Chapter Text
"Mum, I'm going out!"
"Alright Shou, but be back when it gets dark."
"Okay!"
Shouyou didn't hear his mother’s reply as he raced out of the door, already in training gear, his sport bag slung over his shoulder. He assumed she had asked him to greet Tobio, who he would usually meet up on weekends to play volleyball. However, when Shouyou swung himself onto his bike and rode down to the public sports court that afternoon, he wasn't going to meet his friend – in fact, said setter was the reason Shouyou was royally pissed on this Saturday evening.
"Dumb Kageyama. Stupid, annoying, dumb setter-" The redhead mumbled while cycling downhill, a string of insults falling from his mouth with no end in sight. Their discussion had started over something trivial; which western Youtuber is better, and grew to a full scale argument which got very personal very quickly. Now Hinata did what he would always do when he was upset, annoyed or otherwise inconvenienced; he would go play volleyball.
Dropping his bike next to the bench he then put his bag on, he pulled out his Molten volleyball and started practising receives against the wall. Usually, Kageyama would join to set for him but today it was just Shouyou, barely managing to keep the ball off the ground for longer than a few seconds since his mind kept wandering, and as time went on, Shouyou grew increasingly frustrated with the situation. Why was it his fault that Kageyama got offended and decided to fight him about that? The setter could be so petty and stubborn! And now Shouyou was too angry to even play volleyball properly, the one thing he was amazing at!
"God DAMN IT!" He yelled and threw the ball against the wall as hard as he could, hoping to relieve his anger with some kind of destruction, but instead of magically lightening Shouyou's mood (or shattering the wall), the ball bounced off and flew towards the bushes surrounding the field. Shouyou groaned internally. 'Ugh, just great-'
"OW!"
Shouyou stopped in his tracks when a pained yelp sounded from the other side of the bushes, and not long after a tall and rather familiar looking brunet stepped through and – wait, "the- THE GRAND KING?"
"...Chibi-chan?" Seijoh's setter held Shouyou's volleyball in his hands, a surprised expression on his face as he spotted the redhead who almost accusingly pointed a finger at him. Before Oikawa was able to say anymore, Shouyou began talking in a voice he hoped to be intimidating. Though, it sounded rather shaky, and combined with the fact that he had already backed off four steps since spotting the brunet, he looked anything but scary. "W-what are you doing here?! Are you...are you here to spy on Karasuno? W-Wanna fight!?"
The confused expression on Oikawa's face only remained for the split of a second, before completely dissolving into one of amusement as the setter laughed out loud, much to Shouyou's annoyance. The king was supposed to be intimidated damn it! Yet all he did was laugh as if Shouyou was the funniest thing he had ever seen, whose face reddened in embarrassment. It took a good few seconds for Oikawa to reduce his laughter to quiet giggling before he looked straight at the redhead again. An amused smile was still playing around his lips as he tossed the ball back to Shouyou.
"I didn't expect to run into you on a Saturday afternoon, Chibi-chan. Playing volleyball all alone?" The setter leisurely walked onto the court, glancing around as if looking for someone before setting his gaze back on Shouyou. "Aren't you and dear Tobio-chan always practising together?"
Hinata huffed in annoyance, gaining confidence now that he believed that the totally-not-intimidating Oikawa was not there to fight him. The redhead stemmed his hands on his hips and looked at the brunet with the best glare he could muster, attempting to copy Tanaka's scary face that usually helped to chase unwanted guests away. "I'm not always with Kageyama! Also, I live here. You don't! How do I know you didn't come here to sabotage us?"
Again, instead of being intimidated by Hinata's awesome expression, Oikawa chuckled and waved him off. "My grandma is in the retirement home nearby and I payed her a visit, no need to attack me." He put his hands in his pockets, and his lips formed a sly smile which almost, almost made Shouyou back up a little more, but he stayed put and kept glaring at the enemy setter while said brunet continued talking. "Now, what’s got your knickers in a twist? Did Tobio-chan break up with you?"
Any confidence Shouyou might have gained before was immediately replaced by a wave of embarrassment and, he admitted to himself, a bit of discomfort at the idea of him dating Kageyama. They were best friends, yes, even if he would never say that out loud, and he was pissed at the setter , because honestly he was such an asshole sometimes! But still, it was pretty obvious. Plus, Shouyou couldn't remember Kageyama ever showing romantic interest in anyone, so the thought of the setter being interested in him of all people was just… weird.
Shaking his head to clear his mind of more uncomfortable thoughts, Shouyou squared his shoulders and tried yet again to impress the brunet with a glare.
"Kageyama and I are not dating!" Nailed it.
"Besides…who would want to date that jerk anyway.", he couldn't help but add in a quieter voice..
…Only to immediately regret it when he saw Oikawa step closer as his face lit up in an interested grin. "Oh?~ What's this, the dream duo is having a fight?" Shouyou took a step back to put distance between him and the taller boy, but the moment he thought back to his conversation with Kageyama, the anger about the stubbornness of his friend flared back up. And before the redhead knew what he was doing, Shouyou spilled all his frustration about Kageyama and his stupid opinions that were totally wrong anyway, to Oikawa.
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"Okay, okay, hold on a second. Let me sum this up, you and Tobio-chan aren't talking because of… Youtubers?"
"Yes- I mean no! He insulted my volleyball skills as well! He said my spikes 'might be' brilliant but I'm always 'wasting points' with my 'lousy receives and serves'!"
Shouyou gestured wildly, barely making sure not to hit Oikawa in the face, since he was sitting next to him on the bench now. At this point, the redhead didn't care that he was telling a supposed rival about insecurities within the team or if Oikawa even wanted to hear any of it, he kept going. "Can you believe that!? He knows better than anyone that I'm trying! And anyway, serves are-"
"How about you just practice receives and serves alone and surprise everyone with your development?"
Hinata stopped his gesturing and stared quietly at the brunet for the first time in fifteen minutes. Oikawa looked positively exhausted with Shouyou's talking, yet he was still sitting there and listening, which quite honestly came as a surprise to Shou.
Deciding to push that thought away for another time, Shouyou sighed and shrugged, bouncing his legs on the ground.
"Well, I tried! But it never really worked so I always asked Kageyama to throw me the ball and-" That was the moment a brilliant idea crossed Hinata's mind.
Apparently, it must've shown on his face. Oikawa made an expression that could have been interpreted as 'I don't like where this is going'. Hinata didn't really care.
"…What is it?"
"Oh, y'know, I thought, since you're a setter and you seem to have free time- don't get me wrong that doesn't mean we're friends! I'm still going to beat you and Seijoh!", Hinata pointed at Oikawa, his voice full of conviction, "but you're really awesome at volleyball! So you could totally help me practice my receives!"
Shouyou smiled brightly; doing his best to look as convincing as possible because at the moment, Oikawa was just staring blankly back at him. Shouyou was never good at reading the expressions of people he didn't know. 'Is he…is he considering it? Is he going to fight me? …He's intimidating.' The redhead's smile was slowly falling again, but before he could back out and pretend it was a joke, the brunet setter started laughing loudly again. He was even doubling over, almost wheezing before he managed to get words out.
"G-god, Chibi-chan, you're hilarious! Really? You're asking me to help you improve?"
"Uh….yeah?"
Apparently something was incredibly funny to Oikawa, and Shouyou didn't quite get what. They both played volleyball; asking for him to toss isn't that weird…was it? At least not so weird that Oikawa would have to wipe a stray tear from the corner of his eye, but there he was, leaning back and clutching his belly in laughter.
Shouyou was getting more and more confused by the second, but lucky for him, Oikawa finally seemed to calm down from his laughing fit. The brunet turned to look back at Hinata; Shouyou was about to applaud himself for not flinching, but Oikawa clapped a hand on the redhead's right shoulder, startling him after all.
"You know what, Chibi-chan?"
"Uh-"
"You're either really stupid or just naive, but I feel like indulging you today."
"…that means?"
Oikawa chuckled again, and Hinata prepared himself for another fit, but this time he only got one of the setter's mischievous smiles and a nod.
"Let's play."
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"Nice receive!"
"Once more!"
Shouyou's clothes were damp with sweat and his breath was coming out in short puffs, yet he hadn't stopped smiling for almost an hour. After a few initial problems and getting used to each other ("WHY AREN'T YOU HITTING THE BALL?!" "WHY AREN'T YOU TOSSING BETTER?!" "I'M THE BEST SETTER IN THE PREFECTURE!" "FIGHT ME!"), Oikawa and Shouyou managed to work smoothly together. Hinata felt himself improving with every move; he was thrilled to the bone to be able to practice his weaknesses in his free time without failing miserably, or getting yelled at by Kageyama.
Shouyou stood at the edge of the court, knees bent and body tense, waiting for Oikawa to toss the ball to him so he could receive it. Feeling the ball bounce off his wrists with full control over its direction was a great feeling; but nothing beat the rush of adrenaline he felt when he was running towards the net and jumped. A last glance to the setter, a last affirmative eye contact, before his eyes darted to the ball and a millisecond later, his palm made contact. The ball crashed onto the concrete on the other side and Shouyou jumped in cheer again the moment he landed back on the ground.
"YEAH!"
"Nice one, Chibi-chan!"
He turned to Oikawa, who was beaming back at Hinata with almost the same enthusiasm. The setter wasn't in any better shape than Shouyou; his clothes clung to his body and a droplet of sweat rolled down his face, but Hinata was sure Oikawa enjoyed it as much as he did. Well, almost as much.
Shouyou was about to ask for another toss, yet before he could say anything, the setter's eyes darted to the sky. While Shouyou was still confused, Oikawa sighed and quickly made his way over to their bags.
"Uh, Oikawa-san? Why are we stopping?"
Shouyou jogged to pick up the ball before joining Oikawa at the bench and grabbing his water bottle to take a sip. The brunet turned to Shouyou and ruffled his hair, regarding the fighting stance Shouyou took up immediately with an amused smile.
"I have a train to catch. As you said, I don't live here."
Hinata felt strangely disappointed at that; he really enjoyed training with Oikawa, even if he still refused to let down his guard. It seemed like he actually improved, he was on a roll right now!
Shouyou didn't have time to come up with an excuse for him to stay, because Seijoh's setter chuckled, interrupting his thoughts and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Aww, now don't make that face, Chibi-chan."
"What fa-"
"I have an idea. Give me your phone."
The grin on Oikawa's face wasn't exactly reassuring, but Hinata reached into his bag anyway and handed his phone over to him.
"Okay so…I'll put my number…into…your phone…so ... you can text me… later… and I'll have your number, so whenever I'm in the mood, I might call you up for another practice!"
Oikawa typed something into Shouyou's phone while explaining, keeping it out of range of his curious glances, before handing it back to him with a grin.
"See ya later, Chibi-chan!"
Oikawa waved and started jogging away, giving Shouyou's annoyed "IT'S HINATA!" only a laugh. Shouyou's mouth formed a pout, but before he could get caught up in internally cursing Oikawa, he remembered his phone. When he checked, his contacts where open and a new contact called 'Tooru-senpai ♡♡♡' was in his list.
' "Tooru-senpai? Heart heart heart?"…he's weird.'
Hinata stuffed his phone back into his pocket and started driving home shortly after; he realized that it was shortly after sundown and if he was going to get home any later, his mother would not let him off easy. And, Shouyou was really, really hungry.
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After dinner, which sadly did involve a lot of "Why are you home so late?" And "I told you to be back before it got dark!", Shouyou managed to sneak away to his room to avoid having to put Natsu to bed. Don't get him wrong, Shou loved his little sister, but when you have to take care of her whenever you're not in school or training, it can get exhausting.
Still, determined to get at least a little homework done before bed, Shouyou dropped into his chair at his desk.
…Only to let out an exasperated groan good fifteen minutes later. 'Ugh, I'm bored already…' Shouyou looked around his desk, trying to find something to distract himself even for a few minutes, when his eyes landed on his phone. '…I guess it would be great to have someone toss for me if Kageyama can't.' That was all it really took to convince himself to take up the phone again and start to type up a message to Oikawa.
You: 'It's Hinata! Not Chibi-chan! Thanks for today I guess. We're still gonna beat you.'
Shouyou nodded to himself, quite satisfied with the message he sent. It wasn't too friendly, but still strong enough to make sure Oikawa would respect him. He thought about changing the name the setter gave himself in his phone as well, but he'd rather not risk the Grand King's anger if he noticed that Shouyou changed it. To what should he change it anyway? Oikawa Tooru sounded too...personal. They didn't know each other that well. 'The Grand King' was the risky one, because what if Oikawa reacted the same way as Kageyama did to being called king? Shouyou didn't have much time to ponder, as barely a minute later, his phone vibrated and the screen lit up with a message from 'Tooru-senpai ♡♡♡'.
Tooru-senpai ♡♡♡: 'ofc u will ;) aww but ur so tiny it fits! ok then what about hina-chan?? :DD'
Shouyou rolled his eyes. Hina-chan sounded just as demeaning as Chibi-chan! Maybe a little less. It still sounded childish but at least it included his actual name. Also, Oikawa called his ace "Iwa-chan" so it probably wasn't that bad. Choosing the lesser evil, Shouyou grumbled something about 'not being that small, damn it!' before typing a short reply.
You: 'Ugh. Fine.'
Tooru-senpai ♡♡♡: ';D'
Oikawa was pretty weird. He wasn't as intimidating as Shou initially thought, but still managed to shush the redhead with a look. And he made the most awful jokes. But, while Shouyou hated to admit it, some of them actually made him laugh, and while he'd rather have someone from his own team or Nekoma practise with him, Oikawa didn't seem too bad. 'For now, at least.'