Chapter Text
There were a lot of things Tobio Kageyama did not like. He didn’t like cold showers, tomatoes, speaking in front of others, and he especially did not like the kids in his graduating high school class. Cold showers and tomatoes were avoidable. His classmates were not. They were simply something he had to deal with on a daily basis. He was forced to deal with eight straight hours of complete idiocy every day.
Kageyama was thankful he only had one year left to deal with the kids he was forced to spend his time with. It was 7:55 am, just nearing start of his first day of the final year of high school. He looked down the familiar halls at unfamiliar faces. People were reconnecting after summer break, glad to see their friends again. The endless chatter was starting to make his head ring. Today was only day one out of one hundred and ninety five days and he was sick of it already.
He shouldered his way through the bodies taking up space in the hallways and continued on to the first class of the day. He checked the paper in his hand for the number and matched it to the one on the door in front of him. Heaving a sigh, he walked into the classroom and took a seat at the front closest to the window. It wasn’t long after that the bell had rung, signalling the start of class and students began pouring into class. Seats filled up all around him, and the once silent room only got louder. His head began to pound harder. The level kept raising until their teacher strolled in, coffee in hand and a bored expression plastered on her face. “Alright everyone, let’s get things started. This is second year Law Basics and I’m your teacher, Mrs. Tachimi. I take this class seriously, and I hope all of you will as well.” She grumbled.
The woman placed a stack of notes on the front row desks and signalled for them to be passed back. Staring at the papers on his desk, he realised it was an assignment. Without another look, he picked up the thick stack of papers. He left one on his desk, and turned to give the rest to the student behind them. They smiled and muttered a soft thanks. He nodded in return and turned back to face his teacher.
“I like to start the year off with a debate. I will pick three names from a hat, and that will be your group. I will give two groups the same topic, yet each will have a different side to the debate. One will be Affirmative, while the other is Negative. From there, you and your partners are going to each write arguments and go up against three other students. Any questions?”
Kageyama groaned. Never had he been assigned something this big this early on in the school year. Then again, this was his final year of high school, things were bound to be tougher. He wasn’t glad he had extra work to do, and that he was most likely going to be put in a group with idiots, but it was an assignment and he was determined to ace it. Even if he had to write two arguments for his partners and the cross examination all himself, he wanted nothing more than to pass this assignment with flying colours.
“Before I pull names, I’m going to do roll call. Just let me know if you’re here so we can get started.” Their teacher announced. She went off listing names, and Kageyama spoke only when his name was called. It seemed everyone was present, everyone except for one boy in particular. When the name had been asked for, Kageyama thought it sounded familiar, but there was no face to match it to.
Before Mrs. Tachimi carried on with the next student, a voice blurted out, “I’m here! Late, I know.”
Kageyama looked up at the door. The student strolled in confidently, head high and shooting glares at the students staring. Kageyama watched as the orange haired boy strolled to an empty desk closer to the back of the room. He realized now how the name sounded familiar. The boy was sporting all black clothing, and gave off a “Don’t mess with me” kind of vibe.
His hair was buzzed at the sides, yet it was long and wild at the top. His ears were covered in metal, and he could even catch a small glimpse of shine on his nostril. If the leather jacket with the huge crow patch on the back didn’t give it away, it was obvious the boy was part of the Crows, a group of punks that belonged to the school.
Kageyama rolled his eyes and tore his gaze away from the student. He knew this kid was going to be nothing but trouble and nothing but a nuisance for the rest of the semester. He hoped he wouldn’t be partnered with this kid for any assignments any time soon.
Luckily, Kageyama had been paired with two seemingly intelligent people. A small blonde girl, and a brown haired boy came to sit beside him. After a few moments of talking over their assigned topic, it was decided that Kageyama would be the cross examiner, while the other two would speak the debates. Although the roll was given to him because he “had a scary face” and could “scare the arguments out of the opposing team”, he was kind of happy his roll was only minor in comparison. He didn’t have to prepare a speech and say it in front of the class. All he would have to do is come up with questions, and intimidate the other students.
The bell rang signalling the end of the period. Kageyama collected his things and continued on with his day, not thinking twice about the orange haired kid who shoved past him out the door.
His next two periods were just as boring as the first, and he was almost glad to be on lunch break. He made his way towards the cafeteria, lunch in hand. He sat himself down on a free bench and waited. Kageyama wasn’t there for long when a tray was placed beside him. His long-time friend Yamaguchi looked down at him and smiled, “Nice to see you!”
Kageyama nodded in response, swallowing his food before he spoke. “You as well, have you seen Yachi?” Kageyama asked. Since high school had started, it had been the three of them. They were all equally as awkward and didn’t really have any friends, so they sat together in silence for the first year. They all agreed that the silence was better than being alone. It wasn’t until the second year when Yamaguchi began complaining about the Crows and one particular blonde member that they actually started talking.
Yamaguchi giggled, “She’s around here somewhere. Probably getting herself into trouble as usual.”
The freckled boy was of course correct. They heard a shrill voice call out, “I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me! Take my lunch!” Yachi had of course managed to get herself into trouble. They both looked over at the noise to see Yachi running away from a confused looking red head. It was the same kid from Kageyama’s class, the orange haired kid with the black leather jacket and crow insignia on the back. No wonder Yachi was squealing and running away. No one wanted to mess with the Crows, and she had done just that.
The kid watched as Yachi ran to the table, and continued watching. Noticing his stare, Kageyama shot the boy a quick glare, and turned to his friend. “Everything alright, Yachi?” He asked.
After catching her breath, she nodded. “I think so? I ran into one of those Crows and made him drop his lunch. I gave him mine and just ran off.”
“Those damn Crows…” Yamaguchi grumbled, sounding an awful lot like an old man. “Yachi, take some of my food. I’m not that hungry and won’t be able to eat it all,” Yamaguchi smiled reassuringly to his friend as he pushed his tray towards the blonde girl. She smiled back and nodded in thanks as she started munching away on his fries.
Lunch continued on as always for the three of them. Not really speaking much, just enjoying the company each had brought. It was a pleasant silence and Kageyama relished in it. He finished eating before the bell had gone, and found himself bidding his friends a farewell. He headed to his fourth and final class of the day.
Kageyama spent the rest of the night finishing up his assignment for his first period class. Surprisingly, he couldn’t concentrate that well. He found his mind drifting off to the orange haired kid. He couldn’t help but think about how much confidence he protruded as he marched into class. Someone with that much arrogance was someone Kageyama didn’t want to mess with one bit.
The next few days went by repetitively. The orange Crow was always late, and always causing problems. Kageyama had learned that his name was Shouyou Hinata, as the teacher had to repeat multiple times each class to get him to settle down and pay attention. Kageyama had also learned that the orange Crow was part of the group he had to debate against. He knew this assignment was going to be easy, but now that the Crow was in the group against him, it was going to be a piece of cake. He was going to take his cake and enjoy it too.
The day had come when it was time to present their debate. Knowing he was placed up against an idiot had calmed his nerves. It would be almost too easy. He had prepared himself the night before, thinking of what their arguments would be like, and came up with intense questions to ask. His plan was to continuously fire unanswerable questions right after the other.
His group was the negative side to the argument, meaning Hinata’s group had the first chance to speak. The brunette opened her speech with a trembling voice, saying “uhm” and “like” nearly every other word. When she had finally finished, Kageyama rolled his eyes and began drilling her with questions. She tried her best to keep up, but couldn’t answer them fully in the end.
He had a smug grin on his face as the girl sat down defeated. “Too easy”, he thought to himself. His grin dropped when he felt eyes burning into him. He looked ahead and noticed the orange Crow glaring right at him. His glare was cold and menacing. It was a glare that could make a bear run in fear, but Kageyama snorted and raised an irritated eyebrow. No way was he intimidated by the likes of him.
Soon enough, it was Hinata’s turn to speak. The orange haired boy stood up, and took a deep breath. As he recited his speech, his eyes never left Kageyama. Hinata glared at the black haired boy the entire time, yet Kageyama wasn’t fazed one bit. He was almost amused as the little punk tried to intimidate him. When Hinata had finished, Kageyama smirked. He licked his lips and began drilling questions at Hinata. He watched as the Crows face contorted in confusion and anger. Hinata scratched the back of his head, trying to find words to say.
Although, instead of answering his questions, Hinata growled, “Use words I can understand ass hat.”
“Maybe if you weren’t such a dumb ass you could understand them,” Kageyama retorted. “They’re really not that complicated, maybe if you weren’t such an idiot you could actually understand them.”
It was the teacher that interjected, “Boys, stay on topic!”
But Kageyama kept coming with the insults and extremely difficult questions, watching and smirking as the small orange Crow bubbled with anger.
“That’s it,” Hinata growled as he lunged forwards over the desk and right towards Kageyama. He swung his fist back, and right at the taller boy. The blow landed at his jaw, Kageyama’s head swinging to the side from the force. He felt warm liquid drip from his lip.
Growling back at Hinata, his own anger grew and he retaliated, swinging his own fist at the orange haired boy knowing fully well there would be a black bruise on his cheek tomorrow. The next thing he knew, Kageyama was on the floor with the Crow straddling him. “Fuck you ass hole!” Hinata yelled, throwing another punch, but his fist was caught before the blow could land.
“Boys!” Their teacher screamed, dragging Hinata off of Kageyama. “That’s it, both of you to the principal’s office now."
Kageyama’s eyes opened wide. Not once had he been sent to the principal’s office. Not once had he been in a fight. He had never been in trouble, he wasn’t one to cause trouble. Yet there he was, egging on one of the schools known trouble makers and getting himself in trouble. He sighed and hung his head in defeat. He followed the spit fire of curses and orange hair in front of him down the hall to the principal’s office.
“Fuck this school, fuck that assignment, and most importantly,” Hinata paused to turn and face Kageyama, “Fuck you,” He spat. “If you weren’t such an ass hole we wouldn’t be in this mess. Seriously, what the hell is your problem dude? Do you get off at watching girls cry or something? At pissing people off? Because you’ve done all of that.”
Kageyama ignored the insults thrown his way. He was still lingering on the thought that he would be in trouble. This incident would be marked on his record. His parent’s would find out. What would they do if they found out? This could hurt his chances at getting into a top college. Kageyama groaned as he gripped his throbbing head.
“Excuse me, aren’t you going to answer me?” The short boy had stopped in front of Kageyama, his hands were on his hips, and he was glaring up at the taller boy. “What’s your problem?”
“I was just doing the assignment,” Kageyama responded, his voice low. “The cross examiner is supposed to hit back with questions. That’s how it’s done.” He continued to walk forward, but a hand gripped his arm, tugging him back to face Hinata.
“You know you made Sonia cry right? That’s not fucking cool dude.”
Kageyama tugged his arm out from Hinata’s grip. “I told you, I was doing the assignment,” He snapped back. He continued to ignore the Crow’s constant insults until they arrived at the dreaded destination.
He froze in his spot, but Hinata barged his way through. “Hey Mrs. Yama, miss me much?” The orange haired boy sent a wink towards the receptionist.
The elderly woman shook her head and rolled her eyes, “You boys take a seat, and the principal will be with you shortly.”
Kageyama took a deep breath before sitting himself down next to Hinata. The boy had folded his hands behind his head and turned to look at Kageyama. He stared for a moment, opening and closing his mouth. When he found the right words to say, the Crow smirked.
“You know, I’m telling them that this is all your fault,” Hinata lashed.
Kageyama ignored the sneer in Hinata’s tone. He buried his hands in his face and let out a small groan. Running his tongue over his lips, he tasted blood. His lip was for sure busted. He was for sure busted. All because of this stupid, sneering, orange crow beside him.
There were a lot of things Tobio Kageyama did not like. He didn’t like cold showers, tomatoes, speaking in front of others, and he especially did not like Shouyou Hinata.