Pairing: KageHina

Binary Stars

Kageyama isn't exactly sure when he'd started noticing it- when Hinata gushed about the Little Giant, his eyes glimmering and hands gesticulating wildly, forming wide circles and invisible galaxies and planets within. Or when Kageyama agreed to practice tosses with him during lunch break and Hinata had nailed a spike perfectly, his palms stinging red from the sheer force of impact.

His eyes would begin to sparkle, he would beam so brightly, and amidst the glittering happiness practically emanating from his very being, the stars would begin to glimmer ever so brightly, it was nearly blinding to look at.

These days, Kageyama has gotten used to it by now, and he is able to look at Hinata in the eye without flinching, converse with him as if it were completely normal, as if great, sparkling cosmic particles were not revolving around the tiny decoy, enveloping him in light. If he doesn't look too hard, he realises, the stars would dim a little, making it a little more bearable to look at. When he stares at Hinata for a prolonged period of time though, the other male would blush and fidget, and the stars would come back in full force. It really was a strange thing.

When he first began noticing it though, he remembers not being able to look at Hinata directly, avoiding the vivid, inquisitive gaze as much as he could. He remembers his cheeks burning from the heat of the intensity of the blinding stars, and when Hinata leapt, shirt riding up to expose his skin, Kageyama's heart thumped loudly, he was afraid it would burst. He hadn't been able to toss perfectly for a week straight, until Hinata managed to corner him after practice, expression worried, and even though he hadn't been smiling, his lips forming a concerned pout, the stars continued to sparkle. But they were a little dimmer now- perhaps Hinata realized how much they had been affecting him- or he had gotten used to their intensity, for he was able to look Hinata in the eye after that, and life went back to normal.

He realized that there were different types of sparkling and glimmering the stars had, and how he reacted to them.

When Hinata spoke of the Little Giant, his tone reverent and wistful, hands unconsciously tugging at his volleyball shirt, or when he ran over to Asahi after a particularly good spike to congratulate him, eyes bright, fists clenched, knees bent slightly and legs parted as if he were about to take a flying leap there and then, the stars were agonizingly blinding to look at. He had tried to continue looking once, but the intensity of its brightness burned through him, and wisps of something would well up deep within his chest, something dark and unpleasant, and no amount of the sparkling stars would help to draw the darkness away.

But there were other kinds too- like when the centre of Hinata's palm slammed into the volleyball, or when he offered Hinata his last meat bun, or when they raced towards the school, elbows touching, breaths mingling as one from their sheer proximity, when Hinata is smiling and laughing so carefreely that his own lips involuntarily form a smile as well, the light from the stars is warm and strangely comforting, and he wishes he didn't have to look at anything else.

He has tried touching one of the stars, it's nearly impossible not to, from how close Kageyama and Hinata are all the time.

It had been after a certain practice match, when Hinata was sitting on the bench, towel covering his head, after their loss against their opponents, for as much as Hinata expressed his undying enthusiasm to continue playing even after they'd lost, "One more time!", he'd stayed behind after all, eyes suspiciously bright. The rest of the team had already left, and Kageyama had walked up to him so quietly. Hinata probably had not noticed, for he didn't move from his forlorn position, and as Kageyama slid the towel off his hair, Hinata had jolted, eyes still glued to the ground.

Kageyama noticed the wood tiles below were rather damp, droplets of water rather apparent on its surface. Then he'd looked up, the feeble glow of the stars catching his attention, and there was one particular star ebbing weakly, caught between Hinata's messy hair, so he'd reached out and ran his fingers through those locks of hair, wanting to free the little thing. Surprisingly, his fingers had gone right through the star, but when Hinata looked up to meet his gaze, eyes moist, but sparkling ever so lightly, he realised the weakly glowing star had begun to glimmer once again. Something in his chest had clenched then, and he'd thought to himself, "So this is what stars feel like."

Kageyama found out what stars tasted like weeks later, when he was having lunch with Hinata on the rooftop, and he'd been donating bits of food to Hinata without his consent. It was like when he'd spotted a piece of karaage amidst the soft white rice, and instantly thought to himself, "Hinata would like this," he found himself using his chopsticks to deposit them into Hinata's own bento box, despite the fact that he really liked karaage himself. But when he did something like that, he found that the stars would glimmer in the most pleasant manner, and Hinata would beam at him gratefully, so he continued doing it, filling up on the satisfaction it gave him.

It was only when he realised he'd finished with the karaage and omelettes and pickles, because Hinata really needed to eat a balanced diet to grow taller, that a small hand on his wrist had stopped him, and he looked up to see Hinata giving him the most adorable pout ever.

"Kageyama," Hinata whined, his lip sticking out like a child's, "I can't finish all this! You should eat some too!"

Kageyama didn't reply, having only realised there was a little star near the corner of his lips, and something must have gotten into him then, for he leant in and captured Hinata's lips with his own. Hinata had jolted up at this sudden action, but instead of running off like Kageyama expected him to, he'd made a contented sort of sound at the back of his throat. Their kiss was sweet, and tasted like caramel pops and karaage and omelettes, and Kageyama had thought to himself, "So this is what stars taste like."

It had taken him another two weeks to realise that he was in love with Hinata, and another week of denial of his feelings, where he avoided Hinata like the plague, and the other male tried to catch his attention in every way possible, and every day, he realised, the stars had begun to dim and wink out of existence one by one, until the day Hinata had turned up, looking uncharacteristically gloomy, shouldering his schoolbag and skipping club practice for the first time, and Kageyama felt himself truly panic. Racing after Hinata as if his life depended on it, he'd pushed the other male against the wall and kissed him hard, before breathlessly confessing his undying love to his one and only volleyball partner.

When Hinata gave him a shaky smile in response, and nodded, eyes still shiny from tears, the stars had begun to bloom around him once again, and Kageyama felt something akin to relief flooding his being.

Looking back on it now, he wondered why he'd panicked so much at the time- he doesn't regret it, no, not when he can spend the rest of his life with the best partner he could ever hope to have- but perhaps it was because Hinata was practically like a star himself, glowing and glimmering and lighting up everything around him, that there was a part of him that worried he would continue to dim, before winking out of existence as well.

But now, with his fingers clasped with Hinata's own, elbows touching intimately as they await the beginning of the fireworks display, he doesn't regret a single thing. As the first smattering sounds of sparks exploding in the night sky begin, Hinata's eyes are bright with childish excitement, as he gazes up at the fireworks in wonder, but Kageyama is too busy staring at how beautiful his lover is at the moment, surrounded with glittering vermilion stars, hair ruffled, with a rainbow of sparkling fireworks reflected in his eyes.

And as the last firework goes up, magnificently painting the canvas of the night sky with a splash of colours, Kageyama looks up briefly to admire it, and he doesn't notice Hinata gently sweeping a gleaming, magnificent blue star from his shoulder, before plopping his head down onto the same spot.

All he knows is that it's fluffy and warm, and he'd rather be nowhere else.