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2014-07-23
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Like True Crows

Summary:

Hinata builds a blanket nest during his first training camp. One thing leads to another and, well, team cuddle-piles happen. (Based on a text post in the Kagehina tag on Tumblr about Hinata building blanket nests and Kageyama joining him).

Notes:

Quick warning for my potty-mouth; I don't know how not to swear.
Also, please note that Sugawara is agender in this fic, and in most of my fics, and in my soul, and forever. Hence the use of 'they' pronouns. Thanks so much, lovely human being! Enjoy!!

Work Text:

It’s not as though anyone’s planning on sleeping anytime soon. Rather, most of the team is as rambunctious as ever (Tanaka and Nishinoya, namely), and those who aren’t playing cards and board games are having animated conversations. Everyone’s off in their own world and Hinata can’t seem to entertain himself.

But they have so many blankets in the closet that no one’s using. And no one will care. Hopefully. He carries a few armfuls of blankets over to the back corner; as he thought, no one even looks his way. Too bad Kageyama is too caught up in his game of ‘Sorry’ with their senpai. He, of all people, might have enjoyed building a blanket-nest with Hinata.

Not that a lack of companions is going to deter the redhead. If anything, it compels him to work harder so that maybe Kageyama will come join him. They’re usually together, anyway.

He makes a bottom layer, four blankets thick so that he isn’t bothered by the hardwood floor. Then he starts on the walls, piling and bunching and shifting and folding and adjusting, and when he looks up across the room again, Kageyama is staring. Good; he’s captured his attention. Hinata smiles invitingly and continues his work, making sure the nest is large enough for at least both of them, because the way Suga is eyeing his creation — card game with Daichi all but forgotten — makes him think they’ll have company.

Kageyama kneels next to him and snatches up a few blankets for himself. “Like hell I’m letting you win here,” he growls, and Hinata’s competitive spirit roars to life.

Within five minutes, they’ve succeeded in constructing two large, lumpy, extremely soft nests of blankets and pillows. Tanaka and Nishinoya, with Asahi in tow, have wandered over to observe, and they become judges, albeit extremely indecisive ones.

“They’re both really comfy, y’know?”

“Yeah, I think it’s a tie for sure,” Tanaka agrees.

Hinata blanches. “But…but it can’t be! Clearly I have superior nest-building skills!”

“Do not, dumbass!” Kageyama cuffs the back of his head.

In the end, they enlist Daichi’s help, because Asahi is too afraid to hurt their feelings to offer an opinion (Daichi is very keen to point out that he’s being a complete child). After spending a few seconds sitting in each nest, he shrugs. “About the same. You know, we have to sleep soon —”

“Can we sleep in the nests!?” Nishinoya yells, already diving into a pile of pillows and burying himself. Tanaka immediately follows suit, taking up a good portion of Kageyama’s nest and tearing down part of the wall to wrap himself with blankets.

Suga smiles, moving to stand directly beside Daichi. As usual. “Actually, I think he was going to suggest exactly that. Here, take down the walls between. That way the whole team will fit.”

“But you two will be the one’s cleaning this up in the morning,” Daichi adds sternly. Even so, he’s stepping into the far end of Hinata’s nest, taking Suga with him.

Hinata’s eyes light up as he turns to Kageyama. “I’ll beat you for sure next time!”

“There won’t be a next time,” Suga informs them evenly. Which is bullshit. It’s not even that big of a mess, and now that Kageyama and Hinata have set their minds to it, not much can stop them.

But yeah, sure: “no next time”. Until there is. They exchange coy smiles before setting about tearing down the walls in the middle of the two nests.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi have wandered over now, and the taller curls his lip in disdain. “You’re not all seriously planning on sleeping together like that?”

Hinata nods furiously. “Yeah, we are. And you guys aren’t allowed to chicken out of it. It’s team bonding! So you have to sleep in the nest.”

“Like true crows,” Yamaguchi offers thoughtfully. He’s already looking pointedly at the end opposite Daichi and Suga, and his gaze travels slowly back to Tsukishima, who sighs.

By the time the oddball duo have completed de-and-reconstruction, Tsukishima has — reluctantly — sprawled out across the far end, feet hanging out onto the floor, and Yamaguchi has lain stiffly beside him. Hinata tosses them blankets.

The original intention was simply to challenge Kageyama, build the softest nest of blankets, and clean it all up before lights out. This is infinitely better. Hinata is grinning proudly as Daichi calls everyone else over, insisting that they all have to squeeze in and acknowledging that it is, in fact, team bonding, intimate as it may seem. Suga laughs behind their hand, offering encouragement to the last few members as they carry over blankets from the beds and distribute them to everyone in need of one.

Kageyama remains beside Hinata as their gigantic double-nest-bed is filled up, leaving only a small space in the centre and a single extra blanket. He purses his lips. “Is that enough room for two of us?”

Hinata shrugs. “We’ll manage.”

Tanaka’s managed to roll his way over to Nishinoya, who in turn has pulled Asahi down so that he’s lying between the libero and the captain. Ennoshita shifts closer to Tanaka to allow Hinata and Kageyama a bit more space, smiling apologetically. On the other side of the gap, Narita and Kinoshita are flopped over each other, laughing about something or another, as Yamaguchi looks uncertainly between them and Tsukishima.

Hinata can’t help but smile. This is a team. A somewhat dysfunctional one, yes, and one that still doesn’t cooperate as well as they could, but dammit, they’re still a team. At the moment, a very cuddly one.

Daichi must not expect for anyone to notice that he’s spooning Suga. Hinata opens his mouth to comment on their closeness, but before he can even make a sound Kageyama pushes him into the nest and fixes him with a glare. Oh, so he noticed, too. Hinata chuckles awkwardly.

“Not a word.”

Well, fucking duh. He’d almost subjected them to Daichi’s wrath through his stupid, stupid, idiot actions. That was close. ‘Lips zipped’; he nods.

Satisfied with Hinata’s petrified expression, Kageyama crawls into the nest beside him, fluffing up his pillow roughly and slamming his head onto it. Hinata drapes part of the blanket over him. “Is that ok—”

“Yeah. It’s fine.” Kageyama makes a point of rolling over to face away from him, much to Hinata’s dismay. He’s not really that tired. He’d been looking forward to hushed conversation over the lumps and edges of pillows and blankets, laughter to keep the team — most of it, at least — awake into the wee hours of morning. Like friends. They should all be friends.

Nishinoya grants him his wish, somewhat inadvertently, when Tanaka elbows him accidentally in the side and he chortles. Poor Noya is too ticklish for his own good. This sets Tanaka off, too, even though he tries to apologize.

“Is anyone actually tired?” Nishinoya asks after a few minutes of helpless giggling, something Hinata has caught as well. Even Kageyama rolls back over to face him, offering fruitless attempts at covering his mouth so he shuts the hell up before the captain gets pissed. But Hinata swats his hands away playfully.

“I kind of am,” Ennoshita murmurs, and then Tanaka’s hands on his ribcage send him into a writhing frenzy of barely-contained laughter and knees to Hinata’s spine.

So it’s going to be that kind of night. Tanaka relinquishes his grip after a few minutes, leaving Ennoshita gasping and all five of the boys in the middle definitely laughing to some extent, Kageyama included. Daichi’s going to murder them. Hinata doesn’t care.

But the captain remains silent for the next while, as they manage to drag Kinoshita and Narita into a game of “Would You Rather?”, only making themselves progressively more rambunctious.

Nishinoya is practically sitting up at this point. “Okay, okay. Kageyama, would you rather….shit, uh…would you rather eat nothing but ketchup for the rest of your life or be forced to walk only on Legos for the rest of your life?”

Kageyama is silent for a few moments. Then, he sighs. “Ketchup.”

“Whaaat?” Hinata props himself up on his elbows to stare incredulously at him in the dim light. “But then you’d probably smell like ketchup all the time. You’d turn into ketchup.”

“You’d rather walk on Legos?”

“Oh. Right. Okay, maybe not.”

Kageyama snorts, rolling his eyes. “Idiot.”

“Shut up, you’re the idiot. Idiot.”

Noya’s fucking losing it behind them, their usual interactions simply too much for him at such an hour. Okay, maybe they’re being the tiniest bit too loud, but with no complaints from anyone else, they’re not stopping anytime soon.

“Tsukishima!” Tanaka calls. “Would you rather kiss Hinata or Kageyama?”

The disgusted sound from the end of the nest is clearly Tsukishima’s, and there’s a rustling of blankets as he resettles himself. “Neither. I’m not playing your stupid game. Go to sleep.”

Tanaka sighs exaggeratedly, but relents nonetheless. “Fine. Hinata, would you rather kiss Kageyama or Tsukishima?”

“Kageyama,” Hinata answers, and he doesn’t need to think because not only is Tsukishima the last person in the world he’d ever ever kiss, but Kageyama is just maybe definitely first on the list of people he wants to kiss. He smiles faintly as he turns over to bury his face in his pillow, ignoring Kageyama jumping beside him.

“What!?”

“‘What’ what?” Hinata mumbles innocently against the fabric, gaze flickering up to Kageyama, lying on his side with head supported by one hand. “Wouldn’t you rather kiss me than him?”

Only the people around them register the actual weight of that question. The oddball duo, oblivious as they are, don’t ever really stop to contemplate anything. Kageyama shoves Hinata’s shoulder gently.

“Right. Sorry.”

“Idiot,” Hinata trills, and Kageyama snorts, and their teammates visibly relax.

“Okay, I’m next, so, Narita, would you rather…” Ennoshita begins, looking around at his companions.

A few metres away, Suga’s voice, soft with exhaustion, pierces the air. “Daichi, it’s late. Could you—”

“If you guys aren’t asleep within the next five minutes no one is getting breakfast tomorrow,” Daichi warns, successfully fulfilling Sugawara’s request.

The dumbasses in the middle of the cuddle pile (that’s honestly what it’s turning into, with how close everyone is) all freeze in place. Silence once again befalls their unruly flock. Then, “That may have been a bit too harsh, don’t you — !” They’re cut off, the last sound from their mouth surprised and oddly muffled.

Hinata nearly has to fight back more laughter, but one look from Kageyama spares him the trouble. No laughing. Got it. He nods and scoots closer to allow Ennoshita the space he needs for spreading out — he’ll need it with Tanaka’s horrible, widespread and restless sleeping habits, poor thing — effectively snuggling up to Kageyama. He smiles sheepishly, apologetically, as he rests his head a bit too close to his shoulder, tries a bit too hard not to end up pressed bodily against him, like Nishinoya has “somehow” and “accidentally” and “sneakily” done to Asahi.

Kageyama sighs and tugs him tentatively closer, until Hinata is atop one of his arms, head nearly on his chest, stiff as a board because what the fuck is Kageyama playing at? He must notice his confusion, or reluctance, or whatever the hell this feeling is, as he immediately and slightly-less-hesitantly yanks Hinata’s arm from his side to drape it across his abdomen. Well, he’ll be damned if it isn’t comfortable, and his teammate definitely has balls to pull a move like that, so he smirks and settles in for the night.

“Kage—”

“Not. A. Word,” Kageyama hisses under his breath, clearly embarrassed by their close proximity but damn, Hinata really couldn’t give two shits. Teams that are closer are stronger. This definitely counts as closeness.

He smiles, nods as best he can in his position, and closes his eyes to sleep.

 

*

 

“Oh, I thought you’d want the pictures from the training camp, so I had them printed for you guys. Shimizu took some, too.” Takeda smiles and offers a small package of printed photographs to each of the team members. “Everyone always remembers the big things, but big things can be boring sometimes. Maybe with pictures, you can look back and remember the small things, too. The important things.”

Hinata nods enthusiastically. He’s already tearing open the envelope, dumping the pictures into his hands to flip through them. Kageyama immediately follows suit, not willing to be bested at something so menial.

There’s Nishinoya and Tanaka, pretending to use to net poles as comically large swords in a battle, with Asahi in the background looking like he wants to intervene, probably to ensure everyone’s safety. Narita standing on Kinoshita and Ennoshita’s shoulders, volleyball held high above his head. They’d quite nearly dropped him right after the picture was taken. Everyone in their pyjamas, the room in the background set up for the night, all hanging off of each other and grinning stupidly.

Hinata and Kageyama pinching and tugging at each other’s faces to ruin what was intended to be a nice photo, and another immediately after it of them castigating each other, even though they’d both done the same thing. Daichi and Sugawara huddled together in the corner of the gym, deep in conversation as they lean over a sheet of paper together. Nishinoya’s in this one, too, clearly the one holding the camera as he flashes a peace sign. Apparently the camera hadn’t been very well-guarded that week.

Hinata mid-jump and Kageyama mid-toss during practice. Nishinoya in the same practice, arms outstretched for a receive while Asahi spikes to him. Actual, proper, practice photos, which are great and all, but their lives outside of their games are infinitely more amusing.

Tsukishima and Yamaguchi at the table during breakfast one morning, both still messy-haired and sleepy-eyed. Following that one is a shot of the whole table that same day, and Hinata can just make out Kageyama wiping his face with a napkin, mouth open as he must’ve been in the middle of some lecture about eating like a human being, which is ironic because he also has food on his face.

They exchange a look over the pictures in their hands, but nothing is said. Hinata just grins smugly and Kageyama pouts and they return to flipping through the log of their adventures.

Next is Nishinoya sitting on Asahi’s shoulders, arms spread like he’s ready to take flight. Him and Tanaka — always those two, always getting into trouble, and here Hinata thought he and Kageyama were problem children — creeping up behind Sugawara, who’s smiling sweetly at something Daichi is saying. The following series is several photos immortalizing the extreme mortification of captain and vice captain as the latter is shoved unceremoniously into the former from behind and they topple to the ground. It cuts off abruptly after the photo of Daichi snatching the two idiots by the collars of their shirts, rage blazing in his eyes.

And it’s funny. It’s all funny and cute and sweet. They had an incredible week. Even the full force of Daichi’s anger (he’s actually blushing in the picture, so it could be worse) is something laughable in the little rectangular memory box.

Around the same time, the whole team comes across the photograph. Hinata can tell because he’s been staring blankly for a good ten seconds when a small commotion crescendos, falters a bit, and decrescendos around him. They all stop to look at each other.

They’re all just a tiny bit embarrassed. Some of them are actually a lot embarrassed. Namely their captain himself, who looks about ready to melt into a pile of “oh my fucking god why” goo. Hinata notes that he and Suga are still spooning in the picture, which must’ve been taken the morning after the nests were built and combined, since everyone is piled into them and sound asleep.

He examines it closely. Daichi and Suga being gay as all hell aside, Noya is pretty much sprawled across a very accommodating Asahi, who has an arm hooked around his waist to hold him still. Ennoshita is being almost crushed by Tanaka, the arm and leg across him not appearing in any way comfortable. Tanaka actually has a hand latched onto the fabric of Nishinoya’s shirt. That’s about the least embarrassing part of the picture, if one doesn’t count Narita and Kinoshita holding hands, legs tangled together and looking extremely peaceful. And of course, the coldhearted Tsukishima, cuddling Yamaguchi like a goddamn teddy bear while his freckled follower has his arms wrapped around him as well. Oh, that’s gotta be harsh, and Hinata is almost satisfied to glance up and see the bespectacled douche blushing faintly. Almost. He is still a teammate, after all.

But then he sees the middle. The…close enough to the middle.

And Kageyama is curled completely around him, Hinata’s arms caught between them and hands clutching his shirt, head of vibrant orange hair tucked up beneath his chin. It looks almost deliberate, but Hinata knows they weren’t in such an intimate position when he fell asleep, and he certainly doesn’t remember waking up that way. Then again, it had been Kageyama sitting up abruptly that had roused him in the first place.

His head swivels around and he meets Kageyama’s gaze, watches him flip to the next picture in the pile tremulously. His whole face has flared a decent shade of red, so at least they’re on the same page. The taller shakes his head quickly.

“Not a word.”