Chapter Text
Natsu leaned against the wall for support and yawned, lazily watching her brother tie his shoes and put his bag over his shoulder. she rubbed her eye and smiled slightly as she watched him bounce around the house to gather everything he needed.
Shouyo was almost always filled with energy. Even if he fell asleep around the same time as Natsu herself, he'd be up before her. Their mom called it a gift that Shouyo could run on only 5 hours of sleep with the same energy as if he had slept for 12 hours. Natsu didn't understand how he could. The sun wasn't even up yet!
Shouyo turned to face her and patted Natsu's head affectionately. He was smiling widely, excited for his training camp and Natsu gave him a weak hug before he pulled away and opened the front door.
"I'm off now!" He said happily and Natsu called out a small goodbye after him before watching him from the door's window. He got on his bike then took off down the street. Once satisfied with their goodbye, she all but crawled back towards her room and fell onto her bed, falling asleep once her head hit the pillow.
Shouyo was gone for 5 days. 5 days and 4 nights. Most of their summer vacation. He returned on the night of the fifth day, and Natsu couldn't wait to see him again. She enjoyed going out with her mother and sleeping over with a girl from her class during the break, but ultimately she missed her brother. They usually spend summer break together. When she felt the loneliest, she sat in his room, holding his volleyball that he kept at home. She couldn't be mad at him for going, he was so excited to go play volleyball with other people, and Natsu wanted him to be able to play on a real team. She just missed him is all.
On the 5th night, she sat in the hall, watching the door intently. Unlike Shouyo, Natsu was perfectly fine sitting in one place for a long time. She could get lost in her thoughts for long amounts of time.
She head footsteps and once she heard the jingle of keys, she jumped up and threw open the door. Shouyo looked a bit surprised at the sudden action and Natsu lit up and smiled, jumping onto him and hugging his waist with all her might. Shouyo made a sound of struggle and picked her up, letting her wrap her arms around his neck. The door closed and Natsu peeked up to see her babysitter gone, so she must have left when Shouyo walked in.
Shouyo carried Natsu over to the couch and dropped her onto it which surprised her but still made her giggle.
"Shouyo! I missed you so much! Did you have fun? Did you learn anything cool?" She asked, beginning to rattle off questions but Shouyo put his hand over her mouth to quiet her.
"Natsu! I missed you too but one question at a time!" He said. Natsu glared, scrunching her nose up and licked his hand which caused him to pull it away and make a disgusted face before wiping his hand on his shirt. His white shirt was sweaty and sticking to his skin.
"Let me take a shower then I'll tell you all about it. I have a friend coming over in a bit to spend the night too." He said, patting her head and walking to his room. He took off his bag on the way and dragged it behind him. He must be exhausted.
Natsu sat on the couch and after he went in the bathroom she stopped to think. What friend would he bring over? Kageyama? He sounded scary, she hoped he didn't come to her house. Daichi-san maybe? He seemed nice. Or maybe it was just Kouji-san or Izumi-san, they hadn't been over in awhile.
Shouyo eventually finished his shower, coming out in a fresh sweater and black shorts. He looked a lot more relieved and relaxed after the shower, walking over to the couch and plopping down next to Natsu. She grabbed his arm and shook it impatiently.
"Tell me Shouyo!" She begged and Shouyo took a deep breath before turning to her, smiling widely.
He began to tell her about the training camp, what they did, how they practised, the boy he met when he got lost on a run ("You always get lost, Shouyo!" "SHHH Natsu! I'm telling a story!"), his jersey number, he went on a for awhile about Kageyama and what he acted like, before talking more about the training and his other teammates. They all sounded awesome and really good at volleyball, except Shouyo looked bitter when he talked about his tallest teammate. Apparently they didn't get along. Finally he got to the practice game and he revealed that the boy he met well lost was from the opposing team.
He spent awhile talking about the first game they had as well as the opposing team. When he started his talk about their second game, the doorbell rang. Natsu glanced at the kitchen stove and realized it was over an hour from when Shouyo had started telling his story. She jumped up faster than Shouyo did, jumping over the back of the couch and sprinted to the door at full speed, sliding in her socks to kill her momentum in front of the door and opening it. She reeled back as she took in the boy in front of her. She didn't know him.
He looked like a middle school kid, short, with slicked back brown hair except a bit of the front was dyed blonde. He looked at Natsu in equal surprise for a moment before laughing loudly.
"You look like a mini Shouyo! I didn't know he came in extra small!" He teased and Natsu pouted. Shouyo grabbed her shoulder, and looked at the boy. He smiled widely, positively glowing at the sight of him.
"Nishinoya-Senpai!" He called excitedly and the boy raised his arms up above his head and replied "Shouyo! My favourite kohai!" equally as excitedly. Shouyo moved aside and pulled Natsu out of the way so the boy could walk inside.
He took off his shoes and Natsu moved back to the couch, watching them converse.
"Dude, i would have been here so much sooner but your house was so hard to find in the dark!" The boy said and Shouyo rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"Sorry, did the picture i sent help at all?" He asked.
"Eh, more or less. Glad i finally found the place, I'm beat." He said, putt his hands behind his head. "I had no idea the matches against Nekoma would be so hard. Especially their libero!" He said a bit bitterly.
"Shouyo!" Natsu called from the couch and Shouyo turned to look at her, pausing for a second before realizing what she wanted.
"Eh, Noya-senpai, this is my sister, Natsu. Natsu, this is Nishinoya. My team's Libero." He introduced cheerfully and Nishinoya did a dramatic bow towards Natsu.
"Libero?" She questioned. She had heard the term before. "With the awesome receives, remember? The guardian deity!" Hinata said, bouncing on his heels, looking excited at the thought.
Natsu's eyes widened in realization and she gasped, jumping up to stand on the couch. "Really? With the rolling thunder? and the cool tricks? who taught you how to not get hit in the face? Who wears the orange uniform?" She questioned, bouncing up and down. Her eyes were filled with admiration and Noya flushed at all the praise.
"Can you show me?" She asked, bouncing off the couch and over to the short boy, grabbing his hand. "Please show me your receive. Nishinoya-senpai!"
So that's how they spent the little bit. Hinata grabbed his volleyball and tossed it for Noya to receive and every time he did Natsu's face would explode into a bubbly laugh and admiring eyes. Noya looked like he was about to combust under the positive attention. Nishinoya took a picture of the three of them, both Hinatas faces had wide smiles and sparkling eyes. Noya sent the photo to Tanaka with a following text that just said "I've been blessed bro"
Eventually Shouyo and Natsu's mom came home and convinced Natsu to leave the boys alone since she'd have all of tomorrow to catch up with Shouyo, and he should actually spend time with his guest. Natsu protested at first of course, but eventually she gave in and went off to her own room well the two boys hung out in Shouyo's room.
When school came back the next day, at recess Natsu saw Noya walking with a few other tall boys towards the place that high school kids usually walked to for lunch. He waved and smiled at her which she gratefully returned. Her friends questioned her on how she knew him but she had nothing to offer other than a shrug before leaving to play kickball.