Chapter Text
In his life, Kageyama Tobio had experienced a lot of bad days. The death of his father, the day his grandparents told his mother they wished she had died with him, the day he lost his team, lost Kindaichi, and Kunimi. But today was a runner-up, for sure.
With his ears already ringing from being hit on the head by a volleyball, Tobio was losing patience with the orange shorty babbling in front of him. But then the words “King of the Court” passed his rapidly moving lips. Tobio’s lips twisted into an ugly sneer and his fingers twitched with the desire to skewer him on his sharpened staff, forgetting his ring was away right now, on the other side of the gym with his school bag, carelessly shrugged off his shoulder the minute he’d been done with classes.
He might have been thankful that the upperclassmen chose that moment to enter and start grilling him, if he weren’t nailed in place by fear and awful nerves and still feeling the ache those hated words always left him with. Only now they weren’t being uttered by the sharp, low and angry voice of the one who was meant to be his partner. Now they were being thrown back at him by some random clumsy piece of shit who was constantly, carelessly challenging him without the talent to back it up.
Tobio pushed that away and focused on greeting his new senpais respectfully and trying not to look like “a worthless dictator”. He needed a second chance and he wasn’t going to get one acting like he did with Kindaichi and the rest of his team. Already, the harsh look on the bald one’s face wasn’t promising and Tobio winced internally, preparing. Sure enough, the bald guy started yelling, though he was immediately pulled back by a guy whose non-threatening, gentle eyes and normal-guy smile really put Tobio at ease.
“How tall are you?” Normal guy asked.
Tobio glanced behind him at the orange dumbass who had jumped to get his attention after staring warily at the newcomers. Whatever Hinata was saying was drowned out easily and Tobio fought off a vindictive smile at how easily he was being ignored. “180 cm.”
“Hello!” Hinata exclaimed, interrupting the bald-guy like only a true moron would. He held a very defensive stance and his eyes were constantly moving. Tobio may have been nervous, but at least he could hide it.
The upperclassmen’s surprise at Hinata was reassuring. At least Tobio wasn’t alone in not being able to take him seriously. Maybe if Hinata was pushed to the back of the club, Tobio’s time at Karasuno wouldn’t be the nightmare Tobio had feared living in since the moment the shorty walked through the door. Still, jumping power, speed, fight. If those were the things their senpai’s valued, Tobio might be right to worry.
“I may be small,” Hinata piped up at the way Tanaka measured him up and laughed. “But I can jump. I’ll become the ace of Karasuno, you’ll see!”
Tobio almost laughed, but the idea was more pathetic than it was humorous. The nerve! He couldn’t wait to destroy this upstart. Though....that may be difficult at the moment, given that they were on the same team. Damn it.
“What’s wrong with having high aspirations?” said the grey haired, kind looking one. He had been smiling unnervingly from the moment he and his teammates had entered. More than that, he looked at both Tobio and Hinata as though they were important, as though he had some unwavering faith in them. It wasn’t a feeling Tobio was shown often and his stomach hurt. But maybe it wasn’t his stomach? Maybe it was something a little higher in chest. Tobio squinted cautiously, not trusting his instincts, but against all odds, wanting to.
“Now that you’ve announced that you’re going to be the ace,” Tobio said, still glaring past Hinata. “You’d better have improved.” He took one step closer to Hinata, a challenge on his face.
Hinata turned away from their senpais and met it, head on, his whole face pinched with fury. “Excuse me?” Hinata’s voice was rough with negative emotion. The guy who’d asked him about his height sighed and reprimanded them, but all Tobio’s ears heard was everything Hinata wasn’t saying, the desperation in his words that he poured out along with his heart. “I did try my best… I did. But don’t make it sound like everything I’ve done is for nothing!” Hinata looked down, his eyes swimming with thoughts of that game. A small growl left his clenched teeth. Tobio could imagine the things he was seeing; the loss, the burn of defeat that left a gaping, unfillable hole inside you. Had he come to Karasuno hoping to fill it, like Tobio had?
“Look, you guys. You do know you’re not enemies anymore, right?” The tallest of the upperclassmen rubbed the back of his head and closed his eyes, muttering something like a curse under his breathe as he probably wished the same as Tobio; to be anywhere but here, listening to this. “Volleyball brings people together.” Drivel.
“I want you to play me!” Hinata exclaimed, leaning forward as though that would make him seem more threatening.
“Hey, Daichi is still talking to you!” Tanaka held his fist up and glared at Hinata. Hinata ignored the upperclassman once again, but this time Tobio wasn’t concerned with what they wanted to say either.
All that matter was destroying Hinata and proving he wasn’t useless, proving that his volleyball career was over. Kindaichi had to be wrong! “Play you at what?”
“At volleyball! Duh!”
“How do you propose we play volleyball one on one?”
“Huh? Doing passes and stuff.”
“How can you win or loss at passing?”
Tobio honestly should have seen what was coming. Of course one of the worst days of his life would get worse, and worse. Of course the vice principal of the school would come to complain about their noise (really, it was mostly dumbass Hinata). Of course Hinata would ignore him and show him disregard and disrespect, dragging him into it after him. Because how was he suppose to not meet his challenge? What, was he meant to have forfeited. So what if it meant being thrown out of the gym? So what if it meant inconveniencing the upperclassmen? He wasn’t going to hold back on his serves, or any area of volleyball, not for anything or anyone.
Having his application thrown in his face by the normal-looking guy, Daichi, who he by now realized was scary enough to be the captain and being forced out of the gym did represent a setback in his plans, though. There wasn’t anyone else to blame but Hinata.
“Huhhh!!!” He and Hinata exclaimed in unison.
“What’s team awareness? How is it done?” Hinata turned to him almost accusingly.
“How would I know!” Tobio looked down for a split second as his black and green watch beeped wildly, capturing his attention immediately. He cursed and focused back on Hinata, though his mind was on other things, like the quickest possible way to wrap this up so he could leave without ruining his chance of being in the club. Ladybug needed him. That was what that noise meant, and it was all Tobio needed to know. He watched as Hinata began to beg to be let in. He felt the sweat beating down his face, from more than just the heat. The door slid open as Hinata got progressively louder and more annoying, and the dark eyes of the scary, angry captain who threw them out peered back at him. Hinata jumped back, tensing up like a cornered animal. His eyes slid back to Tobio and the captain’s gaze followed. Tobio was stared at for several moments, in which he could only think of when he’d be allowed to bolt.
“What about you?” Daichi looked thoughtful at Tobio’s continued silence. “Will you be able to work with Hinata at all?”
“Yes!” Tobio swallowed the words he really wanted to say. “I’m...sorry for my behavior. I’ll work with him. I promise, please!”
The upperclassman studied him and shook his head, his jaw squared. “Be honest.”
Tobio breathed in sharply, so much so that he felt like he couldn’t breathe, though he wasn’t sure there wasn’t another reason for that. He looked away and glared at a bush. “If I’m stuck working with him in a game,” he growled. “I’d rather do every receive, spike, and toss by myself.” He distantly heard Hinata’s protest and ignored it with beautiful disdain.
The upperclassman laughed so much he doubled over and his shoulders shook. “Why are you actually being honest with me? I’m good with that kind of thing, but still...”
“Because I have to be,” Tobio said shortly. The doors to the gym slid open and the other two upperclassmen, the baldy and the kind one. They stopped beside Daichi, curiosity alight on their faces. The bald guy was leering and his eyebrows were all over the place. “I want to challenge you to a two-on-two game. We both do.” As Tobio spoke, his eyes wandered over to Hinata, a question in his eyes instead of a challenge. Hinata nodded fiercely, his mouth set. Tobio felt his mouth quirk. “If we win,” he continued with more confidence. “We get to join. That way, we’ll get the chance to learn to work together in a game setting.”
Daichi-san stood firm, staring them down with an eyebrow raised. “And if you lose.” Not only did Daichi-san’s tone make it sound like he didn’t believe they could win, but Tobio saw something approaching pity in his eyes and it made his stomach turn. Not an option.
He swallowed back those words. “We will accept the penalty of your choice.”
Daichi-san tilted his head and made a soft noise. “This should work. Two other freshmen are going to be joining us. We’ll have you play them, three-on-three.” He nodded, pointing at Hinata and Tobio. “It’s a game we hold every year for our new members to see what they’re like.
“But three-on-three?” Hinata lifted a finger and gestured in between them. “Who will be playing on our side?”
Daichi-san turned to the bald guy. “Tanaka, I want you to go on their side on game day.”
Tanaka looked at Daichi-san in disbelief. “What? Me?”
Daichi-san gave Tanaka a little smile. “You said you kind of liked them.”
“I don’t want to be dragged into their mess!” Tanaka squawked. Tobio clicked his tongue and looked up at the sky. He shooked his head, agreeing with Tanaka. This was a mess.
“That’s a shame. I really thought you were the only one capable of wrangling these delinquents.” Daichi-san shook his head and sighed, even as he smirked knowingly off to one side.
Tanaka ate it up. “If you insist!” He grinned madly and jumped down the steps. He pounded Hinata’s shoulder with his hand. Hinata’s small frame visibly buckled from that weight.
“So, in the event that you lose, for the remainder of my time in this school, Tobio will not be allowed to be the setter.”
It was as though the whole world stopped and his heart’s pounding was the only thing Kagayama could hear. What . There was no way Daichi-san knew how cruel that was, was there? He wouldn’t do this if he did.
“Is that all?” Hinata said, his eyebrow raised, mocking him. Blood rushed to Tobio’s head, filling him with rage. It was a dull rage though, not even the kind that Tobio got up for in the morning. That kind of all-consuming anger was reserved for all memory and reminder of Kitagawa Daiichi.
“A team cannot win with a grandstanding, over aggressive, egocentric setter.” If Daichi-san had been seeking to cut his anger off at it’s source, he’d chosen the perfect way, going right for the metaphorical jugular. Now only cold, burning shame filled the hole in Tobio. He glared at Daichi-san for daring to make him feel this way. “What’s up? I’m not saying your application will be rejected.” You might as well be . “I’m sure you can easily handle other positions.” I don’t want to .
“I am a setter!”
“Then win.” Daichi-san looked him straight in the eye. The fire burning there surprised Tobio and made him think they had more in common than not. He wanted to win as much as Tobio did. The desire to win and to keep winning, again and again, as to not feel the bitterness of defeat, as to keep standing on the court as long as possible. That was what had to unite Karasuno, it had to be.
Daichi continued to speak, and Tobio listened with new ears. “You’re here because you thought you could win without any help, right? The game is on Saturday morning.”
Saturday. Saturday. The word drowned out any irrelevant chatter coming out of the two idiots on his right. He had only a matter of days to prepare and ensure he would win. It wasn't much time, but it would have to be enough. Inside, he felt the impossible hope sprout inside him, the voice behind his bravery and his drive. If you can fight off the mindless monsters we do and save hundreds of lives, there’s nothing you can’t do, Kitty! Believe in yourself! He looked to the sky with new found confidence and immediately felt it shatter at the billowing clouds of smoke filling the sky from nearby. Shit, almost forgot . “Got it! Hinata, we’re meeting tomorrow morning. Don’t be late and don’t get in the way!” He bowed to the upperclassmen and spared Hinata one last withering look before darting off, grabbing his bag before he went.
The last thing Tobio saw before rounding the brick wall was a crow landing on the top of it and cawing loudly down at the students gathered outside the gym doors. It called three times in quick, careful succession. Tobio watched Hinata’s face go slack and his chin raise to stare at the black bird as though he’d never seen one before. Before he could stop and wonder what the hell was going on with that, Tobio ran down the streets, passing long lines of people fleeing from the smoke and dodging the cars racing past him to get to the other side.