Chapter Text
he had complained all morning as he got dressed in his aoba johsai uniform. while he didn't know what the karasuno uniform looked like, hinata knew that it was infinitely cooler. it had to be, because the tiny giant once wore it.
"shoyo, hurry up!" his mother called from the kitchen. "you're going to miss the bus if you don't hurry."
"i'm coming!" he shouted back, struggling to properly lay his tie flat against his chest. he fussed with it for a few more seconds before officially giving up, deciding that he could deal with an extremely crooked tie.
shoyo double-checked his appearance in the mirror before nodding and running out of his room and to the front door. natsu knocked him flat on his ass as she zipped by him, clearly excited for her first day of school.
"natsu!" he cried out, taking a moment to assess the damage she'd caused. "watch where you're going!"
"i'm sorry!" she said, sounding as if she didn't have a care in the world. ( which, to be fair, she probably didn't care that she'd hurt him anyway. )
"shoyo, be nice to your sister." his mother reprimanded from the kitchen, obviously not bothering to check if he was even the catalyst in this situation.
rather than argue with his mother, hinata grumbled to himself as he tugged his shoes on, hurriedly tying the laces so he'd have a few extra seconds to grab his lunch.
thankfully, his mom had tied the bento box with the plain blue cloth he'd picked out just last week. he was a first year in high school now; he couldn't be seen with the same yellow kitty cloth he'd been using in middle school.
he grabbed it and his backpack without a second to spare, because his mom was ushering him out the door before he could even say goodbye.
the walk to the bus stop wasn't a long one, and the logical part of him knew that his mother had a point in not letting him bike over the hill every day. still, he'd never say that to her face. despite knowing how much she cared, karasuno had just meant too much to him. a miracle would be her only shot at forgiveness so soon.
as luck would have it, the bus was just down the street when shoyo arrived at the bus stop.
"at least i'm not late." he said quietly, reaching up with his free hand to mess with his hair in an attempt to make it look more tamed than it actually was.
when the bus rolled to a stop, hinata inhaled deeply and stepped onto it. his gaze drifted across the many passengers, and he ultimately decided to sit by two students in the aoba johsai uniform. upon closer inspection, he recognized the both of them from the game against kitagawa first last year.
taking another deep breath, he approached them and sat down, silently hoping for the best.
"hey!" onion head said, pointing at hinata as he looked at the other boy sitting next to him. "that's the shorty who pissed the king off last year!"
"how nice."
"i'm kindaichi," onion head grinned, holding out the hand he'd been pointing with. "and this is kunimi. i didn't know you were going to aoba johsai!"
"i'm hinata!" he replied, shaking kindaichi's hand with a bright smile of his own. "i was hoping for karasuno, but my mom decided for me."
"karasuno, huh?" kindaichi looked back over at kunimi. "didn't they used to be a powerhouse school?"
"i don't know." he replied, pulling his phone out of his pocket. he seemed to be uninterested, which hinata didn't understand at all. this was volleyball they were talking about!
"the tiny giant was the reason why they were so good!" the ginger shouted, earning a few looks from the older passengers. "i want to be the next tiny giant!"
"well aoba johsai is a powerhouse school," kindaichi commented with a grin. "i'm sure you can be just as great there. and we'll get to crush the king, i'm sure."
"i don't know about crushing him." shoyo said thoughtfully. "but i do know that i want to defeat him, more than anyone else!"
the rest of the bus ride went on smoothly, for which hinata was grateful. kindaichi and kunimi had agreed to have lunch with him, and he felt much less nervous about his first day. unfortunately, he wasn't in the same class as either of them, but he supposed that he could make more friends, too.
as he made his way to homeroom, he noticed a crowd of girls swarming around a tall brunette. he was wearing a track jacket over his uniform, and shoyo silently wondered what sport he played. a guy as pretty as him had to play volleyball, he decided, nodding his head affirmatively at the thought.
in his moment of spacing out and thinking about how absolutely stunning this guy was, he wasn't watching where he was going. he felt like the biggest loser in the world when he bumped into a taller male, likely an upperclassman.
"i—i'm sorry!" hinata stammered, shaking in his shoes when the guy turned around. he had a volleyball in his hands, and a stern look on his face.
"don't mind iwaizumi." someone else popped up from behind him, looking significantly less scary. "he's just in a bad mood because oikawa's flirting with his little fan club."
"i'm not in a bad mood!" iwaizumi snapped. "shut up matsukawa."
"aw, iwaizumi!" another guy teased. "are you jealous of the attention he gets?"
"as if i'd ever be jealous of shittykawa." he paused, noticing hinata's fixated gaze on the volleyball in his hands. "you thinking of joining the team?"
"huh?" shoyo asked, blinking a couple of times as his brain registered what had been said. "oh, yeah! i'm gonna be the next tiny giant!"
"didn't the tiny giant go to karasuno?" a voice he didn't recognize asked. the ginger turned to see who had spoken, and his knees nearly buckled at the sight.
"y-yeah! but aoba johsai is a powerhouse school!" hinata said, quoting kindaichi's words from earlier. "if i want to improve, i can do it here!"
"i like your spunk, chibi-chan." the brunette said with a smile that made butterflies erupt in his belly despite how intimidated he was by these four upperclassmen. "what's your name?"
"uh, hinata!" he said a little too loudly, earning a chuckle from the tall male in front of him.
"the name's oikawa; what class are you in? i'll wait up for you and make sure you get to the tryouts."
"i think i'm in class 1?"
oikawa laughed, and the butterflies were fluttering once again.
"i'll be waiting for you, then." he winked before turning on his heel and walking away. iwaizumi, matsukawa, and the other guy he didn't catch the name of waved at him before following suit, snickering amongst themselves about oikawa and how he had taken a shine to the first year.
"what just happened?"