Show me your EGOTION - A Carly Rae Repsen-inspired Blue Lock fan event!
All 11 fics in the collection are up, and you can read them all right here!
Previews for each fic below:
and i'll find your lips in the streetlights by akhikosanada | Kunigami Rensuke/Chigiri Hyoma, M, 10.6K
There had been a deathlessness, too, to the feeling that excavated itself from his sternum when heâd seen Kunigami standing at the arrivals terminal of Copenhagen airportâin the sense that Hyoma had thought it dead and gone and buried ever since theyâd all left Blue Lock, ever since theyâd been recruited by their U20 clubs and dragged to the other end of the world by the promise of victory. Itâs only now that heâs here, that Hyoma feels the sharpness of Kunigamiâs absence like a knife to the gut, the belated pain of loss surfacing faster than the realization.
He should have known better, he notices now. Nobody makes him feel as deathless as Kunigami does.
Chigiri, and Kunigami, and a summer weekend in Copenhagen.
you like making me wait for it by ganache | Kunigami Rensuke/Chigiri Hyoma, M, 7.5K
So Chigiri just has to stand there and watch as Bachira asks if Kunigami could (pretty please) drive him all the way out to Kagoshima. Has to stand there and watch as Kunigami looks over at him, smiles in that stupidly handsome way of his, and without even asking for any further details casually says, âSure, Iâd love to,â as if Chigiri isnât going to go home tonight and try to dissect further meaning out of those four words.
Kunigami and Chigiri go on a road trip together.
never let you come apart by Ethereally | Bachira-centric with side Bachisagi, M, 9.2K
After a disastrous season and a tryst with Isagi where neither of them got what they wanted, the monster resurfaces to help Bachira ruin all his friendships.
red lights i'll run by putsch | Kunigami Rensuke/Chigiri Hyoma, T, 6K
âWhat, trying to play the hero?â Chigiri raises an eyebrow with a challenging smirk.
âDoes that make you the spoiled princess then?â Kunigami fires back, sounding unamused. But he is playing along, and Chigiri will take that as something.
Both Chigiri and Kunigami are trying to outrun something in their family, their past - they just didn't expect what would happen when they ran into each other.
Both Chigiri and Kunigami are trying to outrun something in their family, their past - they just didn't expect what would happen when they ran into each other.
break my heart and start again by cygnusknights | Bachira Meguru/Rin Itoshi/Isagi Yoichi, G, 8.1K, Chapter 1/3
The universe drops Bachira, Rin, and Isagi like bouncing balls into a closed box, setting them on an infinite collision course through the sacred vehicle that is the iAntiVirus roleplay forum.
the long way home by kiwiking | Bachira Meguru/Isagi Yoichi, T, 5.6K
Theyâve been on the road for almost an hour, and Isagi has been blessedly respectful of Bachiraâs silence, but something stale brews in between them, and Bachira knows he needs to say something soon. It would be unlike him otherwise.
The expanse stretches for two decades, and the challenge is to leap.
warm blood by KiraInTheSky | Kunigami Rensuke/Chigiri Hyoma, M, 2.3K, Chapter 1/3
Kunigami canât get a read on the situation, had he said something on the way to the hotel? Was there a problem at the airport he didnât catch? He racks his brain for a response that will satisfy Chigiri and keep himself from getting chewed out for whatever unknown offense he might have committed.
âYou know I always do whatever you want.â
The tightness in Chigiriâs jaw becomes more apparent. Fuck.
Chigiriâs voice is quiet as he replies, now facing the car window, âThatâs the thing isnât it? Itâs what I want, I just thought maybe this time you wanted it too.â
luci a sansiro by aprilisthecruellestmonth | Kunigami Rensuke/Chigiri Hyoma, E, 4.3K
There was a time âHyoma thinks, while he splashes his ghastly expression with cold waterâ when dreaming about stolen kisses and heated skin, warm and flush against his own, used to leave him giddy and dreamy for the rest of his day, if not week. Itâs a little pathetic now, if he is being honest with himself, and he would consider his past self to be nothing more than a fool, a teenager in love. Real life has always been different, regardless of Hyomaâs feelings on a lot of things, and itâs been clear for a long time.
In which, Rensuke and Hyoma somehow find each other again.
cutting through the cracks of the concrete by alaudarum | Rin Itoshi/Isagi Yoichi, T, 5K, Chapter 1/2
âIâm job-hunting in NYC and trying to relocate. I need a place to stay.â
Rin never was the sort who asked for anything straightforwardly.
At least, not until now.
âCan I stay with you?â
Rin needs a favor. Isagi doesn't think he can ever say no to Rin.
if you know (what i mean) by bittermoons | Olivier Aiku/Sendo Shuuto, M, 3K
And you would think Shuto wouldnât be here in the first place, as he and Aiku havenât had a real conversation since The Bar Incident.
How Sendo Shuto gets his Hollywood husband. Or, a love story.
Isagi Yoichi is a senior art student with a penchant for falling just below his eccentric professorâs demands. What should be the kickoff of his art career feels more and more like a dead end, his portfolio littered with paintings that donât inspire âchemical reactionsâ or canât âturn a zero into a oneâ.
Fate brings him a monster as a muse.
summary: Bachira and Isagi, over the years and around the world.
notes: this is a post-canon fic that features different snippets of bachira and isagi's lives, all the way from them meeting in blue lock to them becoming world cup champions as professional footballers. it's an ode to unconventional relationships and enduring love, and it's a really special fic to me <3
In a spectacular combination of desperate maneuvers and misplaced feet, Isagi and Bachira collideâlips on lipsâin a match thatâs televised for the whole world to see.
If that was the end of it, itâd be fine. An early career mishap, an embarrassing anecdote to laugh about one day and forget the next.
summary: Felix Fraldarius had always had a soulmate. It was decidedly not Sylvain.
notes: this is one part road-trip fic, one part soulmate au, originally written for the sylvix big bang way back in 2020. it's mainly about the power of choosing to love someone despite the odds, and it is to date the longest thing i've ever writtenâso it holds a special place in my heart :)
hi i havenât posted in years and have written many more fics that are not on this account now... but twitter is falling apart and i want to make an effort to return to tumblr so iâm going to retroactively post a few of my fav fics and then potentially (?) be more active on here. woo!
âLook,â Sylvain says, âwhat do you want from me?â
Felix does not answer.
âDo you want me to apologize? For saving your life?â He laughs, light and mocking, like the concept of not giving his life for Felix should be the premise of a hit comedy sketch. Like his own life having value ought to be the final punchline of a stand-up show.
On the precipice of war, Sylvain is injured. Felix copes.
summary: Â In which a concert pianist ends up stuck in a ex-highschool rock band trying to make it in the world, and Hinata Shouyou thinks that the way things sort themselves out can be really, really weird.
(Sometimes, it's less about living big, and more about dreaming it.)
summary:Â Kageyama Tobio is continually amazed with his ability to be an asshole.
(In which it's kind of about college, and kind of about a coffee shop, but mostly it's about volleyball, and all the stupid feelings that come with it.)
notes:Â i cant believe i fuckin wrote this
Kageyama Tobio is continually amazed with his ability to be an asshole.
By all extents, he shouldn't have ended up in the financial aid office. He shouldn't, because he had a full-ride volleyball scholarship, complete with a dorm, meal plan, and all expenses paid, as long as he stayed on the team as a regular. And with his abilities, that shouldn't have been problem.
Until the volleyball team put him on probation.
("Extended leave," they called it. "Just until you calm down and sort out how to work with us as a team." They might as well have given him a silver plaque that said Fuck You and roundhouse kicked him out the door.)
So now, he was fixing to lose his scholarshipâand only hope for higher education, hell knows he wasn't going to pass the entrance exams anywhere elseâ and be sent spiraling straight down to a future of 50 cent ramen noodles and homelessness, all because he, Kageyama Tobio, was an asshole.
"Next, please," comes a soft voice from inside the office, sounding entirely too sweet and understanding for the humiliation Kageyama was suffering. He trudges through the door, tempted to not even look the guy in the eyes before he realizes that that's something that assholes do, and he's really gotta work on that.
"Hello," said guy says, smiling sweetly and damn, is he even old enough to work here? He looks like a student himself. "You're Kageyama, correct? You made an appointment yesterday."
"Uh, yeah," Kageyama stutters out. Shit, should he have said "yes sir"? It felt weird calling a guy "sir" when he was probably shorter than him and had the disposition and general aura of his mom.
The guyâSugawara Koushi, head of financial affairs, his nameplate readsâ rifles through some papers.
"So," he begins, "you haven't lost your scholarship yet. However, it seems likelyâ"
Kageyama blanches and swallows. Nothing like the dean of financial affairs telling you your scholarship is as good as gone.
"â so we'll have to look into alternatives. Could you apply for academic interest?"
He's looking at Kageyama so intently and hopefully, and he doesn't have the heart to tell him his actual test scores.
"My grades, they're, uh.....", he looks to the side so he can escape the stupid hopeful gaze that can't yet see Kageyama is going to end up as an absolute and catastrophic failure. The kind that mothers point out to their kids when they pass them on the street and say Go to school kids, or you'll end up like that.
"They're not gonna win me any scholarships," he finishes lamely.
Sugawara just blinks and nods.
"Well, that's fine, you can stillâ"
He ruffles through some papers some more, then makes a small 'ah' sound and stops.
"There's a scholarship available for independent, working students. You just have to find a job that pays in this price range per hourâ" he points to some numbers on the paper application he just slid across to Kageyama, "and make the argument that you're supporting yourself. If you're getting any kind of dependency from your parents, you're going to have to cut it off."
Kageyama, as embarrassing as it was, didn't have a job before. He had a full-ride scholarship, and got checks from his mom once a month for food and stuff, so why should he need it? The idea of cutting off his mother's gracious supply of money so he could work his ass off at a minimum wage job wasn't appetizing, but neither was getting kicked out of college because he couldn't afford it, so.
"It won't cover the same amount as your scholarship, of course. But if you can combine this with the money you make on the job and survive off the bare minimum, you should be able to continue attending Karasuno University," Sugawara finishes, before sitting back down and smiling with his hands folded in that weird way that teachers and old people do.
"Thank you," Kageyama says, hurridly, shoving the application into his bag and focusing on getting the hell out of there. "Really."
"No problem."
Kageyama doesn't looks back when he slams the door of the financial aid office behind him, but he thinks he hears a soft, "Have a nice day," followed by a "Next, please."
 Looking for a job was the worst goddamn thing to ever happen to Kageyama in his life. He doesn't want to sign up for jobs that require interviews (read: all of them) because he's not too sure his grouchy disposition and subpar people skills are going to win any interviewers over. He also needs to find a job that pays in a specific price range and gets specific hours a week for the scholarship, which is a pain in the ass to find and even more of a pain in the ass to explain ("Well, I'm only gonna get this job to help with a scholarship and not because I really want to work here, so...").
Kageyama had plenty of confidence in his own ability to serve coffee. What'd he'd forgotten about was that he wasn't going to be working alone, which proved to be the worst miscalculation he'd ever made in his short life and made him really wish he'd chosen the booze.
Kageyama learned very quickly that the same problems he has with his volleyball team, (snapping at people, making everyone hate him, being a general asshole, etc.) he has with coworkers, too. He wasn't sure why that wouldn't have occurred to him until he got there.
Kenma was fine. Quiet, a little creepyâhe always got the feeling that Kenma was watching him, which was weird in and of itself, but fine. They didn't speak much, and when they did, it was polite. He could handle that much.
But.
Hinata Shouyou was going to be the reason he got stomach ulcers before 25.
Kageyama isn't even sure what it is about the kid that sets him off. If he had to narrow it down, he'd say everything. From the way his hair looks like it hasn't seen a brush in the last millennia, to the way he's constantly mixing up drinks and accidentally replacing sugar with salt (seriously, what the fuck), to the way he gets caught up talking to one customer before he even takes their order and ends up holding up the entire line. From the way he's late every morning to the way he snaps back when Kageyama snaps at him, every little bit of it sets him off. He doesn't think he's yelled this much at one specific person since junior high.
"Get a new job," his roomate, Nishinoya, suggests. Noya was one of the few people on the Karasuno team who could stand him, mainly because he's a libero and doesn't have to deal with Kageyama's infamous reckless toss. Kageyama also privately thinks that it's cause they share a roomâ Noya's not the subtle, low conflict kind of guy who could deal with living with someone he hated for four years, so he puts forth his best effort into getting along with him. He's not complaining, though. If Noya thought of him like the rest of the team did, he'd probably have to switch rooms.
"I can't," Kageyama groans, throwing his head back on the pillow. "Unless I wanna deal with losing another scholarship, I've gotta stay."
"Then you're gonna have to stick it out," Noya says with his stupid shit-eating grin.
Kageyama hates when he's right.
 The turn around happens on a Wednesday eveningâ it is, in Kageyama's mind, the beginning of the end (or maybe just the beginning, period.) He's working the same shift as Hinata, who's standing on the other end of the counter and pouting after he messed up yet another drink order even though Kageyama specifically told him it was a caramel macchiato, jesus christ.
"I'm just tired," Hinata mutters, as if it's going to excuse all his past actions. "My volleyball team had our first practice match today, not that you would care."
Wait, fuck, what.
Kageyama shoots him an incredulous look. "You play volleyball?" he asks.
Hinata gives him a side glance paired with an unreadable expression.
"Yeah, what of it?"
There are a lot of things Kageyama could say to that. He supposes he could start with "Cool, me too," or maybe continue the questions like "What position do you play?" or sound like an asshole and say something resembling "You're probably not even good," (because he can't be, not with that height). However, Kageyama can't decide which of these options is going to make him sound like less of a tool, so he just stands there for a minute without saying anything. It only serves to piss Hinata off.
"Hey, quit staring at me like a dead fish," Hinata snaps, to which Kageyama glares, and a lot of his confidence from a minute ago melts away as he looks little nauseous at the look he's being given. Kageyama snaps his head forward, and Hinata does the same, and silence fills the coffee shop once again.
They're almost at the end of their shift when Kageyama says,"Me, too." Quietly, because he doesn't really know what else to say.
Hinata just squints at him, and Kageyama knows he has no idea what he's talking about.
"I play, too. Volleyball," he clarifies, then coughs awkwardly. He doesn't give Hinata a chance to respond because he's already got their work apron halfway off and is heading out the door. If Hinata says something when it shuts behind him, he doesn't hear it.
But Friday morning, their next shift together, Hinata is ready for him.
"What position do you play? What high school team were you on? Do you still play now? Are you on scholarship? How far did you get in official tournaments? Are you any good?"
Kageyama has to forcibly push him out of the personal space Hinata was very quickly invading.
"One question at a time, dumbass."
Hinata doesn't even snap at him, still leaning forward and positively beaming. It's weird, he thinks, how his entire demeanor changes when he talks about volleyball. He takes a deep breath.
"I'm a setterâ"
"Hey! That's what Kenma is!"
"âand I played with Aoba Josaiâ"
"Shit, your team was full of assholesâ"
"I'm on the Karasuno team now, sort ofâ"
"Heyyy! I'm on the Nekoma team! We're rivals!"
"Would you let me finish?" he snaps, finally, and Hinata shrinks back. He doesn't, however, let him finish.
"I'm a middle blockerâ don't give me that lookâ and Kenma's a setter and we've played volleyball together since we were kids. We went to nationals once, but we didn't win. I'm gonna win for sure in college though!" He pauses and gives Kageyama a surprisingly dark look.
"We're gonna beat you fair and square, you know! Especially you, since you're such an asshat at work. Everything's always gotta be your way like theâ the king of the coffee shop," he decides, looking extremely proud of himself for that one. "Hey, if you're a setter, you should toss to me sometime during break. Kenma never wants to. I canâ" he puffs his chest up just slightly, "hit any toss."
Kageyama snorts, and bites back the retort that threatens to spill out of his mouth (I'd rather toss to a brick wall than toss to you). He puffs his chest up comically. "I can hit any toss," he imitates, his voice as overly high as it can go.
"Hey!" Hinata scowls, and punches him in the arm and shit, that actually hurt. Then he grins and uses his hands to flatten his hair down, making his voice dramatically low: "I said it was a caramel macchiato, dumbass!"
Kageyama makes a noncommittal squaking noise that he'll still deny making to this day, and grabs Hinata's stupid tiny little orange head.
It's the most interaction they've had since they started working together, and even though it's nowhere near friendshipâit's nowhere near tolerance, reallyâ he can't shake the feeling that it feels like progress.
 Over the course of the next few weeks, he begrudgingly tells Hinata the whole story of how he got put on probation from the Karasuno team, which Hinata thinks is hilarious ("They think you need to calm down? Isn't that the truth," "Shut up!") and more stories about his high school days. He tells him about Noya, who he apparently knows ("He's awesome! Once, we played a match against his team, and he did this move like ROLLLINGG THUNDER and he went like WHAM! and the ball was like BAKYUUN!"). In turn, Hinata tells him about the Nekoma team, and about Kenma's skills and all their solid receivers and the other middle blocker, named Inuoka, who Hinata apparently thinks is the best thing since sliced bread. They still snap, and they still argue, but they talk too, and it turns Kageyama's days from unbearable to acceptable.
Then one day, Hinata suggests he attends a Nekoma practice.
"You haven't gotten to play, right? Since you've been on probation."
It's true, he hasn't, not real volleyball anyway. There's something unsettling about accepting Hinata's offerâ attending a practice for their rival team, maybe, or it could just be playing in a team setting again when that's never really worked out for him in the past. Plus, playing with Hinata. That should speak for itself.
But, Hinata or no Hinata, rivals or no rivals, he really does love volleyball.
"Fine," he says, and Hinata lights up like a christmas tree, "but not just for you, dumbass."
 Hinata, he quickly learns, is part human and part bird, and one of the most terrifying people he's ever met. Kageyama doesn't even know how he manages to jump so high, but if he had doubts about Hinata being a good middle blocker, they've dissipated now. They're about halfway through practice when Kuro, the captain, who's been watching him frighteningly closely this whole time, suggests they split into two teams and play a mock match. Kenma as the setter on one team, Kageyama as the setter on the other.
Kageyama doesn't know what he's trying to pull, but he decides early on that his team is going to win.
However, it doesn't take long for him to slink back into his old way of playing. He hits a couple of decent tosses, but none of them go through, and then he starts subconsciously making them go faster, because they've gotta be fast if they wanna win, duh.
It isn't until he slams a super fast toss that no one could hit, shit that he winces to himself and is clearly reminded why he got kicked off his team in the first place. But then--
Hinata is suddenly there, which is weird as hell because he definitely wasn't a minute ago, and he slams down the ball so fast Kageyama can't even blink before it's there and gone on the other side.
Holy shit. He hit it.
No one moves a muscle.
"DUUUUUDE," Inuoka bursts out, and Hinata stares at his palm, then at Kageyama, then back at his palm.
Kageyama can feel his mouth stretching unconsciously into a huge, ear splitting grin; he's not sure why, but he feels a little light, and it's probably because that was the awesomest thing he's ever done.
Kuro looks pleasantly surprised, and Kenma is watching them both with a weird expression.
They don't manage a spike like that for the rest of the game, but every time Kageyama looks over, Hinata is beaming, and he thinks that it's probably okay.
 He starts attending Nekoma practices more often. He doesn't really fit inâNekoma has utmost trust in each other, and they're solid and receive and function like one unit--while Kageyama is just there. And it still kind of feels like betrayal to his own team, but.
When he slams out a toss and Hinata flies to go hit it, he takes a look aroundâ from the lights, to Inuoka on the other side blocking as best he can, to Hinata falling back to the earth, beaming like the sunâand it'sâ nice, he thinks.
 When Kageyama wakes up one morning excited to attend his goddamn rival team's practice, and goes to his tiny kitchen and makes himself a caramel macchiato just because he knows how, that's how he knows his life is over.
When Kageyama goes to work one day in a terrifyingly good mood, and Hinata's already there, and he makes some wisecrack about Hinata being on time for onceâ when Hinata laughs, that's how he knows his life is really over. Because when he hears that laugh his stomach betrays him and does tiny little flip flops, and all he can think is, fuck.
 He's so caught up in his weird Coffee Shop-Nekoma-Hinata-centric life that he kind of forgets he has his own team.
"Hey," Noya says to him one night. "Daichi wants you back at practice tomorrow."
What.
"What."
Noya kind of laughs. "Dude, it was probation. You didn't think it would be forever, did you?"
He kind of did, but he wasn't going to say that out loud.
"Besides, I've told him that you seem...different, lately. I don't know, happier? He thinks that getting a job did you well."
"Oh," Kageyama says, eloquently.
"So I'll see you tomorrow at practice, then?" Noya asks, then turns to go on his way out to some party or something for his friend Asahi.
"Yeah," Kageyama echoes. "See you tomorrow."
He's not sure why he doesn't feel overjoyed. After all, this is what he wanted from the start. He'll get his scholarship back, he'll get his team back, the financial support from his mother, all of it. Hell, he might be able to afford some real dinner and not McDonalds.
But he keeps thinking that if he goes back to Karasuno, he won't be able to practice with Nekoma anymore, and he won't need the coffee shop job. And he really doesn't want that.
 The practice the next day goes surprisingly well, and he's not really sure what to do cause he's never worked so easily with these people before. Daichi claps a hand on his shoulder.
"I knew you just needed some time off, he says, sounding inherently proud, as if this was all his doing.
Kageyama gives out tosses that the spikers slam again and again, Tanaka getting more and more worked up with each one that goes through. (They have to restrain him and forcibly put his shirt back on three or four times. He lost count.) Noya flashes him a wink and a thumbs up.
He's not sure why, but it feels a little empty in the gym without Hinata.
"It's good you're back, Kageyama," Daichi says at the group huddle near the end of practice, "'Cause we've got an important practice match coming up." He pauses for emphasis, looking each one of them in the face. "It's against our rivals, Nekoma."
Oh, shit.
 Kageyama doesn't mention his probation ending to Hinata. He doesn't quit his job at the coffee shop yet either, even though he received a call from Sugawara at financial aid that the scholarship was no longer necessary and he could quit the job if he so pleased. He knows, logically, he should quitâ he doesn't need the job and his grades have suffered since he started working and practicing all the time (not that they were great, in the first place.) He just can't bring himself to, yet.
Hinata knows about the practice match of courseâ he keeps talking about how excited he is to meet the people Kageyama has told him about and makes him pinky swear to be there to watch. ("Of course I'll be there, stupid," he says, but he doesn't tell him why.)
He knows that he's only hurting himself by keeping all this secret, but he looks at Hinata's sunny, pouty, stupid face and his heart does that sunny, pouty, stupid thing and all the words die on his throat.
The day of the practice match, though, when the entire Nekoma team is staring at him scandalized from the other side of the net, he really wishes he'd said something.
Kageyama wants to win. Nobody comes to a match to lose, and that's why he warns Daichi of the tricks up Nekoma's sleeve that he's learned from their practices. He tells the whole team of each player's strongest weaknesses, including Hinata, and ignores the weird feeling of betrayal in his stomach because what the hell, it wasn't ever even his team.
The practice match is over quickly, and to someone in the audience, Karasuno must look like geniuses or at least always prepared, cause every single secret weapon of Nekoma's doesn't work. They win by a landslide.
But for the people on the court, everyone knows why Karasuno won.
His teammates rejoice and high five and slap him on the shoulder, and he tries to join in, but he can feel Kenma's sharp gaze and Hinata's pissed glare boring into his back. It distracts him from celebrating.
He hasn't even made it out the gym yet when Hinata grabs him by the shirt collar and drags him out the side door and into the courtyard next to it.
"What the hell," he snaps.
"What do you mean, what the hell?" answers Kageyama, trying to keep his voice even and not angry or confused orâanything, really. Even though he knows exactly what what the hell is referring to.
Hinata makes a frustrated noise.
"Were you planning this from the very beginning? Did you get that job at the place me and Kenma worked so you couldâ attend our practices? Figure out our secrets? Get your team one point ahead in this stupidâ this stupid school rivalry?"
Wait.
"No, wait, Hinata, that's notâ"
"And to think!" Hinata snaps. "To think I actually believed you! Hell, I actually liked you! Youâ" and Hinata runs his fingers through his hair and continues to make frustrated noises. "I knew you were an asshole from the start. I shoulda stuck with my gut."
"Woah, woah, we're not on the same page here. It was all true, Hinata, everything I told you at work and everything I've told you untilâuntil two weeks ago, I guess. Was true."
Hinata snorts. "Right, because two weeks ago you realized it was prime time to morph back into the Darth Lord and share all the secrets you gained from us with your underlings, right?"
"No!" Kageyama snaps. And god, he must have sounded desperate or like a real idiot, because Hinata finally looks at him and raises an eyebrow.
"I didn'tâ I didn't tell them anything about your team until today, alright? Right before the match. Because, I dunno, it's a match. And I wanted to win. It was stupid, I know. Sorry."
Hinata still doesn't look very impressed, but gestures for him to continue. He takes a deep breath.
"Two weeks ago, I was taken off probation. And I didn't tell you, becauseâ I got my scholarship back, which means I'd quit the job at the coffee shop, and I'd have to stop coming to Nekoma practices. And Iâ I wasn't ready yetâtoâ" Kageyama cannot believe the words that are coming out of his own mouth. Even his ears are burning. "I wasn't ready yet to stop talking to you."
Hinata just blinks at him, once, twice. Really slowly. And then he crosses his arms.
"You're retarded," he says.
"What?"
"Just because you quit your job doesn't mean we have to stop talking to each other! I mean, what the hell, we're friends, Kageyama. At least, I thought we were."
"Andâ!" Hinata continues, "Just cause you got back on your old team doesn't mean you have to stop coming to Nekoma practices!"
"Yeah it does! We're rivals, that's weird!" snaps Kageyama.
Hinata stomps his foot on the ground and it kind of makes him seem like a petulant child. "I don't care about that! When I hit one of your tosses, it's awesome, right? I love that! I don't care about teams or rivals or whatever-the-shit! I want to play volleyball with you, Kageyama!"
Oh. Well.
That certainly sounded like a marriage proposal in sports terms.
Kageyama kind of makes a kind of quiet elephant noise and stares at him. He's not really sure what to say, so he does the only thing he can think of to do at the moment-- he leans down (and goddamn him for being so short) and kisses him.
Kageyama was never really a "dating" type of person, but he had kissed people before. Like, one and a half times. This was different.
There wasn't any lights or fireworks or "drowning in love xoxo" type of stuff. It was just a kiss, but somehow it was different, and his palms were clammy and kind of shaking against Hinata's shoulders and he really hoped he couldn't feel that.
When they pull back, Hinata just stares at him, eyes impossibly wide and face a little red and expression kind of unreadable.
And Hinata stands up on his tiptoes and kisses him again.
  In the end, he doesn't quit the job at the coffee shop. (What can he say, it grew on him. Besides, with the extra money he gets from it and his mom combined, he can afford to buy real food and new video games for Hinata to play when he comes over, so--it's worth it.)
They pose the idea to Kuro and Daichi, who both agree surprisingly easily, all things considering, to have joint practice to better both teams once a week. So now every Friday, Karasuno and Nekoma play volleyball together, and they always let Kageyama and Hinata be on the same team, even though everyone else switches.
And sometimes, outside of work and outside of volleyball, Kageyama and Hinata will get together, and go to the park, or go see a movie, or drive down to the ocean, making fun of each other the whole time. And when Noya leaves to go to a party, Hinata will come over, and they'll play video games and watch shitty horror movies and hold hands on the couch, while Hinata insists he is not scared, no way in hell (he's shaking.) And in the morning, when Kageyama wakes up first, he'll get up and make them two caramel macchiatos and it'sâ
