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@kageyamatobio9 - @GunGun has been my go to drink since the day I first picked up a volleyball. I’m proud to be their newest partner, and prouder to always start my day right, with a glass of my favorite milk.
Shouyou opens the fridge to grab a snack, blinks, closes the door, waits a second, then reopens it.
Nope. Not a hallucination.
“Babe?”
Tobio’s voice echoes from the other room: “Yeah?”
Shouyou stares into the contents of the fridge, trying to comprehend what he’s looking at. No answer magically materializes. “Why is your fridge full of milk?”
“What?”
Shouyou raises his voice. “Why is your fridge full of milk!”
“Because of the sponsorship?” Tobio sounds confused. Shouyou is supposed to be the only one confused here. If they’re both confused, the situation’s hopeless.
“What sponsorship?”
The sound of the television in the other room dims as Tobio turns the volume down. “The… milk sponsorship?”
Shouyou looks at the shelves and shelves of individual milk cartons. A million cartoon giraffe mascots stare back at him. “I could have guessed that.”
“Then why’d you ask?”
“What milk sponsorship?”
Tobio appears at the kitchen doorway, brow creased. “Did I not tell you I accepted a sponsorship with GunGun?”
Shouyou gestures to the contents. “I think I would have remembered you saying the fridge would be occupied by milk for the next six months. Why is there so much.”
Tobio peers into the fridge and grabs a milk for himself. A million minus one cartoon giraffes stare back at Shouyou. “It’s not that much.”
“Not that— Babe. There’s more milk here than you could ever drink, ever!”
Tobio rolls his eyes. “You’re exaggerating.”
“I’m not! There’s no way you can drink all this!”
He only realizes he made a mistake when Tobio’s eyes narrow. “I can totally drink all of it.” And as if to prove the point, he pops open the carton and takes a long slurp, maintaining eye contact.
“You know milk expires, right?”
“Of course I do. I’ll just… drink some every day.”
“You’d die if you drank that much.”
“I would not!” Tobio insists. A cute little wrinkle appears on his forehead. “Why are you so upset about this?”
Shouyou isn’t upset, exactly, but… “There’s no room for anything else in the fridge! Where are you supposed to put the vegetables? The fruit? The cheese?”
“Milk is just… pre-cheese.”
“No, it’s not and you know it.”
“I don’t know why you’re complaining so much about free milk, I never complain this much about all that free underwear you get from your modeling sponsorship.”
“Of course you don’t complain, why would you? That underwear is doing you a favor.” Shouyou pokes Tobio in the chest. “That underwear is giving you a blessing.” Poke. “That underwear makes my legs look good and they look good for you.” Poke. “They benefit you.”
Tobio grabs Shouyou’s hand before he can poke him to death. “The milk’s for you, too. Builds strong bones.”
“I don’t even like milk!”
There’s a beat of silence, in which Shouyou wonders if this is the moment where Tobio finally kills him. “I didn’t mean that,” he lies.
“...what did you say?” Tobio asks, voice low and possibly deadly.
“I didn’t mean it!” Shouyou squeaks.
“Not that, dumbass. You don’t like milk?”
There is a choice in front of him. Tell the truth, or double down. “No. And you know what? I never liked it.”
Tobio pouts. “So you’ve just been lying to me this whole time.”
“I never lied… well maybe a little, but it’s not like you ever asked.”
“I didn’t think I had to!”
“Well maybe you should have!”
“Fine! You know what? I never liked that underwear sponsorship.”
Shouyou laughs. “That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard. You literally said last night, and I quote, I fucking love you in this underwear, I almost don’t want to rip it off you.”
Tobio’s face goes red at hearing his words in the light of day. He takes another sip of his milk. “I said that in a moment of weakness,” he mumbles.
“What’s that? The king is admitting weakness?”
“You little—”
“Hey! Low blow!”
“I— That wasn’t— You—”
Shouyou laughs. “You should see your face.”
“I’m gonna kill you.”
“Then you won’t have anyone to help you drink all that milk.”
“I thought you hated milk.”
“I said that in a moment of weakness.”
Tobio smirks. “What’s that? The Greatest Decoy is admitting weakness?”
“Shut up.”
“Make me.”
“I will.”
“Looking forward to seeing you try,”
“Get down here and I’ll show you.”
And so Tobio leans down, and Shouyou shuts him up. Even though he tastes a little like milk.
@ninjashouyou - Everyone knows milk is for babies. When I have early practice, I make sure to start my day the Ninja way, with my favorite 100% orange juice. #ninjajuice
Shouyou bites his lip, finger hesitating over ‘post.’ Maybe the milk dig is a little much, but he can't help it if it's on his mind! Tobio has been sending him a photo of his milk mustache every morning for a week straight. So of course Shouyou accepted when a sponsorship offer came in from a juice company hoping to capitalize on his “Ninja Shouyou” story.
He can hear the Black Jackals’ PR rep in his mind though. When he first joined the team she had him sit through a whole presentation about what is and is not allowed while representing MSBY.
Did she say anything about accepting sponsorships just because your greatest rival is sponsored by a rival company?
Did she say anything about implying that your greatest rival is a baby?
If she didn't, that means it's fair game, right?
“Hey, Hinata, hey!” Bokuto shouts and throws himself onto the locker room bench next to Shouyou. His body bumps into him. Shouyou’s hand instinctively clutches around his phone before it can go flying. In the process, his finger slips.
And whether it’s a good idea or not, it’s too late. The post is sent out to his thousands of followers.
I’m sure it’ll be fine, Shouyou tells himself as he stows his phone into his gym bag and follows Bokuto out of the locker room. It’s just one post, what could happen?
@kageyamatobio9 - Just one glass of #gungunmilk a day can take you to new heights. After all, milk builds strong bones.
Tobio’s nimble fingers run through Shouyou’s hair absentmindedly. They’re watching the Sendai Frogs absolutely crush the Tamaden Elephants, and normally it would be an exciting enough game to have Shouyou sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning so far forward it’s like he wants the flat screen to swallow him and teleport him onto the court. But it’s also a lazy weekend afternoon, and he and Tobio don’t get many of those together. It’s nice to just soak in his presence.
Tsukishima gets a sick block out against Kindaichi, and Tobio lets out a little huff that Shouyou knows means he can’t decide who to root for. Shouyou smiles and looks up at Tobio as they show the replay. Being witness to the fire in Tobio’s eyes never gets old.
The game switches over to commercials while the Elephants call for a time out, and Shouyou digs his phone out from where it had been wedged between his hip and the cushion.
“Ha!” Shouyou exclaims, shoving his phone in Tobio’s face.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?”
“I win! My sponsored post got more likes than yours!”
Tobio grumbles, which is Tobio-speak for fine, you win this time. Shouyou smiles. “2120 to 2109, I’m catching up.”
But then Tobio smirks and tilts Shouyou’s head toward the TV. “I win.”
Tobio’s face is on the television. Tele-Tobio takes a sip of milk and gives the camera a horrible, milk-mustache smile. “I’ve got milk, do you?”
Shouyou cackles. “You can’t claim a point off that, it was awful! Did you come up with that slogan yourself? And the delivery, your acting hasn’t improved at all since—”
Tobio takes a page out of Shouyou’s book and shuts him up with a kiss. Shouyou allows it, but only because he’s already planning ways to get him back.
This is a challenge, now. And Shouyou isn't gonna lose.
@ninjashouyou - I’ll always be #teamninjajuice. It’s the real stuff, no decoy! Get it, because I’m the greatest decoy 😂🐱👤🍊
It’s a perfectly normal post-game interview, at first. The interviewer asks him what he thinks of the Jackals’ chances in the upcoming season, and he responds he’s confident they can hold their own. She asks if he’s settled onto the team now that he’s played a few games, and he tells her that he felt settled as soon as they signed him, actually, because they welcomed him like family and that’s all he needed to play his best.
And then she says, “There are rumors that you have a combative relationship with one of the setters on the Schweiden Adlers. Especially with your recent social media campaigns pitting you against each other, fans have started to pick up on a subtle antagonistic tone. Is it a friendly rivalry, or—”
“With Kageyama?” Shouyou laughs. “Oh, we’re definitely rivals. He’s always doing things like pointing out all my mistakes, laughing when I trip on my face, lurking by the bathroom to make ominous threats…”
The reporter looks excited by his answer, and takes a bunch of notes on her little notepad. “It’s probably good that you live in different cities,” she jokes. “A little distance and time apart—”
“A good thing?”
Shouyou thinks of two years of timezone calculations, long train rides on days off, all the lonely nights in his apartment, closer to Tobio than he’s been in years but still not close enough. Never close enough.
He shakes his head. “Things would be so much easier if we lived closer!”
Shouyou doesn’t quite understand the reporter’s confused look when he says that, but it’s quickly forgotten when she asks the next question:
“So, what team are you most excited to play against for the first time as the season continues?”
@kageyamatobio9 - V.League champions know the importance of an informed diet. On #TeamGunGun, what you see is what you get. No flashy additives, just a pure white milk you can trust.
Their practice gym has a cafeteria, but many of Shouyou’s teammates bring their own lunches. They all have their reasons; Atsumu has his brother’s latest recipes to taste test, Bokuto has his bi-weekly meal delivery from Akaashi, Sakusa has an aversion to anything he didn’t see get made with his own eyes.
Shouyou does not have a chef for a sibling, a boyfriend who can both cook and sacrifice time out of every day off just to deliver premade meals, or an issue eating cafeteria food, so he’s often the last to the table, carrying a plastic tray laden with whatever the gym has to offer that day.
Today, it’s rice, salmon, and broccoli. With a small slice of strawberry shortcake for dessert. The only thing Shouyou brought from home is a bottle of Ninja Juice. It’s his third of the day, because Tobio had sent a picture of two empty milk cartons this morning.
His friends are already eating when he gets to the table. Atsumu and Bokuto are comparing their lunches, arguing over whose was packed with more love. Sakusa’s bento is as neatly organized as ever, and today he’s got a carton of suspiciously familiar milk. As Shouyou takes a seat at the table, Sakusa pops the carton open and lifts it to his mouth.
Bokuto slaps the carton from Sakusa’s hand before it can touch his lips.
The carton flies through the air and lands on the floor halfway across the cafeteria. Milk splatters everywhere. The table drips ominously. A few drops land on Sakusa’s shoes. Everyone at all the other tables turns and looks at the commotion.
It’s worse than the time Atsumu tracked mud into the gym and accidentally stepped on Sakusa’s practice shorts.
Sakusa glares daggers at Bokuto. “What. The hell. Was that for.”
Bokuto points across the table to Shouyou. “Your teammate is in a heated battle against his enemy, and we have to stand with him in solidarity!”
Sakusa looks incredulously at Shouyou. Shouyou hasn’t known Sakusa for long, but that’s okay, it only took one practice session to learn what makes him tick.
“Kageyama posted a picture of the Adlers with milk mustaches.”
Sakusa is quiet for a moment. “All of them?”
And Shouyou knows that when Sakusa says all of them, what he really means is, even Ushijima? He nods.
Sakusa narrows his eyes, like he’s trying to figure out if Shouyou is playing a prank on him.
He’s not. This is very serious business.
“I’ll help,” Sakusa finally says. Shouyou and Bokuto perk up. “But I’m not cleaning that.” He points to the spilled milk. Bokuto deflates. Shouyou just smiles.
Tobio is so going down.
@msbyofficial - The Jackals know teamwork like the back of their hands, and we don’t let anything stop our hunt for victory. We’re ALL #teamninjajuice here!
Things may have gotten out of control. But Shouyou’s not sure how to stop. And he’s not going to be the first to stop, that’s for sure. It’s like a volleyball game; the first one to give up is the one who lets the ball drop.
Shouyou’s gotten good at not letting things drop.
Maybe it’s because they haven’t been able to make their free days match up, that Shouyou throws everything he has into this new spin on their competition. It’s a guaranteed way to keep Tobio on his toes, but also an excuse to never go more than a few hours without thinking about him.
Every texting thread or phone call ends with an update on their wins.
Every post game interview mentions Team Ninja Juice versus Team GunGun.
Every email in Shouyou’s inbox is either Ninja Juice’s PR department egging him on, sending him all sorts of really cool stuff to show off, or MSBY’s PR department cautioning him about keeping things light-hearted and avoiding treading too close to poor sportsmanship.
But it doesn’t stay between the Jackals and Adlers for long.
When Tsukishima sends the Karasuno group chat a blurry picture of himself with a reluctant milk mustache and a smiling Koganegawa in the background, and Kindaichi tags Shouyou in a picture of himself holding a bottle of Ninja Juice, Shouyou knows they’ve reached the point of no return.
Tobio and Shouyou are on opposite sides of a war now, and the whole V. League—no, the whole world, is taking sides.
@oikawatooru - We’re #teamninjajuice here in San Juan. Anyone who’d get in Big Milk’s pocket is a corporate shill, a sellout, and doomed to lose 🥰
It may have continued like that forever, an ever-escalating battle for supremacy, if they didn’t get caught.
@jvlgossip - Enemies to lovers? #teamgungun’s Kageyama and #teamninjajuice’s Hinata caught sharing a passionate kiss after their long-awaited rematch this weekend. Someone reach out to @gungun and @ninjajuice, they’ve got some work to do!
The longer they’re on the court, the more passersby become spectators. But even though there’s so many cameras that Shouyou hardly has room for a proper approach, it's easy to ignore them and the growing crowd when keeping up with Tobio consumes all his attention.
"Start your morning right with milk!" Tobio shouts as his serve slams over the net.
"No, juice!" Hinata replies with his receive.
Another brutal serve is sent over the net. "Milk!"
Another receive. "Juice!"
Serve. "GunGun!"
Receive. "Ninja!"
"Cut!"
Shouyou’s final receive floats in a high arc before dropping right into the setter position.
Of course, Tobio is not there—he is across the net. A familiar sight after a season in the V. League, but the same spark of pride that first caught flame in high school flickers to life in Shouyou’s chest when he sees Tobio’s approving nod.
Shouyou jogs over to the director. "Did you get the footage you need?"
"More than enough," she says. "We just have the last segment now. Do either of you need to practice that part?"
"No," Shouyou and Tobio say in unison.
And it's true. They fall into sync like they never fell out of it.
They’re on the same side of the net now, for the first time in months. Hinata tosses the ball in an underhand arc and makes his approach.
"Milk!" Tobio yells as his fingertips make contact with the ball, and to Shouyou, it sounds the same as, "Come and get it!"
"And," they say while the ball and Shouyou both sail through the air.
"Juice!" Hinata says the moment the ball hits his palm, and what he really means is, "Always!"
Hinata lands on the ground and grins towards the camera. We pan to Kageyama, who is wearing a much more awkward grin. They walk into frame together and hand each other a glass.
Kageyama
“Juice?”
Hinata
“Milk?”
Both
“Why not both?”
They click their glasses together then take a sip.
Shouyou nudges Tobio. “I think this makes 2142 for me and 2141 for you, babe. I’m winning now.”
Tobio frowns at the television. “I did it in less takes than you, though, so I think I should get the point.”
“Only because you kept making faces at me off camera!”
“Still, less takes.”
“How many tries did that Power Curry commercial take again? I seem to remember you saying it took—”
Tobio grabs Shouyou’s chin to keep him from talking. “Okay, okay, so it evens out! But—”
Shouyou surges forward and kisses him. Tobio’s grip on him loosens enough for Shouyou to escape his grasp. “Just admit it, Tobio. I look better on TV than you.”
“You would never have been on TV if it wasn’t for my sponsorship.”
“You never would’ve had that commercial without my sponsorship.”
“So it’s still even.”
“Guess that means we’re a perfect match then, doesn’t it?”
“Guess so…”
Shouyou’s not sure who kisses the other first, or who ends up kissing the other more times, or who’s a better kisser, but maybe that’s okay.
Maybe their love for each other is the one thing in their lives that doesn’t have to be a competition.