Of all the reactions Oikawa had expected, this was not one of them. His bright smile dimmed bit by bit with Hinata’s thoughtful silence, his warm hands on the smaller boy’s cheeks becoming a bit tense. The air, previously full of their laughter and Oikawa’s raucous teasing, was now still and stagnant. It made him shift uncomfortably, noticing the lack of space between himself and the younger boy.
When Hinata finally spoke, it was to question Oikawa’s motives. Really, even Oikawa himself didn’t know the answer to all of that. He just knew that they were alone, and had been having fun, and... he’d gotten a bit carried away. Now, though, he could feel the tiny crow’s cheeks heating up under his palms, and suddenly he became irritated.
“O-of course I’m being serious! What kind of monster would joke about that!” Squeezing Hinata’s cheeks gently, he pushed the other boy away from himself (still gently, always gently when he was teasing Hinata, the boy was so small--).
“If you don’t want to, just say so. I can handle rejection.” Even though really, it’d hurt him a lot. He’d somehow started to like this bright-eyed bird without noticing it, or, well... he’d been trying not to notice it. And now, he’d gone and said something stupid because he couldn’t control himself. Maybe he should’ve just acted like it was a joke; surely now Hinata would say that he only liked Oikawa as a friend, or worse... maybe he’d admit that he liked Tobio-chan instead.
Oikawa gasped quietly at the sharp pain that ran through him, and turned his face away to prepare for the rejection he was sure would come. Being turned down by a first-year... he was glad no one was around to witness it.
