#hrpw2

[tsukkeilate]

Poinsettia

Hinata Rarepair week 2!

Day 7: Christmas Lights Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo, Oikawa Tooru/Kageyama Tobio (minor) Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Kageyama Tobio, Oikawa Tooru, Kuroo Tetsurou, Bokuto Koutarou, Sawamura Daichi, Tsukishima Kei, Yahaba Shigeru, Yaku Morisuke Summary:  Same universe as this

Despite being together with Ushijima for a very long time, Hinata always have the same dilemma. Good thing he could always count on his neighbor (that’s a lie but he’s glad that his new neighbor was willing to help him out).  Notes: And you’ve reached the last of HRPW 2 fanfic collection of Tsukkeilate! Thank you for reading the whimsical ideas I had in mind! I hope to see you again in the next Hinata Rarepair Week! (I’m so sorry if this is really late this week had been really hectic for me) 

*crawls back in the pile of papers and started reviewing for my Quarterly Exams*

Hinata looked at his phone’s calendar, dread pooling his stomach. He screams internally, wondering why he always have this same dilemma every year. 

“Are you alright, Shou?” Ushijima asked, appearing out of nowhere and startling Hinata terribly. 

“Toshi!” Hinata exclaimed, turning to look at him, “I’m fine, I’m fine!” He said quickly, hoping Ushijima wouldn’t pursue the topic. 

Ushijima stared at his husband, assessing if the other’s lying to him or not. Hinata flashed him an easy going smile, hoping that Ushijima wouldn’t see through it. 

“You don’t have to get me anything.” Ushijima said. Damn, he figured it out.

“But I want to give you an awesome gift.” Hinata whined, pouting. 

“You marrying me and still here by my side are enough. They’re the best presents I could ever receive.” Ushijima said. 

Hinata blushed at the cheesiness of his husband, slapping his arm in embarrassment and trying to hide his very flustered face from him. Ushijima smiled gently and placed a kiss on his temple.

“Don’t worry too much about it. I’ll be happy with whatever you’ll give me.” He said, before getting out of the room to start assembling the Christmas tree, because he knows how much Hinata loved the festive season.

“You’re making me more determined to get you the best present ever… Toshi, you idiot.” Hinata mumbled, fond, knowing just the right person to ask advice for these kinds of situation.

“Hinata, hello.” Kageyama greeted him, wondering why Hinata was at his doorstep.

“Yo, Kageyama. Can I come in?” Hinata asked.

“Sure.” Kageyama opened the door wider to let Hinata through. The orange haired male thanked him as he went inside Kageyama’s humble abode.

“What brings you here, Hinata?” Kageyama asked, setting down a cup of iced tea. Hinata thanked him before taking a sip.

Over the course of few months, he and Kageyama had grown considerably close, especially when the raven started dating the notorious playboy Oikawa Tooru. At first, he was vehemently against it, even going far as to threatening his friend that if he break his neighbor’s heart he will burn down his house. Oikawa didn’t pay him any heed back then, thinking that Hinata was just joking. However, when he realized that he’s falling in love with the dense and dense Kageyama, he started confiding to Hinata because he’s unsure what he’d do. Hinata started to play Cupid for the both of them, even dragging his own husband into it, and the rest was history.

“I was wondering if you already have any gift for Tooru?” Hinata asked.

“Ah…” Kageyama pursed his lips, “not yet. But I have something in mind.” He replied.

“Hinata squealed, leaning forward, “what is it?” He asked excitedly. When Kageyama looked cynical, Hinata raised his hand and added, “I’m not going to tell him, I swear!”

Kageyama sighed, “okay, fine. It’s um.. a dress shirt that I think would look good on him or the watch I just saw the other day at the store.” He replied.

“Awww! That’s so cute!” Hinata commented, “you should totally get the dress shirt, I think he’ll love it!” He suggested.

“You think so?” Kageyama asked, unsure. Hinata nodded in agreement.

“I’m quite sure. Tooru loves his fashion after all.” He said, remembering all those times Oikawa forced him to watch America’s Next Top Model and k-dramas featuring Korean fashion.  

“Thanks.” Kageyama said, looking highly relieved.

Hinata hid a smile, ‘I’m pretty sure anything comes from Kageyama, Tooru would love it.’ He thought, taking a sip of his drink.

“Um, actuall, the reason why I’m here is that… um, I need some help in getting Toshi his gift.” Hinata said, fiddling with the cup, “he said that he’s fine even if I don’t get him anything but it’s Christmas! And he’s my husband! And I want to make it special and---“ Hinata resorted on making his infamous sound effects to further elaborate his point. Kageyama didn’t get the last part but he got the whole gist of it.

“Does he want anything in particular?” Kageyama asked, Hinata shook his head.

“Toshi’s minimalistic, doesn’t buy loads of stuff. Well except, probably, volleyball supplies which is really common so I don’t know what to get him.”

“Clothes?” Kageyama suggested.

“You’re getting the same thing for Tooru. I want something more original.” Hinata said.

“Books?” Kageyama tried again.

“I don’t know what sort of books he likes other than volleyball magazines.”

“How about we just go to the mall and take a look on what could be possible Christmas presents?” Kageyama suggested, giving up. They’re not going to go anywhere if Hinata kept on rejecting his ideas.

“Oh! That’s a great idea!” Hinata exclaimed, standing up from his seat, “come on, let’s go!”

“Wait, what? Right now?” Kageyama asked incredulously.

“Yeah, duh.” Hinata replied as if it was obvious.

“I haven’t have my lunch yet!” Kageyama protested, “and I’m still in my pajamas.”

“Then dress up. I’ll meet you at the door in 30 minutes. I’ll treat you lunch too.” Hinata said, getting out of the door, “thanks for helping me out Kageyama!”

“God have mercy.” Kageyama mumbled, going upstairs to change and get his wallet and keys.

“This is hopeless.” Hinata said, sighing dejectedly.

They had been searching for the perfect Christmas present for Ushijima and so far, they’re having no luck. Everything seemed to be too flashy or boring for Hinata and Kageyama doesn’t know how to help his neighbour anymore. He’s losing his patience and he just want to go home and sleep.

“Just grab something and let’s call it a day.” Kageyama said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“B-But! The gift needs to be perfect and not just something!” Hinata argued.

“Hinata, we’ve been here for six hours and I don’t know about you but my feet are aching. On top of that, I need my sleep.” Kageyama snapped, glaring at Hinata.

Hinata was about to reply when his eye caught something, distractedly going near that store. Kageyama raised his brow and followed the shorter with impatience, hoping that this would be the last store they’re going to visit and go home afterwards.

‘…. A petshop?’ Kageyama thought, as he entered the pet shop filled with various kind of animals, from fishes to fury and avian animals.

He saw Hinata staring at the two Golden Retriever puppies near the display section, playful wagging their tails and barking happily. Kageyama could see how smitten Hinata was at the two Golden Retrievers, one cream colored and the other was dark gold colored, and he just knew that Hinata would ended up taking the both of them home.

“Hinata.” Kageyama said, trying to get the orange haired male’s attention.

“Kageyama!” Hinata said, his eyes sparkling in excitement, “I found the perfect gift! They’re so cute!”

“….Are you sure you don’t want it for yourself?” Kageyama asked, skeptical.

“Toshi will love them!” Hinata said in reply.

“Okay fine. But you have to buy a lot of supplies for them. And you’re on the National Team, are you sure you both have time to take care of them?” Kageyama asked.

Hinata nodded, “if not, you could pet sit for us!” He said.

“Oh hell no.” Kageyama immediately said, crossing the idea out, “Work also run late.”

“I’ll pay you!” Hinata said.                  

“No.” Kageyam turned him down.

“Please?” Hinata asked, making his best kicked puppy look. The puppies inside the cage seemed to sense that they might not get bought and did the sad puppy look alongside with Hinata. Kageyama cursed them in his head for being so darn cute and his will wavering.

“Pretty please?” Hinata asked, intensifying his puppy look.

“Okay fine, Jesus, stop that.” Kageyama relented, groaning when Hinata did a victory dance and approached the nearest staff member to purchase the two puppies. The puppies were barking and looking at Kageyama happily, as if they’re grateful.

“Stop that. I’m just going to look after you when your real owners are out of town.” Kageyama mumbled, but he was inwardly melting at the sight. Animals never seemed to like him that much and being liked by these cute furry animals… Well, it just make him so damn happy.

  Kagyema and Hinata spent the next thirty minutes buying supplies for the puppies, as well as getting them collars and new toys, before deciding to call it a day and go home. Kageyama didn’t want to admit it, but he had fun shopping for HInata and Ushijima’s new puppies and decided to call them curry and pork bun in his head because he reminded him of pork buns and curry due to the color of their coats. They went to the parking lot with their arms filled with things and almost dropped the puppies when a kind soul offered to help them out.

“Kageyama,” Hinata started when they’ve reached Kageyama’s house, “could you please hold the puppies until Christmas time? I really want to surprise Toshi with it.”

“It’s fine, but wouldn’t Ushijima-san suspect something is up if you go to my place often?” Kageyama asked.

“I’ll tell him that for a few days I’ll visit you often because I’m teaching you how to play volley and possibly recruit you.” Hinata replied.

“That might actually work.” Kageyama agreed, “alright. I’ll take care of Pork buns and Curry.”

“Pork buns and Curry?” Hinata echoed, confused.

“They looked like pork buns and curry.” Kageyama said defensively.

“Please don’t eat them while they’re here. I don’t think dog meat taste good.” Hinata joked and laughed when Kageyama started to get flustered and told him to get out of his house.

  The following weeks, Hinata was a bit anxious and noted that Ushijima haven’t noticed anything. If he did, he probably assumed it was about the gift and did his best not mentioning about it, hoping that Hinata would stop worrying himself over it. Hinata was glad that sometimes his husband was as dense as him since it makes the surprise easier to hide.

When Christmas rolled around, Hinata didn’t hesitate to light up every single Christmas lights they have in the house, even going as far as incorporating festive lights on his sweater. Heck, even his santa hat was glowing that Tsukishima didn’t hesitate to pick on.

“Now you literally look like a sun.” Tsukishima said, laughing, “not wait, a Christmas tree. Are you sure your house have a room for two Christmas trees?”

“Shut up Tsukki! You’re just jealous because my sweater’s the bomb.” Hinata said, pointing at his light up sweater proudly.

“Please stop using outdated words like that. Christmas trees aren’t supposed to talk.” Tsukishima said, snickering.

“Now, now, Tsukki, stop roasting Hinata like that.” Sawamura said, trying to prevent a petty fight between Hinata and Tsukishima, “Hinata’s outfit is… very bright.”

“You’re not wrong there, Daichi-san.” Tsukishima said, grinning maliciously.

“You’re a walking fire hazard.” Kageyama told him, “you might burn the house in the end of the night.”

In the end, Hinata was forced to change out of his very festive sweater by people who were worried about him burning his house down, as he could get very wild when he’s drunk and tend to set things on fire. Hinata promised the team that he’s not going to drink, but clearly, no one believed him. He sulked as his Santa hat was the only thing he was allowed to keep glowing and retreated to the kitchen to help Ushijima, Akaashi and Yaku to cook, but lightened up once Christmas dinner started.

Everyone was having fun, even the grumpy Tsukishima, and stopped Bokuto from having a bit too much fun when he decided to host the drinking game. That didn’t stop Bokuto and Kuroo from fooling around by victimizing people with the mistletoe.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Kuroo chanted as Bokuto held the mistletoe above Ushijima and Hinata.

“Come on, Bokuto-san, Kuroo-san, this is like the fourth time today. Aren’t you getting tired of seeing us kissing?” Hinata complained, but his cheeks were flaming red. Ushijima didn’t say anything, but he’s enjoying the kisses he had been receiving from Hinata.

“You keep falling for it.” Kuroo laughed, grinning slyly, “or is the new Little Giant of Japan scared?”

“I’m not scared.” Hinata huffed, taking the bait.

“Then do it. You guys are married anyway. We need to see more of that married couple in action.” Kuroo goaded, grinning.

“Hmph. Fine.” Hinata said, pulling Ushijima down for a kiss. The brunette was all too happy to oblige, wrapping his arms around Hinata’s waist and ignoring Kuroo and Bokuto’s cat calls and Nishinoya’s wolf whistle. Sawamura could only sighed at the PDA of his teammates as well the shenanigans they’re doing right now. He wondered if it’s not too early to have a drink.

“Kou-chan.” Oikawa said, tapping Bokuto’s shoulder.

“Hey hey hey Tooru!” Bokuto exclaimed, slapping his hand at the back of Oikawa as a form of greeting. Oikawa inwardly winced at the spiker’s strength.

“How about you accidentally put the mistletoe above my head and Tobio-chan’s?” Oikawa whispered conspiringly.

“Your blueberry boyfriend? Great idea!” Bokuto said, already losing interest over Hinata and Ushijima, “let’s go find him. Kuroo! We got a new victim!”

“You got it bro!” Kuroo grinned, joining the duo in finding the unsuspecting Palaeontologist.

After victimizing Kageyama and few more others, the countdown for Christmas started. Hinata went to find Kageyama who was talking to Yaku, probably talking about his work judging by the gleam in his eyes. Hinata hated to cut it short but it’s almost time to bring out Ushijima’s gift. Yaku just smiled and let Hinata take Kageyama away, almost running towards the door. Kageyama was leisurely walking behind him, looking nonchalant.

“Slow down Hinata.” Kageyama called out, “it’s still three minutes before twelve.”

“I can’t! I’m too excited and nervous! What if Toshi doesn’t want to adopt puppies right now?” Hinata asked, his brows knitted in worry. “Where would pork buns and curry go?”

“In my stomach. I’m going to eat them.” Kageyama deadpanned.

“Kageyama!” Hinata squawked indignantly. Kageyama just grinned as he opened the door of his house.

The two carefully delivered the present, making sure that they don’t bump into anything to avoid the puppies making sound inside the huge box wrapped in candy canes wrapper. Bokuto was hounding them by the time they placed it underneath the Christmas tree, wanting to know what’s inside it. Sawamura and Akaashi thankfully stopped Bokuto, before he started ripping the present open for himself.

“Merry Christmas Toshi!” Hinata said, when the clock reached twelve and people were already celebrating and giving gifts to one another.  

“For me?” Ushijima asked, surprised. He looked at the box, wondering just how big Hinata’s present was.

“Of course!” Hinata answered, nodding his head, “go on, open it!” He tugged Ushijima’s sleeves and pushed him near the box.

Ushijima carefully tore the wrapping paper as he opened the present, taking off the lid slowly. Two, excited puppies with big red bows on top of their head attacked him, barking and wagging their tail excitedly. Hinata laughed at the priceless look on his husband face, mixed with border line amazement and surprise, as he held the puppies at bay.

“Did you like it?” Hinata asked nervously. Ushijima turned to look at him, nodding.

“Ohhh what’s this, Ushiwaka-chan being dumbfounded? That’s a first.” Oikawa snickered, taking pictures of it with his phone for blackmail later.

“What would you name them?” Hinata asked.

“This one’s Fish.” Ushijima pointed at the cream colored puppy, “and this one’s Chip.” He pointed at the dark gold colored puppy.

“Ushijima-san, I don’t think it’s a good idea to name the dogs after food.” Yahaba said.

“You should name them Kurrow and Bokuhooto!” Bokuto suggested.

“Nonsense! They should be named after Tobio-chan!” Oikawa piped in, “right Tobio-chan?”

“I think Pork Buns and Curry should be their names.” Kageyama said instead, “I’ve been calling them that inside my head.”

“You guys…” Yaku sighed at the stupid names his teammates were suggesting. “These puppies didn’t do anything to deserve those kinds of name.”

“How about Mamoru and Nobu?” Hinata suggested.

“That’s the sanest thing I’ve ever heard you say for this night. Good job Hinata.” Tsukishima said snidely. Hinata just glared at Tsukishima, not wanting to invoke the temper of Sawamura.

“Fish and Chip.” Ushijima said firmly, ending the conversation about what to name the puppies.

The two puppies roamed around, excited at all the humans giving them attention. Ushijima placed his hand on Hinata’s shoulder who was watching the puppies with a goofy smile on his face.

“Shouyo, thank you.” Ushijima said, “that was a great Christmas present.”

Hinata leaned on Ushijima, a big grin on his face as if he won the lottery, “I’m really glad you liked it. I thought I ruined the surprise when you asked me why I was often at Kageyama’s place. The puppies are just so cute you know? We named them Pork bun and Curry in our heads because I want you to name them yourself.” He said.

“Don’t do that again.” Ushijima said. Hinata looked at him in confusion.

“Why?”

“I’d think you prefer Kageyama over me.” Ushijima replied.

“Awww, don’t worry, you’re my most favorite person in the world, Waka-chan.” Hinata said, poking Ushijima’s cheek before pulling him down for a kiss. “Though, asserting your claim isn’t a bad idea.” Hinata whispered mischievously after they broke the kiss.

“Later.”  Ushijima growled and kissed him again, this time, more aggressive.

“Keep it PG-13! The kids are watching!” Yaku exclaimed, covering the puppies’ eyes from the intense make out session of the two.

No one’s really surprised when Hinata was limping and his neck was filled with bruises the next day tho Kageyama’s hella mortified bc he could hear them doing it (”A-ah...! T-Toshi! Mmmhmm, yes right there, Toshi!” OH MY GOD NO DON’T DO IT NOO LET ME SLEEP DAMN IT)

Poinsettia - Good cheer, success and wishes for mirth and celebration

[goshiyachi]

Water privileges

Day:Seven + Four (from the first Hinata rare pair week) Prompt Used: Crow’s Genre: Flowers+ Fairy-tale Rating: K+ Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshi/ Hinata Shouyou Warnings: None Additional Tags: Mermaid AU Summary: Sometimes Ushijima wondered if he’ll find out who keeps giving him presents when he dropped his fishing pole in the middle of sea.

Growing near the ocean waves and having spent most of his childhood smelling the salt and feeling the fresh cool air that only came from the coast, Ushijima Wakatoshi, knew his fair share of folklores his grandfather told him about. He remembered the mornings of getting up and walking down the pier or getting on his grandfather’s boat and drive miles into the ocean and feel the currents move the boat around. His fishing rod would be ready under a couple of seconds and he would watch it drift for a half hour and wait for that same tug he always felt.

It was always gentle like the waves that sometime he barely felt; on some rare occasions his gut told him it came from hands touching it and placing a handmade trinket or treat. Other times the tug was more noticeable for ten seconds making Ushijima quickly reel it back wondering what he captured. But the result would be always the same, it would be a pretty shell, or a lost item from an old ship wreck’s tale. His grandfather would laugh at his presents and would joke that maybe Ushijima got a mermaid’s attention from the number of prizes that decorated his room. At first, Ushijima dismissed it thinking he had poor luck but as the years went by turning him into a seventeen-year older local fisherman from helping his grandfather he kept thinking more about those silly stories. They were fascinating, mystical and supposedly breath-taking creatures; it felt ludicrous to even fathom that one would waste it’s time to mess around him.

He was a simple boy that enjoyed his time out in the sea and liked to see what his next present would be. He didn’t ask for much wanting to catch a normal fish but in the back of his mind he waited patiently for that tug. When it was just himself on the boat he sometimes considered coming back to sea when it was dark just to see if whoever caught his fishing rod was because they knew memorized his schedule in particular or if it just an unexplainable chance of never catching a fish. Either way the early mornings were filled with small chats with other fishermen getting out to the sea. A whole afternoon would pass with his grandfather telling Ushijima some of his favorite old tales when he was younger.

“Grandfather, have you ever encountered the truths of any of these folk tales?”

From his point of view his grandfather’s smile turned into a soft chuckle. He visibly looked calm as he readjusted his hat and looked down at their fishing rods. “Once when I was around your age.” A wave grew making the boat rock. “It was a couple of days after meeting your grandmother and I was finishing reeling my line when I felt something rather big hit the bottom of my boat.”

“At first I thought it was just my imagination until it something like a knock persisted. I slightly ducked my head to the side and only saw a glimmer of shiny bright scales that is not too common in this area. I hesitantly put a hand near the edge and I thought I saw a pair of human hands coming up.” His grandfather dipped his current rod to the waters. “But before I could I get a better look a fin splashed my face making me close my eyes immediately but I heard it; it was a friendly boisterous laugh that was close to a humans’ but more beautiful.”

“And do you believe you saw a mythical creature like a mermaid?”

His grandfather rolled his shoulders, “I can’t say for sure but that would be quite exciting if that were true since where I was finishing was too far for any normal sane person to swim. Especially since I was too far away from the closest boat to mine for a lone swimmer to drift away.”

By midafternoon Ushijima mulled over enough of his grandfather’s tale that he barely felt the same tug telling him that it was time for his present. He quietly got up and looked down at the surface of the water meeting his reflection. It was only times like this he wished he wasn’t in the middle of the sea because it made it difficult to see what was under. When he reeled it back he held out a sea flower crown. It was woven slightly clumsy in the beginning but it was overall a pretty little thing. When his grandfather caught sight of him standing in the middle with a flower crown he couldn’t help but chuckle out loud.

“Nice catch Wakatoshi!”

Ushijima let a small smile reach the corners of his lips as he settled to his lap and looked at the open sea waves crash and motion both fishermen that dinner was soon coming. He placed another bait on his hook and went back to listening to his grandfather start another story about a cursed ship. As both humans enjoyed their work on the surface it was unknown to them that a young merman below their boat strained his ears to hear their amused muffled voices before diving lower feeling like his cheeks blush with every passing second.

When he settled down where he thought it was safe to laugh he couldn’t help but mumble out his embarrassment and wistful thinking. His smile never wavered as he swam back to where his family and friends were as he planned for the next present tomorrow.

[theyrealltrue]

Day: 3

Prompt Used: Pantone 2197 C/Blue Ain’t Your Color - Keith Urban and Coffee Shop

Rating: T

Paring: Hinata Shouyou/Konoha Akinori

Warnings: Discussion of Suicide, Memory of Suicidal Thoughts, Past Suicide of an OC

Additional Tags: AU – Coffee Shop, Art History, Painting, Neurodivergence

Summary: Rarely, if ever, does life work out just like you plan it. Konoha Akinori set out in life to be the best at… something. Potentially (but as of yet unproven to be) the world’s foremost expert on Picasso’s Blue Period, he finds his life a bit… stalled. Not only did the path that led him to his expertise leave more than a few marks, it turns out a PhD in Art History doesn’t exactly help you get a real job outside of academia. But there is one good thing going for him: he has found the city’s best café. And the first face he ever saw there was Hinata Shouyou’s.

Or, Konoha is grumpy and frequently flustered, Hinata is a cheeky fucker, and the allusions to background ships are Just Delightful (if I do say so myself).

[xeylah]

Day: 2 Prompt Used: This Town by Niall Horan Rating: General Audiences Pairing: Hinata Shouyou/Inuoka Sou Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Additional Tags:  Long-Distance Relationship, Drabble, Songfic

Summary:

On the train ride to see Hinata, Inuoka reflects on their relationship.

[ushihina]

myyyyyy entry for day one of @hinata-rarepairweek !!! i took inspiration from the pantone and movie quote prompts and made it cute cuz im weak ( ;;;´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[tsukkeilate]

Auricula

Hinata Rarepair week 2!

Day 6: Art Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Kageyama Tobio Summary:  Notes: Erm, I don’t do ballet and I just referenced the ballet videos that I saw on Youtube so if there’s anything wrong with my description, feel free to PM me anytime!

( Chapter 1 of ??? )

Hinata handed his ticket to the ticket taker and let the security check his messenger bag, filled with nothing but art materials and opened or used packets of crackers.

"No food or drinks are allowed." The security told him, gruffly. Hinata sheepishly smiled.

"Sorry, I forgot." He took a handful of the opened packets and dumped it on the nearby trashcan, opening his bag wide for the security to check again. The security nodded in satisfaction and let him go inside, already checking another luggage.

The concert hall was almost full, idle chatter filled the air. Various of people were present, but supportive parents and relatives made up most of the population. He took the penlight hanging from his ID lace, pushing the button open, directing the beam of light on his ticket. Seat 59, it read. Hinata grinned as he walked towards his seat located at the front, right in the middle row. He internally thanked his sister for the good spot and knowing that he was in need of inspiration for his portfolio. to be exhibited in a local museum as his final project for his senior year. Hopefully his afternoon would be a fruitful one; the deadline was fast approaching and he only completed half of the required amount.

The lights dimmed and Hinata made himself comfortable, flipping his sketchpad open and taking the pencil inserted in the spine. He focused his attention in front, waiting for the curtain to rise. The reminders and schedule for intermissions were delivered before the curtain was raised, revealing the set of characters for the first act. Applause was given by the audience and Hinata gave his sister a beaming smile who smiled back at him.  

The music began to play and the characters started to move, elegantly gliding around the stage. Their roles seemed to be ladies in waiting, with their expensive looking clothes and all dolled up like rich aristocrats. Their fluid and flexible movements entranced Hinata as he watched the supporting characters gracefully exits the stage eventually for the female lead role as the princess (if the tiara that sat upon her head is any indication) to enter. She walked languidly, dragging her feet, before stopping to sigh, her arms outstretched on either side as the music fades a bit. When the music resumed with higher tune, the troubled princess started glide and hop, left leg folded, her arms swinging around her lightly. She then walked at the side of the stage with her toes pointed on the ground, before pausing to extend her right arm upwards and her left arm downwards. One of her feet was twisted in front of the other, before she used them to maneuver to the side, making little twirls and jumps that made her move to the center of the stage.

Hinata continued to watch with rapt attention, his hand moving to rough sketch the movements without having to look down at what he's sketching. Having been in love with Art for so long, Hinata had already became one with his canvas, the image of what his sketches were supposed to look like already appearing inside his head.

The show went with Hinata making various of sketches until the first intermission. The light went back on and he groaned and shut his eyes tight at the sudden shift of the brightness in the room. Whilst everyone was leaving for bathroom break, Hinata reviewed his sketches and found out that most of them were of the female lead role doing twirls and jumps.

'I should get a still shot.' He though, refilling his mechanical pencil with 3 more leads as he reviewed his art some more.

Something during the intermission, Hinata left his seat to go to the Bathroom to freshen up a bit and sneak to eat some of his snacks hidden inside his pockets. He rushed to get in the Theatre hall in time because his classes in the morning ended up a bit late. However, when he saw the long line at the males’ rest room, he decided to head back and just wait for the second intermission to start and get in the rest room before anyone else.

The light dimmed once again, signalling the 15-minute intermission has ended. The curtain rose to show the next act, which featured a male lead role instead of the female role.

‘This must be the knight.’ He thought, recalling the brochure his sister gave out the day before, ‘or the prince? Oh shoot.’

Hinata was still recalling the things he had read in the brochure when the music started to play. The music was somewhat bolder and used deeper tone than when it was the female role, depicting what might possibly the personality of the male lead role. However, all his thoughts flew out of the window the moment the lead male role started to move.

Contrary to the female lead role’s elegant movements, his was rough and reckless; the way he moved showed that he was no dashing prince, but a skilled knight who was ready to give up his life for the King and Country. The way he would battle the black clothed men in the forest, rashly advancing towards the enemy with his sword thrusted towards them.  The music was slowly reaching the climax as the battle goes on, before dropping into a more relaxed tune when the knight had won.  

The scene ended and the lights in the stage dimmed before Hinata knew it. He realized his hand didn’t move a bit to sketch, he was too enraptured to watch the scene that he forgot he was supposed to take down notes for his Art piece.

‘Oh well, there’s still the next scene.’ Hinata thought as the lights brightened.

This scene featured the male and female lead roles, having to meet in the castle after that ferocious battle.

The princess was dancing alone, her movements seemed to be mellow and doleful. She twirled continuously until she had reached the knight, who took her hand twirled alongside with her, before taking her waist and raising her upwards. The princess’s arms were raised above her head in an oval formation before the knight put her down beside him. She took a step backwards and her face depicted happiness and relief. The knight went down on his knees and took the princess’ hand to kiss it before standing up and asking him to dance with him. The princess was delighted to be asked by this courageous knight to dance with him. The two made a circle, walking at the different direction the other was taking before the princess put her hand on the knight’s shoulder and the knight encircled his arm on her waist and hoisted her up a bit, her legs outstretched and her right arm raised above her head, creating a semi oval formation as her other arm was wrapped around the knight’s shoulders.

The knight spun once before putting her down, backing away as she landed on her feet. She was holding his hand as she made him her support, her right foot pointed and her left leg outstretched.

The dance continued as Hinata started to sketch this time, trying to keep up with their movements.

Hinata marveled at the elegant movements of the female lead role and the brash movements of the male lead role that seemed to clash with one another but wonderfully looked good together. Their difference in style depicted the difference faces of ballet, just like the different faces of Art. Hinata was highly inspired, wanting to burn the whole scene in his mind and get out of the hall fast, sprinting towards his dorm room to paint everything he had just seen. If only he could video the whole thing to have reference for later, but he knows that no video could compare to actually seeing it live and etching it to memory.

The artist in him was particularly interested in the male lead’s movement, something that was quite refreshing to see. In the previous recitals that he had went to because of his best friend and his best friend’s boyfriend, he had never seen anyone danced like this recital’s male lead role did. There was elegance in his rough movements that made him stand out from the rest of the male dancers, his dance commanding undivided attention from the audience. It made Hinata want to pull him out of the recital and beg him to be his muse, particularly his dancing, for the upcoming exhibit. He could imagine the colors he would be using and the strokes to be done with his brushes, angrily attacking his canvas just like how the knight attacked his enemies and won the battle.

But before he does any of that, he needed to find out the knight’s name that made him intrigued and desperate enough that he’d begged on his knees until he said yes.

Ushijima Wakatoshi. That was name of the knight in the play.

“Do you know him, Natsu?” Hinata asked after the recital has ended. Natsu nodded.

“Hmm yeah, Ushijima-san’s my senior.” Natsu replied, “And Tooru-nii’s an understudy of his though I don’t think they get along. Tooru-nii seemed to dislike him.”

“Do you think if I beg him to be my muse he’d say yes?” Hinata asked, pocketing his pencils and pulling out his phone to take down notes.

Natsu shrugged, “probably. I’m not really close to him as Tobio-nii is, but I think if ask him nicely he might say yes.” She replied, “which, by the way, we could ask now seeing he’s coming to our way.” She pointed at the tall and broad brunette walking towards them with a serious expression on his face, holding a bouquet of flowers and paper bag filled with gifts from fans.  

“Hinata.” He said, referring to the younger, once he was close enough.

“Ushijima-san! Good work today!” She said, bowing politely.

“Thank you.” He said, before giving her the bouquet of flowers, “for you. Congratulations on your first recital.”

“Oh… Thank you. You didn’t have to, Ushijima-san.” Natsu said shyly, her cheeks slightly flushed as she smelled the flowers lightly, “they’re pretty.”

Watching the entire exchange, something snapped in Hinata’s mind and immediately he pushed back his sister as she stood in front of her, glaring at Ushijima.

“I’m not letting you date my sister! You have to undergo through me first!” Hinata said protectively and the people around them started to look what was the commotion all about. Natsu felt her cheeks turned red, embarrassed by her older brother’s overprotective display.

“Shou-nii, stop it. Ushijima-san’s not interested in me, he’s just being nice.” Natsu hissed, “stop this oh my god you’re embarrassing me Nii-chan.” She turned to look at the people who were looking at Hinata and smiled at them, trying to convey that there was nothing interesting to look at there.

“You’re Hinata Natsu’s older brother correct?” Ushijima asked, stepping closer towards the orange haired male.

‘Oh shoot he’s hella bigger than me!’ Hinata thought, slightly panicking. He regained his composure quickly, puffing his chest out and trying to make it look like he’s the alpha male, ‘he ain’t intimidating me with his height. I could kicking his family jewels if he tries to do something nasty.’

“Yeah, I am. What of it?” Hinata asked tersely, ignoring his sister’s trying to tugging his sleeves and hissing at his ears to back down.

“So you having a sister complex is true.” Ushijima said and Hinata indignantly made a noise, “rest assured I have no intentions on courting you sister. I’m merely congratulating her for having her first recital, despite only starting last year.”

‘Courting? Is he living in the Victorian era?’ Hinata wondered, making fun of Ushijima’s choice of words. But he was relieved that his sister was having any relationships behind his back because she was too young to even have a boyfriend. (She was seventeen and Hinata had his first girlfriend at sixteen. He’s too overprotective.)

“Well then, that’s good!” Hinata said, backing down. Natsu sighed in relief.

“Anyway, Ushijima-san, my brother actually came here to ask you for a favour,” Natsu said sweetly, getting her payback, “before he started getting the wrong idea and acting like a mother in law.”

Hinata’s face slightly turned red in embarrassment, awkwardly laughing it off, “oh, haha it’s um… I’m sorry for threatening you but could you please be my muse for my project?” Hinata asked, bowing politely and somewhat startling Ushijima, “I was watching earlier and I thought you were really good and I was thinking if it’s alright if I paint you while you dance? I swear I’m going to do it justice!”

Silence followed and Hinata’s back and neck was killing him from bowing stiffly all of a sudden but he was determined to get Ushijima as his muse. The longer the silence goes on, the more Hinata was worried that Ushijima might violently reject him and probably call him a creep because of his unusual request.

“Okay.” Ushijima said finally, and Hinata looked up, tilting his head lightly to the left with a confused look on his face.

“Okay?” He repeated.

“I’m fine being your muse.” Ushijima said and Hinata almost did a happy dance right then and there, “however, we have to schedule it so that it wouldn’t disrupt my practice.”

“Oh! It’s fine by me if I do my work while you practice, I don’t want to be a bother. I’m just going to sit there and get rough sketches before I start with the details.” Hinata grinned as he pointed to his brain, “I have a pretty good memory you know, so I could do it while you practice. I’ll be as silent as a mouse I swear.”

“Alright. Would this Saturday be alright with you?” Ushijima asked. Hinata nodded his head vigorously.

“Yeah! It’s fine by me. Though I need to get your contact details, is that alright?” Hinata showed him his phone.

“It is.” Ushijima said, getting his phone from his pocket.

The two exchanged numbers and test texted each other to make sure they have the correct ones. Hinata beamed as he stow his phone away, thanking his lucky stars that he finally found his muse for the second half of his project.

“I’m looking forward to working with you, Ushijima-san!” Hinata said.

“Likewise.” Ushijima replied before he parted ways with the siblings, seeing that his mother was calling his attention.

“This would be a great exhibit, I could feel it!” Hinata said excitedly, after Ushijima left to go to her mother. Natsu merely raised a brow.

“…Right.”

‘I hope Tooru-nii doesn’t throw a fit when he finds out.’

Auricula - Painting

[tsukkeilate]

Iris

Hinata Rarepair week 2!

Day 5: Space Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Kageyama Tobio Summary: Kid fic! UshiHina (sequel to this )

Shou-chan goes out at night to view the stars with one of his most favorite people in the world, Waka-chan.  Notes: This is related to space… right?

There was someone knocking on his bedroom room, quiet but loud enough to hear it. Hinata excitedly ran towards the door and turned the knob open, his eyes glittering in excitement.

“Waka-chan! You’re here!” He said, before running past him and stepping on the fifth step of the staircase, “mooooom! Waka-chan’s here!” He yelled loudly before going back to where his friend was, peering over the bag that he brought.

“You have everything needed?”Hinata asked and Ushijima nodded.

“Great! Let’s go! Mom found us a perfect place to view the stars!” Hinata ran towards his bed and hurriedly grabbed a sling bag, haphazardly thrown over his shoulders, “race you downstairs!”

Hinata ran down the stairs, with Ushijima following behind him. The orange haired kid squealed as he reached the bottom of the stairs and Ushijima wondered how his friend could always be this hyperactive.

“Shouyo! Behave!” Hinata’s mother chided him, before turning to Ushijima, “I’m so sorry if my son’s too hyper Ushijima-kun.”

“’s okay. I don’t mind.” Ushijima said. 

Hinata’s mother smiled, “you’re such a good kid, Ushijima-kun.” Hinata’s mother pat Ushijima’s head before ruffling it lightly. 

“How about me?! I’m a good kid too!” Hinata protested. 

“Good kids don’t yell at night.” His mother said. “And good boys behave.” 

  “But Waka-chan’s here and I’m really excited to watch the stars with him!” Hinata replied.

“And you wouldn’t be able to watch the stars if you don’t behave. We’re not going out of the house until you keep quiet.” His mother said sternly. 

Hinata’s eyes widened as he gasped, his hands flying on his mouth in attempt to shut it. 

Ushijima tapped Hinata’s shoulder, making a motion of zipping his mouth shut and putting the ‘key’ on his pocket. Hinata nodded and did the same, carefully putting the ‘key’ in his pocket. 

Hinata’s mother watched the adorable display of his son and his friend in effort to keep quiet and be able to go out and stargaze. She stifled her laughter and cleared her throat, “my you two are such good boys! And for that, we’re going to watch the stars tonight.”  Hinata’s eyes sparkled as he jumped up and down, his hands still over his mouth. Ushijima smiled softly and Hinata’s mother herded out of the house and lead the way to the park nearby. 

“Oh! I could see Sirius!” Hinata exclaimed, pointing out the star that had been glittering brightly.

“That’s the brightest star right?” Ushijima asked. 

“Yep! And it’s one of my favorite because it’s easy to see.” Hinata replied. 

They were lying on the floor with piles of blanket underneath them, snacks and drinks littered around as Hinata’s mother supervises them nearby. Ushijima was looking intently at the stars, trying to find constellations that he had read in the book Hinata lent him days before. 

Ever since becoming friends because of the painting incident, the two became inseparable. You wouldn’t see Ushijima without Hinata bouncing beside him or Hinata without Ushijima trailing quietly behind him. Whenever Ushijima’s with Hinata, he doesn’t mind his lack of friends or if the children don’t like him, being one of Hinata’s best friends was enough. 

“Shou-chan, I could see Orion.” Ushijima said, scooting closer to Hinata and tracing the constellations with his finger. 

“Oh wow, you’re right Waka-chan!” Hinata exclaimed and squinted his eyes as he tried to look for another constellation.

“Wait, I could see Ursa Major too!” Hinata said, tracing the constellation with his finger. 

“That’s Ursa Minor, Shou-chan.” Ushijima corrected him.

“Oh.” Hinata said, “but I still got to see a constellation!” 

“Yeah. Good job, Shou-chan.” Ushijima smiled at Hinata, who grinned happily at him in return before yawning unexpectedly. 

“That means bedtime.” Ushijima said, standing up and brushing the invisible particles off his clothes. 

Hinata grunted in agreement, but refused to get up, “but I want to look for more stars.” He protested.

“May be next time, we could do it again.” Ushijima said.

“Promise?” Hinata held out his pinky. 

“Promise.” Ushijima grabbed Hinata’s pinky with his. 

“Okay!” Hinata said cheerfully, getting up and prepared to leave. 

However that promise was not fulfilled. The next time they decided to stargaze, Ushijima’s mother got a promotion and they had to move somewhere closer to her workplace. 

Ushijima remebered how Shouyo was looking at his pinky with the saddest look he had ever seen on the other’s face. It broke his heart as he turned away to leave, already gave his goodbye to his friend. 

Ushijima walked out of the balcony of his apartment, looking up at the night filled with stars, reminiscing. 

“Are you still stargazing, Shou-chan?” He asked softly, tracing the constellations they have found when they were children with a fond look on his face. 

He went back inside once it got chilly, taking a picture frame nearby, staring at the picture of an energetic orange haired kid making a peace sign with his younger self who was looking at the camera and trying to smile. 

“I hope to see you again.” He said, thumbing the picture lightly, “I still owe you a promise, Shou-chan.” 

Iris- Faith; Promise; Hope

[goshiyachi]

Smile for Me

Day: Four Prompt Used: Crow’s Genre: University from @hinata-rarepairweek + Hurt/ Comfort + Aquarium Date + (November prompts) Illness (December Prompts) from @oihina-monthly Rating: K+ Pairing: Oikawa Tooru/ Hinata Shouyou Warnings: Nothing but Angst I guess  Additional Tags: College AU, Illness, small fluff here and there

Read on Ao3 for first mini half of this story.

Hinata thought that when he finally got settled into his first apartment with Oikawa there would be nothing but, happiness, laughter and easier days to come.

It was like living in a fairy-tale at first, he got his version of a Prince Charming and been living the happily ever after almost immediately. Every day felt amazing, with vibrant colors splashing his eyes and everything seemed aligned perfectly within his life. Oikawa would be there by his side when he needed him and gave this beautiful view to continue on living. It made his heart warm, and it almost felt too good to be true. With their seemingly endless lingering touches and many kisses Hinata wondered why he suddenly became cautious. There wasn't a good reason to damper his parade but, it still didn't stop him from worrying. With all the work and classes keeping them busy it was hard to continue this uneasiness when it finally clicked. It wasn't because either of fell out of love; that never faulted. With the way they still clung to each other each morning and talked non-stop every night. But rather. Hinata couldn’t stop this uneasiness surfacing into his apartment and more importantly into the back of Hinata’s mind when he noticed how everything started to get dim and randomly become fuzzy to the point where he couldn’t properly see straight. Colors started to blend and become duller, whiteboards from his classrooms were harder to read (even when he was near the front of the classroom).

Oikawa noticed about the same time when Hinata started to squint more often and silently complain of having to shove his phone near his face when reading a text or placing a chair closer to the tv because sitting at the couch was too far away now. It was a slow process where his once perfect eyesight started to lose its strength the way he started to trip more often on rugs or stairs. He was only thankful that Oikawa was always close by to catch him before he fell. That was why going to the doctor made Hinata beyond nervous, because all his life he was a healthy guy that barely needed many checkups. But that was why Oikawa insisted on going to see what was wrong with him. And when the day came Oikawa was there holding his hand in the waiting room and when he finished talking to the doctor. He started out with a set prescription glasses and a lot of comfort kisses on the way home after picking out the style of his new glasses. They shared a couple of jokes of being a glasses duo but what they left out was the worry of the prescription eye drops Hinata also received from the minor pain he got when he walked outside when the sun was at its highest. The next couple of days Hinata still relied on Oikawa before his glasses were ready to be picked up and trying to man up when Oikawa had to put his eye drops since he sucked doing it himself. By the time they were ready they had a system going where Hinata would have a hand grasping Oikawa’s shirt or hand.

There was a huge relief when Hinata got his glasses and being able to see clearly; he missed the way he could see Oikawa's face perfectly minus a few dull shading now. The eye drops helped the minor pairs he got from the sun, but the colors were still a shade wrong. But all Hinata could think at the time was that he was just happy he could see his boyfriend at all. It was like he was temporally seeing everything in HD with the color scale down grading. His hair looked less orange, Oikawa’s skin was less flushed compared to his memories; but he said nothing to his boyfriend. He went on like that for a couple days while making calls when Oikawa wasn’t around to his doctor. It was something that made Hinata shudder again for having to go back and see why his glasses and eye drops weren’t solving everything. By the time it was his next check-up he almost didn’t tell Oikawa; but when he woke up with grayer shade of his room he let his hands roam to Oikawa’s face. He could still hear Oikawa’s soft breathing and see it from his chest rising slowly. With a swift motion to crept closer to Oikawa, he kissed Oikawa’s forehead waking him up with a hum and smile. There was short silence on Hinata’s part that it made Oikawa aware that Hinata had something to say. He cradles him carefully as he watched Hinata look at the ceiling verses Oikawa.

“I have another eye doctor’s appointment.” Hinata’s voice was quiet with worry. “Do you think you can come with me?”

It didn’t take long for Oikawa to agree and kiss him more tenderly before getting up and making breakfast. The few moments that separated them was between was when Hinata lingered in bed and watched his boyfriend getting up without him, Hinata just couldn’t help but stare at nothing in particular but the way the colors were becoming more gray by the day. His vision was still fine as long as he wore his new glasses but he didn’t like was how he knew how the world used to look like. It was far more vibrant; and it felt so unfair to see this was happening to him. He eventually got up with careful steps; from the kitchen he feel the warmth seeping into his skin. His footsteps outside the volleyball court were usually louder, making Oikawa aware how far apart he was to him, in a matter of seconds he could feel Hinata pressing against his back and two smaller arms trying to wrap around his waist. It was solemn eating and getting ready to head out, but Hinata couldn’t help but feel better knowing Oikawa was by his side trying his best to comfort him as they walked hand in hand to the eye doctor. Getting signed up and waiting was part of the problem, with the number of pamphlets scattered around him, having to sit on chairs that were too uncomfortable to sit on for a couple of minutes. The walls barely had anything to cheer him with just have simple paintings of houses or abstract lines or common house items. Not to mention the TV playing some old rerun show from the nineties that he barely even remembered his mother saw back then when it was popular. It was unpleasant to sit and skip through aged magazines and feel on his legs starting to fidget. Oikawa’s presence was the only thing that made Hinata stay on his chair and not run away from this building and try to pretend that his eyes were behaving and allowing him to see colors perfectly.

By the time the clock clicked one too many times, his name was called and Hinata almost yelped loudly when Oikawa called to him into focus. He could feel his body shaking but he still forced himself to get and tug Oikawa once before kissing him hastily for courage. The seat he had to sit on was just as cold and uncomfortable like the last, just like the posters were still scaring him. When the doctor came in and they had discussed his predicament Hinata could feel his heart tug and shatter the way the symptoms keep getting longer and having been told that there was chance he would never get to see the vibrant colors ever again and that worst case scenario Hinata could lose all his vision. He didn’t know how he looked like to his doctor but by the way he saw the man shift uncomfortably in his chair and pat his shoulder awkwardly he knew he looked devastated. He got prescribed more eye drops to help his eye’s pain that became more painful and harder to ignore, he knew that by the next half of the year he might need to change his magnification of his glasses. The list got longer knowing that once a upon a time ago Hinata was enjoying his new life with Oikawa; and now he didn’t know how to tell Oikawa that he unknowingly just signed up to have a partner that may or not lose his eyesight. Either way, by the time he left the doctor’s room and finished talking to the receptionist about the medicine he couldn’t look directly at Oikawa in the eyes. They continued this silent walk out from the Optometrist all the way until they have to make a crossway.

“Do you want to go to the aquarium?” Hinata’s voice was still quiet and his hand that was holding on to Oikawa unconsciously let his grip become tighter.

Oikawa didn’t let Hinata know that he sensed this dread of bad news coming, instead he smiled gently and agreed that it had been too long since they had a proper date or time to go out. When they made it to the train station Oikawa became more physical hugging Hinata tighter and murmuring how proud he was for Hinata going to the doctor and that everything would be fine. He kissed his forehead and cheeks when Hinata buried his head on Oikawa’s chest. And while the weather was being cooperative and this was one of their few free days, Oikawa wished they went back in time when they were busy and Hinata was happier and healthy. He didn’t like how Hinata was clinging him and sensing this heavy atmosphere that was drowning Hinata’s smiles. The aquarium was luckily not that packed as they were able to buy their admission tickets without too much trouble. The huge glass tanks were filled with bright fishes and cheerful cries from elementary school kids pointing out funny fishes. With few crowds mingling Hinata became greedier with kisses from Oikawa, his hands gripped Oikawa’s coat forcing his boyfriend to lift higher.

“Shouyou, what’s wrong?”

With his glasses on Hinata could still see Oikawa’s face clearly. His eyes were filled with worry, and his voice was finally sounding the same. Hinata closed his eyes briefly, trying to keep his voice from slipping but, in the end he couldn’t stop himself from looking at his boyfriend one last time before letting his tears run down to his cheeks. Oikawa immediately set him down and took him to a more secluded area and sat him down. Hinata’s tears kept falling, that soon he started to hiccup when Oikawa tried his best to console him.

“I’m sorry.” Hinata lightly pushed Oikawa away from him, “I just…I’m being stupid.” He grabbed a tissue from inside his pockets and cleaned his face.

Oikawa grabbed one of his hands, “You’re not being stupid.” He insisted as he cupped Hinata’s face, “If it’s got you crying then please tell me what’s wrong. I don’t want you to feel alone about this.” He kissed his nose, “Just please tell me what the doctor said.”

Hinata sighed slowly from his nose and looked straight at Oikawa in the eyes, “I’m going color blind and there’s a chance I might go blind.” He pulled away from Oikawa’s touch. “It’s not a hundred percent yet but with the rate I’m going I will have to go to the doctor more often and check my eyes.”

Oikawa’s pause with the information scared Hinata to the core; the way his face went blank for a second and then morph to a hard stare that eventually phased into acceptance. He inched his body closer, letting his arms engulf his smaller boyfriend. They didn’t say anything but stare at the jellyfish tank for a solid minute. Then Oikawa was the first to act, he dropped his head low enough for Hinata to kiss comfortable. Their hands were intertwined; their foreheads were pressed together with lips touching. The rest of the afternoon they stayed put at the aquarium with Hinata sitting on Oikawa’s lap when they rested, or Oikawa walking behind with his arms securely around Hinata’s waist.

[tsukkeilate]

Alstroemeria

Hinata Rare Pair Week 2! 

Day 4: Fingerpaint  Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Kageyama Tobio Summary: Kid fic! UshiHina

Ushijima Wakatoshi was named as a bully by most of his classmates. Hinata was scared of him because of this and when their teacher partnered them up for an activity he wanted to hide. But when Ushijima admitted on liking flowers, his perspective on the other boy changed.

“Nobody could be a bully if they liked flowers right? His mom said that people who like flowers are not bad people and his mom usually was always correct so he’s going to trust her with this one.”

“Okay, partner up everyone!”

Immediately, the children in Shiratorizawa Kindergarten ran to their chosen partners, chattering happily and loudly. Ushijima was left in the corner, not knowing what to do. The children in the kindergarten don’t really like him that much because of his mean look, even if he tried his hardest to be friendly and reach out to him.

“Ushijima-kun, you don’t have any partner?” His kindergarten teacher asked.

Ushijima nodded, “yes. They don’t like me that much.” He answer.

“Have you tried talking to them?” His teacher asked.

“I did. They would run away. They don’t like me.” Ushijima looked down at his feet, frowning lightly, “they think I’m mean.”

“Well then, we just have to show them you’re not.” His teacher said, scanning the room. She was looking if everyone has already partners when he saw an orange haired kid looking lost and confused. She brightened up and pointed at him.

“You’ll be partners with Hinata-kun!” She said dragging the reluctant Ushijima towards Hinata.

Hinata looked at their teacher with confused eyes but as soon as his eyes landed on Ushijima, he looked scared and tried to hide from him. Ushijima. Turned his head away, already knowing how this would end up with. May be it’s better if he doesn’t have partner and do the activity alone.

“Go on, introduce yourself.” His teacher said, encouraging him to speak up. Ushijima looked at Hinata, who was still cowering in fear.

“Hello.” He said, voice monotone, “I’m Ushijima Wakatoshi.”

Hinata didn’t say anything. Ushijima looked away, already knowing this was a bad idea.

“Hinata-kun, Ushijima-kun introduced himself to you. What do we say?” Their teacher asked kindly.

“H-hi.” Hinata said, looking at the floor. His tiny hands were fiddling with the hem of his shirt lightly, still nervous. The teacher looked at Ushijima expectantly.

“What’s your name?” Ushijima asked, trying to smile that came out as a slight grimace.

“H-Hinata… Shouyo.” Hinata responded after a beat of silence.

Ushijima held out his hand, “nice to meet you.” He said. Hinata reluctantly took it.

The teacher clasped her hand together, “great! Now that you’re friends, let’s get started!” She turned her attention to the class, asking them to quiet down.

When they did, she started telling the instructions, “okay everyone! Today we’re going to paint for the Play day this Saturday! And because your parents are coming, I want you to use your fingers to paint a picture you want them to see. It could be anything you want but be sure to share the paint with your partner!”

“Okay!” The students said in unison and she started handing out papers and paints for them to use.

“Um, do you want to sit there?” Ushijima asked, pointing at the table nearby. Hinata squeaked like a mouse, apparently still scared of Ushijima.

“Okay!” He said, a bit too loud for the brown haired boy’s liking.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Ushijima said, grumbling, “you don’t have to be scared of me.”

Hinata saw how Ushijima frowned and looked away, as if he’s holding back himself from crying. He let go of Hinata’s hand and walked towards the table to start painting. Hinata felt a bit guilty because he made his classmate sad but he couldn’t help but to be afraid of him; some of the children said that he was a bully and he will steal your food and push you down the ground whenever he feel like it.

Hinata made his way to the table, gripping his shirt tight. “Um.” He started, trying to get Ushijima’s attention, “do you want to paint together?” He asked shyly.

Ushijima looked up and nodded, “okay.” He said, scooting lightly to make room for Hinata.

Hinata sat beside him and took the second piece of paper and a bottle of blue paint. He peered over at Ushijima’s art, a messy painting of a flower.

“You like flowers too?” Hinata asked excitedly.

Ushijima looked away for a moment before looking at Hinata again, “yeah. I do like them.” He replied, smiling a little, “grandmother’s teaching me all about them. She said that flowers have meanings.”

“Really?” Hinata moved closer to Ushijima, his fear gone. Whatever his classmates told him about Ushijima were wrong. Nobody could be a bully if they liked flowers right? His mom said that people who like flowers are not bad people and his mom usually was always correct so he’s going to trust her with this one.

“What does that mean?” He asked, pointing at the blue flower.

“It means hope.” Ushijma replied, “but it could also mean love. And I love my grandmother and my parents and I’m gunna show this to them.”

“I’m going to paint a blue flower too!” Hinata said happily.

“You can’t. They might think we’re copying each other.” Ushijima said. Hinata frowned.

“Then what should I paint?”

“You can paint red flowers. They also mean love.” Ushijima said.

“Okay I’ll paint that one.” Hinata said and started to dip his fingers in the bottle.

Ushijima painted his blue flower, his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. He tried to make th petals evenly and making blue flowers as many as possible. Hinata, on the other hand, was humming lightly as he messily painted his red flower, his fingerprints all over the place.

“May be we should paint sun and houses too.” Ushijima said after a while, admiring his work.

Hinata nodded enthusiastically, “or we could paint ourselves on it so they’d know it’s from us.”

Ushijima smiled genuinely, “okay.” He turned his attention to his paper and frowned, “I don’t have space anymore.” He said with a crestfallen expression on his face. Hinata found out that he didn’t like that expression on his new friend’s face.

“We could ask Miyako-sensei for more.” Hinata grabbed Ushijima’s wrist, smiling. “She would give us if we say the magic word.”

“Really? If we just say please?”

Hinata nodded vigorously, “yep!” He tugged Ushijima’s wrist as he lead them to where their teacher is, checking a table to make sure they’re working properly.

“Sensei! Waka-chan has ran out of paper. Can we have some more, please?” Hinata asked, looking up at her pleadingly.

“Waka-chan?” Ushijima asked, tilting his head lightly.

“Yeah! ‘Cuz you’re now one of my best friends! You can call me Shou-chan!” Hinata told him, grinning.

Ushijima felt happy when Hinata called him as one of his best friends. He never had anyone called him like that because he doesn’t have a lot of friends to begin with. The only friends he had was the red haired kid with bowl cut who lives near their house.

Their teacher smiled at them and took three clean sheets of paper, “here you go Hinata-kun.” She handed them to him.

“Thank you!” Hinata and Ushijima said in unison. They started to head back, talking about the flowers and the mixing of colors to make the other colors such as green, orange and violet that they’ve learned from class.

“Shou-chan, let’s paint on the paper together.” Ushijima said, his hands stained with green and blue paint. “I’m gunna use green.”

“Okay! Then I’ll use yellow.” Hinata agreed, dipping his entire hand inside the bottle. Ushijima did the same, making sure his hand was thoroughly covered.

“Let’s do it at the same time. One… Two…” The children pasted their hands on the paper, leaving wet marks of their hand. The paint from their hands dripped on the other sheet of paper, and they decided to put their hand marks on it too.

“It’s so pretty!” Hinata said, admiring their messy work together.

“We should present it to our parents together.” Ushijima said, looking pleased.

“Yeah, let’s!” Hinata exclaimed, happy that he became Waka-chan’s friend all because of the blue flower.  

Alstroemeria- Friendship

[tsukkeilate]

Forsynthia

Day 3 : Harry Potter Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Karasuno Volleyball team Summary:   Notes: Since they’re in Britain, I used their first names instead of last names.  Warnings: People are OOC, grammatical errors/typos, inaccurate French? 

Shouyo sniffed as he said his goodbyes to his friends and team, already hating the idea of leaving France for England.

“It’ll be alright, come on.” Koji said, patting his shoulder, “we could still meet for Christmas! You’re coming back right?”

“Yeah.” Shouyo said, wiping his tears. He’s fourteen now and he should stop crying like a baby.

“Good luck! I heard Hogwarts have a particularly strong Quidditch house this year. Um, I think it was Slytherin? So it’ll be good if the sorting hat would put you there!” Izumi said, trying to uplift his spirits.

“I’ll definitely try out for seeker this year. I got my Firebolt Supreme that mère got me for my birthday.” Shouyo said, beaming, “I’ll be just like Japan’s Little Giant.”

Little Giant was one of the greatest seekers that drove Japan to win four consecutive championships in the International Quidditch Tournament before retiring. He was smaller that an average player, but he had proven that he’s not so small when it comes to Quidditch. Ever since Shouyo watched that live broadcast when he was eleven, he had dreamt of becoming a professional Quidditch player and making it into the Quidditch team of Beauxbatons and he finally did last year.

Shouyo hoped he get to play until his final year at Beauxbatons but alas, his mother decided to open up a fashion botique in Diagon Alley, England after her last successful launch of her new Clothesline entitled “Iron Wall”.

“It’s good to experience other cultures, Shouyo.” His mother said when he voiced out his protest on transferring to England.

“Natsu and I can just stay here.” Hinata argued, frowning.

“Mon petit corbeau, it’ll be better if we’re all together.” She replied and it was the end of their conversation.

After that upsetting conversation, Shouyo made his frustrations known by being passive aggressive towards his mother, who eventually talked to him about it. In the end they made a compromise; Shouyo would come with them in England for a year and if he still doesn’t like it, he could go back to France and study at Beauxbatons again.

Thus landing on his current predicament, saying goodbyes to his best friends to live in a foreign land miles away from what he had considered his homeland. He’d miss this, he’d miss his friends terribly, his grandmère who bakes the most delicious cookies, his Quidditch team who helped him grow as a seeker and the scenery from the Beauxbatons’s towers.

‘I’ll be back soon.’ Shouyo thought, waving to his friends as he stepped out of the carriages and walked to where his father was waiting, his luggage and his owl, Little Giant, at hand. 

Shouyo felt his hands sweat profusely as he stared at the enormous door in front of him open, revealing the Great Hall of Hogwarts. He, along with the first years, was heralded by a Professor who walked at the middle of the hall, with the students clapping for their new schoolmates. They stopped in front of the long table where all the professors and the current Headmistress of Hogwarts, were seated. On their near left was a stool where the Sorting Hat was placed, looking tattered and quite ancient. Shouyo felt completely out of place, seeing that he was the only fourth year that needed to be sorted and he stuck out like a sore thumb because he was a head taller than the rest of the first years.

“When I call your name you will come forward and place the sorting hat on you head. Once your house is announced, you may sit with your housemates.” The professor said, holding up a list of students.

“Arran Blade.” The first name was called an a blonde boy stepped forward, looking anxious. He walked towards the stool and sat on it, the Sorting hat placed on his head.

“Hmm, yes. Very intelligent, yet lacking confidence. A kind soul but with great ambition. It would do you well in Slytherin, but for now you’re in… RAVENCLAW!” The Sorting hat voice’s boomed.

The Ravenclaw table erupted in loud applauses as they welcomed their new housemate, who looked happy and excited to be with his House.

“Madeleine Carrol.” The Professor called out and a girl step forward, walking towards the stool with confidence. The Sorting Hat was placed on her head and the Hat wasted no time yelling out the perfect house for her.

“SLYTHERIN!”

This time, the Slytherin table erupted in applauses and cheers and the girl walked to her table as another the was called out by the Professor.

The list went on and on, making Shouyo slightly impatient but happy at the elated looks of the children that were already sorted in their Houses. He hoped he’d end up in Slytherin because Izumi said that they have a strong Quidditch team that triumphs over the other houses. He hoped that he’d get the position for seeker if there would ever be try outs for the team.

“Natsu Hinata!” The Professor called out to his sister, who looked slightly hesitant to step forward. Shouyo squeezed her hand and pat her back, encouraging her to step forward. Natsu nodded in appreciation at her brother’s gestures, walking timidly in front as the whole school gawked at her. Shouyo shook his head, already used to this reaction. Even when they were preparing to enter the Great Hall, few children from the crowd were staring at the both of them due to their part Veela heritage. Their mother was a Veela and their father was a wizard, and since Veela’s blood overpower everything else when it comes to charms, they inherited their mother’s beauty, unresistable charms and power of enthrallment. However, their mother warned them on using enthrallment on anyone unless it was really necessary.

“Hmm… Hardworking and kind. Brave, but not too much. Yes, it will do you well to be in… HUFFLEPUFF!”

Shouyo clapped loudly with the Hufflepuffs, his pride swelling inside him as he saw his sister get sorted to her House. He was a bit dismayed that they might be in different houses, but it would be exciting if Natsu would take liking to Quidditch and join the Hufflepuff team.

“Shouyo Hinata!”

Shouyo clenched his fists as he stepped forward. He puffed his chest out as he moved forward, ignoring the stares and gawking, trying not to act anxious as the Sorting Hat was placed on top of his head.

“Hmm… You have a lot of courage, a never ending supply. Loyal to your friends but sly. enough  to get what you want using your resources. Oh, what’s this? Courageous and Ambitious? Yes, I know where just to put you.” The Sorting Hat said. Hinata held his breath.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

Shouyo tried not to look crestfallen as he walked to where the Gryffindors are, seated beside the first year that was sorted before him. His plans of becoming a Slytherin seeker was crushed, but he could always apply for a seeker position in Gryffindor.

“Hello!” A short haired blonde said, smiling. Shouyo smiled and said hello back.

“I’m Hitoka Yachi. Nice to meet you!”

“I’m Shouyo Hinata, pleased to meet you Hitoka!” Shouyo said brightly.

“Pleased to meet you, Shouyo!” Hitoka said, clapping when another Gryffindor was sorted. Shouyo clapped as well.

The House Sorting went on and on until the final first year had been sorted out in Ravenclaw. Everybody quietened down as the Headmistress of the school made a speech.

“First years, congratulations on finding your houses. All through out your education here in Hogwarts, you’ll be with them not just as schoolmates, but as your secondary family. I would also like to congratulate our Beaubaton brother and sister for successfully being sorted out into their respective houses. Shouyo Hinata, fourth year, and Natsu Hinata, first year. Please rise.” Shouyo felt his cheeks flushed as he stood up, smiling at everyone as they clapped for them.

The siblings took a seat once the clapping died down and the Headmistress continued her speech, “as such, I hope this year would be blessed with pleasant and fruitful memories for you treasure. Without further ado, let the feast begin.”

Food of great varieties appeared on plates located in the middle of the tables. There was a collective gasps of amazement as the older students eagerly digged in, the plates instantly refilling itself the moment the last piece had been taken away. Shouyo took as much food as possible, stuffing his face with the delicious food Hogwarts have to offer.

After the feast, the professor who lead them into the Great Hall rang her cup with his a fork, getting the attention of the people. The head mistress stood up and gave yearly warnings such as First years are not allowed in the Forbidden Forest, lest they would want to get gravely injured or die. First years are also not allowed to sneak in treats from the kitchen if they missed meals and owning their own brooms They’re only allowed in their second year and anyone caught having their own brooms would have points deducted from their Houses. The Headmistress also took the time to introduce new professors and the prefect of every house, before dismissing the students so that they could find where their Houses are and interact with their fellow housemates before classes start tomorrow.

“First years and Gryffindors, follow me.” Their prefect said, leading them to the flight of stairs that seemed to moved whenever they wanted to. He made them climb stairs until they’ve reached the Gryffindor Tower, the entrance to the dorms protected by a rich woman’s portrait.

“Password?” The portrait asked.

“Dauntless.” The prefect answered. The portrayed swung open and let them through, commenting that they have some lovely first years this year and her eyes were directed to Shouyo.

“I’m a fourth year.”  Shouyo said, “I just transferred from Beaubatons.”

“Oh my, how wonderful!” The portrait said, “I hope you’d like your stay here. Welcome to Hogwarts!”

“Thank you.” Shouyo said, before entering the common room.

“First years gather up!” Their prefect said, making sure that everyone was in the vicinity before continuing his speech, “My name is Raphael Carrol and if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask help from me or to your fellow housemates. Your luggages had been delivered and placed on your respective beds, as well as your uniform. Boy dormitories are on your right and girls’ on your left.” He said, before dismissing them.

Shouyo found his belongings located at the fourth bed on the right. He started unpacking his belongings before writing a letter to his best friends about his first day and how he was sorted in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin, not as he had hoped. He was finishing up his letters when a sixth year came up to him.

“Hi, Shouyo was it?” A black haired man said, smiling. Shouyo nodded.

“I’m Daichi Sawamura, the vice captain of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. I was just wondering if you play Quidditch since you have a Firebolt Supreme in one of your luggages.” He said and Shouyo looked excited.

“Yeah, I do! I was a seeker in my previous school.”

“Great! We’re in need of a seeker, our current one’s retiring because they said they wanted to focus more on their NEWTs.” Daichi said, “try outs for the team would be this coming Friday on the Quidditch Pitch.”

“I’ll definitely go! Thanks for telling me!” Shouyo said, his eyes sparkling in excitement.

“See you there then, Shouyo!” Daichi grinned before leaving.

“Oh man, I’m excited! Better tell Izumi and Koji about this!” Shouyo took another parchment paper in his bag and started writing about the offer he got from the sixth year and how excited he was for Friday.

Due to the excitement of being in the tryouts this Friday, the days had passed without anything interesting happened, except when Shouyo was lost and the stairs kept moving and he was almost late for his Potions class. He cursed his Veela genes when he caught people’s attention, easily being found out that he was almost late. The small luck he got was that the Potions Professor didn’t call him out or anything, which he was grateful.

He met new friends at the Great Hall and he took a particular liking to sticking with Tobio Kageyama, who didn’t seem to be that affected by his Veela charms. In fact, he was more interested that he plays Seeker more than anything else. He found Tobio’s inability to smile funny but he’d get a glare and a whack on the head if he ever said anything.

 Shouyo ran along the corridors with his broom at hand as he excitedly made his way to the Quidditch Pitch.  He had been waiting for this day ever since Daichi told him about it and as soon as his last class was done, he bolted out of the room like a lightning, swiftly running through the corridors as he called out to his broom nonverbally.

Shouyo mounted his broom as soon as he was outdoors, slowing down when he saw his fellow housemates down at the pitch. He dismounted and ran towards them, his ink pots clattering noisily inside his bag.

“Shouyo! You made it!” Daichi said, placing his hand behind his back, “just in time too. No one seemed to be trying out for the position of a seeker, so you’d be going against our old one. Come say hi.” He directed Shouyo to where their previous seeker are, a black haired girl with glasses and a beauty mark near her lip. She had a cool aura around her and despite being a half-Veela, Shouyo thought that she was one too. There was something about her beauty that he found intriguing and appealing, subtle yet demanding to be noticed.

“U-um, hello!” Shouyo said, feeling nervous around this cool upperclassman.

“Hello.” She said, smiling softly.

“Kiyoko, this is Shouyo Hinata. Shouyo, this is Kiyoko Shimizu our current seeker.” Daichi introduced them to one another before addressing to Kiyoko, “he’s here for the try out.”

Kiyoko nodded, getting the snitch from the crate, “the try out is simple. Whoever catches the snitch wins. If you win, you’ll be our new seeker. If I win, I’d still be the team’s seeker. Are you ready, Shouyo?” She asked.

Shouyo grinned and mounted his broom, “yes!” He replied.

Kiyoko mounted her broom and let the snitch fly, “let’s begin.”

The snitch immediately disappeared from sight and Shouyo as high as the towers to widen his vision. In his peripheral view, he could see Kiyoko watching his every move, ready to act should Shouyo found the snitch before her. He decided to give her a show.

Gripping the handle of his broom, Shouyo dove, free-falling until the last minute, jerking his broom upwards and did a couple of turns and loops. During his last loop, he caught the sight of the snitch and gripped the handle of his broom tighter. He sped up, trying to match the speed of the snitch. Kiyoko caught up to him and overtook, but Shouyo dove under her and emerged in front of her, one of his hand held out for the snitch. The snitch ducked but Shouyo already anticipating it, shifting lightly to make its pace. He grabbed it by its tail and took a sharp turn, before holding it tightly with his right hand as his left hand maneuvered his descent. He dismounted and ran towards Daichi, waving his hand excitedly.

Daichi grinned and took the snitch, placing it back to the crate, “congrats! I knew you could make it.” He said, “though that was particularly fast.”  

“Beaubatons don’t joke around when they train for their seekers. My house’s mousqueteire was a monster.” Shouyo said.

“Congratulations Shouyo.” Kiyoko said, appearing behind him. Shouyo turned and smiled.

“Thank you Kiyoko.” He said happily.

“Well, looks like Captain’s finished with the other try outs too. Let’s go.” Daichi motioned the other two to follow and Shouyo saw Tobio amongst the new recruits, scowling.

“Tobio!” He called out, waving.

“Shouyo, how did it go?” Tobio asked his friend. Shouyo grinned.

“I passed!” He replied and Tobio smirked.

“I knew you could make it. You have Firebolt Supreme in your arsenal after all.” He said and Shouyo pouted.

“It’s not the only thing I have! I got my keen eyes and speed! Give me more credits, geez.” He grumbled and their small banter was cut off by the Captain giving a speech and time for trainings.

“Congrats to the people who had passed. We’ll see you next Friday, same time.” The captain said and he clapped for the new members of the team. “You’re dismissed.”

The team dispersed and Shouyo got a lot of congratulatory remarks from other people and the names and position of the team. Tobio was a chaser and a new fourth year named Kei Tsukishima, Daichi Sawamura. The fifth years, Ryuu Tanaka and Yuu Nishinoya as beaters. The sixth year and Koushi Suguwara as the keeper.

“Whoa, you have Veela genes too?” Shouyo asked Koushi, who was smiling at him.

“Yeah. My mother’s half veela and I’m quarter Veela. It does come in hand when you’re trying to get the crowd’s attention.” Koushi replied. Shouyo felt a connection with Koushi due to this new information.

Aside from the main players, they also reserves. Despite being the captain, Makoto Shimada was the reserve keeper because of prioritizing NEWTs over Quidditch like Kiyoko did. Shouyo tried to memorized all of them but failed, so Koushi gave him a list of all the people and their positions in the team.

Before heading back to the Gryffindor tower, Shouyo attempted to go to the Owlery to ask his owl to deliver his letter but he ended up being lost. Even if he had been going to the Owlery for the past few days, he still cannot understand how to the  stairs work.

“Stupid stairs.” Shouyo said, wandering around the Ravenclaw corridor, “how am I supposed to get into the Owlery if you kept on giving me detours? Aarrgghh!” He yelled in frustration.

“Would you like me to help you?” A low voice asked him and Shouyo turned around to see a tall brown haired man with mean eyebrows staring down at him.

‘Yikes!’ Shouyo thought as the man just stared at him.

“Yes please.” He said weakly, trying to hide his fear. The man nodded.

“Follow me. Also, keep your voice down, we’d be the ones to who would have points deducted if someone’s loud in the Ravenclaw corridors.” The man said, already walking towards to the staircase.

Shouyo blushed and looked at him guiltily, “sorry.” He apologized, following the man. Shouyo wondered if all Ravenclaws were this serious and somewhat scary, but Shouyo got to admit, the man has a good built for a beater.

The two spent the trip in silence, with the older Ravenclaw teaching him when to climb the stairs and when to not. They arrived to the Owlery after the stairs rearranged themselves and Shouyo thanked the man profusely.

“I’m Shouyo Hinata! And you are…?” He asked.

“Wakatoshi Ushijima.” Wakatoshi said, “do you need help in going back to your tower?” He asked.

“Um, if you don’t mind.” Shouyo answered shyly.

“I’ll walk you back. If you’re later than 45 minutes, you’d miss dinner.” Wakatoshi said.

Shouyo gasped, look of pure horror on his face as the thought of missing dinner. Quickly, he made his way to Little Giant, an eagle owl, and tied the letter around its claws.

“Take this to the mail office, please.” Shouyo said and opened the window, letting Little Giant go through. He closed it after and walked towards Wakatoshi.

“Let’s go.” Shouyo said seriously. Wakatoshi said nothing but his eyebrows expressed his amusement at the Gryffindor.

They arrived at the Great Hall in ten minutes and Shouyo sighed in relief.

“Thank you so much again Wakatoshi! You saved me.” Shouyo said.

“No problem. See you around, Shouyo.” Wakatoshi said.

“Yeah, see you!” Shouyo said, waving his hand before joining his housemates in their table.

“You knew Wakatoshi Ushijima?” Tobio asked after Shouyo sat next to him, apparently saving him a seat.

Shouyo shook his head as he reached out to get a piece of ham and chicken, “not really. He just helped me find my way to the Owlery because the stairs are so frustrating.”

“Oh, I thought you knew him because that’ll be cool. Tsk, you raised my hopes for nothing.” Tobio looked highly disappointed in him.

“Oi! That’s just rude! Who is he anyway? You’re a fanboy of his?” Shouyo raised a brow.

“He’s one of the strongest beater here in Hogwarts. Rumors said that he had been scouted by the England National team but he refused because he wanted to finish his education.” Tobio told him.

Shouyo turned to look at Wakatoshi, who was listening to one of his housemates, an interested gleam in his eyes. The prospect of facing a strong opponent in the future made his blood rushed in excitement, already feeling the adrenaline in his veins.

'Wakatoshi Ushijima. I’ll be sure to remember that name.’

Forsynthia- Expectation

[tsukkeilate]

Gladiolus

Hinata Rare Pair Week 2!

Day 2: Magic  Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Ushijima Family Summary: How much do you know about the Magician?  Notes: Have some sleep deprived monster of a fic UshiHina (kudos if you got the reference!) Warnings: People are OOC, grammatical errors/typos 

At the tender age of seven, Ushijima learned not to believe in rumors. His parents taught him the principle of "to see is to believe" and that rumors hardly do anything good, especially if it's about a person's reputation.  This rumor, however, had piqued his interest so much for reasons unknown. Perhaps his grandmother was a witness of this rumor and that it might actually turn out as a truth rather than speculation.  "Hey, have you heard the magician that grants people's wishes for a price?"  "Yeah. They said that he takes your soul as a price."  "Oh, scaaarryyy~"  The Magician rumor had been rampant around the campus that no one doesn't know about it. They said that a Magician in an elegant kimono appears before the person who wanted a wish so badly they'd exchange anything for it. Even if the price they have to pay is their soul. They said that the magician could see the future and he could exactly tell you what and where you would be in the distant or near future.  They also said that when the magician appears before you, never pay the price without having your wish granted first. Because the moment you handed your soul to him, he'd disappear and you'll wander in the face of the Earth as a living dead.  It doesn't make sense, the second part of the rumor, but Ushijima wanted to know if his grandmother knows anything about the second rumor.  "The magician, taking souls?" She said, chuckling lightly, "ah yes, he does but not the souls you'd expect. He takes something dear to you in exchange for your wish." "That's horrible." Ushijima said.  "But it's the equivalent price of your wish." His grandmother said.  "Have you wished for something from the magician, grandmother?" He asked. "Yes... Yes I did." She said, looking out of the window. She looked terribly distant as well as sad.  "What was it?" Ushijima couldn't help but to be curious regarding to his grandmother's wish. She never told him anything, even if she loved telling him stories about Japanese folklore and mythology.  "It was... It was a long time ago, Wakatoshi-san. I can't remember anymore." She said, smiling apologetically. He knew she was lying; despite her old age, she had a great memory, retelling those folklore and mythologies to him with accuracy.  It was a topic that shouldn't be breached, but he let it go, not wanting to offend his grandmother. He quietly went back to coloring as his grandmother sips her green tea, looking over the gardens. It was a peaceful sunny afternoon when Ushijima Wakatoshi decided that he'd believe in fairy tales, even if it's just a little.  At the age of fifteen, a lot of happened in Ushijima's life. His grandmother passed away three years ago and his parents started becoming distant with one another two years ago until his father decided to work abroad. They never made anything official and when Ushijima would ask his mother, she could only shrug and smile helplessly in response.  "It just happens, Wakatoshi." She said, patting his head, "but if you love someone, don't ever let them go. Don't make the mistakes we made." At the age of fifteen, Ushijima Wakatoshi decided that love is a fragile thing in this world; even if you're married and have children, it's not guaranteed to last. And he doesn't know if he should believe in love or not.  At the age of eighteen, Ushijima Wakatoshi met the Magician.  It was a mundane morning and Ushijima was doing his daily morning jog when he stopped in front of a house that he definitely didn't remember seeing yesterday. The house was a traditional Japanese house similar to theirs, but this one looked really old. As if it came straight out of Meiji-era. He stared at the building, confused, unable to tear his eyes away from it. Ushijima didn't know what came over him, taking a step inside the house like it was the most natural thing to do.  'What are you doing? Stop! You're being rude.' His mind told him, but his body ignored it. He kept on moving forward until he opened the doors and reached the genkan. There was someone waiting for him. A man smaller than him by few inches, wearing a red haori over a navy blue kimono with elaborative and intricate cloud and smoke designs. There was an aura of maturity and mysteriousness that shrouded the man, a charm perhaps, that made him unable to look away.  "Welcome." He said, smiling, as if people intruding his home was the most normal thing to do, "I've been waiting for you, Toshiro. Took you long enough."  "Toshiro?" Ushijima repeated, frowning. "My name is not Toshiro." He said, though the name sounded familiar.  "Y-you're not...?" The man asked, looking lost, and just like that the magic dissipated. He seemed younger than he did earlier, "I thought...."  "You mistook me for someone else." Ushijima stated. The man stared at him for a moment and hummed, "I see." He said in a way that made Ushijima uneasy, "well then if you're not Toshiro, might I ask your name?"  "Ushijima Wakatoshi."  "Say Ushijima-kun, do you have a wish?"  Something clicked in Ushijima's mind that made him look at the man with eyes narrowed in suspicion. Is this the man they call the magician? There's nothing particularly amazing at him first glance, except his enigmatic persona. Do magicians really hide in plain sight? But come to think of it, he must have been bewitched by the man to be unable to resist the urge to go inside this house. Ushijima bet that this house was made of magic too.  "Are you the Magician?" Ushijima asked.  "People do call me that." He replied instead, indirectly answering his question.  "What's your real name then?" Ushijima asked.  "Hinata." The Magician replied. Ushijima stared at him, assessing his answer. Hinata simply smiled at him.  "May be if you tell me your wish, I'd tell you my whole name." Hinata teased.  "I don't have a wish." Ushijima said tersely.  "I see. Would like to have breakfast with me? It was just about to be served." Hinata seemed to accept his answer and offered him to join breakfast hospitably which Ushijima found highly suspicious.   "No thank you." Ushijima replied, already making a move to leave, "good bye."  "See you around, Ushijima-kun." Hinata said, waving.  It had been two days and Ushijima was still quite perturbed with his meeting with Hinata, who was the infamous Magician that grants the wishes of people. It felt anti climatic; Ushijima expected something more peculiar, like a display of magic that Science couldn't explain. Perhaps Hinata was a fraud, but what about the house that suddenly appeared out of nowhere? Surely, there was an explanation for that. May be it had been there ever since but Ushijima didn't notice until now. Ushijima admits that when he's jogging, he doesn't really observe his surroundings because he keeps his focus on his breathing and time.  Even if the meeting left him doubtful and wary about the credibility of Hinata as the Magician, he couldn't deny that he was intrigued by him. He wanted to see Hinata grant someone's wish in action because that's the only way he'd believe him. 

  Three days later, he got his wish granted. 

He found himself in front of the house after school. He stood there for a few minutes, checking if his body would move on its own accord again. When nothing happened, he hesitantly took the first step forward and then another, until he reached the door. When he was about to knock, however, the door opened like someone pushed it from the inside. 

"Back again, Ushijima-kun?" Hinata emerged behind the walls of the corridor, wearing another kimono. 

"Do you really grant wishes?" Ushijima asked. 

"I do. Do you have a wish, Ushijima-kun?" Hinata asked in reply. 

"No." Ushijima said immediately, "but I want to see you grant one, if you really are the Magician."

"Of course, you're an Ushijima after all." Hinata said good naturedly, "follow me, I was just about to grant one." 

Ushijima wanted to know what does he mean by that, but he decided to follow him quietly and ask him later.

A girl in her mid-twenties looked at Hinata anxiously and back to her hand, fidgeting slightly. Ushijima stood behind Hinata, observing everything silently, 

"Could you really do it? Could you grant my wish?" She asked timidly, looking doubtful. 

Hinata smiled reassuringly, "if it is your heart's desire then I could. But of course with a price." 

"I'll pay it." She said hastily, "I'll pay so please, grant my wish." 

Hinata produced a pendant from the folds of his kimono, a grim expression on his face. "Take this then and wear it. Every time you feel furious, this pendant would remind you of the consequences." He held his hand to her and the customer took it reverently. 

"Thank you." She said, looking relieved as she puts it on. 

She left afterwards, closing the door behind her with a soft click. 

"What was her price?" Ushijima asked after a beat of silence.

"Her scapegoat. She uses her anger management issues as an excuse despite feeling guilty about it." Hinata said, standing up. 

"The pendant has powers?" Ushijima asked once again. 

"Of course not, it's just an ordinary pendant." Hinata said. 

"So you were fooling her." Ushijima said, feeling angry and disappointed at Hinata. He thought that the Magician had powers, but apparently, he's just another fraud. A weird one to boot. 

"No, I'm not. Ushijima-kun, when people are used to something, they usually pay no attention to it. The effect of consciousness wears off. However, if it would their first time to do something that would be added to their routine, they would be conscious about it. That's what I made her do. To be aware of the pendant hanging around her neck. It would weigh in her mind because of the fear of the consequences. However that consciousness would wear off the moment she stopped caring." Hinata said, turning around to face Ushijima, "that's why whether she would let it affect her or not would be up to her." 

Hinata flashed an enigmatic smile at him, "when a path closes, another one opens. Or not at all. In this world, everything has a price. There is no such thing as coincidences, only fate." 

Ushijima kept coming back after that. He still wasn't entirely convinced about Hinata's magic, seeing that they never saw the woman again. To see is to believe, his parents drilled that into his head, and unless he saw everything unfold in front of his eyes he wouldn't stop pestering Hinata. 

Or at least, that's what he told himself. 

Hinata didn't seem to mind that he had taken a liking on barging in his house almost every single day, watching him talk to his customers. If anything, Hinata seemed to be amused. He would always offer Ushijima to dine with him and Ushijima would sometimes accept his offer and sometimes he'd make an excuse about doing something and promptly leaving. Hinata would just smile and say his farewells before retreating to his room to eat. 

Because of Ushijima's frequent visits, he got to learn about the Magician more. Little by little, that enigmatic persona started to un peel itself, revealing a more exuberant and friendly persona. Hinata was still mysterious, with his love in speaking in riddles and unfinished sentences, but he was more understandable now unlike when they first met. 

"Ne, Toshi... Do you believe in magic?" Hinata asked him once, when they were outside the terrace, stargazing. He took a sip of his sake from his cup, looking pensive at the stars above them. 

Hinata started calling him Toshi after they spent quite some time together. He thought of the first time they met, when Hinata mistakenly called him Toshiro and wondered if he reminded Hinata so much that of that person. When he asked, he got a hum and an unclear response. May be it was a sensitive topic that shouldn't be breached, like his grandmother's wish. 

"No." Ushijima replied, mapping the stars out in his head; he could see the Ursa Major, Leo and Gemini constellations glittering brightly at the night sky. 

"Oh. Too bad." Hinata didn't seem surprised by his answer like he had expected it. Ushijima supposed he did, but asked anyway. 

"But I believe in the Magician that grants wishes of the people." He added as an afterthought and Hinata turned his attention to him, smiling brightly. 

"Thanks. I didn't know you were a fan." Hinata teased. Ushijima shrugged. 

"It's an open secret. Would you give me a fan sign? I'm a big fan." Ushijima humored him, looking at him with a stoic expression but eyes playful. Hinata laughed in delight.

"Grandmother, is it true that the Magician is immortal?" The young Ushijima asked, looking up to his grandmother with wide eyes.  She smiled kindly at him, "yes he is. He looked like it, because I've never seen him age a day ever since I was a young lady. He had always stayed the same, while I grew up and my hairs turned grey until they eventually turned white." She replied.  "Is it lonely?" Ushijima asked once more.  His grandmother's smile turned sad, "it is. In fact, he's terribly lonely; the people around him grow old and die while he stays the same, granting people's wishes for eternity."

"Hinata, do you know Ushijima Kimiko?" Ushijima asked once they were eating lunch with the shoji doors slid open to allow the air to ventilate the room. 

"Your grandmother? Yes, I know her. She was one of my customers and one of my favorites as well." Hinata replied. "She was quite a woman too, the reason why your grandfather fell in love with her. They were such a cute couple." Hinata gushed, sounding like an aunt doting on her niece. "Why did you ask, Toshi?" 

"She told me she had a wish and you granted it. She never told me what it was." Ushijima answered and Hinata smiled in understanding. 

"And you want to know what it was." He said. Ushijima nodded. 

"Kimiko wished to live long enough to be able to care for her grandchildren. And I granted it, with the price that she would not live long enough to witness them grow into adults. She wanted to meet you badly, Toshi." Hinata said. He looked fond as if he was reminiscing a sweet memory from the past. 

Ushijima was confused. If that was the wish of his grandmother, why was she so hesitant to tell him? 

'There's something Hinata isn't telling me.'He thought, looking at the wish granter.'Something that my grandmother doesn't want me to know.' 

Deciding to push his luck, Ushijima asked once more, "who's Toshiro?" 

Ushijima saw how Hinata tensed for a brief moment, caught unguarded by his question, his eyes flashed pain and sadness until it was replaced by an unreadable expression. 

"Someone important." Hinata replied, with a finality in his voice. 

Ushijima understood and didn't ask further. The air around them grew stiff and awkward until Hinata gathered up the dirty dishes and went to the kitchen to clean them, leaving Ushijima to his own devices. Despite a sensitive topic, Ushijima was curious about this man called Toshiro. It was the first time Ushijima saw Hinata lost composure, excluding when they first met. He has a hypothesis that this Toshiro is somewhat connected to them, if Hinata mistook him for Toshiro. Surely no one in this world have the exact same features as Ushijima has. 

"Why are you looking for our family tree?" His mother wondered when he asked about where their family records are. "Is it a project in your school?" 

"Yes." Ushijima lied, because if he told his mother about the magician she wouldn't believe her, "I need to trace back our ancestors and write a five page essay about it." He wasn't completely lying, he does need to write a five page essay, but not about his family's origin. 

"It's in the storage room, at the very bottom of the fifth shelf." His mother told him. He thanked his mother and went to the storage room, going back and forth from the storage room to his bedroom, carrying crates of journals and books about his family's origin. 

It was 3 AM of Sunday morning when Ushijima found out who Toshiro really was.  Ushijima Toshiro was his great great grandfather, who died in the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. According to the records, his great great grandparents' marriage was arranged because of political reasons. They had five children, three males and two females, which the first two males joined the World War I. While browsing, he was disturbed on how he and Toshiro looked exactly the same on the ancient photographs he saw of his great great grandfather with his wife when they were still unwed and another photograph of his great great grandfather with someone so eerily familiar.  It was Hinata smiling side by side with someone who had the same face as him smiling at the camera. They were too close for comfort and Ushijima speculated that they were once lovers, before his great great grandmother came and married his great great grandfather.  'So this was Hinata's special someone.' Ushijima said, staring at photograph intensely.  There was a pang of nostalgia and pain that he didn't know where it came from, as if he was looking through an old memory. The longer he stared, the worse it seemingly got. Like his mind was forcing him to remember something he had forgotten so long ago that it was buried in the depths of his memories.  There was also something else besides nostalgia and pain. There was jealousy too. Ushijima couldn't explain exactly why, but there was some resentment on seeing his own face on the photograph and the desire to be actually the on it.  'I'm just feeling faint.' Ushijima reasoned out, 'it's three A.M. and I haven't slept yet.' He returned the photographs from where he got them and crawled into his futon after, immediately falling asleep the moment his head hits the pillow.     That night he was visited by a strange dream.  Everything seemed familiar, from the structure of the house down to the surroundings.  "Sorry for the wait!" Hinata's voice rang through out the dream, apologetic and hasty. 

"It's alright. Did Kuroo-sama asked you to bring him sake again?" He found himself saying.  Hinata plopped down beside him, groaning in protest.  "Yes, he did. Ugh, if he continues doing this he's going to drink himself to death." Hinata whined, kicking the pebble at his feet, "Toshi, let's go see the fireworks today!"  He found himself nodding, "sure, I'll meet you in front of Kuroo-san's house later after dusk."  "Okay!" Hinata yelled excitedly. He found himself staring at Hinata's genuinely smiling face, something he had never seen before. He leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Hinata's lips, before grinning mischievously.  "Toshi!" Hinata yelled indignantly, blushing like a tomato.  He found himself laughing, "you're in a mess Sho---" RIIINNNGG! RIIIINNNGG! RIIINNNGG!  Ushijima woke up with a start because of his blaring alarm clock that he glared at it enough to burn holes through them. He slammed the button down with more force than necessary and got up from his bed, oddly tired.  "That was strange." Ushijima mumbled to himself, fixing his bed before brushing his teeth and going down for breakfast.

"Hinata." Ushijima said as a way of greeting. "Toshi! Hello." Hinata greeted him, drinking his tea leisurely.  "I've searched who Toshiro was... He was Ushijima Toshiro my great great grandfather." Ushijima told him, sitting beside the magician.  "Yes he is. He died when we were 40 because of the Sino-Japanese war." Hinata said carefully, silent assessing Ushijima's reactions.  "You were lovers." It came out as a statement, not a question.  "Were, yes. Before he and Chiaki got married." Hinata agreed, nodding his head in agreement.  "I had a dream earlier... Like it was a memory of him. About going to the fireworks." Ushijima said. "Like I was him."  "The fireworks yes, it was our favorite thing to do." Hinata looked into Ushijima's eyes seriously, "what are you trying to say, Toshi?"  "Am I him?" Ushijima asked and there was a beat of silence before Hinata smiled sadly. "You'd think the soul would remember faster in a familiar surroundings." Hinata said with a playful edge on his tone, "awhile back you asked me what your grandmother’s wish was. I told you she wanted to meet you badly. That was the partial truth. Your grandmother asked for two wishes; to care for you and for you to live a happy life with someone you love the most. In your future, you would live a short but a neutral life, neither unsatisfying nor satisfying. Your grandmother wanted to erase that. I told her that the price was too much to pay for one person so your mother agreed to pay the price. For your happiness, it would be her maternal love. For prolonging your short life, it would be your grandmother's happiness in which the ring that she carries around with her that belonged to your grandfather. When they paid for their wishes I watched everything unfold, through the eyes of flowers and crows." Hinata continued, "The reason why your life is short but seemingly empty is because of Toshiro's wish. The former wish granter granted his wish of not letting any of his descendants suffer the same fate as him, dying with a lot of things to regret, and unable to say what he really wanted to say. He paid it with his soul being reincarnated as one of his descendants when the time comes." He explained.  "However the payment for your happiness is not complete yet. I still need a payment from you in order to complete it." Hinata told him.  "What is it?" Ushijima asked, still recovering from the information he got for today.  "A partial of your happiest memories, particularly with your grandmother." Hinata replied. Ushijima hesitated. Being with his grandmother was one of the things he cherished the most. He doesn't know if he could part with it, but the knowledge that his grandmother and mother sacrificed so much for him... It made him reconsider.  "I will pay for it." Ushijma said firmly, looking at Hinata with determined eyes. Hinata smiled at him softly and reach out to touch the other's temples. Ushijima felt a little disoriented when Hinata touched his temples, but otherwise fine. He couldn't remember the summer that should have been the happiest day of his life and every time he tries, his head hurt.  "I'll take care of it, I promise." Hinata smiled reassuringly. Ushijima nodded.   

"What's this?" Hinata asked, looking at the boxed wrapped in lilac furoshiki.  "Open it." Toshiro said, smiling.  Eagerly, Hinata opened it and his yes went wide as he gaped in awed at the present from the taller male, gingerly getting it out of its container and holding it up to see in its full glory.  "Toshi," Hinata breathed, looking at the item reverently, "it's beautiful."  It was a carved crow and eagle side by side, flying as they continued their journey without ever stopping. The carving looked realistic that anytime now Hinata expected it to get off its stand and fly high to the sky.  "I'm glad you liked it Shouyo." Toshiro smiled and Hinata smiled back.  "I'll take care of it, I promise." Hinata said, keeping it close to his chest.   "Shouyo." Ushijima said and Hinata's eyes widened.  "T-Toshi?" He asked weakly.  "I have a wish." Ushijima said, stepping closer to Hinata.  "What is it?" Hinata asked.  "I want to be your companion until you die." Ushijima replied and Hinata gaped at him.  "Do you know what you're asking?" Hinata asked, looking grim. "To share this burden with me means that those you hold dear would forget about you. The world would forget about you. You will disappear from the records, as if you never existed. You will watch the people you love grow weaker and weaker until they die. You will watch your cousins bear descendants and these descendants would die before you. Are you sure you want that?" "Yes, I've made up my mind." Ushijima replied.  "Hold my hands." Hinata said and Ushijima obeyed, holding Hinata's hands tight.  There was a warm glow that enveloped Ushijima as he closed his eyes, until it grew colder little by little. It dissipated right after and Ushijima felt drained as he staggered a little, almost pulling Hinata down with him if not the smaller male quickly acted as his support.  "Toshi... Why did you do that? You're not Toshiro and I'm not your beloved anymore." Hinata whispered, sounding distraught.  "I was him. Even if it's only for brief moments I could feel the love he had for you. I don't want you to be alone anymore, not when you have given so much for other people. This time, let people take care of you." Ushijima replied, squeezing their entwined hands tight.  "Thank you." Hinata buried his head on Ushijima's chest, the warmth comforting him. Ushijima let go of their entwined hands and wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist, hugging him tight, never intending to let go. 

Gladiolus-  strength of character, faithfulness and honor.

[theyrealltrue]

Day: 2

Prompt Used: 17 and Magic

Rating: NC-17/E

Paring: Hinata Shouyou/Bokuto Koutarou, Hinata Shouyou/Kuroo Tetsurou (and bokuroo and the ot3, but this week is about Hinata)

Warnings: I made myself cry multiple times while writing this

Additional Tags: AU – Supernatural, Deal with a Devil, Temporary Character Death, Angst/Fluff/Smut, Tickling, probably some other stuff who knows

Summary: If you had someone you’d do anything to protect, wouldn’t you make a deal with whoever, or whatever, appeared to help you? Wouldn’t you give up anything? Of course you would. And here’s the crazy part: sometimes when you make a deal with the devil, it turns out the devil’s not so bad. You might even like him. He might even like you back. Hey, anything’s possible.

Or, Hinata makes a choice, finds someone who understands it first-hand, and is going to fight for a happy ending until his very last breath.

[xeylah]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Haikyuu!! Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Yamaguchi Tadashi Characters: Hinata Shouyou, Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic, watching movies and cooking dinner, they're just cute and cuddly, Cuddling & Snuggling Series: Part 1 of Hinata Rare Pair Week Summary:

They go well together.

[theyrealltrue]

Day: 1

Prompt Used: Domestic and “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” (including nods to Pantone 705 U, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow)

Rating: NC-17/E

Paring: Hinata Shouyou/Terushima Yuuji

Warnings: mention of domestic abuse

Additional Tags: AU – Roommates, AU – Stripper, AU – Hair Salon, Demisexuality

Summary: A series of events each more unlikely than the last throws Terushima Yuuji unexpectedly into the life of one Hinata Shouyou. And not just his life, but his second bedroom. They’re such an unlikely pair, surely their relationship with never go beyond friendly roommates. Right?

Or, stripper Terushima, demisexual Hinata, and a barber shop (a barber shop+) called Salon Karasuno.

[tsukkeilate]

Arbutus

Hinata Rare Pair Week 2!

Day 1: Domestic  Pairing: Ushijima Wakatoshii/Hinata Shouyo Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Hinata Shouyo, Kageyama Tobio Summary: What they look like in an outsider's point of view. 

"They may be silly, two grown men chasing each other with nothing but in their pajamas and cheap water guns at hand, but they're in love." 

Special thanks @wingedcastielpie​ for helping me proofread this! 

Kageyama Tobio just recently moved in the neighborhood, which was few kilometers away from his university. Currently, he was taking up his PhD and he thought that he'd need a quiet environment to live in whilst he undertakes a stressful one outside his humble abode. His previous residence was too loud for his liking, making it a bad choice to work his graduate paper on. Luckily, his co-worker and friend Yamaguchi knew a place that is relatively cheap and has the atmosphere Kageyama needed.  The house he moved in was small, but it was alright for someone living alone. Kageyama grew comfortable living there just a few days of staying, with how peaceful the place is. He has yet to meet his neighbors, but he doesn't really mind. Back in his old place, he barely even knew his neighbors. Heck, he didn't know he had one until they knocked and gave him weeks late welcoming present.  Knock! Knock!  Two short but loud knocks graced Kageyama's door whilst he was still unpacking; he was in the middle of tearing the packaging tape and the sound startled him enough to make him drop his cutter.  "Coming!" Kageyama yelled, picking up the fallen cutter and briskly walked towards the door to answer.  "Hi!" An orange haired male greeted him with a big smile on his face. Behind him was a taller man with a neutral expression on his face.  "Um, hello." Kageyama replied, a bit awkward.  "Toshi and I heard we got ourselves a new neighbor and we thought we'd come and greet you into the neighborhood!" The orange haired man said with much enthusiasm whilst his companion (Kageyama assumed that this man was "Toshi") didn't say anything. They looked familiar, but he couldn't place his finger where he had seen them.  "A-Ah, that's very kind of you. Thank you." Kageyama replied and the other man beamed.  "I'm Hinata Shouyo. And he's Ushijima Wakatoshi." The orange haired man, Hinata, introduced themselves.  "Hn." The taller male, Ushijima, grunted in agreement.  "I'm Kageyama Tobio, pleased to make your acquaintance." Kageyama introduced himself respectfully.  "Here!" Hinata held up a bento box wrapped in lilac furoshiki, seemingly fresh from the kitchen. Kageyama took it graciously.  "Don't worry about returning the container, you can return it after you've finished the food." Hinata said.  "Thank you. I'll take note of that." Kageyama replied, "you live on the right side of my house, correct?"  "Yes." This time Ushijima was the one to answer. "The one with red fences."  "I'll keep it in mind." Kageyama noted and bowed his head, "thank you for the gift, Hinata-san, Ushijima-san." "No problem! Don't hesitate to knock if you need anything." Hinata said smiling. "Let's go, Shouyo." Ushijima said before turning his attention to Kageyama, "it was a pleasure meeting you, Kageyama Tobio."  "L-likewise." Kageyama almost took a step back at the intimidating aura that Ushijima seemed to have but refrained from doing so, lest they'd think of him being rude.  "Bye, Kageyama-san!" Hinata waved his hand as Ushijima shepherd Hinata out of his porch. Kageyama waved once then closed the door in front of him when the two was out of sight.  Kageyama placed the wrapped bento box on the dining table and resumed unpacking. At least he didn't need to worry about dinner now. 

After a long hectic day at work, Kageyama decided he needed some relaxation. Opening the TV, he flopped on the sofa and started flipping through the channels aimlessly but stopped at a particular channel. His eyes grew wide in recognition.  Ushijima looked like he could kill as he delivered his killer serve that sent the enemy team fumbling. The rally started soon after, two sides battling furiously until a brown haired setter sent a toss to Hinata who jumped high, higher than he had seen other people do it, and slammed the ball down the enemy's territory. The way Hinata went from point A to point D was amazing and his eyes could hardly follow his quick movements. The crowd grew wild and Ushijima and Hinata's team were shouting and sending high five to one another.  Ushijima was smiling faintly but Hinata was being loud with a happy grin on his face.  'So that's why they're familiar. They're from Team Japan.' Kageyama thought, watching the red and jerseys line up against their opponents and bowed before holding up their hands for a hand shake. Kageyama suddenly felt star stuck, living beside two infamous volleyball players who gave him a welcoming present personally. And because of this, he felt self-conscious.  "Maybe I should quickly return the containers." Kageyama mumbled, still staring at the screen. "Yeah, maybe I should." 

"Kageyama-san! Hello!" Hinata greeted him when he came to their house to return the containers of his welcoming present, bento box cleaned and furoshiki folded properly.  "I-I... Watched you on the TV yesterday. You are from team Japan men's volleyball team." Kageyama said as a conversation starter and Hinata huffed proudly.  "We're awesome, right?! Have you seen how Toshi spiked the ball like 'gwaah!' and 'gyaaa!' and I went 'swoosh!' and people were like 'whoaaa'?" Hinata asked excitedly.  '... What? Gwaah and Gyaaa? What kind of language is he speaking?' Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.  "Stop talking gibberish, Shouyo. You're confusing our neighbor." Ushijima appeared behind Hinata's back out of nowhere and started the younger man enough to make him jump. Kageyama watched in fascination as Hinata's head almost hit the door frame but Ushijima seemed to expect this reaction and held a cushion directly above Hinata's head with his outstretched hand.  "Toshi!" Hinata exclaimed after he came down, slapping the taller male playfully, "don't startle me like that!"  "Sorry." Ushijima said, but there was amusement in his eyes. Hinata pouted childishly.  "Um," Kageyama said awkwardly, trying to get their attention. "I'll be going now. You must be preparing for practices right? I don't want to hold you up any further. I just want to return the containers and the cloth."  "Ah, we're on vacation right now. Practice starts next next week, right Toshi?" Hinata asked his companion. Ushijima nodded.  "See you around Kageyama-san!" Hinata said, waving his hand. Kageyama waved back and went back to his house to prepare his things for his graduate class. 

Kageyama clicked his tongue in irritation as he glared at the words, Needs more evidence, revise or Not relevant, omit this part written in red pen. This was the third time his research adviser asked him to revise his Background of the Study but he can't find anything wrong with it. He had been staring at the paper for hours, the blank page of his laptop had been gazing at him ominously as if it was pressuring him to write his paper. "How am I supposed to write something if I can't find anything wrong with it?!" Kageyama grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Screw this, I’m taking a break. I need a break." He declared, getting up from his seat and stretching a bit, his muscles became slightly stiff after sitting for too long. “If I have to read that paper one more time I swear to god I’m going to lose my mind and kill someone.” He went down, walked into the kitchen and started to prepare a cup of very strong coffee in hopes that it might help his brain work, when he saw Ushijima and Hinata dancing through the glass slides of their respective houses.  A radio was sitting on their counter that provided the music they'd been awkwardly dancing with because of their height differences. Hinata was laughing as they stumbled through the steps and Ushijima almost lifting him up, his right hand snaked around Hinata's waist and his left hand holding Hinata's other hand, smiling faintly at other male's antics.  They continued to dance awkwardly to the beat, until Hinata swung his foot forward that hit Ushijima's shin which caused them to fall backwards. Hinata was apologizing profusely, looking at Ushijima in concern but Ushijima pulled him down for a kiss and Hinata went tense for a moment but relaxed to the Ushijima's touch and reciprocated it.  Kageyama's brain short circuited at that moment. His neighbors were... kissing? 

‘What the hell?’ Kageyama thought, eyes wide at the display of affection before him, ‘holy crap they’re together? What? Aren’t they just housemates?!’ Kageyama was freaking out inside to the point that he almost dropped his mug. Setting down his cup, he bolted upstairs and ran into his room like a madman, immediately taking ahold of his laptop to research. He opened up his web browser and typed 'Ushijima Wakatoshi and Hinata Shouyo dating' in the search tab and pressed enter. He clicked the first link that appeared. It was a Youtube video that was almost a year old and Kageyama waited impatiently for it to load.  "Ushijima-san! Is it true that you're dating with your middle blocker, Hinata Shouyo?"  "What can you say about the rumors spreading about you and Hinata Shouyo?"  "The paparazzi saw you two kissing. Are you in a relationship?"  The reporters asked these invasive questions during an Interview with the team. A microphone was handed to Ushijima for him to answer, but his coach whispered something into his ear and Ushijima shook his head; the volleyball player turned his attention to the reporters and with a calm demeanor (Hinata looked completely hesitant and uncomfortable with the questions and probably at the fact that the reporters seemed to ignore that he was there in the room) he answered them politely.  "Yes, we're in a relationship but Shouyo and I are not dating. We've been married for three years now. However I cannot see any relevance of our marriage to our team's performance today. Please stop prying for unnecessary and private information, thank you."  Ushijima handed the microphone to his coach who started diverting the topic to more Volleyball-related one and the video clip ended with that.  Kageyama stared at the screen blankly, still processing this newfound information that he got. When it did, however, Kageyama felt embarrassed being dense for not seeing it and that he actually thought they were just rooming together because they’re best of friends or family friends.  (‘Of course no two grown men would board together after college Tobio. What were you even thinking?’ His mind seemed to chastise him)  

 “Holy shi--- they really are together! And they’re married! Why did no one ever told me anything?!” He yelled at no one, glaring at the screen, “My dissertation could wait. I need to learn more about this.”

  And because he was still curious, Kageyama searched for more information. He learned that Hinata was 24 and Ushijima was 26 when they got married in secret in Argentina after the FIVB tournament. In one source, it was stated that Ushijima and Hinata both got their parents' permissions to marry one another in Argentina and got married again in Japan so that their parents and friends who were unable to attend their wedding in Argentina would be able to attend their wedding in Japan. Although, Hinata would keep referring himself as Hinata rather than Ushijima to avoid confusion when speaking to either of them. It seemed like their marriage was an open secret, especially amongst their fans. Kageyama had been unfortunate enough to visit a site that featured fan comics of them getting it on, and Kageyama never closed a tab so fast in his life. He could feel the blood rushing through his head as he desperately tried to remove the images in his mind, especially the BDSM kink the artist speculated them having. He hoped that he'd never hear them to do it, for the sake of his sanity and virginity. 

Aside from the fan comics and fan arts, Kageyama also stumbled through comments and posts that said their marriage was a publicity stunt and that Ushijima was straight and seeing someone else. There were also hate posts stating that Ushijima and Hinata don't really love one another and just used the marriage for convenience, especially both of them were eligible bachelors and the media had been pestering their love lives for quite some time now. 

"That doesn't even make sense. If Ushijima-san's seeing someone else, then he wouldn't kiss Hinata-san earlier. And if it was out of convenience then they would have fallen apart already. These people are just bitter of a happy relationship." Kageyama said to no one, scowling at the screen of his laptop. 

Whilst he was peeved by the way people are being bitter of his neighbor's marriage,

they're just jealous because Ushijima-san or Hinata-san wouldn't want to bed them

he thought, he was hit by the fiery motivation to finish his Background of the Study and move on to his Review of the Related Literature after. He picked up his draft paper and read the Background again, and to his surprise, he immediately saw what was needed to be included that he didn’t see the first few times he read his paper. Grabbing his pencil from his penholder, he started outlining and thanked his neighbors for this odd way of acquiring inspiration. 

"No, don't buy that! This brand is better." "But this brand brings out the flavour of the pork." "But it's too salty for anything else."  Kageyama perked up when he heard these familiar voices and decided to stop at the aisle 38, where sauces and flavorings were located. He saw the familiar orange hair and the tall stature of that person's husband and Kageyama cannot the two people who would perfectly fit in that description.  "Hinata-san, Ushijima-san, fancy meeting you here." Kageyama pushed his shopping cart towards them, looking at the condiments they were holding, "I would recommend that brand over the other because it's cheaper and it's quality over quantity."  At his words, Hinata beamed and looked at Ushijima, "ha! See? Even Kageyama-san agrees with me." He happily.  "Fine." Ushijima grumbled, placing the sauce back to its shelf. His stoic expression didn't change, but Kageyama could feel that the older man was slightly sulking.  "Oh yeah, remind me to get the beef and mushrooms later." Hinata told Ushijima.  "We're having hayashi rice?" Ushijima asked.  "Yeah." Hinata replied. Ushijima nodded in confirmation.  "Are you having someone over, Kageyama-san?" Hinata asked, looking at the shopping cart filled with vegetables, pork, condiments and other ingredients fit for a party.  "Yeah, my mom's coming over to check on the house that I'm currently living in, so I need to stock up the fridge if I don't want her to have the impression of me starving myself to death and give her reason to sleepover for weeks." Kageyama replied. Hinata looked sympathetic.  "My mom was like that too. Especially when I joined Team Japan, she was under the impression that I'm starving myself to death because I would sleep like a log after practice." Hinata reminisced.  "My mom would always call to up on me. Sometimes she would drop by and give me bento lunches worth for one week, they never lasts that long." Ushijima contributed to their conversation.  "Mothers." Hinata said, smiling, "but hey, at least they make sure we're well fed."  "Yeah." Kageyama agreed, "um, I have to go now. Mom's coming over in five hours and I haven't cleaned my room yet. See you around Ushijima-san, Hinata-san." "See you!" Hinata said cheerily, "and good luck in your inspection! I hope it gets mom-approved!"  "Good luck." Ushijima said.  "Thank you." Kageyama said before leaving and heading towards to the cashier after getting two cartons of milk on the way there. 

The next few days after his mom visited and approved his life choices were hell. Finally completing and compiling the data took so much time that Kageyama was surprised because this never happened to his undergraduate and MA papers. So time consuming that he took take few days off and his boss jokingly asked if he'd go on early vacation with his special someone, in which he replied that he'd go to hell earlier than them and alone. The reaction of his boss was priceless, but he have to work on his humor a bit; his boss looked like he was about to pass out in shock.  He just finished his Review of the Related Literature and Methodology and was moving on to the Interpretation of Data when his stomach decided that it couldn't let itself be ignored and growled in the most obnoxious way possible. Without looking, Kageyama reached out across his desk to grab the container that he stuffed with those chewy and soft chocolate cookies he bought from the supermarket recently (he took note to remember the brand because the cookies were really good) but his hand came up with nothing. He finally looked up and saw that the container was devoid of any sugary treat. He scowled at that.  Deciding that he couldn't ignore his stomach any longer, he stood up and took the container with him to get refill in the kitchen. And also get some milk to go with it too. "May be mom should have moved in with me." Kageyama mumbled to himself as he tear a packet open and dumped the entire carton of cookies in his container, "that way I'd never starve but she'd nag me endlessly about my cluttered room so probably not."  Kageyama took a cookie and looked out of the glass pane and saw his neighbors having fun with playing tag outside. He got jealous, cursing his paper because he want to have fun too. Probably binge watch series or do range shooting instead of whining and thoughts swirling around his PhD Thesis paper.  Feeling defiant and bitter, Kageyama opted to watch Hinata and Ushijima instead, who were in nothing but their pajamas, Ushijima had already lost his shirt, revealing that well defined tanned torso and toned biceps that he acquired in his volleyball career, squirting Hinata with toy water gun as his husband does the same., chasing one another around the room. It was quite a silly picture, two men reverting back to when they were lads, back when everything was still simple and the harsh reality of life haven't come to slap them on the face. Hinata pointed his gun at Ushijima's face and fired, in which Ushijima retaliated by soaking the younger male's t shirt. Their fight continued until they got out of the house and started chasing each other in the backyard. Hinata seemed to be yelling something ("you'll never catch me Toshi!") and Ushijima was just smirking, picking up his pace to catch the other man. Hinata squealed and picked up his pace as well, going back inside their house. Ushijima loomed over him and outstretched his long arms, wrapping it around Hinata's retreating figure and pulling him closer.  "I've caught you." Ushijima's mouth seemed to say. Hinata turned around and smiled at him.  "You did." He replied.  "I'll never let you go." Ushijima said, pulling Hinata closer, "I've caught you finally, after all this time."  Hinata didn't say anything but his smile became wider and dopey, gazing at Ushijima with such loving look in his face. Ushijima's expression didn't change, except that he looked terribly fond and happy if the tiny curl of his lips were anything to go by.  'This is what people look like when they love someone irrevocably,' Kageyama thought, taking a bite of his cookie, 'must be nice. To be looked like that by someone else. Someone you hold dear, like your significant other you vowed to spend the rest of your life with.' Kageyama turned his attention elsewhere when they shared a kiss, feeling like he had intruded something private. He felt bad for seemingly stalking them like a creep, but he didn't mean to do it intentionally. He took his container filled with cookies upstairs and went back to doing his research paper, a soft smile on his lips.

If someone would tell Kageyama that Ushijima Wakatoshi and Hinata Shouyo were married out of convenience and publicity stunt, he would kindly tell that person to sod off because he never had seen anyone looked so terribly in love and gaze at someone as if they were the reason good things happen in the world.  The thought of that, being in love with someone so much that you’re ready to give the world for them was exhilarating. To wake up every day in your beloved’s arms, to continue doing so because you know that when you open your eyes, they’re there to greet you. To keep on moving forward hand in hand with that person you vowed to spend the rest of your life with, growing and maturating with them, it made Kageyama jealous on what Ushijima and Hinata have.

 ‘May be someday, I’ll find someone whom I can spend my life with too. Someone who’d I look with how Ushijima-san would look at Hinata-san. Someone who’d smile at me the way Hinata-san would smile at Ushijima-san….’ They may be famous and Kageyama doesn't know any of them well, but in his perspective, they're few of the reasons why he still believe in love. They may be inexperienced, their slow dancing consisted of awkwardly fumbling to the tune that one of them was almost lifted up to the ground and the other had accidentally swing their foot forward which caused them to fall onto the ground, but kissing it better afterwards. They may be silly, two grown men chasing each other with nothing but in their pajamas and cheap water guns at hand, but they're in love.  And Kageyama thinks that was all that matters. 

Arbutus- Thee Only Do I Love