Rating:

Teen

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Haikyuu!!

Relationship:

Kageyama/Hinata

Tags:

crossover fusion, haikyuu secret santa

Stats:

Posted on:

2014-12-31

Words:

6,203

“You practice so much,” Kenma complained when Shoyo flew over the Gryffindor stands.

Shoyo puffed his chest out, ball clutched in his armpit. “I need to if I want to keep the title as the best Gryffindor Chaser in the last century,” he said, and then laughed and tossed the Quaffle and did a spin. When he was right side up, he caught it perfect.

Kenma wasn’t impressed. “This isn’t even an official practice,” he said.

“I know.”

Shoyo zoomed off, laughed, and did several loops before easily making the Quaffle into one of the unguarded rings, eyes closed. He turned back around and grinned at Kenma.

“Best Gryffindor Chaser of the century!” he hollered, and Kenma rolled his eyes.

*

They made their way to breakfast shortly afterward, because Kenma had used sonorus and complained that he was hungry. Once he was off the field, Shoyo realized he was plenty hungry too. It wasn’t anything he’d focused on while he was playing, though.

As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Shoyo felt like someone was watching him. He dubiously glanced up to the teachers’ table; in first year the Headmaster stared him down at least one meal a day, all because during his first experience with a broom Shoyo’d accidentally knocked his wig off. It wasn’t Shoyo’s fault that he chose to visit their class that day. It wasn’t Shoyo’s fault that he chose to wear a wig.

But the staring wasn’t coming from the headmaster, who was busy chattering away with some other professors. Shoyo shrugged and started on his food. He could be imagining it. Things like that happened, too—he once was in such a daze as he walked to class one day that he hadn’t realized he’d walked through about five ghosts until he arrived at Transfiguration and everyone stared at him because he was drenched.

“Hey Shoyo, Kenma,” greeted someone. Shoyo looked up: it was Kuroo Tetsurou, captain of the Gobstones club. He’d managed to persuade Kenma to join sometime in second year.

Kenma replied with a resigned grunt, and Shoyo said, mouth full, “Hi Kuroo-san!”

Kuroo easily cleaned his robes off from the food Shoyo had accidentally splayed on him. “Eight out of ten,” he said to Shoyo, and Shoyo beamed.

Kuroo turned to Kenma and asked, “Coming to the meeting tonight?”

“Do I have a choice?” Kenma grumbled.

“Of course you have a choice!” Kuroo picked up a nearby hardboiled egg and lobbed it at him. Kenma pretended that getting hit by an egg didn’t bother him. “I’m making you captain next year.”

“I know, I know,” Kenma said. But he didn’t look so resigned when he met Kuroo’s eyes. “Sure, I’ll come tonight.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Kuroo grinned and picked up a second egg, stuck it in his mouth. “See you fifth years later.”

As he walked off, Shoyo continued on his food. Kenma glanced behind him, and his eyes suddenly turned wide, like a cat’s.

“Uh, Shoyo,” he said. “I think someone from the Ravenclaw table is watching you.”

“Huh?”

Shoyo swiveled around, trying to see between the masses of bodies. So maybe he wasn’t imagining it before.

“The scary Ravenclaw Chaser,” Kenma clarified, as Shoyo shifted on the bench. “I’m pretty sure he’s trying to stare you down two ways to Sunday.”

Finally, enough Ravenclaws moved around so Shoyo could see the other side of the table. Kenma was right; the Chaser who’d gotten a real reward rather than just a title back when they were third years had his eyes fixed on him. He didn’t waver when Shoyo met his eyes as well—stared harder, even. It was more of a scowl, though the handful of times Shoyo had seen him, he looked like this. Maybe it was just his face.

Shoyo didn’t have a lot of friends in Ravenclaw, but among Ryuunosuke and Koushi and others on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he knew that people regarded the genius Ravenclaw Chaser as a ‘king.’ He didn’t know what that meant, aside from that it equally sounded obnoxious and intrigued him.

He got up from the table. Kenma hissed, “Shoyo—Shoyo! What are you doing?”

“If he’s staring at me, that means he wants to talk to me,” Shoyo replied, and started over to the Ravenclaw table. He couldn’t tell if the Chaser was still staring at him because there were so many people in the way.

When Shoyo was a few seats away, he saw that the Chaser was no longer watching him. Shoyo walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Oi,” he said. “You were staring at me. Do you want something?”

The Chaser didn’t respond. He didn’t even turn around.

“Hey,” Shoyo said, affronted. “You were the one watching me and now I’m asking you what you want. You should be polite and answer.”

The Chaser gave him a side-glance. Then, still mostly focused on his food, he said, “You’re in your Quidditch robes.”

“Oh—yeah!” Shoyo looked down at himself. “You’re right. Oops. Forgot to change out of these.”

But when he got no response for this, Shoyo nudged him from behind. “What’s it to you?” he asked. “You couldn’t have been staring at me just because of what I was wearing.” He chuckled to himself.

This time, the Chaser did turn around, looked him up and down. “Shoyo Hinata, right?” he asked curtly.

He was looking at Shoyo in such an intense way that Shoyo wouldn’t have been surprised if he had all the names and statistics for everyone on the Quidditch teams. Shoyo took Quidditch plenty seriously, too; but he didn’t really have the investment to check out the players from the other Houses when there was his own house and professional Quidditch players, whom he wanted to be like when he grew older.

He answered, “Yeah,” and the Chaser said, “Kageyama Tobio,” as if he were a professor introducing himself to a class.

Then, “Were you practicing this morning?”

Shoyo frowned. “Yeah,” he said.

Kageyama opened his mouth again, but what he said quickly died away when someone jostled into Shoyo’s side, and then Kenma was whispering, “Do you know who that is, what do you think you’re doing, let’s get out of here—”

He was tugging at Shoyo’s arm. Shoyo said, “Hold on, Kageyama-kun and I are in the middle of a conversation.”

“Kageyama-kun?” they both said at the same time, except in very different tones.

Shoyo grinned. “Yeah. I think he wants to challenge me to a one-on-one practice match,” he said, and it actually delighted him when Kageyama’s eyes narrowed like he was accepting. This guy was pretty scary, but he was also predictable.

“Shoyo, what are you doing,” Kenma demanded, as Kageyama stood up.

“You’re right,” he said, looking down at Shoyo. Kageyama was tall. Taller than Koushi-san, even. “I do want to challenge you to a one-on-one match.”

“Looking forward to it!” Shoyo said cheerfully.

*

They trekked back to the Quidditch pitch in a tense silence. Well, Shoyo was humming to himself while Kageyama seemed annoyed by it. Kenma was glancing between the two of them the whole time like he was afraid one of them was going to explode. Probably Kageyama.

When Kenma split off from them, he turned to Shoyo. “… bye,” he said, and then, “Good luck, I guess.” His eyes flashed to Kageyama, like he was afraid that wishing Shoyo luck would offend him. Kageyama wasn’t looking at either of them.

Shoyo grinned and pat Kenma’s shoulder. “I don’t need it, but thanks!” he said cheerfully.

Kenma nodded warily and made his way upwards.

“So this is what we’re going to do,” Kageyama said, as soon as Kenma was gone. “We’re going to try to get as many shots in the opposite rings as we can, and try to block the other’s at the same time, while not being allowed to touch each other or stealing from each other, but we can guard while the other aims—”

“Who died and made you king?” Shoyo joked.

Kageyama flinched at the epithet. Shoyo raised his eyebrows, but didn’t comment on it.

“That sounds like a good idea, though,” he said. “Who’s gonna make the first score, though? That’s the only way we can make this work.”

“I will,” said Kageyama. “It won’t count. And tell your friend to keep track of the score. He’s good at Transfiguration and Charms, isn’t he?”

He went to the broom shed. Shoyo muttered, “Geez,” and Summoned his, before floating upwards to the stands where Kenma was.

“Kageyama wants you to keep track of the score,” he told him.

Kenma easily Transfigured a nearby leaf into a scoreboard, and tapped it again so it would keep track of Shoyo and Kageyama.

“Thanks,” Shoyo said, and flew off.

Kageyama had gotten the Quaffle, and was already in the air when Shoyo met him. His broom was better than Shoyo’s, Shoyo was pretty sure, but only because Shoyo was a muggle-born and had gotten his in the third year without knowing much about brooms, and didn’t have a whole lot of money to afford a better and more expensive one.

“Ready?” Kageyama asked, flying to one of the goal posts.

“Ready,” Shoyo answered.

Kageyama tossed the Quaffle through the middle ring. In a second Shoyo was on the other side, and caught it. He zoomed above it and Kageyama as he made his way to the other side of the field, and with a clear shot, threw the Quaffle in the left goal post. He watched gleefully as the Quaffle started falling down; Kageyama caught it almost halfway.

“You could’ve gotten the ball again, you know!” he called from below Shoyo.

“Really?” said Shoyo. “Because I’m pretty sure I would win that way then.”

Laughing, he went to the other goals to block.

But Kageyama was plenty good, too—he evaded Shoyo’s Keeping easily and got the Quaffle through the other side. And when Shoyo flew through the next hoop, Kageyama made it straight past him, too fast for Shoyo to even think about blocking it.

So they went back and forth, from one end of the field to the other, scoring through opposing hoops, Shoyo doing his best to knock Kageyama’s attempts away. Kageyama soon grew accustomed to Shoyo’s speed that he blocked more of Shoyo’s aims than Shoyo could with Kageyama’s. When Shoyo called for a time out, Kageyama said, “What the hell do you need to time out for?” and tossed in the ball to the hoop next to him.

It didn’t count on the scoreboard, though.

Shoyo flew over to Kenma, sweat trickling from his forehead. Kenma was wide-eyed as he came over.

“You’ve been playing for an hour already,” he said.

“Yeah.” Shoyo was panting, and wiped at his face. “How’s the score look?”

“Not too good.” Kenma showed him the numbers. “No wonder they won three years in a row. Except for last year, when Ushijima destroyed for us.”

Shoyo agreed, and grinned. “This is awesome,” he said. “I can’t wait until our actual game. We’ve played each other before, haven’t we?”

“Yeah, but with all the sixth and seventh years from before, it’s not like you outshined them,” Kenma said. “And you didn’t know Kageyama’s name before, but you know who Oikawa-san is even though you’ve never talked to him, right?”

“Once.” Oikawa was the captain of the Slytherin team, and had called Shoyo short the first and only time they’d ever talked. It was true, Shoyo knew, but he didn’t have to sound so condescending.

The Slytherin Seeker had apologized for him and said that that was Oikawa’s only tone.

Kageyama shouted, “Oi, Hinata! Time out over!” Shoyo rolled his eyes and said goodbye to Kenma before they resumed their game.

It was pretty clear that Kageyama was going to win; even so, he didn’t let up, and Shoyo didn’t either. They switched off the ball back and forth while trying to catch it before the other. Kageyama once stole it from him so quick that Shoyo had lost his balance and almost fell off his broom.

Kenma’s sonorus voice said, what felt like hours later, “It’s almost noon. The Hufflepuffs have the field reserved after lunch,” which meant that they had to wrap up quickly.

Almost instinctively, Shoyo said, even though he was light years above Kageyama, “Pass it here!”

And almost like instinct, too, Kageyama flung the ball up at him, before he realized what he was doing. He swore very loudly.

Shoyo cackled and flipped over on his broom. As he did, he knocked the Quaffle with the end of his broom, hitting it straight through the goal post. They watched as it skidded through the grass about half a minute later, landing with meters of dirt to show for it.

Shoyo whooped and did another flip on his broom.

Kageyama flew over to him. “What the hell was that?” he demanded.

“Like it? It’s a move I came up with over the summer.” Shoyo grinned. “My aunt has this great backyard, and even though she doesn’t know anything about magic, she let me—”

“How the hell did you do that?”

“It’s not an illegal move.” Shoyo frowned. “I know it’s not, I checked—”

“I’m not talking about that!” Kageyama said loudly. “I mean, I passed it to you and you hit it in the goal, you didn’t just catch it—”

“Was I supposed to? I mean, you weren’t supposed to pass it to me in the first place.”

“I—argh!”

Kageyama flew to the ground. Stunned, Shoyo went over to Kenma.

“What’s his problem?” he said, but Kenma looked plenty surprised, too.

“That was incredible,” he said, and even with the amount of time he spent with Shoyo, such a direct compliment like that was rare. “The way you two—it’s like you were in sync with each other.”

“Really?” Kenma knew a lot about Quidditch, but it was mostly from reading and watching.

“It’s too bad that you aren’t in the same house,” Kenma said. “But maybe he wants to be a professional Quidditch player, too. By how intense he is.”

Shoyo watched with him as Kageyama put his broom back in the shed. He was scowling and his mouth was moving as he made his way from the pitch, like he was talking to himself.

“He’s pretty intense,” Shoyo agreed.

*

He didn’t see Kageyama at lunch or even dinner the next few days, which worried him for a bit. As the class week resumed and Shoyo did his best not to fall asleep in History of Magic (Kenma insisted that it was interesting, even though the teacher was a ghost and had a voice like lukewarm water), he and Kageyama saw each other briefly in the corridors. Shoyo wanted to say hi, but Kageyama was either ignoring him or didn’t notice him. It was hard to tell when he was scowling either way.

He saw Kageyama at dinner finally nearing the end of the week, eating his soup and scribbling on something. Without even warning Kenma, Shoyo picked up his plate from the Gryffindor table and went over to join him. He plopped down next to Kageyama and peered over at his parchment.

“Whatcha working on?” he asked.

Kageyama yelled and dropped his quill in his soup. A few people giggled. Shoyo did, too.

“Thanks a lot,” Kageyama said, and cleared out the soup bowl with his wand. He cleaned up his quill, too, and replenished his ink. “Potions essay.”

“Ooh,” said Shoyo, and tried to read his handwriting. He thought someone who was so good at Quidditch would have neat and easy handwriting, but Kageyama’s writing came out as scrawled chicken script. Shoyo could relate.

“Are you any good at Potions?” Shoyo asked.

Kageyama shook his head. He scratched his forehead with the feather of his quill.

“I’m not, either. I’m not good at most subjects, except Charms, because that’s fun.” Shoyo grinned and swung his legs back and forth. “Kenma’s like the opposite, except he’s good at Charms, too. He helps me with my homework a lot.”

Kageyama glared at him from the side. Shoyo picked up a carrot and started munching on it.

“What are you doing here?” Kageyama asked him.

Shoyo chewed, and then swallowed. “Haven’t seen you since our practice match the other day,” he said. And then, “Kenma says that we make a pretty good team.”

Kageyama stared at his essay. He hadn’t touched his soup since Shoyo had come over here.

Shoyo said, “Your soup’s getting cold.”

“I,” Kageyama said, and then very pointedly took a spoonful of soup and shoved it in his mouth. Shoyo grinned cheekily and took a nearby roll.

“What are you good at?” he asked.

“Uh,” said Kageyama. “Quidditch.”

“I meant, like, school subjects.”

Kageyama didn’t answer for a full minute. Shoyo thought he was going to go back to his silent treatment, but then he said, “Care of Magical Creatures.”

Shoyo waited.

“And?”

Kageyama shrugged. “That’s it.”

Next to them, a tall bespectacled boy laughed. “What? The genius king isn’t a genius at school?”

“Shut up, Kei,” Kageyama muttered.

“It’s okay, you know I’m the same,” Shoyo said, patting him on the back. Kageyama flinched, but otherwise that was his only reaction. “But you’re so good at Quidditch that it makes up for it. And I think it makes up for me, too. I want to be a professional player, so it’s not like it matters.”

The same snotty Ravenclaw boy from before said, “Don’t be stupid, of course school matters.”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you!” Shoyo shot at him.

“Ignore him,” Kageyama said. “He just likes being annoying.”

“Or reasonable,” said the snotty Ravenclaw, but Shoyo heeded Kageyama’s advice.

Kenma appeared, sliding into the seat next to Shoyo. “Why are you here again?” he murmured, although he had his dinner plate with him, too, and was eyeing the Ravenclaw food. House tables had different food, and Ravenclaw’s seemed to be more fancy, with soups and snails and bread and large communal steaks.

“I didn’t know this was the Gryffindor table,” the snotty Ravenclaw said loudly.

“Just sitting with Kageyama-kun,” Shoyo said. He hit Kageyama’s arm. Kageyama looked uncomfortable.

“One Quidditch practice and you’re sitting with me like we’re friends?” he asked.

Shoyo shrugged. “Yeah! Why not?” he said. “We’re not bothering you, are we?”

Kageyama turned around. Shoyo was pretty sure the side of his neck looked red. Maybe he was getting a rash.

“No,” Kageyama said.

*

Koushi scheduled a practice that weekend, on Saturday morning. Shoyo got there early with Ryuu, so they got the Bludgers out and Ryuu said, “Hold still, I’m going to see if I can get this Bludger past you.” Shoyo giggled and hovered in the air, as the Bludger zoomed around the field.

It finally got close enough for Ryuu to swing his bat, aim somewhere above Shoyo’s shoulder, and hit the ball. The bludger couldn’t react fast enough to move out of the way, and narrowly missed Shoyo’s ear.

“You did it!” Shoyo cheered.

“Hell fucking yeah I did.” Ryuu fist pumped in the air, doing loops, laughing when someone in bright yellow robes suddenly flew into his side.

Shoyo turned around. Koushi was walking down the pitch, along with the Hufflepuff Quidditch team.

“What’s going on?” he asked. He knew Koushi was friends with the Hufflepuff captain, but rarely saw them together when it came to Quidditch matches.

Koushi said brightly, “Practice match! Ought to be fun.”

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams got along splendidly, to the annoyance of the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams. Nishinoya, from the Hufflepuff team, said, “We get to play you today, Ryuu!” and Ennoshita, the Gryffindor Keeper, greeted a couple of the Hufflepuff Chasers as well.

“That sounds fun!” Shoyo exclaimed.

“It does,” Koushi agreed. “Sawamura was the one who suggested it,” and he gestured to the Hufflepuff Captain, who merely bowed in response.

“Rivalry is always healthy,” he said. He beckoned his team over and said, “We better go stretch,” and then to Koushi, “See you when the game starts.”

Koushi returned the sentiment, and guided the Gryffindors to stretch, too.

As Shoyo sat on the ground, reaching for his toes, he glanced up to the Gryffindor stands. Kenma was there, as expected; but someone else was climbing the tower, too. Shoyo couldn’t quite tell who it was. Once Koushi called them to their brooms, he took off and was by Kenma and the other stranger in no time.

Except it wasn’t a stranger—it was Kageyama. He was sitting next to Kenma and looking very, very uncomfortable. When Shoyo came up to him, his discomfort seemed to increase.

“Hey, Kageyama!” Shoyo greeted.

“Er,” said Kageyama. “Hello.”

“Wanted to watch how us Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs play?” Shoyo winked and did a loop on his broom.

Kageyama shifted in his spot.

“I guess,” he said.

“He wanted to watch you play,” Kenma provided.

Kageyama’s cheeks flared and he said, “Shut up! You don’t know anything.” Kenma didn’t bother looking at him, just kept his gaze with Shoyo, eyebrows raised.

Shoyo turned to Kageyama. “You told Kenma that?”

“No! I didn’t tell him anything.”

“Alright.” Shoyo was amused, and started going back to the team. “Well you can watch me play!” he called behind him. “I don’t mind.”

“It’s not like I have a choice if I’m here and you’re here!” Kageyama yelled back. His cheeks were still red.

“Yeah, except I’m the one who’s scheduled to be here!”

Shoyo laughed.

*

Hufflepuff won the practice match, because Kiyoko was a better Seeker than Hitoka, who’d just joined them this year.

But Gryffindor won the first match of the season, a couple of weeks later, against Slytherin. Even though Iwaizumi had caught the Snitch first, between Shoyo and the other Chasers, they managed to rack up the points beforehand that the game had ended 220-230, for Gryffindor.

Shoyo cheered as they all tumbled to the ground, in whoops and laughter. The Slytherins came over to congratulate them when they picked themselves up.

“Good game,” he noticed Oikawa say to Koushi as they shook hands. Koushi smiled.

“For the both of us,” he said. Oikawa grunted.

Kindaichi, a fifth year in Shoyo’s Potions class, came up to Shoyo and said, “You guys played well.” He looked a little resigned as he said it, but he was polite enough to stick out his hand.

Shoyo took it. “You guys played really well, too!” he said. “Although your Keeper is kind of…”

Their Keeper was angry-looking and glowering at Oikawa when Oikawa rejoined them. Kindaichi said, “Yeah, he doesn’t like Tooru-san that much, and also I think he wanted to be a Beater.” The Slytherin Beaters were a guy with a shaved head, and one with a middle part, who Shoyo recalled as Kunimi, who regularly partnered up with Kindaichi in Potions.

“Well,” Shoyo said, shrugging. “Hopefully you guys do well this season!”

“You too,” Kindaichi said, and started off.

He passed by someone in the crowd who made him frown for a second; and then he was off. A second later, Kenma and Kageyama were coming up to him, Kenma saying, “Congratulations.”

“Thanks!” Shoyo said, and hugged Kenma. Kenma was used to his hugs and usually didn’t respond to them. He patted Shoyo’s back, though.

“You,” Kageyama seemed to struggle with words. Finally, he said, “I expected you to win. But that was impressive.”

“Wasn’t it?”

Shoyo stuck his arm in the gaggle that was the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and managed to pull out the person he was looking for. “And I promise you Hitoka’s a better Seeker than she seems,” he added, teasing.

Hitoka giggled, though she didn’t try to get out of his grasp. “Shoyo!” she said. “That’s so mean!”

“We picked you for a reason, so you better show it,” he said to her.

She whacked him on the side of the face and went over to where a few Hufflepuffs had come down to congratulate. Shoyo stood stunned from the hit for a moment.

“You all did well,” Kageyama said, again.

“Right,” Shoyo said. “But you definitely mean mostly me, right?”

Kageyama didn’t answer. Kenma said, “Go get changed, you smell,” so Shoyo ruffled Kenma’s hair and did.

*

“Hey Shoyo,” Kenma said as he slid in next to him at Transfiguration. “I was at the Gobstones club the other night—”

“Is this about Gobstones?”

“No,” said Kenma, “even though I’ve been telling you, it’s not as boring as it sounds, it’s actually quite interesting, Kuroo has all these limited edition—”

Shoyo groaned and Kenma frowned. “Anyway,” Kenma continued. “Lev, he’s in Ravenclaw, and I was asking him about Kageyama. I mean, it’s not because we’re friends or anything,” and he did one of his in denial eye rolls that Shoyo was familiar with, like when Shoyo had asked him after his first Gobstones club meeting if Kenma enjoyed it, and when he was very certain he saw a blond head feeding the giant squid during their first year and asked him if that was him and Kenma hadn’t given him a straight answer.

Still, Shoyo said, “Do you mean you’re not friends with Kageyama, or Lev?”

“Kageyama,” Kenma said, quickly. “Anyway, but he was telling me about how Kageyama didn’t really have any friends.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.” Shoyo pulled out his quill and ink.

“Shoyo, I’m not being metaphorical,” Kenma said, resting his hand on Shoyo’s inkwell. “Do you know why he’s called the ‘king’? Apparently no one on the Quidditch team likes him.”

Shoyo sputtered. “W-What?” he said, knocking his roll of parchment onto the table. Kenma caught it before it could fall off. “But he’s so—good, and, y’know—”

“Right,” Kenma said. “But apparently he’s bossy and obnoxious. Which doesn’t surprise me,” he added in a mutter.

“Huh,” said Shoyo, thinking. “Well, that’s just more reason to be friends with him, then! Don’t you think, Kenma?”

“What?” said Kenma.

“I have an idea!”

Shoyo stood up just as their teacher arrived in the classroom. She glared at him.

“Sit down.”

Shoyo shrunk back down to his seat as some of their classmates chuckled. “Yes ma’am,” he said, while Kenma hid his face and pretended not to know him.

*

After class was lunch, and Kenma was unsurprised today when Shoyo dragged him to the Ravenclaw table. Kageyama was already there, seemed to have just started on his food when they slid next to him, and Shoyo chirped, “Hi, Kageyama-kun!”

“Hi,” said Kageyama, eating his stew. He wasn’t thrown off today. That was a good sign.

“So,” said Shoyo, as Kenma didn’t say anything and instead started lumping food on the plate that had magically appeared in front of him. “I was in Transfigurations earlier, and I was thinking!”

“That’s a surprise.”

It was the same snotty Ravenclaw boy from before. Shoyo ignored him.

“We work so well together,” he continued, “that, y’know, wouldn’t it be interesting if you joined the Gryffindor matches? Of course, we wouldn’t actually be able to play together in a real game,” he added, “but it should be fun! And, and, remember when we did that awesome combo the other day? We can do more of those! I’m really good at that kind of thing,” he said seriously. “They called me the best Gryffindor Chaser of the century last year.”

“They did,” Kenma put in, when Kageyama seemed too shocked into silence to answer.

“Er,” said Kageyama. “Are you sure? I mean I—”

“Of course I’m sure! We’re a pretty good team,” Shoyo said cheerfully. Then he blushed, because he and Kageyama had just gotten to know each other, and had only played together once. He’d seen Kageyama practice by himself, though, like yesterday when he and Kenma had been in Divination (“It’d be interesting!” Kenma had insisted back in third year, even though he regretted it now) and Shoyo had peered out the window to see a lone blue clad figure on the Quidditch field.

Kageyama sifted his spoon through his soup. “I’m not sure if that would be a good idea,” he said, quietly.

“What? Because of that ‘king’ stuff?” Shoyo asked, and Kageyama’s head snapped up. He was glaring, but Shoyo wasn’t fazed. “We’re not on the same team, and even if we were, I’d be better than you. Well, maybe not,” he said, and giggled. “But I’m still faster than you! If you tried to yell at me I could just fly away.”

“Shoyo,” Kenma said warningly.

But Kageyama’s face was softening. There was something in his expression that Shoyo couldn’t quite read, but it made him feel conscious about where they were and weren’t touching, and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears.

“I’ll think about it,” Kageyama said, and it was better than a no.

*

Being good at Charms meant it took Shoyo one or two tries before he managed to get ahold of the spell. Their professor kept going on about their O.W.L.S., so even Kenma couldn’t criticize Shoyo as he ignored him.

Shoyo prodded his silent crow. It opened its mouth, but nothing came out.

“Oh! Right,” he said, turning to Kenma. “Are you going to Hogsmeade next weekend? I need to fill up my candy stash again.”

Kenma shrugged. “Kuroo kind of wants to have a Gobstones meeting that day,” he said.

“You and your Gobstones.”

Shoyo cast finite incantatem and his crow yelped. It did so again, in surprise of its own voice. Shoyo giggled.

“Will you still go to Hogsmeade if I don’t go?” Kenma asked.

Shoyo shrugged. “Probably not,” he said. “It’s more fun with other people. I wonder if Kageyama’s going.” He cast a spell to change the crow’s feathers from black to orange. It huffed indignantly and tried to bite at Shoyo’s face.

“You’re going to ask Kageyama to go?” said Kenma.

“Maybe.” Shoyo thought about it. Kageyama didn’t seem the type to go to Hogsmeade by himself, much less with other people. Probably because he didn’t have many people to go with, like Kenma had pointed out earlier. But he could be open to going with Shoyo. The more he thought about it, the more appealing it sounded.

Kenma interrupted his thoughts by saying, “Like a date?”

“What!” Shoyo said, and prodded his crow so loudly that it squawked again. He cast the silencing charm once more.

“I—I’m not,” Shoyo stammered, but Kenma had a faint smile on his face.

“I’m just teasing,” he said.

Shoyo watched as he petted the cat he’d been practicing on, who was silently purring. Kenma had mimicked him with the color charm, but instead of turning his cat orange, he turned it red. It seemed to like the color.

“I mean,” said Shoyo, even though under the collar of his robes he was starting to feel warm. “I guess I… could… ask him… like a date.”

“What? I was just joking, Shoyo,” said Kenma, but Shoyo was thinking about Kageyama now.

About how even though he seemed so isolated, he stopped protesting when Shoyo and Kenma joined him for meals. About how he’d congratulated Shoyo after the game, came to one of his practices, and, one time, when that Tsukishima kid made a comment about how Shoyo’s height must’ve hindered his Quidditch performance, Kageyama had made a not so subtle comment about how height was barely a factor in the sport. He was being defensive. He was being sweet.

Shoyo thought about how when he called out to Kageyama to pass to him, so naturally, Kageyama had, equally as naturally, and they’d scored. Even though there was no one to block and it was technically Shoyo’s point, he’d never pulled off a combination like that with any of his Gryffindor teammates before. Not even Ryuu.

“Shoyo,” Kenma was saying. “Shoyo, are you serious? Do you actually like him?”

“Er,” said Shoyo, snapping back to him. “Maybe?”

He looked at his crow. It was staring at him, too, with beady eyes that looked like they were judging his life decisions.

Shoyo muttered to it, “Stop. I can’t help who I like.”

*

He managed to catch Kageyama after his Care of Magical Creatures class. Even though Kenma continued giving him a side-eye for even thinking about asking Kageyama to Hogsmeade, he gave Shoyo the Ravenclaw fifth years’ schedule which he managed to pry from Lev. Shoyo decided he’d thank Kenma later with his favorite flavored Sugar Quills that Kenma always went through within days.

Kageyama looked happy after this particular lesson, and his cheeks were high and pink as Shoyo came up to him. Shoyo kind of wanted to touch those cheeks. Or kiss them.

It kind of reminded him whenever Kageyama was finished with an individual Quidditch practice and had just mounted off his broom. Shoyo said, “Hi. Good class?”

“Hi,” said Kageyama, and paused, didn’t step back at Shoyo’s presence. “Yeah. We met the thestrals.”

“What are those?”

“You can only see them if you’ve seen someone die. Don’t worry,” he said, when Shoyo’s eyes got big. “I haven’t. But you can still feel them, and they like me.”

“Oh,” said Shoyo, and smiled. “Do a lot of creatures like you? Is that why you like the class so much?”

Kageyama nodded.

“Um.” Shoyo was now imagining Kageyama surrounded by muggle animals, and then there were unicorns and nifflers and hippogriffs, all purring as Kageyama petted them. Then he thought about blast-ended skrewts and flobberworms, and wondered if they liked Kageyama too. Or the centaurs. Shoyo had never met them before but he heard centaurs were unfriendly. Kageyama usually was too, so they might be friends.

Shoyo should ask. But this probably wasn’t the time.

“I just,” he said, as Kageyama watched him expectantly. He tried a different approach. “Did you know that Hogsmeade was coming up?”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess,” said Kageyama.

“Would you, uh.” Shoyo shuffled his feet. “Do you have any plans to go?”

“No,” Kageyama said. “I usually just go if I need supplies or something, but.”

“Do you want to go with me?”

Shoyo winced at how eager he sounded. Kageyama was staring at him, and then he said,

“Like, with you and Kozume, or—?”

“Like a date!” Shoyo blurted.

Kageyama stare grew harder. Then pink bloomed all over his cheeks, different from Care of Magical Creatures, or Quidditch exhaustion, but—Shoyo could still read something in his eyes. He had his lips pressed together and wobbly, and he opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.

“Sure,” he said, and his voice cracked.

This wasn’t precisely the response Shoyo had expected, but maybe that was because most of the time Kageyama looked like he was ready to slaughter someone early in the morning, and that someone was probably that Tsukishima kid. “Really?” he said, and Kageyama nodded.

“Because I like you!” Shoyo continued. “And I just, I really like the way you play Quidditch! And the way we play Quidditch! And sitting next to you at the Ravenclaw table.”

Kageyama kept nodding.

Shoyo asked curiously, “Do you like me too, Kageyama-kun?”

Kageyama hesitated. Then he said, almost quietly, “Tobio,” and Shoyo’s blood felt like it was on fire.

“See you soon, Tobio!” he said.

He was about to run off to tell Kenma how it’d turned out; after a split second he went back, kissed Kageyama on the cheek, and then ran off. He didn’t look back to see Kageyama’s reaction. But he was sure it was a good one.

*

“Hey Shoyo, I—not again.”

Shoyo extracted his lips from Kageyama’s, and turned around in time to see Kenma slapping a hand over his eyes. Shoyo messily wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said, “Oops, sorry.”

“Anyone can walk in,” Kenma said through his teeth.

“They’re all pretty scared of me.” Kageyama grinned. It wasn’t like the ones he sent whenever Shoyo tossed strawberries over to him during breakfast, or when he was at the Gryffindor practices and they pulled off a new combination.

Shoyo poked his mouth and Kageyama’s grin broke.

“I can’t believe this,” Kenma was moaning. “You get one Ravenclaw boyfriend and suddenly the entire common room is yours—we have dormitories, you know!”

“I know,” Shoyo said bashfully. “There’s more room here, though.”

“More room to do what?”

Shoyo glanced down at Kageyama, who was lying underneath him, lips sore and bruises along his jaw that Shoyo had placed there.

“Do you think we should tell him?” Shoyo asked.

Kenma still had his hands over his eyes, and turned around and nearly tripped over the portrait hole. “Don’t tell me,” he said, as Shoyo laughed and bent down once more. “I don’t want to know. I’m going back to the Gobstones club.”