I low-key got back into haikyuu and that meant reading fics again so here we are:

★ - my favorites

Akaashia & Kageyama

• angled approach by arsenicjay

It starts with a prickly feeling on the back of his neck that tells him he’s being watched.

Or, Akaashi unwittingly finds himself an admirer in the form of one slightly awkward Karasuno setter.

Kuroo/Kenma

• dreaming of you more by whitemiists

Kenma doesn't think he and Kuroo make any sort of sense. Maybe they were a mistake, he thinks. Never meant to be friends. Never meant to be. Maybe they need to take a step back.

Kuroo's never been more ready for a step forward.

• First, Second by togekissies

A few minutes tick by until Kenma realizes that Kuroo isn’t going to continue without prompting, sighs as if this is the most annoying thing he’s done all day, and says, “Why did he break up with you, Kuroo?”

“He said,” Kuroo says, eyes closed, “that there was no way he’d be able to compete with you.”

-

Kuroo and Kenma talk about other people they've kissed.

• Sour Cats by togekissies ★

It takes two days for Kenma to figure Kuro out, and one more to put them back together again.

((I love the characterization of Kenma here...it just fit my own take on his character well and kuroken is just so soft and subtle so I always gravitate towards that kind of kuroken fic))

• like glowing by helwolves ★

“But how do I know?”

“Well, you could just kiss him.”

“What? No, I—no. What if he doesn’t want to be kissed?”

“You could... ask him first?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Kuroo-san...”

“Oh, dude, I know exactly what you should do!”

((cute cute cute yes @ kuroo with a hardcore crush on kenma being a mess around him...my type of fic))

• let the river rush in by brella

Kenma’s nestled against the side of the bathtub, wheat-gold hair clipped back in twin barrettes decorated with plastic cherries, clicking fastidiously away on his PS Vita. “I just said I needed your help.”

“And here I am, giving it,” Tetsurou says with a long-suffering sigh, approaching the sink. “At nine o’clock. On a school night. Because I am—”

“Kind, I know,” Kenma interrupts.

—

Kuroo retouches Kenma’s roots and figures some things out.

• the golden route by astersandstuffs

“It’s a fucking three-and-a-half hour walk,” Kenma points out, on the subject of the cat’s home in a town inside Ama District. “Why aren’t we taking the train?”

“That cancels out the point of a road trip,” Kuroo argues.

“Railroads are roads.”

“We’re currently leading a frugal existence.” Or, in which two childhood friends go on a road trip and Kenma builds up a quest.

• teach me the way home by icespyders

Don’t go far off, not even for a day, because — because — I don’t know how to say it: a day is long and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Kuroo and Kenma grow up in transit.

Bokuto/Kuroo

• if it works by arsenicjay

“Do you think that’s progress?” Akaashi asks. He can’t help the dubious note in his voice.

“They get so caught up in each other that they forget everyone else,” Kenma points out, without bothering to look up. Just continues tap tap tapping on his PSP. “Not that they realise.”

“I suppose not,” Akaashi says, after a moment. He glances over at Kenma. “This is turning out harder than we thought.”

There's an odd tension between Bokuto and Kuroo, one that everyone seems to be able to pick up on. Everyone of course, except for themselves.

Bokuto/Akaashi

• if kisses were fishes, then i'd be an ocean by norio ★

Akaashi needs a fake date partner, so he grabs the first person he sees.

((i...love bokuto in this?? I feel like he's often written as someone pretty oblivious but he's perceptive and open in this fic while akaashi is the more oblivious one, it's just interesting. also this fic is just super cute, all I could ever ask for in a fake dating fic))

Iwaizumi/Oikawa

• The Perfect Slytherin by paranthelion

Oikawa Tooru receives chocolates spiked with love potion for Valentine's Day. Naturally, it's Iwaizumi who suffers.

• bloom by newamsterdam

Some people develop powers as they grow older; others don't. This fact doesn’t bother Oikawa Tooru too much, at least not when he’s young. Then, at eight years old, Iwaizumi Hajime discovers his own ability. He’s stronger than anyone could be, given human limitations. It’s a broad and useful power, one that could take Iwaizumi down any number of paths in the future. He’s discovered his ability early, too, and all of the adults in the neighborhood say that he’s got a bright future ahead of him.

Oikawa could’ve told them that ages ago—he’s always known Iwaizumi is special, long before he started being able to lift furniture with one hand. Everything Iwaizumi does, Oikawa has always done with him. So he goes home and waits for his own ability to manifest.

Nearly ten years later, on the eve of the last tournament of his high school volleyball career, he’s still waiting.

Kageyama/Hinata

• where the night goes by bigspoonnoya

When their bond loses the immediate context of volleyball, they're left to consider why it's still so vital and important.

Meeting again, by chance, six years later.