Chapter Text
Hinata Shouyo met Kageyama Tobio when he was fourteen years old.
After a decade of rivalry and friendship, more rivalry and more friendship, and something more, he realized three things recently.
One, people love rubbing Kageyama Tobio's head—a lot. Despite being an adult in his mid-twenties, he gets head pats from the older members of their team, from members of his club, from their seniors from Karasuno, and other older or taller people. He gets them for playing well, for not playing well ( which of course is not a regular occurrence for the Kageyama Tobio), and sometimes for no reason, like he was some big cat they can't help but want to scratch around the ear.
Two, Kageyama gets... weird when people pat him on the head. Unlike their first year in high school, Kageyama grew up to be more expressive. He was a lot easier to read. Apart from his signature frown, he had different kinds of pouts, ranging from confused to pleased to proud to reluctant to mildly annoyed- anyway you get it. He also had this smile, different from his terrifying smirk or awkward publicity smile, that evoked... competitive urges in Shouyo.
He was sure that the urge to swallow his rival whole whenever he smiled was normal. Surely everyone feels that way.
But when Kageyama gets head pats, his entire expression lights up. His eyes get brighter, his cheeks flush red, and his lips form a shape that's either his excited pout or his 'not-quite-a-smile-but-getting-there' expression. It was... weird.
Finally, the weird expression made Shouyo feel weird too. It makes his stomach jump, makes his chest squeeze tighter, and makes his hands feel restless. Whenever he sees that face, he gets the urge to do something, anything that involves his hand and any part of Kageyama ( Preferably his face but Shouyo's not picky, he's adaptable.)
It was strange and confusing, and no matter how many times he stared at Kageyama getting his hair ruffled he still could not figure out why it bothered him.
"Look at him any harder, and ya gonna burn holes into the back of his head," said Atsumu dryly as he did his warm-up exercises next to him.
"Huh?" replied Shouyo intelligently, his eyes still fixed on Bokuto enthusiastically rubbing Kageyama's head. Kageyama wasn't facing him, and he couldn't see his expression, but he could see his ears, unhidden by his short hair, turn red.
"Yer hopeless," sighed Atsumu, and that caught Shouyo's attention.
'Hopeless? Oh God, he was right. I'm never going to figure this out by myself.'
"'Tsumu-san!" he wailed, startling Atsumu. "Help me!"
"Gah!?"
"-and I don't know what to do!" cried Shouyo, passionately swinging fork. Atsumu hummed half-heartedly, preoccupied with digging into his pasta. Shouyo had convinced him to listen to his 'Kageyama' problem if he treated him to dinner after practice. The restaurant he chose was an expensive Italian place, but Shouyo was desperate enough to agree.
"And yer tellin' me all this because?" asked Atsumu.
"Because you're the only other person I know who wants to beat Kageyama as much as I do! Except for Oikawa-san, but he clams up the moment I mention Kageyama's name," explained Hinata. Atsumu gagged.
"Hold on, I don't have it nearly as bad as ya do. I mean, sure, I flirted with him a little in high school-"
"WHAT?"
"Can ya blame me? He's good-lookin', and I'm bi. But it wasn't anything serious. When it comes to having actual feelings for Tobio-kun, we're not on the same page, so I don't understand whatever it is ya have for him."
"Why do you make it sound like I'm in love with that idiot?" asked Hinata, puzzled. "I don't like him like that either. It's a rivalry thing."
Atsumu blinked and then face-palmed.
'Aran-kun,' he prayed internally. 'Please give me the strength and patience to deal with this bullshit.'
"Shouyo-kun, I'm gonna hold yer hand when I say this, but rivals don't feel 'gwaah' when they see each other look happy. I don't feel anything in particular when Tobio-kun has his... what did ya call it? 'Pleased pout' on when somebody touches his head," he explained with uncharacteristic gentleness, a gentleness that he reserved for Kita and Shouyo and on special occasions for Osamu and Aran.
"...You don't?"
"No."
"But Kageyama is your rival?"
"He is, and I do wanna kick his ass."
"But so do I!" cried Shouyo.
"I'm not saying ya don't. I'm just saying that kicking might not be the only thing ya wanna do with his ass."
The fork in Shouyo's hand falls with a clatter along with his jaw. Mouth agape, his entire face flushes an unhealthy shade of red.
'Cute,' thought Atsumu. 'Maybe I should take a picture and brag about it to Tobio-kun later. Without telling him why he's blushing of course.'
He reaches across the table and gently taps Shouyo's chin.
"You'll catch flies," he said, amused.
"I-I...NO! It's not like that, I just, I just want... anyway it's not that!" he squeaked. Atsumu could almost see the steam rising from his ears due to his panicked overthinking. Partly because he felt sorry for him and partly because he didn't really want to help Tobio get with his Shouyo, he decides not to forcefully crush Shouyo's denial and make him confront his feelings.
Instead, he'll just give him... a push in the right direction. To help him slowly figure it out by himself. Because at the end of the day, he really can't say no to Shouyo.
He's not sure if anyone could.
"I'm just kiddin'," he said airily, and Shouyo's posture relaxed a little. "Anyway, yer an 'act first, think later' kinda guy, so I don't think brainstorming out here with me is gonna help ya at all. And who knows, maybe it's just curiosity. Have ya ever tried petting Tobio-kun's head?"
"No," said Shouyo, his expression brightening, and Atsumu knew he bought what he said.
"Maybe ya just wanna try it yerself after seeing so many people do it. Maybe it's because it's typically people of higher standing than Tobio-kun, either by height or by seniority, doing the patting, and that's why ya want to do it. To establish dominance or somethin'."
"That's it!" exclaimed Shouyo. "You're right, that makes sense!"
'No, it doesn't,' thought Atsumu, but he kept his opinion to himself.
"I just want to conquer him in a way I haven't before. That's why I was feeling so restless and weird. I knew I had to beat him by instinct, but I had no idea how. But now I do! Thank you so much for your help, 'Tsumu-san! I think I got it from here," he said, with a grin powerful enough to rival the sun.
"Eh? No problem... But Shouyo-kun, are ya sure ya don't need more help?"
"Nope! It would be cheating if I relied on you for everything. But don't worry, I know what to do now!"
'Do you really? ' pondered Atsumu, but he said nothing and just smiled back and returned to his food.
'Practice is going to be interesting tomorrow.'