Chapter Text
It was the 2021 Summer Olympics volleyball game that brought them together, not that the alumni members of the Karasuno volleyball team needed a reason to host a reunion. Up until this point it had been a while since they’ve had a big gathering like this. To nobody’s fault, everyone has been busy with their own careers and lives that it’s hard to find a time of day that agrees with everyone's schedule. But now that the Olympics were happening, what could be a better event to watch that's not the Japan vs Argentina match that was just so featuring one Tobio Kageyama and Hinata Shoyo. Honestly, it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with everybody, have a few drinks, and watch volleyball.
It was decided that everyone was going to meet at Kiyoko and Tanaka’s new apartment. The space itself was comfortable, just enough space to fit the ten of them that were going to be there. Usually it would be 14 of them but two of them were off in Egypt and the other two were the ones everyone came to watch.
The first to arrive was Daichi and Sugawara. Their shared apartment was relatively close to Tanaka and Kiyoko so they didn’t have to be an hour early but they did. Part of it was to help set up for the gathering, part of it was to catch up with the old team manager with no one but Tanaka to bother them, and another part of it was that there was a small gas leak in their building but never mind that last part.
There wasn’t much else to help set up by the time that they arrived. Despite just moving in, the apartment looked well lived in. An extra table and a few chairs were set up to accommodate the amount of guests, bowls of snacks were set up and Tanaka had ordered some pizza.
Before coming over Daichi and Suga had bought some drinks, specifically beer, the cheap kind that still tasted good and just so happened to be perfect for an event like this. The former third years greeted their host while setting the drinks in the fridge, hugs were passed around and conversations were getting started.
Once initial greetings were over, Daichi and Tanaka started talking about workout routines and the physical strain from both of their jobs while Kiyoko and Suga started chatting about their respective jobs. How Kiyoko was up for a promotion and how Suga adored some kindergarten kids at his school and absolutely dreaded others. Despite the obvious changes in all their lives, it was nice to see how everybody stayed the same. Tanaka was still the rowdy boy with passion, Kiyoko was still the quiet girl who stayed organized and focused. Daichi was still the same boy who was responsible and assertive, and Suga was still the sarcastic boy who always worked hard towards his goals.
As time went on, more and more people started arriving, all bringing something to contribute to the party. First it was Yachi who came bringing cake because she felt bad coming empty handed. Then came Ennoshita who was able to get off of work early this time. Eventually the rest of the second years came, all bearing some sort of snack and or drink and lastly came Yamaguchi and Tsukishima who came together.
The room they were in slowly started to get louder as people were pouring in all catching up with each other in some way. The pizza eventually arrived and with that signaled the start of the Japan and Argentina match.
When the Argentina line up was being called you could hear a small “boo” from the room coming from Tanaka.
“Look at Mr. Pretty boy walking up there all smug and all. His ass is going to get beaten today” Tanaka said all riled up before going silent as they waited for the Japan line up to get called.
One by one the names were called from the Japan national team, some were familiar faces they went up against in high school and some were players from pro teams they’ve seen before. There was an uproar of cheers and whistles as Kageyama and Hinata were called up to line up. The camera slowly pans to each one of the players on the team, one by one. Landing on Kageyama and then Hinata.
“He's different,” Tsukishima said on the couch as he brought his drink up to his lips while the camera panned out to show the whole team.
“Oh really” Suga said, coming up from behind him leaning over the couch to meet his junior in the eyes, giving Tsukishima a shock. “Who? Hinata? You really think so? He looks the same to me. I didn’t know that would be something you of all people would notice” Suga said, going in to hug him from behind.
“Well when you're forced to play on the same high school team for three years, you tend to pick up on some tells” Tsukisima said almost like he was denying the insinuation that he and Hinata have gotten closer. He shifted his weight to narrowly avoid the incoming hug.
“Just watch him during the game and you’ll see what I mean” he said unbothered taking, another swing at his drink.
Suga arched his brow a little at Tsukishima’s claim. He didn’t doubt what he said about playing with Hinata for so long that you pick up a thing or two about their action. I mean Suga knew every one of Daichi and Asashi’s tells and habits just by knowing them for so long so it wasn’t farfetched, just the opposite of it actually. But Hinata being off his game? That was a little farfetched.
Suga remembers how before every game in high school Hinata needed to take a shit every time to calm his nerves. Of course there would be times where Hinata didn’t actually use the bathroom, for probably a variety of factors but it was the thought and gesture that counted. Maybe he was just nervous like all those times, it was the biggest game of his career.
Knowing Hinata, he would be jumping up and down from excitement, but Tsukishima might have been right this time. When the camera was on him, there was no spark in his eyes. All Hinata did was flash a big smile, a smile that was kind of … sad? Suga didn’t know Hinata was capable of making such a face but maybe it was just that Tsukishima was getting in his head, he had a tendency to do that to people.
Suga took one more glance at the tv and then at Tsukishima before deciding to shake it off for now.
“I guess we will see,” Suga said before shaking a hand in Tsukishima’s hair much to the juniors' objections.
As he was walking off to go and chat it up with somebody else Suga could hear Tanak yell at the tv.
“Hey look! It’s Mr. Pretty Boys boyfriend. Now THAT'S hilarious”
Tanaka had somehow pointed out Iwaizumi Hajime on the tv who was sitting near team Japan since he was the team's athletic trainer.
It was known that Tanaka’s partially one sided beef was purely out of principle ever since high school. It was also partially one sided beef because although the two never actually had a conversation with each other, something told everybody that if they did actually have a conversation there would be no end to their bickering, thank god Oikawa was in Argentina.
As the match started everybody started settling down, either on the couch, chairs or the floor in front of the tv, all getting some source of food and drink before they’re all prepared not to move again for however long the match takes to finish.
Japan had won the first set with Argentina only a few points behind. The second set was a closer match with Argentina winning that one with Oikawa’s killer serve.
As each play was made, Sugawara was paying attention to Hinata, occasionally Kageyama as well. Suga wouldn’t admit that Tsukishima got into his head a bit but that was what was happening. He paid attention to Kageyama because if something was wrong with Hinata, Kageyama would definitely know it, if not with his sets then definitely with his face and words.
Off-handedly Suga would glance at Tsukishima to see if he had any reaction but of course he didn’t. He just sat there drinking what Suga was assuming was still his first beer and playing with Yamaguchi’s hair who was sitting right in front of him on the floor talking to Yachi.
It was the start of the fourth set 2-1 in Argentina’s favor amongst all the cheering for each point earned and hisses for every point stolen, Suga noticed three things from both Hinata and Kageyama:
First, Hinata seemed slower and heavier. He wasn’t moving as fast or jumping as high, in fact now that he was older and more experienced than he was in his first year, Hinata should be jumping higher and running faster, but he wasn’t.
Second, Hinata was purposefully holding whatever power he had back.Every jump and spike he had didn’t carry the same “umph” it once did. They weren’t as strong or calculated, they didn’t hold a lot of power, it wasn’t Hinata. The jumps that did seem to hold power were reckless. Every time Hinata flew and landed back down, it seemed to hurt him, like he didn’t mean to land so hard or fast.
Lastly, whatever was wrong with Hinata, if there was something wrong, Kageyama definitely noticed. Despite being older, Kageyama was still as stubborn as ever. There was a part of him that had that “anything it takes to win” mentality, which by all means especially in a game like the Olympics it was kind of important but despite being marketed with Hinata as THE power house duo, he started setting to him less and less. From the tv you can tell that Kageyama was getting more and more frustrated with Hinata and he kept on making more and more mistakes.
“Hey, do you notice anything different … about Hinata and the way he’s playing?” Suga said unsure, nudging Daichi in ribs who had his elbows on his knees, concentrating on the game.
“Actually, now that you said it out loud, yeah” Daichi said, turning his body to face Suga as the puzzles finally clicked together in his brain.
“He seems…. I don’t really know, just off” Daichi took a swing of his drink, still questioning the words that just came out of his mouth “But hey he could just be tired. Playing such intense games back to back does that to you”
Oh
That wasn’t the answer Suga was expecting. Full honesty, Suga thought that Daichi was too focused on the game to even listen. Sure there was a little bit of backtracking in his answer but at least Suga didn’t feel as crazy as before.
Daichi went to drape his arm around Suga’s shoulders while Suga went for another sip of his drink only to realize it was empty.
“Hey I’m going to get another drink, do you want anything?” Suga sighs as pushes himself off of his knees.
Daichi shines his biggest smile, “Another drink please” he says almost like he was facing some sort of personal defeat.
“Mmhm okay then”
Right before he’s able to turn around, Daichi grabs the sleeves of Suga’s sweater.
“Hey don’t worry about Hinata, he's going to be fine” he said trying to reassure the man beside him.
At that moment there was an uproar from the room. Apparently as Hinata was coming down from a jump he landed hard and rough onto the court, falling to his knee. It was obvious there was something wrong with his leg, no one could doubt it at this point.
Iwaizumi was called onto the court to check on the player. From the tv you couldn’t hear what they were saying, the only thing you could see was the pain in Hinata’s face, probably trying to hide what he was feeling and convince everyone that he could still play. He was surrounded by Iwaizumi who was checking his leg, probably trying to reason with Hinata that couldn’t play on his leg. It wasn’t any help that Kageyama seemed to be yelling at the fallen player and when Kageyama started yelling, Hinata was yelling as well.
When the yelling continued, it seemed to get more emotional and aggressive for the short time it happened. Eventually Hinata got off the court leaning on Iwaizumi who led him to the bench.
Thankfully the announcer said it wasn’t anything too serious and the game resumed as usual but something had changed. Everyone in the room can tell. Both Yachi and Yamaguchi were a nervous wreck, Tanaka was clenching on to Kiyoko’s hand as he looked genuinely worried and everyone else was some sort of version of the chaos in their own way. It calmed down a bit after that announcement but nerves were still high as the game started up again.
The whole scene itself was no longer than five, maybe three minutes in total. Just enough time for Suga to realize what was happening but not actually process anything. Maybe it was the three drinks finally catching up to him, maybe it wasn’t. Things were as clear as day but maybe –just maybe– he needed one more to calm his nerves.
Suga tugged lightly away from Daichi’s grasp as he headed towards the kitchen giving him a light smile, obviously still thinking about the events that just unraveled. From behind him, he can hear the chatters of everyone in the living room talking about the game and what just happened.
It was a straight shot from the couch to the kitchen with only a left turn to have access to the fridge. The coolness of the cans sent Suga into a shock at first, putting the one he got immediately on the floor before reaching for the second one and doing the same thing.
Crouching on the floor, Suga closes the fridge door and right as he is about to pick up the cans, he gets a call. It’s Nishinoya
Suga answers the phone as he gets up from the floor and grabs the cans stacked on top of each other in one hand so that he can hold the phone in the other.
“Hi Noya, is there something wrong?” Suga said in confusion more than anything really. He didn’t expect for Noya to call him, especially with the time difference. Heck, the most he’s gotten from Noya these past weeks was nothing but a series of texts and pictures of his travels
“DUDE!!! SUGA, DID YOU SEE, DID YOU SEE?” Words were jumbling on top of one another, barely coherent, “YOU’RE WATCHING THE JAPAN AND ARGENTINA MATCH RIGHT? ARE YOU WATCHING IT DELAYED RIGHT NOW? THERE IS NO WAY YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT ALREADY”
Suga couldn’t understand anything the man was saying right now truth be told. He was already heading back to his spot on the couch getting ready to press the cold cans onto Daichi’s neck right before speaking to the man on the other side of the line.
“Noya if I’m being honest, I have no idea what you’re saying right now” he said like a surrender, “Hey, is Asashi with you right now, let me–”
Right before he could finish his sentence, there was a yell coming from Tanaka in the arm chair next to him.
“No fucking way”
There's no way
As Suga shifted his eyes from Daichi’s neck to the tv he couldn’t believe what he just saw. Despite Noya being loud enough to the point where even with his arm down Suga can hear him clearly at full volume, the only thing that Suga can fully concentrate on is the screen in front of him.
It was the middle of a time out and in a blink of an eye, Kageyama and Hinata were getting aggressive. Hinata threw the first punch only for Kageyama to move and throw the second. It didn’t take long for them to end up on the floor beating each other up surrounded by teammates trying to defuse the situation. Iwaizumi was pulling Hinata off of Kageyama the best he could without getting hit with the flying arms, at some point it was something he couldn’t avoid. Some of the Argentina players even came to try and assist with the situation with Oikawa trying to pull Kageyama from under Hinata.
“Ummm, judging by the silence you’re watching it go down right now”
It wasn’t Noya’s voice that came out of the phone this time, but it didn’t matter right now.
“Yeah I’m going to have to call you guys back”
And with that Suga hangs up on the caller, fully in disbelief with everything going trying to take it all in.
Well shit man.