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Hinata has always felt small. Not necessarily because of his height however. More because the world always felt like it was looking down on him. Earth was too large and he was only a person. (Not a particularly big person, either.)
But there was something he could do about it.
Of course, he'd always work for what he got, never taking hand outs, but sometimes you have to do something you didn't expect of yourself to get what you want, and he knew that well.
He flips the book to the next page and drops the last few white grains of sand into the small cauldron placed in front of his crossed legs and nervously peers into the bowl. The incantation's words aren't in a language he can understand but he's been practicing for days to be able to pronounce it all correctly. Rolling the r's don't come naturally and Latin certainly isn't easy to learn.
The cauldron begins to vibrate and emits a foul scent that makes Hinata crinkles his nose. The heavy leather-bound book he's following said this would happen if he did the spell correctly, but he's naturally still nervous.
It took him months to track down all the ingredients and they certainly weren't easy to find. The majority of them were used up on the spell already, so there was no second shot unless he wants to wait months more. And he was sure that this had to happen now. Just before school started.
The vibrating stops and Hinata pushes the cauldron into the middle of a sigil that he's drawn onto the floor and surrounded with candles. He's desperately hoping that his mother doesn't notice that he pulled back the corner of the carpet in the basement before he can paint over the permanent marker.
Hinata straightens his back and clears his throat and prepares himself. He shuts his eyes and holds perfectly still and speaks the incantation.
It almost sounds like a humming is coming from the bowl and as suddenly as everything starts - it stops. Dead silence. Hinata opens his eyes and slowly looks up and tries to keep himself from gasping.
Directly across from him is a boy, a teenager?, mirroring his actions. But whereas Hinata is like the sun, bright and shining and orange, the boy is the darkness. His soulless eyes match his long hair and his hair matches his attire - all black. Hinata tries to keep a straight face but he's sure the anxiety is evident on his face.
There's a long silence and the demon opens his mouth.
"What do you want."
Oh. He almost sounds... annoyed?
"I - um, I wanted to make a deal." Hinata tries not to stutter and to always make eye contact.
The boy - the demon, Hinata reminds himself, closes his eyes when they open, he looks human. "What do you want," he repeats, emphasizing each word and almost scowling at the other. His head turns to the side just a bit and a few strands of hair fall from where its tied up in the back.
Hinata gulps and takes a breath.
"I want... to fly."
***
It's been years since that night, and Hinata had always assumed that the demon was gone, so this was a surprise. He was so sure it was him, walking in front of him at the finals. The boy certainly shared the same aura the demon had, that was for sure. He could feel it from here and it was making him sick to his stomach.
No. He had to be wrong, Hinata reassured himself. After all, he was clearly human. His eyes were full of determination and he looked to be very serious about what he's doing. After all, why would a powerful demon ever be playing middle school volleyball? Hinata rubs his eyes with the heels of his palms and elects to just keep an eye on him. Just to be safe.
The boy's team, Kitagawa, was up first against a school he didn't recognize and Hinata took the opportunity to watch every move that he made. The pit in Hinata's stomach grew larger when he saw his ability. It just didn't make sense.
"Shouyou?" Izumi asks, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Hinata nearly jumps and looks over at his teammate and quickly nods. "Yep. Yep, don't worry about me."
***
The summer comes and goes faster than Hinata can even think. Karasuno looms in front of him and he can barely believe that he's finally here.
The bubble of excitement he's surrounded with gets popped as soon as he makes eye contact with him. Him, this entity that just won't stop following him around. It just doesn't make sense. Why can't he be left alone?
Hinata huffs to himself quietly and elects to just pretends to know nothing and walks into the school gym with his regular bouncy personality. He sticks his hand out to him and gives a giant smile, "I'm Hinata Shouyou. It's nice to meet you."
*******
Kageyama rolls over in bed, pulling the blanket over his head. Hinata scooches over closer to him and buries his face into the top of his head. He knows he's not asleep yet - he never falls asleep first, even if he's awake all night.
"Can I ask you something?" Hinata mutters, so quiet he can barely even hear himself.
From somewhere under the blankets, he hears his boyfriend give a groan. Probably a yes, if he had to assume. They definitely drank too much tonight, and judging from how Kageyama is right now, he's probably sobering up a bit. But Hinata is still feeling it harshly and there's no time like the present, he always says.
"... This is gonna sound really dumb, but are you a demon?" Hinata sits in silence waiting for the answer.
There's a long silence, then a sigh.
Kageyama shifts, "I just always thought that was something you didn't want to discuss."
"I -" Hinata isn't really sure what to say. "I thought I was just losing my mind. Like, for years."
Kageyama snorts and unburies himself. "Well, you did attach your soul to mine. What did you expect?"
"What? What does that mean?" Hinata frowns. He doesn't remember doing something like that.
Kageyama rolls his eyes. "It was all in the book. Didn't you read everything?"
...
"I guess not," Hinata settles back into his side of the bed. "I'm glad it worked out for the best though."
Kageyama snorts again and rests his head against Hinata's chest.
"Yeah, me too, dumbass."