19

When I write, I tend to add some original characters to fit my plot, so I'm sorry if any of you are confused ;-; I know I don't update that quickly so you might forget what happened before, so you should reread a chapter or two before to check if you forgot. If you're really confused because I didn't explain well enough leave a comment, I'll appreciate it :)

The day wasn't beautiful.

It was depressing and dark, with barely any light. The clouds seem to block out all of the joy from the world, and it made Hinata extremely uncomfortable.

But his friend's eyes. They seemed to be radiant. They were the lone lighten candle at night, illuminating to his life. Satou Noboru's hazel eyes simply were the most beautiful part to him.

That was too cheesy.

"So you still play volleyball?"

They sat across from each other cross-legged. Fukui was chasing a butterfly and fooling around on the field, enjoying the freedom.

"Of course," Hinata said, not daring to meet his beautiful eyes again. "You taught me, Satou-san."

"Shouyou, you always had outstanding potential, but I had no idea you'd become this amazing."

"I'm not that good," Hinata said humbly. But it was true, he had much to improve, on blocking, receiving, and overall in general.

"You don't have to deny it," Satou said, with his signature grin. "If you told me you played for Karasuno, I would have searched up all your games and watched them!"

"Which school did you go to? You never told me."

"Inarizaki High School."

(SLIGHT SPOILER READ PAST THE BOLDED WORDS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED OKAY- If you read the manga, this is a school Karasuno later faces in Nationals, and actually at the moment that I am writing this they are still in the middle of the game.)

"I never heard of it."

"We're from the Hyogo Prefecture," Satou said, happily reminiscing about his high school days. "And a powerhouse school of course. If you ever face them, you'll have to bring your all."

"Wow..."

"I was always a sub so I didn't do much," Satou chuckled. "But when I was on the team, we had an amazing captain..."

He continued on about the players on his team, joyfully. He obviously loved volleyball as well. He went on and on about how they played and what happened. It was a story after another, and when he finally stopped he looked towards Hinata again.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I just..." Hinata blushed and looked down again.

"If I said something wrong, or if I'm just too boring then-"

"I'm sorry, I just think you're goodlooking." Hinata finally admitted, knowing he couldn't hide it anymore.

For a split second, Satou's face lit up in surprise. Was Satou going to think that he was a creep? Had he ruined years of friendship? Hinata's life was filled with bad decisions, but this could turn out as one of the worse one.

He never really thought about the concept of being gay. Was he even gay? Was he bisexual? Pansexual? He didn't really think about it. He didn't really care which gender he liked, and more of who it was.

Was this accepted by society? What if Satou wanted to avoid him? Hinata closed his eyes and grimaced.

"Thanks!" Satou said simply.

He didn't look any different than before. His expression seemed the same.

"I...?"

"I hear it a lot," Satou said.  "It's quite normal honestly, so you don't have to feel weird. And no, I'm not judging you."

"You don't think I'm creepy?"

"Of course not," he said, chuckling. "My girlfriend might get jealous though."

"Oh you have... of course."

He forgot the the concept of straight people was still much more common than gays. Now that he thought about it, a lot of things going on his volleyball team that seemed weird.

Were they gay? After some thought he decided that Yamaguchi definitely fell in love Tsukishima, so he was therefore gay. It was weird because Hinata had never thought about it.

Before, he had thought that as long you loved someone, that was all that mattered.

But society thought differently.

He was watching TV channel one day and two guys started kissing each other. Immediately shouts of protest were heard and there were a few people shouting at them. Then another few people came to the two's defence and told the protesters to leave.

It caused mayhem and was on national news. Many people didn't accept it, deciding that it was against God's creation or something. It was the first time Hinata even saw such hate on television. He always believed it didn't matter.

Love comes in all shapes and sizes.

His teacher told him that when he asked her the next day. He couldn't grasp the concept of bias and judging. He didn't even get attraction that much as well, but when he did he thought it was true love.

Guess it wasn't so simple.

"So I take it you still play volleyball?" the older boy asked.

"Yeah, of course," Hinata shifted uncomfortably.

"Great! Let's play!" Satou said enthusiastically grabbing his bag and zipping it open.

Hinata felt extreme déjà vu, as Satou just popped out a volleyball from his bag.

"You have a volleyball in there?"

"I was going to practice actually, so it was a coincidence that you asked about it."

"How do you even fit an entire ball inside a backpack?"

"I defy logic."

"How do you fit an entire volleyball in the bag?" Hinata asked, feeling bewildered.

"Would it be a secret if I told you?" Satou claimed, bolting up.

Hinata slowly got up, remembering that his leg was still in pain. Satou tossed the ball to him and he tried to do his  best receive, but it still wasn't very good. At least it didn't fly backwards this time, as it shot straight forward, almost whipping it at his handsome friend's face.

"Are you sure you've been playing volleyball?" He said bluntly. "Your receives are still as bad as before."

Hinata's face flushed and he felt discouraged once more.

"Hey I'm sorry, I was just trying to tease you. What position do you play? I would have guessed that you were libero but I guess not."

"Middle blocker."

"Cool."

And that was it. Everyone else he told had the same surprised and shocked expression. Some doubted him and some were just purely amazed.

But Satou was just slightly impressed, and it wasn't like he was a jerk who doubted him, or thought that it was nothing amazing. He just knew Hinata was amazing.

He had no doubt that Hinata was an amazing player and encouraged him from the beginning. He knew that Hinata would never fail him, and be amazing at the position he played.

That made Hinata feel so much for confident.

Satou turned around and tossed the ball up towards him. Without thinking, Hinata locked his hands together and got into position to receive. But as he got into the squatting position, and bend his knees, he felt pain again in his legs.

He couldn't look lame in front of him though, so he followed through with his motions. The pass was a bit low but he managed to get it to the right direction this time.

"That's better, now try to get the height," Satou called out as he bumped the ball back to Hinata. "You don't want your setter complaining about the pass do you?"

Hinata struggled to get to the ball again, and this time the pass had height, but no control at all. It flew way past him and almost hit Fukui right on the head.

"Sorry!" Hinata called out, feeling immediate regret.

"Nah it's fine," Satou chuckled as he ran to retrieve the ball. "How is your setter by the way? What's he like?"

"His name is Kageyama!"' Hinata replied. "He is actually the best setter I've ever seen or met. He's a genius and he can get the ball to anywhere he wants to no matter where he is. We have this cool minus tempo quick! And it's almost all because he's an amazing setter, and I trust him a lot!"

Satou stopped in his tracks and turned towards him. "Wow, he's that cool?"

"Yes!" Hinata said excitedly. "He can do really cool setter dumps too. He tall as well, I wish I was that tall. And his serves are so hard to receive! Like bam pow! He's just so amazing..."

"So are you guys dating?"

"What!?"

"I can tell from your voice and expression," Satou grinned. "You're obviously in love with him. Not like a crush, like before when you liked me. You like everything about him."

It was so weird how he was just so chill about it. He wished that everyone he knew was this cool with everything.

"H-how did you know? How are you so sure?" Hinata stammered.

"I can always tell when someone is in love with someone else," Satou smirked, obviously happy that he was right.

He tossed the ball again towards Hinata but this time as he went towards it, his knees seemed to lock in place. His legs wouldn't move properly, and the pain was unbearable this time.

It didn't even "just hurt", this pain was too much and for a moment he was blinded. All he saw was red, and his head felt extremely heavy. He heard the ball hit the ground somewhere near him, and about a second after, he felt himself hit the ground as well.

△△△

The forecast was not looking good this week.

It was the rainy time of the year, and there was rain, every single day of the week.

Terrible flashbacks came to him as he imagined the things that would happen.

No...no...no...

Maybe it would go away if he tried not to think about it.

Kageyama knew for a fact that it wasn't true. It didn't work like that.

He hated how the sky became gloomy and dark because of the rain. How the car's headlights were blinding, and drivers drove recklessly. The smell of rain was unpleasant to him, and it made him feel queasy inside.

There was a time where he splashed in the puddles, and wore his rain boots with pride. Whenever it rained, he remembered laughing and Dad and Mom both played with him. He wished it would rain all day.

Rain rain go away...

The other children all sang the song and some were bummed out whenever it rained, and Kageyama hated it. The tune itself was annoying, but did not want the rain to go away at all.

How ironic.

Kageyama felt extremely dizzy. His head was throbbing and he felt every pound against his head from the inside. He was sweating. Drowning in his own sweat. He hated it so much. Why him?

No point on trying to rest more. He sat up on his bed and checked the his phone for the time.

4:42pm

It was the afternoon?

Kageyama scanned his surroundings in confusion. His brain didn't seem to want to work at the moment. What happened that made him lie in bed late in the afternoon?

He looked at his desk and sighed. The piles of math homework still lied there. He had gotten tired and decided to take a nap but it had only been less than an hour since he remembered losing consciousness.

He checked his phone again. He had a new text from Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi: How are you holding up?

For a second, he didn't get why he was asking, but as he looked out the window again, he was reminded of the situation. He was doing his math homework, but the sound of raindrops kept distracting him.

Me: Okay so far.

Me: Hard to focus.

Kageyama sighed, and got up again. He knew he had to do his homework, or else he'd fail. Not that he really cared abbout school, but if he didn't pass he

Iwaizumi: Try clearing your head. I know it's tough.

Me: I want to take a walk... but that's not going to work

He wanted to have some fresh air but that was basically impossible. He heard the booming sound of thunder that made him jump up in surprise.

Deep breathes.

In the distant he heard the sound of tires. There was no light, nor car, but he felt blinded and light-headed. Sweat dripped from his forehead and down to his legs. He heard the notification for a new text, and he was snapped out of the state for a moment.

Iwaizumi: How do you usually go to school when it rains?

Me: I pretend I'm sick. Or, it's just a terrible time.

Me: My teachers always ask me why I'm soaked, and I usually bring a change of clothes.

He didn't even want to think about it. Whenever it rained, he wanted to die. He had unpleasant thoughts, but luckily the area that they lived in wasn't a particularly rainy environment.

Iwaizumi: Ever heard of a rain coat?

Iwaizumi: You hate umbrellas, but rain coats will prevent you from being soaked.

That was surprisingly true.

Kageyama: How can I get one?

He waited for a few minutes, but there was no reply. And then he heard a knock on the door. Was it Iwaizumi? He knew the upperclassmen cared a lot about him, but he had no idea he was this eager to help.

He rushed downstairs and opened the door, expecting to see the Seijoh's ace.

Instead he was met with Sugawara.

"Hey long time no see, how are you doing?" Suga said casually, wearing a raincoat and holding one as well.

"W-what?"

"Who's this?" Kageyama's mom appeared behind him, and he felt crowded. "You must be Tobio's friend."

"Yes hello Okaasan,"  Suga said respectfully. "I'm on Kageyama-kun's team."

"Oh volleyball right?" She said with a warm smile. "Please come in! Tobio be more respectful to your friend."

"Yeah," Kageyama grumbled. "Can you leave us alone?"

She nodded and walked away. "Alright, tell me if you need something."

"Wasn't that a bit rude?" Suga said, frowning.

He didn't talk to his mother that much but when there were guests over she was the kindest person ever. He wished Dad was still here. Their family was perfect when he was here, and he loved both of them, but they didn't speak anymore about anything.

"It's okay, whatever," Kageyama said. "She doesn't care."

"You should be nicer to your mom," Suga scolded.

"Alright mom," Kageyama joked. This earned a chuckle from Suga as he entered the room.

"Why are you here?"

Suga was mostly always a nice guy.  Mr. Refreshing, according to Oikawa. He was the mom of the team and was always there for Kageyama. But as his face turned dead serious, and anger seemed to rise on to him, Kageyama felt genuine fear.

"Why don't you tell me what the frickidy frack is going on with you?" Suga growled. "Why have you been avoiding all of us and only talking to Iwaizumi? Why don't you contact me when you need me? Us? We're a team!"

"I..." Kageyama felt like a child being yelled at by an adult.

"We're all worried about you! We're so so so worried..." Suga said, letting out a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry.... I'm sorry..." And he felt himself being pulled into Suga's embrace. For the first time, he felt like he had a family. They cared for him, and although he was crying, he felt happy. It's like how a child doesn't cry when they're hurt until they see their mom. It's because the child knows that their mother cares for them.

In the midst of the chaos going on, he found himself. Maybe he couldn't get through the difficulties by himself, and maybe he just needed people to rely on.

A/N: don't worry I won't stop updating ;) I'm so stressed from school, but when I'm stressed I can't do my homework and I work on a new chapter... but never publish it. It's a weird habit. This was a slightly longer chapter.