Love's Green Thumb

2. #hinataisNOTaplant2k16

Here's to an early update:) Don't be shy with voting/commenting... I don't bite, plus I enjoy your feedback.

The song is Gooey by Glass Animals

Enjoy the Kagehina;)

Woosh! The instant heat that hit Kageyama's face was borderline nauseating. He had to take off his jacket and scarf before reluctantly closing the door behind him, watching sadly as the gap between him and the outside world vanished. Without the chilling air to keep him company, he felt like a piece of bacon sizzling away in the frying pan.

"Hello-ooo...?" Tobio's voice caught in his throat as he looked around.

Woah. He'd seen the arboretum from the outside, but that barely even scratched the surface. On the inside, it was a lush array of ferns, flowers, fruits, vegetables, trees, shrubs, and every other plant category that the boy could think of. Above, the windows seemed to sparkle like a thousand twinkling lights. Some of the ground was made of a grayish tan tile. This came as a shock to him; he'd figured it would purely be soil.

"Hello?" He called again, bolder this time, and looked around for any sign of another human being. Then he remembered that orange plant he'd seen before coming in. Where was it?

Kageyama's eyes roamed the large building as he tried to remember where he'd seen the plant from outside. And then- Bam! There it was. A short distance in front of him, the bottom of the plant was hidden by a long shrub, and it looked even brighter and fluffier in person. Surely, that had to be some mixed breed of plant, right? It looked straight out of the Lorax!

He walked slowly to it. And then, reaching a hand out to touch it... "HI! NICE TO MEET YOU! ARE YOU THE NEW MEMBER SUGA WAS TELLING ME ABOUT?" The plant had sprung up to meet him face to face- but it wasn't a plant. It was a boy...!

He looked about as old as Kageyama, he figured, but his height was a sure throw-off. He barely came up to Tobio's shoulders. His hair- the part that Tobio had mistaken for some weird type of plant- was sticking up in every possible direction. And was that really the kid's natural hair color? His eyes were a soil brown, mixed with gold flecks, matching the dirt smudged across the boy's face.

And then Kageyama realized that he had yet to respond as the boy stared at him eagerly. "Uh... yeah."

"I'm Hinata. And you are...?" He held out a hand to shake, then thought better of it when he looked it at. The skin was all covered in dirt, even caking his fingernails. With a twinkling laugh, Hinata added, "Sorry, my hands are a little dirty at the moment."

This guy is all over the place, was Tobio's first thought. "It's no big deal. Anyways, what's the deal with this club?"

Hinata suddenly smiled, and Kageyama swore he saw angels flying and heard bells ringing. The boy was radiating with happiness and a pinch of innocence. It was then that Kageyama realized that he'd seen his face somewhere before, but he couldn't put a finger on where. "We don't normally get new members! Agh, I'm so excited!!!"

You didn't even answer my question, dingbat.

"Oh, uh... okay." Tobio scratched the back of his neck. "Is there anything I need to know before I start?"

Hinata suddenly jumped up, obviously struggling to contain his excitement. Gesturing with his hands, he grinned, "Right this way!"

***

"To the left are all of the assorted fruits, like strawberries and watermelon. To the left left: vegetables. Suga-senpai- he's the club president- makes me plant all of his carrots for him because he thinks he has some kind of carrot curse. Like, all of the carrots he plants die or something like that, I dunno. Anyways. In the middle- which is where the entrance is, so where you came in- are all of the new plants we ship in or anything that hasn't been planted yet. To the right, it's a big jumble of flowers, shrubs ferns, and some of the older trees. It's my favorite part." Hinata beamed, barely even pausing to take a breath. He continued to walk ahead. Kageyama followed him to the opposite end of the arboretum, secretly sweating under his two layers. How could anyone stand this heat?

They crossed a wooden bridge, but there wasn't a stream underneath it, so Tobio figured that it was purely ornamental. Without turning around, he heard his peer comment, "I wish there wasn't a bridge here." Something in his tone was different than before. Tobio couldn't put a finger on the right word for it. Sad? Nostalgic? Angry? Hinata was harder to read than what his first impression had given off, apparently. But just as quickly, his tone was back to its normal chipper-ness. "I really like this side, though. You'll see why in a second."

Before Kageyama had a chance to ask any questions, a beautiful cherry blossom tree burst into view right in front of his eyes. How the hell had he missed that before? Its branches didn't reach the ceiling, but it was still a pretty good sized tree. The flowers weren't in full bloom, yet he knew that when the time came, it would be a marvelous sight.

"It's cool, huh?" Hinata had stayed a little farther back behind Tobio. Now, his voice snapped him back to reality. "That was the first thing they planted in here-at least, that's what Suga and Daichi -that's our vice president- told me when I first joined." He sounded nostalgic. "In summer, it's hard to find a tree that's more wow than this one. Take my word for it."

Tobio found it easy to believe- even if Hinata's explanation had been entirely strange.

"Anyways, I should probably warn you right now that this is a pretty time consuming club. Sure, all the members are here because we like plants and stuff, but a lot of us also take this pretty seriously. Think you're ready?"

It was then that Kageyama realized that this kid probably had no idea about Tobio's whole 'being forced into the club' thing. But something about Hinata's passion for what he was doing deterred Tobio from even bringing it up. "Guess I'll have to find out." He had no idea what he'd just signed up for.

Shit got real in the garden club.