Chapter Text
“Shouyou, for the last time, you are going to be late!”
“I’m coming!” He grabs his homework from the previous night, looks around for anything he’s forgetting, and zips up his backpack before darting into the kitchen. His mother gives him a look of disapproval.
“If you are late to school again young man, I’m grounding you.”
“Sorry, sorry! I promise I’m going!” Shouyou takes the bento box from his mother’s open hands. “Thank you! Love you so much!”
“Love you too!”
Shouyou takes off. He slides down stair rails, weaves in between people on the sidewalks, and hops over fences in order to make it to school on time. He always struggled with punctuality, something that frustrated his mother and pretty much everyone else that relied on him. That wasn’t to say Shouyou often let people down. He kind of needed everyone to like him or he would die.
The bell rings right as Shouyou takes a seat in his homeroom class. He sighs in relief and leans down to pull out a pencil for his notes. His teacher eyes him, obviously annoyed he slid in at the last second and she can’t get him in trouble for that.
“You’re an idiot.”
Enter Kageyama Tobio, Shouyou’s reluctant and more often-than-not petulant best friend. They had known each other since they were in diapers, and now, as first-years in high school, were more than comfortable with each other. From the outside, Kageyama probably seemed more like Shouyou’s bully than his friend considering the number of insults he usually had on his plate. Still, Shouyou wouldn’t have it anyway. He loved having Kageyama at his side.
Hinata Shouyou’s life was a lot different now than it had been a year ago. Last year, he was an average kid: played for the middle school volleyball club, struggled to keep his grades up, and made plentiful trips to the konbini for snacks. He helped his sister study, spent the night at Kageyama’s house, and enjoyed trips to the cinema.
Then he got bit by a radioactive spider.
He’s not sure where the spider came from, because the minute it bit him, he killed it and flicked it off his arm. Everything was fine, of course, until it wasn’t. He was the sickest he had ever been in his life, sweating profusely, puking out his insides, passing out before dinner was even served. The next morning he woke up with enhanced speed, strength, and senses, plus a rocking body of rippling abs and the ability to stick to walls. He could also shoot webs out of his wrists, giving him the ability to soar above Tokyo like he always dreamed of doing.
Sure, Shouyou could have kept this to himself. And he did, in a way. Nobody knew he was the masked spider vigilante flinging himself around the city. Yet he couldn’t stay still knowing about all the terrible things that were occurring around him, so he took matters into his own hands. He used his mother’s sewing machine to come up with a suit (a poorly made suit, to be fair) and launched into action.
Now, a year later, Shouyou’s suit and experience have doubled tenfold. The suit is decent, for one, a tight fit black and orange suit that gives him that freedom to fly. He’s learned how to fight, how to avoid the punches and the kicks and the gunshots. At this point, Shouyou can’t wait until school and practice end so he can get out there into the city.
“I am not an idiot.” Shouyou sticks his tongue out at his best friend and reaches to pull his notebook closer to him. “I made it to school on time for once. You should be proud of me.”
“I am not proud of people who do the things they are supposed to.”
“Ouch, Yama. That hurts.” He splays his hand over his heart and feigns offense.
“Hinata-kun, are you paying attention?” His teacher glares at him from the whiteboard. Shouyou nods.
“Yes, Sensei! Sorry!” As she continues, Kageyama snickers.
“Helpless Hinata at it again.”
“You are so mean,” Shouyou whisper-hisses back.
The school day goes by at a painfully slow pace, as it often did. Normally volleyball practice gave Shouyou a soft buffer of enjoyment between school and his Spider-Man stuff, but it had been canceled today. Shouyou would get a few more hours to swing and help out his fellow neighbors.
Finally, the bell rings, and school is out. Shouyou sighs with relief and takes off for the nearest alleyway. His suit is in the bottom of his backpack, so he’ll change and shove his school uniform in, web up his backpack nearby, and take off.
“Hinata.”
Or not.
“Oh. Hey, Yama. Sorry, I’m kind of in a hurry.”
Kageyama grabs his arm. “We have an English exam tomorrow. Can I come over? You’re better at English than I am and I need your help.”
Oh. Kageyama rarely admitted when he needed help. Shouyou does some quick mental math. If he spends a few hours out and about, then he’ll be back in time for dinner, and Kageyama can come over then. That could work. “Okay, yeah. Come over at five?”
“Perfect. Thanks.”
“Yeah! See you then!”
Finally, Shouyou is free. He struggles to get his suit on, pulling up familiar catching zippers and buckles until all that’s left is his mask. He puts that on and hollers in delight. God, he loves being Spider-Man.
After webbing up his backpack, he is finally ready to fly. Shouyou launches himself forward with his webs and lets out another happy yell. People wave at him from the street and Shouyou wonders if people ever discuss with their friends who they think is under the mask. Maybe they expect a middle-aged man or someone who has their shit together, not a newly sixteen-year-old boy who got bit when he was fourteen. His mom would kick his ass if she knew what he was doing every day. She really didn’t like the idea of Spider-Man, either. They’ve had a discussion about it at dinner a few times now.
“We were talking about Spider-Man at school today,” Natsu exclaimed, waving her fork all around. Their mother raised an eyebrow.
“Talking about how he’s breaking the law and should be stopped?”
“Woah,” Shouyou spoke up, frowning. “He’s helping people, isn’t he?”
“First responders also help people and they do it legally.”
“I think he’s cool,” beamed Natsu. “He’s a real-life superhero! That’s awesome!”
“Besides, what should he be doing?”
His mother shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t appreciate someone coming in and thinking they can do whatever they want because they have superpowers.”
Shouyou could respect that. His mom’s opinion was one of the reasons he was out here fighting too. He wanted to prove he was worthy, that he was a good guy who wanted to help everyone. It didn’t matter that he was young. Shouyou was still determined to help as much as he could.
The first thing he stops is a bank robbery a few blocks over. It’s easy and takes him ten minutes tops. Remove the weapons, web up the robbers, protect the goods, and contact the police. One nice lady who witnessed the whole thing bought him mochi, which was cool. He also returns a stolen bike, poses with a young girl, and gets a stray cat out of a tree. After stopping a couple of criminals from breaking into someone’s home, he checks his watch and prepares to go home. He has a pretty deep cut across his chest that is bleeding a lot. Shouyou didn’t even see that stupid knife.
It’s fine, though. He’ll take care of it when he gets home and hide it under a t-shirt. First, he has to get his backpack so he can give his English notes to Kageyama.
He’s full of adrenaline and happiness as he swings back to his apartment. Despite the pain and occasional sadness he faces, Shouyou really does love this. He loves seeing people smile, loves reuniting loved ones, and loves helping out those who have done all that they can.
Shouyou hums to himself as he scales the back wall of his apartment and jumps onto the fire escape. He’ll have to sew up his suit, which he probably won’t be able to do until his mom goes to bed and Kageyama leaves for the night. That’ll be fine, though. Shouyou is used to restless nights.
He tosses his backpack into his room first and crawls along the ceiling until he can drop down. Then he pulls off his mask and unzips his suit until he’s left in his boxers. The cut isn’t as deep as he thought it’d be, and it seems the bleeding has mostly stopped. That’s good.
“Holy shit.”
Shouyou freezes. He turns around, his eyes wide, and stares at Kageyama sitting on his bed, a volleyball in his hands. It rolls onto the floor with a quiet thud.
The taller boy’s eyes are just as wide and his mouth is agape, astounded by what he is witnessing right now.
“Fuck! Kageyama, whatever you think you saw, you didn’t see!” Shouyou rushes to find a pair of pants and a shirt to throw on, but seemingly can’t find anything. Kageyama stands up and points at the ceiling.
“You were crawling on the ceiling, dumbass!”
“No! That was... smoke and mirrors! Special effects!”
“And the suit—”
“It’s cosplay!”
“I’m not stupid!” Kageyama grabs a fistful of his hair. “You’re Spider-Man!”
“No! Definitely not! I’m just a stupid kid from Shibuya!”
Even though Kageyama is still shaking his head, he’s seemed to calm down for the most part. Shouyou clutches a dirty shirt in his hands as his best friend makes his way over to inspect the cut.
“That looks bad,” he murmurs. “Do you have stuff to clean it?”
Shouyou lets his shoulders slump. There’s no coming back from this. “Yeah. In my desk drawer.”
He takes a seat as Kageyama gathers up the needed supplies from Shouyou’s desk and comes back over to where the redhead is sitting on the bed. He pours hydrogen peroxide on a piece of gauze and presses it to the cut, causing Shouyou to hiss in pain.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Thanks.” He pauses. “How’d you get in here anyway?”
“Your mom let me in. She’s still making dinner so she said I could stay and wait for you.”
“Dammit, Yama. I was using practice as an alibi.”
“We didn’t have practice today.”
“Obviously! She didn’t know that!” Shouyou sighs in frustration. “Now I have to come up with something else.” He could always use detention as an excuse, even if he did actually make it to school on time today. Oh well.
Kageyama sets the gauze down and applies the antiseptic. His fingers are gentle and kind of cold, despite how warm it is in the room and outside. Summer tended to do that. “So uhm, how long have you been all... spidery?”
“About a year.”
“Oh. Does your mom know?”
“Absolutely not. She’d kick my ass if she knew. Nobody knows! Well, except you now.”
Kageyama frowns. “I’m surprised you didn’t tell me, considering how big your mouth is.”
“I didn’t want to get anyone involved. I’m out here putting my life on the line and I don’t want anyone I love to get hurt.” Okay, that sounded wrong. “I mean... I don’t want my friends and family to get hurt.”
“Right.” He finishes up with the bandages and hands Shouyou a clean shirt. “So what happens now that I know? I’m immediately put on the hit list?”
“Not... necessarily. I just don’t want you freaking out about me twenty-four seven.”
“I’m not worried about that. You can handle yourself. Although I am surprised you have a sixth sense for danger and still can’t receive the ball.”
Shouyou shoves him. “A volleyball isn’t dangerous, idiot. Either are you, apparently.” If Kageyama had been any sort of threat, Shouyou would have sensed him long before he even got back to his apartment.
“Not dangerous to you, maybe. But anyone else?” He chuckles. “I’ll kick their ass.”
“Funny.” Shouyou stands up and stretches. He’s already feeling better. “Well, uhm, thank you. For helping me.”
“Of course. You’re still gonna help me with English, right? Because that’s the only reason I came over here.”
Shouyou blinks at him. Kageyama didn’t freak out nearly as much as he expected. He’s kind of disappointed by that, actually. Stoic Kageyama strikes again. “You don’t care that I’m... weird?”
“You were already weird before I found out you could stick to walls and shoot webs out of your wrists.”
“Yeah, but,” Shouyou gestures to his abandoned suit on the floor, “I’m literally Spider-Man.”
“Yep. Congratulations. Do you want me to give you a prize?”
Now he’s frowning. “You are so rude, Yama.”
Kageyama ruffles his hair in passing. “Yep.”
Shouyou manages to pass his late entrance into the apartment off to detention, saying he missed the bell and got in trouble. (“But it isn’t going to happen again, I promise!” His mother didn’t believe him.)
Kageyama joins the Hinata family for curry, his favorite food. Shouyou’s mother adores Kageyama and pretty much focuses all her attention on him every time he comes over. Shouyou isn’t jealous, he swears.
“So! Kageyama-kun. How is volleyball going? Are you feeling more confident about pursuing a team after high school?”
“Yes, Hinata-san. I’ve applied to a few camps and internships now, but haven’t heard back.”
“You need to get a move on, Shouyou. How many applications have you sent out?”
“A few,” Shouyou mumbles, shoving another spoonful of curry into his mouth. It wasn’t that volleyball camps and internships were a bad thing, but Shouyou’s focus was more on the Spider-Man stuff these days.
“I haven’t received any letters in the mail.”
“Either has Kageyama. Didn’t you hear him?”
“Nii-chan,” Natsu says from the other side of the table, “did you get hit in the face with a volleyball?”
Shouyou self-consciously touches his face and looks toward Kageyama for confirmation. Kageyama nods, confirming the presence of a bruise.
“That was my fault,” Kageyama says. “He wasn’t paying attention when I hit it over. I didn’t tell him to pay attention, so.”
“You’ve got to be more careful, sweetheart.” His mother stares him down. “You’re always coming home with bruises.”
“Volleyball is a dangerous sport,” Shouyou argues, even if it is a pretty weak argument. She believes him.
“I understand that, but still. Be safe.”
The conversation turns back toward Kageyama after that, which Shouyou is thankful for. He doesn’t need two more people finding out his secret today. Explaining to them what he does in his free time would be far more difficult.
After dinner, Kageyama and Shouyou head back into his room to study. Shouyou pulls out his English notes and slides them across the floor.
“So the most important thing to remember is the vowels that go in every word.”
“Mmhmm.”
Shouyou glances over. “Are you even paying attention?”
“Of course I am! I don’t want to fail!”
“Okay, great. So a, e, i, o, u. Remember that the a is pronounced the long way and not ah like our a.”
“Except when it does.”
“But we’re not talking about that right now, are we?” Shouyou shakes his head. “You aren’t paying attention.”
“Okay, hear me out.”
Shouyou rolls his eyes.
“We have our practice match against Shiratorizawa this Friday and they have destroyed our team in competition the past three years in a row. If you were to use your Shouchan tingle—”
“Please do not call it that.”
“—Then we’d definitely have a chance at winning!”
“I am not cheating.”
“It’s not cheating. It’s utilizing your resources. If you can stick to walls you can receive the ball.”
“Oh my god, Kageyama. Absolutely not.”
“Oh, come on! It’s a good idea and you know it.”
“Sure, let me reveal to everyone in the gym that I am Spider-Man. Real smart.”
“Then at least use your powers to make yourself less shitty at volleyball.”
Shouyou scoffs. “I am great at volleyball. Don’t be a dick!”
“I’m not being a dick. I’m being honest.” Kageyama shoves the redhead over and laughs. “You’re an idiot. Don’t you want to know when you’re being dumb?”
“I could kick your ass, you know. I am really strong when I want to be.”
Kageyama’s terrifying smile slides into a smirk. “Alright, then. Show me.”
And “show him” he does. Shouyou reaches over and hoists Kageyama into the air with one arm. Kageyama’s face flushes.
“Maybe this won’t be too bad,” Shouyou purrs, looking at his nails dramatically after he’s set Kageyama back down. “Now I can actually show you how strong I am.”
“I did find it weird how you got abs overnight.”
Now Shouyou is blushing too. “Shut up.”
“Maybe we should study.” The taller boy runs a hand through his hair and tugs Shouyou’s notes back over. “Where were we? Vowels?”
Shouyou clears his throat. “Yeah.”
The next morning Kageyama is waiting at his desk with two cups of coffee. Shouyou sits down, albeit suspicious. He rubs at his face and yawns.
After Kageyama left, Shouyou finished up his homework, fixed the rip in his suit, and still had time to rescue a family out of a burning building down the street. Thank goodness he had access to the police scanners on his phone.
“You’re on time today,” Kageyama points out.
“Now do I get a reward?” Shouyou replies dryly. The cup of coffee is placed in front of him.
“I figured you’d be tired after all the climbing and swinging you did last night.” He holds up his phone where an article titled Spider-Man saves the day is displayed in the blue light. “Heard you stopped a fire.”
“I didn’t stop the fire. I got a couple of people out. That’s all.” He yawns again and takes a sip of his drink. It’s technically not coffee, but a chai latte with espresso. Bless his best friend. “Besides, I thought you didn’t care about the Spider-Man stuff.”
“I don’t,” he obviously lies, “but good job. I’m sure that family was very grateful.”
Shouyou doesn’t say anything. He always felt weird praising himself or accepting praise from others. He did what he had to in order to keep people safe. He was an extra set of hands, that’s all. Shouyou is sure anyone else in his position would do the same.
“So I was thinking we should get some extra practice with our quick attack today. You really should think about letting a little more of that strength come out when you spike the ball over.”
“I am a middle blocker, Yama. I’m not supposed to be strong.”
“You’re not supposed to have abs and the ability to stick to walls, either.”
Shouyou glares. “You are annoying.”
Someone across the classroom chucks a pencil at the back of Kageyama’s head. Shouyou catches it in seconds between his thumb and pointer finger. Everyone stares at him.
“Wow,” says Yachi, one of his classmates. Her eyes are wide in surprise. “Nice reflexes.”
“Uhm, yeah. Lots of practice!” Shouyou puts the pencil down, his cheeks flushed with red. He clears his throat and sneaks a glance at his best friend, who is also red again.
“Thank you,” he says.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Right!” Captain Daichi-san claps his hands together and smiles politely. “Remember guys, we have a match against Shiratorizawa this Friday. They are our major rivals and have managed to destroy us over the years. We need to prove to them we are worthy competitors and they shouldn’t underestimate us!” The volleyball team cheers in support. “We’re going to do some individual practice today, so do what you feel is needed. Sugawara and I will be walking around.”
After they are dismissed, Shouyou and Kageyama walk over to the other side of the gym so they can work on their quick attack. Since the two had known each other for practically their entire lives, it was easy to work together and even easier to understand each other’s movements. Their quick attack surprised every team they played and Shiratorizawa wouldn’t be any different.
When Shouyou first got his powers, he stuck to everything. Volleyball became a nightmare because instead of hitting the ball, he’d catch it and it’d stick to his hand. He wasn’t trying to catch it, of course, but it sure pissed off everyone on the team, including Kageyama. Shouyou had to sit out for a few weeks, but he used that time to figure out how to stick and unstick with ease. The thought makes him chuckle a little. He looked so stupid.
“Hey! Hinata!” Kageyama tosses the ball at him and Shouyou catches it. “Pay attention!”
“Sorry. Where do you want me?”
Kageyama’s face softens. “You’re thinking about Spider-Man, right?”
“I’m thinking about the people I can help after practice, yeah.” Shouyou tosses the ball up and passes it over. Kageyama hits it back. “It’s kind of hard balancing everything. My grades are pretty bad.”
“But you’re gonna keep doing it.”
“Of course I am. I have to, y’know? I got these powers for a reason and I want to use them for good. If I sat on my ass and did nothing, I’d feel terrible.”
“So use your damn powers to be better at volleyball.”
Shouyou rolls his eyes. “I’m serious, stupid.”
“I know that. And I think you’re gonna do what you want. I admire that. So take me seriously.” Kageyama catches the ball and smirks. “Just once.”
He isn’t going to drop it until Shouoyou agrees. “Fine. Just once.”
They take their spots by the net. Kageyama tosses the ball up and Shouyou prepares to jump. He won’t use 100% of his strength, because he isn’t about to make everyone suspicious, but twenty percent or so can’t hurt.
The ball comes over and Shouyou smacks it down. It rips toward the floor so fast the ball becomes a blur. Everyone in the gym stops and looks over.
“Holy shit, Hinata! Do that in our practice match, please!” Sugawara-san calls out excitedly. Shouyou wipes his forehead and nods.
“Okay.”
“See, dumbass?” Kageyama flashes another frightening smile. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
It did feel good. Maybe using a little super strength wouldn’t be so bad.
On Friday, Shouyou gets to school early enough to talk to Kageyama about their practice match after school. They worked on their quick attack throughout the week; Kageyama wanted to see how much strength Shouyou could use without making it suspicious. They were up to forty percent now; fifty percent put a hole in the gym wall and Shouyou had to lie about how it happened.
“I can’t believe you,” Kageyama says one day as they are walking to practice. Shouyou looks at him.
“What could I possibly have done now?”
“You have all these cool powers and abilities literally anyone would kill for. I mean, I would kill for your powers. They would make me so much better at volleyball. And I don’t feel like you take advantage of them.”
Shouyou scoffs. “Of course I do. I’m using them to literally save people. I love volleyball too, but there’s a difference between using and abusing.”
He shrugs. “Just saying.”
“You got your priorities all wrong.”
“I always thought Spider-Man was really cool. Part of me always wondered what he’d look like under the mask.”
And suddenly Shouyou is blushing again. He admired Kageyama with every part of his heart and soul and had since the day they met. Kageyama was good at everything— literally, everything. He was very handsome too and often got confessed to. Shouyou wasn’t sure what his sexuality was, but it was at the point where if Kageyama asked if he wanted to make out, he wouldn’t say no.
Shouyou had a bit of an inferiority complex despite everything he had succeeded in. He was shorter than most of his classmates, which really didn’t matter until it came time to play volleyball. There’s no way he can play, people would say, and after a while, Shouyou started to believe it. He tried not to let it bother him though because he loved that sport more than life itself. Then he got these superpowers and suddenly every aspect of his life was being pushed and pulled in forty different directions.
“I thought he’d be older though,” Kageyama is still rambling on about his hot Spider-Man takes, “like a guy who’s been doing this for a while. Never expected it to be you.”
“And now that you know it is me?”
“I still think Spider-Man is cool.” He smiles. “You are cool, Hinata. I know I don’t say it a lot, but it’s true. You’re one of the coolest people I know.”
“Sappy-Yama strikes again.”
"Shut it."
Now the two are sitting in homeroom, huddled together to discuss strategy. Kageyama has his notebook flipped open to a clean page so he can draw out a diagram.
“So, Shinobu is the setter, so they’ll keep him in rotation. His sets aren’t as precise or on point as mine, so we have some leeway there. Ushijima will be the one to look out for. He’s left-handed, so his spikes are unpredictable. Tendou is a middle blocker but he’s super flexible, so you’re going to have to look out for him. He’s a legend over at Shiratorizawa.”
“Okay, so we have to watch out for Ushijima and Tendou. I can do that. I’m sure Tsukishima can too.” Shouyou pats Kageyama’s back lightly. “Karasuno played them last year, YamaYama-kun. Nothing’s changed in a year.”
“Uhm, you’ve changed in the past year, Spider-kun. Now pay attention. I think if we put Tsukishima in charge of watching Tendou, you can focus on stopping Ushijima.”
“How does this have anything to do with our quick attack?”
“With you watching Ushijima and Tsukki watching Tendou, that gives us the chance to strike when they let their guard down. Ushijima has everyone do everything for him, remember? So the only time he’s gonna come up to the net is to hit. If we manage to get him to hit the ball first, then you and I can play the quick attack easily without him ever coming near the ball. Plus, with your strength, there is no way someone is going to be able to recover.”
“Have you told Daichi this plan?”
“Partially. He wants Tsukishima on Tendou and agrees that we need to get Ushijima to hit the ball first as often as possible. The quick attack stuff is just for us.” He grins. “Whaddya think?”
“Solid strat. We’ve got this in the bag.” They fist bump right as the bell rings and Kageyama flips back to his notes. Shouyou spots a doodle of the Spider-Man symbol in the corner of his paper and smiles to himself.
The hours pass rather quickly today and Shouyou thinks that has to be because of the practice match. He’s nervous facing Shiratorizawa, even if Kageyama is sure they’ll win. They’ve never been able to beat that school, even long before Shouyou started going here.
Yet the second he’s dressed in his practice clothes and surrounded by his classmates, the nerves slowly ease away. He pulls the neon green jersey with a bright #10 over his head and smooths it over his torso. Kageyama smacks him.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, everyone. Gather round.” Daichi brings everyone closer and gestures to Shiratorizawa across the court. “Remember, this is just a practice round, but we do need to beat their asses and crush their dreams so we can beat them at the championships too.”
“A little violent there, Daichi,” Sugawara says. Daichi-san shakes his head.
“We need to be if we expect to win. Five years, you guys. They have beat Karasuno over the past five years. We need to prove them wrong, got it?”
“Yes, sir!” Chants the team.
“Good. Now go warm up.”
Kageyama tugs Shouyou away to go over the plan. He’s mid-explanation, waving his hands around. “Remember, keep your eyes on Ushijima. As long as you watch out for him, I can take care of everyone else. If you take your eyes off of him—”
Shouyou’s phone rings in his pocket. He forgot to leave that with the rest of his stuff. His mom is calling him, which is weird. She knew he was at practice right now.
“Hey, mom, what’s up? We’re about to start our match.”
“Natsu’s in trouble.”
Shouyou’s heart stops. “W-What?” He stutters out.
“She and some friends stopped by the konbini on the way home and I guess something happened. She texted me and I’m on my way over right now. She thinks it’s a hostage situation.”
“She’s ten years old!”
“I know. Sorry, Shouyou, I shouldn’t have brought this up before the match, but I know you’d be more upset if you didn’t know. I’ll keep you updated, okay?”
“I’m coming down there.” Kageyama grabs his arm, curious as to what’s going on. “Mom, this is way more important—”
“There isn’t anything you’re going to be able to do right now. The police might not even let me in. Stay there. I don’t want anything happening to you either.”
The line ends, leaving Shouyou shaking in his sneakers. He can feel his eyes brimming with tears.
“Shou,” Kageyama only called him by his first name when he was being serious or was worried, “what’s happening?”
“Natsu’s in trouble. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“What do you mean?”
“The konbini she’s at is being robbed. I have to go.”
Kageyama doesn’t hesitate. He nods his head and pulls Shouyou into a half-hug. “Be careful. I’ll cover for you, alright?”
“I’m sorry we won’t be able to do our quick attack.”
His grip tightens. “You were right. Some things are more important than volleyball. Now go.”
Shouyou doesn’t hesitate. He sprints back into the locker room to grab his suit and changes on the way out. Once his suit is zipped up and his identity is protected, he takes to the skies, using the police scanner on his phone to find the one konbini out of hundreds his sister could be at. Her school isn’t too far away from home, so unless she was going over to a friend’s house, she shouldn’t be too far away.
“We have a hostage situation, over. Requesting backup.”
Bingo. He listens for the address and swings over, kicking off a nearby skyscraper to propel him faster. It’s not hard to see the array of police cars and armored trucks in the parking lot of the 7/11. Shouyou can’t believe this is happening. He hadn’t had to deal with many hostage situations during his year as Spider-Man. Sure, Shouyou had seen it all — fires, home invasions, carjacking, even run-ins with shady fellows — but never had his family been involved. He can only pray that Natsu is doing exactly what she is asked.
After perching on a nearby utility pole, he searches for a way in. There’s a roof entrance he can probably take. Hopefully, he can get across the ceiling and assess how many people are inside.
Shouyou leaps forward and rolls into a hard stop. He peers over the edge of the convenience store, noting the crowd of people behind the barriers. One is his mother, who is arguing with a police officer.
“That’s my daughter in there! She texted me!!”
“I understand that ma’am, but we have to keep civilians back in case something happens. It’s for your safety.”
Shouyou presses himself flat against the rooftop and takes a deep breath. He can do this. It isn’t any different just because Natsu is involved. He can save her and her friends easily.
He slams against the locked rooftop door, breaking it in. It’s a lot louder than he would have hoped for, but it’s in an empty back room, so he’s okay. Carefully, he crawls along the ceiling, through the employee door, and into the main shopping area. The cashier is at gunpoint, shoving the cash in the till into a bag. Another man is pointing a gun at the hostages. Along with Natsu are two young girls, her friends, and an elderly woman.
A third man guards the door. Shouyou rolls his eyes. All of this to rob a convenience store? These dudes look like low-lives. They must be in dire need of some quick cash and are naive to think they’re getting out of this without consequences.
“Where’s the rest of it?” The man at the register demands, pushing the gun closer to the cashier’s face. She’s a young woman, probably in her early twenties, who has tears running down her eyes.
“I told you, this is all we have. The truck came and picked up our earnings yesterday!”
“No, it didn’t! We know you’re lying. The truck comes tomorrow.”
“I promise you, there’s nothing else!”
“If you don’t produce the rest of the money in thirty seconds, we kill one of the hostages.”
Natsu lets out a sob and shoves her hand over her mouth. The criminal tells her to shut up.
Okay. That’s enough assessment. He can take the guns of the two men threatening lives and manage to steal the third before anyone notices. He’s done this before; he can do it again.
Shouyou springs into action, webbing up each gun and sticking it to the ceiling before detaching to steal the third. All three men stare at him.
“Oh fuck, it’s Spider-Man!”
“Don’t you guys have anything better to do than point guns at children? It’s not a good look, bro.”
The man at the door throws a punch that Shouyou easily dodges. He dances around, ducking and jumping when he needs to. One criminal knocks a shelf down, pinning Shouyou underneath it. He flicks his wrist out, webbing up the legs of the guy who knocked him down. That guy knocks into the other and both of them fall to the ground. The third guy yells angrily.
“Hey, you fucking assholes! Get your shit together!”
Shouyou climbs out from underneath the shelves and dodges another punch. He tackles the guy, trying to get him immobile but instead receives a punch to his face. Thanks for nothing, Shouchan tingle.
After pulling himself out of the mess, Shouyou jumps back up to the ceiling, sticking his fingers to the surface so he can perform a roundhouse kick. The other two guys have managed to untangle themselves from the webs and make a beeline for Shouyou, obviously assuming the three of them together can take care of Spider-Man. They are wrong.
Shouyou drops down onto one of the criminal’s shoulders, flipping him onto his back. He webs the man to the ground and glances over at the others. The hair on his arms is sticking straight up, but he can’t gauge what is the danger here because he has two grown men charging him. Shouyou picks one, shooting webs again. He slides between the man’s legs and webs him to the wall.
Unfortunately, Shouyou realizes he should have gone for the other guy too late. A knife plunges into his side and every single one of his nerve endings lights up in pain like a plane taking off a runway. He has to keep pushing, though, so he yanks the knife out and hits the man as hard as he can. The criminal trips backward, smacking his head against the edge of the counter. The poor cashier, cowering behind the counter, peeks over at the unconscious man in front of her. Shouyou webs him to the ground too, just in case.
“It’s alright everybody,” he coughs out, trying to ignore the pain in his side. He will have some pretty bad bruises on his face in the morning too. “Danger is gone. You’re all safe.”
“Thank you so much, Spider-Man,” cries the cashier. The old woman thanks him too, followed by Natsu and his friends. Dammit, Natsu. Shouyou is in too much pain to try and disguise his voice, so he really hopes she doesn’t notice.
“Thank you so much,” she whispers, bowing politely. He nods his head and holds the door open so everyone can pass through. He doubts anyone even noticed him getting stabbed because he’s holding his wound with the other hand and is trying to look as normal as possible. He needs to find help. This is a wound way past his own repair. That knife could have punctured an organ or something important.
Swinging is even harder to do. He’s only using one hand, still trying to contain the insane amount of blood pouring out his right side, and every single movement sends another round of sharp pain through his body. An hour has passed, so the match should be wrapping up by now. Is Kageyama going to be home? Is this something Kageyama can even deal with?
Maybe he should go to the hospital, but Shouyou heals quickly; as long as they get the bleeding stopped, he’ll be okay. Everything will be okay.
Kageyama isn’t home yet when Shouyou scales down the wall of his apartment building and pulls up his window. He slides in, hissing in pain, as he closes the window and practically falls to the carpet. Shouyou’s vision is starting to blur and his mouth tastes like iron. He should have gone to the hospital.
He trails in and out of consciousness as he prays that he didn’t get any blood on Kageyama’s floor. Now that would be difficult to explain to his parents. Shouyou manages to get his mask off and sucks in a deep breath of air. Holy shit, he’s going to die. Shouyou just saved his sister and he’s going to die.
So when Kageyama Tobio walks in through his bedroom door, shimmering with sweat and looking as angry as usual, Shouyou nearly cries.
“Oh my god, you moron.” He drops to his knees and rolls Shouyou over so he can see what’s going on. His hand comes back sticky with blood. “Shou? Shou, can you hear me?”
“I’m sorry, Tobio,” Shouyou manages to cough out. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
“It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s all gonna be okay. I’m gonna help. What happened?”
“I got stabbed. My side.”
“Okay.” He exhales loudly and rubs his hands together. “I’m gonna grab the first aid kit out of my bathroom. Can you get your suit off?”
“I can try.”
“Don’t make it worse.”
Shouyou nods his head and coughs again as Kageyama darts out to grab his medical supplies. He uses every bit of strength he has left to get his suit off, biting back another pain-filled hiss. His arms feel like noodles.
“Okay. Stay still.” Kageyama shuts the door behind him and flicks on the lights so he can see better. His hands are cold against Shouyou’s flushed skin, just like the last time he helped. Shouyou didn’t know Kageyama was a pro in the medical department, but he could have guessed, considering how good he was at everything else.
“How bad is it?”
“I don’t know yet. Try to stay awake, okay?”
“Mm.” Shouyou holds his heavy eyelids open as Kageyama wipes the blood away and leans closer. He tilts his head and bites his lip, figuring out his next move.
“You might have some internal bleeding. I can get you to the hospital.”
“No. I’ll be okay. Just make sure it stops bleeding, okay? Then by tomorrow, I’ll be fine.” To prove his point, Shouyou weakly gestures to his chest, where the gash from last week’s battle has fully healed. Kageyama sighs.
“Okay. If it doesn’t stop bleeding, I’m taking you to the hospital.” Kageyama wipes down the wound with more alcohol and presses gauze to it, watching as it slowly turns red. He shakes his head. “I told you to be careful, dumbass.”
“There was so much going on. I didn’t trust the Shochan tingle.”
“So that is catching on, I see.” Kageyama flashes a small smile. “Did you save your sister?”
“Yeah. She’s safe.”
“She’s going to think Spider-Man is the coolest guy in the whole world, and she doesn’t even know it’s her big bro.”
“Probably for the best. How’d the game go?”
“You don’t need to talk if it’s hurting you, Shou.”
“It’s helping.”
“Okay, then.” He pauses to switch out the gauze. Shouyou is surprised he’s still awake at this point, considering how much blood is still pouring out of his body. “We lost. But it’s okay. We only lost by one point, so Daichi-san feels better about our chances at championships.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That you had a family emergency. It’s true, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, good. It’s starting to slow.” Kageyama wipes his forehead with the back of his hand and reaches for a new piece of gauze. He sticks it on with tape and wraps a thick bandage around Shouyou’s waist, causing the redhead to grimace. “Okay?”
“Yeah. It’s getting better.”
“You really scared me, you bastard.”
“You are the only person who knows and I didn’t want to risk dealing with it on my own. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m glad you trusted me enough to come here.” Kageyama slides an arm under Shouyou’s armpits and lifts him up so he can rest on the bed. Shouyou mumbles his thanks.
“How’d you get so good at first-aid?”
“Mom made me take a class after I busted my nose at a game. She wanted to make sure I could help my teammates.”
“Have you ever dressed a stab wound?”
“Nope. First time for everything, I guess.” Kageyama’s smile is soft this time. It’s a rare treat. “Have you ever been stabbed?”
“No. First time for everything.”
“Truly.” The taller boy takes a seat on the edge of his best and lightly trails his fingertips down Shouyou’s leg. “Maybe you should get some sleep. I feel a lot better now that the bleeding stopped.”
“I am tired,” admits Shouyou. He closes his eyes and sighs happily when he feels soft blankets drape over his body. “You’re a good friend, Yama.”
Kageyama touches his leg again. “Get some rest.”
Shouyou floats in and out of consciousness over the next couple of hours. He makes out part of a conversation Kageyama is having with someone outside his bedroom.
“Yes, he’s okay, just tired. He got injured at practice so I brought him back to my place because it was closer. That’s great to hear, Hinata-san. I’ll take care of him. Mmhmm. Yeah, it’s okay with my mom. I will. See you tomorrow.” The call ends and the door creaks open. Kageyama makes his way back into his room and kneels down right in front of Shouyou’s face.
“Thank god,” he whispers, pulling away. Probably checking to make sure Shouyou is still breathing. Yet he doesn’t leave, instead pulling back the covers and sliding into bed with the redhead. Shouyou doesn’t dare move, partially because he’s still in a lot of fucking pain and the other part because he doesn’t want Kageyama to know he’s actually awake.
“I’m really glad you’re okay, Shou. I know I was acting like I don’t care, but that’s a lie. I’ve been worrying about you getting hurt every day since you told me, and that was like, literally a week ago. I’m so lame, I’m talking to nobody right now.” He laughs quietly so he doesn’t wake Shouyou up. “And the truth is, I’ve always thought you were this super cool dude who let nothing bother him. You are one of the most impressive, most admirable people I’ve ever met and I love you. To be honest, I think I might be in love with you.” Kageyama grumbles. “God, I can’t believe I just said that out loud. This is so embarrassing.”
After a few more minutes of wiggling around to get comfortable, the dark-haired boy goes still, and they sink into a peaceful slumber.
It’s dark outside when Shouyou wakes up. He sits up quickly, his danger sense spiking, and calms down when he realizes everything is okay. He’s safe in Kageyama’s bedroom.
Shouyou’s stomach grumbles as he stands up to pee. Kageyama makes a noise next to him, but still appears to be knocked out, so Shouyou heads to the bathroom. The Kageyama household was nothing like the Hinata one. His older sister didn’t live at home anymore and was currently traveling across Europe picking up makeup and hair gigs. His parents worked late and often traveled, trusting him to take care of himself. Being Spider-Man with a life like that sure would be a helluva lot easier than having a mom who was constantly breathing down his neck.
Not that Shouyou could blame her. His father left when he was very young. He’s back in America now, Shouyou thinks. All he really remembers about his father was that he was American, with bright red hair that he passed on to his two kids. His dad would tell him stories about his travels all over the world.
“One day you’ll fly too, Shou,” he used to say. Funny enough, he wasn’t wrong. Shouyou was flying, just not by plane.
After finishing his business, Shouyou checks his wound. He’s still in his boxers so it’s easy to see the deep, dark bruises painting his torso and around the gauze Kageyama taped down. It looks like it is healing though, which is good. He also has a bruise on his cheekbone. Oh well. He can pass that off as the injury from the match.
Kageyama is waking up when Shouyou walks back in. He stares at his dark-haired best friend and is suddenly reminded of what he caught Kageyama saying. I think I’m in love with you.
Surely he didn’t say that. Shouyou probably dreamt that.
“How are you feeling?” He asks.
“A little hungry.”
“I can heat up leftovers. Mom made miso soup yesterday.”
“That would be nice.”
“Oh, and I can get you some clothes, too, so you don’t have to wander around naked. Not that I’m complaining. You look nice.” His cheeks turn red. “That was weird. I mean, if it’s more comfortable—”
“I’m fine, Tobio. I’ll borrow some clothes, thanks.”
With a nod, Kageyama fishes his smallest pair of sweatpants and shirt out of his dresser drawers and tosses them over to Shouyou. He would never admit it, but Shouyou often forgot to bring a change of clothes when he spent the night because he loved the feeling of wearing Kageyama’s too big clothes around the apartment. They even smelled like Tobio, which was good because he always smelled so good. Shouyou adored the way his clothes smelled.
“The nap was good,” he continues the small talk as they walk into the kitchen so Kageyama can make dinner. “I think it helped. Food will too.”
“Cool. We can watch a movie if you want. I called your mom and told her you were staying the night.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
Kageyama suddenly turns stark white. “You — You did?”
“Mmhmm. Not all of it though, because I was only half awake.”
He mashes his fingers together, abandoning the Tupperware of miso soup on the counter. “Did you hear anything else?”
“You were mumbling to yourself, but I’m not sure what you said. I was probably dreaming.”
After forcing out a laugh, Kageyama turns around to put the leftovers in the microwave. “Yeah... I was... repeating my English notes, so I won't forget.”
“We already had the exam.”
“Just for next time. Anyway.” He clears his throat. “Dumbass.”
“I had a dream that you said you were in love with me.”
The spoon in between Kageyama’s hand clatters loudly on the ground. “That’s weird.”
“I thought so too. I mean, we’re childhood friends, right? I’ve known you since I was in diapers. It’d be totally inappropriate for us to... be in love.” Shouyou runs a hand through his hair and looks down at the table. His side throbs.
“Yep. Totally inappropriate. Anyway, want something to drink? I have milk.”
“I would like anything but milk, you weirdo.”
“Milk is amazing and everyone knows it. Don’t be milkphobic.” He bends down to pick up his spoon and makes a beeline toward the fridge. With the way he’s acting, Shouyou is starting to think that maybe what he heard wasn’t a dream.
“Tobio,” he says. Kageyama turns around.
“What?”
“Calm down.”
“I am calm.” A pause. “I just want to make sure you’re doing okay.”
“I am doing okay. I told you that.”
“Okay. That’s good, then.” He pulls a bottle of water out of the fridge and sets it down in front of Shouyou. They lock eyes.
“Do you like me?” Shouyou asks, unable to shut up at a time where he really should shut up.
He opens his mouth to reply and is promptly interrupted by the beep of the microwave. Kageyama pulls the soup out and gives it a few hearty stirs. Shouyou can feel how red his face is. He wants Kageyama to say yes so he doesn’t feel so weird about liking him back.
“I uhm,” Kageyama coughs loudly, “I don’t know how to answer that.”
“I mean romantically.”
“Ah...ha. Yeah. Right.” He’s starting to fall apart. When Kageyama brings the soup over to the table, his hands are trembling.
“What if it isn’t inappropriate?” Shouyou continues as he takes his spoon and lets it sink to the bottom of the bowl. “What if liking each other is... normal?”
“I guess that would be great, then.”
“So you do like me.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. We’ve known each other since forever. I just feel like... like I need to be around you all the time.”
“Do you want to kiss me?”
Shouyou is definitely making things worse. Kageyama looks like he’s choking to death. “Do you want to kiss me?”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it.” He shovels a spoonful of soup into his mouth and smiles slightly. Shouyou always had been better at talking than Kageyama.
“Oh.” He too takes a bite of his food so he can’t reply. They eat in silence for a few minutes as both boys come to terms with what this means for their friendship in the future. Shouyou has never kissed a boy before. To be fair, he’s never kissed anyone before, but starting with Kageyama doesn’t seem that bad. It’d probably be nice even. Comfortable.
But it’s weird that this is coming up now because Shouyou is thinking about it and he has absolutely no clue when his feelings for his best friend started to develop. He wonders how long it’s been for Tobio.
“How long have you liked me?” Shouyou asks, still avoiding contact. He can see Kageyama’s shaking hands across the table.
“I don’t know.” He’s being honest. “But it’s been a while now. I just... I realized how much I liked spending time with you and suddenly I wanted more outside of volleyball and school and... friendship.”
“It’s not just because you found out I was Spider-Man, right?” Shouyou is joking, but Kageyama takes this seriously.
“Of course not. I like you, Shouyou, not Spider-Man. I’ve liked you long before you could stick to walls.”
That makes him feel better. “Oh. Well. That’s nice.”
“Does that make you feel weird?”
“No. I like you too.” Shouyou finishes off his soup and leans back in his chair. His body aches from the stab wound, but it’s a duller pain than it was before he took a nap.
“Boys liking boys,” Kageyama says out loud like he’s trying to figure out if he’s okay with it or not. “Interesting.”
“You’re like, the gayest person I know.”
“Shut up, dumbass. I am not.”
“Are too.”
“Am not.” Kageyama’s eyes flicker up to meet him momentarily before he takes their empty bowls and stands up to put them in the sink. Before he can turn back around, Shouyou flicks his hand out, pulling Kageyama over to him with a web. The taller boy stumbles into Shouyou’s arms and chuckles awkwardly.
“Hah... forgot you could do that.”
“What, you assume it was magic or something?”
“No.” He bites his lip. “Shouyou, this is so weird. Is this stuff coming out of you?”
“Can you just shut up for once in your life?” Shouyou yanks on his web and Kageyama tumbles forward into a kiss. Shouyou’s eyes close. Oh. Kageyama’s lips are soft and warm and gentle and this is a nice kiss. It’s a very nice kiss.
Shouyou doesn’t have much to compare it to, but still; it’s the best kiss he’s ever had.
Tobio pulls away, his eyes big and round and cute. “Wow,” he whispers. “That was nice.”
“I thought so too,” says Shouyou, grinning. “Want to do it some more?”
“Uh-huh.”