Chapter Text
"I can't believe you've never interacted with him once! He's in your classes, everytime I'm with you, Sho-chan, I always see him around!" Oikawa complains, slightly muffled because his forehead is pressed against the table.
Oikawa is practically obsessed with complaining, it's a fact Hinata's had to learn ever since he and Oikawa became friends—Hinata actually likes that part of Oikawa. He's freely himself, complaining all the time, raising his voice with no awareness of his surroundings, and the fact that he always has Hinata's back. Oikawa isn't annoying, he's actually like Hinata, careless—sort of.
"Consider yourself lucky, Hinata. He's the worst person to work with. Don't you agree Yamaguchi?" Tsukishima huffs, pushing up his glasses as he glances to Yamaguchi.
Yamaguchi is mid bite into his pizza and blinks. He quickly hums and pulls the food away from his mouth. Hinata laughs, "Tadashi! You're supposed to contribute to the conversation!" Hinata jokingly scolds.
Yamaguchi places his pizza down and snorts. "Sorry! It's too good! What'd you say, Tsukki? —Kageyama? He's… yeah, sort of hard to work with."
Oikawa lifts his head to nod earnestly. "When I worked at Parker's Cafe, he was so incompetent and never listened to what anyone said—That's why I quit! It was like he did it on purpose!"
"Is Maiko's Sushi treating you better?" Hinata asks, grabbing his cup of soda and chugging it down.
He faintly remembers the past where Oikawa would constantly complain about his old job, then he quit and applied to a new place, since then, he hasn't complained—about the job, that is.
"Yes, definitely!" Oikawa jumps up, startling the other three. "There's always hot people—and the uniform is so good! So I know that I look the best while talking to hot people! That matters a lot!"
Tsukishima furrows his eyebrows. "Is that really an important factor for a job?"
"…Wait the uniform for my job is bright red and orange…" Yamaguchi mutters.
"—We're getting off track, guys!" Oikawa yells.
Hinata sighs, "I don't know if I want to hear you ramble about your so-called 'enemy' for the millionth time."
"My complaints, or Atsumu's pathetic love life?"
"Isn't he on a date?" Yamaguchi pipes up, before biting into the crust of his pizza.
Oikawa grumbles. "Not relevant, Tada-chan!"
Atsumu solemnly walks into Hinata's apartment.
His entrance halts the active conversation Hinata and Oikawa are having about a shared professor. Hinata blinks and furrows his eyebrows at Atsumu's expressionless face. The three of them sitting on the floor are silent, just staring at Atsumu, who slides his shoes off and sighs dramatically.
"Date went good? Was she all that you dreamed of?" Oikawa speaks up. Hinata snorts over his sip of his lemonade. Atsumu narrows his eyes at them.
Hinata almost forgot that Atsumu went on a date, some girl in his economics class that had asked him out. Hinata faintly remembers what she looked like (from when they (Astumu, Hinata, and Oikawa, that is) were talking about Atsumu's upcoming, maybe, girlfriend), long black hair, sharp features, and a bright choice of clothing. She was pretty, Oikawa had commented that he recogized her from high school.
Hinata perks up, "It looks like it went well!"
Atsumu grumbles as he settles on the floor, in between Oikawa and Hinata and lays a head on Oikawa's shoulder and wraps an arm around Hinata's shoulders. Atsumu's a pretty cuddly guy, Hinata wonders if that might be what drove the girl off.
"How is Tsukishima being nicer ta me than you two? When did ya get so mean, Sho-chan?" Atsumu whines.
Tsukishima looks up from his phone, an uninterested gaze before he looks back down at his phone. Oikawa interjects, "He's not even talking."
"He's been texting Tadashi this whole time. He's not even a real human being right now!" Hinata sighs. "Can you get a move on with your feelings, Tsukishima? I mean—There's no way you think he doesn't like you back! It's annoying having to watch you two!"
Atsumu laughs. "At least I have the guts to go on a date, Tsukishima-kun." he sings.
Tsukishima doesn't respond for a couple seconds, Hinata, Atsumu, and Oikawa exchange glances at Tsukishima's lack of reaction. What a weird guy, Hinata attempts to telepathically say to them. Tsukishima looks up from his phone again and announces: "Yamaguchi asked if we could go to the movies now that his lab finished, so I'm leaving."
Oikawa groans. "You always leave 'cause of Tadashi, or vice versa. Can you guys at least stay the entirety of a hang-out? When my friends text me I don't leave you guys, even if it's my closest friends. Atsumu doesn't leave when 'Samu texts."
"Wait why'd he get a nickname?" Atsumu questions. "And Hanamakki, Iwa, and those other freaks aren't the same as Tsukki and Tadashi. Their bond is different. Do you have a working brain, Oikawa-kun?"
"Aw, 'Tsum-chan is worried about me!" Oikawa practically gloats. "Bye, Tsukishima! —So what happened with that girl?"
Hinata gasps and nods eagerly. "Yes! What happened! I thought you had the charisma!"
Atsumu glances to Hinata and shakes his head. "You've got it mixed up, Sho-chan."
"That's right, Sho-chan! You're the one with the charisma!"
Hinata blinks and tilts his head. "Huh?" he mutters. They must be hyping him up for no reason, he doubts he has charisma—he's only ever had two girlfriends in his life! (And some type of relationship with a guy in his third year.) "No way! You two have had way more girlfriends than I have!"
Atsumu tsks and shakes his head. "That's not a factor of deeming one's charisma levels! You're a nice guy, Sho-kun, but that isn't what draws in people. It's the way you act!'
"What are you talking about?" Hinata furrows his eyebrows. He attempts to see their point, but he can't understand what they're saying. It's just some undefined blob in his head.
"Yer cute! The way you jut out yer lips whenever you are concentrated… or ya face gets totally red when yer drunk!" Atsumu exclaims. "—And you're kind. You always make sure people are included in conversations, and you help us all the time! Ya don't notice but people are always enjoying your company, even if you guys have just met!"
Oikawa nods eagerly. "And you're hot!"
Hinata sputters—it's not like he thinks he's ugly. He knows that he looks decent, sometimes, after a shower, he looks in the mirror and admires himself. But he's not used to being called hot. In high school, he'd always been called cute, from his height to his round face.
"That's true! I'm sure you could ask anyone out right now and they'd say yes!" Atsumu exclaims.
"I doubt it." Hinata murmers, shaking his head.
Oikawa hums. "What if we test it out, I'll ask some people in my classes if they think you're hot."
"—What? What are you talking about?"
"True!" Atsumu jumps up, nearly knocking over Hinata's lemonade with the movement. "A social experiment of sorts!"
Oh my god, ohmygod, Yamaguchi is totally going to get on my back about not getting a proper sleep—Who's Yamaguchi to talk anyway! Hinata grumbles as he rushes into the library. It's definitely past the time he should've started studying, but it's not his fault! Kenma called him and he got too caught up in conversation. Does Kenma even study? Hinata doesn't think he's ever seen—
"Ow!" Hinata hears before he realizes he's just collided with someone. A pain rises to his shoulder as he glances over to the person.
Tall, dark hair covering a majority of his forehead, furrowed face—a scowl, rather. He looks familiar… Hinata tries to quickly rack up names…
"Kageyama Tobio!" Hinata blurts out, before feeling the embarrassed flush rush over his face. He just embarrassed himself infront of the guy Oikawa and Tsukishima don't like—does that break some sort of friendship code? He really hopes it doesn't.
"Who—Who are you? How do you know me?" He tilts his head.
"Err—Sorry! I've heard of you, I think we have a class together—uhm… Sorry, didn't mean to bump into you…" Hinata stutters.
Kageyama blinks. "You're Hinata?"
Hinata furrows his eyebrows. "Wha—You know me?!"
Kageyama slowly nods. "Yeah…" He pauses. "Some girls were talking about you in my class."
"What were they saying?" Hinata immediately asks, overcome with the fear that some girls that he didn't know were insulting him—he hasn't even said anything to them! What's there to complain about?! —Besides his loud voice, and his repeated wrong answers, and that he forgot to give a girl Tsukishima's number…
"—Uhh… Just—" Kageyama coughs. "Nothing. I have to get to class."
Hinata furrows his eyebrows as Kageyama begins to walk away. "Hey! At least tell me if it was bad! Hey! Kageyama, I know you hear me!"
Kageyama doesn't look back, eventually leaving Hinata's line of sight. Hinata huffs, what's there to hide? Kageyama doesn't seem the type to save someone's ego or dignity. Or maybe it was genuinely that bad… —But wouldn't it be better to be in the know instead of being oblivious!
Hinata grumbles to himself as he walks over to an empty table and takes out his laptop.
He's here to study, not to dwell on whether girls hate him or not. —Maybe Hinata should ask if Yamaguchi wants to go grocery shopping with him later… Yamaguchi's good at lists and staying on task (well, Tsukishima is better but Hinata doesn't really want to go shopping with him).
Hinata's far from an expert at love.
He knows he's sort of—kind of bad at love. He's not necessarily boyfriend material. He isn't cool and cold like Tsukishima is, with a soft side he shows occasionally. He isn't a massive gentleman like Yamaguchi. Isn't a complimenter like Atsumu. And Oikawa isn't in this argument because he's was born to be a boyfriend.
—It's not like this fact makes Hinata sad. Sure, maybe in high school he thought about it a lot… Maybe too much… But hey! He's grown out of that!
So Hinata isn't boyfriend material, not necessarily meant for love.
…But sometimes, on occasional days when a certain song in his ten hour playlist plays and he's alone in the apartment, singing in the shower, he wonders what exactly is preventing him from love. He's not the best at love, sure, he understands that, but he also thinks that he is capable of loving, and loving right, he just hasn't had the chance to try.
He's thought about sweet things he could say, things that make his heart skip a beat and, he's sure, would make someone else's heart skip a beat too. Or he knows he can be keen to details, he can notice when Oikawa is genuinely upset versus the times he's playing a role. He knows he could do big gestures and love loud. Hinata can love! He loves his friends, he loves his mom, he loves Natsu—he just isn't loving someone else at the moment, not in the way he wants to.
There's just some external force, preventing him from showcasing this love, he thinks. He wants so badly to love, but he also wants the one for him—whatever fate decides, but Hinata decides she's taking too long. Way too long.
Well, what can he do? He dries his hair with a towel and tears his eyes from the mirror, he still needs to go grocery shopping with Yamaguchi. He forgot to ask.
"Shoyo… Is there—Like… Uhm… Something that makes me repulsive?" Atsumu stutters.
Hinata nearly pours his water all over his bed. Atsumu tugs at the collar of his shirt as Hinata makes an inhuman noise. No way Atsumu is thinking like this! Atsumu should know his worth by now! Hinata quickly shuts his water, slams his laptop shut and inhales to ground himself to not yell right in Atsumu's face.
"What are you talking about Atsumu!" Hinata exclaims. "You're not repulsive! Why would you say that about yourself?!"
Atsumu's face crinkles into an expression of insecurity. He sighs and shrugs. "The girl from the date texted me earlier, she was nice but she said I was repulsive. I was—I guess—to nervous to ask for specifics."
Hinata furrows his eyebrows. "C'mon 'Tsumu. You shouldn't believe what one girl says. I've had my own share of girls who've let me down harshly, but then I know that you and Oikawa, and all my other friends, actually like me for who I am. That's what you should be thinking! There's more girls out there for you."
Atsumu nods. "Yer right but… It's hard for me to believe you because she asked about you. She wanted to get your number instead. It's humiliating to be let down and then for her to look to one of my best friends." he explains. Hinata knows well how that feels. "I know I have good qualities, and you do too, but— it's hard, Shoyo. It's hard for me to find someone who actually wants to pursue me."
Hinata nods empathetically. "It's okay 'Tsumu! I know you'll find the one. Think about how hard it was for Bokuto-san to find his person, but he only did recently. It takes time it's just whether you're patient or not!"
Atsumu glances down at the sheets. "That's—That's right. There is someone for everyone in this world, ain't there? We just haven't found ours yet."
"Exactly! Someone out there will want you, but they haven't gotten the chance to see you yet!"
Atsumu grins and settles down onto his side, at the foot of the bed. "Wow, Hinata, how have ya not met your person yet?"
Hinata doesn't know how to answer, but his phone moves them off of this with a ringing alarm. "—Shit! I have to go with Oikawa to eat! I totally forgot! Bye 'Tsumu!" Atsumu gives him a small wave as Hinata grabs his wallet and rushes to slide on his shoes.
Hinata had almost forgot about Oikawa's study, "The Study in the Charisma of Hinata Shoyo", he called it, but he had requested Hinata to come eat dinner so they can discuss the results. He said it in that proper manner too.
Oikawa isn't an impatient person, but Hinata feels nervous being late—all those laps he had to do for being late in high school (to be fair, it was hard not to get a quick snack before practice, they were just too good!). Hinata is barely looking when he pulls the door and walks inside—then he slams his face right in someone's collarbone.
"What the hell!" The guy yells. Hinata yelps and jumps back.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry—Woah! It's you again!" Hinata exclaims, taking note of the black hair, now with the fringe cut shorter. His forehead is showing better, he "And you got a haircut, Kageyama! Looks nice!"
"Do you not watch where you're going?" Kageyama barks. Hinata furrows his eyebrows. He just complimented Kageyama, and that's how he says his thanks? —Hinata goes to complain, but he notices the faint, barely-there, brush of red over Kageyama's ears.
Hinata huffs. "I do, thank you! You just happen to always be there when I'm in a rush! Not my fault, just the way the world works!"
Kageyama furrows his eyebrows. "Very much not how the world works, it's just how idiots like you work."
"Woah! What's got your panties in a twist, Kageyama!"
"What's your deal—" Kageyama begins to growl before shaking his head. "Whatever, Hinata,," He says with a strange lilt to his voice. "I have to go anyway." Hinata goes to get the final word, mouth opening to speak, but Kageyama leaves too quickly and Hinata feels his shoulders deflate. He really wanted the last word. Next time. Next time, he'll get last word.
Hinata picks himself back up again and glances around for Oikawa, who's already looking at him with an amused face. He must've seen all of that, especially the part where Hinata could've—if he were a couple centimeters shorter—motorboat-ed Kageyama. How embarrassing!
Hinata quickly rushes to Oikawa's table. Ignores Oikawa's weirdly formal attire, he really hates that ugly red tie he's wearing, reminds him of Tsukishima too much.
"Didn't realize you and Tobio-chan have spoken before. Bit of an asshole, isn't he?"
"Yeah, a bit. Hey—What's the results?!" Hinata exclaims, suddenly invested, he's not sure why
Oikawa grins widely as he opens his laptop and turns it around, presenting a chart he made on Canva. "As you can see here, many of the interviewee's I asked said you were hot. On this side, some of them even added more details. For example, interviewee number fifteen said that her friend has a crush on you but you were so happy and nice that they were afraid of being rejected by a guy with a personality like that!"
"So what does that mean?"
Oikawa grabs his glasses from his bag, opens the case and pushes them onto his face. He clears his throat and begins speaking. "This means that my hypothesis is right! You do have charisma, which means if you ask out anyone from this list, I'm ninety-six percent sure they'll go out with you."
"What?"
"Which is why I want you to ask out Tobio-chan."
Hinata yelps and jumps up from his seat. "What?!" Hinata glances around, feels his face flush at the attention and sits back down. "What are you talking about, Oikawa?!" He stage whispers.
Oikawa shuts his laptop and leans back into a relaxed position. "I want to test it out even more. I know that Tobio-kun doesn't reject publicly, therefore, I want to put my other test at experimentation…"
"Which is?"
"Which is for my own research only." Oikawa explains. "I promise you won't get publicly humilated—you don't even need to do it if you don't want but… I think it'd be good if you did it." Oikawa says it with such a soft tone that Hinata almost immediately agrees—it feels like his intention isn't just the experiment, but Hinata knew he was genuine, and Hinata doubts Kageyama would let himself be played.
"Okay… Sure, I'll do it. I—I just need you to help."
Oikawa nods earnestly. "I've got you, and I'm sure Atsumu'll like to help. …Lets use this as a basis—How would you like to be confessed to?"
Hinata jumps. "I forgot to ask Yamaguchi to go shopping with me!"