Number Neighbours || kagehina || scrapped

1.7

Hinata: are ya ready kids

    "So when's your friend showing up?" Kenma asked on the other end of the call. Hinata sat down in front of his computer which already had Minecraft open, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged.

    "I'm waiting for him to text me back," they replied. Hinata grabbed a bag of sour candy and started stuffing his face.

Mr meanie: we're joining now

Mr meanie: add us to the call

    Hinata swiftly added the two usernames Meanie had given to their call, continuing to shove sour candy in his mouth. With his mouth still full, they gave a muffled, "Hi!" to the new people.

    "Uh, hi," a deep voice responded. Hinata hurriedly swallowed his candies, interest washing over them.

    "Sooooooooo do I get to know which one of you is Meanie?"

    "The whole point of Meanie bringing a friend was for you not to know," another voice responded. Their voice was snottier than the first one. Could Meanie be mean like that?

    Hinata pouted. "Laaaaaaaame,"

    "Can we start playing?" Kenma asked, not sharing the same interest in Meanie's identity as Hinata. Hinata and the two boys agreed and the group started on their way.

    Hinata ended up building a house with the first guy who joined, his gamer tag being milkboy for a reason unknown to Hinata. Kenma had gone off to go mining, and Hinata wasn't sure the other guy was even on the server. This Milkboy was pretty good at building. Hinata felt more like a nuisance than a helper most of the time, but Milkboy wasn't complaining. Plus, they were having fun building with the mysterious player.

"Hey, dumbass," Milkboy said, building the ceiling as he spoke. Hinata huffed and punched him once.

"Who are you calling dumbass? I didn't even do anything!" They shot back, backing away quickly to avoid being murdered in-game.

"What with the gamer tag?"

Hinata had his gamer tag as TinyGiant for, as it would suggest, the Tiny Giant. He thought it was straightforward enough, but considering the fact that Milkboy was questioning it, maybe that assumption was wrong.

"For the Tiny Giant?" Hinata responded hesitantly, unsure where this conversation was gonna go. When Milkboy didn't respond, Hinata continued. "He was a volleyball player that was pretty short but really powerful. He was the ace and his team even went to Nationals!"

"Oh yeah, I've heard of him,"

"I wanna be like him, y'know? I wanna be that good and that respected. That's why I'm transferring to K–"

Hinata cut himself off, realizing what they were about to say. Was that something Meanie would even want to know? It wasn't like Meanie ever told Hinata anything. It didn't seem like Meanie wanted to know too much about Hinata, either.

That's what sucks the most about talking to Meanie, Hinata thought. It wasn't the teasing, or the fact that they only interacted through a screen, or even that his texts were a little dry. He was secretive, and didn't seem too interested in Hinata's life– he rarely asked questions, he brushed things to the side, he avoided anything that could lead to some kind of connection between them. Hinata had to wonder sometimes if Meanie even liked him, or if he just put up with them out of pity.

"Transferring where?" Milkboy's voice called out, pulling Hinata away from his thoughts about Meanie. A question? It kinda made Hinata excited, but he couldn't help but think of how Meanie acted over text. Could this just be Meanie's friend being curious?

"I don't think Meanie would wanna know that," Hinata said, quieter than they had been the entire call. There was an awkward silence between the two for a few moments, until Hinata spoke again. "Unless he would...?"

Milkboy was silent for what felt like an eternity. A painful, stressful eternity. Finally, he spoke.

"You're right."

•

     You idiot.

    Kageyama had been kicking himself for the past half hour, angry with himself for pushing Carrot Top away. He wasn't sure why he did it. He was interested in where Carrot Top would be transferring– mainly since wherever it was started with a K, but also because of how sad Carrot Top sounded when they said "Meanie" wouldn't want to know. His disappointed voice made Kageyama want to grab them and hold him right, made him want to apologize. But still, in an attempt to hide who he was, he pushed Carrot Top away yet again.

    Why the hell is it so important that Carrot Top doesn't know who I am? Kageyama thought, doing his best to play the game as his thoughts were full of anger. He knew at this point that Carrot Top wasn't some creepy old guy, and he didn't have anything to hide. So why was he hiding?

Could it be because of the way his heart had begun to jump every time Carrot Top spoke?

"I'll be right back," Kageyama mumbled into his mic, taking his headset off and making his way towards the washroom. He couldn't figure out what was going on in his head. Normally he was pretty good at thinking and figuring things out– if he weren't, he wouldn't be a good setter– but there was something different this time. Something he couldn't figure out no matter how hard he tried.

    It really got on his nerves.

    He ran cold water in the sink and splashed some in his face, hoping that would give his head some clarity. All it did was make him cold.

    "You okay, kid?"

    Kageyama looked up to see his sister, Miwa, standing in the doorframe. He looked away again, grabbing the hand towel and burying his face in it. "'M fine," he responded, his voice muffled. He peeked over the towel to look at Miwa in the mirror. She didn't look too convinced.

    "Alright," she sighed, reaching over and rubbing his back quickly. "I'm here if you need me, Tobio."

    "I know,"

    He splashed water in his face one more time as Miwa left, turning off the water and drying his face almost immediately after. The water didn't help him think, but it certainly woke him up. He made his way back to his room and put his headset on yet again, about to speak when he realized Carrot Top and his friend were in the middle of a conversation.

    "...think you know which one is your friend?" Carrot Top's friend asked. Kageyama's stomach dropped. Did they know?

    "Well..." Carrot Top began, the pause almost killing Kageyama. "I don't know. I don't think he'd want me to guess."

    Kageyama let out a silent breath of relief. He really didn't want Carrot Top guessing– he had brought Tsukishima for a reason, even if he wasn't much help. Kageyama was just lucky Carrot Top respected that.

    "Who do you want it to be then?"

    This question made me nervous for a different reason. Was there any chance they preferred Tsukishima over him? It wasn't very likely, considering Tsukishima didn't even join the game, but...

    "Is that even a question?" Carrot Top laughed. "Milkboy."

    "What about me?" Kageyama asked, pretending he hadn't heard majority of that conversation. Carrot Top started stammering, which Kageyama couldn't help but find adorable. "Forget it, dumbass. Let's keep playing."