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Karasuno High - March, 2015

If, in January, their loss against Itachiyama Institute in the semifinals felt like a meteor strike, March came and swept the ground right out of their feet for good.

Karasuno’s third-year students were graduating and the team that had been Kageyama’s whole life for so long needed to be left behind so that he could take his next step on the way to the top of the world: starting in less than 2 months, he’d be a pro.

As much as he felt some unexplainable, vague emptiness at the thought of leaving Karasuno, Kageyana was also constantly bubbly high on visions of his future: No more classes! No more tests! Volleyball every day?!?! It was all he ever wanted! 

On the morning of their graduation, however, he wasn't feeling very zestful at all, lurking behind his favorite vending machine as he tried to avoid the flock of obnoxious girls who had ambushed him after the ceremony, asking for the second button of his uniform.

At first, the boy was clueless about why anyone would want such a useless thing but, as if that’d convince him, the loudest one in the pack had spelled it out - in a tone that insinuated he was being purposely dumb: "It's a whole thing, don't you know that? Whoever you give it to, they're the most important person in your life".

The group of first years started giggling immediately, all of them looking at him with expecting eyes.

Kageyama though, felt somehow even more puzzled: first of all because...what the fuck?
Since when did your second button mean any of that?
And second, if it did mean that (he had his doubts), then he couldn’t, for the life of him, understand why any of these girls (seriously, he could swear he'd never seen any of them before) would think it made sense for him to give it to one of them.

Crouched in his hiding spot, he sighted heavily, squeezing his eyes shut with frustrated fists.
Noya-san always teased him about being popular but, aside from getting a kick out of Hinata's bitterness over it, he always found the attention to be unwanted.

Now that he thought about it...maybe he remembered something about this "second-button-thing", from his senpais graduation last year.
Think.
What would Tanaka-san do? No, scratch that, he knew exactly what he would do. 
But Kiyoko-senpai wasn't here and, even if she was...even if she was, it wouldn't make sense. 

Yachi-san? 
Maybe...

As soon as he tried to visualize it though, it seemed like an idea doomed for disaster.
Even if she did get better (a lot better) at handling her nerves, he could almost see the freakout she'd have before he explained it...explained that...he didn't mean it...like that?

Like what, then? 

Did it have to mean anything?

He wasn't so dumb not to know most of them only cared about him as the guy who was being scouted by the V.League. 
Even if he was ( as Tsukishima constantly liked to remind him) "almost socially deaf", he wasn't that naive.
I mean, Volleyball players are pretty cool.

Not so long in the future though, he mused,  he’d have to handle even louder people as well as increasingly obnoxious fans and- as unsavory as that part of his job might be, he would rather deal with it - even if slightly begrudgingly so, sooner than let his teammates down. 
That's right, it's not like it meant anything to him. He could just pick at random...right? It wasn't so bad.

Just pick any girl and everyone will be happy.
For some reason, the whole idea still made him uncomfortable.

Before Kageyama could make his way back though, he felt a heavy body hit the floor next to him and didn’t have to open his eyes to know who it was.

“I was wondering where you’d weaseled out to”

When Kageyama didn’t answer, Hinata punched him in the arm, smiling coyly.

“You sure are a bastard, you know that? Those are some very pretty kohais you’re letting down.”

The setter hissed, giving the aggravating little moron the stink eye.

“It’s dumb. I don’t even know any of them, why do they care anyway?” Kageyama’s voice dripped with discontent.
It was the blocker’s turn to scold, completely undeterred as lifted his eyes to face the daggers shooting out of his friend’s blue ones.

“You’re really popular, you know?" he poked, faking annoyance "Remember Valentine’s?”

Kageyama flinched at the memory, making Hinata explode in the most infuriating jolt of laughter any human would be able to produce.

"Shut up"

“Oh, come on, don't be like that! It wasn’t so bad in the end, we got to eat all that chocolate.”

“You ate all that chocolate, 'cause you’re a moron. You think you’ll catch up to me, being careless with your diet like that?”

It was a little (harsh) uncalled for and Kageyama almost ( but didn’t) regretted saying it like that.
The whole Valentine’s Day shebang was yet another thing he could make no sense of.
To top that, last Valentine’s was weird as fuck.
Even worse, Kageyama couldn't put a finger on what had bothered him so much about it.

Except...

No. 

The setter felt his face heat up but told himself to shake it off, as he’d been doing ever since February 14th.
He wasn't supposed to have heard that - it didn't mean anything. Nothing he didn't know already, anyway.
But still...

Completely oblivious, both to Kageyama's acidic remarks and internal turmoil, Hinata egged on, an amused grin plastered on his face.

“You think they’d be so in love with you if they knew how much of an idiot you actually are, Bakeyama-kun?”

Kageyama aimed a punch at him, but the fucking shorty dodged it easily, making him even angrier.

“Whatever, dumbass, you’re one to say it” he grimaced “You’re even dumber than I am and they follow you around anyway.”

Hinata’s laugh filled the air again, but Kageyama's thoughts were adrift as he was hit with a sudden realization, grabbing at his blocker's arm.

"Oi"

"OW!! What?!"

“How did you decide which one of them to give it to?”

The other boy’s light expression melted away, turning into a rather serious look as he pointed a sharp finger to his school uniform: it remained intact.

“How did you manage to escape?” Kageyama sighed, disheartened.

“Well, I already had someone in mind for mine, so go figure.”

Kageyama’s head turned so fast that he heard the joints in his neck crack.

“You’re joking.”

They fell silent as Hinata seemed to struggle with his revelation, his face smeared with the slightest touch of pink.

“So?”

His friend dogged the question, eying him down with a cautious look that had a hint of what Kageyama thought looked like uneasiness.

“Why do you wanna know?" he prodded "You never cared about this stuff before."

"I don't."

"Just give it to anyone then, what's the big deal?"

Kageyama knew, objectively, that Hinata had a point. It's not like it actually had any significance...it was just a piece of junk.
But maybe that was the whole problem.

“I don’t care about any of them, that's why. They're not stupid enough to think I really meant it, so wouldn’t it be kinda pointless?”

"So, even if you couldn't care less...you also wouldn't give it to someone if you didn't mean it?"

Well, if you said it like that, it did seem kind of stupid.

"Yes."

Hinata seemed to consider his half-baked musings for as long as a heartbeat before flashing him a blinding smile as if Kageyama said exactly what he wanted to hear.

“Here”, he announced, plucking his 2nd button with a decisive swipe and placing it vigorously in Kageyama’s hand.

The setter gaped at the tiny object, trying to understand what the fuck was that supposed to mean - maybe Hinata finally lost his marbles, except for the fact that the shrimp seemed not only completely unfazed but rather smug.

“Oi, what is this?”

His partner looked at him as if he was the dumbest person on the planet - which was honestly infuriating but had nothing to do with the slow-growing hotness on Kageyama’s cheeks.

“ You’re my most important person. Duh.”

Kageyama was definitely blushing now. Sometimes, Hinata would blurt out stuff like that as if it was nothing, and it never failed to embarrass him.

“Didn’t you just say you had plans for this shit?”

Hinata’s smile shifted to a sly grin.

“It worked out.”

“You’re a moron.” the setter chastized, dismissing the sharp feeling of his heart squeezing on his chest - all too familiar, thanks to three full years of Hinata's random displays of pinheaded behavior.
His throat felt unusually tight.

Distracted by his internal mismatch, he almost missed what the other boy said next.

“Just wait, I’ll come back from Brazil and I’ll definitely beat you”.

Hinata's eyes felt as if they were branding his setter with fire as he stared down at Kageyama with that challenging look that always made his blood boil in anticipation.

At times, when they were competing - especially during their daily races to the club room, his vision would tunnel as they ran as fast as their lungs would allow them, blocking out any distractions.

In those moments, the only other thing that seemed to exist was the boy racing him...everything else would blur.
The only sharp lines would be the outline of Hinata’s small body; his breathing and occasional bursts of laughter were the only sounds to get to his ears.

When looking at his future, Kageyama only had two certainties: he’d be playing volleyball and Hinata would be there, all other details were kinda foggy.

Starring back at his best friend, the button on his hand felt heavy, carrying the full weight of Hinata’s promise; the vow made to be on the same stage - no matter how long it took, crashing onto him once more.

Looking away now meant losing another unspoken dare.

He’d been waiting for his promised challenger for a very long time and, seeing as Hinata still sucked, he could wait for him a little longer.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, he reached for his collar; his heart was pumping like he was about to do something much grander than just handing over a piece of clothing.

Hinata’s hand was already being extended - as if expecting Kageyama'd do that from the start, making his stomach do a nasty flip.
Although he could be sure of only two things, having this moron be so in sync with his thoughts pissed him off.

“I’d like to see you try.”