the boy who got too close to the sun

9: i think, i like guys

"So, you're saying that I kissed you in a dream so now you're all awkward and stuff?" Tobio heavily sighed, taking a walk alongside the shore with Hinata. The shorter boy timidly nodded, walking with his hands inside the pockets of the hoodie he was wearing. It belonged to Kageyama since the taller boy grabbed it on a whim.

"It-It's embarrassing!" Shoyo stammered, still having a hot face that contrasted against the cool summer breeze.

But, Kageyama just looked down at the orange haired boy with a strange look on his face. "...Was kissing me that bad? Enough that it would scare you shitless that this?" He awkwardly chuckled, now recalling how scared Hinata was after his dream. Though, Shoyo felt conflicted about his answer.

"Uh..." Hinata hesitantly responded, awkwardly scratching his neck.

"Jeez, I was just joking. No need to rack your small brain to find an answer." The raven haired boy scoffed, ruffling his hand through Hinata's softer hair. "But, it's not like I would ever kiss you in real life so, you don't have to worry about that."

Shoyo knew that Kageyama was just trying to be reassuring but... something tight struck in his chest. It felt strange. Just like something was forcefully squeezing his heart.

"Who said I'd worry about something like that!" Hinata forced out a laugh, attempting to keep his playful self. They walked with each other for a while in silence, before deciding to head back to their room. They still wanted to get a bit of sleep in since Daichi said that they would be going hiking tomorrow.

[...]

"Look alive you guys." Daichi clapped to snap the sleepy boys awake. They arrived at the bottom of the hiking trail at 9:30 in the morning. Which wasn't necessarily early, but it was early for the teenagers. "This hike will be for both workout purposes, and just for fun. We'll be going in groups of four but, if you don't want to, you guys can separate on the hike. Though, you guys must all come back together." He informed while the team was still waking up.

He announced the groups, and everyone was happy with theirs since everyone on the team was practically friends. But, there was one group that weren't too fond of each other.

Around 5 hours of walking later...

"Hey short stuff, you and the King were making quite a ruckus last night." Kei poked at the grouchy Hinata who was practically walking in a daze. The orange haired boy did not find particular interest in talking with Tsukishima.

"What's it to you?" He blinked his eyes to focus them up at the blonde boy

"Were you guys taking your little romantic walk on the beach?" Tsukishima snickered, attempting to rile him up. "I could even see your red face from my room." He sighed, still irritating the shorter boy.

"Oh, so that was you clinging to Yamaguchi on the balcony?" Shoyo snarkishly pointed out, surprising Kei. The blonde boy didn't think that anyone would actually see that. "Aw, were you harassing poor Yamaguchi? After all, I wouldn't find any reasonable reason on why he would want to be hugging YOU!" He taunted, now reversing the irritable roles. Tsukishima was annoyed yes, but, he didn't understand what crawled up Hinata's butt.

"You sure are bold this morning, huh?" The boy with the glasses shoved his finger at Hinata's forehead. "Did the King finally push you too far?"

Even though that was supposed to be an insult, Shoyo's face went scarlet red. And not out of anger.

"S-Shut up! You big meanie!" Hinata yelled, running over to go and grab Kageyama by the wrist. "Let's go, Kageyama!" He whined, dragging him off into the other direction. Tsukishima was extremely confused on what he just saw. But, he didn't bother, nor did he care to ask.

"Agh! What are you doing?" Tobio grouched, feeling himself being pulled away. Shoyo huffed and puffed, somehow ending up at the edge of a cliff.

The sight automatically calmed Hinata down, as he looked out in a trance. The view was perfect. They could see the whole ocean from where they were at. The clear blue waters, and the white foam that just added to its beauty. The smell of the salty ocean air, mixed with the rocky dust smell brought serenity down onto the shorter boy.

The frustration he felt from Tsukishima went away.

"Why'd you drag me here so harshly?" Kageyama asked, rubbing his wrist that had red gripping marks. But, Hinata didn't hear him. He had something on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to say something so badly but, he was conflicted to say it.

Tobio listened to the uncomfortable silence fill the air, as the orange haired boy still stood there, staring out into the ocean.

Then out of nowhere, he dropped to his knees.

"Hey, are you good?" Kageyama asked, placing his hand on his back, being concerned to see that Shoyo suddenly fell to his knees. "Is it a heat stroke? Though it isn't even that hot out here." He asked, also being on his knees to try and assist Hinata.

But, Shoyo came into a sudden realization. A realization that he wasn't quite prepared for.

With Kageyama being so close to him, something striked inside of his heart. It was abnormal. Out of the ordinary. Strange. Odd. Whatever word you want to use. There were no longer feelings of friendship there.

Instead, there were feelings of love.

Shoyo came to the awareness that he was... in love with Kageyama.

The unusual heartbeats he got while being close to him. The longing of wanting to be held in Kageyama's arms. The feeling of wanting to experience a kiss like he did in that dream again. Yeah, it was extremely odd, and very overwhelming. He didn't know what to do.

It made him want to throw up.

Not because he thought liking guys was gross or anything, but because he had no clue on what to actually do. Was there anyone to talk about it with? Anyone that wouldn't find him strange after he said it? Same-sex relationships weren't all that common in Japan, and it was looked down on quite a bit. So, Hinata was scared.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Tobio asked, grabbing Shoyo's face with his hands. Honestly to him, it looked like the shorter boy was physically ill. "Do you wanna head back?"

"Kageyama..."

"Yeah? What is it-"

"...I think, I like guys."

to be continued...