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Kei took a seat on one of the chairs lined up around Karasuno’s gym to re-tie his shoe. He was only half doing it to actually re-tie the knot. The other reason was to take a breather and avoid the crowd after a grueling practice match against Inarizaki.
Takeda always went through great lengths to get the team as many opportunities as possible to better their skills. Kei didn’t even want to think about what the poor teacher had gone through to convince Inarizaki they should stop at Karasuno the day after they had a practice match with Shiratorizawa. He certainly was tenacious when it came to getting on his knees to beg, if the subtext of Ukai’s muttered jokes were anything to go by. He did manage to convince the alumnus to coach them last year, likely with similar methods.
Someone sat next to Kei and he looked up to find Yamaguchi leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms above his head.
“Did you give up on asking the Inarizaki server’s for tips?” Kei asked, tightening his newly tied shoelaces and sitting up straighter.
“I talked to a few of them, but Miya’s been hard to pin down to ask about his jump floater,” Yamaguchi replied with a sigh. “You didn’t want to ask Suna for pointers?”
Kei snorted. “Hell no. I’m not going anywhere near that shifty guy. I still get too many messages from Kuroo.”
He glanced around the room to see what the rest of the team was doing. It looked like Miya Atsumu was bullying Kageyama and the latter was unaware. Nice. The fake blond noticed him glance their way and sent him a lazy smirk before responding to the king. Weird.
Kei turned his attention to the other side of the room. Ennoshita appeared to be in deep conversation with the other twin and Hinata was trying to practice Suna’s weird form next to him. One of the other Inarizaki players seemed to find his attempts hilarious. Overall, everyone seemed to be milling about on their own. It was certainly less chaotic than when they met up with Nekoma for practice matches. Thankfully.
He felt Yamaguchi shift next to him, the only warning he received before a hand touched the base of his neck. Fingers ran through his hair before the hand settled on top of his head and ruffled his blond locks. Kei tensed up and jumped away from the hand, nearly falling out of his chair.
“Calm down, long boy,” Miya Atsumu drawled. “Just checking your dye job.”
“My what?” Who the hell starts touching someone’s hair without asking? Or even saying hello?!
“Your dye job,” the captain said again. “You must be touching up your roots constantly to get that kind of coverage.”
Kei stared at him, unsure how to respond. Did this guy really think his natural blond hair came from a box? It wouldn’t be the first time someone questioned his hair color, but the other boy was more straightforward than most.
Kei glanced at Miya’s hair. He’d seen it last year at Nationals, of course, but hadn’t paid much attention to the twin. Besides a hand shake at the end, they didn’t interact. As he thought back, he did remember the damaged look to the bleached blond hair. Even now, it was better, but still very DIY. “Looking for recommendations?” He asked with a straight face. Yamaguchi stifled a laugh.
Miya grinned, his eyes shone excitedly. “If you’re offering,” he said.
“Hmmm,” Kei leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. If he was going to bullshit this guy, he might as well have fun with it. “I usually leave my toner in for at least three times the suggested amount of time. The longer the better. Tone your hair constantly.”
Miya nodded. “I’ll have to give it a shot. Trying to get better at dying, ya know?”
“Tsukki’s the best at it,” Yamaguchi said, patting Kei on the back. “He’ll never steer you wrong.”
“I knew I could expect Tobio’s teammates to be friendly,” Miya laughed. “Especially with having to put up with that goody two shoes.” His coach called him over and he gave the friends a wave before heading towards another part of the gym.
“So,” Yamaguchi said after a moment of silence. “Is that actually going to help?”
Kei scoffed. “Fuck if I know.”
—--
Kei glanced at his phone screen after it vibrated next to him on his desk. He was bored of his homework anyway, so any distraction would be welcome at this point.
Unknown number: MY HAIR TURNED PURPLE!!!
Hmm…not the distraction he had in mind. Who was texting him and why was it about hair? Wrong number maybe?
Kei tapped his pencil against his lips and tried to think of a good response. Since the text was in all caps, he assumed the sender was not happy about their newfound violet locks. Kei pursed his lips and picked up his phone, pulling up the message and reading it again.
Me: That’s unfortunate.
Unknown number: Unfortunate? You told me to keep toning it. Do you even know anything about hair?
Kei furrowed his brow. That comment sounded familiar, but when had he talked to anyone about hair before? He vaguely remembered Hinata talking about wanting to dye his hair after their practice match with Inarizaki a few weeks ago…oh…
His phone rang.
Kei answered.
“Hel–?”
“How am I gonna fix this? ‘Samu said I looked like that chick from Harry Potter!” Miya Atsumu’s panicked voice came through his phone.
Wait…Kei had to hold back a laugh. He gave this guy bad hair advice and now he was asking for more? How stupid was he? Rather than out himself, he redirected the conversation.
“How did you get my phone number?” Kei asked instead.
“Tobio’s a pushover.”
“Hm, you’re not wrong,” Kei muttered. All it took was one puppy eyed look from Hinata and they were practicing all night.
Miya groaned on the other line. Kei imagined him gripping his purpley hair in irritation. “Send me a picture so I can see the damage,” he said. “It’ll help me figure out what to do to fix it.”
There was movement on the other side of the line with a bit of quiet swearing like Miya was trying to find a good spot. “Hold on,” he said. A few minutes went by and Kei’s phone buzzed against his ear with a notification. He pulled up the text and bit his lip. Miya’s hair really had turned purple. It was hilarious.
“Did you get it?” Miya asked.
“Uh yeah, I’m looking now,” Kei said, picking up the wireless mouse for his closed laptop and clicking it obnoxiously. He held the phone next to it so the other boy would think he was doing some research. Really, he was too busy staring at the picture.
Sure, the hair was the main event, but then Kei started looking at the rest of the image. Pouty lips, furrowed thick eyebrows, warm brown eyes. Miya Atsumu was pretty cute when he pouted. Kei was still going to be an ass.
“Oh! Just bleach it again, but use extra,” Kei said. “That way you’ll just get rid of all the purple and it'll look like it used to.”
“Are you sure?” Miya asked suspiciously.
“I just googled it,” Kei said matter of factly. “Don’t you want flawless roots like mine?’
Miya grumbled again. “All right, I’ll give it a shot,” he finally said. “But it’s on you if it doesn’t work.”
Kei swallowed. Whoops. “Good luck.”
He hung up and saved the picture, updated Miya’s contact info and used the image as his icon.
—--
“You missed the train?” Kei stared at Kageyama in disbelief as the clueless setter stood on the doorstep of his front porch.
Kageyama narrowed his eyes angrily, gave an offended huff, and looked away. He shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly. “Can’t you like drive me or something?”
“You want me to drive you to Tokyo?” Kei asked in disbelief. He may not be the oldest second year, but was somehow the only one with a learner’s permit. “You know I’m not allowed to drive without supervision, right?”
“I’ll supervise you,” Kageyama grunted.
“By a licensed driver, your majesty.”
“Who’s at the door, Kei?” Shit, Akiteru’s home.
“No one,” Kei replied and tried to shut the door in Kageyama’s face. He was unsuccessful.
“Oh! Kageyama,” Akiteru smiled at the setter who gave a polite greeting with a stiff bow. “I thought you had another training camp for the All-Japan Youth team again this weekend?” Curse Ukai and Takeda for letting Akiteru help out at practice on occasion. He knew too much.
“Dumbass missed his train,” Kei muttered.
“I was hoping Stingy—Tsukishima would be able to drive me,” Kageyama supplied.
Akiteru thought for a moment before hitting his fist into his palm. He nodded and his lips formed into a small ‘o’ shape. Kei hated that expression. It usually meant he was not going to like where this was going.
“This is the perfect opportunity to get you more practice driving in a city, Kei!” his brother grinned. “I’ll drive us there, but we can practice for a little while before heading home.”
“Uh, no,” Kei tried to decline. “I’m not driving all the way to Tokyo on my day off.”
“You need to add more spontaneity in your life, Kei,” Akiteru said, grabbing his wallet and keys. “Go get your things and we’ll meet you by the car.”
Kei sighed and turned around. He ignored the small talk between his brother and teammate while he made his way to his room to grab his own wallet. Just his luck. And here he had been hoping to catch up on some podcasts and sleep. He’ll get back at Kageyama later. Maybe a well aimed serve to his vacant head.
The drive to Tokyo was uneventful. Kei was smart enough to bring his headphones to drown out conversation and Akiteru was smart enough to let him do it. He must have felt the murderous vibes emanating from him when he saw Kageyama was allowed to sit in the front seat. Kageyama barely made it in time to his camp.
True to his word, Akiteru did make Kei practice around a few of the busier streets much to Kei’s annoyance. After spending the afternoon walking around a mall while Akiteru bought this and that they ended up back at the Ajinomoto National Training Center.
“What are we doing here again?” Kei asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“Oh, you were listening to your music this morning. I promised Kageyama we’d go out for dinner tonight,” Akiteru said, waving when he saw the black haired boy leaving the center with another athlete.
They had dark hair and looked oddly familiar. As the duo got closer, Kei’s eyes widened slightly. It was Miya Atsumu. With black hair. Sort of natural looking, but likely dyed that way and probably only because Kei’s bad advice must have damaged it worse. Kei only felt half bad about it, of course, Miya was the one who listened to his advice and didn’t bother googling it himself.
Kageyama was talking to Akiteru and Miya was staring at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes. They both got in the car. Fuck, Akiteru let them both come to dinner. Kei was not in the mood for socializing today.
And socialize they did - well, at least Akiteru and Miya. Kageyama was as standoffish as he normally was. The only peep he made was when he nearly choked on a piece of karaage and Miya violently smacked his back admonishing him for not chewing properly. Not that the other setter hadn’t been shoving too much food in his own mouth the moment before. Do they not feed them at the training center or something?
Kageyama left for the bathroom after his coughing fit and Akiteru 10 minutes later when he didn’t come back. It’s on Aki if the idiot dies.
Silence descended over the table now that the other extrovert was gone and Kei avoided Miya’s gaze. He picked up a small bit of rice with his chopsticks and nibbled on the end. “Your hair looks better. Must have figured something out.” Damn Kei and his mouth.
Atsumu scoffed. “No thanks to you. I had to go to a professional to fix it,” he wrapped his arms around himself, shivering dramatically. “And that lecture they gave me…anyway, it’s back to blond after it heals.”
“Seriously?” Kei stared at him in disbelief. “After all that and you’re still going to bleach it?” Miya was smirking. Ugh, he got him to look. “Tch, whatever. It’s your bald head.”
“You’re partially at fault for giving me bad advice,” Miya said. “You could have just admitted your hair was natural, but no you had to be an asshole, didn’t you?”
“Consider it payback for touching my hair without asking.”
“I was just trying to make conversation, you scrub,” Miya stuck out his lower lip. Ugh, the cute face.
“Maybe try saying ‘hello’ next time,” Kei suggested, picking up his glass to take a drink of water.
“Ah, see you are too smooth though!” Miya threw his hands in the air dramatically. “I couldn’t just walk over to you and say ‘Hey, long boy, you’re pretty and have got legs for days. How about a date?’ you know?!”
Kei choked on his water. “What?!”
Miya slid into the seat next to Kei. He set his elbow on the table and tilted his head against his hand, holding it up. “I said, do you want to go on a date with me? You’re almost as clueless as Tobio, aren’t you?”
Kei twitched. “Don’t compare me to that imbecile. Anyway, aren’t you the clueless one for listening to bad advice and refusing to do your own research?”
“Bad advice given to me on purpose?”
Wait. “You knew?” Miya Atsumu was a masochist.
“Well, yeah, but I needed a reason to talk to you again later,” Miya explained. “I told you I was trying to get better at it. If I followed your bad advice, then I could complain to you about it later.”
“Oh my god,” Kei covered his face with his hand. “It’s like I attract the most simple minded volleyball idiots.”
“Hell yeah you do! Hot stuff, long boy!” Miya’s smile was blinding. “So, how are you going to make it up to me?”
“Hah?”
“My hair got damaged because of you and that’s one of my most defining features.”
Kei laughed. “Didn’t you just admit to following bad advice on purpose? That’s on you.”
Miya’s smile morphed into a smirk before he puckered his lips. “Give me a kiss and I’ll forgive you.”
“No.”
“Come on,” he pushed. “What are you so against? You already said I was attractive.”
“No, I said idiots are attracted to me. As in, drawn to. As in, I would rather die.”
Miya stopped leaning against his hand and placed it on the table, moving closer into Kei’s personal space. Kei moved back slightly, but stayed rooted to his chair. He didn’t want to give Miya any more of the upper hand.
What he wasn’t prepared for was Miya’s other hand to cup the side of his head. His eyes widened in surprise as the setter’s face came closer, their lips almost touching. And then a flash went off.
Kei turned his head quickly to find Akiteru and Kageyama standing on the other side of the table. Miya’s lips collided with Kei’s cheek instead.
“Oh no, my flash was on,” Akiteru sobbed.
“Gross,” Kageyama said.
Kei felt his face heat up. But he was an exhibitionist to the core, despite his usual nonchalant behavior. And he was already pissed off at Kageyama for making him drive to Tokyo today.
Miya was still close to him, Kei draped his arm over the other boy’s shoulders and pressed their cheeks together. “You’re just jealous of my boyfriend,~” He teased. Kageyama bristled. Victory.
Except this time, Miya did manage to pull him into a kiss. And Akiteru did get his blackmail picture. And apparently he was dating someone now.
The rest of dinner went by in a flash while Kei continued to process what happened. Akiteru drove the All-Japan athletes back to where they were staying. Miya left with a wink and a wave and a promise to text him. Which he did immediately after they drove away.
Whatever. At least he was cute.
Kei updated his contact name to Atsumu.