Chapter Text
Tsukishima knows his angle is off. He's leaning too far forward and the position is less than ideal, not to mention his glasses have long been abandoned leading to lack of proper sight the dim lighting didn't help against. Therefore, the kiss is more pressed against the corner of Hinata's mouth than properly lined up.
It lasts for a moment before Tsukishima draws back and takes a breath as Hinata's eyes flutter open to blink owlishly at him.
It's in that moment that cold fear and anxiety grips Tsukishima. He's unsure how he could go back to sleep here next to Hinata and his brain runs through scenarios of leaving in the morning and how he could get back home alone. What would he tell Yamaguchi? What would he tell his brother?
“I – I'm sorry –”
But he's stopped when Hinata sighs, the other's body seeming to relax with relief. And despite the blurriness without his glasses, Tsukishima could make out the flash of teeth of a grin on the other's face.
“I've been waiting forever for you to do that,” Hinata said, the emphasis on forever and sounding faintly exasperated.
“You. I.” Tsukishima found himself at a loss, again, processing Hinata's words at a much slower pace than he should have been. Hinata is still smiling at him and staring in a way that makes Tsukishima feel completely vulnerable. “What?”
And Hinata just chuckles and leans in, brushing against Tsukishima's bottom lip. “I like you–” He pauses and then breathes– “Tsukki.”
It's too much. Not that it's bad – in fact, Tsukishima would have to say that it might be one of the best moments of his life – it's just too much.
Hinata is too much.
For the second time Tsukishima leans in, and this time Hinata is reaching for him. There are hands at his shoulders and he feels the other curving underneath him as he leans over to try and achieve a better angle. Their noses squish and Tsukishima can feel the arm he has by Hinata's side to balance himself is starting to cramp and perhaps Hinata is kissing him with a bit too much force but Tsukishima can't really find the energy to care.
They get better with practice.
The realization lingers idly in the back of Tsukishima's mind. He's never kissed anyone before now. He's not sure about Hinata. There's a sort of clumsiness to the other's movements that makes him suspect the redhead hasn't, but that really doesn't mean anything. The clumsiness could just be eagerness, lack of experience, or lack of skill.
But Tsukishima could not care less because Hinata is warm in his arms and soft at his mouth.
They've since shifted positions from their first couple of kisses. Tsukishima's back is against his futon and Hinata is not so much on top of him as he is simply leaning over him, chest to chest, one of his knees pressing against Tsukishima's thigh. Hinata's hands cup his face and Tsukishima presses a hand near Hinata's lower back and the other against the back of Hinata's head. At this, Hinata makes a soft sound against his mouth and its honestly the most incredible thing.
Tsukishima doesn't know how long it is before they part to catch their breath, foreheads pressed together and Hinata's hands still against his face. But Tsukishima doesn't wait for long before giving another soft peck to Hinata's lips. Then another. And then another on Hinata's nose, chin, cheeks, and forehead until Hinata starts chuckling and Tsukishima's mind is clearing through the haze and his heart is soaring.
“How long?” Tsukishima finds himself asking.
For a moment, Hinata just stares at him, still gooey-eyed and Tsukishima can't help but find it adorable. But after a moment, the redhead blinks himself into focus. “Oh. Mm... a while.” He admits this almost sheepishly even though they had been making out a few seconds ago.
Tsukishima feels his stomach twist in slight apprehension and also excitement. “How long is a while?”
Hinata chews at his bottom lip and Tsukishima watches the movement before Hinata says, “A few months?”
Tsukishima grins slyly, “Are you telling me or asking me?”
Hinata whines at the other's teasing, but there's a wide spreading smile that Tsukishima has the strongest urge to kiss away.
A moment later, “I have to tell you something,” Hinata says when they break apart for a moment. Tsukishima hums questioningly against the others cheek.
“You know the other day? When I was asking about a... a book?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I... well I actually lied. I didn't have a project,” Hinata said softly, like a secret, “I just... I just wanted to talk to you.”
It takes Tsukishima a second but then he feels a laugh bubbling up in his chest and he grins wildly against Hinata's hair. “You are such a dork.” And Hinata giggles, seemingly relieved.
“I have something I should tell you too then,” Tsukishima says.
“Huh? What?” Hinata questioned.
“Remember when you asked me, not long after you first came into the shop if I remembered you the first time we met. I actually lied. I didn't remember you until you showed up in front of me and Yamaguchi.”
Hinata seems to almost hiccup with laughter. Their foreheads bump and it's the last straw before Tsukishima lets his own laughter bubble over and then they're both in giggling dissaray.
“We're such a mess... Tsukki,” Hinata says.
The nickname takes on a whole different meaning in the way he says it. Tsukishima breathes in deeply. His fingers at the back of Hinata's head urge him closer and then they're back to kissing.
Their kisses soon become less hurried, not lessening in enthusiasm as much as the franticness from before has now faded into comfort.
Eventually, they do stop, but it feels less like the end of something and more of a transition of sorts. Hinata barely moves from his position so Tsukishima ends up falling asleep on his back. It's fine, he thinks, his fingers brushing through Hinata's hair. There's so much his brain still wants to sift through, but it's too late in the night and he is far too content.
When Tsukishima wakes up, he's almost unbearably hot.
He's only half awake, knows its probably too early in the morning to be up and feeling stifled is most likely what woke him up. When this situation happens at home, it's merely a case of him kicking the covers off of his legs to allow the bedroom air to cool him off, and so, by reflex, that is exactly what he does.
There's a small groan as his foot makes contact with something solid in trying to push the covers off of himself, and it's not from him.
Hinata's messy head of hair comes into Tsukishima's blurry vision, and the other realizes what has happened. He scrubs his eyes with the heel of his palm, blinking out the sleep and trying to see as clearly as he's able to without his glasses. “Sorry,” he mutters.
There's a low hum from Hinata, who wriggles himself out from underneath his own covers so that they gather in a pile against his back and he curls up more against Tsukishima's side. Tsukishima moves too. His back aches from the angle he fell asleep on it and the foreignness of a hard futon rather than his own bed, so he turns on his side, facing Hinata.
Hinata's eyes are still closed as he says, “I don't think I can go back to sleep.”
Tsukishima simply hums in agreement. “What time is it?” he asks.
Hinata snuggles closer till his hair brushes under Tsukishima's chin. “... don't know,” he answers, and Tsukishima's not surprised.
The blond shifts over on the futon. Without his glasses, he has to pat around before he finds them as well as his phone. He puts them on and checks the time on his phone. 7:38 a.m. There's also an unread message notification, but he ignores it for now.
“It's still pretty early,” he says when he turns back around. Hinata still has his eyes closed, hair flattened from sleep, but he makes a small noise of acknowledgment.
“Do you think anyone else is up?”
“Mm, dunno,” Hinata mumbles, blinking open his eyes, “'m not sure when Mom has to go to work.”
Tsukishima lays still, his thoughts wandering. On some level, there's a knot of anxiety within him, being in a place he's unfamiliar with about to interact with individuals he's unsure of the response they'll have to him. This is even more so than before considering whatever it is that developed between him and Hinata last night.
But the other, more rational part of his brain knew he was just being stupid.
And everything last night comes back to Tsukishima with startling clarity, sharp and clear like the morning sunlight peeking through the window. It feels embarrassing in hindsight, but not because he regrets it; he stands by his actions.
He looks down and Hinata is blinking up at him, long eyelashes and bright brown eyes with barely visible smudges underneath. Tsukishima ruffles his hair affectionately. “I'm getting up,” he says.
Hinata makes no argument with him. They disentangle from each other quickly and dig through their bags respectively. Tsukishima pulls on a pair of sweats he brought while Hinata leaves the room for a moment with his toothbrush, not bothering to put anything else on than the t-shirt and boxers he fell asleep in.
Tsukishima then sits on the futon and goes to check his messages. It's from his brother, simply wishing him a good night and the hopes that he was having a good time at Yamaguchi's. Right.
Hinata comes back in right when Tsukishima finishes typing a quick reply and throwing his phone on the bed.
“So my mom is up right now,” Hinata informs him, “and she wants to meet you before she has to leave. And Natsu really wants to meet you too.”
Tsukishima swallows. “Okay,” he says slowly, “Did you tell your mom about... y'know –” he gestures between them – “us?”
Hinata's eyes go noticeably wide and his cheeks color. “N-no! I mean, not that I don't want to, but I didn't – I wasn't sure if you – we – were... If you were, like if you wanted to be –”
During his ramble, Tsukishima had gotten up and eventually put
his hand over the other's amount, successfully silencing him lest he explodes.
Hinata looks up at him as he pulls his hand away and tries to give a soft reassuring smile. “It's okay. We don't have to say anything and we don't have to label... whatever it is we have. But I want to know what you want because...” Tsukishima pauses, which is ridiculous because it's not like its a secret at this point, “Because I like you, Hinata.”
Hinata's breath hitches before a wobbly smile spreads across his flushed face, “I like you too. Can I kiss you?”
Tsukishima can feel his ears burning, but says, “Yeah,” before leaning in.
Hinata's breath is warm. He tastes slightly of toothpaste. His hands curl in Tsukishima's shirt. These observations swirl in Tsukishima's mind, everything much more clear than it was the night before, and he wants to remember this. It's hard to believe this is his life now.
When they pull away after a moment, Hinata bites his lip a bit before saying, “I feel okay about telling my mom, if that's alright with you.”
It makes Tsukishima feel more that he's painting a target on his back for teasing being a complete stranger who was going to first be introduced as a friend and now a boyfriend(?) under a period of twenty-four hours, but he trusts Hinata, seeing how he knows his mother better than Tsukishima probably ever would.
“Okay,” he agrees.
Hinata's mom might be the nicest person Tsukishima's ever met.
Hinata shares his mother's eyes and bright smile, but other than that, he probably would never know they were related unless he was told. Tsukishima is unsure if Hinata has even told her of their relationship, but he barely thinks about it when she shakes his hand and expresses how nice it is to finally meet him after all her son has mentioned about him. She also expresses how impressed she is that he's gotten Hinata to pick up a book willingly. And after, she apologizes for having to leave on such short notice.
It leaves Tsukishima somewhat dazed and a little anti-climatic with all the nervousness that had been sitting in the back of his mind.
However, this is quickly overridden by another pair of brown eyes watching him curiously.
Unlike Hinata's mother, there is no doubt that Natsu and Hinata are related. They have the same messy red hair, brown eyes, and seemingly the same copious amounts of energy if their sibling greeting is anything to go by. Though Tsukishima can't say he doesn't find it adorable.
Hinata had introduced them shortly afterward. Tsukishima admits that he doesn't really know how to act when around others who are younger than he is, having not had much experience. But Natsu looks up at him and continues to tilt her head up until pretending to almost fall back before she and Hinata erupt into bouts of laughter.
Hinata then heads to the kitchen to make some breakfast, although Tsukishima objects as he's fine with the cereal that Natsu is currently eating, but the other dismisses him. So he sits across the table from him, eyes fixed on him as she eats her cereal rather than the small TV across the room turned to cartoons. Tsukishima can feel the interrogation coming at any moment.
“How tall are you?” he's then asked.
There it is, he thinks.
“I'm 192 cm,” he answers.
And then the questions come rapid fire. “How old are you? Do you like music? What kind of music? Do you go to school with Onii-chan? Do you play volleyball with him too?”
“Natsu!” Hinata calls, amusement in his voice, “At least give him a chance to answer.”
Natsu ceases her stream of questions, puffs out her cheeks in a pout and goes back to finishing the rest of her cereal.
“20, yes, no preference, no, and no,” Tsukishima answers. Natsu grins at him.
“Do you have any questions for me?” she then asks as she cradles her cereal bowl before tipping it back to drink the milk.
“Hmm...” Tsukishima thinks. If there's one thing he knows he's not good at, it's thinking of questions. He just naturally isn't a curious person.
He decidedly settles on something lame. “What's your favorite color?”
“Pink,” Natsu says without missing a beat, “And also I like soft yellows.”
Tsukishima nods unhelpful.
Thankfully, it's in that moment that Hinata announces breakfast.
After informing Natsu that they were planning a small camping excursion, the next few days were filled with bustling and business. Keeping Natsu entertained was the biggest part of it, Tsukishima found. She was very talkative. Tsukishima didn't mind, however. He was more than happy to let her tell him about school, her friends, and her interests as well as stories about Hinata that he greatly appreciated and that relieved him monotony as he did the dishes or swept the floor. Hinata's mom had told him he didn't have to but he'd offered.
Hinata and Natsu had also planned a list of things they would need for the small trip which had led to a very long venture to find the location of a gas lamp.
Tsukishima did really do much himself. He helped out where he could, he watched TV with Hinata and Natsu, watched her when she wanted to prove how much better at tossing she had become than her brother.
Despite this, the days pass rather quickly.
It's also amazing to Tsukishima how he's technically been dating for only a few days and now how distracting it is to have the other near him. Or perhaps it has always been true, but until now he's never really let himself embrace it fully. And he's found himself gazing in Hinata's direction more often than not.
They also haven't kissed again either since the first day of their visit.
It's not something that entirely bothers Tsukishima. Even if he wasn't respecting Hinata's timing in when he wanted to tell his mother, Tsukishima would prefer not to have an audience witness to... certain interactions.
Although that didn't stop Tsukishima from kissing the back of Hinata's neck one night while they were brushing their teeth in the bathroom. He'd do it again just to see the same adorable reaction.
“Psst, Tsukishima. Are you asleep?” Hinata whispered.
Although Tsukishima had his eyes closed, he immediately opened them and turned his head over to see Hinata sitting up in the dim light.
“Not anymore,” he answered, then, “I'm kidding,” when he noticed Hinata's apologetic face.
Hinata then made a motion for him to follow and they slip out the bed of the truck, trying not to disturb the tightly curled up Natsu. It was hard to believe after she had practically been vibrating with excitement all day before.
Hinata manages to scoot Natsu over more towards the wall of the truck and then zipped up the tent from the back. It has surprised Tsukishima that even with such a small tent it could still fit and be set up in the back. However, it wasn't the most comfortable to lay on, but that wasn't very surprising.
For a second, Tsukishima feared they might go sit in the car. He still had his knees a bit sore from the ride earlier today. It had been short but also even more uncomfortable than the ride he'd had with just him and Hinata. Natsu sat in the middle, so not only was there no room for Tsukishima's knees but his shoulder was also pressed rather hard against the passenger side door. But instead, Hinata came toward him and wrapped his arms around him in a hug. Tsukishima smiles softly and rests his arms over Hinata's shoulders and returns the hug
They soon sit down on the grass, much the same as they had only a few hours ago, but this time with Hinata more closely beside him, resting his cheek against the blonde's shoulder with his fingers drifting through Hinata's hair. It feels much more intimate at this moment. Much more soft and warm despite the cool night air.
The stars are also beautiful as Hinata and Natsu have both mentioned during that night.
Tsukishima kisses Hinata under the stars on the last night of their stay.
There's not much to pack, of course, so it's barely an hour after breakfast that he and Hinata are ready to leave.
Hinata lingers with his mother in the kitchen while Natsu follows Tsukishima as he heads outside to the truck with his bag. It's a little heartwarming how close she lingers though she doesn't seem to realize it.
“Take care of Onii-chan,” she says in a much more serious tone than anyone in their pajamas with bedhead has any right to.
“I will,” he assures her, “You take care of your mom.”
“I always do.” She's still serious and Tsukishima can't help but chuckle a little.
Hinata then comes out of the house, laughing with his mom. He gives her a tight hug and a quick peck on the cheek before calling out to Natsu. She runs and there's another tight hug being given. Tsukishima is so caught up in watching that he almost misses Hinata's mom beckoning to him.
He walks over where she too gives him a hug. Tsukishima hesitates mainly due to their drastically differing heights. But even after she pulls away from their embrace, her hand lingers a hold on his forearm and she smiles up at him.
“Shouyo is very lucky to have you. I hope you feel you can stay for a while.”
She knows. Hinata told her and now she knows. And by the look on her face, as he bulks, she knows that he knows that she knows.
But despite this, he still manages a calm and reassuring, “I plan to.”
“Good,” she says and lets him go with a slight pat to his arm.
Tsukishima also receives another quick hug from Natsu and promises for the umpteenth time to visit again soon before climbing back into the cramped truck with Hinata.
Hinata is grinning as they drive away.
“I didn't expect you to be so happy to leave,” Tsukishima comments.
Hinata turns his bright brown eyes on him for a quick moment. “I'll miss them, but I'm still happy you're here.” He's blushing when he says it, and Tsukishima thinks he might not ever want the other to not be flustered around him, though it also makes his own ears burn in return.
“Thanks. I think your mom is too,” he teases.
Hinata's face then goes really red. His hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Wha...what did she say? Something embarrassing?”
Tsukishima can't help it but he laughs, sudden and loud. “No, not really. My brother has said so much worse to me.” Hinata seems to relax a bit at that.
“Would you like to meet him?” Tsukishima then asks, “It's only far after I've met some of your family.”
He's been thinking about it for a while. Ever since he decided that staying at Hinata's house wasn't the most stressful thing he'd ever endured. Also, he still felt a bit guilty about lying to his brother.
“I'd like that!” Hinata says with his usual cheerful enthusiasm. “I'd also like to tell my friends too. Not Kageyama, if you don't want, but at least Kenma.”
“That's fine. Tell anyone you want,” Tsukishima says. Although he is feeling good at this moment, he has a feeling those words might come back to haunt him. However, it doesn't matter now. “Maybe we can even go on some real dates too now.”
“I'd like that,” Hinata admits, voice sounding soft and thoughtful in the best way, “I like you a lot too, Tsukki. I'm glad we're together.”
“Me too, Hinata,” Tsukishima says back, voice carried on the golden sunlight of the morning, “I like you a lot too.”