Chapter Text
"Can I talk to you alone?"
The more that Tobio thinks about it, the more he wonders if he should have seen this coming. He’s an asshole, rudely blunt most of the time, and is only ever excited or happy about things to do with volleyball. He probably should have realized there would be a day when people come up to one of his few friends (he uses that term very loosely) and he would be left behind.
In theory, he should be feeling worried and unhappy from being left behind, from watching Hinata be singled out and taken away from him, for Tobio to watch as the boy that he has spent most of his days with every since their first day at Karasuno High School and smile at someone while he’s standing off to the side.
But as Tobio squeezes his hands into fists at his sides while he glares over at the sight he sees a few meters away, only just out of ear shot from him, he doesn't know why but he's full of a bubbling, burning anger that sits at the pit of his stomach and leaves a sour taste in his mouth at what he sees.
He knows that it may be unfair since he doesn't even know her as anything more than a girl he’s seen around the first years corridor, but looking at the black haired first year girl standing in front of Hinata just makes him... Angry . He's angry because- because- because she doesn't even know him! She doesn't even know how annoying he is, and yet she decides to speak to him all because he is in the volleyball team that made it to nationals? Why would someone want to talk to Hinata for anything other than volleyball- does she even know what volleyball is ?
He notices her dark brown eyes flicking over Hinata's shoulder to look straight at him, blinking quickly before glancing back at Hinata again and smiling at whatever the short redhead had said.
In all honesty, Tobio doesn't fully understand what he's witnessing. Is he watching someone try to befriend Hinata, ask him to teach her how to play volleyball, ask him about the homework they just got today? (Okay, maybe not that since Tobio is almost certain she’s in a higher class). But once again, why would someone want to talk to Hinata about anything but volleyball?
Blinking slowly, Tobio suddenly notices a faint blush along her cheeks, and now she's stepping side to side nervously- shyly . Well, while Tobio doesn't really know what's going on since he can't hear what they're saying, he feels like he has definitely seen this before happening to Daichi. The thought leaves a burnt taste along the tip of his tongue that makes him scowl deeper.
"Stop frowning, you'll get wrinkles." Tobio tears his eyes away from the infuriating scene to glare at Tsukishima suddenly appearing beside him with a snickering Yamaguchi in tow, another annoying teammate and nuisance number two in Tobio's life after Hinata himself. Tsukishima snickers at Tobio's reaction and follows the direction of where he had been looking before. Tsukishima's snickers suddenly turn into a snort of laughter at the sight. "Looks like you might lose your place soon if you're not careful."
Now, Tobio knows that he's teasing, though about what exactly he doesn't really understand (what 'place' is he talking about?), but he glares at Tsukishima for good measure and turns back to face Hinata and the black haired first year girl again with a pout as Tsukishima and Yamaguchi laugh between each other again and walk away.
Tobio watches in fury as the girl opens her mouth to say something to Hinata, but once again her eyes flicker back to a simmering Tobio. But unlike what Tobio has seen before, she quickly snaps her mouth shut as if changing her mind, instead nodding at something that Hinata says to her with a strained smile.
Very weird. When Tobio has seen people confess to Daichi - which he's guessing is what's happening here, which is also weird because who would want to confess to Hinata - they have never looked so... On edge. Tobio’s eyes zero in on the girl’s hands held behind her back, spotting a small pouch swaying from side to side with her every anxious step.
Tobio has seen that kind of bag before, used to see it all the time back in middle school when girls would confess to Oikawa every hour of the day, but this time when he sees the bag being held by someone who specifically asked Hinata if they could speak alone... Tobio's blood starts to boil and it takes everything in him to not stomp over to the pair and rip the bag right out of her hands and stomp on it.
A bag of homemade treats . Used for when someone is definitely confessing.
Tobio scowls to himself, silently wondering what it is about girls offering homemade treats to people they have crushes on. Why homemade? Why not store bought ones that are at least going to taste nice? And why treats? Why not put in the effort to find out what the person likes and get that instead? If Tobio was confessed to, he would much rather have a good yogurt, or a good bento that he could have after volleyball practice. If anything, this girl should be offering meat buns to Hinata- or anything related to volleyball, honestly.
But once again, Tobio has to ask himself why Hinata ? He acts like a puppy with the amount of energy and the way that he loves everyone who says hi to him, and the way he talks it’s as if he has nothing else but volleyball on his mind every second of the day. While Tobio understands volleyball being a person’s entire life, he has heard complaints from his older sister Miwa from dating sports players that girls don’t like that.
So why Hinata- he isn’t that attractive, Tobio thinks, eying Hinata curiously. He’s too short, he’s more slim than muscular even though he’s sixteen, and his hair is so goddamn bright he’s like a lighthouse in the middle of the night: hard to miss. And what kind of color is orange , anyway-
"Bakayama? Are you listening to me?"
Tobio has to blink a few times before he's finally pulled out of all the reasons why Hinata would not be someone that people would want to confess to and back to the present. The present where Hinata is now standing in front of him, the black haired first year not by his side anymore. Tobio blinks again for good measure and Hinata pouts and pokes him in the waist, making Tobio huff out in annoyance and swat his hand away.
"What do you want? Where did that girl go?" Tobio asks, vaguely noticing that the burnt taste in his mouth is suddenly gone at the sight of his best friend back by his side. Hinata shrugs half heartedly and glances over his shoulder, and Tobio follows his eyes and catches the eye of the black haired first year surrounded by a group of girls, all of them staring at the pair of them with deep frowns on their faces. "What are they looking at?"
"No idea. Want to get lunch?" Tobio knows that Hinata is avoiding the question thanks to all the time that the pair has been together over the last couple of months, but when his orange haired friend turns away from the girl that Tobio could have sworn was going to confess to him (he isn't sure if she did or not, but he can't see the bag of treats in Hinata's hand), Tobio doesn't care about anything other than the fact that the anger is gone from his blood and instead he's smug and happy and relieved.
He doesn't know why, but he has no doubt in his mind it’s probably for the fact that some stranger just tried to separate Hinata from Tobio, which is ridiculous because who is Hinata without Tobio? Honestly.
"Looks like you might lose your place soon if you're not careful." Tobio is not concerned about that, whatever it means, thank you very much. But at the same time he can't help but be smug knowing that there doesn't seem to be a chance of it anyway. Him? Lose? Not a chance.
"You're too scary sometimes, baka." Hinata comments as the pair make their way towards the cafeteria side by side. At Tobio's curious frown, Hinata rolls his eyes and shrugs slightly. "I'm just saying, I think you scared her away."
Her. The black haired first year. Which would make sense why she kept looking back at him. The smugness within Tobio grows as he realizes that there is no chance that she will try again, whatever she was intending to do. With narrowed his eyes, Tobio hmphs to himself, gaining Hinata's amused attention again.
"Good." He simply shrugs, and out of the corner of his eye he sees Hinata look away with a small smile on his lips and a faint blush on his cheeks. "She doesn't deserve you anyway, she hasn't even tried to talk to you before today."
Him losing his place as Hinata’s best friend? As the person that is the reason why Hinata is great ? Never. Tobio doesn't lose, and there is no way that he will not lose to this.