Hinata slowly walked onto the court. He heard the squeaking of his shoes on the gym floor. He took in the smell of sweat and victory. "I beat Kageyama to practice!" The two boys were always racing each other to practice, trying to beat one another there. Sure, maybe it was 3:00 and practice didn't start until 4:00, but technically it still counted. Hinata was quickly pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of the gym door crashing open. A boy with jet-black hair came into the gym panting. The boy looked down at the wide grin on Hinata's face and watched as the lips parted, "You're finally here Kageyama!"
Kageyama's fists clenched. Unwilling to acknowledge his defeat he just waved Hinata off, "go get a basket of volleyballs so we can start practicing." Hinata nodded and went bounding off to the supply closet as Kageyama took his time lacing up his shoes. He made bunny ears with the laces and watched as Hinata struggled to open the door to the supply closet and fell back when he finally managed to pull it open. Kageyama let out a small smile. Hinata was so cute sometimes, even though he was a total dumbass that Kageyama had no patience for.
Kageyama stood up, done lacing his shoes just as Hinata finally emerged from the supply closet. "I got the volleyballs! Can you set for me Kageyama? Please?" Hinata gave Kageyama his signature puppy dog eyes. Kageyama felt his face flush a bit as he thought about how adorable Hinata looked when he did that.
"Well, I don't know what else I'd do. I am a setter after all." Kageyama grumbled and went over and grabbed a volleyball from the basket. He acted like he couldn't care less but secretly he knew there was no better feeling in the world than the ball falling into his fingertips as he quickly pushed it up and towards his target. Setter was the most important position in volleyball. The setter was in charge of the entire court. They analyzed the defense and decided who to set to, if anyone at all. They controlled the flow of the game and were the glue of their team. That's what Kageyama thought anyways.
As Kageyama continued to set to Hinata he watched the red-heads movement. He was so fast and it seemed like he jumped higher and higher with every spike. He may have been small but he made up for it in terms of sheer energy. The boy was full of it all the time. Kageyama set another ball into the air for Hinata to spike but instead of jumping and spiking the ball, the boy just let it fall to the ground. There was a thud as the ball bounced a few times and rolled away. "Hey! Why didn't you hit that one?! You wanted me to set for you but you won't even hit my sets!" Kageyama started yelling, only slightly annoyed.
"You're not on your game today! I'm not going to hit some crappy sets that aren't good training for you or me."
"Excuse me? I know you didn't just call my sets 'crappy!'"
"Yes, I did! Your sets are normally so whoosh and then I can hit them, like bam. But today your sets are all bleh, which is making my spikes all meh." Hinata continued on a nonsensical ramble, using too many technical terms for Kageyama to keep up. Kageyama spaced out to the drone of Hinata's voice, lost in thought about the fiery red-head that stood in front of him. "Hellooooo? Kageyama? See, you're not focused today! You're not even listening!"
Kageyama struggled to pull away from the Hinata in his mind to the Hinata in front of him. "Uh-" Kageyama started, but was quickly cut off by Hinata's hands holding him by his face.
Hinata raised himself up onto his tip-toes so he could look into Kageyama's black eyes. "Get in the right headspace!" Hinata yelled as Kageyama's face slowly turned red. Hinata was close enough for Kageyama to get a whiff off his sweet cinnamon scent. Why did he feel this way? Why did his brain turn to mush the second Hinata touched him? Why could he feel his stomach churning and his cheeks burning? "Y- you're uh- you're really close... don't y- you think?" Kageyama struggled to assemble a string of words.
Hinata noticed the space between him and Kageyama or the lack thereof. He started turning red, just like Kageyama. "Uh yeah. S- sorry." Instead of letting go of Kageyama's face and shrinking down to his normal height Hinata just remained there. Kageyama and Hinata just looked at each other with unblinking eyes. Both were redder than a tomato.
Suddenly, the gym door opened and Daichi, Sugawara, and Asahi all walked in laughing. Their attention was quickly drawn to Hinata and Kageyama. Hinata swiftly lowered himself and then started running around picking up all the balls he had spiked. Both Kageyama and Hinata's faces had somehow managed to become even more red. "Hey, guys! We were just uh getting some extra practice in before practice!" Hinata managed to squeak out.
Kageyama finally found the courage to unlock his joints. He nodded quickly and started running around, helping Hinata. The three third years just stood there for another half a second. "Okay then."
