Chapter Text
Morning came quickly and with that the soft steps of someone walking past Kageyama. His mind still fuzzy from sleep he rolled on his stomach, a mumble escaping his lips. Ths steps stopped for a brief moment and Kageyama slipped back into the dreamland.
A chuckle rang through the room as the person escaped the room with a sigh on his lips.
Hinata stood in front of the sliding door, his palm flat against the door, fingers digging into the material. Guess he was here, now, five years into the past.
It was jarring waking up and seeing a different room, getting up and seeing your old teammates looking so much younger than yourself. For Hinata it was a lot to take in and yet he was excited in a way. He knew this day would come and that he would have to give a lesson to his friends and senpais.
He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. It was way too early for any of this even if he was around thirty minutes late to his usual time of waking up, though he only guessed as it still was rather dark outside and the house seemed so, so quiet. But he couldn’t sleep, years of waking up early seeped deep into his routine.
He wandered around the house, taking a quick stop at the bathroom. After taking a flight up the stairs he noticed light coming from one of the rooms and if he remembered correctly it was where their coaches slept.
He had no relocation if Takeda sensei or Coach Ukai were early rises, as he was used to being one of the last ones waking up to notice that factor but now he wondered who could be up. He silently wandered over to the door that was slightly ajar, surprised to see coach Ukai wide awake working on something, still clad in night sleepwear but working hard non the less.
“Coach,” He mumbled under his breath, but it was loud enough for him to hear, his head snapping to the side, eyes widening as he took in the man that Hinata grew up to be.
“Good morning,” Hinata smiled as the coach got up, scratching his head.
“You're up early,” Coach mussed, reaching for the door and opening it wider. He still stood taller than Hinata ever could but there definitely was a noticeable difference in bulk.
“I usually wake up a little earlier, a habit really,” Hinata chuckled under his breath a bit awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.
Coach rubbed the back of his neck, stepping aside and gesturing for Hinata to slip inside the room. Hinata smiled wider and wandered inside, sitting down by the table the Coach had been working at and looking briefly around.
“So you’re the first-year who switched places and the whole shabam?” Coach sat down in front of him as Hinata nodded his head eagerly.
“Guess that was a bit to be expected, though Kageyama was a potential candidate too,”
“Nah Tobio wouldn’t be able to do this, the only lesson he would give is how to lose the track of the camera,” Hinata laughed lightly as Coach cocked his head in question. Hinata waved his head, easing himself on his elbows on the table.
“Though I wonder why it wasn’t Tadashi, he’s the smart, emphatic one out of all of us, or Hitoka, even Kei could do better than us two, through his salty stick-o-meter just went up,” Hinata sighed earning another questionable look from Ukai who twiddled his pen.
“What makes you think so?” Hinata raised his head.
“Well, it’s not like I can say anything to the team that isn't really a spoiler for their future, ‘m not good with words and it’s pretty obvious what I’m doing the same as To- Kageyama,'' He mumbled, biting his lip as he let Tobio’s first name almost slip for the second time. Or any of their first names although Coach didn’t seem to mind the change in the way he addressed the others.
“Think so?” He cocked his eyebrow with a small smile on his face.
“Coach, look at us and tell us we wouldn’t be crazy enough to make volleyball our life? The rest? No, they have that little sense of not bringing everything out because they’re excited, although Hitoka can be a bit on the unnecessary rant side, it’s not like she doesn’t know in the end what to say,” Ukai sighed, shaking his head. Hinata vaguely noticed he called Hitoka by the first name again, he should work on that so as not to freak the others out.
“You’re being way too modest about this Hinata,” He tapped his pen. “You’re here for a reason you know? And only you out of all the five of you, despite you all being very different characters you came here and not anyone else,” He clicked his pen and lightly tapped it against Hinata's forehead.
“I wish I wasn’t the one thought, what can I say, hey look I got an insane tan that’s about it,” Ukai chuckled agreeing to that statement, Hinata did have a heavy tan, pretty much impossible to get in Japan and now that it was winter it looked almost ridiculous on the boy - no man.
“Make it worthwhile at least, it’s not like a written rule that you do need to give a lesson you know, just play volleyball like you know and have fun,” Hinata smiled.
“When’re the nationals?” Hinata raised his gaze.
“In three weeks,” Hinata hummed to himself at the answer.
“Have we had any recent practice matches?” Ukai looked at him shaking his head. “We’re supposed to have one against Datech in three days,”
“Ah, Datetech, I remember that practise match, Datech was frightening,” Ukai watched Hinata shift around.
“Say, Hinata,” Hinata looked up, his eyebrows raised.
“When you came to that first year training camp, how much did it influence your life?” HInata watched Ukai and laughed to himself. How much? Everything, really.
“More than anything else, if not for that training camp I wouldn’t be where I am at right now, or I would but it would take much longer and honestly I don't think I’d do what’s right for me,”
“Then, I’m glad you caused us so much trouble,” Ukai laughed, ruffling Hinata's hair, earning a gleeful laugh from him. They settled into a comfortable silence until Hinata glanced at the clock and decided to follow his morning routines. Even if he was here back in old Karasuno he couldn’t slack off, not even one day or Tobio would leave him behind in a blink.
He settled further away from the table and began simple stretches, easing his muscles and closing his eyes to ease his mind as well. He found during his years in Brazil that yoga and meditation really helped him to concentrate during the day. It helped a lot with muscles building and keeping in shape as well so it was great.
Hitoka had commented that he seemed a bit calmer with it as well, they all knew he was as loud and energetic as ever despite all the yoga he did but still.
Reaching for his toes, he let his forehead rest on his thighs breathing out. Nerves flared up at the thought of others waking up soon. What would they think of him? But then what he thought of them? It was old Karasuno before their first nationals before everything made sense and didn’t at the same time.
It was exciting. He straightened up fast, eyes wide and a smile stretched on his face.
“You look like you’re about to kill someone, calm down Hinata,”
“Coach,” Hinata yelled, shuffling back to the table. “I think I know why I’m here!”
Ukai blinked, chuckling. “Alright, if you do, why don’t you go wake up your old teammates?” Hinata jumped up, Ukai furrowing his brows at the spring in his step.
“Will do, also Coach, can I take over practise today?” Hinata stood by the door, a question in the air.
“Why?”
“I think it would be interesting to get some practice in with a professional athlete?” He smiled, deciding that it was okay for that to be known, not like it would be too big of a surprise anyway.
“Profesional, huh,” Ukai trailed off, something clicking in his head. He laughed and waved Hinata to go ahead and wreak havoc. He would sit back and enjoy the suffering.
“Just remember no spoiling,”
“Osu,” Hinata disappeared behind the door, voice high and for a moment not seeing the man he'd grown to, Ukai saw the sixteen-year-old Hinata and smiled. Some things never changed huh?
Kageyama rolled on his back, rubbing his eyes. It was early as heck and yet he was awake. His gaze flickered to the futon beside him and he frowned Hinata was not in his bed. Was he wandering around like a creep early in the morning? Though he always slept so late, Kageyama grumbled and rolled onto his other side. He could still catch half an hour of sleep as everyone was still asleep.
He almost drifted off until the door rattled loudly and a voice caught his attention. It was so familiar but a little different too. Hinata.
“Good morning everyone!” He almost shouted and Kageyema plucked the pillow from his futon and threw it in the direction of the door without opening his eyes. “Shut up dumbass,”
Hinata laughed, flicking the lights and clambering to the window to pull the curtains open. “No can do Yama, gotta wake everyone up or we’re wasting time,”
“What’s going on,” Asahi groaned from his futon, hair a mess in front of his face as he tried to look around but fell back on his pillow face first.
“Shoyo?” Nishinoya mumbled from his spot on the far right near the window. “Why are you so tall?” His half-asleep voice echoed in the silent room of waking teenagers until it clicked. It was today.
Kageyama opened his eyes, briefly blinded by the sunlight and lights above them but he sat up and in front of him stood Hinata. But it was not their Hinata, it was someone older and filled with muscles.
“You’re so tan,” Kageyama mumbled as everyone around sat up suddenly awake and gaped at Hinata who stood in the middle of the room. His clothes a bit tight around his muscled arms and legs. Though ‘a bit’ was an understatement.
“I know, the sun does that to you,” He laughed, clapping his hands and walking to the door. “Cmon breakfast is gonna be ready in twenty minutes, get cleaned up and eat, I have a long day prepared ahead of us,” He threw another smile, still the familiar sunshine and disappeared behind the door.
“What the fuck” Tanaka whispered falling back down to his futon.
“I think I liked it more when I had to wake him up instead,” Daichi groaned, rubbing his head and standing up. Kageyama looked around as everyone shuffled as much as they could in the half-asleep states. He glanced at Tsukishima who stared ahead.
“Oi, what are you staring at?” Tsukishima whirled his head around and Kageyama noticed he didn’t have his glasses on. He grinned as the taller blond scoffed and grabbed his glasses getting up.
“You totally couldn’t see him huh,”
Tsukishima scoffed again, muttering something under his breath and stalking out of the room. Kageyama clicked his tongue.
They rounded up in the main room, Shimizu and Yachi preparing the last things for breakfast. Kageyama walked to the table looking around trying to spot Hinata, it wasn’t hard to miss a bright orange hair even if the guy was older than all of them here.
“Where’s-” He started but got shushed by Nishinoya who pointed at the kitchen.
“Shoyo, are you cooking for us?” He gaped, bursting into tears about how great their Kohai was as Hinata laughed.
“Sorry senpai, but I’m cooking for myself, no matter how much I love the food you have here, I need to follow my diet,” Kageyama started, Hinata was cooking? His diet? What? He glanced at Ukai who nodded to himself smiling.
“Anyway guys stop staring and eat,” He pointed to the food. Some scrambled to get to the mouth-watering meals, Kageyama as well, some stayed behind waiting for their turns.
Fifteen minutes later everyone was eating and filling their stomach seated around the big table. Only coaches and managers sat at another table only because there was no room. And Hinata sat with them instead of the team, something twisted in Kageyama's stomach and he didn’t like it.
“You know it's’s weird,” Heads looked up as Suga started.
“What do you mean Suga,” Daiching set down his spoon after finishing his meal.
“Hinata is the same but there’s something about him,” He trailed off, not sure how to put it into words.
“You mean maturity?” Tsukishima spoke up, staring into his bowl. Kageyama was surprised at the blond.
“That’s a lot coming from you Tsukishima,” Daichi chuckled, earning a round of laughs from the table.
“I almost can’t believe myself, but I’m sure he’s still an airhead,” He smirked, throwing a glance at Kagayema who turned away, his eyes settling on the man of the day. Hinata. His skin was tan, really tan. He packed muscle anyone could dream of and held himself with so much confidence Kageyema felt jealous.
I was jarring to see the change so fast, not gradual, just one blink and Hinata was almost another person entirely. And the way he acted really made something ugly roll in Kageyama's stomach. It didn't disappear at all even when they were warming up their muscles under the strict gaze of their coach, getting ready for a gruelling practice day.
Kageyama loved the day-long practice. He loved the Tokyo week they did with other schools, the burn in his muscles was oh so satisfying. And the All Japan training, it was the best. Playing with good players was the best. It was fun.
And yet Hinata seemed like he was really the best, just based on his muscles alone Kageyama couldn't feel the excitement in all of it. He wanted to practice and yet he wanted his Hinata back. The annoying, short, runt who needed to work on his receives. He wanted him back.
“Gather,” Daichi’s voice echoed across the gym as they rounded around their Coach, Takeda and newly arrived Hinata who had gotten some clothes on him that didn’t look like they’d rip at every movement he made. He looked a little bit more normal now.
“Today as you know we have the pleasure of meeting one of the first years from the future, but that does not mean you can slack off during practice and expect to spend the whole day asking questions Hinata wouldn’t be answering anyway,” Some groaned but mostly nodded. They understood perfectly well how much they needed to value every practice they had together especially before the Nationals. God knows they need it.
“But that almost doesn't mean we’re gonna waste this opportunity to have a professional volleyball player teach us a trick or two,” Ukai grinned, a dark look coming over his face, Takeda grinning along with him.
“Wait-” Kageyama halted as someone echoed what he thought.
“Professional volleyball player?” Enoshita roared, sending the team into disarray as they jumped, excitement and wonder rushing through them. Kageyama stared at Hinata, not knowing what to feel. He had an inkling that yeah he was a professional, with the way he moved and the way he was built but to actually hear it aloud was so to speak interesting.
“Ok, ok calm down, settle down,” He giggled, a grin across his face.
“Hinata asked to take over coaching today and I let him, God knows I need a vacation away from you guys,” Ukai laughed, sending the team into a small chuckle. “But don't waste this opportunity, as always someone comes here with a lesson, listen to what Hinata has to say and take every chance you have to get better,” The team roared as Ukai let them have it, pushing Hinata forward a little sending him a smile.
“Go on coach, your turn,” Hinata rubbed the back of his head and nodded.
“Alright, but before we start I know some of you have questions and I’ll allow five so make them good, but if I feel like I shouldn’t answer I won't,” Hinata smiled knowing the excitement of the team and that they were dying to know, needed to know more about their future especially from one who had gone so high in the volleyball world.
“Alright before anyone blurts something stupid let’s have a team meeting,” Daichi roared as the team gathered a bit away from Hinata. Ukai looked at the scene shaking his head as Hinata walked over to them patiently waiting.
“They need to burn the energy,” He said, answering Ukais' silent question.
“You have really matured Hinata-kun,” Takeda smiled from his other side as Hinata bowed.
“I couldn't have done it without you sensei,” He smiled. Ukai watched sensei and Hinata exchange a few more words before the team rounded them again, Daichi stepping up. “Can we save some of the questions for later?”
“Sure,” Hinata smiled. “But do you have any now?”
“How old are you?” Nishinoya jumped on Daichi’s shoulder, eyes twinkling.
“22,” Hinata smiled as the team roared again for no reason. “Wait, it means our Kohai is our Senpai now?” Tanaka clutched his head turning to the team who stared at him, mouths open.
“No no, I’m still your Kohai, you’ll always be my Senpai Tanaka-san,” Hinata laughed. He missed this team and how loud they were, he missed all of this quite a bit.
“Ok next question-” Suga calmed the second year down when Kageyama spoke.
“Which team do you play,” He stared long and hard at Hinata, the room temperature dropping just a tad as Hinata dropped his smile scratching his head.
“Don't know if I should tell, but it’s not like it gives anything much hmm,” He closed his eyes for a brief moment, sighing. “I guess as long as you don’t say anything to your Hinata when he comes back then sure. I play MSBY Black Jackals,” Kageyama sucked in his breath. MSBY were strong, once dominating two seasons of the V League.
Ukai oohed from the back. “One of the top teams in V League,” He added as the team gaped even more.
“Wow,” Someone whispered and others nodded. “I kinda expected something like that from a volleyball idiot like you but it’s still so unbelievable,” Kageyama frowned. It was good, wasn’t it? Hinata at the V League, playing his best? That meant that Hinata was keeping up, was playing with him or against him and they had fun. It was great, wasn’t it?
“So another question or can I start my coaching?” Hinata asked as the team laughed.
“Do you even know how to coach?” Tsukishima added, a small smirk on his face as Hinata squeaked.
“Of course, I’ve taught people volleyball before,”
“We just have one more question before we can start,” Daichi smiled, shushing the team as Hinata nodded.
“What’s your jumping reach?” The team watched Hinata in anticipation.
“Ah, my jumping reach now? Hmm, if I remember correctly it was around 350 cm, (11’5),” He nodded to himself.
“350cm!?” Tanaka roared. Kageyama stilled, that was so much higher than now. The run really had grown not just in his height but his ability to jump although that shouldn’t surprise him. But it still did. Instead of the weird feeling in his stomach, he felt warm instead.
“Wow, Hinata you really jump high, so much higher,”
“Ah don't forget I grow like 8 centimetres as well, so,” He laughed as Nishinoya jumped around him asking him to jump there and now.
“That’s still incredible, how did you do it, what helped you jump higher?”
“Hey, Nishinoya don’t use up our questions, hey!” Daichi roared, pulling the exciting second year, stressing that it was not the fourth question and that they really should get on with the practice. Hinata nodded laughing, buzzing with energy as much as Nishinoya.
“Alright, we’re not gonna do anything much different than you’ve done for the past week,” He clapped his hands as the team calmed down, excited smiles on their faces. “Let’s start with,” He quietened as they all looked at him excited.
“Serves,” He smiled widely as some groaned. Kageyama hummed. Serves? Out of everything they could be learning he decided they needed to practise serves? He knew that everyone practised that whilst he was away along with Tsukishima and something about Hinata being the ball boy, but when all of the team was here sans Hinata they could really use some more practising matches. Especially since they’ve gotten a bit slow. Kageyama clicked his tongue.
“What? You’re not gonna give us special moves or something? Or, or tell us what we should look out for?”
“Ah well, no I won’t. It wouldn’t be fair you know and it could change the timeline in many ways and also I think it would be the rudest thing ever to let you know how to play against other teams. It would be taking away your fun as much as it would be taking away their fun. “ Hinata shook his head and Tsukishima laughed, saying how for once the airhead was thinking.
“Don’t hurt yourself with so much wisdom Hinata-san,” He added a bit of formality at the end as Hinata threw him a glare pulling his fist up. “Wanna fight?” He didn’t change at all.
“No thank you, looking at your muscles I’d rather not be broken in two,” He waved him off, breaking away from the team to start the practice. Kageyama looked at him, noticing how his fist was clenched, lips tighter than usual. Tsukishima was putting up a front with his jabs.
“Aw Tsukki, you’re the same as ever, I know you care,” Hinata called after him.
“Alright let’s start!” Daichi said as the team screamed loud confirmation. Kageyama blinked, taking a deep breath. He turned around walking after the team to get on with it. Even if he had better ideas in mind he wouldn’t let this serve practice go to waste. It was always important to hone your skills.
“Kageyama,” Hinata called as Kageyama stopped turning to look at him. “What,” He grunted.
“Hey be a little more enthusiastic about seeing me,” He chuckled but his smile fell as he walked over to Kageyama. He stood now taller, no longer craning his neck to look Kageyama in the eye and it irked Kageyama to no end. How dare shrimp grown the fuck?
“Don’t be so grumpy,” He mumbled.
“Is that all you wanted to say?” Kageyama scoffed but Hinata shook his head, licking his lips. “Kagayema you-” He sighed. “Never mind,” He waved Kageyama off running back to stand by the benches with a frown on his face.
“Huh?” Kageyama stared after him, shaking his head. Whatever the dumbass would talk if he had to.