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In hindsight, Hinata realized, this probably wasn’t the best idea he’d ever had. To be fair, he thought, it wasn’t the worst idea he’d ever had either, but it was pretty high on the list.
It hadn’t started out like this. When it first occurred to Hinata to scare Kageyama it had seemed like a brilliant idea. All he had to do was crawl under Kageyama’s favorite bus seat before the team loaded up onto the bus, wait for Kageyama to sit down, then grab his ankles when he sat down. Kageyama would jump and scream, everyone would laugh, and Tsukishima might even be able to sneak some embarrassing photos on his camera phone. True, Hinata considered, there would be a lot of yelling, and hitting, and painful hair pulling, but he thought that a good practical joke would be the perfect thing to defuse the tension after a long training camp.
It had still seemed like a good idea when he snuck away while Karasuno was still saying their goodbyes. It had seemed fine when he climbed onto the bus. He had some doubts when he tried to fit into the small space under the bus seat, but those had gone away as soon as he had himself situated. All he had to do then was wait. And wait. And then wait a little bit more. But, Hinata had thought as his legs began to cramp up, all of the waiting would be worth it to see the look on Kageyama’s face as he screeched like a little girl.
Hinata held in his sigh of relief when he heard the bus door open, and he managed to hold still as he listed to the familiar sounds on volleyball shoes getting on the bus and people chatting in a low hum. However, he froze completely when he heard an equally familiar and infinitely more horrifying “HEY HEY HEY,” as Bokuto jumped onto the bus. Bokuto. From Fukurodani. Who was getting on the bus from Fukurodani. That would be driving to Fukurodani. And not driving to Karasuno. Hinata would not get the chance to scare Kageyama because Kageyama wouldn’t be on Fukurodani’s bus and neither would anyone else from Karasuno. Well, neither would anyone else except Hinata.
As Hinata tried to process all of this information without going into a fit of hysterics, the bus started up and began to pull out of the parking lot. Okay, Hinata thought, now would be the time to calm down, crawl out from under the seat, announce his presence, give everyone a minute to stop freaking out after the panic that his announcement would surely cause, get them to stop the bus, get off the bus, stop the Captain from murdering-
Hinata’s internal monologue was cut off as Bokuto flopped onto the seat above Hinata and swung his duffle bag under the seat. His large, heavy duffle bag. Hinata let out a small, high-pitched noise when the bag made impact with his face and he saw how Bokuto’s twitchy legs in front of him halted their twitching. The vinyl seat cover squeaked above him as he heard Bokuto shift his weight forwards. Then Hinata saw the gelled-tips of hair slowly descend over the edge of the seat, followed by the rest of Bokuto’s spiky hair, his bushy eyebrows, a pair of large amber eyes that fixed on Hinata’s face, and finally the rest of Bokuto’s face, all hanging upside down as he leaned over the seat. Before Hinata could sputter out an apology or an explanation or something that wouldn’t result in his death, Bokuto swear-to-God winked, raised a finger to his lips, and shushed him before snapping upright again.
While Hinata tried to wrap his mind around what was going on, he heard Bokuto shout out “Hey hey hey, Akaashi, I’ve been thinking and-”
“Uh-oh,” Hinata heard someone say.
“Bokuto, what did we say about you doing that whole ‘thinking’ thing?” someone else chimed in.
“And what is it that you were thinking?” Hinata heard Akaashi interrupt before Bokuto could be sent into a full on spiral of despair.
“I was thinking,” Bokuto said, “that as much as I love sitting with you, and I really love it, it’s just not fair that I get to have you to myself all the time. We’re neglecting our poor kohai! Onaga seems awfully lonely up front, and it would be poor vice-captainship to let our sad little first year feel as if he wasn’t important.”
Hinata could practically hear the cynical look that Akaashi was sending Bokuto’s way.
“Actually, I don’t feel all that neglected at the moment,” Hinata heard who he assumed was Onaga say.
“You heard Onaga,” Akaashi said. “You practically suffocated him with attention during your endless spiking practice. Now move over.”
“NO!” Bokuto shouted. “Ha ha, I mean, you know, I-” he began to splutter as Hinata sensed more and more people direct their attention his way. “I just need- I mean, want- some space?” Bokuto finally managed to squeak out.
“All you had to do was ask, Bokuto-san,” Hinata heard Akaashi sigh in exasperation as his feet moved away from the seat that Hinata was under and towards the front of the bus. Hinata also sighed as Bokuto slipped a covert thumbs-up under the seat.
What was less covert, however, was when Bokuto tried to slip Hinata food ten minutes later. Hinata heard the vinyl seat above him squeak as Bokuto shifted his body to the sides, presumably making sure the coast was clear and actually drawing more attention to himself. Bokuto began to whistle not-so-nonchalantly as he dipped his granola bar under the seat and tried to aim it at Hinata’s mouth.
“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi drawled out warningly. Both Hinata and Bokuto jumped. “What are you doing?”
“What? Me? Doing anything? I’m doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’m just sitting here trying to enjoy my snack.”
“You’re enjoying your snack by dropping it on the floor?”
“Alright, fine. I didn’t want to admit it because I didn’t want to hurt our dear manager’s feelings, but I actually secretly have always hated granola bars. Yup. That’s totally what’s up. So, you know, no worries. Yeah. Okay,” Bokuto finished lamely.
Even Hinata had to mentally face palm at that one.
Hinata drew a deep breath as he heard Akaashi walk towards his hiding place once more. “Alright, what are you hiding underneath your seat?” Akaashi asked in a the sort of resigned tone most parents reserve for their rambunctious three year olds.
Bokuto squawked indignantly. “I’m not hiding anything! How could you even say that?! Hey hey hey, what are you doing?”
Hinata gulped as Akaashi’s footsteps stopped and the tired face of Fukurodani’s setter dipped below Bokuto’s seat.
“Um… hi?” Hinata managed to squeak out before Akaashi sighed.
“Hinata.”
“Um… yes, Akaashi-san?”
“Would you like to come out from under that seat now?”
“Um… yes, Akaashi-san.”
Akaashi stood upright and with that, Hinata began to disentangle himself from under the seat as the rest of Fukurodani, predictably, freaked out. Akaashi ignored the loud voices of his teammates and the stammering explanations of Bokuto as he pulled out his phone and began to search his contacts.
“Hey Akaahi, I can explain,” Bokuto began, “but, what are you doing?”
Akaashi looked up from his phone to shoot Bokuto a look of 100% irritation before turning back to his phone. “I’m calling Sawamura-san,” he explained.
Hinata looked to the sky (or at least the roof of the bus) and began his prayers while Bokuto started to whine. “But Akaaaaaaaashi, we should keep him!” The look that Akaashi shot him was now only 90% irritation and 10% disbelief. “Think of how awesome it would be!” Bokuto launched into an enthusiastic explanation. “I could train him to be a mini-Ace, and he would practice spiking with me, and I could teach him all of my best tricks, and he could sleep on the floor of my room, and-”
Akaashi stopped him with a look that was now 50% irritation, 20% disbelief, and 30% scorn, then lifted his phone to his ear. “Yes, hello, Sawamura-san?” he began, “it’s Akaashi from Fukurodani, I believe you’re missing a player?”
No, Hinata thought as Bokuto whined, the team members of Fukurodani continued to freak out, and Akaashi held the phone with the now yelling captain of Karasuno on the line away from his ear, this was definitely the worst idea he’d ever had.