Archive of Our Own

Hinata was not the type of man to eavesdrop.

Really. Hinata valued privacy, both his own and of others, but life seemed to have had it out for him. Even when he did not want to, Hinata had found himself listening in on way too many conversations than he’d like.

In his first year, he entered the clubroom early because Natsu left a large fake tattoo of a unicorn on his back that he didn’t have time to scrub off that morning. His plan was to get dressed in less than a minute then run off into the gym before anyone could notice.

Except, he heard footsteps as he was taking off his pants and he panicked. Shirtless and afraid, Hinata jumped behind one of the large metal cabinets and hid.

Just as he did, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi walked in. At first, Hinata was thankful that he chose to hide because Tsukishima would make fun of the ‘tattoo’ until they graduated. Hinata found himself regretting his choices a few seconds later when he realised that his two friends were in the middle of a disagreement. A heated one, it seemed.

In less than three minutes, Hinata learnt that his two teammates have not only been in a relationship since they were kids, but that Yamaguchi wanted Tsukishima to say ‘I love you’ more and Tsukishima wanted Yamaguchi to be more physically affectionate. It ended with the two of them making out and promising to work on things.

It was awkward. Very awkward.

Hinata couldn’t look them in the eyes for a few days.

In his second year, Hinata found himself searching amongst the bushes because Narita dropped his uniform button and he really wanted to give it to Kinoshita after their graduation ceremony.

Hinata must have been really tiny to not be noticed despite his orange hair because he was only five feet away from Tanaka when the second year attempted to confess his love for Kiyoko for the nth time. Typically, Hinata was immune to Tanaka’s speeches about Kiyoko. Except this time, Kiyoko accepted his confession.

Before Hinata could pop out of his spot and cheer them on, the new couple started kissing.

For ten minutes.

Hinata wanted the ground to swallow him up.

In Hinata’s last year at Karasuno, he managed to avoid most private conversations. He figured he was safe because he was eavesdropped on by Yachi when he confessed to Kageyama. Hinata thought that his ‘curse’ had been cleared after that.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

Maybe Hinata’s immunity only worked within the Karasuno grounds because that was the only logical reason for why he ended up stuck hiding behind the shelves at Sakanoshita while Coach Ukai and Takeda-sensei had an argument about marriage. Apparently being together for three years was a long enough time frame for Takeda-sensei to consider engagement, but not long enough for Coach Ukai. 

It was like listening to his parents fight all over again except this time it was about getting a marriage, not ending one.

Hinata felt like the fifteen minutes he was there was fifteen minutes too long for his poor soul.

It wasn’t like eavesdropping was a habit of his. In fact, Hinata prayed to God it happened less . He had never been trapped somewhere while being forced to listen in to any of his friends getting it on but he’d been close.

(That one night in the MSBY’s changing room was more than enough to traumatise him. He couldn’t never see Sakusa and Atsumu the same since)

Despite his best efforts, eavesdropping became his ‘thing’.

He did not quite expect for the ‘curse’ to happen in his very own home.

Kageyama and him have never really grasped the concept of ‘privacy’. They took ‘private calls’ while the other was still in the room, used each other’s phones to the point that their friends couldn’t tell who was texting anymore and even took dumps with the bathroom door open so that they could continue whatever conversation they had.

Point being; they weren’t the type to hide things from each other.

So, when Hinata came home to hushed whispers from behind their bedroom door, it was only natural that he grew curious.

Again, he did not have a habit of eavesdropping.

But… Perhaps this time he may admit that he did press his ear against the door to listen in for only a few seconds. When Hinata realised that his husband was talking to Miwa, he decided to back off and give them privacy until Kageyama said something that made him freeze.

“I don’t know, Nee-san. What if Shouyou doesn’t want to?”

“It’s really important to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but –”

“Then talk to him about it. You shouldn’t drop the idea because you aren’t sure of what he thinks. What if he wants it too? What if down the line, you’ll regret not talking about it earlier?”

“I know, I know. But I don’t know how to bring it up…”

“Smack him in the head and go ‘Shouyou. I want to adopt.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Isn’t that how you proposed?”

“Shut up!”

Hinata froze. Then he ran.

Back out the front door, down the flight of stairs and straight into the bushes. (Maybe he tripped on his way out and fell into the bushes, but that was a moot point).

Adoption.

Holy shit. Kageyama wanted to adopt.

It was not that Hinata didn’t want children, he did. Both him and Kageyama have talked about the topic countless times and they planned on raising a family far in the future . They just got married less than a year ago and were still at the peak of their careers.

How could a couple like them have a child this soon?

Although, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi just had a baby and they were the same age as Hinata and Kageyama. But they had the time to raise one since Yamaguchi worked at an electronics store and they had a nanny for when he was out. Also, Tsukishima’s practices weren’t as demanding as theirs since he was on a Division 2 team.

Well, Bokuto did have triplets on the way and he was on a Division 1 team. However, he had Akaashi and Akaashi wasn’t a professional athlete so things were slightly more manageable…

Then there was Atsumu and Sakusa in the process of adopting a beautiful baby girl… And they were both… on the same team…

Wait a minute.

Oh shit. Did Kageyama have baby fever ?

Hinata sat up with his head poking comically through the top of the bushes like he was a character in a Looney Tunes episode. His eyes seemed to brighten up almost like the lightbulb that would appear on top of a cartoon character’s head when they came to a realisation.

All of their friends and family have moved on to the phase of their lives where they have either started a family or were seriously considered one. Those that didn’t were those that made the decision to not have children (aka Asahi and Noya since they preferred the life of travelling around compared to settling down and agreed that children deserved a stable home).

Oikawa and Iwaizumi were the only two people that had the same plans as them. Despite being married, Oikawa still played for Argentina and Iwaizumi still trained the JNT so they figured that raising a child while being in a long-distance relationship wasn’t a smart idea. But they already had a surrogate ready for when Oikawa returned to Japan and they could start that phase of their lives.

Hinata thought that he and Kageyama were on the same page. They were both too volleyball obsessed to have a child while balancing their careers. Their days were already jammed packed with practices and promotional work. The rare free time they had was used to rest or spend time with their friends and family.

Kageyama wanting to talk about adoption this early on was definitely a surprise to Hinata.

Mind you, it wasn’t a bad surprise. Hinata just didn’t expect it this soon.

It took the man a total of five seconds to think about whether he would be okay with the sudden change in plan. The only reason it didn’t take him any faster was that their volleyball practices were going to be slightly difficult to plan around but Hinata knew that they could make it work.

Hinata loved Kageyama just as much as he loved volleyball. Hinata knew that his body was not going to stay young forever and volleyball would start to take up less space in his life, but Kageyama was going to be with him even after volleyball. Kageyama was his forever.

If Hinata had to choose between volleyball and Kageyama, he’d pick Kageyama any day.

Fifteen year old Hinata would definitely not understand his actions, but twenty five year old Hinata had experienced what life was like at the top. It was glorious, perfect and exactly like what he hoped it would be. 

Except, his time with Kageyama felt exactly like that and more. He remembered holding his Olympic medal and realising that that was the second most important piece of metal to him. The wedding ring tucked inside of his shirt couldn’t be replaced by some internationally renowned medallion.

So, if Kageyama wanted a child then Hinata would do his damn hardest to make it work.

(After he got out of the bushes and apologised to the poor gardener that had to watch him think about his life decisions).

Hinata wanted to be ready and prepared for when Kageyama approached him about the topic so he started to look up adoption agencies and watch parents on YouTube talk about their journey.

He did consider contacting Yachi and Miwa about surrogacy since it may happen earlier than any of them planned for, but decided to leave that to after him and Kageyama talked about it. It seemed like Kageyama was leaning towards adoption anyway.

Hinata was curious when Kageyama planned to bring it up. It had been a week since Kageyama’s conversation with Miwa and he hadn’t brought it up once. It was possible that the setter simply needed time to collect his thoughts. Hinata didn’t mind. It gave him a chance to collect more information.

Then again, when Hinata attempted to ‘collect more information’, he usually ended up just watching those YouTube videos about adoption and getting lost in the entertainment of it all rather than soaking up the details like he planned to. He couldn’t help it, they were edited in a manner that was perfect for someone with a nonexistent attention span like himself.

That was how Kageyama found him at home one day. Lying on the couch with a bowl of grapes and watching two dads in Tokyo talk about what it was like to adopt their children from another country and bring him over. It wasn’t even the video Hinata had initially clicked on but he couldn’t stop himself from falling down the hole that was the YouTube algorithm.

“What are you watching?”

Hinata jumped up in the air like a cat, his grapes falling all over the couch like marbles. Kageyama was too quiet when he arrived home. It almost made Hinata want to buy him a bell or install a motion detector at their front door.

“Jesus Christ… I’m just watching this video about these dads that adopted their kid from Argentina.”

“Why is the video in English if they’re in Japan?”

“They probably did it so more people could watch their videos.”

“Can you even understand English?”

“There are subtitles!”

“No, there aren’t.”

Turning back to the screen, Hinata paused the video and was about to show Kageyama that there were subtitles when he realised the lack of a small black box at the bottom of the screen.

Huh. Guess there really weren’t any subtitles.

Trust Hinata’s attention deficit brain to get too distracted by the babies, the cinematic shots and the voices of the two men speaking endlessly to even realise that he couldn't understand the video.

Not wanting to admit defeat but also realising that he couldn’t win, Hinata refused to turn back around to face Kageyama and continued to play the video. Having lived with his husband’s antics for a few years, Kageyama snorted and flicked the back of Hinata’s head before going into their shared room to wash up.

It was only later that Hinata realised it had been the perfect moment for Kageyama to bring up the idea of adoption but he didn’t.

It had been two weeks since Kageyama’s conversation with Miwa. Hinata already had both a physical planner with all the information he could possibly need as well as a softcopy version for easy access to different links and email addresses.

Despite being ready for Kageyama’s talk, his husband never broached the subject. Not even once. He didn’t even look like he had something he wanted to tell Hinata. It was almost like Kageyama forgot about it.

Hinata knew that wasn’t the case. Kageyama seemed so worried about it on the phone, he probably just needed more time or was waiting for the right moment.

It was fine. Hinata could wait. He pinned over his best friend for nearly three years before they started dating, afterall. He could wait a few more days.

In the meantime, Hinata decided that he should read up more on how to… well, parent.

As he went through his usual sources of information (blogs and vlogs), he realised that a lot of parents would reference a parenting book or two at some point in their videos/articles. Hinata even remembered seeing some parenting books in his own childhood home, likely from when his parents were pregnant with him and Natsu.

Obviously he had to buy some of his own.

Just a few.

Ten books barely made a dent in their account anyway.

Nevermind the fact that both him and Tobio have Kindles that they use for reading books. Having the physical copies made him feel like he was one of them . One of the parents in the vlogs and blogs. He even bought a small bookshelf and a tiny plant to put in the empty space beside the books.

(He’d get to the actual reading part later).

When the bookshelf was up on the wall and the plant was placed neatly beside it, Hinata took a moment to admire his handiwork and snapped some pictures. Maybe he’d start his own blog one day too. Though, writing was never his strong suit. Maybe he’d create an Instagram page for it.

Later that night, Kageyama arrived home from practice. This time Hinata could tell when Kageyama walked through the door because in addition to the books and the shelf, he bought a bell. As much as he wanted to tie it around Kageyama’s neck, he didn’t want his husband to actually murder him before they could grow old together. So, he bought a tiny bell to hang on their front door knob.

“Shouyou?”

“Yessss, Tobio~?”

“Why do we have a bookshelf here?”

“For the books!”

“Wow. Really? I thought it was for the plates and dishes.”

“Oi!”

Hinata jumped out of bed and let the blanket fall on the floor as he made his way to Kageyama to give him a piece of his mind. As he reached the end of the hallway, he paused in his steps.

If Kageyama went through the books, the idea of adoption would have to trigger something in his head. There’s a high chance he was going to bring the topic up once Hinata walked in. Knowing how anxious Kageyama was on his call with Miwa, Hinata calmed down and walked normally into the living room.

Just as he expected, Kageyama was already immersed in one of the books. He hadn’t even put his duffle bag down yet, it was still slung over his shoulder. Not wanting to jump the gun and ask Tobio what he thought about adoption, Hinata came up behind his husband and wrapped his arms around Kageyama’s small waist.

After a few minutes of silence, Hinata decided to speak up and prompt Kageyama with a question.

“Whatcha reading there, Tobi?”

“One of your books, dumbass.”

“Anything catches your eye?”

“Yeah. What the fuck is a knot and why can only an alpha do them?”

Ripping his body away from Kageyama, Hinata snapped forward to grab the book out of his hand. Of course his dumb husband had to grab the one book he didn’t intend on buying.

Nine out of the ten books Hinata had in his shopping cart were related to adoption and raising a child. Only one of it was related to pregnancy (because he still wanted to make sure surrogacy was on the table if Kageyama wanted that and they were definitely going to help take care of Yachi/Miwa if that were the case).

Except, Hinata made his order at 4am and he didn’t read through the summary. All he saw was a book cover with the words ‘Pregnancy for Beginners’ and an image of a man on the cover. He assumed it was a book about pregnancy written for men. Not that it was a book about pregnancy in men. Apparently it was a guide to writing ‘MPreg’.

Hinata had no idea what it was when he received the book and a quick Google search made him wish he remained in the dark. Now, Kageyama had opened the book and read a few paragraphs. Far enough to encounter the knotting process and the (fictional) existence of Alphas. 

Hinata wanted to d-word.

It had been a full month since Hinata began looking into adoption and raising children. A whole thirty days since Kageyama’s call and yet the man still had not said anything about it.

Hinata had begun to wonder if the whole conversation was just an auditory hallucination but he had asked to use Kageyama’s phone and saw that there was indeed a phone call to Miwa on the day Hinata eavesdropped.

At this point, Hinata was thinking about bringing up the topic himself. Hinata had done too much damn research for him to not talk about it. Hell, even if Kageyama decided to drop the idea of adoption, Hinata was going to make him sit through a five hour presentation, complete with powerpoint slides, on how adoption for queer couples worked.

Hinata felt like he was back in high school, except he didn’t think he worked this hard on any of his school projects. He had a feeling Tsukishima and Yachi would be proud of him, if they wouldn’t also be mad that apparently he had the capability of research this whole time and could have saved them so much grief in high school.

Frowning, Hinata rolled over to laze on top of Kageyama. He plopped his chin down on his folded arms that were resting on Kageyama’s chest and stared at his sleeping husband. It was a weekend morning and they had no plans that day but Hinata couldn’t fall back asleep. Besides, the sun was rising and Kageyama was going to have to get up soon anyway.

“Hng…” Kageyama began to stir and Hinata adjusted himself so that more of his body weight was leaning on Kageyama’s chest.

Hinata knew how heavy he was. He did not endure Iwaizumi’s rigorous and hellish training regimen to not come out with muscles. Him and Kageyama worked out together often and Iwaizumi kept track of their stats so Hinata hoped he was heavy enough to wake Kageyama up by laying on top of him.

“Hng… Mornin’, Shou– Wha…?”

Kageyama finally opened his eyes but instead of seeing his husband on the pillow beside him, he woke up to Hinata’s face inches away from his own and studying it as though Kageyama was a puzzle to be solved.

“Hm…”

“What the… Why are you staring at me?” Kageyama frowned but brought both of his arms up to wrap around Hinata’s waist and hold the smaller man closer.

“Is there something you want to ask me, Tobio?”

“What?”

The poor man was still drowsy from waking up and had to wrack his brain to try and remember what Hinata could be referring to.

Kageyama did not think he had done anything wrong recently, neither of their birthdays or anniversaries were approaching and he knew for a fact that he had already proposed to Hinata so he did not need to ask him to marry him one more time.

“No?”

“Nothing?”

“I don’t… What’s this about, Shouyou?” Kageyama’s frown eased and he was looking at Hinata with a confused and slightly concerned expression. “Are you okay?”

Not wanting to worry Kageyama, Hinata relaxed a little and tilted his head to the side, letting his cheek squish against his own arm.

“I’m fine… I just… I’ve been doing some research on something.”

“Something?”

Kageyama looked so lost and confused. He stayed silent and waited for Hinata to continue with what he was going to say.

Realising that Hinata had to be the one to bring it up, Hinata felt himself blushing and proceeded to hide his face in his arms. He was embarrassed to talk about it because not only did he have to admit to Kageyama that he had eavesdropped, but it was starting to kick in just how much Hinata had done based on hearing a small snippet of their conversation.

Hinata mumbled something but it was muffled by his arms so Kageyama had not heard what he said.

“What was that?”

The smaller man looked back up with a pout and decided to just spill it out.

“Adoption.”

“Adoption?”

“Yeah. I… I overheard you talking about it with Miwa-nee.”

“What– Oh!” Kageyama’s eyes lit up with recognition. The call was so long ago and they had been busy with JNT events that it slipped his mind. “That’s what you were thinking about?”

“Yeah… I did some research because I thought you were going to bring it up but you never did.”

“Dumbass.” Kageyama brought one of his hands up to squeeze and shake Hinata’s cheek until the other man complained about it. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“The research?”

“The waiting. You can always talk to me about things that were on your mind.”

“Then why didn’t you bring it up yourself?”

“All the JNT and Adlers stuff got in the way so I kinda just… forgot about it.”

“You–?!” Hinata straightened up, rising a little from his comfy spot on Kageyama’s chest and putting more weight down on the man. “You forgot about it?! I thought it was important to you?!”

“It is! I just figured I’d bring it up on our next day off and we can drop by a shelter if you’re interested!”

A shelter?

“What?”

“What?”

Hinata sat up properly, but still remained on top of Kageyama. If it were any other day, Hinata would have probably instigated something since Kageyama was underneath him, shirtless and in a compromising position. Today, there was something else that took up Hinata’s attention instead.

“What do you mean we can just ‘drop by a shelter’?! That’s not how it works!”

“Wh– It is! I mean there are other means to do it but Miwa-nee said that going to a shelter is the best option!”

“She said what ?!” Hinata was baffled. Miwa was an amazing sister-in-law and one of the smartest people he has ever met. It made no sense to Hinata why Miwa would recommend a shelter . “That does not sound ethical or legal, Tobio.”

“Does not– What?! Shouyou, I’m not referring to those shady buildings to buy an illegally bred animal. I’m talking about the nearby local animal shelters.”

“Hold up, what?”

Hinata’s brain screeched to a halt.

Kageyama wanted to adopt a pet . An animal . Not an actual human baby (yet).

Looking back, Hinata only stayed long enough to listen until Miwa said something about adoption but he didn’t stick around for the rest of the conversation. Not once in that snippet did they mention that Kageyama wanted a baby. Hinata simply took the idea and ran with it (literally).

“Holy shit.”

“Shouyou?”

“Holy shit, I’m an idiot.”

The smaller man groaned and flopped back to his side of the bed, mashing his face against his pillow and curling up. He could not look at Kageyama, not when every inch of his face and ears were burning red from embarrassment.

“Well, yes you are but what is it this time?” Kageyama scooted over to hug Hinata from the back and rested his chin on Hinata’s arm.

Hinata stayed silent. He had no idea how he was going to escape this conversation with his pride intact but he didn’t want to actually run away because he had already made Kageyama worry once that morning and wanted to avoid doing it again.

“I… I didn’t know you were talking about adopting an animal…”

“Hm? What do you–” The setter cut himself off and Hinata could practically hear the gears turning inside Kageyama’s head. Things were starting to line up despite Hinata praying that it didn’t. Heck, Hinata could feel Kageyama’s grin grow bigger and bigger as he thought back to the last few weeks. “Oh my God.”

“Don’t–”

“ You were thinking about adopting a baby!”

“... It didn’t necessarily have to be a baby… I looked into toddlers and teens as well…”

Kageyama burst out laughing and had to roll back onto his back because it was too early to laugh straight into Hinata’s ear. He could barely contain himself. His hand was clutching his stomach and in between laughs he was wheezing out how he was in pain from his belly cramping up.

Hinata loved it when Kageyama laughed. In fact, he had an album on his phone of moments he caught Kageyama laughing at home. However, he had a different view on things when Kageyama was laughing at him .

Though, Hinata was too embarrassed to fight back so he curled further into his side of the bed and felt his blush spread further down his neck. If he were to heat up any further he might be able to pretend he had a fever.

“God. You’re so fucking cute, Shouyou.”

Hinata felt Kageyama wrap himself back around Hinata like an octopus and kiss the top of his head multiple times. He was still chuckling but he seemed to have contained himself better.

“I thought you were just watching those YouTubers because they were cool or that you were reading those books about adoption and children because most of our friends were growing their families so you wanted to understand what they were going through. I didn’t realise– Pft!” Kageyama couldn’t help but stifle another giggle that tried to escape.

“Shut up. I’m dumb.”

“You’re not, you’re adorable. A dumbass, but a very thoughtful and cute dumbass.”

Hinata finally lifted his face from his pillow and it took Kageyama everything he had in him to not react at his husband’s very red face and the cute pout he had on. They were both adult men, Hinata had no right looking that cute.

“You’re just saying that.”

“I’m not.” Kageyama leaned forward to peck Hinata’s cheek. “It puts me at ease knowing that when we do begin the adoption process, you’re enthusiastic and ready for it.”

“Are you referring to an animal or a human this time?”

“A human.”

Hinata sighed and rolled over so that he was facing Kageyama once again. He was still embarrassed as hell but the worst of it had passed.

“So… A pet?”

“A cat. I’ve always wanted one since I was a kid but Miwa was allergic to it so we never had one at home.”

“Okay, we can get a cat.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to watch some YouTube videos and order some books before making a decision–” Kageyama was cut off by Hinata planting his hand firmly onto Kageyama’s mouth. Hinata could feel the vibrations of Kageyama holding back his laughter and considered kicking his husband off the bed.

“Shut up. We can get a cat, just give me time to do some research on what we have to do to take care of one. Then, we can go to a shelter.”

Kageyama nodded and Hinata removed his hand.

“Are you sure you want to go to the shelter? We can find a surrogate–”

The setter couldn't even finish his sentence before he found himself being rolled off the edge of their bed and landing on the cold, hard floor.

Later that week, Hinata and Kageyama found themselves walking around one of the animal centres back in Miyagi. Yachi had volunteered there once so she recommended the place to them.

Based on their research, they decided on a few breeds that they were leaning towards and a few breeds they definitely did not want. Though, the main factor in which cat they were to end up adopting would be based on how it interacted with Kageyama.

Despite Kageyama’s love for animals, most animals did not love him back. It was something that had bothered Kageyama for years but it had eased up when Bokuto’s dog and Ushijima’s cat had started to take a liking to the setter whenever the couple would visit their friend’s houses. (Yachi’s pet snake was not fond of Kageyama but the feeling was mutual so Kageyama was alright with that).

Due to Kageyama’s history with animals, they wanted to interact with the cats in the shelter first before deciding on who to take home. At first, Hinata thought Kageyama was bluffing when he said he was an animal repellent but when they arrived in the open area, Hinata was baffled at how many cats refused to approach them yet approached most of the other visitors.

“Tobi, are you okay?” Hinata turned to ask his husband, worried that the rejection was getting to the setter but Kageyama looked surprisingly fine.

“Yeah, don’t worry. Not all of them left. Look there.” Kageyama pointed to a small pale orange cat hiding in the corner and staring at the couple. It was far away from most of the other cats and seemed like it wanted to approach the couple but didn’t want to leave its spot.

“Let’s check that one out.”

The two of them cautiously made their way to the cat. Kageyama was kind of expecting it to hiss and run away, but instead the cat looked up at them and stepped forward. They noticed that she had a collar with a pink tag that signified that the cat was female.

Hinata was the first one to squat down and put his hand out the little kitty to sniff. As it did so, Hinata silently signalled for Kageyama to do the same. The other man was hesitant but he knelt beside Hinata and waited for the cat to finish sniffing Hinata’s hand first. 

“What if she doesn’t like me?” Kageyama whispered, almost as though his voice was going to chase the little one away.

“Then we’ll look at the other cats.”

“But I kind of like her.”

“That fast?”

“She reminds me of you…” 

If they weren’t trying to avoid sudden movement around the cat, Hinata would have smacked Kageyama for being so cheesy out in public. Instead, he took a hold of Kageyama’s hand and brought it forward.

To both their delight, the cat did not back away. Instead, when it was done sniffing and inspecting Kageyama’s hand, it nudged its head underneath Kageyama’s hand as though it was asking for scratches. Kageyama complied and Hinata watched as Kageyama’s signature ‘wonky smile’ started to appear on his husband’s face.

The two of them stayed in that corner for a few hours. During feeding time, the volunteers let them feed the cat and told the couple more about her. Apparently she was only recently brought to them. She was a rescue and they didn’t know much about where she was from, only that she was very friendly but tended to stay away from most of the other cats. Because of that, she was the last left from her litter to be adopted because most visitors did not notice her when they walked in.

The couple stayed there a little longer, just spending more time with the cat and the volunteers so that they could talk more to them about how to care for the cat. Hinata knew that Kageyama’s mind was already set to adopting the cat. He had not let the cat out of his lap apart from when it used the litter box and when it was time to eat.

An hour away from the shelter’s closing time, one of the volunteers approached them about filling up the paperwork for adoption and Hinata stood up to follow her.

As he was filling up the forms, he noticed something written underneath the cat’s information sheet.

“Oh? Why is her name only listed as ‘S’?”

“Oh, that’s an error on our part. We usually use the same letter when we name animals from the same litter as they come in. Her litter was the 19th litter here so they were all named something that started with ‘S’. Whoever was in charge must have forgotten to fill it with what they named her. I think I know who did it, do you want me to go and find him?”

Hinata pondered for a moment and decided not to trouble the volunteers. Most animals get renamed when they get adopted and Hinata had a feeling Kageyama would want to pick something out for the cat anyway.

When Hinata got back to the open play area, he sat back down beside Kageyama and explained that the volunteers were getting the things ready for them to take the cat home. He also explained why the cat’s tag had an S on it.

“Hm… Should we name her something that starts with an S too?”

“Sure!”

“Well, I did say she reminded me of you. Should we name her ‘Shouyou’?”

Hinata gave Kageyama a blank stare. There were a million reasons why Hinata was against that idea, the main one being that it would get extremely confusing to tell if Kageyama was calling for the cat or his own husband back at home.

“Okay… Not ‘Shouyou’ then… Hm…”

The two of them looked down at the cat asleep in Kageyama’s lap and bounced off a few name ideas.

“Suga?”

“No.”

“Saeko?”

“Sakusa?”

“No.”

“Suna?”

“No.”

“Sachir–”

“A name that is not shared with any of our friends, Shouyou.”

“Pftt.” Hinata pouted and crossed his arms. “How about you try naming her then?”

“Hm.” Kageyama looked down and studied the little feline curled up against him. Her fur stood out the most. It was a beautiful shade of orange that almost reminded him of the skies when he visited Brazil. “How about ‘Sunset’?”

“Sunset? Why not ‘Sunrise’ then? ‘Sunset’ is kinda gloomy. It means the sun is leaving.”

“Sunsets are pretty.”

“So are sunrises.”

“Nothing is pretty about being awake early enough that you catch the sunset.”

“Sunrise.”

“Sunset.”

The two of them could tell that they were holding back on pouncing one another. If it weren’t for the cat, they would be rolling around the floor by then. It didn’t matter that they were two grown men and professional athletes, Hinata and Kageyama were Hinata and Kageyama wherever they were.

Thankfully, the volunteer came over to them and passed them the paperwork and carrier for whenever they were ready to head on home. She helped the two men wake the cat and taught them how to put her inside her carrier.

“Have you guys figured out a name for her?”

“Sunrise.” “Sunset.”

The couple announced at the same time and proceeded to glare at each other. The volunteer laughed as she closed the door to the carrier and packed up some cat food for them.

“I’m assuming it’s sun-themed because of her fur? How about ‘Sun’ then?”

“Nah, that feels too short…”

Kageyama stared at the cat inside the carrier as it curled up and fell back asleep. “How about ‘Sunny’ as a nickname?”

“A nickname?” Hinata turned back to his partner with a questioning look. “A nickname for what?”

“For both ‘Sunset’ and ‘Sunrise’. That way we both get to name her what we want but we use the same nickname so she won’t get confused.”

“That’s… Actually a smart idea. Wow.”

“What?! Why do you look so surprised?! Oi, dumbass!” Kageyama grabbed a handful of Hinata’s hair and began squeezing it, ignoring Hinata’s protest of how he was going to bald faster than everyone else because of Kageyama.

“Fine, fine– Ouch! Fine! It’s a smart idea that makes sense because you’re a genius, Almighty Wise One!”

“Better.” Kageyama let go of Hinata’s hair and carefully picked up the carrier.

The two of them thanked the volunteers before walking out of the shelter. Outside, Kageyama felt the carrier move and peaked in to see Sunny looking around with her big, shining eyes. He felt a smile form on his face and lifted the carrier so that the cat could see more of the world around them.

“Let’s go home, Sunny.”