Chapter Text
“Hinata!” Yachi spots the ginger boy from a distance and is fighting for her life trying to reach him in the busy corridor.
“Hitoka-san!” Hinata yells back with a fast wave.
Yachi catches up to him and pants with her hands on her knees. Despite being Karasuno’s manager, she still can’t keep up good stamina.
“The newspaper club wants to write an article about the team,” She huffs out, “They want to write about you moving to Brazil!”
Immediately Hinata’s eyes light up. The news about him moving to Brazil spread fast among the school; originally he only told the volleyball club, but you can’t really trust a group of energetic teenage athletes with a secret.
It was a bittersweet thought, he remembers the day in second-year when he received the offer like it was yesterday. At the beginning of his third-year now, he’s slowly getting more excited, and also anxious about his move that his set to happen soon.
“Really?! What should I talk about? What are they asking me? Are they going to record it?” Hinata talks at lightning speed.
Yachi straightens up before continuing, “The club leader said that they’ll come around sometime during practice today. Don’t be too nervous, they’re all great people!”
“Nervous? Do you hear yourself Yachi?! They’re writing an article about me! Me! I’m so excited!” Yachi sighs as she sees the twinkle in Hinata’s eyes.
‘Some things never change, he’s still like the first-year I met ages ago.’
The bell rings for their last class of the day, and both third-years say their goodbyes for now. Hinata skips his way to class, but with that jump of his, it’s more like bungee-jumping if anything.
It’s a little past 4:30pm on a Friday afternoon at Karasuno’s gym. The sun has just started to set outside when the newspaper club enters the gym.
The newspaper club is a new club that Karasuno introduced early in Hinata’s second-year. The club is mostly made up of second and first-years, making majority of them automatically more scared of approaching the volleyball team.
“Everyone!” Yachi yells gathering everyone’s attention. Over the years, especially after Kiyoko graduated, Yachi had done a lot of work improving her management skills.
“This is the newspaper club! They’re here to write a few articles, one being about Hinata. Please be kind to them!” The newspaper club awkwardly greets themselves, silently thanking Yachi for softening the load.
“Tobio-kun! You see! I told you!” Hinata whisper-yells whilst tugging on Kageyama’s shirt sleeve.
Earlier whilst the pair were walking to the gym after school, Hinata had tried to mention to Kageyama about the article, but Kageyama didn’t seem to care all too much.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever Shoyo.” Kageyama sighs as he lets Hinata continue tugging.
Click!
The two stop their bantering to see a second-year with a large camera taking photos of them.
“Ah! I’m sorry! I should’ve said something first-“ He quickly scrambles to seemingly delete the photo whilst Hinata breaks into a wide smile.
“Don’t worry about it! Kageyama and I are great partners, aren’t we? Take as many photos as you’d like!” He even strikes a pose, throwing up a peace sign at the camera lense.
“Partners…?” The second-year mutters quietly.
The practice session goes as per usual, unfortunately Coach Ukai had to be called to help his mother at the shop, so he had to leave early.
Towards the end of the session, Hinata gets called for his interview for the article.
“Um, Hinata-san, if it’s- can- I-“ Hinata watches the first-year stumble over her words with a gleam in his eyes. He’s just excited to be interviewed.
“Yes! Whatever it is, yes! Go for it!” He smiles. The first-year smiles as a way to say thank you, and begins recording.
“Um, Hinata-san,”
“Shoyo is fine!”
“Right- Um, Shoyo- How did you feel when you heard you were moving to Brazil?”
“Great! I mean, well, I was super happy at first, and still am- I’m just sad to leave Japan and all my friends. Especially Kageyama, we’ve been partners since first-year!”
The silence after that answer was deafening. The rest of the volleyball team stayed back to watch the interview process, and Tsukishima let out a chuckle at Hinata’s choice of wording. Kageyama looks at Tsukishima confused, then proceeds to look back at Hinata, who’s still eagerly waiting for his next question.
“You- You say partners, how will that work once you move?”
“Hmm, I haven’t really thought about that I guess! I hope that we keep in touch well, and that once I return, we can go back to the way it is now.”
“Are- are you worried it won’t work well?”
“I have faith in us!”
“F-faith?”
“We’ll come back to each other. It happened to us in Junior high, and then in our first-year here at Karasuno, so I’m not worried!”
Yamaguchi leaned into Tsukishima’s ear, “This interview has just turned into Hinata and Kageyama’s relationship status,” he laughs. Tsukishima nods with a smirk creeping onto his face.
Yamaguchi and Tsukishima know what’s about to come after the article is posted, but are they going to do anything about it?
Nope.
What’s the fun in that!
The captain and tall middle blocker look over at Kageyama who’s still watching the shorter ginger with intensity behind his eyes. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi make eye contact as if to say, ‘How dense are they?’.
“You’re going to play beach volleyball- Um, in attempts to go pro one day. Can you talk about that for a bit?”
“Yeah! I’m…”
“Wasn’t that so cool?! I’m so excited to read the article once it’s out!”
“You did great, Sho-chan!” Yachi agrees.
The group of third-years are walking home from Karasuno. They’ve found comfort in one another, forming a tight-knit friendship group between them.
“Though, Shoyo, aren’t you a little nervous for people’s reactions?” Yachi continues.
“Huh? What is there to be nervous for?”
“You know, you and Kageyama-kun..?” Hinata stares at Yachi blankly, and Yamaguchi lets out a snort.
“He doesn’t realise?” Yamaguchi says incredulously.
“What are you guys talking about?” Kageyama adds, he was walking silently, but included himself in the conversation when his name got brought in.
“Are you guys serious?” Yachi shrieks.
Kageyama and Hinata make eye contact, the pair walking next to each other and shrug.
“Give it some time. They’re dumb but they’ll figure it out.” Tsukishima says nonchalantly, pulling out his wired headphones and attaching them to his phone.
“Who are you calling dumb, Tsukishima?” Hinata grumbles.
“It was meant to be a compliment. I’m implying that you two aren’t that dumb.”
“Nice Tsuki!” Yamaguchi laughs.
“You’re lucky we’re in public,” Kageyama glares.
“When has that ever stopped the almighty king?”
“Tsukishima-“ Kageyama goes for a tackle, but Hinata manages to stop him in time.
“After all these years and you two still don’t get on,” Yachi sighs.
Secretly she knows that Tsukishima and Kageyama are indeed friends now, it’s more like a running joke than anything.
Slowly bit by bit, the group lessens as they lose people to their respective homes for the night. First it was Yachi, who left for the bus stop, then Yamaguchi and Tsukishima who live in the same neighbourhood. Leaving the freak duo behind.
“What do you think the others we’re talking about earlier?” Hinata asks innocently. He looks up to the starry sky and places his hands behind his head.
Kageyama hums the tune of “I don’t know”, and places his hands in his pockets. “Tsukishima said we’ll figure it out eventually, so I guess we’ll have to wait.”.
“Since when did you get so wise?”
“I’ve been wise, you’ve just been too idiotic to see it.”
“Not funny!”
The two walk in silence before they reach Hinata’s home first. Just as Hinata is about to head inside, Kageyama calls out.
“Am I seeing you tomorrow at old man Ukai’s?”
“You bet!”
The weekend passes by in a flash, and school is back on Monday. Hinata is jumping for joy as he walks into the school gates.
‘The article should be out by now! I better thank the newspaper club, they worked all weekend on it!’
Hinata doesn’t have to search too hard as it’s the first thing he sees on the school’s bulletin board. Before he gets the chance to read it, Hinata is swarmed by a group of small first-year girls.
“Is it true, Hinata-san?”
“Are you and Kageyama-san really dating?”
“You said you two were partners since first-year!”
“How cute!”
Huh? Dating?
“Umm..-“ Hinata’s head is starting to spin by the overwhelming amount of questions.
“It’s a shame, Kageyama-san is so handsome!”
“Treat him well, Hinata-san!”
“You can’t just say that to his boyfriend!”
“When did you guys get together in first-year?”
“He called them ‘partners’! Isn’t that so romantic?”
What are they talking about?
Hinata snaps out of his thoughts when he notices someone grab him by his wrist and pull him out of the swarm. He looks up to see it’s his best friend, Kageyama. The taller, navy-haired boy looks down at the first-year girls whilst pulling Hinata closer to him. The shorter boy sharply inhales and can suddenly hear his heartbeat in his ears.
“Speak of the devil!”
“I told you not to talk to his boyfriend like that, Rina!”
“It’s like reading a romance novel!”
“They’re so cute together!”
“Kageyama-san, Hinata-San says you two have been partners since first-year! Is that true?”
The navy-haired boy now looks equally as confused as Hinata is before speaking. “Do you first-years have nothing better to do?”, he tightens his grip of Hinata’s wrist.
“So protective, it’s scary!”
“We better go,”
“We’re sorry, Kageyama-san, Hinata-san!”
“Please don’t kill us!”
The girls run away, both giggling and terrified. Kageyama isn’t sure if his question came off too harsh.
Smack!
“You’re hurting my wrist! I can’t spike the ball if you break it!” Hinata complains whilst he rubs his wrist. Kageyama grunts in an attempt of an awkward apology.
“Did you know those girls?” Kageyama asks.
“Nope. They’re were talking a bunch of nonsense. Thank god you showed up and saved me.” Hinata smiles. Kageyama feels his chest tighten and chokes.
“Ah! Are you okay, Tobio-kun? Do I need to get a teacher?” Hinata watches frantically as Kageyama hits his own chest.
“Ha! They’re here already!” Tsukishima says from a distance.
“Have you guys read it yet?” Yamaguchi adds.
“What’s with Kageyama-kun?” Yachi asks.
The five third-years make small talk before taking a proper look at the bulletin board.
On it, is a picture of Hinata and Kageyama together, posing this time. They’re posed with their backs to each other and one of their fists pressed out towards the camera. It’s not a flashy photo, but it’s a nice one for sure. Hinata studies it carefully, noticing that Kageyama’s eyes aren’t on the camera, but looking towards Hinata himself instead. His stomach makes a weird sensation, but he brushes it off as hunger.
“That is… super cool!” Hinata yelps in excitement.
“You guys look awesome!” Yamaguchi says in awe.
Hinata Shoyo: Third Year student at Karasuno High School takes his next step in Brazil!
An article written by Karasuno High School’s Newspaper Club.
Hinata Shoyo was scouted in his second-year to play volleyball and train in Brazil for two years after graduation.
When asked for his thoughts on moving to Brazil, he answered:
“Great! I mean, well, I was super happy at first, and still am- I’m just sad to leave Japan and all my friends. Especially Kageyama, we’ve been partners since first-year!”
Hinata Shoyo and Kageyama Tobio have allegedly been partners since first-year. This is big news to both the volleyball club and the high school!
When asked for how his partnership would work out with fellow volleyball club member, Kageyama Tobio, he replied:
“Hmm, I haven’t really thought about that I guess! I hope that we keep in touch well, and that once I return, we can go back to the way it is now”
“I have faith in us!”
“We’ll come back to each other. It happened to us in Junior high, and then in our first-year here at Karasuno, so I’m not worried!”
What a great show of both sportsmanship and commitment to each other in their personal lives!
Read more about Hinata Shoyo in a longer article, located in the Newspaper Club’s club room on the third floor!
“There’s no way you guys are reading this and haven’t figured it out yet-“ Tsukishima starts.
“Kageyama! They wrote about you too! We’re so cool!”
“Oh my fucking days.”
Yachi and Yamaguchi just smile and nod, wondering what could’ve possibly gone wrong in the freak duo’s brains.