Chapter Text
“And there goes Karasuno High’s number 10 on the attack!”
His bike screeched a little as he made it come to a sudden halt. With his warm breath fogging up a little in the cold January air, Shouyou turns his head to stare at the small TV screen in the window of a shop, which is currently playing a volleyball match.
“Alright!” One of the onlookers exclaimed excitedly. Shouyou blinks. ‘It’s just volleyball? Nothing much has happened yet, so why the excitement?’ At that moment, the camera pans to the ball as it flies up towards the net and a player, who appears to be smaller than all the other players on the field with the number 10 on his back, jumps along with three of the opposing team members and- It’s as if he’s about to go down a massive rollercoaster ride. A rush of anticipation and wonder flooded his veins, causing his heartbeat to pick up and butterflies to flutter around erratically inside his stomach. Shouyou’s eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat the moment number 10 hit the ball.
“Score! The Little Giant lives up to his name! That’s five points in a row! Here we are-” The announcer continued talking for a while, but Shouyou had stopped listening at that point.
It was as if time had slowed down around him. That moment replayed inside his head again and again. Shouyou felt it from the moment that player, “The Little Giant”, jumped to hit that ball. An inexplicable and all-consuming feeling. Like the sudden drop on a rollercoaster ride.
Because, for a moment, it looked as if The Little Giant was flying.
And Shouyou wants- wants- w̸̡̲̯͎̹̓̚a̸̡̮̜͌́̆͝ṅ̴̨̬̦̬̏̒ţ̷̬̟̝̀s̷̨̮̀͌́̋͜.
“Karasuno,” He’s jolted out of his own thoughts and back to reality at that word, his eyes focusing on the spectating adults once more. “Isn't that the school in our neighbouring town? That’s pretty impressive!”
“Yeah, They’ve been doing pretty well this year.” The other man replies while nodding his head.
‘Karasuno…’
“Sho-chan!” The sudden exclamation finally pulled Shouyou’s attention away from the conversation happening in front of him. He turned his head a little, blinking owlishly at his friend for a moment. “C’mon, we’ve gotta hurry! Otherwise the soccer field will be taken!”
“Ah, Izumin,” Shouyou smiled. “I’m coming!”
Izumi feels his nose scrunch up a little, confused as to why Shouyou would have such a scary look in his eyes. ‘It’s almost as if he’s on an adrenaline high.’ He shrugs it off a moment later and starts pedalling his bike again. Shouyou follows a few moments later, seemingly distracted for another moment by the TV playing a recap of some kind of volleyball game. Izumi didn’t really think much of it. ‘Sho-chan can get easily distracted at times, after all.’
---
“Ah, I’m sorry Hinata-kun, but Yukigaoka doesn’t have a boys’ volleyball club anymore.”
“What?” Shouyou was sure he misheard his teacher for a moment because it almost sounded like- “So… I’m the only club member?”
“Yeah,” Haruto-sensei confirmed as he took a seat at his desk and opened his laptop. “There has been less interest in boys’ volleyball the last few years, so eventually it was decided to disband the club entirely.” Shouyou takes a moment to digest this frustrating news, not sure what to do with this information as his teacher continued to talk “-or do you want to join the girls’ team?”
Shouyou blinked for a moment, unsure if he heard that correctly. His cheeks heated up after a beat of silence, as, indeed, he did not pick that up wrongly. “W-Well, n-no…” He stuttered out. It takes him a moment, but once he manages to regain his composure, he steels his resolve and finally gives an answer. “I’ll be a team by myself then!”
“Oh?”
“I’m going to be the next Little Giant!”
Haruto-sensei pulled a face. “The what?” Shouyou simply continued to stare determinedly at his teacher, not willing to budge on his conviction. Haruto-sensei finally heaves a sigh and leans back in his swivel chair for a moment, looking up at the ceiling as if it might hold the answers to all his problems. “Alright then,” Haruto hummed as he starteed to rummage around for the needed papers on his desk. “Aha!” He held up the required documents and put them in front of the ginger boy. “You’ll need to fill out this club application form,” Haruto said, tapping the paper for emphasis. “Once you’ve done that, hand them back in with me, and I’ll process them for you.”
Shouyou smiles up at his teacher as he takes the papers. “Thank you, Sensei!”
“Ah,” Haruto-sensei rubbed the back of his neck, self-conscious of Shouyou’s apparent gratitude. “You won’t have a club room or a coach. Furthermore, Hinata-kun, you’ll have to figure out yourself how you’re going to be able to use the main gym area. If you want to use any of the volleyball equipment stored there, like nets and such, I mean. Since that gym will be used by the girls’ volleyball club and the basketball club, from what I know.”
Shouyou nods his head enthusiastically. “I’ll be sure to figure something out, Sensei. Thanks for the help!” He gave a small bow before leaving the staff room, a slight spring in his step as he went.
He’s already one step closer to making his dream a reality.
---
Since it’s still the first week of the new school year, Shouyou is actually very hopeful that he might have a chance of recruiting other students. So the moment he got home yesterday, after his club application got officialised by Haruto-sensei, he got to work on making a recruitment plan.
An hour later, and a load of crumpled papers strewn about on the floor, he was ready to give up. It wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be.
“Ugh!” Shouyou groaned as he dropped his head onto his desk, an audible thunk reverberating into the otherwise quiet dulcet of the Hinata family home. He stayed that way for a minute, ignoring the sound of his door opening until an inquisitive “Nii-chan!” pulled him out of his slump. “What you do-ing?”
Shouyou looked up at his little sister as she bounced over to him. Stifling a laugh as she tried, and failed, to look upon his desk by standing on her tippy toes. Curious little minx that she is.
Once she noticed that, no matter how much she might strain herself, she would in fact not grow any taller in that exact moment- she puffed out her cheeks in mild annoyance and turned her gaze towards her big brother in expectancy.
Shouyou laughed outright at that, grabbing onto her puffed out cheeks and giving them a little squeeze. “Cute!”
“Mou- Nii-chan! Don’t be mean!” Natsu said, slapping his hands away as she rubbed at her sore cheeks.
“Sorry! Sorry, Nat-chan! I couldn't help it, I had to squeeze them! You just looked like a chipmunk after all.”
“Nii-chan!”
Another burst of laughter escaped him at the sound of his indignant little sister.
“Hmpf! Shouyou-nii is a big meanie!” Natsu stomped her foot a little as she turned her head away from her brother.
“Alright! I’m really sorry this time. Will you forgive me Nat-chan?” Shouyou asked, doing his utmost best to look and sound genuine for his little sister. His lips were still twitching, threatening to break out into a grin once more.
A few moments of anticipating silence later, Natsu finally decided to forgive her big brother. “Fine! I’ll forgive you this time, dummy Nii-chan!”
“Ah!” Shouyou sprung up from his chair and scooped up his sister in a hug, twirling her around. Natsu dissolved into high-pitched peals of laughter, gripping his neck for dear life. “How did I ever deserve such a sweet little sister!”
Natsu managed to get out a stutter “Nii-chan!” between her laughter, before both were interrupted by a soft knock on Shouyou’s bedroom door.
Shouyou stopped twirling so abruptly that he nearly faceplanted into floor because of the added weight of his sister hanging onto him. Luckily for both of them he managed to regain his balance on time. Soft laughter came from his open doorway, where his mum stood, watching the both of them whilst trying to cover her laughter behind a delicate hand. “Is everything alright here, you two?”
“Yes!” “Yeah!” Both of them exclaimed.
“Hmm, I can certainly see that you both were getting along, I could hear the ruckus all the way from the kitchen.” She smiled at them. At that, Hinata turned a little red before quickly setting Natsu back down on her feet.
Natsu started hopping from foot to foot, tugging on the hem of Shouyou’s sweater which she grabbed hold of after he put her down. “Nii-chan was spinning ‘round so fast Kaa-chan!”
“Really? I hope you’re not too dizzy for dinner then?”
“Nope!” Both siblings blurted at the same time. They blinked at each other for a moment, before; “Jinx!”
“Nii-chan I jinxed you first, so I win!”
“Pffft, No way! I was definitely faster than you!”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-uh!”
“Well I’m a lady, and ladies always go first!”
“That makes no sense!”
“Yuh-uh it does!”
“Nuh-uh it doesn’t! And if we go that way, I’m older so I should always be first!”
“Nuh-uh, no way!”
“Yuh-uh, yes way!”
“Well I-“
Their mom clapped her hands together, their bickering interrupted as they turned their focus back to her. She smiled at them, “Alright both of you, dinner’s getting cold so come on down, okay?”
“Okay!”
They quickly scrambled after her down the stairs, before rushing toward the kitchen table and taking their respective seats. Once dinner has been laid out, they gave thanks for the food and dug in. “The food’s delicious mom!” Shouyou uttered around a mouthful of rice, Natsu silently nodding her head next to him.
“Thank you Shouyou-chan, but do make sure not to speak with your mouth full.”
Shouyou swallows before sheepishly apologizing. “Sorry, Kaa-san.”
“Nii-chan.”
“Hmm?” Shouyou angled his head towards his sister, still chewing.
“What were you doing?”
Shouyou blinked, cocking his head a little in question.
“What? When?”
Natsu giggled, “In your room, before the spinning, silly!”
“Oh! Well…” He started to stir around his remaining food a little mindlessly, causing his mom to look up from her food as well.
“What’s wrong Shouyou?”
“Nii-chan?”
“Ah, it’s nothing bad, really! I’m just not sure how to go about something…”
His mom looked at him for a moment. “Are you having trouble at school? Maybe we can help?”
“Yeah! We can help, Nii-chan!”
“Haha, thanks! But it’s really not too much of a big deal.” Shouyou waved away their concern. Honestly. It really wasn’t. It just seems he completely sucks at drawing. “I’m trying to create a flyer design to attract more members for the volleyball club, as it seems I’m the only one currently! And well, I found out I’m not really much of a designer, it would seem.” He chuckled.
Understanding dawned in his mother’s eyes, “Ah, I see.”
Natsu mouthed an oh, a thought forming in her mind before she excitedly raised her hand. “I can help Nii-chan!”
“Thank you Nat-chan, I’m sure you’ll do a better job of it than me!” He ruffled her hair affectionately, earning a squawk of protest in return.
---
The next morning, Shouyou stood before the notice boards in the main entrance of Yukigaoka, pinning up a few flyers he managed to draw with Nat-chan. Once done he took a step back and admired their handiwork.
“This is totally going to work!”
-
It totally did not work.
“No one wants to join, Izumi-in!” Shouyou drags out his friends name, slumping down defeatedly on the ground. He hugs a volleyball to his chest as he contemplates what he did wrong for his karma to be this bad. Maybe it was that time he accidentally stepped on a bee? Oh gods, what if it was? “Gah! It’s been three weeks, and zero replies! Zero!”
Izumi, who is taking a break from his own basketball practise on the other side of the net dividing the gym while sipping on some water, isn’t really sure how to react to his friends’ dramatics. So he just sends an awkward smile Shouyou’s way.
A minute of silence passes between them, with Shouyou continuing to stare at the ceiling in thought. He breathed in sharply and turned wide-eyed to his friend, “Maybe you can-“
“No.”
Shouyou spluttered a little, “You don’t even know what I was gonna say!”
“I’m not joining the volleyball team, Sho-chan.” Izumi said bluntly, taking another sip of his water bottle. “You’ve asked this before already.”
Shouyou sent his friend a betrayed look, saying, “W-well, that- that’s not what I was going to say!”
Izumi raised a sceptical eyebrow. “What was it then?”
“Well, that uhhhh….” Shouyou trailed off, unable to come up with a good comeback.
“Uh-huh,”
Silence blanketed the two of them again, save for the sounds of shoes squeaking on the gym floor and balls thumping around. ‘Well this is awkward.’ Shouyou’s face was flushed entirely red by this point.
‘Sho-chan just looks too cute when flustered!’ Izumi thought to himself.
“Well,” Izumi coughs a little awkwardly, trying to change the conversation topic. “At least the girls’ volleyball coach allowed you to make use of their part of the gym during practice. That way you can at least train and ask for the occasional pointer from the coach.”
“You’re right Izumin!” Grinning and full of energy again, awkward moment completely forgotten, Shouyou springs up from his position on the floor- startling Izumi into dropping his water bottle- and sends his friend a look full of determination. “It doesn’t matter that I don’t have a team or that I won’t be able to join a tournament this year, I can still work on my own skills until the moment I’ll get together a team!”
“Ah-“
“And when that time comes, I’ll be sure to fly! You’ll see!”
With that said, Shouyou ran back to a corner in the gym which he’d dubbed his own, and starts to hit the ball with renewed vigour.
Izumi stares after him for a moment, shocked, before he shook his head and smiled.
“First years, break’s over!” The basketball’s team captain called out.
Upon hearing this, Izumi quickly stood up and went back to focussing on his own practice. At least he’s glad that Sho-chan is feeling better again.