#actually-funny

merry christmas!! i hope your holidays are amazing and that it’s exactly how you want it to be, maybe even that you get to watch a bit of the hq!! anime :OO

whatever you end up doing, i hope that it’s a lovely time and that you enjoy this piece of ridiculous fluff!!!

You’re blushing!

Hinata stretches up onto the balls of his feet with his hands linked above his head and yawns so wide Tobio can see his tonsils. Not something he ever wanted to see. He whacks the back of his head.

"I could see your breakfast, dumbass," he says as Hinata yelps.

"It’s not my fault! I usually have ages after I get up to stop yawning and everything before I get to school. This is an anomaly." He frowns, like he’s thinking. Proving just how stupid he really is since it’s not like thinking will do him good. "You could just not look."

Their trip is to keep the level of volleyball practice up over the holidays. Theoretically. But, while coach Ukai has allowed him to touch a volleyball again, Tobio’s shoulder protests every time he attempts to put work in, so he can’t join the team practice. Two weeks until he can use it again. His doctor told him that he should be thankful that he didn’t injure it with a match coming up but, when everyone else is working hard, he’s at a loose end. And Hinata isn’t helping.

"What do you think we’ll be doing today?"

Tobio scowls. “Volleyball,” he replies and Hinata rolls his eyes.

"You could be more cheerful, running in the snow is great for your muscles and it keeps you cool so you can go longer." He scowls harder and Hinata rolls his eyes again. "Want me to come with you so you don’t have to be a lonely king?"

"I’m not lonely," he bites out. He’s not a king either but he can’t expect Hinata to remember that.

He doesn’t get lonely. Before he came to Karasuno, he practised and ran on his own constantly. The only person who could keep up with him back then was Oikawa, and he always refused. Even when they practised serves side by side he still claimed they were separate practices. He was used to that until he came here. Now, it’s impossible to shake Hinata off. Even when he runs as fast as he can, Hinata’s always coming up behind him.

Hinata deflates and shoves his hands into his pockets. “It’s more fun if you’re there.”

He says it so open and honestly that Tobio feels heat rise into his cheeks despite the cold that seeps in through the windows. “Don’t say embarrassing things.”

Hinata rolls his eyes, “Fine, I won’t tell my friend I actually enjoy his company. You could admit you like spending time with me now and again, you know?”

Tobio shoves Hinata’s shoulder, harder than he intended but it only pushes Hinata a little off balance and Hinata catches hold of his hand and grips it. Both his hands take up the same space as Tobio’s one.

"What are you doing?" Tobio asks as more heat rises to his cheeks. Like Hinata could ever adequately explain the things he does.

"I thought so." Hinata sounds fascinated.

"What?"

"You’re blushing!"

Tobio yanks his hand out of Hinata’s grasp. “What else would I do when you’re embarrassing.”

But Hinata shakes his head, “Nope, you don’t blush when you’re embarrassed. You blush when you’re happy.”

"And how would you know?" It’s unnerving that Hinata watches him so closely.

"Because I like it when you’re happy, duh." He makes it sound like the most obvious thing in the world. Hinata shuffles, when Tobio doesn’t find something to respond with, and asks "I’ll see you at lunch?" It’s not like Tobio has somewhere else to go for lunch.

Hinata hovers until Tobio nods.

He is not happy that Hinata is clingy.

Except how he is.

Hinata bounces off to join the others in their practice involving actual volleyballs while Tobio pulls on his jersey and tramps out into the snow, sparing one glance back at the gym.

——

The snow chills his feet, even through his shoes. He stamps on the ground and sets off. He has other exercises to do once he gets back but mostly his menu consists of running and more running. When what he wants to do is increase the power of his serve.

His path takes him through the shopping district and then through the park that backs onto it. Every store lining the street has some piece of Christmas ready to be sold for the holiday. One shop keeper smiles wide as he passes. He does his best to smile back but gives up when he looks vaguely frightened.

Hinata probably bought Tobio a present, ridiculous though it is when he has everything he needs already. He did want to get one for Hinata, but couldn’t work out what even after racking his brain. Christmas is tomorrow and he is presentless.

A tiny old lady tends the store on the corner and Tobio slows as he nears it. From the looks of things, it’s an antique shop, filled with dusty objects no one wants to buy. Before he can keep on with his run, the shopkeeper smiles and asks, “Are you looking for something in particular?”

He isn’t, of course. But his he finds himself looking at the table outside anyway. She shouldn’t leave her wares out in the snow, though the current snow is mostly days old and turning grey so she might have taken that into account. Closer inspection shows that her wares are even more useless than he thought. But he picks up a small wooden bird and pretends to give it some consideration anyway because her eyes are staring right through him. "We have a number of other things like that, if you’d like to see them?" He’s about to say no but remembers how much Hinata likes things that fly and nods instead. She tows him inside with her wrinkly hand an iron grip on his elbow, like the real reason she wanted him to come inside is so she could keep her balance when she walked.

Inside is cluttered, and he counts seven cuckoo clocks on the walls. All of them read different times. He stands and she flits around him, pulling items off shelves and depositing them in front of him. At this rate, he really will end up buying something. She takes down a collection of jewellery from a high shelf and winks at him as he picks a bracelet up. It’s a dark band with a soaring bird pressed into one side. “How-” She cuts across him and her eyes twinkle, “For you dear, a thousand yen.” He nods, and fishes out his money from his pocket. She lets him escape with only a short delay to wrap the bracelet, tells him to be a good boy and that she hopes his special someone enjoys the gift and shoos him out the door like he wasn’t ready to go before he saw anything in her shop.

He frowns through the rest of his run back.

—— Hinata waits for him with a mug of something at the gate with pink cheeks and a huff as Tobio jogs the last dash.

"You’re so late! Coach said it shouldn’t have taken nearly this long." Hinata’s smile turns obnoxious. "Did you get lost?"

Tobio glowers and tucks his hands into his pocket to hide the lump there. He considers saying something about wanting to avoid Hinata but that Hinata waited for him - he turns his face away so Hinata can’t claim that he’s blushing again.

"Because I’m the best friend you have and you’re probably freezing, I got you some hot milk." So that’s what’s in the mug. Hinata holds it out like he’s done something amazing. Tobio wraps his hands around it to inspect the contents.

He shoots Hinata a look. “You drank it.”

"Only some of it." Tobio checks again. The milk barely reaches a third of the way up the mug. "Come on, drink it already, everyone else is waiting for you so we can eat."

Tobio tosses it down. “That was cold, idiot,” he says and forces the mug back into Hinata’s hands. Not that it was bad after a run, but Hinata should know the difference between hot milk and cold milk.

"That’s what happens when you take forever! Milk gets cold."

Tobio grumbles the entire way to the dining hall.

——

In the morning, Tobio wakes to a weight on his stomach and a hand on his mouth. He grits his teeth and the weight moves but the hand stays.

A voice next to his ear whispers, “You know you sleep like a-” Hinata yawns “- bear or something? I thought I would have to pour water on you to wake you up.”

Tobio pushes Hinata’s hand away and extracts himself from under his blankets. He shoots a glance at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, still asleep though Yamaguchi mutters something and bats his hand at the air.

"Why the hell are you waking me up?" he hisses at a shadow he thinks is Hinata. He can’t be sure in the gloom. He set his alarm early, he can only imagine what Hinata did to get up earlier than that.

"Because," Hinata replies like it’s a whole answer and not a pain in the ass. "Come on, get up."

Tobio does, because going back to sleep at this point would be more trouble than it’s worth. He pulls on his jacket and follows Hinata out to the next empty room. This early and with no one in it, Tobio’s breath clouds in the air and he can see Hinata’s doing the same.

"So," Hinata starts with his voice at its regular volume. His hands are buried in his own jacket and Tobio can see him fidgeting with his inside seam. "I know it’s kind of stupid and you’re Kageyama and so you’ll probably get all dumb and grumpy." He looks at Tobio. "You’re already dumb and grumpy." Like any sensible person at whatever time this even is would be. "But it’s Christmas and you’re kind of my best friend and I think I like you so I wanted to get you a present."

Trying to focus on Hinata and not concentrate on the way his feet have goosebumps, Tobio frowns. Inside his pocket, he picks at the tape of Hinata’s present. “Why?”

Hinata’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know. You’re just, different, or something.” He pauses. “I like you,” he says to Tobio’s feet.

"You just said you <em>think</em> you like me," he points out.

Hinata shrugs before his shoulders slump down again, he keeps his gazed fixed on Tobio’s feet which does nothing for his goosebumps. “I changed my mind.”

Tobio presses his tongue to his teeth to keep from arguing about how Hinata can change his mind so quickly, because Hinata does things like that. It’s how he works. “Okay.” He thinks his cheeks must be red.

Hinata finally looks up. “Oh, right so…” he fumbles in his pocket and holds out a small parcel that looks like it’s entirely covered in tape. He swallows. “I don’t mind if you don’t like me back, we’re still going to be around each other all the time and everything-” he stops to yawn this time “- so if nothing changes that’s okay but,” from the movement in Hinata’s pocket of the hand not holding out his present, Hinata is going to wear a hole in the lining soon, “I just thought you should know,” he finishes with his voice the same volume it was when he woke Tobio up.

Tobio takes his present and pulls out the one he bought yesterday from his own pocket. “Okay,” he says because it seemed to do the job before, and offers the tiny wrapped parcel to Hinata.

Hinata looks from his hand to Tobio’s face and back. Tobio’s heart pounds in his ears. Hinata takes the present from Tobio and inspects it. The wrapping paper is covered in tiny stars. “I didn’t think you were going to.”

Tobio shrugs. He can’t think of anything to say. He <em>could</em> say all kinds of things. Hinata is his best friend, too. But that’s not saying much with the number of people Tobio talks to. And Hinata knows that.

They both set to pulling the paper off their presents. Hinata liberates his first and puts it on his wrist with a grin. “How does it look?”

"Too big," Tobio replies without thinking. He must be as stupid as Hinata not to think about how tiny his wrist is.

"Don’t care, it’s awesome."

Tobio ducks his head back to the parcel in his hands to keep fighting with the amount of tape Hinata covered it with. He can just feel Hinata watching him as he picks pieces of tape off and liberates his present bit by bit.

"You’re blushing."

"Shut up."

He finally manages to open a big enough hole in the paper to pull out what’s inside. Hinata rocks back on his heels. “My mom made them, I know it’s not as good as if I did it myself but knitting is really hard and I thought that this would count.” His present is a pair of hand knitted gloves and stitched onto the back is Tobio’s name. “I told her what I wanted though, it’s so you can’t lose them.” Tobio tugs them on and Hinata grins. “We should get back, the others will be getting up soon,” Hinata says and makes his way to the door.

Tobio’s new gloves fit perfectly. His blush creeps further down his neck. “I like you, too.”

Hinata freezes in the doorway. “Really?”