Chapter Text
Shoyo Hinata has never worked harder for anything in his whole life than he did to get accepted into the top university in Tokyo.
He wasn’t a genius in the usual sense of the definition. Mostly all he really cared about was volleyball. Up until last year he only breezed by with a barely passing score on any exam he took. That changed in his final year of high school.
When he started to plan for life after high school he knew he wanted to chase his dream of going pro with volleyball. The planning didn’t get very detailed before his dream got halted and pushed further down the road.
Five months before he graduated high school, his mom told him that he needed higher education before running off to join a professional team. And that was that. Shoyo never argued with his mom, especially over school. It was important to her that he worked hard on his studies and kept decent grades. He forgot about finishing his work most days after school because he was too wrapped up in practice. Shoyo was now dead set on graduating college and becoming the best volleyball player in Japan just to prove it was possible.
He spent months studying to memorize all the information he needed to pass his final high school exams with a score that put him near the top of his class. He was already getting money from a volleyball scholarship, but he needed the best scores if he wanted to go to university in Tokyo. He made a plan months ago with his two best friends to get into the same college since they grew up in different school districts.
Shoyo makes friends as easily as he breathes. His whole life he has been friendly with almost everyone he meets and is able to hold a conversation with people he doesn’t even have anything in common with. He practically radiates sunlight even on the darkest of days and holds a burning torch of determination that has kept him going in his moments of despair.
That being said, there are two people closer to him than anyone else. Shoyo met his childhood best friends, Tadashi Yamaguchi and Kenma Kozume, at a volleyball camp for young kids. This is where Shoyo fell in love with the sport. Ever since then he’s practically lived for volleyball. The three of them never went to school together but they kept in touch for years through texts and calls.
The week before official classes started at his university, Shoyo took the morning train alone to the campus. He only brought one suitcase, a duffle bag dedicated to his volleyball gear, and a backpack with him. It was a twenty minute walk from the train station to the front gates of the school, and he was pumped with excitement as soon as he arrived. The place was chaotic to say the least. There were students wearing name tags that were jogging around the mass of people, trying to direct them to the right buildings. Before he could notice much else, a figure stood out to him.
“Kenma!” Shoyo spotted his best friend through the crowd of students and parents hustling around the front courtyard.
“Hey Shoyo.” Kenma was slightly taller than Shoyo but he has a nasty habit of slouching, making them eye level when they talk. Kenma smiled but in the small, sort of shy way that Shoyo considered his signature look.
“How have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever, and now we can hang out every day. Oh, what about that friend you always talk about? Do I finally get to meet him? He goes here, right?”
“What friend?”
“That Kuroo guy that you mention in every other text.”
“Oh…my boyfriend?”
“Your what?” Shoyo’s jaw practically unhinged while Kenma barely looked fazed after dropping such a massive piece of information. It’s not that Shoyo was surprised Kenma was dating a guy, but that he was dating anyone at all. Usually this was something you would share with a best friend.
“How and when did you get a boyfriend? And why didn’t you say anything?”
They spent about ten minutes walking part of the campus. Kenma pointed out a few important buildings and along the way explained details of his secret relationship. Though, it wasn’t a purposeful secret. That was just the way it was with Kenma. Shoyo was more prone to oversharing, which is why he usually dominated any conversations with his best friend.
“Kuroo was annoyingly persistent about getting to know me. Kind of like you, Shoyo.” They found a less crowded area to talk, somewhere between the library and the dorms. It was unusually warm out. Shoyo rubbed at the sweat dripping down the back of his neck.
“Wait, you think I’m annoying?” Before Kenma could answer they heard another voice shout from them.
“Hey, Shoyo! Kenma!”
“Tadashi!” Shoyo bounced on his toes. It’d been almost a year since the three of them had all been in the same place.
“I was hoping I would run into you guys. I still have to check in and talk to someone in the main office. I might be late to that freshman orientation meeting, but save me a seat Shoyo.”
All the first years had to meet in this big auditorium to hear an overload of information from the president of the school. They weren’t allowed to check into the dorms or anything else until it was over with. Tadashi headed off towards a large building to the left of them that was built almost entirely of stone and had an assortment of colorful plants growing in the grass out front. Kenma said his goodbyes after that and went in a different direction. When he was further away, Shoyo saw Kenma talking to a taller guy with dark hair.
It then hit him that he only had ten minutes to find the auditorium and the one person he knew that could tell him how to get there was now gone. Shoyo started to jog across the campus. He cut through the grass and was getting slowed down by his luggage. His suitcase awkwardly dragged in the grass with dirt getting caught up in the wheels. His backpack was secure but his volleyball bag was slipping off his shoulder and throwing off his balance. There were significantly less people now but he still had to dodge benches and trash cans as he ran faster. He followed the signs and was nearly at the correct building when he got stunned to a sudden stop as he hit a solid force in front of him.
Shoyo fell backwards, all of his belongings got knocked from his hands. He heard clattering in front of him and something definitely cracked. He had no one idea what he had just run into or who. He looked up from where he was sprawled on the grass and found another boy his age. This guy was much taller than he was, especially now that he was on the ground. The boy looked tense, his entire body frozen. Shoyo met his eyes right as one of them twitched. They were a shade of blue that Shoyo immediately associated with the deepest part of the ocean and the anger in them crashed just like the waves along the beach. Neither of them had said a word yet. The air filled with breathing and a distant bird call.
Shoyo looked at the ground and realized the damage he had caused by carelessly running with his head down. Next to Shoyo’s bags were the other boy’s belongings. His backpack had spilled open and all of the contents were on the ground. Now he knew what the cracking sound was. The boy’s laptop screen was ruined.
“Oh shit. I’m so sorry! I really am.” Shoyo pushed himself to his feet as quickly as he could.
“What the hell were you doing?” The other boy yelled at him. “Do you know how to look where you’re going? Idiot.”
Shoyo’s mood deflated. He was trying to be nice and apologize and this guy started shouting at him. He sort of deserved it since it was almost completely his fault. But he figured they could talk it out and he’d forgive his idiocy.
The boy started picking his things up from the ground and putting it all back into his bag. He was muttering to himself and Shoyo couldn't quite understand any of what he was saying. He picked up on the word late a few times.
“Hey, are you a first year?” Shoyo collected his own baggage from the ground. The boy didn’t answer. He started briskly moving towards the auditorium and Shoyo had to run again to follow behind him. When they both entered, the room was almost completely packed with students. Shoyo didn’t get to apologize again or even get the boy's name. The boy was gone in the crowd instantly and getting as far from him as he could. Shoyo found two empty seats and was joined by Tadashi shortly after sitting down. During the entirety of the orientation, the voice of the man on the front stage was drowned and distant in Shoyo’s head.
He could only think about the boy with ocean blue eyes and a newly broken laptop.