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Kageyama bounced on the balls of his feet, starting to get himself warmed up. He stretched and looked up at the ceiling before turning to scan the faces of his teammates. Everyone seemed to be doing fine. Everyone except Hinata, who was trying and failing to hide the fact that he was freaking out. After watching Hinata pace in a tiny circle for a minute, Kageyama decided to try and help. Glancing at the clock told him they had plenty of time left before their game actually started so he strode over to where Hinata was still pacing.
"Hey," he said gruffly, obviously startling Hinata out of his pacing loop, causing the redhead to jump. "Come practice receives with me."
"What?"
"You're freaking out, come practice with me. I don't want you to fuck up in the middle of the game."
Hinata floated along behind him, not really paying attention to where they were going. By the time they found a good spot outdoors to practice Hinata wasn't dragging his heels anymore and seemed a lot more interested in what they were doing. They didn't need to talk to get into the swing of practicing receives and before long Hinata seemed to be perking up a little bit.
Maybe getting a little overconfident in Hinata's abilities, Kageyama decided to send him a harder ball to receive. Kageyama's hand connected sharply with the ball, watching as it shot across the yard and hit against Hinata's forearms. He fumbled it and the ball shot sideways off his arms. Kageyama was about to snap at him for messing up his receive so badly but took pause when he saw Hinata standing rigid with his hands clenched into fists at his sides, suddenly pale as a ghost. They were both quiet for a beat before Kageyama decided to say something.
"What was that-?"
"I'm gonna throw up," Hinata said, turning and hurriedly walking in the opposite direction. It took Kageyama a half second to react to Hinata leaving before he was running after him. His fingers wrapped around Hinata's wrist and gripped tight.
"The bathroom's this way," he said, hurriedly dragging Hinata in the direction of the bathroom he'd seen on the way there. His eyes flicked back and forth, scanning the unfamiliar halls for things he recognized. They turned the corner and Kageyama dragged Hinata into the bathroom, aggressively shoving the door open with his shoulder so it banged off the wall. He squeezed Hinata's wrist tighter and yanked him around in front of him so Hinata could shove open a stall door.
Hinata dropped to the floor, hunched over the toilet bowl. There was a fraction of a second where Hinata paused, taking a tiny shuddering breath before retching. Kageyama found himself crushed into the narrow stall next to Hinata, still clutching his wrist tight. Kageyama looked away after a few seconds. He didn't want to watch this whole ordeal too closely. He watched Hinata's nails dig into the tops of his thighs, leaving crescent-shaped indents in his skin as his muscles spasmed. Hinata coughed and gagged and Kageyama finally let go of Hinata's wrist, letting his hand side across Hinata's back. His shoulder blades felt so small compared to Kageyama's hand as it rubbed back and forth across them, and the straps of his chest binder bunched beneath his fingers before snapping back into place. Kageyama wondered if it was really ok for Hinata to be wearing it during a game but didn't say anything.
Hinata's fingers trembled on his lap before clenching into loose fists as another wave of puke surged out of him. It occurred to Kageyama that he was touching Hinata a lot, with his arm draped across Hinata's back. His hand having come to rest on his opposite shoulder. Their sides were pressed together and Kageyama thought that if his neck weren't so hunched to stay out of Hinata's way their heads would probably clunk together. It was cramped and awkward. Hinata was sweating from being sick and the smell certainly wasn't helping the overall comfort level. But Kageyama didn't move away.
With the worst of the vomiting over, Hinata was left drooling and spitting into the bowl and Kageyama finally let himself lift his head back up to look. Suddenly much closer to Hinata's face, he watched the moisture clinging to his eyelashes for a moment before the welling of his eyes formed a tear that dropped into the water below with a plink. Hinata's eyelids fluttered open at the sound and he sunk back on his haunches with a sniffle.
"I thought you were over the whole nervous vomiting thing," Kageyama said, giving Hinata's shoulder a comforting squeeze that was probably too hard in retrospect. Hinata tilted his chin down and sniffled like he was crying. Kageyama frowned, suddenly lost for words as Hinata leaned against him. His arm slid around Hinata's waist as Hinata tucked his head under Kageyama's chin, pressing Kageyama back against the stall wall. And Kageyama found he was suddenly much warmer than he was a moment ago. Hinata felt so small snuggled against him like that, his body burning hot, his ragged breathing starting to calm down. Filled with sudden worry, Kageyama's arm wrapped tighter around Hinata.
"Are you gonna be able to play?" Kageyama asked, his voice a harsh whisper in Hinata's ear. He swallowed and continued, his voice cracking, "Is there something I can do?"
Hinata pulled away, his spine creaking as he moved out of Kageyama's hold. He didn't lean far enough away to not still be right in Kageyama's face. His expression was wild, his face pale from being sick but just barely starting to regain color in his cheeks again. He reached out and grabbed Kageyama by the arm, his fingers digging into the curve of Kageyama's bicep.
"I need you to win this game with me today," Hinata said, his voice intense. Kageyama's heart was suddenly racing. Hinata was holding his gaze and for a split second Kageyama found himself breaking eye contact to look at Hinata's mouth. Found himself thinking about Hinata leaning forward and kissing him, his head knocking back against the wall with the force of it. He could almost taste the bitter acidic puke lingering on Hinata's tongue.
"We'll win if you don't fuck up your receives, dumbass," Kageyama blurted, deflecting his feelings the same way he always did. Hinata smiled and Kageyama felt himself break out in a cold sweat, a nervous smile spreading across his own face. He didn't know why he was nervous all of a sudden. Hinata, seemingly filled with energy, got to his feet. His hand hovered in front of Kageyama, offering to help him to his feet. Kageyama took it, and their palms pressed together for a moment as Hinata pulled him to his feet and he rose to his full height.
"Shut up," Hinata said as he flushed away his puke. He let go of Kageyama's hand in the process and Kageyama felt his hand grow cold at the loss. He swallowed and looked away.
"Do you feel better?" He asked, busying his hands with the lock and pushing open the door only to have Hinata push past him.
"Yeah, I think I got it out of my system. I feel a lot better now, actually," Hinata answered, going to the sink and starting to wash off his face. Kageyama leaned against the sinks, watching Hinata scrub off his face vigorously. He cupped his small hands, collecting water and slurping it out before swishing it around and spitting it into the sink. He flicked the water off his hands and leaned over the sink, drinking from the faucet stream. His throat jarred noisily as he gulped water straight from the faucet. The way he was leaning made his shirt collar get pulled to the side so his collarbone was visible, along with a stripe of the fabric of his binder hugging his shoulder. Kageyama realized he was staring but couldn't seem to make himself stop until Hinata moved again. Then he turned his head all the way around to look in the opposite direction, suddenly finding the door incredibly interesting. He jumped when Hinata clapped him on the back of the shoulder as he walked by.
"Come on, Kageyama. Let's get ready to play."
"Right, yeah," Kageyama followed him out the door, feeling much warmer than he was comfortable with.
By the time they made it back to the gym, Hinata was completely rejuvenated and practically bouncing through the halls. The sight made it hard for Kageyama to hide his embarrassed smile.
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Kageyama's head whipped around as the whistle blew. It was in. They'd won the game. He sucked in a shaky breath and clenched both fists in triumph.
"Kageyamaaaa!" He heard Hinata yell his name and turned to see Hinata sprinting towards him. He barely had time to brace himself before Hinata collided with him. Hinata didn't weigh enough to be able to knock Kageyama off his balance. But he could jump high, and he could cling hard. Kageyama's arms wrapped reflexively around Hinata when he jumped into them but he really didn't need any help holding himself up, his muscular limbs wrapped tight around Kageyama like a koala.
Kageyama found himself staggering around with the added weight of his teammate clinging to him. Hinata was sweaty and hot and practically shaking with excitement in Kageyama's arms because they won!
Tanaka was the first of their other teammates to reach them, knocking into Hinata's back and crushing him even tighter against Kageyama. He was jostling Hinata excitedly, his voice loud and overpowering, It was making Hinata laugh. Kageyama found himself a little bit too out of breath to laugh. Though it wasn't entirely from the exertion of the game.
The way Tanaka was hugging Hinata made Hinata's body shift and press flush against Kageyama's torso. More teammates were crowding them, Kageyama couldn't see which ones past Hinata but he could recognize Sugawara at his back. Suddenly he was surrounded by teammates and the air around him smelled like sweaty boys and Hinata was pressed so fucking close to him, his chest to Kageyama's face, his arms around Kageyama's neck. His heart was pounding hard. His breathing was heavy and not calming down any now that the game was over. The spot where Hinata's legs were spread to wrap around him, right at his center, felt so hot and damp pressed against his abdomen. He told himself it was just sweat, that it felt so hot and wet from the intense game they just played.
The small crowd of teammates started to disperse. Kageyama felt Hinata go slack and start to sink down his body without Tanaka there to hold him in place. His hands quickly grabbed Hinata by the waist and pushed him off, setting him back onto the ground hurriedly. In the same motion, he adjusted himself in his shorts as quickly and subtly as he could manage. Hoping no one noticed, he glanced at Hinata's face.
Hinata was grinning at him, his cheeks flushed slightly. He raised one eyebrow cheekily at Kageyama without saying anything. Kageyama jerked his hand away from the crotch of his shorts, felt his own face get hot. He wanted to say something. Tell Hinata that what he probably just felt wasn't what he thought it was but that would make it obvious that that's what it was. Hinata just stood right in front of him with that look on his face that made Kageyama want to grab him by the shoulders and hammer throw him.
Luckily Hinata didn't actually say anything out loud about it. And in a matter of seconds, they were swept away with the crowd off the court. Giving Kageyama the chance to calm down properly.
It was starting to get dark out by the time they got outside to wait for the bus. Kageyama scratched his jaw idly. He could see Hinata out of the corner of his eye, grinning at him. He had his jacket and hoodie back on over his jersey so Kageyama assumed he'd slipped away to change out of his binder at some point. After a few seconds, the staring and grinning started to make him self-conscious.
"What?"
"You were incredible, Kageyama!" Hinata beamed at him. Kageyama felt his face turn red and hoped the fading light would hide it.
"Sh- shut up dumbass," Kageyama sputtered. He wasn't expecting Hinata to compliment him.
"No, come on you were totally awesome the way you set it to me right at the end? That was epic, dude! I'm still not over it!" Hinata slapped at Kageyama's arm excitedly.
Kageyama huffed, "I'm just glad you actually hit it."
"Yeah, I did! I spiked the fuck out of it," Hinata said, putting too much emphasis on the word fuck so it sounded even less natural coming out of his mouth and then letting the sentence dissolve into giggles. He was bouncing on his feet. Still so full of energy despite the exhausting day they'd had. It was hard to keep his eyes off him.
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The bus drove over a bump in the road that made Kageyama's head slide off his shoulder and clunk against the window. He sat upright in his seat and cleared his throat quietly. It was dark outside the window and he didn't recognize the scenery. He looked over his other shoulder at Hinata sitting in the seat next to him. Hinata was still asleep, his lips slightly parted with drool gathered at the corner of his mouth. Kageyama decided against trying to get rid of the drool. Hinata had a busy day, he deserved a little extra sleep during the bus ride without Kageyama trying to touch his face. His gaze instead traveled down to where Hinata's hand sat on the armrest. He thought about how often Hinata talked about how much he loved it when his hand stung from spiking Kageyama's sets. He thought about when he'd grabbed Hinata's wrist and dragged him through the unfamiliar halls to the bathroom. He thought about being squished into the stall next to him. He thought about when Hinata reached out his hand to help him off the ground, how their palms had touched together. He set his hand down on the armrest next to Hinata's. Hinata's hand was so much smaller than his. Their pinkies brushed together and Kageyama even let his pinky slip over top of Hinata's just like in movies.
Anxiously he scanned the seats around them. No one would even notice if he took Hinata's hand. The rest of the team was either sleeping or on their phones or too far away to be able to see what they were doing. His gaze fell back to where their hands sat on the armrest, Kageyama's pinky still resting looped into Hinata's. It would be so easy to just move his hand over Hinata's and let their fingers lace together.
He clenched his jaw and wrapped his fingers around Hinata's wrist instead. He stared down at their hands for a moment before turning his head away toward the window just in time for the bus to drive by a street light so Kageyama could see his red-faced reflection in the window for a few seconds before it was plunged back into darkness.
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He managed to fall asleep again after that apparently because he was jostled awake by movement to his left. His eyes blinked open just in time to see Hinata’s hand gently wriggle Kageyama’s hand off his wrist and squirm his hand under Kageyama's with their palms touching. Hinata’s fingers were so much shorter than his, they felt small in between his own. Kageyama gasped softly, barely more than a breath. Hinata squeezed his hand and leaned his head against Kageyama's shoulder with a warm smile.
"You were so amazing today, Kageyama," Hinata said quietly next to Kageyama's ear. He gave Kageyama's hand another squeeze, not moving away from the taller boy's shoulder, "Seriously, you did a lot for me before the match. I don't think I could've won that without you, Kageyama."
Kageyama opened his mouth and made a sound but no coherent words came out. His chest was pounding hard all of a sudden. Hinata was touching him so much, pressed right to his side with their hands laced together. He picked his head up off Kageyama's shoulder to look at his face and giggled at the sight.
“Your face is red,” he commented.
“Of course, it is, dumbass, you keep saying embarrassing shit.”
Hinata's face split into a smirk, his eyes glinting impishly, “not as embarrassing as you poking me after the game.”
Kageyama's face somehow turned even more red, “t-that's not what that was. And even if it was, it was just because my heart was beating hard from the game, dumbass.”
Kageyama grimaced as the words left his mouth. God, could he have made that sound any more obvious? Also, he thought for sure Hinata wouldn't mention it since he didn't say anything about it in the moment. Now that he had he felt… betrayed almost. He wanted to grab Hinata by his stupid head but that would mean letting his hand go and now that they were finally holding hands Kageyama wasn't going to let it out of his grip. Ever. So he just crushed his hand tight until Hinata winced and squeezed it back hard. Then they were wordlessly competing to see who would let up first. Squeezing each other's hands until their fingers turned white and their arms trembled.
Hinata gave up first, letting his grip go slack and moving as if to pull his hand from Kageyama's hold. Kageyama didn't let him. He didn't let go of Hinata's hand until the bus stopped back at Karasuno and the shorter boy got up out of his seat. And the two of them got off the bus as if nothing had happened.
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The two of them walked together down the familiar road towards their respective houses, to the spot where they had to go their separate ways. Despite the late hour, Hinata was still full of energy. He walked with a kick in his step as he gushed about the game they'd won. And about how he was going to go home and eat a second dinner to celebrate. Kageyama wanted to hold his hand again but he had both of them on the handles of his bike. So he just walked and listened, interjecting with his own comments occasionally.
They were approaching the spot where they'd have to go their separate ways a lot faster than he wanted. Stupid Hinata and his stupid fast walking. They both started to slow their pace as they approached it. Hinata's chatting slowed down too.
They slowed to a stop and Hinata sighed wistfully, glancing up at Kageyama with a warm smile.
“Hey, Kageyama,” Hinata beckoned softly with a gesture of his hand, like he wanted to whisper something to him. Kageyama leaned over to hear what he had to say, turning his ear to the shorter boy. But Hinata brought his hand up and pulled his chin forward so they were facing each other instead. Then Hinata kissed him. His lips were soft and cool from the night air. He let out a content exhale through his nose as their lips pressed together. Then he was pulling away with a big grin on his face, “See you tomorrow!”
Then he just onto his bike and thankfully spared Kageyama the embarrassment of acknowledging how red his face just turned. Hinata turned to him one last time and waved hard, all red-faced and grinning at him. Kageyama didn't wave back, still stunned from what Hinata had just done. Hinata started biking away before Kageyama could react or think.
He blinked back to life and balled his hands into fists at his sides before turning around huffily and starting to walk home again. He wondered how someone who got so worked up with anxiety he made himself vomit could just do things like that. Give out compliments and affection and… kisses like they were nothing.
Off behind him, he could hear Hinata let out a victory cry, whooping and hollering as he powered up to bike himself over the mountain. It made a wave of heat spread from the back of his neck to his face, which he felt twist into a stupid, giddy grin that he hid in the collar of his jacket because that was definitely about him. There was no way that wasn't Hinata cheering over scoring his first kiss with Kageyama. Thinking about it sent tingles through his whole body and before he knew it he was full of Hinata’s contagious energy and speeding up to jog his way back home with the stupid smile still plastered to his heated face.