Number Neighbours || kagehina || scrapped

2.0

One more time. One more time.

Hinata and Kageyama had been practicing for about an hour, doing set after set. Neither of them seemed to be getting tired, despite Hinata's many failed spikes. He was getting frustrated with himself, but after every try, he found himself asking for Kageyama to set for them again– to let them try again. That's all Hinata wanted. A chance.

WOOSH.

SMACK.

"Again!" Hinata yelled, after missing for the fourth time in a row. Kageyama glared at him.

"We need the ball, dumbass," he spat. Hinata looked up at him and scowled.

"Who are you calling dumbass?" They shot back. "I'm doing my best, okay?"

"Yeah, I know. We still need the ball,"

Hinata opened his mouth to yell something back, before closing it and turning their head to the ball, which was still rolling away. "Oh, yeah,"

"Oh, yeah," Kageyama mocked. Hinata cursed under their breath and chased after the ball.

"You're really mean, yaknow," Hinata shouted over his shoulder as he reached for the ball, which had rolled into a bush. Kageyama huffed a bit behind them.

"Yeah, yeah. I've been told,"

"Nice to know I'm not getting any special treatment right now,"

"Nah, you are,"

Hinata tossed the ball to Kageyama, raising their eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I'm nicer to tall people,"

Hinata glared up at him, and before he could process what was about to leave his mouth, they said, "Shut up, Mr. Mea–"

Hinata tensed up a bit. He almost just called Kageyama the wrong name– well, technically it wasn't a name, but it was the closest Hinata got with Meanie. How did they almost confuse the two?

"Sorry," Hinata apologized quickly. "Just send me another one. Please."

Kageyama paused for a moment. Hinata could practically feel his eyes stare into the side of their face. "You okay?" Kageyama asked, resting the ball between his arm and his hip. Hinata looked over at him and smiled as wide as he could, nodding. "You're a terrible liar."

"I just confused you for someone else for a sec," Hinata said, trying to shrug off the weird feeling in their stomach. "Another?"

Kageyama sighed, shaking his head a little, before setting to Hinata once again.

•

Kageyama had to tell Hinata.

Kageyama had known that for hours– hell, he knew that from the moment he saw them in the store– but the way Hinata's mood changed when he almost called him by his texting nickname just made it even more apparent. If he didn't tell him soon, Kageyama would end up hurting Hinata.

Still, he couldn't muster the courage to say it.

Once the pair had finally decided to stop practicing, Kageyama offered to walk Hinata home. He played it off as not wanting Hinata to get lost, but in reality, he was trying to buy himself time. He spent the entire walk trying to let the words escape his mouth. I'm Meanie. That's all he needed to say. He knew that was all it took.

There was still something holding him back.

"Hey, Kageyama?"

Kageyama looked down to see the messy haired kid looking down at their shoes. Hinata had been a ray of sunshine for majority of the time Kageyama knew him– for the majority of the night, even. But now? They were off. They didn't look up to Kageyama when they said his name. He didn't say it in his normal cheerful voice. Something was up.