some haikyuu! one shots i guess

codependency

"ah, defeated once again!" said coach nekomata, standing up from the bench and grinning at a frustrated coach ukai. "guess it's just fate."

"wait, wait, wait!" hinata whined, hopping up and down. "i don't want it to end yet! rematch, please!"

"i don't know..." said takeda sensei uncertainly, side-eyeing coach ukai, who was nodding vigorously at hinata - clearly, the coach wasn't going down that easily either.

"we could mix up the players!" hinata suggested eagerly. "some of us could play with nekoma, and some of the nekoma players can play here!"

"that sounds like it'd be pretty fun," kuroo remarked, and hinata cheered, clapping his hands as the others slowly began agreeing with him.

kageyama didn't much mind playing a second practice match with some of the nekoma players - in fact, he was quite happy to be examining some of these players' techniques closer - but he found he did mind very much when he saw that the first thing hinata did was cross underneath the net and begin an animated conversation with nekoma's setter, kozume kenma, as if the only reason hinata had suggested this was so that he could play alongside kozume. kageyama always found the relationship between those two to be quite strange, as they met once and seemed to instantly connect, calling each other by their first names and texting non stop, but more than anything, he hated to see that hinata wanted so badly to play with some other setter, especially if that setter was kozume.

he just annoyed kageyama so much, the way he hardly ever seemed to try, yet outsmarted kageyama in every way. it frustrated kageyama, because he wanted to be as good as kozume, and because of that, seeing hinata and kozume playing together made kageyama... feel things. it wasn't anger, or jealousy, because he was used to feeling those things and could identify them. this crawling, sickening dread, though, was more difficult to explain, until the game began, and hinata said something that made everything clear for kageyama.

kageyama could barely focus on the game, too anxious as he was watched kozume set the ball to hinata, who spiked it and - shockingly - actually managed to score a point.

hinata stared down at his palm, his eyes sparkling as he made an incoherent noise of excitement. "kenma! you're really good at setting!"

kozume widened his eyes, blushing and looking away as kuroo wrapped an arm around him.

"he is, isn't he?" he said proudly. "better than your kageyama?"

hinata raised his eyebrows, stiffening and mouthing wordlessly, just before daichi clapped him on the back, chuckling. "alright, let's tone it down, i don't think hinata has a death wish."

the three of them laughed heartily, and kozume smiled a bit as well, but kageyama could only watch them with his mouth agape, horrified. because as soon as hinata had complimented kozume's skills, that feeling in the pit of kageyama's stomach intensified, and he suddenly realized he was feeling insecure. not insecure simply because kozume may be better than him, but because hinata might realize that. hinata might realize that and if he spent too much time spiking someone else's tosses, he'd realize how good he was, too, and at that point, what reason would he have to stay by kageyama's side? they hated each other, and the only reason they tolerated the other was because they had to, to complete that quick attack that was the team's power move. above everything else, kageyama couldn't lose that.

suddenly, all these thoughts were physically knocked out of kageyama's head as something hit the front of his head, hard, knocking him to the floor. he realized he must have spaced out during someone's serve, and the ball had hit him. his vision was slightly out of focus as he looked up to see a crowd of people forming around him, and hinata ducking underneath the net to kneel down in front of him, crying out his name in that dramatic way he always did when someone got hurt.