#fading sunlight

Fading Sunlight masterlist

A Hinata Shoyo x childhood best friend!reader timeline.

↳ A collection of things that have happened, between you and the boy who taught you how to fly.

A/N: Most of the timeline is SFW, but this particular part is 18+. MDNI, this is not for you!

“And cut!” The studio director caps the camera lens. “That was perfect, Hinata.” He grins. “The ladies are going to love this one.”

Hinata, clad only in scanty boxers and a sheer, practically see-through coverup, smiles back. He spins the volleyball in his hands, unable to let go of it even though it’s just a prop. “I’m just glad to get a package of these for free!” He twirls around, tugging on the thin fabric around his waist. “These are like, the perfect things to wear during long games.”

He bounces on the balls of his feet, and you hide your smirk behind your hand as your eyes are drawn across his body, the studio lights doing absolutely everything they could to outline every curve of muscle on his bronzed skin. There's a faint lipstick mark on his chest, painted on by the careful hands of a makeup designer. You want to leave one on him for real.

As the crew begins to clean up the set, he waves you over. 

“So, did you enjoy the show?”

“You have no idea.” You draw your finger down his chest. “I still can’t believe it sometimes.” 

“What? That you married me?”

“Well, yeah. And that my skinny next-door neighbor became,” you wave your hands towards him. “All this.”

He grins. “I’ll show you all this once we’re back at home, baby.” 

Reader and Tobio are roommates, not together! Reader’s moved to Tokyo to go to college, and since Kageyama is playing for the Adlers in the same area they live together.

You have no idea how much this comment means to me :')

Forgive me for going on a bit of a ramble below-

Fading Sunlight started as a way for me to get my writing spark back using my favorite character of all time. It's also a bit of a study on Hinata's journey through the Haikyuu series and who the 'reader' would be going along with that in all its joyful and painful moments. Growing up with someone like him, there would always be a time in which one of you would outpace the other and feelings of being 'left behind' or 'growing apart' might surface. There is a reason we call these things 'growing pains' and that's the feeling I wanted to capture.

Fanfiction, especially x reader fanfiction, tends to be highly indulgent. We imagine the perfect relationships for ourselves, with our favorite characters who offer no pushback because in our heads, they can be exactly what we want them to be. With Fading Sunlight, I've kind of had to force myself to write those painful moments, even ones that stretch out over long periods of time and lingered. It's self-indulgent because the reader is a very specific kind of person who matches who I am, but also not self-indulgent because it forces you to sit with uncomfortable moments in which you might feel left behind by the character you want to comfort you.

I wanted all of that to be conveyed, but as a college student I knew I didn't have time to write long chapters, so I settled with short, non-proofread oneshots. I do think I chose the wrong format for this series, because drabbles are meant to be 'emotionally complete' within the short amount of time it takes to read them. In the future, I think I will reformat this series.

I’m still playing around with the timeline of Fading Sunlight, so bear with me if some things are switched around!

As of right now, I’ve made a few mistakes on Hinata’s decision to go to Brazil:

He was already set on learning beach volleyball in his second year of high school, and the offer came from Coach Washijo around his graduation, in March 2015. So he would have had a year to prepare and secure an apartment by April 2016, when he leaves.

The Rio Olympics happen in August 2016. I’m still deciding whether or not reader should visit Hinata or not, because August does happen to be a long break period for college students.

“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”

Last night was downright cold. When I went out earlier this morning, it was 57˚. The sun is wending its way to winter. Soon it will give us just light, not warmth, and that light is less and less and shorter and shorter each day. Before long the mornings will be dark and the nights will come early.

The leaves still wear their summer colors, but mums are front and center in all the farm stands and…