Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Shouyou! You’re still good to come over today, right?” Noya yelled from across the locker room.

“Of course! I’ve been looking forward to it all week!” Hinata yelled right back, pulling a dull red controller from the bottom of his bag. “I even brought my own controller!”

“Ohhh, you have a colored one? So cool!”

“Uh huh! It’s kind of old though and the batteries might be dead.”

“We can stop by the convenience store on our way back then!”

“Would you quit yelling from across the room!?” Daichi snaps at them, “Save it for after practice!”

They both chime in with an apology, both going back to changing out of their school clothes, both oblivious to the curious looks their teammates gave them.

“Nishinoya-senpai! I’m ready to go!”

“Great! Let me get my bag and we’ll head out.”

The rest of their team mates stopped dressing and turned to look at them. The captain and vice-captain exchanged unknown shrugs before bothering to ask. “Where are you two headed?”

Noya was the first to answer, but it was easy to see how excited Hinata was by the thought of it. “My mom just came back from a trip to America. Her boss sent her back with their kid’s old video game. She even bought some new ones on her way back too. I invited Shouyou over to break in the new console with me!”

Hinata nodded enthusiastically, body jittering with anticipation regardless of the strain practice took on him. “His mom brought over the latest Just Dance and Mario game!”

Tsukishima scoffed and raised his brow at them. “Those games are too easy. Why put in all that effort when you can get the same points by just shaking the controller?”

“That’s the easy way out!” Noya scolded. “Shouyou and I are gonna do whatever it takes to be number one. We’ll beat the game in record time! Just you watch!”

That declaration prompted another scoff and smirk from the blond. “Is it possible to even win in a game like that?”

Tsukishima’s comment only seemed to egg him on as he made a fist and raised it triumphantly. “Even better! We’ll be the first then!”

“I don’t think that’s how it works…” Yamaguchi commented under his breath. It prompted a few chuckles from the club members. Noya quickly turned to him with a stubborn look on his face that made the brunet jump.

“Just you wait and see, we’re gonna be number one!”

And with that final comment, they let the subject go. The rest of the team got dressed one by one and made their way out and back home. The bold statement wasn’t brought up again. Seemingly forgotten by the rest of the team. They did notice Hinata and Noya spend more time together and show up to practice with more bruises than usual, but it was a good few weeks before any of them heard any mention of the declaration.

“Yamaguchi!” Noya called, striding over to him with a purpose and insistent look on his face. Yamaguchi didn’t particularly like that look. He thought it made him look constipated.

“Yes, Noya-san?”

“We need to use your living room.”

He frowned and tilted his head at him. “What? For what?”

“Were in the middle of beating Just Dance, but my mom said we weren’t allowed to play it in the house anymore.”

“What? Why?”

“There was this one move where I needed to hop onto Shouyou’s back, but he tripped over a chord and we accidentally broke a lamp.”

Yamaguchi choked and pursed his lips. “What? And you want to use my living room after that!”

“Please, Yamaguchi! Shouyou lives too far and you’re the only one we can trust that won’t go blabbing about our plan!”

“What are you talking about? What plan?”

Noya immediately shushed him and checked to make sure nobody was watching them. Yamaguchi felt inclined to tell him he was the one yelling about it in the first place, but he held his tongue for now. “I can only tell you if you let us use your living room for it.” Yamaguchi was hesitant to let two of the most hyperactive members on the team into his house and Noya was quick to pick up on it. “We’ll help you with chores before playing too! We’ll even help with homework if you need it!”

He wanted to mention the fact that he was in college prep classes, and their tutoring would probably end up doing more harm than good, but, again, he kept that thought to himself. “I’d have to talk things over with my parents, but-“

Noya’s face lit up and he made a grab for Yamaguchi’s hand to give it a good shake. “Thanks Yamaguchi! Shouyou and I really appreciate it, I promise you you’re not gonna regret this!”

Yamaguchi was already regretting it. If Noya squeezed his hand any harder he was sure they’d have to amputate.

“Shouyou! I got us a house! The plan’s back on!” He yelled to him from across the gym.

The boy looked up from tying his shoes and grinned over at them. “Really!? That’s great, I can’t wait!”

Noya laughed heartily and propped a hand on his waist with the other holding his chin. “What kind of senpai would I be if I just stood by and let all our hard work go to waste?” Yamaguchi wanted to roll his eyes. “To celebrate the new member, I’ll treat you both ice cream after practice! What do you say?”

Hinata cheered and thanked their upperclassman, Noya simply laughed again and soaked up the praise like a sponge. The two seeming to be in their own little world as their volume slowly but steadily increased in volume till they were practically screaming from across the gym. It took coach Ukai’s gruff voice to snap them out of it. It was then that Yamaguchi realized that he’d just agreed to let the two (arguably) loudest members on the team into his house and watching them sulk back after getting scolded, he wondered whether it was too late to take back his offer.

Chapter Text

The promise to ask his mother still fresh in his mind, Yamaguchi declined Noya’s offer for ice-cream. Faking a stomach ache, he was eager to get home and rest before asking his parents later tonight.

Hearing him crack his knuckles for the nth time that night, Tsukishima huffed and furrowed his brows at him. “You don’t have to go along with Noya if you don’t want to.”

Yamaguchi stopped and tried to meet his gaze, but Tsukishima ignored it kept his eyes trained forward.

“I saw Nishinoya pull you aside earlier. Whatever idiotic plan he’s got you roped into, you don’t have to go through with it.”

Yamaguchi thumbed the stitching of his coat and shuffled his feet. Shaking his head, Yamaguchi stared at the sidewalk ahead of them and mumbled his reply under his breath. “It’s not Nishinoya-san I’m afraid of…”

He knew he wasn’t going to get a response after that, nor did he really want one. They continued their walk home in silence, neither really wanting or knowing how to break the tension without just glazing over the issue. Tsukishima didn’t slide on his headphones until they parted ways, but even then he was reluctant to do so. Yamaguchi felt his gaze linger and turned back to face him. The blond looking like he had something to add regarding their previous conversation, but he just shook his head and turned to the concrete below them and mumbled a good night.

Yamaguchi really hoped it would be.

 He heard a car pull up in his drive way. Sliding out of his desk chair, he slowly made his way down stairs to greet his parents. Eager to delay the conversation as much as possible. “Welcome home.”

They nodded in response and went back to mumbling about work.

He could feel his heart sink in chest and cupped his hands to keep from cracking them.

“Did you make dinner, Tadashi?” His mother asked, giving him a kiss on both cheeks.

He nodded his head and leaned his cheek into the kiss. “Yes, it’s on the stove. Just need to heat it up and prepare the rice.”

They both gave a grunt in confirmation. Sliding off their shoes and jackets, they spoke about work for a while more before his father left to run a bath. Leaving his mother to look through old files at the table given to them for work.

He stood at the hallway, anxious to speak with her. He held his finger in his hand, tempted to crack them but willing himself not to.

“Tadashi.”

“Ah, yes mother?”

“Aren’t you going to start on the rice?”

“Right.” He stuttered. “I’ll get started on it now.”

She hummed and went back to flipping through papers. “How are your classes going?”

Plugging in the rice maker, he made himself busy measuring out the rice and water mulling over his response before answering. “They’re going well. I got an 85 on my English test.”

Hearing her pause, Yamaguchi’s heart skipped a beat and he clutched the measuring cup in his hand. “It’s five off your previous grade.” She commented offhandedly. "Don't let it happen again.”

His heart leaped into his throat and he choked out a response. “Yes, ma’am.”

There was no possible way he could ask her now. Any confidence he mustered up before was gone now as she wordlessly flipped through papers and he stirred the stew. Staring at the small bubbles forming and popping as the pot began to boil, he wondered if Noya would catch the lie in his voice if he just said his parents said no. It technically wouldn't be a lie. Seeing as he was sure they’d say no if he were to ask right now.

Though deep down he was sure Noya would catch on. He was one of the more perceptive members on the team, rivaling that of Ennoshita and Sugawara; but deep down Yamaguchi also knew he didn’t have the social grace to discuss it without making any wild assumptions.

And the very last thing he wanted to do was have a heart to heart with their libero.

“Tadashi. The rice.”

He look up and stared at the rice cooker. Its bright green light blinking in unison with the shrill beep it let out. “Ah, right. Sorry.”

As he began prepping the rice and stew, he heard the bathroom door close hurried himself to finish.

“Any word on the Yukimura account.” His father said, announcing himself into the dining room.

“Only about the Matsuoka one. There was a typo in marketing. The wing is expected to go through inspection. Bokuto-san suspects they may finally fire Hiro.”

“That’s long been expected.” His father scowled. “He’s long since crossed the line from brilliant millennial to uninspiring geezer. That typo was a blessing in disguise.”

Yamaguchi knew what typo they were talking about. He’d seen a picture of it online when he woke up and again when Hinata ran up to show him.

The billboard was intended to promote a new tablet pen. Intended to have a better grip and overall more durable than its earlier version. The ad intended to say ‘the pen is mightier than the hand’ with a picture of a man struggling to use the tablet with his fingers then smiling happily as he uses it with his new pen.

An overall cheesy and lackluster ad made memorable with a missing space between ‘pen’ and ‘is’.

Given the attention span of a teenage boy, you can image how quickly it circulated throughout the school. Getting to the point where the ad seemed more like an inside joke than something intended to promote a new pen. He thought it was pretty funny as students referenced it throughout the day.

“I’d rather they keep that train wreck then bring in another with the pretense of being ‘hip’ and ‘free-thinking’.” His mother scoffed.

“Right, I don’t think I can handle another one of those.” He reached across the table and took a pamphlet from his mother’s pile. As he glanced at the text, Yamaguchi took the initiative to start serving their dinner. Assuming they finished their conversation.

They both thanked him with a nod and set the papers aside.

His father glanced up at him before going back to his stew. “Have you already eaten?”

“Yes, I had some stew earlier.”

“No rice?”

He shook his head. “Just some bread.”

His father hummed, stirring his spoon through the stew and drumming his fingers. “Your abuelita used to do the same thing. Said it was untraditional eating it with anything else.”

Yamaguchi’s heart raced in his chest and he held his breath. “…did she?” He prompted.

His father didn’t respond after that, only clinked his spoon against his bowl and wiped his mouth. As if he hadn’t heard him at all.

Yamaguchi could see his mother’s shoulder tense and for good reason. His father rarely spoke of abuelita since her death.

“Tadashi.” His mother called.

He was sure to throw up now. “…Yes, ma’am?”

“Did you need something? Or were you planning on standing there all night.”

Ah, well. He couldn’t possibly make things any worse than they were before. Or at least he hoped.

“I was hoping I could have some friends over for a study group. We’d do homework and they promised to help with any chores before doing anything else.”

She set her spoon down against the bowl and thumbed the paint over her nails. “What exactly would anything else be?”

He flinched at the stress in her voice. “Mainly just play video games. Nothing dangerous.”

“I would hope not.” She sighed. “You may have them over and entertain them in your room on Wednesdays and Fridays. Keep them out of our bedroom, and away from the antiques. Should your grades fall more than they already have you can expect this privilege to be taken. Is that clear?”

“Yes! Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” He bowed his head in disbelief. It couldn’t have gone any better. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

“Yes, well.” She looked at him through the corner of her eye. His blood running cold at the icy glare. Any prior excitement leaving him as his heart leaped into his throat. “Be sure I don’t regret it.”

Chapter Text

“Yamaguchi,” Hinata cried. “This is your house?”

Yamaguchi assumed he gestured towards the two story building before them. His hands shook as he unlocked the gate and he sheepishly ducked his head against the cool black metal. “Yeah, that’s where I live.”

Noya whistled and jostled the bag back over his shoulder. “I was worried when you said we’d be in your room, but if this is the outside.”

“The house belonged to my mother’s brother, he was a but he never had any kids so he and his wife didn’t see the purpose in having the extra rooms. It was a wedding gift for my parents.”

“This was a wedding gift?!” Hinata screeched attempting to squeeze his face through the bars. “So cool!”

“Wow! Is that a fountain in your backyard!?”

“Ah, that’s actually a bird bath.”

“Yamaguchi, you have a backyard!?”

“Is that a fire pit, Yamaguchi!?”

“It’s actually a wishing well.”

“Yamaguchi, you have a wishing well!?”

Today was going to be fun. He could just feel it.

It took a while to make their way upstairs. Both Hinata and Noya getting distracted by everything they passed, Yamaguchi was lucky enough to have caught their peeping eyes before getting to his parents room. Once they were seated though, the two surprisingly weren’t as bad guests as he had expected. Only commenting when they needed help and keeping their distractions to themselves. Occasionally their eyes would wander towards his papers before quickly turning back to their own. Yamaguchi could only assume they were desperate for him to finish so they could play.

“Can we see the wishing well before we leave,” Hinata asked. “If it’s ok with you, I’d like to make a wish.”

Yamaguchi saw him clench the strap of his bag. The excited look in his eye making it hard for him to say no. “Of course. You can make one before you leave.”

Noya grinned and bumped their knees together under the table “You’re gonna wish for us to go to nationals aren’t you.”

“Definitely! I want to go and see Nekoma in Tokyo!” He proclaimed, stuffing his pencil case and workbook back in his bag.

Yamaguchi laughed, “My grandma always said the wishing well works best when you make a wish for someone else.”

His eyes widened and he hurried to correct himself. “Then I’ll make a wish for Nekoma to go to nationals!”

“That’s the spirit, Shouyou! First we conquer Just Dance, then Nekoma at nationals!” Noya cheered, reminding Yamaguchi the exact reason they were here in the first place.

“How exactly were you planning on conquering Just Dance? From what Tsukki said it doesn’t sound possible.” Yamaguchi raised a brow as Noya puffed his chest and stood up. He set his pencil aside and closed his notebook, feeling as though that was all the homework they’d get through today.

“Tsukishima said the game was stupid, cause you could beat it just by waving the controller. And he’s right,” He unzipped his bag and began pulling out wires and plugs. “For the Wii. My mom bought the game for the Kinect. Where it tracks your movement.” He pulled out the square extension and waved it over his head to show Yamaguchi.

“So it’s… harder?”

Hinata nodded and shuffled over to help set up the game. “Some of the songs are. We still haven’t unlocked everything but we’ve been able to get three to four stars on all the ones we’ve played so far.” He wrinkled his nose and looked up to their host. “Well, except for one or two.”

“More like just one. We can’t get past one star for Uptown Funk. Though Shouyou got close.”

“So to beat the game you’re gonna unlock everything?”

“And get five stars on every song.” Setting out the wires, Noya crawled over to the television set and began plugging in the proper wires. “We’re gonna get five stars on every song, unlock every avatar, then we’ll shove our victory in Tsukishima’s and the rest of the team’s face!”

There was a barely there emphasis on Tsukishima, though Yamaguchi thought it was only fair, considering he did tease them the most about it. “Then what?”

Noya paused and stared at the chords in his hands. He turned to Yamaguchi and frowned at him. “What do you mean, ‘then’?”

Their host raised his hands defensively and quickly sputtered a response. “It just seems a bit lack luster is all! I don’t know… it feels like it’s missing something. Something to really impress them is all. I’m not too sure…”

The thought left Noya quiet for a while. Watching him run his thumb over the length of the wires, Yamaguchi was afraid he may have offended him. As he watched Noya sit there in thought, the less he spoke the tenser his shoulders seemed to get. Even Hinata seemed to be a little anxious as he glanced back and forth between them.

Yamaguchi was about to apologize when Noya looked up and nodded. “You’re right, we need something big to end it with. Something to really knock their socks off!”

They both blinked at him, taken aback by the sudden enthusiasm, but Hinata was still quick to respond. “Yeah! Something to really shove our awesome new dance skills in their face!”

“Exactly!” He exclaimed, tossing the wires aside to look Yamaguchi in the eye. “What do you think we should do?”

He blinked again. “What?”

“Well, it was your idea, to end it with a bang,” he stated. “What do you think we should do?”

He sat there with his mouth agape for a while more, until it registered that they probably wanted a response. “I’ve… never played Just Dance before, though…”

“Oh, right, no problem! I’ll finish setting up the game then we can all play!” He picked the wires back up and grinned back at him. “You’ll be the first to see Shouyou's and I’s killer dance moves!”

Oh God.

“Yeah! You’ll be the first to see just how far we've come!”

“Just don’t act too surprised when you see how awesome we look!”

This couldn’t be happening.

This really wasn’t happening.

“Yamaguchi, c’mon. You need to swipe your hand.”

“Actually, Noya-san I really don’t think I should-“

“Nonsense! We gotta get a sense of how you dance Yamaguchi!”

“Yeah, it’ll be fun!” Hinata said by his side, leg jittering in anticipation. “You just follow the dancer.”

“Exactly! Now c’mon, swipe your hand.” Noya nudged. “This is one of the four star songs we were talking about.”

Yamaguchi sighed as he waved his hand to start. The dancers stood strong with a hand saluting the player before the music began and the middle dancer started moving her hips. It took a while before Yamaguchi realized that was him.

“Why am I the lead?”

“Cause you’re the tallest!”

“But the lead’s shorter than the other two.”

“Don’t question it Yamaguchi,” Noya said, saluting the screen as Yamaguchi posed. “You’re doing pretty well for your first time.”

He didn’t know what to say to that considering he barely managed to get that last string of ‘Oks’. He felt awkward finishing the song as it required a move he was no were near flexible enough for. Barely able to follow along with dancer, he barely managed to finish the song two stars while Noya and Hinata high-fived over their four.

Hinata eagerly stepped over to him and grinned. “You did really well, Yamaguchi! When the song gets all dark in the end, her steps are harder to follow, but you did really well for a first time!”

Noya nodded in agreement. Giving him a strong pat on the back, he gestured towards the screen as the stars were quickly counted. “Since we’re a trio now, it’ll be easier getting stars and raking up points.”

“Yeah, we’ll have everything unlocked in no time!”

There was a chime on screen, cutting off their praise. Yamaguchi turned back and faced the screen. He could see Noya excitedly smack Hinata’s arm from the corner of his eye, though he wasn’t sure why.

“Yamaguchi! You unlocked a new song!” He pointed. “We have extreme mode now!”

“So cool! I can’t believe you unlocked our first extreme version!”

“Ah, I don’t think-“

“Hey, the girl kind of looks like nee-san!” Noya quickly moved out of frame and dug through his pockets, impatiently huffing and rushing to his bag. “Ryuu’s gonna wanna see this! I’m gonna get my phone, start playing without me while I text him.”

Hinata nodded and nudged Yamaguchi to start to the game, which he did so hesitantly.

It started off somewhat manageable, both enjoying the dancer get into the moves and rhythm so easily, making the repetitive moves look so improvised and natural. They both started off decently, Hinata having more experience picked up the movement quicker, though stumbled as the movements got faster. Yamaguchi could hardly discern the steps from the pictures at the bottom and shifted to follow the dancer instead, which barely helped. They both laughed and followed as she fell on the ground and kicked her leg, neither able to extend theirs too far. Yamaguchi was quicker to get back up and try to follow her movement. Hinata had trouble discerning her gestures and it took a while before he fell back into the swing of things. Nishinoya whooped as the dancer stood and cleanly kicked her leg above her head. A move Yamaguchi wasn’t even going to attempt that nearly knocked Hinata backward and into the table they set up for homework.

All in all, it was a rather awkward performance to watch since neither had the flexibility or clue as to what to do or how to move, but they both enjoyed laughing at each other and themselves as they attempted it either way.

“Yamaguchi, you did really well! You really went all out on those hip-thrusts!” Hinata grinned, exaggeratedly thrusting his hip out and resting his hand against him.

Yamaguchi couldn’t help but snort at the pose, he laughed and copied his movements with a hip thrust of his own making Hinata laugh in turn.

“I got it!” Noya exclaimed from the side, phone in hand. “I know what we can do for the grand finally.” He moved to stand in front of them, hands on his hips looking about as determined as the day he first asked to move the project to his house. A look Yamaguchi greatly feared. “We each master a dance! Then once we’ve beaten the game, we perform it in front of the team! We can invite the team over and show off our killer dance moves with a performance!”

Disregarding the fact Noya assumed it’d be fine having the entire team over at his house, Yamaguchi couldn’t focus on anything but the anxiety he felt from possibly performing in front of said entire team.

“It’s one thing to dance here in front of you guys, but I don’t think I could handle doing that in front of everybody else.” Clutching his stomach, Hinata visibly paled at the idea and Yamaguchi was conflicted on whether they should continue this conversation or push Hinata towards the bathroom.

“You’re not going to be doing that, Yamaguchi is!”

“What?”

“Shouyou’s right! You have the best hips out of the three of us. Your hips could give Suga a run for his money! You just need to memorize the moves and-”

“I really don’t think I’ll be able to stretch my leg like that anytime soon.”

“Not with that attitude!”

Yamaguchi couldn’t believe they were having this conversation right now. He turned to Hinata for help on the matter, but he seemed absorbed in his own thoughts, before snapping his fingers and gasping loudly.

“Uptown Funk! For my dance I can master Uptown Funk!”

That was absolute last thing he needed right now. Yamaguchi couldn’t believe it. “I can’t believe you’re on board with this.”

Hinata just rubbed his neck and laughed. “I actually think memorizing a dance to show the team sounds like fun. But performing in front of everybody might be pushing it.” He added with a wince.

There was no possible way he could back out now that Hinata was on board. Watching the two look at him with hopeful eyes, he knew no matter how much he argued over his lack of flexibility they’d never take it, so he decided to just agree with Hinata and push the latter part of his sentence. “I don’t feel comfortable putting a show for the whole team either.”

As expected, Hinata eagerly nodded his head in turn. Both of them turning to Noya who frowned in thought and held his chin. He eventually nodded to himself and grinned at them. “Alright, we can scratch the performance for now. We can think of something else later. But so we’re clear, you guys are both cool with memorizing a song for it right?”

Hinata grinned right back and gave him a thumbs up.

Both of them turned to Yamaguchi, who gave them a hesitant look, still uncertain about his flexibility. Though he eventually gave in to kind a patient look on their face. Somewhere in the back of his head he knew they’d respect his decision if he relented, but even deeper down he knew there was no possible way he could say no.

“Alright. I’m in.”