After living for hundreds of years, you learn that each smile means something. 

Sometimes it's a fighting smile, showing how strong you are trying to be. Sometimes it's a fake smile, trying to get others to be happy around you. 

But every once in a while, you'll come across a genuine smile. One that truly shows the joy you feel. 

Those are the smiles Hinata Shouyou loves. The ones that hold a person's unadulterated happiness. He admires the way everyone has a different way of smiling. A different amount of teeth shown or how much their eyes close. 

He learned long ago that it was not how big the smile was that showed how happy they were. 

He had only been sixteen when he was cursed. Cursed to watch everyone he cared about dying one by one. If he had to guess, he would assume whoever had cursed him wanted him to shy away from the world, afraid of loss. If so, they had not succeeded. 

It wasn't like he liked losing the people he cared about, but he hated the idea of being alone even more. It was selfish, really. 

When his family found out, they had not judged him. They had accepted the fact that he would forever be with them, so they allowed him to stay. They gave him an eternal family. Someone who would always be there for him. Even when they were gone. 

He was glad he still looked childish enough to be accepted into school. The rules of learning kept changing and he wasn't sure he wanted to miss out on anything. 

He also needed friends. For him, they weren't an option. It probably helped that he seemed to attract people like moths to a flame. His bright, sunny outlook seemed to draw people in. He wasn't sure if that was good or not. 

---

Hinata had never really had any real interest in volleyball before. It was never something he heard about or saw, so he assumed it wasn't very interesting. But by now, he should have learned that assumptions never lead to anything good. 

This time, it was the fact that he had missed out on such an amazing sport for his whole life. Of course, it wasn't like he wouldn't have any time to play, but he was angry at himself for not trying it sooner. 

The Tiny Giant had shown him the rest of his life in only a few moments. He wanted that life more than anything, but it was so far from his reach. 

He joined the school's volleyball club. Or, more accurately, he created it. Practicing alone was no fun, but sometimes his friends would help him. 

After his first and last game in middle school, he decided to improve. He ran every morning. He practiced alone. He coerced his friends into practicing with him. He somehow joined the neighborhood mother's volleyball team. 

He would do anything to get better. To know what it felt like to win. 

---

Hinata never said he hated anyone. That would never make them smile, and getting people to smile was all he wanted. 

He would admit that Kageyama Tobio got on his nerves more than any other human being he had ever met. And he had met quite a few people. 

Maybe it was because he had never seen a smile like that on a human being who was happy about anything other than another person's suffering. He always seemed to look like he had just successfully committed murder and got away with it. 

Maybe that was fine. Maybe it didn't matter how the smile looked, just why it looked that way. That was what really got him. 

Every time he tried to make the boy smile, he just glared. 

He could make anyone smile, except Kageyama. Even Tsukishima would sometimes smile when he did something stupid. And sometimes he just wanted to make everyone smile. 

After weeks of trying, others may have said he stopped. That he gave up and decided the boy wasn't worth it. 

But everyone was worth it. Everyone deserved to smile. 

He continued to try. 

---

Hinata had years of death in his soul, and a war in his eyes, but no one ever saw. No one would believe his smiles if they did. If they saw the pain and hurt in his soul. Usually, he could forget about it for a while, if only to be able to make sure others felt better. It was always easier for him to make people happy when he was happy. 

Kageyama had smiled a lot since the beginning of the year, but never directly at Hinata. They had gone from murder to happy, but they were always a result of the whole team. 

He loved those smiles, and he wanted to be solely responsible for at least one. It was a selfish thing. 

It was getting late in their third year, and he was running out of time. After graduation, he would likely leave Japan for a while. Until everyone he knew was gone. Just a precaution. He would probably study abroad somewhere in Europe. He had family there that knew of his situation. They would take him in, no matter how much it may hurt to leave Natsu. 

He would miss his team too. 

"Hey, dumbass." He looked at Kageyama as they walked home. He looked oddly serious. "Why so glum? Aren't you happy about that offer?" 

That, of course, only made it worse. He had gotten an offer to play for a professional team abroad, and no matter how much he wanted to accept, it was impossible. No one could know. 

He plastered a smile on his face before replying. 

"I was just thinking. Guess you were right when you said it's not good for me." 

Kageyama smiled. It wasn't the smile. The one he wanted to see before he left, but it was better than before. Better than when he never smiled. 

They walked for a little longer in silence until the fork in the road came into view. 

"Oi, Kageyama?" 

The boy didn't respond, just looked at him in question. An invitation to continue. Hinata was used to this by now. 

"I really like having you as a teammate. I don't know what I would have done without you here as my setter." His cheeks grew red as he continued. He wasn't used to directly complimenting Kageyama like this, but he needed to hear it before he left for good, and if he didn't tell him now, he may never.

The other boy's face was also red, but he had a smile on his face. Hinata's eyes widened at seeing it. 

The  smile. The one he had waited years to see focused on only him. He bathed in its glow as they stared. He could stay like this forever, but, alas, all good things must end. 

"Thanks, Hinata. You're not so bad either. Maybe a little shitty on the receives, but your spikes are amazing."

Hinata beamed back up at him. He would take the compliment, even if it came with an insult. 

They parted ways, headed to their two different lives. 

---

Decades later, when Hinata finally returned to Myagi, he didn't expect to see a little girl who looked exactly like his old friend standing on the train platform crying. 

"What's wrong? Are you lost?" He asked, keeping a safe distance away as to not scare her. 

When she looked at him, she had the same eyes. 

"My mom went to the bathroom and now I can't find her." Her head fell again as her body shook. She looked like she was at the end of primary school. 

"I can help you find her. Is that okay?" 

She nodded, and so they looked. First, he had her look in the bathrooms to make sure she wasn't there. Then he asked her if they had a spot to meet. When she had said no, he took her to the front office. There, a tall woman with sleek black hair stood, looking frantic.

"Mommy!" The girl let go of his hand and ran to the woman. 

They both embraced each other before the girl turned to him. 

"Thank you, mister."

She had a smile on her face. It was the smile. The same one he saw decades ago on an abandoned road, with his best friend by his side.