Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Tadashi! Tadashi!”

Shouyou ran down the third year hallway, trying to catch up with Yamaguchi, who had turned to him, laughing.

“What’s up, Sho?”

Skidding to a stop in front of him, Shouyou reached forward to hang off of Yamaguchi’s shoulders. “Takeda-sensei wants us in the teacher’s office.”

Yamaguchi turned down to face him. “Why? Is it a complaint about the club?”

Shouyou rolled his eyes and spun off of his friend. “No, probably not. It’s around training camp season, remember!”

‘Finally, the first training camp we’ll have as third years! And as captains! I wonder how it’s gonna be different-’

Someone had bumped into him, jolting him out of his thoughts.

“Ah! Sorry Hinata-san!”

A boy and a girl from Shouyou’s math class turned to him, bowing slightly.
“Oh, it’s nothing, don’t worry ‘bout it.”

They rose, and flinched. “Hinata-san, when did you cut your hair?”

Shouyou wasn’t surprised. From the first day of school, the entrance ceremony, it had all been the same odd question of, ‘Did you cut your hair senpai? or ‘That’s new senpai, when did you get it cut?.

Yamaguchi dug an elbow into his side. The two underclassmen were still staring at him, the burning question written all over their faces.

“Ah..I actually got it cut a few months ago.”

The underclassmen froze in surprise. Shouyou almost felt bad, if it weren’t getting so tedious. They apologized profusely once again, Shouyou waving it right off.

After many apologies, they finally walked off, and Shouyou huffed out a sigh.

“‘Dashi, I am so tired of this, I cannot wait for my hair to grow back, this is getting ridiculous.”

Shouyou suddenly thought back to Kageyama, who had snapped back into normalcy after almost a month into the school year.

“Shoyou. Shouyou. Hinata Shouyou!”

Shouyou jerked back to reality with Yamaguchi yanking on his accursed hair.

“What ‘Dashi.”

Yamaguchi shoved something into his chest.

“Lunch time!”

A few green leaves drifted down across the concrete path that Shouyou and Yamaguchi strolled along. The freshly bloomed spring flowers covered the area along the pathway, yellow pollen coloring the grey concrete.

Shouyou skipped along through the trees overhead, careful to not step on any of the blossoms.

“Shou, if you keep hanging around the trees like this, we’re not gonna have any time to eat out lunch.”

Swinging his weight around a medium-sized tree, he pouted in exaggeration.

“Fine.” he jogged back to Yamaguchi.

They continued along the path before they reached a secluded picnic area, spying Kageyama and Tsukishima glaring at each other in silence. Shouyou giggled, but not before taking a running start, and landing on the stone tabletop.

“Hey dumbass, you could’ve crushed my lunch! Be careful!” Kageyama glared up at him, with only a hint of malice.

“Nah, you just gotta watch your lunch, Yama-kun.”

Yamaguchi appeared at his side, smacking Shouyou’s leg slightly. “Get down. stupid. You’re so loud.”

Shouyou jumped down with a huff. The view from the tabletop was really nice, overlooking the city below, up on the highest point of the Karasuno mountain.

A soft breeze blew through the alcove as Shouyou took his seat next to Kageyama. He unwrapped his bento and began munching on an apple that he had shoved into his bag that morning.

“You guys got here before us, what happened?”

Tsukishima smirked and cupped his head on one hand. “What, do you think we’re not as responsible as you are, senp-.”

“My English teacher let us out early today, some students had to take a makeup quiz. Not sure about Tsukishima though.”

Shouyou smiled into his apple as Tsukishima turned to Kageyama, furious.

“We have the same English teacher, are you serious? It’s been two months Kageyama, there’s no way you’re that dumb and in your third year?”

The wind picked up as Yamaguchi threw himself across his seat and into Shouyou’s lap, shaking with laughter.

“Well excuse me if I want to pay attention in class, Tsukishima-san, and no, I’m not that dumb, I just didn’t care.”

Tsukishima launched up out of his seat, sending Shouyou and Yamaguchi cackling, tears pricking at Shouyou’s eyes.

“What do you mean by paying attention in class? You almost got double cleaning duty because you fell asleep!”

Shouyou’s stomach hurt. Yamaguchi was practically vibrating with entertainment, so much so that they didn’t notice the two presences behind them.

“Uhm. Kageyama-kun?”

Breaking away from Tsukishima’s hold, Kageyama turned his head and glanced over, behind Shouyou.

“Oh. Um, do I know you?”

Shouyou followed Kageyama’s eyes, turning to face two girls, each with envelopes in their hands.

They fidgeted slightly, the blushes on their faces growing with every passing second. Were they here to-.

“We wanted to ask you something, Kageyama-san..”

The table shifted, Shouyou barely registering Yamaguchi stirring next to him.

Kagayama’s expression tightened, suspicious. Tsukishima was silent now, only observing the situation with obvious disdain. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the table.

Shouyou remembered how Tsukki would sometimes show up to practice, class, or even their lunch breaks with an even shittier attitude than normal, proceeding to complain about how annoying confessions were.

The girls began to titter between themselves, obviously stalling for time, due to the blatant reason for their appearance.

“...Can it be in private, Kageyama-kun? It’s important~” their giggles increased, and Shouyou was convinced his ears would start to bleed out.

His eyes shifted back to Kageyama, whose expression remained unchanged. “No. How is it important.”

A tense silence followed Kageyama’s words, but Shouyou had enough. He stretched dramatically and plastered the brightest, fakest smile he could muster.

“Tadashi! C’mon, let’s give them some privacy huh? Don’t wanna be rude, do we?”

A disgusting weight hung heavy in his chest. He wasn’t jealous, this wasn’t some weird shoujo manga where he stormed off when something didn’t go his way.

Yet, it was exactly like that. He moved to grab Yamaguchi’s arm, swinging his leg over the stone bench. However, he was met with a firm tug on his wrist.

“No.”

Yamaguchi’s head rested in his hand, propped up by his elbow on the table, a small smirk on his face. He didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. Shouyou’s face twisted in annoyance.

“Why not? They obviously need-” he was roughly tugged back into a seated position, a heavy hand on his shoulder.

“No,” Yamaguchi turned back to the girls, where frowns replaced their cutesy smiles. “If it’s super important, you can tell all of us, right? We’re Kageyama-kun’s best friends, did you know?”

The taller of the two girls huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest, accidentally crushing the letter she clutched.

“Fine.” Something ugly twisted in Shouyou as she wiggled her fingers at Kageyama. “I’ll just tell you later, Tobio-kun.”

With that, they turned heel and walked quickly back down the path. Shouyou released the knuckle-white grip he had on his chopsticks and looked skyward. He heard shuffling next to him, so he turned to see a bowing Kageyama at his side.

“Thank you Yamaguchi, I'm sorry if that was a hassle, I just,” Kageyama wrung his hands together as he stood up, leaning all his weight to the left. “I didn’t expect them to do them during lunch. I apologize.”

Yamaguchi only smiled, gesturing for Kageyama to sit back down. “It’s not a hassle Kageyama-kun, you were clearly uncomfortable. So I helped, that’s all.”

The weight in Shouyou’s chest almost immediately eased as Kageyama responded with a small smile. His eyes drifted to Tsukishima, who looked between Shouyou and Kageyama with a monstrous grin.

‘No. He doesn’t think-’

“Ah, I’m just glad His Highness made it out unscathed, don’t you think, Hinata-kun?”

Heat crawled up the back of Shouyou’s neck as he slammed his head into the table, startling Yamaguchi, in an effort to hide his face.

“Shut up, Stupid-shima. I didn’t ask.”

Kageyama made a noise of confusion above him. “Don’t hit your head on stone dumbass! What’s your problem, you could get hurt!”

Shouyou’s blush only deepened, and he raised his hands to cover his bright red neck.
‘Stupid Caring-yama.’

Yamaguchi poked his side lightly, Shouyou falling into a light laughter when the pokes continued.

“Whatever.” Tsukishima seemed entirely disinterested, his words slightly muffled, most likely due to food. “Yamaguchi, did you hear from Sensei about the upcoming training camp?”

Shouyou’s mood skyrocketed as he digested the words Training, and Camp.
“You’ve talked to Takeda-sensei already? Tadashi and I were on our way but the lunch bell rang, do you know where it’s gonna be? Where it’ll be held? How much did he tell you?”

Questions spilled out of him like a faucet, only slowing down when Tsukishima kicked him from underneath the table. Asshole.

“If you’d shut up for two seconds, maybe I could explain, you hyperactive squirrel.” Tsukishima swallowed the bite he had in his mouth, and picked up another piece of meat.

“Takeda-sensei ran into me in the hallways earlier, and told me about the new training camp opportunity, and to tell you three at lunch, so we could discuss it during practice tonight.”

He picked up a bundle of rice, chewing slowly as he made relaxed eye contact with Shouyou and Kageyama. He was dragging it out on purpose, the bastard.

“This training camp,” he swallowed, and paused, for irritating emphasis. “Is going to be between the ‘Powerhouses of Miyagi’, and Nekoma High, who specifically requested to be involved in this camp.”

Shouyou nearly leapt out of his seat in excitement. Tsukishima’s bored expression never left his face as he continued. “The supervisors are still negotiating a date, but it’ll last three days, with the schools using the facilities at Shiratorizawa, and that’s really all the information we need, I guess.”

“Could that have been any slower?” Kageyama snapped, the wind whipping his hair in every which way, it was kind of annoying, Shouyou wanted to fix it.

Tsukishima only smirked at him, clicking his chopsticks towards Kageyama’s nose. “Nah, I mean, I could’ve taken a few more bites, maybe yawned or something, so yeah, it could have been slower.”

When Yamaguchi began to admonish them, Shouyou paid them almost no mind. He gazed out past the edge of the mountain, absentmindedly crunching a bite out of his apple.

‘The first training camp of my third year!’

“Hey ‘Yama?” Shouyou and Kageyama were walking side by side, fresh out of the changing room and into the humid air of the spring night. He held out a hand, face up. “Bun me.”

Kageyama made a slight noise of acknowledgement, and handed Shouyou a bun, but kept walking. He pulled out the bag of meat buns that Coach had tossed to them earlier, his only instructions;
‘Pay me in the morning, you guys look kinda flushed and sick, make sure you get home quick!’

Shouyou even blushed at the memory. What was with him blushing around Stupid-yama all the time? He must be sick. Oh!

“Hey, what was up with you at the beginning of the year, when I got my haircut? You are acting all weird and fidgety, and you looked really red all the time. Were you sick?”

A loud scuff of shoes and a choking noise caused Shouyou to turn back in alarm, tossing his bike, and nearly dropping his meat bun. “Kageyama?”

He reached out to him, shoving the meat bun back into the bag hanging out of Kageyama’s open bag before placing a hand on Kageyama’s back and the nape of his neck, tilting them upwards. “Can you breathe, what happened?”

The alleyway was silent as Kageyama calmed his breathing, only letting out a few wet coughs.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” he glanced down at Shouyou, who still had his hands wrapped around Kageyama. “Uhm..”

Shouyou sprung away quickly when he realised, daring to leave a few small pats against Kageyama’s shoulders in reassurance. He giggled nervously when Kageyama didn’t break eye contact immediately.

He recognized that gaze!

“That! That exact look!” Shouyou pointed squarely at Kageyama’s nose, nearly poking it in the process. “You kept looking at me like that for like, three weeks after I had gotten my haircut.”

Kageyama’s eyebrows furrowed, his face morphing into his signature scowl.

“Stop yelling, you idiot, you’re gonna wake people up.” he hissed.

As if on cue, a front door light buzzed to life, the handle turning every so slightly as it opened. Shouyou quickly grabbed his bike from where it lay on the pavement, and dashed after Kageyama to the end of the alleyway.

When he caught up to him, violently breathing under a tree, Shouyou burst into laughter. Kageyama looked at him, confused for a beat, before breaking into a soft smile of his own. He dropped his bike back down into the grass and held out his hand once more.

“Bun me, ‘Yama.”

The meat bun bag was tossed into his face, obstructing his view of Kageyama. “Bun yourself, dumbass.”

Shouyou grinned as he shoved a lukewarm bun into his mouth. The look on Kageyama’s face now almost mirrored his gaze from earlier. The gaze from the beginning of the year.

“There it is agai-”

He was cut off by a Kageyama’s rough and calloused hand splaying nimble fingers through the top crop of his head. Shouyou followed the tilt of Kageyama’s hand, his breath catching as he locked eyes with him.

It was so, intense. And instead of it burning through the back of Shouyou’s head, or the brief eye contact shared between them before Kageyama looked away. Now its full force was being directed at Shouyou.

‘Huh.

“I liked it.”

“Huh?” Shouyou blinked slowly, snapping out of a stupor he had drifted into. “What did you like?”

“I liked it…..I like it. Your hair, I mean.” Kageyama stuttered, but his gaze never faltered.

Shouyou felt a wave of heat crawl up his back, bleeding upwards towards his neck, probably reaching his ears. “Oh. That’s..that’s cool.”

Kageyama’s hand slid slowly down the crown of his head, ghosting over his left ear, cupping it slightly. Before he could stop himself, Shouyou turned his nose into Kageyama’s wrist, dropping his head weight into his outstretched hand.

He tensed violently, now feeling how shaky Kageyama’s hand was against his face. The only noises to be heard were the rustling of the leaves above them, and the faint buzz and flickering of the lamps that lined the streets.

His hand now rested on Shouyou’s cheek, in a gentle caress as he stroked his brow once, twice. Kageyama’s lips twitched upward as Shouyou finally batted his hand away, but still held on to his wrist.

“Nasty-yama,” he grumbled, turning away from Kageyama. “Now I’m gonna have breakouts and dirt on my face when I get home.”

“Your face looks fine.”

Shouyou’s blush reared its blazing head once more as he whipped his head back to face Kageyama, that stupid….gaze still glued to his face.

He pouted, and punched Kageyama’s chest in admonishment. “Don’t say stuff like that, it’s weird.”

Kageyama only shrugged and turned away from him, shoving a meat bun into his mouth.

“‘Night Hinata. Sour dreams.”

And with that, he was off down the road, the faint scuffing of his shoes against the pavement growing softer and softer with the growing distance. A small chickadee hopped towards Shouyou, a cheep! following its every hop. He crouched down to level himself, placing his head in his left hand.

His cheek was warm.

Shouyou groaned, loud enough for the chickadee to startle and flitter away, and dragged himself up alongside his bike.

He startled suddenly at the base of the mountain.

“My hair….” he mumbled softly to himself, harmonizing with the steady clinking of his bike chains.