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Hinata Shoyo loves a lot of things. He loves his mom and his sister, Natsu. He loves meat buns. He loves riding his bike. He has lots of love to give.
But Hinata has only fallen in love three times.
The first time was when he saw the little giant from Karasuno play on TV when he was a kid. He knew then he would do that next. and he fell in love with volleyball because of it. He has put his blood, sweat, and tears into volleyball and he will continue to do so until his body gives out on him.
The next time he fell in love, was in his second year of high school. When he realized he was in love with Kageyama Tobio. Kageyama Tobio, the person he thought would be his biggest enemy. The one who always believed in Hinata. The one who told him “With me here, you’re invincible”. Hinata knew he was doomed the first time he hit one of Kageyama’s sets. And Hinata is not one to hide how he feels, so he told Kageyama outright when he realized, and Kageyama felt the same. They’ve been together since.
The third time Hinata fell in love was just after he moved to Brazil to learn beach volleyball. Hinata had been working as a delivery driver to pay his way, but he knew it just wasn’t enough. When he saw a flyer at one of the restaurants, he was delivering with a help wanted ad for the local aquarium. Hinata likes fish. Fish are cool! He could totally take care of fish. After he was interviewed for the job and hired, he was not so sure what he was walking into. But it took Hinata only a few days of working at the aquarium to realize how much he loves sea life.
Hinata never expected to fall in love with working at the aquarium. He truly didn’t. He just needed something that paid more than making food deliveries. But he would do this job for free if he could. If he didn’t want to be a volleyball player, he thinks marine animal care would be the career path for him.
Hinata gets to spend his days feeding and interacting with the most beautiful creatures. He gets to play with little turtles and feed fish and work with penguins and teach classes to young kids who come to the aquarium about all the different sea life, but his favorite part of his job is the rehabilitation facility for the injured animals.
Hinata have helped dolphins learn how to swim after injuring their tale, helped penguins heal broken flippers, and helped sea turtles to be able to return to the wild. When Hinata had to return to Japan to join MSBY, he sat at the edge of the dolphin rehab pool and cried because of how badly he would miss the animals he has gotten to know and love.
When Hinata did go back to Japan, he went back to sign on with the MSBY Black Jackals. He was so excited to be able to play volleyball as a full-time professional athlete. He was also excited to be home to his family, and of course his boyfriend, Kageyama. But even with all the things he was excited to be home about, he still had an ache in his heart because of the animals he missed back in Brazil. He felt such a strong connection to them.
Hinata decided that since he didn’t need a job to pay his bills anymore, with the Jackals paying him more than enough to live off and then some, he would volunteer at the aquarium in his city. He figured the least he could do was give back through community service, and this would allow him to do something he was passionate about. He couldn’t work with the animals as much as in Brazil because of his busy schedule, but he always made time on breaks and days off to visit and help wherever he was needed. He even took some time to get animal handling certifications so he could work as a handler for the animals.
Hinata had been volunteering at his current aquarium for about six months, and a few weeks ago, a new penguin was being transferred. Hinata has a special place in his heart for penguins. He thinks they are just the cutest and he loves to play with them and loves when they want to snuggle with him after playing. So, Obviously, Hinata falls in love with her. He is even given the privilege of naming her because of how fast they clicked. He called her tofu because he thought she was cute and squishy.
When Hinata returned to his apartment that night, he talked Kageyama’s ear off about Tofu. He told him about how cute she was and about how she waits so patiently for food, and she is so polite and how she even climbed into his lap at one point that day to get his attention. Kageyama was not someone who had a natural inclination to get along with animals, but he loved seeing his partner so happy. That was until Hinata suggested that Kageyama come visit the aquarium with him to meet the animals. Hinata gave him his best puppy eyes and he reluctantly agreed.
On their next day off together, they made their way to Hinata’s aquarium. Hinata had a set of keys to get them into the rooms where the public wasn’t allowed, but Hinata was too excited to show Tobio his critter friends.
They started small with having Kageyama look at some of the fish Hinata takes care of, and Hinata even convinced Kageyama to pet a star fish and an anemone. Next, they went to a string ray exhibit where they could pet the stingrays. Since Hinata was a volunteer and just so happened to be wearing his swim trunks and his aquarium uniform tank top, he decided he wanted to wade with the rays like he sometimes did. He stepped gently into the pool, the water coming just past his knees, and pulled Tobio by the hands to get him to touch the animals.
The stingrays excitedly came up to Shoyo, recognizing him as soon as he arrived, and nosed at Kageyama’s hand. Hinata gave Kageyama a piece of fish and showed him how to hold it so the stingrays will eat it. He also freaked out when one of the stingrays basically tried to swallow his whole hand, but ended up laughing at how weird it felt.
They went to the turtles next, and Hinata could not have been more excited. He had turtles all over him. He had one on his shoulder, one on his hat, one in his lap. He was covered in them and talking to them like they were babies. He handed one to Kageyama and it flapped its little flippers excitedly as it looked at him. He thought it almost looked like it was smiling. Hinata was telling him all kinds of facts about sea turtles that he had never heard before, and while he had never cared to learn before, seeing the light in Hinata’s eyes as he spoke made Kageyama pay more attention than he ever had.
They explored all the other exhibits the aquarium had to offer before finally getting to Hinata’s favorite part. He had been so excited for this, and he knew he had to save it for the end so he could spend the most time here. It was time for him to see his miss. tofu and introduce her to Kageyama.
When they entered the room where the penguins slept when they weren’t in their exhibit, Hinata looked around for Tofu. He was able to find her quickly and called for her, and she made quick work of waddling over to him as soon as she recognized him. She waddled over while slapping her flippers excitedly.
He sat down and crossed his legs and encouraged Kageyama to do the same.
“Hello, Miss. Tofu! Pretty girl! I have missed you so much” Hinata told the penguin as she hopped into his lap. He spoke to her the same way many people talk to their dogs. Kageyama looked at him, confused.
“Tofu, can you say Hi to Kageyama?”
“Dumbass, she can’t talk”
Right as Kageyama said this, Tofu squawked at him as if she was saying hello. Kageyama’s eyes widened and Hinata busted out laughing.
“Tofu can, meanie-yama. Isn’t that right. My pretty girl is so smart, huh?” Hinata continued to coo at Tofu as if she could understand. She eventually jumped down from his lap and waddled over to Kageyama. She stared at him expectantly and he had no idea what to do.
“She wants you to pet her”.
“How the hell do you know that, Sho? She is just staring”.
“Yeah, I can tell by how she’s staring. Scratch under her beak”.
“What? No. She is going to bite me”.
Hinata acted offended on Tofu’s behalf. He saw nothing but a little angel. He showed Kageyama how to pet her and then grabbed his hand and guided him to gently scratch under her beak. When he felt like Kageyama was comfortable, he moved his hand away and pulled out his phone to take a picture.
Tofu did eventually have enough of being pet, so Hinata went and grabbed 2 fish from the penguin fridge and handed one to Kageyama. They both fed her and Hinata wished her a good night like she was a baby getting ready for bed.
It had gotten late, and they were both tired and hungry, so they made their way home to shower and eat and rest for the rest of their day. On their way home they talked about their day and Kageyama told Hinata he had a great time. Hinata was so excited to hear this because this was so important to him and he wanted Kageyama to see why. Because Kageyama understood his love for volleyball. and they understood their love for each other. And now Kageyama understood Hinata’s newest love he found for the ocean.