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Tobio scrolled past the picture at first. Seeing random people enjoy themselves at the Finals only made him wish he was there, but his eyes caught up to his brain belatedly, and he stopped scrolling. Had that been Oikawa? He scrolled back up. It was him: Oikawa grinned onscreen, his arm slung around a much shorter guy with bright orange hair. The guy’s grin matched Oikawa’s, as did his hand gesture. Triumphant peace signs, monitors glowing behind them.
“Thinking of going pro with this guy,” Oikawa had written in the caption. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
It had to be in jest. Oikawa had been on a team when Flight to the Top was gaining popularity, but he’d left before the third world championship to become a full-time streamer. Nothing since had enticed him back to an official team, even though he was one of Tobio’s favourite players to watch, and his favourite control player full-stop. Who was the other guy in Oikawa’s post?
Someone was tagged. The orange-haired guy, Tobio assumed. He clicked the linked profile.
[ You are blocked from seeing Hinata Shouwoff || FLIGHT FINALS!! Posts ]
Tobio blinked. Refreshed. The block message remained. He studied what he could see: the icon, the banner. The icon was a cartoonish version of Crowmaster, a popular Flight hero. The banner was a scene Tobio recognised from the latest video release of Flight’s Doomsday skins. The guy was, quite obviously, a big fan of Flight to the Top . Oikawa liked him enough to pose with him.
So why did he have Tobio blocked ?
It wasn’t important, of course. Tobio was meant to be working on a spreadsheet for his real job, which had nothing to do with Flight to the Top or diehard Flight fans with a random vendetta against him. Except—Tobio had cleaned up his act. It was five years since his behaviour got him kicked off a team. He’d apologised to his teammates just like their former coach asked. He’d retired from the thing he loved and only made occasional videos, which didn’t make him money but did fulfill a deep-seated need to analyze the relative value of items and stat boosts. He’d never be someone like Oikawa, who got along with everyone, but he was… neutral.
Wasn’t he?
A period of sleuthing followed. Tobio’s non-Flight side account wasn’t blocked, and all thoughts of spreadsheets fell away as he scrolled through Hinata Shouwoff’s page from the account that hadn’t been ruthlessly shut out. Hinata had replied to the picture of him and Oikawa with a bunch of excited emojis and stated what an honour it was to play with him. The back and forth after revealed what looked like genuine friendship, or at least mutual admiration.
There was no sign of conflict anywhere on Hinata’s page. He was positive and excited, living for news of the game and pro player sightings. His page was memes and good humour. Looking through his replies brought no closure; there were no angry responses. No sign of any kind of crusade against… well, Tobio. Or anyone Tobio was friendly with.
So Hinata Shouwoff wasn’t someone who picked fights, which had been Tobio’s first assumption. Then what had led to the block? Tobio spent his time in streams on item breakdowns and explaining what various patches meant for given heroes. None of Tobio’s old teammates resembled this Hinata in the slightest, so he wasn’t their overprotective brother or anything. Maybe a friend? But no—Hinata was new on the scene. One of his replies said he’d only joined in season five, two seasons after Tobio stopped playing in official games.
It made no sense. The reason for the block evaded Tobio, and he stretched human behaviour-related brain muscles he rarely used trying to explain it. There were people who blocked others for having the wrong opinion on their favourite heroes, he supposed. Tobio himself had once blocked a guy because his constant lurid descriptions of Demon Mistress kept showing up under recommended posts when Tobio was just trying to scroll for news and updates. Blocking could mean anything.
But what did it mean now ?
He messaged all the people he felt would be straightforward about the issue, and got some quick responses back. Tsukishima was completely unsympathetic, saying there were plenty of reasons to block Tobio. Yamaguchi was incredulous, and thought it might have been a mistake. Ushijima told him to send a message from the unblocked account and ask. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi agreed this was a bad idea, even though Tobio was tempted.
Deep dive done, Tobio stared at the picture of Oikawa and Hinata. Hinata looked so happy, and… yeah, pretty cute. Tobio’s type, if he had one. Why did this complete stranger, who was kind of cute, hate Tobio enough to block him out of his online life? Especially since Tobio was just as excited about Flight as he was?
He direct messaged Oikawa before he could think the better of it: Who’s the guy next to you in the picture?
Oikawa’s reply half a spreadsheet later contained more kaomoji’s than necessary. They gave an overall impression that Oikawa was both excited to be asked and keen to get on Tobio’s nerves. Shouyou-kun? Oikawa had written after a bunch of little faces. My little buddy! We play together sometimes. I’m trying to convince him to do streams! Yayayayay~
Then, after several more excited faces: Why do you ask?
The conversation would show Tobio had read the messages. He replied with painful reluctance: He has me blocked .
Oikawa disappeared for a while, then:
LOL
lol
lol
lololololol
Shouyou-kun thinks your face is mean!!!
Tobio gasped. Was that it? He asked as much, which caused more laughter. No, Oikawa told him. Of course Hinata/Shouyou hadn’t blocked him for having a mean face. Oikawa had no idea why Hinata would block Tobio, but he thought it was hilarious. Tobio glared holes in his screen. How could someone so good and insightful when it came to Flight be so infuriating in real life?
Man! Oikawa wrote. I wanna know why!! What did Tobio-kun do?
Tobio was surprised. Well—okay. Finally. At least Oikawa was curious too.
I wanna put you in a game together!! Oikawa added. Tobio clenched up. An ambush? He supposed that was… something. Was Oikawa really Hinata’s friend, if he planned ambushes like this?
Then Tobio rethought his thought. An ambush ? Tobio was just a person! He wasn’t some terrible monster. He didn’t deserve to be blocked by random strangers who liked Flight almost as much as he did.
Sure , he told Oikawa, attempting to be casual about it. Tonight? I’ll play on my alternate account.
Oikawa agreed, again with too many kaomoji’s. Something in Tobio was satisfied. He could go back to comparing customer satisfaction regarding household products—for a while. As long as he didn’t remember Hinata’s grinning face, and the fact that someone so bright and happy and obsessed with Flight wanted nothing to do with him.
Tobio accepted Oikawa’s game invite with bated breath, his heart pounding against his ribcage. He’d been prepared for awkward silence; he wasn’t prepared to auto-connect to the audio channel and hear Oikawa and Hinata excitedly yell ‘Oikawa-san!’ and ‘Shouyou-kun!’ back and forth at each other over and over.
“Hey,” he said, hoping they would stop.
“Tobio-kun!” Oikawa said. Tobio could hear the grin in his voice. “Tobio-kun, meet Shouyou-kun. You guys can get to know each other while we wait for Iwa-chan. Be right back!”
There was some muffled rustling, and Oikawa muted himself. Obviously he intended to listen in and didn’t want his laughter getting in the way. Tobio’s throat closed up. The awkward silence he’d been prepared for descended. How did one meet over voice chat, especially with an audience? Eventually Tobio managed: “Hi.”
“Hi!” Hinata said back, somewhat brightly. He sounded nervous. “I’m not as good as Oikawa, so don’t expect great things.”
“That’s fine.”
A silence, then: “And you? Are you good?”
“Uh,” said Tobio. He was on his other account, the one he didn’t use for streaming. It seemed like Hinata had no idea who he was. “I’m good.”
Hinata might have said more, but Iwaizumi joined their lobby, and Oikawa stopped pretending to be gone. Another two friends of Oikawa’s joined them, and they queued for a game. Everyone chatted while picking their heroes, though it was mostly about balancing team makeup. Tobio said next to nothing, even though he was waiting for Hinata to recognise his voice. Nothing like that happened—but for whatever reason, Oikawa insisted on Tobio playing control. Well, that was fine. It was his favourite role.
The game started. Flight to the Top was a battle arena game where two teams fought to get their team’s mythical egg from the other team’s base back into the incubator in their base first. The lore of it was pretty complex, and the game took place in an imagined future that included magic and aliens and a universe on the brink of extinction. Tobio didn’t understand most of the lore, but he understood champion statistics and how a given item or buff would affect the game. Playing control meant he had certain powers to direct what player held the egg when—designating them ‘carriers’—and if he and his players played well, they never had to enter the game’s ‘sudden death’ mode to their disadvantage.
Tobio had been playing since he was fifteen years old. He’d been through all the expansions and updates. Some of his favourite heroes looked nothing like they used to—but playing still filled him with a unique thrill. There was something about the combination of tactics and reflexes, the compelling setting he didn’t fully understand, the underlying mathematical genius of it all—
The game was over before he’d had a chance to fully appreciate Hinata’s playstyle, or the unique way Oikawa played his character. They’d all played well—but what was more, Hinata was full of praise for Tobio.
“You’re as good as Oikawa-san!” he crowed over the victory screen, where an orange bird flew into the atmosphere to restore the known universe in orange-team splendour. “It was like being on a real team! We crushed them, and they had that super high level Grum and the super good Snowfairy!”
“The other four were a mess though,” Iwaizumi said reasonably. Tobio privately agreed, but he was held captive by the unexpected praise. His body wouldn’t forget the picture of Hinata while he heard the bright voice. It basked in the sensation of a really cute guy praising him.
“You were pretty good,” Tobio said. “I liked the way you tricked them with that flash.”
Hinata laughed giddily. “You were watching?”
“Tobio-chan never misses a thing,” Oikawa said. “It’s creepy.”
“You can creep all you want, as long as you play like that,” Hinata said earnestly. “I was so surprised when you fed me the egg, but it totally made the play near the end work!”
Tobio suffered the indignity of blushing outright at his screen in the privacy of his studio apartment. Dirty talk wouldn’t have affected him like this; only Flight talk could.
“Keep it in the bedroom,” Oikawa told them, worsening Tobio’s predicament and making Hinata laugh more. They queued for another game, and another. A revolving door of Oikawa’s friends joined, but Hinata stayed, and he sent a friend request after the third match. When they all signed off for the night, much too late, Hinata told Tobio to play with him the next day. Tobio wanted to—but what he needed, he reflected as he lay in bed trying to fall asleep, was to know why Hinata had him blocked. He hadn’t had Oikawa put them in a game together to become friends with him. Had he?
His finger slipped . A friend of his thinks Ukai’s Sabre is a good item for Demon Mistress and hasn’t forgiven me for saying it’s useless since the patch. He thought I was someone else.
The list of possible excuses grew and grew as Tobio fell asleep, hearing Hinata’s voice in his mind and seeing his face in his memory. Tobio’s type—if Tobio had one.
Apparently the answer to the blocking question was less important to Tobio than spending time with Hinata. He couldn’t find it in himself to ask.
They started playing together, not caring much about who else was on the team. Tobio knew his own reasoning, and Hinata was clear about his: Tobio was an amazing control player. Hinata didn’t care how many random players they were grouped with in addition to each other. One day, after a particularly good match, Hinata’s breathless praise left Tobio hard and wanting. He forgot Hinata had him blocked, and why this had started in the first place; all he remembered was how excited Hinata got during matches, and how good it felt to move in sync with someone so responsive, so ready to jump into whatever fool opening Tobio had spotted. No—with the follow-through to jump in, and keep the lead. That mattered.
They stayed in the game’s lobby together, just talking, both of them agreeing it was too late for another match. Tobio thought of the picture Oikawa had posted. Were there more pictures he could find? Hinata posted so many gifs in reaction to stuff that it was hard to get anywhere when trawling through his old media. It was all gifs. Tobio didn’t want gifs; he wanted pictures of Hinata’s face and body. The smile, the stature.
“So do you ever do streams?” Hinata asked. “I bet people would be interested, but I searched your username and didn’t find anything.”
“You should do streams,” Tobio said. “Lots of people would watch. You’re fun to listen to.”
“You think so? Oikawa-san says the same thing, but I tried a few times and people were assholes.”
“They were?” Could Hinata have confused him with one of those people?
“About half of them kept asking if I was a guy or a girl because my voice is high, and then when I did video they still asked!”
“Oh. That…” Tobio didn’t know what to say. That was just what people were like online. They probably thought they were being funny.
“That wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that a few of the other ones were mean about my gameplay. I was flustered! And trying something out...”
“I’d enjoy watching you,” Tobio said. “Oikawa obviously would too.”
“You’d watch?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll think about it. But what about you? You’re incredible. You know all the cool people on here. Why don’t I know you?”
Because you have me blocked , Tobio could have said. Could have, but didn’t. There was a time when he would have come out with it immediately, would have demanded answers. Now, after years of trying to be chill , whatever that meant to whatever person, he didn’t know how to talk about stuff normally. Not if he cared about it. He only knew how to analyse items and buffs and patches with any level of certainty.
“Don’t know,” Tobio said, which was noncommittal enough. “I’m not that talkative during games.”
He wasn’t, because angrily micromanaging his teammates had literally gotten him kicked off a team when he was a teenager.
“Hm! You seem perfect to me. Well, whatever. I’ll think about it! Hey, are you going to MythiCon? It’s near your city, right? I heard C-Gullz were going to play against guest teams for charity. Maybe if we lean on Oikawa right he’ll play them with us!”
“You’re coming to MythiCon?” Tobio asked. It was just over a week from now. He’d been getting sleepy, but he was wide awake suddenly with the thought of meeting Hinata soon. Hinata had been a mystery, and then he’d been an almost-reality that pulled Tobio in. If they met in real life…
If they met in real life, and Hinata had blocked him on purpose, Hinata would recognise him. Tobio’s face was known. It was there in the corner of his streams. Hinata hadn’t recognised his voice, but voices could be fuzzy over a headset, they could be hard to hear over the game noise, and—
Tobio didn’t know. He didn’t know what he’d done or said, or what would make Hinata realise.
“Yeah!” Hinata said. “Will you?”
“Yeah. I’ve had my ticket for months.”
“Me too!”
“Then I’ll see you there.” That was just logic. It also made Tobio feel sick and excited at the same time. He was hopeless with people, and always had been, but now his people-hopelessness was going to be added to him caring too much, which never led to good things. He took deep breaths, trying to calm down. Hinata liked playing with him. They’d played together this much. Even laughed together after really good plays. It was fine. The block was a misunderstanding.
Hinata probably wasn’t even into guys, but he was fun to play with, and he made Tobio feel good when he praised him. That was enough to want to clear things up, if nothing else. The fact that Hinata probably didn’t want Tobio’s tongue down his throat was unfortunate but bearable.
They would meet at the con, and they would be friends, and it would all be funny in hindsight—if the blocking offense could be overcome.
"You have to ask Hinata why he has me blocked," Tobio told Oikawa the next day. He'd called rather than texting, which was definitely not a thing they did. Still: this was urgent.
Oikawa snorted. "What? You haven't found out yet?"
"So you know already?"
"I was waiting for you to tell me! I'm impatient, Tobio-kun. How long until I get my answers?"
"Just ask him. He loves you."
"He thanked me for introducing you guys. Sounds like you're friends already. Why not bring it up yourself?"
Tobio wished Oikawa wasn't the kind of person who loved to tease, but he was. He could obviously get the answers more easily himself, but he was more interested in what would happen if Tobio brought it up. Tobio stood in his third floor apartment, staring out the window like the leaden sky had answers. It didn't.
"Well?"
"Hinata doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd block people for a petty reason," Tobio said, jaw hard. His voice turned to gravel in his throat. "I must have done something bad, but I don't know what."
Oikawa was quiet for a long time. He didn't laugh, which was unusual. "Tobio-kun," he said. "Do you really think you did something bad? Recently?"
Oikawa knew Tobio was kicked off his team at seventeen. They hadn't known each other at the time, but he must have followed the fallout.
"I don't remember anything," Tobio said.
"Me neither," Oikawa said, with rare sincerity. "Just ask your new buddy what it's about and stop worrying."
Tobio would be able to stop worrying once he knew what the answer was, but he couldn't ask for the answer while he was still worried. Couldn't Oikawa understand that?
They said their goodbyes with Tobio none the wiser and Oikawa back to his usual, jovial self. MythiCon beckoned in the distance, tempting but for one thing: the terrible thing Tobio had possibly done or said, that had led to Hinata blocking him. It would have to be faced eventually, but… not yet.
Tobio wanted to see Hinata with his own eyes at least once before Hinata had the chance to avoid him forever.
Tobio was in paradise. He was logged into Spasm on his secondary account—made to test how free users saw the streaming site, his own content in particular—and he was in Hinata’s first stream, watching the little rectangle where Hinata’s face resided. The game hadn’t started yet; they were testing settings.
It was a good thing Tobio could give streaming advice in his sleep, because most of his attention was absorbed by Hinata’s expressions. He couldn’t pick his favourite, whether it was smiles or the intent look he got when he changed a setting, or his slight blush whenever Tobio typed something friendly in the chat. He forgot his nervousness about the whole blocking thing; the desire to meet Hinata in the flesh was too strong. It beckoned like the promise of a perfectly balanced game. Tobio ached for it even if he couldn’t then wrap around Hinata, and hold that laughing face in his hands, and—
“I think that’s enough!” Hinata said cheerfully. “Right? I’m going live. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Sounds good , Tobio typed, even though it didn’t. He wanted Hinata to himself some more—but he also wanted to watch him play and have his particular brand of genius known and influencing the game he loved, so he put up with the people who started watching. The trickle in was slow at first, but then Oikawa joined and a whole bunch of people came in. Hinata chatted to them all while he queued, explaining a little about his experiences so far.
Tobio wondered how many new viewers were falling in love. I got here first , he wanted to grouse at them, but of course, he didn’t. He was in fact the only person he knew Hinata disapproved of enough to block. The fact that he was also the person Hinata checked his settings with didn’t outweigh that in his mind, at least not with the competition drawing in.
Probably not into guys , Tobio reminded himself, watching Hinata’s excitement as the team picked heroes. Hinata was great at explaining team composition and readily admitted when he didn’t know how a pick would affect the game. Unlike most streamers, he seemed to like explaining the basics. There was warmth to everything he did and said. The chat warmed up accordingly, though perhaps that was because Oikawa kept chatting encouragements. Tobio only chimed in very occasionally, with tidbits he thought Hinata might find interesting; he had a better grasp of what recent updates did to who. He liked to think Hinata smiled even more when Tobio was the one chiming in.
Oikawa messaged him while the game loaded: Are you watching this? Shouyou is a natural!
Tobio was embarrassed. Of course Oikawa hadn’t recognised him on his secondary account. BlueCrow96 was a nobody; his streaming account was Eagle6.
I’m watching already , Tobio said. BlueCrow .
Oikawa sent him an unimpressed face. You still haven’t talked to him about it? Tobio-chan!!
We’re meeting two days from now at MythiCon. Easier to explain in person .
That was a total lie. He had no idea what would be easier; nothing was easy when it came to Tobio’s love life. Or his making friends life, which was what this was, because Hinata was probably straight.
Oikawa spared him more mockery, at least, and told him BlueCrow had reminded him of him. Well, that made sense. BlueCrow was him. The match began.
Hinata’s easy explanations continued through the first phase, but they tapered off once the real fighting started. Despite his level of experience, Hinata flinched physically when an enemy caught his character, and Tobio’s hands clenched in his lap. He wanted to touch Hinata so badly it almost hurt. It was an ache in his palms and chest. He could lance some of the feeling by typing encouragements into the chat, but it wasn’t enough.
“Tobio, I miss you,” Hinata said laughingly when his control player messed up in a major way. Tobio’s entire body seized up; Oikawa messaged him a lone oh my god . The chat wondered who Tobio was.
Tobio knew who he was, and he knew he was in hell and heaven at the same time.
Two more days , he thought. Two more days, and he could exit one or the other. He had never in his life hoped for someone else’s finger to have slipped with this kind of fervor—and he’d had his share of useless teammates aiming badly.
He needed the block to have been a mistake.
“Hi,” someone said, wandering up to Tobio inside the con’s open space. Tobio’s stomach jumped, alert to everything, but settled when he saw it was Ushijima. Anyone wearing orange (who wasn’t Hinata) could be counted an enemy, but Ushijima was in neutral colours as ever. Tobio didn’t know if he was glad to see him.
“Hey,” Tobio said. They looked around the room together, watching con-goers in all sorts of outfits, from sweatpants to full robot cosplay. Tobio enjoyed the jovial atmosphere of cons, even if he always felt separate from it.
“Have you been busy?” Ushijima asked. “I never see you online.”
“Oh,” Tobio said. “Kind of busy.” Kind of obsessed with a different player who could only ever know his secondary account. Ushijima was friends with his main; they’d never needed to connect on the other one.
“Are you going to challenge C-Gullz?”
“I don’t have a team.”
“Me neither.”
They looked at each other. Understanding followed: both of them wanted to challenge the pro team, but they’d need four more people. They would attempt to gather any appropriate friends before the sign-up period ended.
“TheGreat is here, isn’t he?” Ushijima said. TheGreat—also known as Oikawa. Also known as a person Ushijima desperately wanted to play with, who wouldn’t give him the time of day. Being the go-between was awkward.
“I think he’s meant to show up at some point.” Tobio couldn’t help comparing their predicaments. Whatever fallout had happened between Oikawa and Ushijima had happened a long time ago, back when Oikawa was still on a team. Iwaizumi might know more—but Tobio had never asked. Maybe it was comparable to Tobio and Hinata. Maybe Ushijima had gravely offended Oikawa without even meaning to.
“I’ll ask if he wants to join,” Tobio added, feeling sympathetic. The answer, knowing Oikawa when faced with Ushijima, was no. But at least he’d ask.
Ushijima nodded and clasped Tobio’s shoulder. He moved on, and Tobio was left alone again. He felt conspicuous suddenly, with the large bulwark of Ushijima’s body gone, and he wandered to a schedule posted on a wall. Better to look like he was thinking about something, instead of desperately seeking someone. Yamaguchi had told him once that he could come across as intimidating; it was the last thing he needed right now.
He’d read the schedule twice when his phone vibrated several times in quick succession. The signal here was spotty, and Hinata only had his phone number. The texts came all as one.
I’m on the train! So nervous! Two people said they wanna meet me from the stream last night! What the hell?
Next: Oooh I see the convention centre!!! Where are you?? Inside/outside??
Then: Going in! You better be inside!
Tobio’s heart sped. He didn’t know when the messages were sent; maybe Hinata had already passed him in the giant atrium. He turned away from the poster with the schedule, phone still held in his hand. His eyes sought orange. His body moved to a more central location.
A short guy with orange hair across the way registered the movement.
There was a moment—just a second—where Tobio was sure it was a fluke. The guy looked like Hinata, but minds saw what they wanted, and what he wanted to see was Hinata. Then the second passed, and the person remained conspicuously Hinata-ish: small in stature, energetic, with an expressive face. It was him. He was there, a stone’s throw away, and for yet another moment their eyes met. Tobio saw Hinata, and Hinata saw Tobio.
Hinata was the one to break eye contact. He turned away, hunching over his phone as he typed out a message. Somehow, it went through. Tobio’s phone buzzed, but he didn’t check it. Instead he watched Hinata charge away. There was colour in Hinata’s cheeks, like he was embarrassed. Or could he be angry?
Shit. Shit! Tobio didn’t charge after Hinata, because Hinata had taken one look at him and turned in the other direction. Instead he found a quiet area with reception to check his phone. Hinata had texted him, just like he’d expected.
Oh no , Hinata’s text said. Eagle6 is here. Save me.
Tobio stared at his phone. Not a slip of the finger; Hinata knew his gamer tag, and to avoid him. He took a moment calming himself before sending back: Is that a problem?
The answer was much, much too long in coming. When it did, Tobio skimmed the extra stuff. Hinata wanted to know if he was inside yet, what he was wearing, where they’d meet. He noted the signal was awful; Tobio had noted that too. Then: We have a history.
It made no sense. Tobio’s fingers almost typed out a reply, saying no we don’t , but he forced himself to slow. Hinata thought they had a history. Had someone impersonated him?
Tell me where you are! Hinata sent, with growing impatience. What are you wearing????
Tobio looked down at himself. His fingers felt numb, his phone an odd growth. He wanted Hinata to like him, but apparently they had a history.
I’m inside , he typed, with sick destiny in his gut. I’m wearing black jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. My bag is black and has a rooster on it.
He sent the message and brooded. A history. A history . If they had one, why would Tobio forget?
Inside where? Hinata sent. I’m near the fencing demo in the atrium. I’m wearing a red Crowmaster shirt.
Even upset, Tobio was struck by the charm of Hinata mentioning his shirt as if it was important. His hair was orange. Tobio had seen him in streams. He knew what Hinata looked like.
I’ll come find you , Tobio sent, not knowing until that moment that he meant it. There was a part of him that wanted to run from Hinata and their history forever, but a much bigger part of him needed to be close to Hinata at least once.
He stormed through the convention centre in the direction he’d seen Hinata disappear. Crowds seemed to melt away in front of him, and he was grateful for the ease with which he made it to the other side of the atrium. He didn’t have to search for long; Hinata seemed to jump into his eyeline before he’d quite decided where to look. There, on the edge of a crowd, holding his phone and glancing around nervously. He was facing away from Tobio, mostly, and it allowed Tobio to approach without being seen and run away from.
He reached the crowd, and he reached Hinata. He put a hand on Hinata’s shoulder, letting go reluctantly when Hinata began to turn. Hinata recognised him immediately, again—but when Tobio continued to just stand there, saying nothing, Hinata’s eyes dropped down. His eyes caught on the bag with the rooster logo. He stared at it for a long time, then back up: Tobio’s face, his shirt, his jeans. Tobio watched understanding dawn in his eyes—understanding and embarrassment.
“We don’t have a history,” Tobio said. “We never talked before Oikawa put us on the same team three weeks ago.”
Hinata’s face glowed with a blush, his mouth open. Tobio wanted to step in close and kiss his open mouth, but it was clearly not the time.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I want to understand.”
The blush had become a permanent fixture. Hinata covered his mouth with his hand, eyes angry above it.
“Eagle6,” Hinata said. “Fancy meeting you here…”
“You know me as Tobio453,” Tobio said, angry too. Hinata had put the identities together; he knew he had.
“Look…” Hinata started, but Tobio looked and waited, and no explanation was forthcoming. He was miserable, and his presence clearly made Hinata miserable.
He gestured at an alcove, where there was open space and no one eavesdropping, and Hinata came with him when he moved toward it. Thank god. Tobio glared down at the guy he’d fallen for.
“Why’d you head in the opposite direction? What history?”
Hinata wouldn’t meet his eyes. “It’s embarrassing. How can you be Tobio? I hate this!”
"Then explain it to me!"
Hinata glared back up at him. "You were a jerk! In your video. I was doing my first ever stream, and we played against each other, and you wiped the floor with me then made fun of me!"
"I made fun of you?" Tobio asked. His anger cooled. He started to worry. Had nothing changed?
"Not exactly, I guess." Hinata's cheeks were burning. "You were just recording at the same time, and you critiqued my build. People in the stream realised who you were and started talking about it. I guess they were watching both."
Tobio wished he could remember the match, but he played thousands. Except—
"If I critiqued you, you were good enough to critique," he said. "I don't just rip into people for fun."
Hinata folded his arms. "I know that. But you're still a jerk."
Tobio wished he wanted nothing to do with Hinata so he would be able to walk away and never face this vague fear of being the same unlikable guy he’d always been. Instead he wanted everything to do with Hinata, so he stood looming ominously, not knowing what to do.
"You're a great player," he said eventually.
"Yeah, well! I was trying something out. I said that, but people still acted like I was stupid for it after you made fun…"
"So you blocked me on your social media," Tobio said.
"You were everywhere," Hinata said. "I just wanted to not see your stupid face after you were a jerk."
“You think my face is stupid?”
“That’s your concern?!”
Well—it was one of them. “I can’t change my face,” Tobio groused. He could change other things about himself, but not that.
Hinata’s arms unfolded. He looked up into what he’d just called a stupid face and frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
“I wanted to meet you.”
“Why?”
Because Hinata was just his type. Because he was fun to play with. Because he loved Flight almost as much as Tobio did.
Tobio found himself just staring holes into Hinata as if that would answer the question. It ought to answer itself. Who wouldn’t want to meet Hinata?
“I’m sorry,” Tobio said. “For whatever I said while streaming.” Even though it was completely impersonal and it’s petty of you to hold it against me , he didn’t say. It was the kind of thing unlikable people said.
“And for hiding who you were from me?”
“Not really.” Tobio didn’t want to lie. “I loved playing with you. And your streams.”
He pulled up his social media profile to show Hinata. It was the one Hinata kept blocked, so it stood to reason he hadn’t seen it. Tobio had recommended Hinata’s second stream last night, and knew a good amount of the viewers then had come because of the referral. Lots of people had interacted with the post.
Hinata’s mouth opened to reply, but he was interrupted by someone singsonging, “My friends! Shouyou-kun! Tobio-chan!”
Oikawa threw an arm around each of them. Tobio wasn’t sure if he should be grateful for the interruption or not.
“Since when am I Tobio-chan?” he asked.
“Since I realised you were cute deep down. So! When are we challenging the C-Gullz?”
“I told Ushijima I’d team up with him." This would likely remove him from Oikawa’s good graces immediately. Maybe he’d stop being Tobio-chan a moment after he’d started being it.
“Ugh,” Oikawa said, letting go of him. He wrinkled his nose. “Did you have to?”
“Sorry.”
“Ushijima?” Hinata asked.
“Goes by Farmer,” Oikawa said. “You’ve probably seen him around.”
“ Farmer wants to play with Tobio?!” Hinata was stunned. He gazed up at Tobio from under Oikawa’s arm, first with admiration and then with embarrassment. “N-not that I care…”
“He wants to play with Oikawa most,” Tobio said.
“Ugh!” Oikawa shook his head. “Pathetic. I’ll let him on our team if you play control.”
Oikawa had sworn once never to play control for Ushijima. The resentment went way back to before Tobio knew them—but this was a step forward, Tobio expected. He’d happily play control; he always preferred it.
“Hinata?” Tobio asked. His stomach pulled painfully. “Will you join? Or…”
“Hold on a moment,” Hinata said, disentangling himself from Oikawa before turning on him. “ You knew Tobio was Eagle6.”
“Ehehe…”
“I told you I hated him and you didn’t tell me I’d been playing with him day after day?!”
“You knew why he hated me?” Tobio added, staring.
“Your reason for hating him was stupid,” Oikawa told Hinata. He turned to Tobio. “Your reason for not asking was cute, but also stupid. It’s not my place to make things easy for people! You should learn to communicate. I was doing you a favour.”
Oikawa lived for his own entertainment; Tobio should have expected this. Of course Oikawa hadn’t been satisfied to wait on the answer to a question that intrigued him. He’d gotten his answer immediately. Hinata looked rattled, but didn’t deny his reasoning was stupid. It was more cause to hope than Tobio had had thus far.
“So, game later?” Oikawa asked, unrepentant. “I can find other teammates if you have a vendetta against me now…”
“I’ll play,” Hinata snapped, and Tobio nodded. He’d send a message to tell Ushijima their team was up to four.
Oikawa seemed satisfied for the moment. He threw them dual peace signs and wandered off, grinning. He found someone else in the crowd moments later and put them under an arm; the person seemed pleased. Tobio turned back to Hinata, whose eyes still followed Oikawa’s progress.
“I don’t think your face is stupid,” Hinata said, keeping himself turned away. “I thought you were really good-looking, which just made it worse.”
Tobio’s stomach imploded with a weird kind of joy. Really good-looking . Hinata really thought that? It was completely unexpected. More importantly, it didn't sound like something a straight guy would say. Or did it? People were more open now…
"That's good," Tobio said.
"I just told you it wasn't."
Their eyes met. Electricity fizzled down Tobio's spine, setting the little hairs on his arms on edge. "So you're determined to hate me?"
"Yes. No. Maybe."
Those were the options, yes. Tobio frowned. "I like your face too. And your shirt."
It was the right thing to say. Hinata looked down at his bright red Crowmaster shirt and grinned. "It's cool, right?"
"I'd like to see you play him again. That one match was way too short, and he's your favourite."
"I want that too! They died way too easily. It wasn't even fun to beat them!"
"The update to Takeda's Scimitar will make him that much better against Linfandel. I really want to see you take down a fully equipped Lin with one of those flash fake-outs plus a mid-action egg buff."
Hinata grinned. Their excitement had pulled them closer together. They stood, only barely separated, and when Hinata didn't reply immediately it was like shared awareness crashed over them. Suddenly it wasn't two Flight fans nerding out. It was Tobio, touch-starved gay man, standing over his tiny animated crush. His desire nearly made Tobio step back, not wanting to ruin the fragile peace—but Hinata was staring up at him, taking in his whole body the same way Tobio took in his, and it held him completely stationary.
"You want that too," Tobio said, strained. "Right?"
Hinata licked his lips. He was looking at Tobio's chest, and he seemed to gather himself when he realised Tobio had spoken. "Hm? Oh. Yeah. Definitely!"
Tobio wasn’t experienced in love. His sexual encounters could be counted on one hand, his romantic encounters on a single finger. But the way Hinata was looking at him, the black of his pupils bleeding into the warm brown of his irises—that was attraction. Wasn’t it? Tobio wasn’t insane. He wasn’t seeing what he wanted to see. Was he?
He thought of Hinata’s fake-outs in game, how it convinced enemies he was going in for the attack when he was only tricking them into overcommitting. Tobio had often wished Flight tactics could apply to real life so he’d understand it. Maybe, in very specific situations, they could.
He leaned forward, like he would if he was about to kiss Hinata. His hand came up to Hinata’s face, fingertips outstretched. An eyelash , he prepared to say. This was the fake-out, meant to trick Hinata into revealing either attraction or indifference. It had to work; Tobio had no other ideas.
“What are you doing?” Hinata asked, freezing. It seemed a decisive point towards indifference , and some part of Tobio still wasn't prepared for it. Shit.
“There’s an eyelash,” he mumbled.
Their faces were much too close. It wasn’t a convincing fake-out—Hinata would hate him more after—and then Hinata was moving, but not away. His hands fisted in Tobio’s shirt. He stepped forward. His mouth knocked against Tobio’s with the force of a punch.
There was a hint of tongue—taste—and then Hinata pulled back enough to free his mouth. He was frowning, watching for Tobio’s reaction.
Tobio moved them so his body was blocking Hinata from view. It was all he could do with the short notice, with the drum of blood in his veins—and he dove in. He kissed hard, just like Hinata had, his hands on Hinata’s face. Hinata kissed back, his breath gusting against Tobio’s lips.
They were in public. It couldn’t continue to its natural conclusion—to hands dipping under clothes, to Tobio’s leg between Hinata’s—and so Tobio made himself pull back after making his intent known. Only idiots went right for the kill just because it was there in front of them. He had to think of the whole game; he couldn’t get thrown out of the venue for public indecency.
He stepped back.
“Uh,” Hinata said. He was bright red, even though he’d initiated.
“I want to date you,” Tobio told him. He’d dated exactly one person in his entire life, and it had felt like enemy territory, where any misstep would lead to a swift conclusion. Liking Hinata—who was already inclined to dislike him—was terrifying. But he couldn’t help it.
“Oh,” Hinata said. “Okay.”
“Yeah?” Tobio heard the hopeful lilt of his voice.
“Yeah.” Hinata looked him up and down. “You really want to?”
It was Tobio’s turn to blush. What? What about him made it hard to believe? “Yeah. Will you unblock me now?”
"That's…!" Hinata looked around as if for cameras. “That's so besides the point. This isn’t some joke?”
“Of course it isn’t! It’s not funny, is it?”
“Well, I don’t think it is, but I’m not the one who struck up a friendship with someone who blocked me…”
“What do you want me to say to convince you?”
“Say I’m the best player you’ve ever seen.”
“You’re not. Your aiming gets sloppy when—”
“Okay,” Hinata said. “Okay, I think you’re telling the truth.”
Tobio froze. “So we’re dating?”
“You know you’re good-looking, right? It’s not surprising for you?”
It was kind of surprising. When Tobio looked in the mirror, he mostly saw a block of a person too familiar to appraise. Did Hinata mean his build? He tried to stay fit, wanting to avoid the health problems associated with desk jobs and gaming. He was glad, now, that he’d forced himself to exercise.
“One of the reasons I hated you so much is because I liked your face,” Hinata added.
"I liked you right away because of your face," Tobio said, oddly pleased with himself. He'd been right to like Hinata's face so much. They were dating now.
"You just couldn't stand someone not liking you."
"Lots of people don't like me."
"Not liking you enough to block you, then."
Tobio was quiet. That had been a hard one to parse.
"I would have thought you were amazing," Hinata said. "If you hadn't been a jerk about me."
Tobio still wasn't convinced he'd been a jerk, but he was happy to let Hinata believe whatever he believed. Hinata thinking he was amazing—at least in some way—seemed a good start. He thought Hinata was amazing. He still wasn’t sure if they were really dating or not, but he was sure there was a limit on how often he could ask.
He decided to risk it anyway. "You're my boyfriend," he said, with a questioning tone.
Hinata coloured. "Well, yeah. I guess so. Since you asked."
Tobio contemplated the riches of the universe. Flight to the Top was really such a good game, and this was such a good day. He wondered how soon was too soon to hold Hinata’s perfectly proportioned hand.
"So let’s go explore," Hinata said, brightening visibly.
Tobio nodded. “We need two more players for the match.”
“Right! Maybe Iwaizumi will join. Or… I have a friend, IronWall. I think he’s here somewhere…” Hinata fell into reverie, then shook himself out of it. “Uh—where do you want to go?”
Tobio didn’t care. The con held a teaspoon’s worth of interest to him now Hinata was here and saying unbelievable things like that he’d date him. He wanted to wrap around Hinata and not move for twenty-four hours or more, but he’d settle for following him around.
“There are some artists with Flight art in the artist alley,” Tobio said. “I recognised a few usernames. And there’s a DDR challenge you might be good at. I’d watch.”
“It’s been ages since I competed in that stuff,” Hinata said, rubbing the back of his neck. He really was the most attractive person ever in that red T-shirt, clashing wildly with his hair. It left the skin of his arms exposed, and Tobio wanted to touch it. Later , he thought to himself. Then, worried, he added: maybe. He wouldn’t let himself think about the slim-fit jeans too much, or all the skin under them. It would be too much too fast.
“Where do you want to go?” he asked.
“I’ll do the dance challenge if you do it,” Hinata said. He seemed to warm to the idea before Tobio’s eyes. “Actually… yeah! Let’s see how you do as a newbie.”
Tobio was entirely sure he’d suck. Maybe that was the point. He didn’t care how stupid he looked if it led to him being unblocked by the guy who was just his type.
“Sure,” he said.
“Really?”
“Are we dating?”
“Yeah.”
“Then yeah. Sure. Let’s do it. I’ll take you on.”
Hinata’s eyes widened. His mouth opened. There was a… thing. About being challenged. Tobio could tell. He could feel his own competitive spirit awaken, and he started to wonder what it would be like to play against Hinata. He wanted to try. He wanted to play a stupid 1v1 custom game in Flight and try to press Hinata’s face into the dirt, while Hinata tried the same with him.
There was time. It seemed like there was time, at least, with Hinata looking at him like this. Tobio started to smile.
“Yeah,” Hinata said. His mouth pulled into a similar grin: ferocious, challenging. “I’ll wipe the floor with you.”
Tobio couldn’t wait to be gone from the con. He couldn’t wait for quiet spaces and Hinata under him, or over him. As things stood he had to wait, and he found he didn’t resent that. It would give him time to enjoy the idea of it. In some weird, messed up way, he couldn’t wait to log into his profile at home to trawl Hinata’s account, liking all the stuff Hinata had posted while holding a grudge and excluding him from it. He didn’t feel the need to examine the impulse; it just existed.
“We’ll see,” he said. Hinata’s expression was a mirror of how he felt: excited, spilling over, wanting all sorts of things.
They’d see. Personally, Tobio couldn’t wait to see.