Match Cut

by earliertoday

Summary:

"You have to find someone else," Kageyama mutters, watching Hinata mount the neon-orange dirt bike. He glances back at him over his shoulder and winks.

"No reason to." Ukai doesn't look up from his clipboard. "The two of you have great chemistry."

Kageyama wrinkles his nose, slightly disgusted by the notion. "That’s not what I’d call it.”

When Hoshiumi leaves hit TV show Adler, an odd set of circumstances lead to supermodel Hinata Shouyou taking his place on the stuntwork-based drama series.

Fellow cast member Kageyama Tobio is less-than-happy about this. Hinata is 1) reckless, 2) loud, and worst of all, 3) horribly attractive. There's no way he can work with him.

Notes:

stuntman hinata as a concept wouldn’t stop buzzing around in my head... i had to do something about it

Chapter 1: Indefinite Understudy

Speak up. Fix your posture. Don't let your voice shake.

Kageyama hasn't been told these things in a very long time. They're basic corrections, embarrassingly obvious to those with any sort of acting prowess, dare he say even to individuals with only a meager speck of it. 

This makes it quite difficult - impossible, rather, for him to keep his temper in check after hearing them repeated twenty times in the span of five minutes. 

"That's it— I'm done," Kageyama spits with a glare, shoving his script into the hands of his distressed scene partner and pushing past the camera crew. "I'm taking five. Come and get me when this guy stops mumbling every goddamn word."

No one objects as he storms off to his trailer, locking himself in it once he arrives on the off chance that Takeda will try to burst in and convince him to run the scene one more time. He won't agree.

He slumps into the chair closest to the door - sleek black and leather - and tries to ignore the way the sweat on the back of his neck makes his skin stick to the material. It's not an amazing seating choice on a hot June day like this one, but he's too agitated by everything else going on to care that much about it.

Ever since Hoshiumi decided to quit, working on the set of Adler has been, to put it rudely, a total nightmare. Him leaving was a total shock, but thankfully, the cast is still on good terms with him. The circumstances of his departure weren't 'calculated' or anything.

See, Hoshiumi had adored the most recent season they'd filmed of Adler - it's a character drama that incorporates extreme stunt work, set in the bustling big city. For Season Three, though, they'd switched it up, filming most of it on location at different beaches across the world.

The crew had wanted to experiment with stunts in the sand and ocean, and Hoshiumi was incredible at them. He'd totally thrived in the tropical atmosphere, like an animal that'd been put in its proper habitat. But when it came time to film Season Four and return to the city, he seemed uncomfortable. Out of place. Somewhere else, mentally.

So he quit. Halfway through filming Season Four, he broke up with the rest of the cast with the 'it's-not-you-it's-me' argument, explaining that though he loved his time on Adler, it was keeping him from living somewhere he loved rather than liked - somewhere beachy, tropical.

Kageyama supposes if he'd loved filming there, too, he'd sympathize more. But if Hoshiumi's an animal whose proper habitat is the beach, than Kageyama's definitely one who's supposed to be in the city. He likes knowing exactly where a road will take him on his morning runs, he likes the abundance of vending machines lying around every corner, he likes that he can-

Three sharp knocks on his door snap him out of his thoughts. Great. He's ninety-nine percent sure he knows who it is, and one-hundred-percent sure that he doesn't want to open it if he's right.

"Damnit..." With a great amount of effort, he gets up from the chair, walking over to squint through the peephole.

Sure enough, there's Takeda, with Kageyama's script under his arm. It's all crumpled up from how hard he'd been gripping it in his hand while on set. Whatever. He knows all his lines by heart, anyway.

He tries to only open the door a crack, but Takeda, ever the insistent type, shoves his foot into the space and forces it agape. "Kageyama, it's been fifteen minutes," He warns gently, holding out the script for him to take. "You need to come back to set with me."

Kageyama gives up on trying to shut him out and leans back against the wall. "Sir, with all due respect, every single auditionee I ran lines with today was completely incompetent," He snaps, the irritation that had started to settle in his gut flaring back up again, "We need to send out a totally new casting call. I can't work with any of these people."

Takeda wilts a bit at this. "That's- we both know that's impossible. We're already dealing with a major time crunch - we either get a replacement actor here or we'll have to write Seagull off the show completely." 

Seagull, of course, is the name of Hoshiumi's character - a reckless daredevil with an iconic all-white look, a brazenly unstoppable force that fans either loved or hated (although Kageyama tries to avoid reading online discourse about his storyline).

If he got written off, who knows how many people would stop watching? And at least if his character still existed, albeit played by someone else, they wouldn't have to deal with the thirty different plot holes that completely getting rid of him would create...

"...But no one can play him the same way Hoshiumi did," He finishes the thought aloud, starting to pace around in a tight circle. "Nobody we've seen this week has the stage presence, the energy, the drive that you need to play a role like that."

"So you're in the we-should-write-him-off boat?"

Kageyama bristles. "I'm not in any boat. I just think that continuing to run practice scenes with people who can't even read a line correctly is pointless - for everyone involved."

"Look, I get what you're saying, I do," Takeda approaches him slowly, attempting to hand him his script again, "But there's still a slim chance we might luck out and strike gold with the remaining auditionees. And if not, we could at least get some silver, right?"

He hesitates for a moment, and Takeda looks like he's about to apologize for using overly-flowery wording (as always), but Kageyama takes the script before he can do so.

"I really hope you're right, Takeda-sensei."

 

-

 

They do not find gold. Or silver. For fuck's sake, they don't even find bronze.

Somehow, the last few people to audition are by far the worst, not just of the day, but of the entire week. Kageyama's script is so wrinkled now that he contemplates ironing it - but not to make it readable again, no, to fucking burn it.

"Nevermind Episode Seven, what are we supposed to do about Episode Six?" Takeda groans, leaning back into Ukai's chest as the cast and crew hover around them, unsure if they should pack up or not.

They'd been halfway through filming the episode when Hoshiumi had left, a loophole in his contract somehow letting him escape from filming mid-season. He didn't actually have a huge part in the episode - just doing a flashy stunt on his motorcycle at the end of it, but it was still causing them massive trouble. The studio had granted them permission to replace him with a new actor once they started filming a new episode (hence the casting call), but they were strictly against switching out the actor halfway through an episode - it'd be too confusing, when they already had footage of Hoshiumi for the first twenty minutes of it.

Ukai slings an arm across the other man's shoulders, brows knitting together in thought. "How about this: we cut the dialogue he had with Kageyama and only keep in the stunt. It'll be shot from a distance, so if we edit it right, it could work."

"Who would we even get to do the stunt, though?" Takeda gestures to the present cast members, "They're the only ones here, and it'd be horribly obvious if we tried to play off one of them being Hoshiumi, even from far away." 

"Not a problem. We can disguise their identities pretty easily," Ukai taps his forehead confidently. "All they have to do is wear his helmet."

"Don't forget about height, Keishin," Takeda counters, adjusting his glasses with a sigh. "It doesn't matter if the audience can't see his face if the body double is twice his size."

"Ah- excuse me. Would it be alright if I, um, suggested something?" Someone speaks up, and Kageyama glances over to find their production assistant, Yachi Hitoka, raising a terribly shaky hand.

"Sure thing," Ukai nods slowly, "And for future reference, you don't have to raise your hand before you speak."

"S-Sorry!" She jolts, bringing her hand down so fast that it makes a little sound when it hits the side of her leg. "I was just- I thought that maybe- it would be kind of cool if we got one of the Black Jackals guys to do it?" She makes a quick sketch on her notepad and points to it. "See, the studio they film at is only a ten minute drive from here, so-"

"Isn't the Black Jackals a clothing brand?" Kageyama interjects, thoroughly confused. He's ninety-nine percent sure that they are, but what sense would it make to beg a model filming a clothing commercial to come perform an extremely dangerous stunt for them?

"No! Well, actually, um - yes. Kinda?" Yachi stutters, and the wheels in Kageyama's head continue to spin around aimlessly, "They're a sports clothing brand. All their commercials have these really scary-looking stunts in them, so I just figured..." She trails off and ducks her head, clearly a bit flustered by her idea being challenged. "...Sorry. It was a silly thing to bring up."

"Not at all!" Ukai booms, making both Yachi and Kageyama jolt. "I've seen those commercials everywhere! Their studio's really that close by?"

Yachi flushes scarlet and hands him her notepad. "Y-yes, sir! There's a route you can take on the backroads that lets you avoid all the usual traffic."

He tears out the page with the sketch on it. "Excellent. That's excellent, Miss Hitoka!" 

"Is it?" Kageyama mumbles, still not completely convinced despite her compelling argument. "The height match is still an issue. For all we know, everyone there is just as tall as we are."

"Wrong," Ukai shakes his head, speeding past him to presumably go hop in his car. "There's a short one. I know that for a fact. He's in the most ads of them all."

That doesn't mean he's actually a good stunt driver, Kageyama wants to say, this trick isn't something a casual driver could do. We need to stick with people we know are competent.

The man is out the door before he can voice any of this, though. The cast hears his car engine rev up loudly before fading off into the distance within seconds. 

Takeda clicks his tongue. "He's going to get hit if he keeps driving recklessly."

He's going to get sued if he brings back someone inexperienced, Kageyama thinks grimly, and they get brutally injured trying the impossible stunt.

"Um, Kageyama-kun....?" Yachi walks over to his side, fidgeting with the collar of her shirt. "I really apologize if I overstepped there. I know how long you've been working with Mr. Ukai, and-"

Kageyama puts a hand up to stop her, shaking his head. "It's fine," He tries to assure her, but winces upon hearing how ingenuine it sounds, "I mean...I just don't want this to end up with an overconfident amateur falling and needing to get hospitalized. I don't think you've been here long enough to witness any really big accidents - which is a good thing, I'm not shaming you - but when they happen, it's rough for everyone involved."

Her eyes go all wide and round at this. "I-I wouldn't suggest anyone I thought was genuinely unsuitable to do the stunt!" She waves her hands around in panic. "The Black Jackals guys - they aren't amateurs. Not at all!"

Kageyama fidgets with the zipper of his jacket - a nervous tic. "You're sure?" 

"Completely! They're stuntmen first, models second." She places her hands on her hips, attempting to pose more confidently, "I don't even know if I'd call them models, actually! Er- n-not to say they aren't attractive, they all look nice! But it's more like- the clothes are kind of, um, a secondary thing. To them, I mean. Not the company. The company's focused on the clothes first, I mean of course, that's the whole-"

"So they're not amateurs," He cuts off her rambling, "We've established that. But are they overconfident? That's also a concern."

"I...well, I don't know them personally-"

"The short one," Kageyama blurts, remembering Ukai's words from earlier. "That's the guy he said he's bringing back. Do you have a read on him? Does he seem like the cocky type?"

Yachi shuts her eyes tightly, evidently trying to search deep within her memory. "Hah...that's the orange-haired one, I think?" Her eyes pop open. "Hinata! Oh, if it's Hinata, then we're all set! From everything I've read, he's really nice! Most of the Black Jackals guys are kind of intimidating, but he's like," She tries to grin as widely as she can. "One of the smiley ones?"

"The...smiley ones..." Kageyama echoes, trying to commit all the information he's received from Yachi to memory. Hinata. One of the Black Jackals. Has orange hair. Reportedly 'really nice.'

Smiley.

-

 

Hinata is definitely smiley. 

A little too smiley for Kageyama's liking, actually. From the moment he walks into the studio he's absolutely beaming at everyone he passes, even the ones who glare daggers at him for making them work overtime - they'd all already be home by now if he hadn't agreed to do the scene on a complete whim. 

"Hello! I'm Hinata Shouyou, it's nice to meet you."

"My name's Hinata Shouyou! You can just call me Hinata-kun, though!"

"Hinata Shouyou. Yep! That's me. It's really flattering to be recognized, hahah..."

Soon enough it's Kageyama's turn to come face to face with his blinding smile, and he can't help but squint a little at it.

“Helloooo there!” 

Everything about Hinata is so bright. His bird’s nest hair is absurdly vibrant - the color of sunrays caught in a jar of marmalade, and his eyes, they’re this searing shade of auburn, but close up Kageyama can see tiny golden flecks at their edges - glowing sparks hovering around the flames of a campfire. A few of them seem to have escaped and settled on the apples of his cheeks, dulling from a radiant yellow into a warm citrus orange.

It's no wonder the guy's a model (even if it comes second to him being a stuntman, like Yachi had said), because even though Kageyama hasn't seen what the other Black Jackals men look like, he fully believes the fact that Hinata's the one who gets the most ad deals. 

“You’re Hinata Shouyou,” he says quickly, beating him to the punch, “Or so I’ve heard.” 

Hinata's wide grin slips into a sly smirk, perfectly white teeth hidden behind his closed lips. “Correct. And you’re King,” He offers his hand to shake, “Am I right about that?” 

“Kageyama Tobio,” He corrects him instantly, mild irritation pricking it’s way up his spine, “I’d prefer if you only called me by my character name when we’re actively filming.” 

“Mm, I gotcha, no worries.” Hinata reaches out to grab his hand himself when Kageyama doesn't acknowledge his outstretched palm, small fingers squeezing tight against his knuckles. "Pleasure to be working with you."

Kageyama is a bit surprised by the strength of his handshake, but returns it with full force as a sign of mutual respect. "Likewise."

He waits patiently for the other man to inevitably wince under the physical pressure, but he doesn't, only continuing to smirk smugly as if to say What? Expecting something else?

"You two have officially met, I see!" Ukai walks up to them with his hands clasped together, and Hinata lets go of him first. I win, Kageyama thinks distantly.

"So that's everyone, then?" Hinata adjusts his ponytail - so short that it barely stays in an elastic - smoothing down some of the flyaway strands. "Sweet. We can talk stuntwork now." 

"Perfect. If you'll follow me to the set right down there-" Ukai starts walking, pointing to a large setup at the end of the hallway, "-I can explain everything in more detail."

Hinata gives him a thumbs up and starts to follow with a cheerful hum, briefly glancing back at Kageyama before turning back around to face forward.

Kageyama silently trails behind, listening to various mutterings from the different crew members as they pass by. How long do you think this will take? If he gets injured, we'll all be here for three more hours. Why the hell did he say yes?

They arrive at the set and Hinata immediately starts bouncing up and down on his heels, gawking at anything he deems even slightly interesting.

"Gwahhhh, it's so- this is-" He sputters, completely starstruck, "All of this is insane!" 

Ukai's chest puffs out with pride. "Pretty neat, eh?" He leans down to meet his eyes. "...You wanna hear about the stunt we're gonna have you do?"

Hinata slaps his hands down on his shoulders. "Gimme the rundown, sir!"

He pulls back and makes his way over to the edge of the set, pointing to a staggeringly tall spiral ramp on the left side of the room. They all have to crane their necks back to see the top of it.

"That is your starting point. We'll have our set designer, Shimizu, guide you on the walk up it. She knows the safest way to get there." He moves his finger to trace the spiral, "Once I blow my whistle, you'll drive down this as fast as you possibly can - I should tell you, though, that the turns are extremely tight. Will that be an issue?"

"Absolutely not," Hinata chirps, and Kageyama eyes him wearily.

"Great to hear." Ukai takes a second to call Shimizu over before returning to his explanation, "It'll be edited in post to look like an actual spiral staircase - this scene's supposed to take place in a mansion. That's why, once you're off the ramp, you'll have to be careful about the momentum you've gained-" He gestures to the bottom of the set, where a line up of vases and jewelry-adorned neck busts are placed atop marble pedestals, "-because you'll be weaving between these."

"Yep, yep, yep..." Hinata's eyes flick rapidly between them, "Doable, that's all very doable..."

"After that - assuming you've slowed down a good amount - you'll drive across that long blue carpet right there and stop at the very end of it," He tilts his arm towards a red X taped to the ground, "Just before you reach that X."

"Is there gonna be something edited in there?"

"Nope," Ukai uses his thumb to point behind him, "Kageyama will be standing on top of it. We're cutting out the actual dialogue between him and Seagull - we can only use you as a stunt double, since you're not his doppelganger - but the final shot of the episode has to be you facing each other down. It'll work as long as you keep your helmet on, considering you and Hoshiumi have very similar builds."

"Hmmm. I think I get it." Hinata spins around on his heel to face Kageyama. He purses his lips, eyes glimmering with something like amusement. "So I do all the work while you sit there and look pretty?"

"What?!" Kageyama chokes, a harsh red flush instantly overtaking his cheeks, "Did you really just- what makes you think you can talk to me like that?!"

Ukai is quick to get between them, ruffling Hinata's hair roughly. "Listen, kid. I like you right now, but don't start trying to pick fights with the cast, okay?" He crosses his arms, "Because that'll change my opinion of you pretty quickly."

Kageyama can't actually see Hinata, but he hears all of his frantic apologies from behind Ukai's back, who eventually accepts them with a stern huff. 

Once he steps away from them, Hinata slumps over in relief, muttering something under his breath that Kageyama only just barely catches - "Okay, Hinata. No more flirting with the hot guy."

The hot guy? Kageyama blinks, glancing over at Ukai. Isn't he way too old for him? Not only that, but he's very clearly taken. Hadn't Hinata seen his wedding ring? Or was he trying to be a homewrecker? Not like that would work. Ukai is too grossly in love with Takeda to ever think about something like that. 

"He's married, dumbass," Kageyama snaps, "So just forget about it."

"...Huh?" Hinata stares at him, bewildered, "Who?" 

"Ukai-san," He gestures to him with his head. "He's married to our co-director."

"Um. Congratulations to them...?"

"Don't get sarcastic with me. I'm serious."

"Yeah...? So am I?" Hinata brings up a hand to scratch at his cheek. "Look, uh, Kageyama..." He leans close to him, dropping his voice to a whisper. "I think you've got the wrong idea. I'm not-"

"Places, everyone, get in your places!" Ukai shouts with a loud clap of his hands. "Kageyama, come over here and stand on the X! Hinata, follow Shimizu! Camera crew, stand by just a little longer for me, alright?"

Shimizu comes over and greets Hinata with a quick bow, which he returns hastily. 

"Um, miss - Shimizu, I think it was?" He glances around as if searching for something, "Do you know which of my bikes they're bringing in? The mountain bike would really be better for something like this, but my dirt bike could also-"

"You're not riding Hoshiumi's motorcycle?" Kageyama interrupts, puzzled. Isn't the whole point of this him trying to emulate Hoshiumi as closely as possible? Using a different vehicle would be idiotic after the lengths they'd gone to try and get every single other factor accurate.

"It's just a practice run," Shimizu clarifies politely, "So we didn't bring in the official motorcycle just yet. We want to see how Hinata-kun handles the stunt first." 

Right. Hoshiumi's motorcycle is pretty precious cargo... it shouldn't be trusted with this guy immediately (or ever).

"Still...don't you have a motorcycle you can use?" He frowns, leaning his head back slightly to crack his neck, "Bicycle stunts are way lower-level than the sort of things we do here."

When he tilts his head back forward, the steady campfire blaze in Hinata's eyes has flared up into a wild bonfire, every word in Kageyama's sentence its own thick log thrown in, moments away from being burned to ash.

"You think so?" He asks, face carefully blank, "And what do you drive, if you don't mind me asking?" 

"Ah. Well, you know..." He'd really rather not say. The car he does stunts with for Adler is ridiculous - and it's supposed to be, considering the way his character is written. For 'King' the most fitting vehicle is of course-

"A limousine," Shimizu supplies. "Kageyama-kun actually works out all the stunt planning for it because no one else was willing to. If he hadn't, I don't think his character would've stayed on for as many seasons as he has."

"A limousine," Hinata repeats incredulously, and Kageyama tries his best not to cringe out of his skin, "You drive a friggin' limo and you're giving me crap for riding a mountain bike?"

"I-"

"I bet you I can do fifty times the stunts you can do in that lanky thing on my bike!" He throws his arms out wide in a gesture that's apparently supposed to signify 'fifty,' and then makes it even wider, "A hundred, more like!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Kageyama scoffs, "You've never even seen a single episode of Adler! What would you know about my stunt work?"

"I don't- It's a limo! A limo!" Hinata shakes his head stubbornly, "That's all I need to know!"

"Yeah, well, news flash, my limo looks a hell of a lot cooler on screen than your lame-ass bicycle-"

A hand clamps down on Kageyama's shoulder and the rest of the words die in his throat. He looks behind him to find Ennoshita hovering next to his arm, expression pinched and impatient. 

"The two of you need to get to your places before the camera crew incites a riot," He mutters lowly, "Because I won't stop them if they do."

"R-right," Kageyama coughs awkwardly, giving Hinata one last dirty look before finally complying and walking off to stand on the red-tape X.

He watches from his spot a few minutes later as the crew wheel in a neon-orange dirt bike, snickering under his breath because he definitely remembers Hinata saying that his mountain bike would be the better one to do the stunt with. Go on, use what they gave you. If you can.

It's not like he wants Hinata to fail the stunt - or worse, get injured while attempting it - but he doesn't really want him to do good. If he does, Ukai might hire him to do more body-double scenes for Hoshiumi, and Kageyama can already tell that there's absolutely no way they'll ever get along. He's too loud, too animated, too cocky. 

Although Hinata hadn't really screamed overconfident when he first walked in, little hints of it keep coming up in flashes, morse code that only Kageyama can see spelling out H-E-'S  T-R-O-U-B-L-E. That's why he has to bomb this stunt, but not in an almost-get-himself-killed way, just in a he-looks-horribly-lame way.

"Ready to go, Shimizu?" Ukai calls from where he's conversing with the camera crew. She gives him an all-clear hand signal and starts to guide Hinata up the ramp. 

He rolls his dirt bike beside him carefully, going directly against the don't-look-down rule as he intently watches the crew get farther and farther away from him. Kageyama monitors his feet, flinching a few times as they get dangerously close to the ramp's edges. Seems like he's pretty damn comfortable with heights...

"Whoaaaa, you guys all look like ants from up here!" He yells once he's at the top, and a sudden wave of nausea crashes against Kageyama's chest. Something like that really shouldn't be a surprise to Hinata, especially if he's done similar stunts to this in the past. Did he lie to Ukai about his experience level?

"Just put your helmet on for me and raise your hand when you hear my whistle, all right?" Ukai shouts up to him with a hand cupped against the side of his mouth, "We need to make sure the sound doesn't get blocked out!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Hinata cheers, shoving his helmet on and adjusting it a bit so it's sitting the way it's supposed to. "I'm all set!"

Ukai waits a few seconds before blowing his whistle loudly, and Hinata's arm shoots up immediately, waving around like it belongs to an overzealous student trying to get called on in a packed lecture hall. 

"Alright, perfect! Everything looks good! Prep yourself at the edge of the ramp!" He turns back to the camera crew and tells them to start rolling early to get some B-roll of Kageyama - King, rather, standing around waiting for 'Seagull.'

Kageyama tries desperately to tear his eyes off of Hinata, who's eagerly getting into position (he's going to mess up the already-annoyed camera crew's precious B-roll of him, oops), but he just can't look away. The redhead somehow manages to exude the energy of someone totally clueless and extremely capable at the same time, which makes Kageyama's head spin. You can't be both. It's just impossible. 

Everyone he's ever met veers more towards one end than the other - but not Hinata. He's like a coin on its side, not quite fitting into either option, a case so rare that no one even bothers to account for it. Kageyama wants to knock him over, make him fall on heads or tails so he'll be easier to understand, but something tells him that would be impossible, that Hinata would keep landing on his side again, and again, and again, no matter what.

"Sixty seconds 'till action!" Ukai announces, and the crew members that aren't already beside their cameras scramble off to their places, half of them focusing in on Hinata while the other half continue capturing footage of Kageyama standing around looking pretty doing nothing.

Still, he can't bring himself to stop staring, even as the countdown gets to zero and Ukai's whistle rings loudly throughout the set, signifying to everyone that it's finally, finally go-time. 

Hinata goes from still-image to black-orange-blur faster than Kageyama's pupils can dilate in admiration, shooting across the first straight-and-narrow portion of the ramp like a bullet from a sniper rifle, trying to get to its target as quickly as it possibly can. Kageyama's mouth goes dry at the thought that that's him, he's the target Hinata has locked onto, he's marked for death and Hinata's going to give it to him in the form of an irritatingly cocky taunt once he completes the stunt perfectly - and God knows he's going to.

Within a second he's sped into the eye of the storm, the sharp, downward spiral, a tornado in its truest form. The ramp has no railings, no nets beside it, no nothing - he's in for a concussion at best if he slips off the side of it, but the chances of that happening seem close to zero with how expertly he maneuvers the impossibly tight turns. His fingers flex against the handles of the bike like they're assembling cat's cradle without the string, the movement seeming both subconscious yet extremely purposeful - and there it is again, the coin stuck on its side. 

He exits the spiral and accidentally zooms right past the line of marble pedestals - Heads - before suddenly whipping the bike around ninety degrees, which kills some of the speed, just like Ukai had advised him to do earlier - Tails - for fuck's sake, which is it?!

The vases and jewelry busts sitting atop the pedestals shake violently as Hinata flies between them, but not a single one falls off and shatters on the ground, because of course they don't. 

Kageyama tries to breathe as Hinata approaches the brilliant blue carpet that leads straight to him - he's forgotten to, for the last thirty seconds, he thinks - but none of the fresh air he takes in makes him feel any less lightheaded, because Hinata is getting closer, closer, closer. He's right there.

The carpet starts to bunch up under his back wheel once he's halfway across it, and he grips the bike handles hard. Kageyama can't distinguish what that means, if he's got a plan or if he's just going to power through it and hope for the best. Heads? Tails? Heads? Tails?

It seems to be the latter as the same thing starts to happen with his front wheel but he doesn't change his posture, knuckles turning white one-by-one as his bike gets more and more off-balance, until Kageyama takes one single second to blink and Hinata gets forcefully thrown off his seat, bike crashing into an lighting set up so expensive that people start screaming the second it makes impact.

Kageyama can't conjure up a single thought in the next ten seconds, when Hinata's body slams into his chest and sends them both tumbling to the ground, rolling over and over until they finally lose momentum, Hinata hovering over him with shaky arms, shaky legs, shaky everything.

He reaches up and rips off his helmet, throwing his head back and laughing so hard that Kageyama wonders if he got brain damage from the fall. Sweat dribbles down the sharp line of his jaw, collecting at the tip of his chin, the underside of which has a small patch of skin that's paler than the rest. Did it get missed by the sun? Does he know it exists?

Hinata brings his head back down and stares at him, smirking widely - it's cocky, irritating, irresistible.

"Try and do that with a limousine."

Holy fucking hell, Kageyama thinks, head-over-heels captivated. He's incredible. He's idiotic. He's gorgeous. He's careless.

He's trouble.

Chapter 2: Please Sign Here

Notes:

so apparently nailing down a hard update schedule did the opposite of what i wanted it to. it turns out applying strict deadlines to my fun outlet/hobby isn't a GREAT source of motivation?

(っ´ω`)ﾉ(╥ω╥) forgive me, i'll try to never leave you guys for that long again.

Hinata is - devastatingly - going zero for two in his attempts to flirt with resident hot guy Kageyama Tobio.

Now, to be completely and totally fair, colliding with him and proceeding to straddle him on the floor might be moving a little bit fast. But in Hinata's opinion, being shoved off his lap like he’s broken out in hives is kinda sorta a huge overreaction.

“You crazy dumbass—” Kageyama grunts, smoothing down his wrinkled blue blazer, “What the hell was that?”

Hinata braces himself with his arms behind his back so he doesn’t topple over and smack his head. “Whoa.” He rights himself so he’s sitting up. “Damn, you’re like, crazy rude! This is the part where you’re supposed to praise my insanely awesome stuntwork, not insult me...” 

“Your ‘insanely-awesome stuntwork’ took out five of our lighting fixtures,” Kageyama jabs a finger behind him at the expensive-looking mess, “And you almost seriously injured me, not to mention yourself.”

“Keyword being almost,” Hinata emphasizes the word like it excuses everything Kageyama listed, “If I didn’t angle myself towards you to break my fall, I probably would’ve cracked my skull open against the floor.” He gestures between them, “Better both of us get a little ruffled up then your crew having to deal with a dead guy on your set, right?”

Kageyama openly balks at this. “Dead? No, that’s…you wouldn’t actually have-“ 

“You two!” A booming voice startles them out of their argument, and they glance over to see Ukai rapidly approaching them, Takeda following close behind. Hinata expects them to be wearing matching glares with Kageyama, but instead they’re grinning ear-to-ear.

“Kid, that was-“ Ukai begins breathlessly, “We- listen, Hinata, we think you-“

“I almost want us to try and-" Takeda cuts him off, "We could probably- if we edited it correctly-“

Sparks of excitement flutter around in Hinata’s chest. “What?” He springs up like a jack-in-the-box, startling only Kageyama somehow, “What? What?” 

Takeda makes a camera with his hands, “Picture this. Seagull - he’s been kidnapped by C-I-A-D."

Hinata squints. “See eye eighty?” 

“C, I, A, D.” Ukai corrects. 

“Cats In A Dumpster,” Kageyama hastily explains, "It's a fictional criminal organization in the show. C.I.A.D is just the acronym we use for it."

"Sure, okay, understood," Hinata confirms cheerfully, taking advantage of the fact that the man is still seated on the floor to pat the top of his head. "Thanks, Yama-yama."

“Don’t call me that.” Yama-yama huffs, pushing himself up from the ground to glare down at him. 

Hinata almost misses how his eyes looked before, wide and shocked and overwhelmed - but he definitely doesn’t mind how an angry scowl looks on him. The attractive way his gaze goes half-lidded and dark, the way his thick brows mesh together unevenly, the way he bares his teeth just slightly, like an animal. 

Something like pride slithers it’s way up Hinata’s veins - he’s acting this way because of me. How else can he make Kageyama’s face look? It’s an enticing question, the kind that makes his breath shudder, the kind that makes him wet his lips in anticipation. I wonder…

“Ahem,” Takeda takes Kageyama by the wrist and pulls him back slightly, “So, Seagull, let’s say he’s been kidnapped. By C.I.A.D,” He pauses to check that they're listening, “Here's what I'm thinking: Instead of Hinata portraying Seagull, we give him his own character. We'll make him a part of C.I.A.D at first, but once he sees them kidnap Seagull, he wants out. That leads us to…!”

“His explosive first meeting with King!” Ukai finishes for him with accompanying jazz hands. “What we just filmed - that's how they meet, that's this episode's cliffhanger. The rest of the season can be how the team adapts around their new ally, and maybe we can grab Hoshiumi for a quick guest appearance when we film the season’s last episode!”

Hinata can almost see the gears turning in Takeda’s head, “The finale- we need to get the writers on this- make them try to rescue Seagull-“ 

“If we can secure Hoshiumi-“

“I’m sure if we ask, he’ll-“ 

“Wait, does this mean you’re hiring me?!” Hinata squeals. 

“No,” Kageyama snaps, and he’s loud. He points an accusatory finger at Hinata, who pantomimes biting it. “You can't actually be considering hiring this guy! He's two seconds away from burning down the whole set!" Hinata stops the fake-biting. Exaggerate much? 

“But that's a-“  

“He failed the stunt! A-and he broke a shit ton of our lights! And he slammed me into the ground!” 

“I don't think you hated the slamming all that much,” Hinata chirps, and Kageyama lunges for the collar of his bike jacket. Hinata dodges the attack and jabs him in the ribs, making him curse angrily and attempt to catch him in a headlock. 

Ukai pulls them apart immediately, but it doesn’t look like he's all that bothered by their squabbling. He doesn't look furious, or exasperated...not even the least bit annoyed, actually.

“This! This is what we’re getting at!” He smirks. 

“What?” Kageyama deadpans, “That I’m two seconds away from choking him to death?”

“Like you'd even be able to get your hands on me,” Hinata snorts into his palm, “Would love to see you try, though. The way you flail around when I dodge you is kinda funny.” 

Hinata half expects to see a vein pop out of Kageyama’s forehead, he looks so pissed. “My hands are perfectly capable of getting around your neck-“ 

“Exactly that,” Takeda slaps his hands together, and Hinata shoots him a look of betrayal but he just goes on, “You two- you have such intense chemistry. Ukai and I felt it the second you collided-“ He whirls around to face the crew, “-actually, everyone did, right?” 

The crew doesn’t respond. Hinata guesses they’ve had a long day - they all look totally out of it. He can’t really relate, still hopped up on adrenaline from pulling off the stunt, which he did not ‘fail’ just because of his unconventional dismount, thank you very much. 

"There's your answer," Kageyama crosses his arms, relief bleeding into his voice, "I guess you must've been seeing things."

"Hinata. Your schedule this weekend - how's it looking?" Ukai asks, waving over a girl with a lanyard around her neck that reads 'Production Assistant.' She smiles meekly at Hinata before pulling out a notepad and pen, ready to write down whatever his answer is.

"Hey?" Kageyama pipes up.

"Um. Uh..." Hinata stutters, a little surprised that Kageyama has been blatantly ignored by the director - isn't he supposed to be, like, a total big-shot around here? After all, before they decided that they liked having Hinata egg him on, Ukai had been totally on his case for teasing him. "I'm filming something all-day Saturday, but I should be pretty free on Sunday."

"Perfect, perfect," Ukai nods, and the girl starts scribbling away, "Think we could snag you for a couple hours that afternoon to work out a contract?"

"No fucking way," Kageyama answers for him. 

Um, hello? Hinata elbows him in the side. "Hey, genius, he wasn't asking you." 

"Shouldn't he be?" He snaps back, throwing his arms up in the air, "You don't - It makes no sense for me to not get a say in this! Does my opinion suddenly not matter anymore? Nobody cares what I think?"

The passionate blow-up prompts the crew to start chattering amongst themselves, but they do try to keep it relatively quiet. Hinata still hears fragments of their conversations, though - something something finally going against his orders something something too used to running a dictatorship something something drinks on me if he storms off.

Takeda clears his throat loudly, and the whispering quickly ceases. "How about this, then, Kageyama," He steps forward and rests a careful hand on his shoulder, trying to help him settle, "We'll have you sit in on the meeting we have this Sunday. You can voice all your concerns there. Alright?"

Kageyama shrugs him off. "Why wait? We're all here now, aren't we?"

"That's true, but everyone here's exhausted, including you." Takeda argues, "We should be going into this conversation well-rested, and that's something none of us are right now."

Hinata watches curiously as Kageyama starts to object before seemingly deciding against it, a scheming grin tugging at his lips. He quickly wipes it away with the back of his hand.

"Right, of course." He murmurs, "I'm sure you need some time to figure out the logistics of this idea, anyway. Pay rate, costuming...have you assigned someone to do a background check on him, yet?"

"Maybe you should handle that, Kageyama-kun," Hinata suggests, spotting the trap immediately and stepping in it on purpose. This’ll be entertaining. “I can tell you'll be very thorough about it."

Ukai observes the interaction wearily. "He isn't-"

"Why wouldn't I be? Alder deserves only the best. Are you sure you fit that bill?" Kageyama's chin tilts up slightly, and Hinata wants to grab it and force it back down. Face me directly, if you're really so bold. Don't turn away.

"Oh, I'm sure," He affirms, confident as ever. It feels like a promise. Maybe it is one.

"Guys, listen-" Ukai tries again, but Kageyama takes off before he can finish, yelling something about 'starting his research immediately.'

"We didn't even sign off on letting him do that..." Takeda mutters, exasperated. He turns to Hinata with a frown. "You do know he's going to try and frame you in a negative light with whatever he finds, don't you?"

"Let him try," Hinata hums, "There's nothing to find."

 

-

 

By the time Sunday rolls around, Kageyama's search history looks like it belongs to a Hinata-Shouyou-Superfan.

Hinata Black Jackals

Hinata Shouyou

Hinata Shouyou biography

Hinata Shouyou official socials

What is Hinata Shouyou's net worth?

Hinata Shouyou interviews

Is Hinata Shouyou the most famous Black Jackal?

Black Jackals public argument

The last one is what currently sits in his search bar, but the only articles that are coming up are about arguments between two other Black Jackals members, neither of which even mention Hinata. Meaning they're useless.

He's probably getting what he deserves for trying to dig up dirt on the guy. It's taking the low road, Kageyama knows that, but clearly Ukai and Takeda plan to hire him on the spot unless he can come up with a really good reason for them not to.

He knows why they do - Hinata is, undeniably, talented and charming and attractive - but he's way too reckless.

And maybe that was fine on the Black Jackals set, where most of the time he filmed solo commercials, but on Adler he'd constantly be doing stunts close to (or with) other cast members. If he loves the idea of getting himself killed, fine, but he shouldn't be making anyone else fear for their safety. To Kageyama, that argument is reason enough not to hire him, but apparently his directors feel differently.

Hence his current scrambling. He's got about thirty minutes until he has to leave his trailer for the meeting, twenty-nine and a half if you subtract walking time. This is it. His last chance to stop Alder from becoming unsalvageable.

He mashes Rumors about Hinata Shouyou into the keyboard, hitting enter and waiting impatiently for the results to load.

Did Hinata Shouyou drop out of school? Unimportant.

Hinata Shouyou dating history Maybe later....

Hinata Shouyou Sports Weekly drama There we are.

Clicking the link leads him to a website cluttered with pop-up ads - definitely shady, but if this is all he's got, he'll have to make it work. He scrolls down and finds the article buried below a dozen drop-shipping scams, where it reads: Sports Weekly fans Scandalized by latest edition cover Featuring HINATA SHOUYOU. Kageyama blinks. 'Scandalized'?

He starts to scroll again and finds himself face-to-face with the aforementioned cover, which is indeed of Hinata. It's a close up of the front of his dirt bike with him leaning on the handle bars, elbows pressed against them, his chin resting in one of his palms. The other hand is entangled in some dog tags hanging loosely around his neck, and he's grinning, sharp white teeth and all, and he has on these sleek black shades that are slipping halfway down his nose and he's also notably not wearing a shirt and Kageyama quickly continues scrolling.

'Black Jackals model and stunt driver Hinata Shouyou is someone that Sports Weekly fans have been hoping would appear on its cover for a long while," The article begins, 'And true to his word in recent interviews, the latest edition of the magazine has fulfilled these wishes. Though the photograph chosen to represent him has caused a small uproar online...'

Okay, this is stupid. There's quite literally nothing Kageyama can do with this information - he can't exactly storm into the meeting room demanding Hinata be dismissed because people got mad about how attractive he is. How was that even considered 'drama'? There has to be more to it...

'Furthermore, some people had issue with how he talked about his management in the pg.18 interview,' The article continues, and Kageyama jumps up from his chair, 'We want to hear what you think - if you own this SPICY new Sports Weekly, give it a read and comment your thoughts below!'

This! This might work. All he needs to do is find an online PDF of this specific edition of Sports Weekly, locate the interview on page eighteen, save it as a separate PDF, print it, and bring it to the meeting! 

He starts to pace. Is that doable in thirty - no, twenty-five minutes? Finding a legitimate PDF is sure to be a nightmare, and the page numbers will likely be completely different on a digital upload, so the interview might not even be on page eighteen. Plus, he's half-sure that the printer is currently out of ink because nobody ever replaces it.

The only other option is to find a physical copy, but that would call for a miracle. Who knows how old that edition is by now, or even if it's still being sold. It probably isn't, which means only collectors have one, and- Yachi! Yachi collects magazines, doesn't she? They'd had a brief conversation about it months ago, he's sure, he thinks, maybe...is she even around right now? 

Mind still racing, he grabs his phone and rushes out of his trailer, bursting into the main building with one goal in mind - locate their production assistant. 

Thankfully, luck seems to be on his side for once. It only takes about five minutes to find her, cross-legged in a chair and hunching over her notepad. He speed-walks towards her with as wide a smile as he can muster - approaching in a friendly manner is crucial.

"Yachi," He booms unintentionally loudly, and she nearly falls out of her chair at the volume of his voice. Her notepad slips and clatters to the ground, but before she can pick it up, Kageyama is grabbing it and shoving it into her hands. "I need your help. It's urgent."

She takes it with fumbling hands, blinking rapidly. "Ohmygosh, you startled me! And, um, yes! I can do that— help you, I mean! What is it that you, uh, need?"  

Kageyama pulls his phone out of his pocket and shows her a picture of the magazine cover.

"I want this one." He points at Hinata.

"Uh. Um!" She goes beet red. "Kageyama-kun? Isn't it sort of...ah...inappropriate to 'call dibs' on your soon-to-be coworker?" 

What? "...Pardon?"

"N-not that you can't pursue him! I suppose him being your costar is quite a bit different from him being your coworker. But I'd still suggest maintaining a certain level of professionalism while at work..." She leans back in her chair awkwardly.

Pursue him... "I don't..." Pursue him? "Hold on-" Pursue him!?!?! "That's-! I wasn't- he's not the thing I 'want'! I'm talking about the magazine!" He explains, frantic, "Sports Weekly! Do you have this edition? You- you collect these, right?" Pursue him...like hell I'd pursue that maniac! 

"Oh! Oh, I see! I'm so so sorry!" She hides her burning face in her hands, "I- um! I collect lots of magazines, yes, but they're all ones my mother works on - she's a graphic designer, so!"

"...But she doesn't work on Sports Weekly."

"Well, no, but..." Yachi slowly unhides her face, "I know that we have some editions of it in the storage shed here. We recently ordered a bunch so people would have something to read while they waited their turn to audition for Seagull. The crew just moved them out of the audition room yesterday." 

"Okay..." That's something, at least. "Can you let me in there?"

She nods and stands up from her chair. "O-of course!"

They exit the building and make their way over to the storage shed, weaving through various trailers and equipment trucks littered across the parking lot. Once they've arrived, Yachi fishes a ring of keys out of her pocket and slides one into the padlock on the door handles, turning it until she hears a telltale click.

"There you go!" She pushes the huge doors open with shaky arms. "Once you go in, I'll lock this again - there's a back door you can use to leave that locks behind you automatically, so we don't have to keep this one open." Sweat beads on her forehead as she fights against the door's weight, "U-unless you'd rather I stay here while you search!"

"Huh? No, that's alright..." He glances at her trembling arms with slight concern, "You shouldn't strain yourself."

"I really wouldn't mind!" She insists, but he's already stepped inside the storage room with a shake of his head. 

"Go ahead and lock it," He flips on the lights, "I'm fine with using the back door."

"I-if you say so!"

Not a second later, the doors slam closed, the sound echoing loudly throughout the shed. Kageyama glances at the digital clock hanging from the ceiling. He's got fifteen minutes until he's due to show up at the meeting. Better make this quick.

He starts digging around in a stack of boxes right in front of the shed's entrance - Yachi said the staff had only moved the magazines in here yesterday, so it'd be odd for them to be stored really far back. Still, he's not finding any magazines in them, nevermind Sports Weekly ones specifically.

Moving onto a large storage shelf, he scans it from top to bottom, only pausing when he spots a very vibrant stack of papers four shelves up. He has to stand on his toes to get it - something he's very not used to - but manages to successfully retrieve it after a bit of uncoordinated wobbling.

And finally, there, in his grossly sweat-clad hands, lies fifteen copies of the oh-so-elusive Sports Weekly. Score.

"Please, please, please..." He starts chanting under his breath while he flips through the magazines. Show me Hinata. Show me Hinata. Show me Hinata. By the time he's gotten to the ninth, he's just about lost hope - that is until a brilliant flash of bright orange graces his poor, tired eyes.

SPORTS WEEKLY gets Personal With Stunt Sensation HINATA SHOUYOU! (See Page 18.)

"There you are, you little bastard..." It's probably the happiest he'll ever be to see Hinata's face - hopefully one of the last times he will, too, if this meeting goes his way. He tucks the magazine under his arm and stands up, sprinting out the shed's back doors. He has to get back to his trailer before he starts to read though it, god forbid anyone sees him and gets 'scandalized' by the cov-

"-ove out of the way! Hey! You're gonna— woahwoahwhHEY!"

Kageyama just barely stops himself from letting out an unmanly shriek as an upsettingly-familiar orange dirt bike whizzes past him, narrowly missing running over the tips of his shoes. "What the fuck?!"

It screeches to a halt and the rider jumps off of it, yanking his helmet off to reveal the expected-but-dreaded face of Hinata Shouyou. "Idiot! That's my line!" He heaves, breathless, stomping up to glare at him. "Why didn't you move? I almost totally squished your feet!" He points down at his shoes for maximum emphasis. 

"You-" Kageyama briefly checks them for damage before looking back to him, "Why were you going so fast in a fucking parking lot?"

"Um, this is the entrance to the parking lot." He makes some vague gestures towards the company building, "The actual parking lot starts, like, way over there."

Kageyama rolls his eyes. "There is no 'entrance' to a parking lot, dumbass. All of it is the parking lot."

"Whatever," Hinata purses his lips, "Either way, you're in the wrong, cause I tried to warn you I was coming and you didn't listen."

"That's-"

"Meaning any toe-amputation costs would not have been my responsibility."

"Toe...costs...what?"

"Y'know, like if your feet got squashed-" Hinata falters off as he seemingly catches glimpse of something interesting on the ground. "...Is that yours?"

"Is what-" Kageyama chokes on his own spit when he glances down to see the magazine splayed out across the pavement, sweaty-and-shirtless Hinata smiling up at them in all his horribly-good-looking glory.

Living-breathing-Hinata squats down and picks it up before Kageyama can move a muscle, a smug smile slowly crawling up the corners of his lips. "You bought my edition of Sports Weekly."

It's a statement, not a question, like he thinks that Kageyama doing so is perfectly normal, completely expected, which is totally not the case. 

"I didn't buy it," Kageyama hisses, which isn't a lie (but is definitely a pretty weak defense), "I found it. Randomly. In the storage shed. There's tons of editions of Sports Weekly in there."

"Cool! What other ones did you take with you?" Hinata blinks faux-innocently, giving Kageyama a once-over. "Or did you only want to hold onto mine?"

"I'm...not..." Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. "I was going to go back for the others...later. I needed this one specifically for my research."

"Oh, so it's for research." He nods slowly. "Weird, cause I don't remember having to submit a shirtless picture for any of my previous background checks. Maybe you guys just do things differently around here?"

Kageyama snatches the magazine back from him, cheeks blazing. "Okay, I've officially had enough of your bullshit. You know it's not like that."

"Easy, easy! There's no need to get so defensive," Hinata uses his knuckles to swipe away a bit of sweat that's collected above his upper lip, his smile only widening further, "I never said I wasn't interested."

First Yachi?! Now him!?!!? "And what makes you think I am?!"

"Everything?" Hinata gives him a look. "Like, if I asked a Magic 8 Ball about it, it'd say All Signs Point To Yes, Yama."

"Fucking-" Unbelievable! "Why would I be trying to kick you off the show if I liked having you around?"

"My running theory is they don't let you date fellow cast members."

Kageyama drags a hand down his face. "That's- no, obviously not."

"Oh? Then I was also thinking that you might be-"

"No, no, no, whatever your pea-brain came up with is wrong!" He snarls, beyond furious, "I can't just-! You're way too-! I-I don't have to explain myself to you!"

Hinata observes with wide eyes as he pushes past him, leg twitching like he wants to follow, but he ultimately stays put. "Pea brain?! I don't have a pea brain! Asshole! If my brain's a pea, then yours is like, a grain of sand! Hey! Our conversation wasn't finished! Come back! I didn't even get to sign your magazine! It feels wrong not to, I always sign that one when people bring it to me, and you could probably sell it for a ton of..."

His voice fades out as Kageyama gets further and further away, growing completely inaudible by the time he's arrived back at his trailer. Thank god he didn't follow me. Him knowing where this is would be a nightmare.

He swings the door open and shut behind him, flipping through the magazine to get to page eighteen. 

The page itself doesn't have an article on it - it seems that's actually on page nineteen, but it does have a full-page photograph of Hinata's back, his arms lifted up to pull his tiny ponytail to the side, revealing a vertical tattoo on the back of his neck - a jet-black crow's feather. 

Kageyama doesn't remember noticing it before, which makes sense, his hair has probably been covering it up. Still, with the way he's always jumping around, it doesn't seem like he's trying to hide it at all...

Below the picture is the article's title - HIRED TO FIRED: Hinata Shouyou speaks up about the EXPLOSIVE FALL-OUT his tattoo caused! Kageyama runs his tongue across his front teeth, anxious. This better be good.

SW Staff- Ever since our interview with fellow Black Jackals star Atsumu Miya, we've been dying to ask about his statement regarding your tattoo. 

Hinata Shouyou- What, that management hated it? [laughter] That's true. I'd only been working under them for six months when I got it. My friend Noya had just gotten back from traveling, and he had these crazy tattoos of, like, speed-lines across his ankles. Made me want to get something of my own.

SW Staff- And so you did!

Hinata Shouyou- You bet I did! I loved it, but management kinda lost their minds about it. You'd think I'd gotten a giant face tattoo, with the way they were acting. Luckily there wasn't anything in my contract saying I couldn't get tattoos, and since it's small and easy to hide with my hair, the whole thing blew over pretty fast. Definitely the closest I've ever been to getting fired, though.

"God fucking damnit," Kageyama groans, collapsing miserably onto his uncomfortable fold-out bed. That was the 'controversy with his management'? Why couldn't Hinata have said 'I actually wasn't allowed to, but I got one anyway' or 'I threatened to sue them if they fired me'? 'The whole thing blew over pretty fast' does nothing for him! He can't even say that he went against his contract! This entire magazine goose-chase was pointless!

He angrily flips back to the cover and glares down at Hinata, stupidly-attractive-sunglasses-dog-tags-shirtless-smiley Hinata.

“You're going back in the storage shed."

 

-

 

"Back for my signature?" is what Hinata greets him with when he turns the corner to the meeting room. He's leaned against the door with his arms crossed, a water bottle with its lid popped open snug in his hand.

"Not unless it's on a restraining order," Kageyama growls, not in the mood for any more of his quips. Alder is about to cross the point of no return because of him, because the directors think that dropping a nuclear Hinata bomb on their show's carefully built foundation is a good idea. For some fucking reason.

Hinata snaps the bottle lid closed with a frustrated sigh. "Look, I really don't get why you have such a huge problem with me. If it's really about those lights I broke, I already wrote a check to cover them. And if I break anything else, I'll cover that, too."

Kageyama ignores him. "Can you get off of the door so I can use it?" 

"Is it my personality? Cause I'm usually not like this. Well, that's a lie, I definitely am, but not to this level. You just dial me up to like, a hundred. Dunno why. Maybe we can figure it out over dinner? I'll pay."

"Get off the door." 

"Not until you answer my question!" He pauses, coughs. "The first one. Not the dinner one."

"Sure. Here's a reason: Because you're irritating," He grabs Hinata's arm to try and drag him to the side and away from the door.

He doesn't budge though, and right, Kageyama forgot that the guy has an insane sleeper build. "I don't think that reason's good enough," He huffs, planting his feet more firmly on the ground.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Kageyama drops his arm and attempts to just brute-force shove his way past instead, but Hinata's hand clamps down on his shoulder and forces him backwards.

"Can you stop being a jerk for two seconds?" He demands, "I'm trying to have a civil conversation with you!"

"Doesn't look very civil to me," A different voice chimes in, and Kageyama immediately recognizes it as Takeda's. He's standing in the now-open doorway with a disapproving frown. 

"That's because he's-! He's...!" Kageyama forces himself to bite his tongue, plastering a professional-looking smile on his face. "...Forget it. Sorry, Takeda-sensei."

Hinata bends down to place his water bottle on the floor. "Hm? What's the biggie? I thought you liked it when we fought."

"Yes, well..." Takeda clicks his tongue. "There's a time and place..."

Wanna have your cake and eat it too, don't you? Kageyama thinks, bitter, but makes himself nod instead of voicing it. Hinata follows suit, strangely enough.

They let Takeda escort them inside and to their seats, pleading with them to be polite before he goes to sit across the table with Ukai. They start looking through some papers laid out in front of them that Kageyama assumes are contacts for Hinata to sign and Fuck, they're not even going to let me make my case, are they?

"Let's cut to the chase," Ukai laces his fingers together thoughtfully, "Hinata, we want to hire you." Backstabbers! "But it would be rash and careless to do so without letting Kageyama voice his concerns beforehand." Or maybe not?!

"So. Did you find anything concerning in your research?" Takeda asks, clicking his pen a few times.

"U-uh..." His eyes flick to Hinata, who meets his gaze with a smirk. The bastard knows his record is totally clean. Spotless. So shiny you could see your goddamn reflection in it. "He...he got a tattoo without consulting his management beforehand..."

"There was nothing that said I had to do so in my contract," Hinata is quick to dismiss, seemingly well-aware this was coming, "And it's small enough not to be a concern."

Takeda taps his pen against his chin. "May I ask what the tattoo is of?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, it's just a crow feather." He turns around in his seat and pulls his hair up, showing off the careful spread of ink on the back of his neck. Kageyama swallows.

"A crow- a crow-! Wait, wait, idea, we can use this!" Takeda grabs Ukai's arm and starts pointing at what looks to be a cast list. "Seagull, Eagle, and now we can have Crow? How perfect would that be? 

"Not at all!" Kageyama tries desperately to reign them back in, he can't lose this! Back to his original point! "Ukai-san, Takeda-san, please. Don't you remember the way he destroyed our set?"

"It was three lights." Hinata counters evenly, "Which I already paid to fix."

"Yes, yes, you were able to fix them just fine, because you got lucky." Kageyama seethes, and he's definitely not being polite at this point but who cares, "But what if you'd hit a person instead of a bunch of lights? Would that have been so easy to fix? As quick to blow over?"

"I...I didn't hit a person, though-"

"Not this time! But next time you could! Pretty damn easily, too, with the reckless way you handle yourself!" He turns back to Takeda and Ukai, fuming, "Do you really want to put the safety of the entire staff at risk just to hire an adrenaline-junkie with a pretty face?!"

The last part may have been a little unnecessary but it does shut everyone up, which gives Kageyama a small spark of hope that maybe he's getting somewhere.

"What..." Hinata starts, and it briefly seems like he'll jab at the 'pretty face' comment before he continues, "What if we work that into my contract?"

"How do you mean?" Ukai skims over a paper in his hand - probably Hinata's contract.

"Like...adding something to it about me taking extra safety precautions."

"Too vague. That's not good enough," Kageyama shakes his head, "How about this - the minute anyone gets an injury because of you, no matter how small, you're off the show."

"Fine," Hinata says immediately, "Deal." He rolls his chair over so it bumps against Kageyama's.

Oh? Kageyama drags Hinata's chair even closer with his foot, making their armrests press together. "Listen. I'm talking cuts, scrapes, a single drop of blood and you're gone."

"I said deal already," Hinata's eyes flash, "Didn't I?"

Takeda leans back in his seat, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This could very easily mess up continuity-"

Ukai peers at the two of them over the paper, "And it doesn't leave any room for accident-" 

"Don't worry Ukai-san, Takeda-san," Hinata hums, his eyes not leaving Kageyama's for a second, "There's no way in hell I'm going to give him what he wants."

Notes:

might try a strict update schedule some time again in the future ... but currently we're just going with the flow!