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Kageyama was nervous. At least Suga was pretty sure he was nervous. It was hard to read Kageyama when he was in his default state of mouth pressed into a thin line and eyes narrowed in thought, and it wasn’t like they’d known each other all that long but Suga was almost positive the looks he kept throwing to the other side of the net, where Seijo was warming up, were nervous ones. He was focused on two boys in particular, other first years by the look of it. Suga was pretty sure he remembered them from the Kitagawa Daiichi matches the year before.
Kageyama’s former teammates, which would explain the nerves. Even if things hadn’t ended with the team turning their back of Kageyama it had to be strange to go against former teammates like this. To go from years of trust and working side by side to staring across the net at each other...Suga would be nervous.
Not that he wasn’t. This was quite the practice game for their new, very shaky team to start out with. He was half convinced most of their issues would be internal, what with the way Kageyama and Hinata were still bickering every ten minutes and Tsukishima was...doing whatever it was he was doing. Antagonizing them for kicks? And they’d barely had time to really practice together and learn to work together, but were up against a team when even the first years had worked with the majority of the older players back in junior high.
The deck was stacked against them.
Suga hadn’t been this excited in months, even if he was going to be spending the game on the sidelines while Kageyama played.
Which brought him back to the matter of Kageyama being nervous. He’d handled running into a former teammate, the one with the pointy hair that Hinata insisted on loudly likening to an onion, outside well but it seemed like the closer they got to the game the more anxious (by Kageyama standards) he became. Hinata wasn’t looking so hot either but Suga was thinking there was just nothing to be done about that.
He’d stopped running off to the bathroom at least.
“Go talk to him. You’re his favorite.” Was Daichi’s suggestion. Tanaka, ever helpful, nodded his enthusiastic agreement and even pushed him in the direction of the stretching setter. Suga stumbled then whipped around to stare at them, wearing twin looks of innocence. He didn’t buy it for a second, he’d known them both too long to trust blindly.
“I’m his favorite? Since when?” He arched an eyebrow at them. “Are you sure you just don’t want to do it yourself, captain ? Isn’t that what team alphas are supposed to do?”
Daichi waved a hand dismissively. “Captain. Vice Captain. Team Beta. Same thing. And you’re his favorite. And he’s your favorite, isn’t he?”
Suga blinked rapidly. “My favorite what?”
Tanaka squinted at him like he was questioning Suga’s intelligence which was...new. “Of the first years.”
“I don’t have a favorite.” Why were they saying it so casually, like it was some forgone thing? “Do you have favorites?”
“Yamaguchi.” Daichi said without even a pause to think it over. Yamaguchi, off to the side tossing balls to Tsukishima, turned with a yelp then, when they all turned to look at him, ducked his head and shuffled to Tsukishima’s side. The blond frowned at them, wearing what Suga was coming to think of as his ‘I don’t like any of you’ face.
Tanaka opened his mouth but Suga held up a hand to stop him, already knowing how that was going to go. Tanaka had made no secret of adoring Hinata and, Suga was certain, Noya would be right there with him when he returned from his suspension. He pointed at Ennoshita instead but found he knew exactly what the younger alpha was going to say before he said it.
“Yamaguchi.” Ennoshita said, just like Suga knew he would, with a grin. Narita and Kinoshita raised their hands in agreement. Suga frowned and their hands dropped lightening fast.
“We can’t have favorites. And what about Tsukishima?”
Narita snorted. “I don’t think he wants to be anyone’s favorite.”
“Asahi.” Narita said, nudging the other with his elbow. Narita’s eyes widened slightly and then he nodded his agreement. They were, per usual, missing the point. Suga was positive they did it on purpose to get under his skin. They seemed like such nice, calm, understanding types on the surface, like betas were ‘supposed’ to be, but Suga knew that underneath that they were just as bad as Tanaka and Noya. Just quieter and sneakier about it. Ennoshita was the only one among them who didn’t make Suga want to pull his hair out sometimes.
Was he the only one who thought it sounded a little weird to have called which of their unruly first years they liked best? And that was without considering the fact they’d gotten their teams first ever omegas, in said first years and it had...thrown the balance off in some things.
A lot of things. Mostly their own fault for trying to hard right out of the gate and expecting something more than just four troublesome new teammates. It was the first year omegas were allowed to join boy’s teams and they’d thought they’d get one, at most, but that had proven to be way off base. None of them had a lot of experience with male identifying omegas in general, let alone being on the same team as them, and they’d let themselves have certain expectations and that too had been way off base.
There was nothing about these four that could be narrowed down so simply. They were each incredibly different from each other, in a lot of ways, and there was no one omega ‘thing’ that encompassed all of them. Like people of any other dynamic, really, if you ignored all the weird ‘instincts’ that came from spending time with omegas.
Suga had never felt the pack connection as strongly and immediately as he did with these four. It was as if the moment his brain had acknowledged them as teammates everything else in him had slotted them firmly into the pack part of his brain then pushed him to act the part. Scent marking them, making skin to skin contact just because they were there, without being fully aware he was doing it, hovering over them when they walked together, subconsciously steering them to the center of the group.
Protect.
Claim.
Keep.
It was embarrassing, if Suga let himself thing too hard about it, how quickly those four had become the centers of their team, and not just because they were freakishly good. They were changing things, just by being themselves and being there.
Thankfully everything had been so crazy at first none of the first years had noticed what idiots their upperclassman were and they would never know that he, Daichi, and Tanaka had spend two hours trying to figure out the ‘Changing before and after practice dilemma’ that had ended up not being a issue at all because the first years grouped together in one corner and the rest of them just faced the other direction. Two hours for what amounted to ‘Don’t look’. They were, collectively, the worst and keeping that from the first years, who were crazy enough to look up to them, was imperative to their pride.
If any of the first years overhead this they might be inclined to change their minds and Suga wouldn’t be able to blame them.
He rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “You’re all awful and I’m breathe the same air as you.”
Daichi shrugged then made a shooing motion. “Call it whatever you want, as long as you calm Kageyama down.”
Calm down didn’t seem like the right word choice to him. Kageyama wasn’t not calm, someone who’d started in as many games as he had would probably never freak out in a game, but he wasn’t...focused? Maybe? Something was off, that much Suga could see and feel.
He didn’t really have a choice, since he was clearly the only reasonable and responsible one here. He laid his best ‘I’m disappointed in you’ look on Daichi, who had the grace to duck his head and look away, before finally beelining for Kageyama. What he was supposed to say or do here he had no idea. He didn’t know Kageyama like he knew the second years and Daichi, didn’t have the insight into his habits and needs to say what it would take to set things right. He just had a vague sense of something being off and Kageyama’s frequent glances across the court to go on.
But he was vice-captain and ‘team beta’ (which Daichi had absolutely made up in order to get away with pushing stuff like this onto him. “You’re their leader after all.” had been said way too many times for Suga to take it a hundred percent seriously.) so he had to work it out. In the next twenty steps or so.
If it was Hinata he’d just pull him aside and rub his back or hug him. Hinata loved that, chased off touch, attention, and praise like everyone Suga knew about omegas said they were supposed to. He wasn’t embarrassed to ask for it or sidle up to someone’s side with big searching eyes, and had a knack for ending up under their hands in time to have his hair tousled or neck touched. It was impressive how good at being in the right place at the right time he was, though the fact that Tanaka was very tactile and thought bear hugs and spinning Hinata around after every connected spike was appropriate helped. Suga understand the urge to do it, even if he had better impulse control than Tanaka did. Seeing Hinata smile and light up was enough to ruin a person, and then make them do whatever it took to make it happen again and again.
Yamaguchi was more subdued about things, glued to Tsukishima’s side most of the time as he was, and there was a layer of roughness to him that Suga suspected was less rub off from the blond and more that Yamaguchi honestly had a sharp tongue and mind of his own. But he too drank up touch and affection when it came his way, maybe even more so than Hinata was. He didn’t seek it or insert himself into situations, so it happened less often, but he accepted claps on the back and dog piles and even those bone crushing hugs from Tanaka with wide smiles and blushing cheeks. There was something about him that made Suga want to huge and scent mark and feed him and all sorts of alarming and sickeningly soft things.
Tsukishima was...prickly. Getting close enough to touch him was nearly impossible. He was as good at getting Yamaguchi between him and the rest of the team as Hinata was appearing from nowhere for head pats. Suga wasn’t sure if that was just how he was, plenty of people weren’t of the pack mindset after all and would probably find all the things that went with it irritating, or if it was something else. He wouldn’t have considered that there might be more going on that was on the surface before, if not for Kageyama.
Kageyama didn’t just avoid contact and shy away from being told he’d done a good job, he flinched like he thought he was under attack and always slipped away before anyone could be too nice. He brushed off acknowledgement of his abilities and only seemed to get really excited when it came to his and Hinata’s quick. In those moments his eyes glowed and his face relaxed into something Suga might have gone so far as to call happiness. Pride. A kaleidoscope of emotion that peaked out only to be smoothed over again a moment later, locked up tight.
Someone, or someones, had done a number of Kageyama.
Suga didn’t know how to feel about it. He knew how he felt, yes, but how he felt wasn’t...it pissed him off, even though he knew it wasn't his place to be upset. The thought of putting a ball up only to have his teammates turn their back on him and let it hit the ground. It pissed him off almost as much as it scared it him. He wasn’t sure he could think of anything worse than his teammates giving up not just on the game but on him. It made him think of his last game with Noya and Asahi, that hopeless feeling of not being enough, or letting his friends down so completely, but he imagined even that was different from what had happened to Kageyama.
But it wasn’t sure that that got under his skin. It was how it had rattled Kageyama, how it was still affecting him. There was a part of Suga, a new protective streak that had teeth and wasn’t as good at holding it’s temper, that wanted to do...something. But he knew that was bias at play; he didn’t know the other side and it was painfully easy to imagine Kageyama as someone who was too much for others to handle. He didn’t know that he thought forcing him out had been right but...he didn’t know. Couldn’t know.
It wasn’t right to slot the Kageyama he knew now into an old situation and become defensive because of it. And it wasn’t right to hold a middle school group, where the concept of pack was just forming in everyone’s minds as a real thing and the first tugs of connections were being felt, to the same standards he did his own team. He could say that it wasn’t okay to turn one's back on pack, and point to everyone that said a pack rejecting an omega could have serious, long lasting effects (they were the more social dynamic, relied on their bonds more, were less likely to be Solo-natured, needed to avoid omega drops and becoming touch starved.) but it had been different.
He wanted to be fair.
Better to leave the open hostility to Tanaka, who had already loudly declared he was going to defend Kageyama’s honor, and focus on making things right. They couldn’t all be angry, nothing would get done that way.
Is what he told himself as he dropped into a crouch next to the omega. And then reminded himself of less than a second later when Kageyama looked up at him, eyes dark with unease, then across the court yet again.
“You doing okay?”
Kageyama nodded, gaze dropping to where his hands were flat on the ground, between his spread legs. “Fine.” If Suga had been going by tone alone he might have believed it but there was a faint sour note to Kageyama’s usually clean and fresh scent that told him differently.
Suga watched him slide into another stretch, muscles pulling and shifting under his skin and a low hiss leaving his mouth. Suga blinked, looked left, looked right, scolded himself silently, and rubbed at the back of his neck.
Kageyama wasn’t a talker, unless it was about the game. That was going to make this that much harder. If he was Kageyama what would he want to hear? What would it take to put him at ease when faced with something that had shaken him? He tried to imagine himself facing Dateko ago, tried to make himself feel it. What would help him when that happened again?
Winning, his brain supplied helpfully. Then again maybe it was helpful. Would Kageyama not be the same in that regard? Anything short of proving himself would fall short, wouldn’t it?
He reached out and clapped Kageyama on the shoulder, smiling even as the omega flinched. “You know we’ve got your back right? If you put the ball up someone will be there.”
Was that too blunt? That was probably too blunt.
“Huh?” Blue eyes widened the barest amount, darkened with some emotion Suga didn’t even want to attempt to put into words, then flicked back down. “I-yes.”
That sounded a lot like ‘no’ but okay, sure, nothing worthwhile had been built up in less than two weeks, or in a single forced 3v3 game. Hell, even Suga wasn’t so great at not closing himself off and trying to do everything himself.
“Good. Everyone here, even if Tanaka is the only one saying it,” And almost punching members of the other team if not for Daichi holding him back. “Feels the same.”
Kageyama breathed out slowly then straightened up. He nodded once, stiffly. “I know. ...thanks?”
Suga couldn’t parse whether that was genuine or not. He sighed and rose to his feet as Kageyama did the same; the omega looked over at the other team again and his mouth curved down at the corners. The sour note threaded in his scent grew stronger. It burned Suga’s nose, made him wrinkle it reflexively. The animal part of his brain, growing stronger with each passing day, seemed to whine in protest. He looked as well, found those two first years watching with expressions that were somehow curious and scornful all at once. Kageyama bit down on his lower lip and his shoulders dropped.
Suga wouldn’t say it was a defeated look, he doubted Kageyama was capable of such a thing, but it wasn’t the same fire he’d had during the 3v3 either.
If asked to explain why he did what he did next he would blame it on that. Instincts, the stirring of the fledgling pack bond, protectiveness, and perhaps a little possessiveness; it all came together at once and moved him forward. Suga touched Kageyama’s shoulder, leaned in, and pressed a fleeting kiss to the corner of his mouth. It was barely anything, a quick brush of lips that could barely be called a kiss really.
Somewhere a volleyball hit the ground and someone squawked in surprise.
Kageyama flushed tomato red from neck to ear tips and, with a strangled sound that Suga hesitate to call human, dropped down into a squat and covered his face with his hands. Suga stared, lips pressed tight together, then slowly turned to look back at Daichi to find the alpha wearing a flat, unimpressed look.
Suga patted Kageyama’s head as not awkwardly as he could manage. “Give it your all.” Kageyama nodded a little too empathically and lifted a hand in acknowledgement.
Suga could feel eyes on him and resolutely didn’t look anywhere but straight ahead was he walked back to the bench. This was fine. Completely fine. Everyone knew how packs worked, there was nothing shocking about what he’d done. Nothing shocking at all. Not that he went around kissing his teammates, generally. And he couldn’t really recall seeing any other teams doing that sort of things but then kissing was usually kept private and-
“You broke him.” Daichi accused once he was in ear shot.
Suga opened his mouth then shut it. Pointing out that Daichi had, via Kiyoko, broken Hinata would just have been petty. And Suga wasn’t petty. Except when he was.
“Suga-san!” Hinata shouted a moment before he barrelled into him with enough force that, if not for his quick reflexes, they would have both ended up on the floor. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were following at a more sedate pace; Tsukishima rolling his eyes and Yamaguchi looking decidedly...pink in the cheeks. “Suga! I want a kiss.”
Suga cut his eyes to the side, mostly to avoid the amused looks he knew Daichi and the second years were wearing. “Hinata.”
“It’s not fair for just Kageyama to get one!”
So loud.
There were various ways to handle the situation but the quickest route seemed pretty obvious. He took Hinata’s face between his hands, stared into brown eyes that went from outraged to excited to mortified in rapid succession, and kissed Hinata’s forehead. He released the younger teen and stepped back, hoping that would satisfy Hinata.
“Ahha.” Hinata breathed out. Swayed on his feet then, blinking owlishly, turned on his heel to wander over to Kageyama, who was still where Suga had left him.
Suga raised an eyebrow at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. “You too?”
Tsukishima crossed his arms over his chest. “No. You aren’t my type.”
“Lies! Suga’s everyone’s type!” Tanaka all but shouted in his ear, pointing at Tsukishima in apparent outrage. Suga very calmly pushed his friend away, mourning for what might have been a ruptured eardrum.
Daichi took pity on him, or maybe it was just that the game was about to start, and hooked Tanaka by the ear to drag him out onto the court. Ennoshita and Tsukishima followed, the former tossing Suga a wide smirk as he went past and the latter not looking at him with so much deliberateness it was actually kind of offensive, with Takeda-sensei at their heels.
Suga sat down to watch the team line up and get ready for the coin toss and Yamaguchi sat next to him, close enough that their knees bumped. He was still very pink. Suga tapped his fingers on his knee, wondering how long he’d have to wait for Yamaguchi to say something.
Not very long, was the answer. Yamaguchi leaned close as the coin was tossed up, breathed out his name as a question. Suga turned his head and met him in the middle, another quick kiss. Then, for good measure, he went back for a second.
Suga was fairly confident Yamaguchi would be willing and able to pass it along to Tsukishima later.
“Is this what we do now?” Narita wondered out loud. “Because I’d be fine with kissing instead of, I don’t know, running laps or receive practice.”
Suga smiled cheerfully. “Too bad.”
Kinoshita leaned past the other beta, expression deathly serious. “Do we get to kiss Yamaguchi?”
Yamaguchi sputtered, blush going from light pink to a dark red that made his freckles stand out that much more. Suga patted his knee sympathetically.