Chapter Text
“The beach!?,” the volleyball boys said in unison.
It was after practice where coach Ukai had sat the sweat-dripping crows in front of him to discuss the good news: a one-week vacation at the beach! He thought the boys deserved a much needed break after working so hard to prepare for Nationals. While the two managers, Kiyoko and Yachi, passed out water bottles and towels for the boys to cool off, Ukai went over his proposal.
“Yes, the beach,” the blonde coach confirmed. “I know this is quite sudden and this topic came out of nowhere, but a friend of mine owns an inn near one and I asked if we could stay for a few days. You’ve all had tirelessly been practicing for Nationals which, of course, is a good thing, but breaks and rest are also important. That’s why I decided to do this favor for you guys. Well, what do you all say?”
All the boys could do was blink in response to their coach’s sentiment which also comedically made Ukai blink as well after the uncomfortable long silence.
“What? Do boys your age not like going to the beach or something?! Answer your old man and save me from this awkward silence!,” Ukai pleaded.
Suddenly, the gym bursted out in a compilation of cheers and hoorays with some even crying tears of joy.
The first one to respond was the captain, Daichi, who had to wipe his tears of happiness with his volleyball jacket. “No, it’s not that. I think we’re all just extremely shocked that you would do all of this for us.”
“Yeah,” Sugawara chimed in, wrapping his own towel around his shoulder. “We’re grateful to have such a caring coach like you Ukai. And I agree, I think we’ve all been overworking ourselves a little bit. I’m sure the younger ones would appreciate all thi–”
“BEACH! BEACH! BEACH!,” Tanaka and Nishinoya shouted together. The two boys clearly could not contain their excitement.
Tanaka started to suddenly mimic a hula dancer waving both his arms from side-to-side. “Just imagine: the hot sun beaming down on your skin, the touch of the sand wrapping around your toes, the ocean waves crashing on your face, and most importantly–”
“Kiyoko-san in a swimsuit and all the cute girls that’ll be walking on the shore!,” Nishinoya finished his friend’s thought. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime Ryū, we can’t afford to waste it. We must take this wonderful gift that the one-and-mighty Ukai had given us.”
Tanaka and Nishinoya clasped their hands together and closed their eyes as if in prayer, then turned to Ukai and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. “You can count on us to be there coach!”
Coach Ukai confusingly nodded at their eagerness.
“Those two are overly excited for the wrong reasons,” Ennoshita sighed. “Well, it has been a while since I’ve gone to a beach, especially since we live close to the mountains. I’m sure it’d benefit everyone to have a change in scenery.” Kinoshita thought the same and nodded at his remark.
Meanwhile, the four freshmen who remained quiet until now suddenly turned to each other for opinions. “Won’t that be fun Tsukki? It’ll be like a mini vacation! Are you thinking of going?,” Yamaguchi asked.
“Be quiet Yamaguchi(*),” Tsukishima replied in a monotone voice. “I think it’ll be bothersome. For all we know dangerous stuff could happen to us while we’re there. Heat strokes, drowning, tsunamis. I won’t be partaking in that risk.”
Yamaguchi playfully sighed at his friend’s pessimistic way of thinking. “I guess I see where you’re coming from,” he laughed. “I mean, it’s in your name. Since the beach is all about sunny weather and your family name has the character for ‘moon’, I guess something like this really doesn’t really suit a guy like you, huh, Tsukki.”
The tall blonde may have not liked the beach, but he certainly knew someone who would. Yes, most definitely, because that person he knew had been side-eyeing him for the past five seconds ever since his apathetic comment. “Of course, I guess there are some humans on this Earth who have creepily obtained the ability of photosynthesis that plants use and can convert the sun into heaps of energy,” Tsukishima said while staring daggers at the boy with orange hair who stood up in front of him.
He was, clearly, referring to Hinata who angrily pointed a finger right at his direction. “Tsukishima! You better be coming along! A team isn’t a team if all but one of us is gone. This beach trip will be important for us to strengthen our bond!”
“We already see each other enough at practice. Our nonexistent bond will be fine,” Tsukishima blankly retorted.
“But that’s exactly why,” Hinata insisted, emphasizing his statement with his hands. “Though I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to just stay in the gym and just practice volleyball… Wouldn’t bonding with your teammates outside of club activities also strengthen our overall friendship? Besides, I’m sure a boring guy like yourself could find something to enjoy at the beach!”
An annoyed Tsukishima remained silent at that statement, but a vein suddenly popped out of his forehead visibly displaying his irritation.
“Hey, Tsukki isn’t boring,” Yamaguchi affirmed. “I think he’s a cool guy.”
“Be quiet Yamaguchi.”
“Sorry, Tsukki.”
“It’s gonna be fun!” Hinata excitedly turned towards his setter. “Right Kageyama!”
A yawning Kageyama seemed uninterested in their conversation and replied with a simple “No.”
The orange haired boy pouted at his friend’s failure to back him up. “What do you mean ‘no’? There’s plenty of awesome stuff you could do at the beach! Have you ever even been to a beach before?”
“Of course I have!” Kageyama snapped back defensively. “But what’s there to enjoy at the beach when I can’t even swim in the water? It'll be a waste of my time.”
Hinata paused to process what the other had said. When it registered he couldn’t help but snicker. “Kageyama-kun… you can’t swim?,” he asked and started laughing uncontrollably.
The black haired setter’s cheeks suddenly turned red. “Oi! Why are you laughing all of a sudden, you dumbass!” Kageyama tried to grab onto Hinata but he dodged, still giggling like an idiot. Soon, it turned into a cat and mouse chase across the gym.
“It’s shocking to find out that Kageyama doesn’t know how to swim,” Yamaguchi said, watching the two chase each other.
“Well, the King is a volleyball idiot. His brain is probably packed with volleyball knowledge that there’s no room for a simple task such as swimming,” Tsukishima added, accepting a water bottle from Kiyoko.
“Um,” a small Yachi said, walking over towards the two boys who were suddenly face-first on the ground. Hinata had accidentally tripped which also made Kageyama topple over, but while the orange haired continued laughing the other was aggressively grabbing his skull. “If I recall there’s such a thing as beach volleyball, right?”
As if the word ‘volleyball’ were a switch, the two boys stopped fighting and turned their attention towards the young manager.
“I may not know much about it, but while I was browsing the internet for volleyball content for the team I stumbled across a few videos of people playing on a sand-filled court,” Yachi explained. “I’ve read that there are different rules when it comes to beach volleyball and that it’s popular amongst people in such places like Brazil.”
Hinata’s ears perked at this information. Volleyball at the beach? It seemed so foreign to him.
“Wouldn’t you need a net to properly play a game for that?,” Kageyama sharply inquired.
Yachi’s face fell when she realized this and her inner monologue kicked in.
Of course! How could I have forgotten! I’ve brought their hopes up with beach volleyball but I forgot they would be going to an inn that might not have the proper equipment to even play the game. Now Kageyama will definitely decide not to go and then the team’s dynamic will fall apart and then they’ll most certainly lose at Nationals and then they’ll end up hating each other and become bitter old people who will remember their defeat for the rest of their life and then…
“I’m so sorry!” Yachi profusely apologized while bowing. “It was shameful of me to even suggest such a thing! Beach volleyball with no net? That would be outrageous! Please don’t become bitter old men and hate each other.”
The two boys turned to each other in confusion.
“Old men?,” Kageyama repeated.
“Did she say ‘hate each other?’,” Hinata said with a perplexed face.
“Actually,” Coach Ukai said while walking towards the three, “my old man has a portable volleyball net somewhere lying in his house. I’m sure we can bring it to the inn if I end up finding it. Although I did mention this trip was for vacation purposes, I know that our freak duo wouldn’t last a day without hitting a volleyball with their hand and because of that I’ll try my best to find that net. But I want you two to try to enjoy other things at the inn besides volleyball, is that clear!”
Kageyama and Hinata mentally cheered and celebrated after hearing Coach Ukai’s promise to bring the volleyball net. More volleyball meant more practice! It was practically all that the two could ask for that they didn’t really mind the obligation of enjoying other things while on the trip.
“Well that settles it.” Coach Ukai clapped his hands together to get the attention of the Karasuno boys. “I can arrange a bus with Takeda-sensei to leave on Saturday morning and since the inn is a little ways from here everyone should be packed the day before. Now I’m not going to force anyone to come if they don’t want to,” Ukai paused looking at Tsukishima, “but I think this trip will benefit all of you if everyone does end up coming. Let your family know about the trip and make your decision when it gets closer to the date.”
After he was finished, Coach Ukai told the boys to clean up the gym and go home for the night. While the boys were cleaning, Tanaka and Nishinoya both walked over towards a vulnerable Tsukishima.
“Tsukishima! You were thinking of not coming?!,” Tanaka called out towards the tall giant.
“Yeah do you think we’d leave a guy like you all alone here? Or did you think you were too cool for us,” Nishinoya chimed in.
“Now now,” Asahi said behind the two who were comedically trying to intimidate Tsukishima. “If Tsukishima doesn’t want to come we shouldn’t force him to. I overheard him talking about the dangerous stuff that could happen with Yamaguchi so while I’m still going on the trip, I’ll still be sort of wary of those types of things.”
Nishinoya turned around and surveyed Asahi from head to toe. “Your looks really don’t match your personality, huh, Asahi.”
That statement came out of nowhere that it struck Asahi as if it were an arrow. He held his head down and sulked. “How straight-forward you are, Nishinoya. Do I really not act like how I portray myself?”
“Not at all,” Nishinoya replied, his statement once again piercing Asahi’s self-esteem. “But I don’t think anything’s wrong with worrying. It’s natural to worry about the bad stuff, but if you only focus on the bad stuff then where’s the room for any of the good?”
Asahi was taken aback at how intellectual Nishinoya sounded.
“Whoa Noya-san you sounded like a poet just now,” Tanaka complimented. “Did you understand any of what you just said”
“Nope,” he straight-forwardly said. “But it sure sounded smart and besides,” he started, turning back to Tsukishima, “we need to focus on convincing this giant bean-pole to tag along on this trip. Quick! Think of ways to blackmail him. Let’s see…”
Meanwhile, Hinata and Yachi were tasked with picking up all the volleyballs that were laying on the floor while Kageyama wiped the floor with the mop. Yamaguchi helped Kiyoko with folding the towels and emptying the water bottles.
“Hey Hinata,” Yachi called out after picking up the ball.
“What is it Yachi?,” the orange boy replied, throwing the two balls he was carrying into the basket.
“I was just wondering,” she started. “Were you thinking of swimming at the beach as well when we get there?”
The little crow picked up another ball before facing the smaller one and revealing a wide smile. Then he confessed, “I actually don’t know how to swim myself.”
Kageyama, who had been diligently sliding the mop across the floor suddenly stopped in his tracks and rotated his head toward their direction. “Oi! You dumbass, why were you laughing so hard at me back there when I revealed I couldn’t swim when you couldn’t swim either?”
Hinata walked towards the basket and the two observed him as he gently let the volleyball graze off his fingers. “I wasn’t laughing at the fact that you couldn’t swim,” he revealed, turning around, “I was actually laughing because…that’s another thing we have in common besides volleyball. I was just happy to find out that somebody else shares that imperfection with me.”
Yachi recognized a sort of sincerity in Hinata’s voice when he said this, but when she turned around to see what Kageyama’s reaction was, all he did was cock his head to the side and pull his eyebrows together into a scowl.
“But,” Hinata suddenly announced. “Now that you know my embarrassing secret, I’m letting you all know that I’m going to spend this trip learning how to swim! I’ll practice day by day until I can swim as fast as a dolphin!” He clenched his fist in determination. “Then I won’t lose to you Kageyama-kun!”
Kageyama smirked at this challenge and replied with a simple, “I won’t either.”
Yachi looked back and forward between the two and let out a sigh before continuing to pick up volleyballs. These two volleyball freaks really don’t want to lose to each other even with something as trivial as swimming. She’s glad, however, that these two have each other’s back at the end of the day and that, no matter how insecure either of them gets with something, it won’t stop them from bringing out the best from each other. Their relationship made Yachi’s lip curl into a gentle smile. These two were perfect for each other.
⠀⠀
When the gym was perfectly polished, the boys locked up the gym, grabbed their belongings from the locker rooms, and headed straight home. It was already late so the streets were practically empty until the group of boys filled it with their loud shenanigans. Soon the roads forked and one by one the flock of crows began to diminish.
“Bye!,” Hinata waved back at Yachi and the upperclassmen who had to walk the opposite way. He grabbed hold onto his bike again and joined Kageyama who was a little ahead of him. “Shouldn’t you have said goodbye to them as well?”
“Why? I already did, back at the gym.”
There was an awkward pause before Hinata broke the silence with a, “Wow… No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend, Kageyama-kun.”
The black-haired teen began to turn a shade of pink again. “What the hell did you just say!?,” he yelled at Hinata, but before getting a proper response, the other noticed two figures that were a little ways in front of them.
“Hey, isn't that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi? Wow they walk really fast,” Hinata observed. He paused before saying, “Kageyama-kun, do you think Tsukishima will end up coming on the trip as well? He seemed really adamant about it back at the gym, but Nishinoya and Tanaka tried to change his mind, so I hope he does end up coming.”
“Who knows,” was all Kageyama said, somehow forgetting Hinata’s insulting comment just earlier.
“Even though I can never tell what Tsukishima is thinking and that our relationship isn’t the greatest, I still consider him a valuable teammate and friend, though he probably doesn’t see it that way,” Hinata went on. “But he better come on this trip, the bond of our team is the utmost important so I will try my best to get to know the guy!”
Kageyama raised an eyebrow at Hinata’s inclination.
“But just like Tsukishima, you were also thinking of not coming, wasn’t that right, Kageyama-kun,” the small crow snickered, remembering the reason why the setter refused at first.
“Well, I am now! Are you happy?”
“Yeah, actually,” he casually said. “Although it took volleyball to persuade you, I’m glad you’ll be coming because that means I get to hit more of your tosses!” He swung his arm in the air to demonstrate. “I wonder how different beach volleyball is from the regular one though.”
Kageyama remained silent, but he was also curious.
“Looks like that’s another thing I’ll have to master in the future besides swimming!” Hinata shouted at the sky. “You better not back down from this Kageyama! Don’t let me catch you drowning on the first day.”
The setter scoffed. “Don’t be stupid, it’s obvious you’ll be the one to drown first, dumbass.”
That comment somehow ticked the middle blocker off. “Eh? What’s that supposed to mean!,” he snapped back.
“A shrimp like you could probably only go five feet into the water before your toes can’t touch the ground,” Kageyama sneered.
It was Hinata’s turn for his cheeks to blush red. “I-it’s not about how far into the water we go, if you can’t swim, all that height will be useless. And I don’t know why you’re talking Kageyama-kun, just because you’re a few inches taller than me doesn’t make you superior, hmph!”
“W-whatever, we’ll both have to see when we get to the beach,” Kageyama quickly dismissed the topic.
They walked together in comfortable silence with nothing but the duet of their shoes beating on the pavement. This is how it usually went when they head home after practice. It would be just the two of them to keep each other company along the desolate streets of the night and since the both of them had to walk in the same direction it sort of became customary to walk with each other.
Hinata remembered the first few nights after practice where he purposefully took detours just to avoid Kageyama’s presence because he couldn’t stand him. He even thought it was bothersome that his house was along the path he had to take (even considering moving houses), but over time the young crow grew to like Kageyama and somewhere along the line something clicked between the two.
The first night Hinata asked Kageyama if they could walk together, the setter refused, leaving the orange-haired alone and bitter. But Hinata wasn’t the type to just give up. Every day, he’d join Kageyama on his way home whether the setter liked it or not, even trying to start conversations with him. Soon it became routine that Kageyama didn’t mind his teammate’s company at all.
In the beginning, these two boys seemed to hate one another, but now the two were practically glued to each other’s hips. Their relationship only grew thanks to volleyball and it was because both of them gave what the other lacked. Kageyama gave Hinata the tosses he’s always wanted and Hinata pushed Kageyama to his full capabilities. This particular pair had developed a dangerous bond, tied together by a red string of fate.
It’s crazy to think what could happen if the string were to break in two.
“Hey, Kageyama-kun,” Hinata prompted.
The boy hummed in response.
“We’re rivals, right?”
He didn’t understand where he was going with this so he simply replied with, “Yeah?”
The little giant waited a few seconds before continuing as if he were choosing his words carefully. “Do you consider me as a friend?”
Why was he being all sentimental all of a sudden?
The whole change in atmosphere gave Kageyama a weird feeling and he didn’t quite know how to respond to Hinata’s question. He never really put any thought into it, but obviously they were really good teammates. Does that equate to friendship? Was that what he was asking?
“Sure.”
The cold air of the night carried along the proceeding silence with the quiet chirps of the crickets resting beneath the grass occasionally disrupting it. The stars above that peeked through the clouds were the only source of light besides the street lamps to illuminate the road the boys were walking.
It took Hinata twenty-seven steps before he tightened his grip on his bicycle handles as if preparing himself for what he was about to say. He focused his gaze on the ground and muttered something under his breath, hoping the setter next to him would hear his next words.
“Huh?,” Kageyama questioned because he, in fact, did not hear him. “Did you ask me something?”
Suddenly, Hinata shuffled his feet and picked up his pace, giving minimal eye contact towards his teammate. “I-it’s nothing! I didn’t say anything.” He fidgeted with the handles on his bike before getting on it. “Oh look Kageyama, it’s so late I should hurry home. See you tomorrow, bye!”
The little crow started pedaling away from the black-haired boy as if in a rush.
A lonely Kageyama blinked three times in confusion before he realized what was happening. When reality soon hit him, he clenched his fist and started chasing after the boy who had left him.
“Hinata, you dumbass! Where the hell do you think you’re going!”
The moon was full that night with its brilliant luster kissing the cheeks of the two boys below as if it were a caring mother watching her two beautiful children play amongst the stars.