Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 9: Fantasies

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SUMMARY:      Kageyama has a rut and Hinata reveals why he can't return to his family.

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A/N: I'm so sorry y'all. I forgot when I posted the last chapter to tell you that I'd be traveling and wasn't sure when the next chapter would be posted. :(

So I've given you a little smut to make up for it. :)

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Kageyama is strangely disappointed that he can't feel the baby kick. He looks up at Hinata and is struck by the omega's soft expression, one he's never seen before. Hinata's cheeks are dusted a soft pink. His lips are slightly parted, and his eyes twinkle like stars. He looks so angelic and kissable at that moment, Kageyama's heart stutters a bit in his chest.

The realization that he loves Hinata washes over him.

This is the face I want to wake up to every day, he thinks. This is the face I want to see every night before I go to sleep.

He has hopelessly fallen for the omega. He would do anything for him, would move mountains to make sure he and his pup are safe and happy. He wants to spend every day baking and bickering and arguing with Hinata. He wants to hold him in his arms, caress and worship him, kiss his lips and his nose and his forehead.

Kageyama expected to feel overwhelmed once he felt this emotion for the first time. Instead, it envelops him like a blanket of warmth. It was inevitable, from the moment Hinata stepped into his bakery three months ago.

Kageyama surrenders to the inevitable.

For the hundredth time, he wishes the pup Hinata carried were his, that the three of them could be a family. It's foolish and impossible, but his heart is certain on that point.

It doesn't matter what I want, he thinks as he pulls his hand from Hinata's soft, warm skin. Because Hinata doesn't think of him that way, doesn't see him as a potential partner. He is Hinata's friend, boss and roommate. Nothing more. It will never be more.

He knows Hinata will leave one day, will take his pup and move on. So Kageyama promises himself that he will cherish the time he has. He learned from his grandfather to live in the moment, to appreciate what is right in front of you when you have it.

Because, in the end, life eventually takes it from you.

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A week after Kageyama's epiphany, he stands in the bakery's kitchen. He pounds pastry dough as if it was Sunada's face. He frowns, pouts even, as he listens to Hinata talk to that stupid customer.

The customer is a tall, blonde, handsome alpha who comes into the bakery a couple times a week. He wears a suit and carries a leather messenger bag, which indicates to Kageyama that he has some fancy office job. He flirts incessantly with Hinata, who laughs at his jokes and accepts his compliments with a blush and a demure 'thank you.'

Kageyama hates him.

The customer, not Hinata, of course.

Today, the alpha tells Hinata he looks very nice in his pink shirt and that it compliments his skin and hair color.

Fucking asshole. Who says that?

Next, the alpha asks for his favorite pastry and asks if Hinata made them. When Hinata says 'yes,' the alpha insists that Hinata must be the most talented baker in Tokyo, if not all of Japan. Kageyama wants to vomit.

He still pounds the dough as he concludes this alpha is a class-A douchebag. But then he hears the alpha ask if Hinata wants to go to dinner with him, and Kageyama's whole body freezes.