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For some bizarre reason, there are fairy lights strung up around the gym.
Tobio stares at them, mystified, until someone walks into him.
“Suga-san, I got th- oof!” Noya-san stumbles back a step, holding a box very carefully. “Oi, watch it, Kageyama!” He walks around him, heading for the table in the corner of the gym.
Then he stops. “Wait. Kageyama?”
Tobio nods. His name is Kageyama.
Noya-san spins around, glaring at him accusingly. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“It’s…practice?” Tobio blinks. Noya-san stares at him and then slowly turns to look at the clock. It is, indeed, practice.
“Oh goddamnit hell - wait right here - RYUU!” he sprints back out of the gym door, still clutching the box. Tobio stares after him. Ennoshita-san steps into the doorway and just stares at Tobio. Then he spins around and walks away.
Utterly befuddled, Tobio starts to make his way to the changing room, but his attention keeps wandering back to the fairy lights. They keep switching colors - it’s hypnotizing.
A few seconds later Hinata sprints in, clearly out of breath. “Wh- ooh I have a stitch - Yama-yama, get out of the gym - oof ouch-”
“Why should I get out of the gym?” Tobio furrows his brows. The sight of Hinata always manages to make him feel things, and right now he's feeling extremely confused.
Hinata groans. “Because we’re decorating - agh - decorating it, obviously!”
“Wait, we?” It feels a bit like Tobio wasn’t invited to this, which sort of hurts actually. Why wouldn't they invite him?
Hinata inhales deeply, relaxing. Apparently the stitch is gone. Then he glances at Tobio. “No, wait stop don’t start getting stupid ideas Bakageyama! We were decorating it for you, that’s why we didn’t tell you!”
"For… me?"
Hinata groans. "Ugh, I ruined the surprise and it's your fault, Kageyama!" he pouts.
"How is it my fault you're stupid?" he barks, more habit than anything else.
"Oh, shut up!"
Tobio squints at Hinata. "But why are you guys putting up fairy lights for me?"
"Your birthday!" Hinata grins, bouncing on his toes.
What?
"It's my birthday today?"
A voice calls from the doorway. "Hell yeah it is! Why didn't you tell us yourself? We had to hear it from Hinata!" Tanaka-san is energetic, even this early in the morning.
Because, frankly, Tobio himself had forgotten. He'd stopped celebrating properly after Miwa nee-san started university, and he didn't think anyone would want to celebrate it.
To Tanaka-san, he shrugs.
Noya-san re-enters the gym and places his box carefully on a table. It's a mildly smooshed but mostly delicious looking cake. A cake!
Within a few minutes the whole team is in the gym, shouting out happy birthdays and talking. Hinata bounces next to him.
"Kageyama. Kageyama! Remember I exchanged numbers with Miwa nee-san? I accidentally asked her about birthdays instead of Kenma but then she told me your birthday so I was glad I did that! Accidents aren’t just accidents, you know. They’re the universe’s way of telling us to do something! According to Suga-san, anyways. So I decided to throw you a celebration. You better like it!" Hinata crows. He looks excited and pleased with himself but there is an undercurrent of nerves. Tobio doesn't remember the last time someone was nervous about his opinion on something other than volleyball. He nods stiffly at Hinata, feeling his cheeks heat up.
Everyone in this gym is here for Tobio. Not for his tosses or anything else, but just… him.
It feels like a victory, somehow, to just exist in this moment. It feels like he's proven something.
Tobio loves it.