t do this together?”
“Who cares? It’s just a dumb experiment, stop being so fucking dependent on others,” Kageyama snapped after filtering away the mistakes in Hinata's speech. He turned back to his phone.
People were beginning to stare but Hinata couldn’t give a fuck, Kageyama- he- he was such an asshole, he had such a bad attitude- who gave him the right-
“It’s better than being useless,” he shot back and some boys in the back clapped their hands over their mouth, their laughter muffled.
Kageyama’s glare bore into his eyes but Hinata refused to look away- it was a challenge he welcomed.
Kageyama stood up and loomed over Hinata, his eyes refusing to blink. Hinata’s eyes twitched and he blinked rapidly but he refused to look away.
The pause was too long. Kageyama had beautiful eyes. This was not the time.
Fuck, the class was too quiet.
“I would rather be useless than depend on an idiot who doesn’t even know how to pass paper around. What else can’t you do? Keep your damn eyes to yourself? Do this dumbass experiment independently? You sure I’m the useless one here?”
Hinata grabbed onto the counter, his knees almost buckling. Kageyama’s glare was intense- so fucking intense- it almost drew tears to Hinata’s eyes.
He blinked quickly, trying to hold back the tears that were already lining his eyes.
Mrs Jones told Kageyama to stop, leave Shouyou alone, go outside, breathe a little-
Kageyama stormed out and with an angry huff, Hinata followed.
“You have no right to be so arrogant!” Hinata yelled. Kageyama looked surprised for a second before he snorted.
“Please, I have more right than you.”
Students spilled through the door with their phones out and Hinata clenched his fists.
“You’re just spoiled coward-” Kageyama loomed over him. He stepped forward until Hinata was forced to step back and he slid up against a row of empty lockers.
Kageyama didn’t say much, he only cut apart Hinata with his glare. Hinata remembered getting lost in the forests at witching hour after his mother recounted ghost stories. This moment, with Kageyama’s cold breath mingling with his and eyes piercing right into his deepest thoughts, was worse than the fearsome memory.
Still- still this guy, no matter how pretty, no matter how intimidating- he had no right to look down on Hinata with such anger, such hatred.
Hinata clenched his teeth together, his whole body shaking, his top lip shaking, “nothing to say, huh?”
Kageyama’s eyes widened and he pounded a fist against the metallic doors beside Hinata’s head. He screwed his eyes shut, his ear ringing and his breath stuck against his throat.
Louis grabbed Kageyama’s shoulder and Kageyama shrugged him off before stepping back.
“Don’t fucking touch me.”
Mute, Hinata was rendered mute.
“You alright?” Louis asked and stared at him with wide, wide eyes.
“That was so scary,” he said, laughing to hide his discomfort.
“Bruh, he wasn’t even looking at me but I felt that,” Tania said.
Ellie asked if he was ok at lunch and Hinata nodded.
“He’s an uh… I don’t know English word but he’s bakayarou,” Hinata said.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Yes. Really bad. He sucks. I don’t like him but…” Hinata trailed off, sighing.
“But what?” Tania asked, shoving a couple of fries into her mouth.
“...he’s really nice to look at. But that makes me more mad.”
Tania choked on her fries and Ellie laughed.
“Ok, but mood,” Tania said.
“In a no homo way?” Ellie asked.
“What’s that?”
“Like...you think he’s pretty in a straight way? Or a gay way?”
Hinata tapped his chin in thought, “Dunno, maybe both.”
Ellie glanced at Tania before asking if Hinata would ever date Kageyama.
Hinata snorted.
“No thank you, he so mean- didn’ you hear what he said to me? I would if he wasn’t- a bakayarou,” Hinata complained.
Tania laughed, confused but she nodded, “it wouldn’t go well anyways.”
“Huh?” Hinata asked, slightly offended- what was she trying to say?
“He’s dated before- I don’t think it went well, he’s never really committed. He’s impulsive, I heard, one second he thinks he wants to date and the next he doesn’t give a fuck”
Hinata had whistled, confirming internally that he would never date Kageyama.
“Another reason to stay away from him, then,” Hinata pouted.
Hinata tried to not talk to Kageyama. It was surprisingly easy since Kageyama didn’t want to talk to him either.
But it meant Hinata could stare a lot more- especially in Chemistry since his seat was positioned behind Kageyama in the next row over. He had the perfect view of Kageyama’s jaw and cheekbones.
That is, when Kageyama was present in class.
Once he stared so hard he genuinely forgot why he hated him in the first place, until Kageyama turned around and fixed him with a nauseated glare. Hinata glared back, his cheeks red from getting caught, his cheeks red from renewed anger.
Sometimes Hinata would catch Kageyama next to his locker, swapping out books, rubbing lip balm over his reddened lips, loitering around, distracted by his phone.
The fact that Kageyama disliked him so strongly made Hinata feel weird- because it was so unnecessary and weird and just why?
Plus how could anyone not like Hinata?
Sometimes he would talk, “is that a love letter?” he asked when Kageyama was clearing out his already neat locker.
“Mind your own business.”
“Why do you need to be so- so...so-?”
He didn’t know the right word and Kageyama left before he could finish his sentence. Hinata yelled to himself, stomping out his frustrations.
He told Yamaguchi all about it that night. Kageyama’s such an asshole, he’s so mean, Yamaguchi, he’s so mean!
Yamaguchi asked if he was worse than Tsukishima and Hinata grunted. Maybe.
Yamaguchi hissed through his teeth, good luck he said.
Ellie texted him after his call with Yamaguchi ended. It was hard texting them, their styles didn’t match with his- he abused caps lock while they remained calm, almost passive.
They were nice to talk to. Sometimes Hinata would reuse the “reaction pictures” they would send him and he would forward them to Yamaguchi.
The two used the group chat to send around pictures of hot guys during the night. Hinata avoided those conversations, they were dangerous territories.
It was 1am already and Hinata was sighing through pursed lips as he browsed through instagram to like group photos that he used to be in. He received a message from the group chat and his finger slipped, clicking on the notification.
taniasaur: omg shou s hereeeeeeeee
shouyoyo_10: HEYYYYY!!!!! {{ (>_<) }}
elliephant: oi i have a surprise for u
elliephant sent you a profile: m1lkbo.y
Hinata glowered at the screen, at the profile, at the follower count.
It was Kageyama.
He didn’t seem to be following anyone at all and he only had three pictures up. Only one was of his face and it was by far the prettiest picture Hinata had seen.
It was blurry purposely and his bandaged hand was covering his mouth. Hinata couldn’t find it in himself to stay mad at him.
He saved them all, took screenshots of them- took an extra screenshot of his first picture ever.
It was his hand, bandaged with blue but Hinata could see his callouses, could see the veins denting out.
It looked hot.
It looked experienced.
It was just a fucking hand.
shouyoyo_10: I doNTK hOw to fEEL gUYS i Thnk i Hve a haNd kinK or sMth (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞
taniasaur: holy shit where did u learn that word
shouyoyo_10: Did i say it RITE?????? Ellie uses it AL THE TIM E
Needless to say, Hinata stared extra hard in Chemistry. Especially when Kageyama spun his pen between his fingers. Especially when he cracked his knuckles. Especially when he ran his fingers through his hair, swiping it away from his eyes.
This was getting him nowhere and it drove both his friends mad.
“He hates me, what you want me to do?” Hinata asked, talking around the pink straw jammed into his cheek.
They sipped their own respective drinks in thought.
“He’s just like that.”
“What you saying? Is he really an- a- what’s that word? Asshole? Yeah- um, is he just always an asshole?”
“I suppose, yeah,” Tania said, “apparently he used to get into pretty rough fights- I think he has anger management issues or something. I dunno, if you leave him alone then he leaves you alone, that’s how things work.”
“Is he delinquent?” Hinata asked, slightly scared.
They both shrugged in symphony,
About a week later, Hinata got lost maybe for the fifth time.
He looked at the note plastered on the little window on the door. He had walked around the whole school searching for the elusive room the note directed him to.
The halls were quiet now, abandoned and Hinata really didn’t want a letter sent home for truanting.
10 minutes passed and he was near panic. Kageyama was walking by, a pass to go to the bathroom was poking out of his pocket and white earphones dangled from his hoodie.
“Kageyama! Hold up, wait!” He ran to his side and tugged on his sleeve.
“What the fuck do you wan-?”
“Uh.” Kageyama’s gaze honed in on Hinata, rendering him speechless again.
“Fuck off.” Kageyama snapped his arm away from Hinata’s loosened grip.
“No! Wait! Lost train of thought, um, where room 905? I can’t find it.”
“It’s upstairs on the other side of the building. Now fuck off.”
“I went but can’t find it. I’m really lost, please-”
“Wait, did you say 905? There’s no such thing, are you fucking blind?”
“Huh? No, the note said 905- and watch your language! You don’t need to swear all the time!”
Kageyama ignored Hinata’s demands to stop swearing, “Show me the note first, loser.”
Hinata led him to the second floor, quietly. He wanted to talk, say something that didn’t make him look dumb, pathetic and blind.
Nothing came to mind and Kageyama didn’t try to talk either. He stared at the note when Hinata pointed. He scrunched it in his hand and leered at Hinata.
“Idiot, it says 405. It’s a fucking 4.”
“How so?!” Hinata unfolded the paper and squinted at it, “oh.”
“That was a great waste of my time,” but before Kageyama could leave Hinata grabbed onto the sleeve of his jacket.
“I don’t know where room 405 is either.”
It was a lie. He did know but Kageyama was so close and he wasn’t being too much of an asshole.
“Third floor to the left.”
Hinata kept his gaze trained on Kageyama.
“Do you want me to fucking escort you there?” Kageyama sneered.
“I mean...could you?”
“No,” Kageyama said stiffly. Hinata tilted his head to the left.
“Well, I guess I’ll spend the rest of my period hanging with you! What you doing anyways?”
“405 is this way.”
Hinata grinned and skipped to walk by Kageyama’s side.
“Sooooo, do you hate school, Kageyama?” Hinata asked. Kageyama rolled his eyes, shoving his earphones back in and made a show of him turning his volume up. Hinata puffed out his cheeks and without warning, he tugged out an earphone.
“I asked you something. You have to reply! That’s how conversation works.”
“I don’t have to do shit.”
“Well what you listening to?” He tried to stick the earphone in his hand in his ear but Kageyama yanked it away.
“You’re so fucking annoying.”
“You too! But in different way. You’re annoying ‘cause you can’t hold a conversation. And you swear so much!”
“Mind your own fucking business,” Kageyama growled, “and I can hold a conversation. Just not with you.”
“Why?”
“I just said you’re annoying.”
“You too-”
“Shut up. Literally stop talking.”
Hinata stayed silent for a while, “oh, you never answered question.”
“Let it stay that way.”
“Come on, Kageyama! Do you hate school?”
“Who the fuck likes school?”
“I do! My friends are here. It’s more relaxed than my school in Japan. There I used to-”
“Didn’t ask. Anyways, we’re here.”
Hinata looked at the door in front of him. 405. He turned around, to maybe thank Kageyama but his back was already turned to Hinata, with the intention of leaving as fast as possible. It pissed him off immensely, Kageyama virtually had no manners, but he was really pretty- but that was no excuse and with hard and rapid blinks, Hinata huffed out his superficial aggression.
“You know, just because you a- a...uh- a bishounen doesn’t mean you should look down on others! I’m- I’m trying to be nice to you but you’re so- you’re such a- you’re like a bully but not really- I don’t know how say it in english-” Hinata prattled, pacing back and forth.
“I- you- bishounen?!”
Kageyama’s posture was frozen stiff, his eyebrows seemed to twitch, his cheeks seemed to burn red, his eyes seemed to flicker between shock and Shock.
Hinata closed his mouth, eyes widening in slight shock, “did- did- did I say that? Out loud- I- wait-”
“What the fuck-”
“Um!” Hinata screeched, drowning out the sound of Kageyama’s words, “thanks for bringing me here! By the way! Forget I said anything!”
He remained mute all through class, his cheek pressed against the textbook. There went all his chances of building a good friendship- or even relationship with Kageyama.
He told Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, who was loitering in the back, refusing to say hi but content to listen to a second hand conversation- he told them about the encounter, how his mouth is too big for his stupid thoughts- he could've just left with a bye.
Their conversation paralleled his conversation with both Tania and Ellie.
“What the fuck…” Ellie whispered, her voice hoarse.
“How did you say that? To him? How?!”
“Bro you’re stupid. And brave, what the hell-the fact that you could even talk to him for five minutes is one mind blowing thing, the fact that you called him scum-”
“I didn’t call him scum!” Hinata yelped.
“Regardless! You’re going to get killed when he sees you again!” Tania yelled with Ellie nodding in the background.
“What’s a bish- bish...ownen?”
“I should start writing your eulogy.”
“Shou, what’s a bitch own nen?”
Hinata screamed internally and maybe externally too.
Avoiding the lockers was easy in theory, but Hinata never could handle easy things well.
“Who do you think you are?”
Kageyama slammed his own locker door shut and Hinata yelped. Kageyama forced Hinata’s locker door shut as well, almost closing the metal onto Hinata’s fingers.
He stared Hinata down, his glare tearing right through Hinata’s eyes, chest- entire soul.
“I- I-I I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hinata excused, backing away and almost stumbling on his laces, “Um, I got class now-”
“It’s home time.”
“I got home now-”
“No you don’t. What the fuck was all that about before?” Kageyama stalked closer to Hinata. Some students watched, talking among themselves loudly, the midget's gonna get beat up, what the fuck-
Hinata looked at the ground, pouting to himself, his nape collecting sweat.
“Um!” he cleared his throat, looking up to see Kageyama almost leaning into him with how much he loomed. He felt claustrophobic. He didn’t want to move.
“I’m sorry for...saying you’re a bully?”
Kageyama snorted, “forget about that, you think my beauty transcends the boundary of gender and sexuality?”
Hinata paused, his eyes flickering to the small crowd loitering to watch and he took a step back, his words dying on the edge of his tongue.
“No comment.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, do you have a crush on me?” Kageyama glowered, his voice lowering to a spitting hush.
“No! I’m allowed to think people are attractive! Objectively! I think Tania and Ellie are both really pretty, but I don’t have a crush on them!”
Kageyama leered, “still, that’s weird.”
“What?”
“You saying gay shit like that!”
“I wasn’t supposed to say it out loud!”
“Yeah but you did.”
Hinata worried at his lips, his fingers tightening around his binder. The sparse crowd dispersed, leaving them to their own thoughts and stares.
“Sorry if it made you uncomfortable,” Hinata said.
“Not uncomfortable! Just...just-” Kageyama growled to himself, trying to find a word that captured his clustered emotions.
“You said it was weird.”
“Yeah it’s weird ‘cause no one’s ever said anything like that to me,” Kageyama said.
“Really?” Hinata pondered, “you should be a model, you know?”
Kageyama stared at him, a pretty pink blush sitting high on his cheekbones and neck. It was cute. Hinata refused to look away.
The soft look vanished abruptly and Kageyama scowled with enough ferocity to make Hinata step back.
“You piss me off. Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me and don’t you dare breathe my air.”
The soft, oblivious smile playing on Hinata’s lips disappeared and his eyes widened in loud shock.
“Huh?! Why would you say that to me, I just complimented you- oi, don’t walk away now! Why are you such a- a- an asshole?!” Hinata yelled, following Kageyama’s rushed steps. Kageyama whipped around to tower over Hinata.
“You. Piss. Me. Off.”
Hinata gazed at his retreating figure meld into the crowd of late students, his mouth hanging agape.
Hinata told Natsu he hated Kageyama. He hated Kageyama. He hated Kageyama.
Natsu told him to shut up, I’m watching dance videos and Hinata screamed into a pillow.
He ranted to Kenma instead, his fingers flew all over the keyboard and he scrunched up his nose- his fingers weren’t fast enough to follow his thoughts.
Kenma replied with a wow. You shouldn’t have called him a bishounen, Shouyou.
But Hinata knew that, he fucking knew.
By the time a full month passed, Hinata decided that transforming his repressed anger concerning Kageyama into adrenaline for sport was a better idea than sulking.
Kageyama was on the volleyball team and Hinata spent the majority of the practice hour just watching his jersey ride above the lean panes of his stomach and his thighs flex after a short jump.
“What the fuck are you doing here,” Kageyama had seethed and Hinata frowned, a little annoyed, “I hope you’re not thinking about joining the volleyball club.”
“No! You ruined volleyball for me. I can feel your negativity bouncing off the walls here!”
“Good.”
“Good!.”
Kageyama raised an eyebrow and turned around.
He joined the track team instead, being so close to Kageyama would probably kill him slowly. Or quickly, he didn’t want to risk it. And anyways, he couldn’t join after making a big deal about not joining.
Plus, the track was right next to the volleyball gymnasium, Kageyama would have to come out to drink from the water fountain, his eyes having nowhere to look except the boys’ track team.
It never really went as planned, Kageyama would only stagger out when Hinata was far on the other side of the track, knees aching and breath hot.
He tried timing it, Kageyama had his back turned to him and Hinata sighed, wondering if he was doing it on purpose.
“I thought you hated him,” Tania asked, handing him a water bottle.
“I do.”
“Then why the fuck are you trying to impress him.”
“I don’t know! I’m confused too!”
The one time Kageyama’s break time and Hinata’s orbit around the track lined up, Hinata hadn’t realised.
Kageyama had been watching, an eyebrow quirked up in judgement and as Hinata passed him, he tripped, his body rolling with momentum.
He groaned, staring at the sun above him and he groaned again. He looked to the side, his eyes blinded with light and dirt.
Kageyama was standing there, separated by a sparsely wired fence.
Hinata sat upright, his eyes wide and his cheeks crimson.
He waited for Kageyama to say something, anything. His lips stayed pursed and his eyes were slanted, unamused.
“Idiot,” he finally said, with enough venom in his tone to prick tears from Hinata’s eyes.
“Oi!” Hinata snapped, his voice unreasonably high. He tried standing only to grimace in pain and fall over again.
He broke his ankle.
Ellie thought it was funny, “your luck is so- I’m sorry but like, the one time your paths fucking aligned...this happens.”
Hinata stabbed her foot with the end of his crutch.
He waited for the crowds of people to sift away before he would go to his locker, it’s less bothersome when people were in the way.
The guy on the other side of his locker liked making things hard for him. Ilya- he wasn’t that nice of a person, he always pressed his girlfriend to Hinata’s locker while they talked.
Hinata would tell him to move, tell her to move but they laughed louder, talked louder. Sometimes Kageyama was there, throwing in empty cans in his locker because he couldn’t find a bin.
Nothing much changed when he had to use crutches. Ilya still had his girlfriend up against Hinata’s locker and Kageyama still threw empty cans.
So he waited for everyone to drain away from the hallways and he used the quiet to flick open his locker door. Hauling his books in and out was hard and with a grunt, he dropped his left crutch and all his books.
He quickly latched onto the locker door, trying not to tip too far down.
It was hard to bend down, so he lowered himself to the ground, picking up two books at a time. That’s how far he got- with a stunted second he realised it would be painful to haul himself up with his books and crutches.
A figure knelt down in front of him and scooped up all his books and folders before shoving them into the top shelf. Hinata stared up, a quiet ‘thank you’ stuck on the tip of his tongue before it dissolved into a choke.
“Kageyama?!”
“You looked dumb,” he shrugged and Hinata’s cheeks warmed up. He grabbed his two crutches and clumsily hauled himself up.
“Your face is dumb,” Hinata shot back as angrily as he physically could and Kageyama sneered.
“We both know what you really think,” and Hinata frowned.
“Shut up!”
Kageyama leaned into his own locker, “you’re late for class.”
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t.”
“Then why are you here?” Hinata asked.
“...My locker is here, dumbass,” Kageyama said, opening his locker with annoyed eyes. Squashed soda cans rolled to the floor and they both glowered at each other.
Hinata broke eye contact first with a short “hmph!” and he shuffled through the books in his locker, trying to find his Algebra textbook. It was a slow process, because he had decided a second too late that it would be better to do with one hand. His fingertips would get stuck under the heavy stacks of textbooks and he would furrow his bottom lip, aggravated by Kageyama’s silent stare.
He could hear Kageyama’s breathing, under the shuffle of paper against his skin and muffled chatter behind doors.
Kageyama didn’t offer to help and Hinata was glad, it’s not like he wanted help anyways, he’d rather struggle against paper cuts and flimsy plastic than accept Kageyama’s help-
“Christ…” Kageyama sighed and Hinata whipped around, defensive.
“Why are you still here?” Hinata snapped, his fingers slipping from under the stack of books.
“Why can’t I be here?” Kageyama snapped back and Hinata breathed heavily, frustrated, annoyed, pissed, nervous-
“Stop looking,” Hinata muttered and wrenched his book out. Closing the locker while holding his textbook and crutches proved to be harder than expected and he swore quietly, switching from English to Japanese-
“This is pissing me off,” Kageyama hissed, slapping Hinata’s hands away and slammed Hinata’s locker shut and piecing together the combination lock.
“Everything pisses you off,” Hinata mumbled and Kageyama glared at him from over his shoulder.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means- it-” Hinata broke off to seethe in pure frustration, “it means you suck! And you’re always mad and I don’t get it!”
Kageyama opened his mouth to speak but Hinata cut him off, dropping both of his crutches while he rambled.
“You’re so confusing!”
Kageyama brought up a fist to punch Hinata’s locker door, “I’m confusing? Me?”
“Yes-”
“No, you’re the most twisted bitch here- I don’t fucking get you- why the fuck do you do half the shit you do?!” Kageyama complained and Hinata bared his teeth.
“What did I do!?”
“You-” Kageyama prodded a finger at Hinata’s chest, “you- you keep trying to talk to me and- and you said- you called me- you basically said I was beautiful- why the fuck would you do that?!”
Hinata closed his mouth, his twitching eyebrows clearing into confusion.
“I- wait what? You’re confused because...I’m...nice?”
“No, idiot, it’s ‘cause you’re nice to me- what’s wrong with you? What do you want from me? Just fucking tell me, it’s pissing me off.”
Hinata peered up at Kageyama, watching the transition from artificial anger to genuine confusion in Kageyama’s frown. Hinata blinked rapidly and laughed into his hand. He spun around, trying to muffle his giggles into his sleeve, but it spilled out regardless and he doubled over, almost losing balance.
He turned around and leaned on his locker.
“I’m sorry but- I- you’re telling me that you’re pissed because I’m nice to you?”
“Yes,” Kageyama said, as if it was obvious and Hinata laughed again and Kageyama pushed at Hinata’s chest, tipping him over.
“Don’t you fucking laugh at me.”
“I’m- it’s hard not to!” Hinata giggled, watching Kageyama’s eyes widen is slight surprise, “what would I want from you anyways? I’m just a nice person, Kageyama. Tobio? I’m gonna call you Tobio.”
Kageyama’s cheeks burned red and Hinata thought back to when he told Kageyama he should be a model, his cheeks were just as red as now.
It made sense all too suddenly and Hinata let out a quiet “oh” in realisation. Kageyama wasn’t mad- he was just overwhelmed, with emotions that pumped soft pink instead of crimson red, with a blush of flattery rather than anger.
“Don’t call me Tobio- instead don’t call me anything- don’t even talk to me, don’t breathe-”
“Do you mean that?” Hinata asked. His foot hurt but Kageyama’s mouth was slightly parted, breathing heavily around his blush, his eyes falling soft into hesitation, into feelings that weren’t straightforward ferocity.
“Yes,” he said and Hinata snorted.
“Why’d you hesitate for so long?” Hinata asked, using his fallen crutches to haul himself up, “I’m gonna call you Tobio. And I’m gonna be nice to you when you’re not being mean to me. I’m gonna talk to you when I want to, I’m gonna say hi to you every morning- I might even smile at you when we pass in the corridors so...so punch me if you’re really against that.”
Kageyama stared at him, his scowl dropping before he drew his eyebrows together in a glare strong enough to make Hinata flinch. His blush decorated his cheeks and he scoffed, looking away.
“Whatever,” he said, slamming his own locker door closed. He walked backwards for a while before finally turning away, his nape flushed with a rose tint.
Hinata grinned crookedly, his cheeks ruddy with pink; the shade of triumph.