#viktor.txt

Shouyou’s cheeks flamed red for a reason other than the chill of the early morning and he shook his head rapidly, training his eyes directly ahead. He squeezed the handlebars of his bike, trying to ground himself before he flew into orbit out of embarrassment. He bit the inside of his cheek.

‘You’ve had this crush for months! You should have a better handle on it by now!’ He scolded himself in his head, stopping at the stop sign that signaled five more minutes till he arrived at the school. After checking both ways for cars and seeing none, he continued on his way. Shouyou knew that he was preaching to the choir when he said that to himself; he wasn’t going to just stop with the thoughts. Even worse, the longer Shouyou had the crush (he would not admit that it was probably more than just a crush at this point) the worse he got at holding the lovey-dovey thoughts at bay. Lovey-dovey thoughts about Kageyama no less. His rival and his best friend. Who, Shouyou admitted, was probably straight and had no qualms about dropping Shouyou as soon as he found out what a creep he was. 

Sighing, Shouyou watched the puff of steam that he exuded from his mouth dissipate into thin air as he tried to get a grip on himself. He tried not to pity himself or his… situation when it came to Kageyama. There were plenty of people who fell in love with their best friends and it was never reciprocated. And Shouyou knew that him and Kageyama would fall into that category point blank. No matter how much Shouyou wanted it to be true, Kageyama just wasn’t going to love Shouyou like he loved him. That was okay, the redhead tried to tell himself every time the thought came up, he would be satisfied with Kageyama just being his friend and loving him platonically. 

(He wouldn’t be satisfied.)

Rounding the final corner before he came upon Karasuno, Shouyou slowed down and hopped off his bike, putting it in the bike rack and shifting the bags on his shoulders to be more comfortable. His sneakers weren’t warding off the cold very well, so his feet and legs were cold.

‘Hopefully they’ll have the heat fixed in the gym today’, he mused as he looked up at the sky, watching the clouds grazing gently with the harsh wind. He jogged to the clubroom, trying to warm himself up before he got into the gym so his joints wouldn’t be stiff for practice. He was surprised to see Kageyama already there, obviously waiting for someone to unlock the door.

(Shouyou tried not to jump off the walls with the warmth that filled his heart at the prospect of Kageyama knowing that Shouyou would be the one who opened the door for him since he was the one entrusted with the key-- waiting on him.)

Shouyou sped up his jog pace, Kageyama hearing the light pounding of his feet and looking up. His expression didn’t change dramatically, like turning from his resting frown into a smile or anything, but Shouyou thought that his eyes may have softened. But it was hard to tell in the faint light of the early morning with the sun just barely peeking over the horizon, even from the top of the mountain when Shouyou had biked there. The redhead gave the other serious teen a bright smile and Kageyama grunted in response. 

“How long were you waiting here?” Shouyou asked as he hopped into Kageyama’s space to unlock the door to the clubroom. The taller teen shrugged, shifting his gym bag on his shoulder, his eyes averted. Shouyou bit the inside of his cheek, hands shaking from the cold.

“You could’ve texted me if you wanted to be here earlier, you know I’d respond!” The redhead scolded lightly as the door clicked open. “I don’t want m-- Karasuno’s-- setter to catch a cold for a stupid reason.” Shouyou internally begged that Kageyama didn’t notice the almost slip-up. Thankfully, Kageyama was as clueless as usual and he just shrugged again, which was infuriating in its own right. 

“Don’t just shrug at me,” Shouyou narrowed his eyes and Kageyama just shoved past the short redhead, just to start stripping off his layers-- which, wow. Shouyou was not strong enough for this. Heat rushed to his cheeks and he quickly slammed the door shut.

“I hadn’t even closed the door yet, Pervy-yama! What if someone saw you stripping?” Kageyama raised a singular dark brow and tilted his head towards the electronic clock hanging on the wall.

“At five-thirty in the morning?” His blunt voice asked with a hint of smugness and Shouyou just scowled in return. He went over to Kageyama and flicked his (thankfully clothed) chest. 

“Don’t be such an asshole,” the redhead chastised. “How you get so many girls confessing and talking to and about you is beyond me when you’re such a douche.” Shouyou rolled his eyes. ‘Yes I know I’m a hypocrite, universe. Don’t point it out.’ The first year shrugged off his sweatshirt and pulled out his practice t-shirt and jersey. As he put them on, Shouyou heard a muffled response due to his head being trapped in the confines of his shirt. He quickly pulled the shirt over his head and gave Kageyama a questioning look.

“What’d you say?” He questioned and Kageyama mumbled it so quietly that the short redhead couldn’t hear it. Shouyou narrowed his brown eyes at the taller teen.

“What? You’ve gotta say it louder--”

“I said, I don’t know why girls confess to me, either,” Kageyama growled and Shouyou’s shoulders went slack, as did his jaw slightly in disbelief. Kageyama seemed to take that as a sign to continue, and continue he did.

“Fuck. Look, I know I’m an asshole and that I’m selfish. That I don’t… read situations right and that I’m too intense--” Kageyama was forcefully stopped when Shouyou slapped his shoulder. His eyes were intense and Kageyama gulped, almost not enough to be noticeable but Shouyou saw it and powered on.

“Kageyama-kun,” he started, his voice careful but demanding, “what the hell are you on?” Kageyama blinked and opened his mouth to respond but Shouyou just shook his head. The redhead was now fired up and just teeny bit pissed off that his crush didn’t see how fucking attractive he was. He took a deep breath and looked up into deep blue eyes that were growing more and more pronounced as his cheeks turned a rosy red color. 

“You are an asshole. And an idiot.” Shouyou stated simply and Kageyama’s eyes narrowed, his frown taking over full-force.

“Are you trying to make me feel bad--”

“No, you dumbass. I’m saying that yes, you are an asshole. But you’re an attractive asshole!” Kageyama’s eyes widened, but Shouyou soldiered on.

“Wait--”

“You are the stupidest, dumbest, dorkiest, hottest boy I know! You’re so… tall and you’ve got that assholeish persona but you’re actually a freaking nerd! You garden.” Shouyou stressed, waving his arms around as he did so. Kageyama’s face was turning more and more red the longer the redhead went on. ‘What am I doing? This is…’ Shouyou ignored the thought, continuing his tirade without pause.

“Wait Hinata--”

“And! You are so…” Shouyou came up at a loss for words, so he just extended his arms out. “You are just so gwah! You make me feel so gwahh and--” Shouyou was silenced with a hand over his mouth. He looked up into the dark blue eyes of the other teen and realized what he had said. Shouyou did the only thing he could think of.

“The hell? Did you just lick me?” Kageyama lifted his hand off of the other’s mouth and Shouyou took the chance to make a break for it. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Kageyama grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping the teen from escaping with what little dignity he had left. Shouyou struggled in it uselessly. He couldn’t help thinking that his hands were warm against his skin, almost burning him where the other touched his arm. He hated the feeling. He wanted more. 

“Let me go, dumbass!” Shouyou shouted and Kageyama retaliated by strengthening his grip. He then grabbed the redhead’s other arm and made Shouyou turn towards him, which the shorter teen both loved and hated. 

“Please don’t kill me.” He begged when he saw just how pissed Kageyama was when he was forcefully faced toward him. He struggled against the grip for a minute, but stopped once he realized how useless it was.

‘Here lies Hinata Shouyou, killed by his crush after confessing.’ Shouyou thought morbidly. He was taken out of his thoughts by a low voice that he couldn’t crave enough of. 

“What do you mean I make you feel all ‘gwah’?” Kageyama asked carefully and Shouyou blinked. That wasn’t quite what he had been expecting. Shouyou pursed his lips, thinking about what he was going to say with trepidation. 

‘It’s not like he doesn’t already know… Here goes nothing.’

“It means I like you,” he said. “Dumbass.” He added for good measure. ‘Like’ wasn’t exactly the word Shouyou would use to describe how he felt, but he wasn’t ready to admit that to himself, never mind Kageyama. Shouyou licked his lips, nervousness filling every corner of his body. 

The other teen’s face went through a bunch of expressions that Shouyou couldn’t even begin to decipher. He looked constipated for most of them, but that didn’t mean much. He always looked like he was constipated when there were emotions involved. The thought brought some familiarity to the situation. 

“You…” Kageyama trailed off, his grip never slackening. “You… like me?” He sounded breathless. Shouyou nodded, not daring to open his mouth, not with how much he had let loose today. He waited for what Kageyama was going to say next. 

“You mean that I’ve been worrying about this for nothing?!” Kageyama suddenly roared and Shouyou had barely the wits to respond.

“What-- mmph!” 

Warm and chapped lips were suddenly against his own. They were rough but somehow tentative and caring as the kiss deepened. Shouyou's eyes finally slid shut and he wrapped his arms around Kageyama’s middle, drinking in the warmth of the boy next to him. The kiss wasn’t good in the traditional sense; their teeth clacked together sometimes and it was much wetter than it needed to be, but Kageyama tasted like milk and mint toothpaste and it was kind of grossly perfect. 

Eventually, they had to break the kiss up, both of them bereft of breath and gasping for air. Shouyou still felt the ghost of Kageyama’s passion on his lips.

After a few moments of silence besides their raspy breaths, Shouyou cleared his throat and slid his hands into Kageyama’s. 

“I’m assuming you like me too?” He asked and Kageyama scoffed, his cheeks flushed a bright cherry red. His hands were as clammy as Shouyou’s, which made the redhead feel better about all of the events that had happened.

“If you don’t get it, you’re the dumbass.” Kageyama rumbled out lowly and Shouyou just smiled sunnily. He stood on his tiptoes and kissed Kageyama’s blushing cheeks.