Chapter Text
*****
“Hinata, nice kill!” shouted Yamaguchi from the backline. There was a soft breeze coming from the open windows and doors of the gym so the heat was tolerable. Hinata Shouyou exhaled a big gulp of air as he landed and bounced right back up.
“Did you see that Kageyama? Did you? Did you?!” he pestered his raven-haired teammate as Kageyama swatted his head out of the way so he can serve.
“Oi, get out of the way, dumbass. I’m gonna serv-“ Kageyama started, but was interrupted by the red-head’s constant yammering in front of him.
“Did you see that though?! I spiked it straight between Tsukishima’s lanky block!” Hinata exclaimed excitedly, flailing his arms in the air while bouncing on his one foot, eyes wide, waiting for a compliment.
“Yeah, yeah, I did. Now move before I decide to serve this-“ Kageyama showed him the ball, “-in your face.”
“Okay fiiiiine. Grumpyama.” Hinata muttered against his breath while making his way to the bench and taking a water break.
“Hey, Hinata-kun! You’re on fire this morning.” Yachi stated while handing him a towel. Giggling while Hinata gave Kageyama the ‘look-of-utter-disgust-but-im-gonna-spike-your-tosses-anyway’ look.
“I know right?! But Stupidyama refuses to compliment me this time. I don’t know why though.” He drank from his water bottle and sat down as a muffled “I heard that!” came from across the court.
“Maybe he’s not in the mood?” Yachi offered, looking over Kageyama. “He looks tired actually.”
Hinata spat his drink and looked at her. “W-Why do you think so, Yachi-san?” he asked, getting all nervous and fidgety.
“Well, he has bags under his eyes?” Yachi stated plainly. “You did sleep over his house last night, right? You two didn’t stay up late playing or anything, did you?” She wiggled her eyebrows at Hinata.
Hinata sputtered against the towel he was using to dry his sweaty face.
“What was that?” Yachi asked, smirking this time.
“W-why would you-.. W-we didn’t.. Uh.. right! We..uh.. stayed up late. P-playing.. volleyball.. Yes.. Volleyball.” Hinata finished. His face bright red.
“Riiiiight. Volleyball.” Yachi giggled at him and offered to refill his water bottle so he can go back to practice.
When she went out with his water bottle, Hinata heaved a heavy sigh and looked at Kageyama again. Well, yeah they were dating for 5 months now. After so many shared kisses and hugs, it’s okay to do the ‘other’ stuff that lovers do, right? There’s nothing wrong with that, right? Hinata sighed again, decided to dry his sweaty arms as well.
After morning practice was over, Daichi rounded them up so they can eat their lunch and rest for a while. Hinata took his bento from his bag, but it was empty.
“Huh? Where the hell is my bento?” he then proceeded to rummage his bag, searching for his lost lunch.
“Oi. What the hell are you doing, dumbass?” Kageyama sat beside him and looked pointedly at his boyfriend’s face.
“I.. I don’t have my bento with me..” Hinata said, eyes nearly in tears as he continued to ransack his bag.
Kageyama sighed. He opened his duffel bag and took out 2 lunch boxes. “Here. You were in my place last night, right? Why would you have a bento?”
Hinata stopped what he was doing immediately. “Oh-! Right-!” he laughed nervously while he sat beside Kageyama and ate their lunch. Kageyama only raised his brow, shrugged, and ate as well.
Afternoon practice commenced and Kageyama was glad Hinata was back to his irritatingly bubbly self. The small middle blocker was so excited to spike every toss along his way that he didn’t really notice the gym doors open and 3 people entered.
“Uhm, excuse me? But this is a school gym. Outsiders are not allowed.” Sugawara said, stopped his receive practice and he looked over to Daichi. Tanaka and Nishinoya stopped their drills as well. Yamaguchi looked over at Tsukishima questioningly, only to receive a blank look from him.
“Oh, please pardon our intrusion.” The tall, bespectacled guy stepped forward, eyeing every student inside the gym. His two companions where excitedly talking about something behind him, pointing at the volleyball net. He looked back and silenced them with a cold stare. They both stilled.
“What can we do for you?” Daichi offered, him and Sugawara approaching the three new people inside the gym. Kageyama and Hinata did not notice the new comers as they were arguing heatedly in a corner.
“We decided to visit his highness in this world! Oh, we miss him so much! We miss playing with him as well, when he’s not that busy with ruling and such!” The small, blonde dude with freckles shouted excitedly, bouncing on his two feet with his eyes wide, darting back and forth between Daichi and Suga. The other blonde dude, who looked like the freckled one’s little brother, nodded ecstatically beside him, arms clutching tight against his brother’s arm.
Bespectacled guy cleared his throat. “Excuse me for a minute.” He dragged the two out of the gym, leaving a confused Daichi and Suga behind. They can hear intense arguing outside for a full minute before the three returned. Glasses guy still composed, the two were looking dejected.
“Well, we were told that uhm.. his highness is at school this time of the day, and we were told to bring him this.” glasses guy held up his hand and he was holding a colorful lunch box and a big water bottle, “It’s already late and I believe he hasn’t taken his lunch yet.” He ended stiffly.
Daichi and Suga exchanged confused glances while Tanaka and Nishinoya ran towards them.
“What’s this? What’s THIS?! What’s going on Suga-san?!” Tanaka piped up behind Suga, Nishinoya darting around them to look at the three new comers.
“Wow, you look like a butler!” Nishinoya pointed at the bespectacled dude, excitedly slapping Tanaka’s forearm. “Right?! He looks like a butler!”
“Noya! Where are your manners?!” Daichi scolded him and made Nishinoya bow in apology.
“I’m sorry, but.. We don’t actually know someone who’s.. uh.. that of high status. You said 'his highness' right? We’re only average highschool students here.” Daichi said, confusion clearly written all over his face.
Glasses dude raised one eyebrow, looked past Daichi and Suga, then around the gym. He saw Yamaguchi and Tsukishima along the net, who were looking at him, confused. His eyes widened when it landed on Hinata’s bright, orange hair, mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say something.
“Guthrei’s doing it again! The ‘fish-outside-of-the-water’ look!” The two blonde guys snickered behind him, but there were no reprimands this time. The man named Guthrei started walking towards the arguing volleyball dorks in the far corner, not paying any attention to the way the students' eyes narrowed with wary looks.
“Excuse me? Sir? Where are you going?” Suga said, following the guy named Guthrei, along with Daichi and Tanaka. The two blonde dudes remained on their spot, fondly looking over Hinata’s form while smiling.
“Why do you guys look like that?” Nishinoya asked the two. Apparently he was more curious of the blondes rather than the glasses dude so he stayed.
“Oh! You mean our outfits?” The freckled one offered, smoothing one hand over his blue vest. “This is our uniform!”
“Yes, uniform!” the small one copied.
“Are you guys from England or something?” Nishinoya asked further, inching closer to them.
“Is that edible?” The smaller one asked, looking hungry at the mention of the country.
Nishinoya barked a laugh. “I like you already!” he slapped the small one’s back while the freckled one laughed along with him.
“By the way! I’m Nishinoya Yuu! You can call me Noya’san!” he offered his hand for the freckled one to shake, still grinning.
“Oh-! Yes, we forgot to tell you our names.” The freckled on said, shaking Noya’s hand.
“I’m Zephyrus.” Said the freckled one, then he pointed to his little brother. “His name’s Eurus”
“Wow.” Nishinoya stated, kind of lost for words with their weird names. Definitely foreigners. Foreigners that can speak straight Japanese.
Right.
Zephyrus laughed, “We get that a lot, don’t worry.” He looked over Guthrei over the court and sighed. “He’s doing it again, Rus.”
“Is he still pissed that his highness has a lover already?” Eurus snickered, eyes glinting in delight.
“Lover? Who are you guys talking about anyway? We really don’t know someone that important.” Nishinoya stated, head tilting to the side to show his confusion.
“Oh, you guys know his highness already. You just don’t know what he really is.” Zephyrus eyes glowed while smiling.
Nishinoya’s eyes widened at that. Do eyes glow? It must be from the sun, yes? It’s really bright inside the gym since the sun’s still up. Yeap, must be from the sun.
Nishinoya was about to say something when he heard Hinata’s surprised squeal. He looked over to where the others were.
“Gutthhhrrreeeiii!” Hinata half-whined, half-squeaked. “What are you guys doing HERE?!” he asked while hiding behind Kageyama’s stiff form. Guthrei looming over Kageyama as if he wronged Hinata in so many levels.
“Hinata? You know this guy?” Suga asked, a look of bewilderment in his face. Daichi stood beside him with the same reaction. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi stood nearer now, both were confused but Tsukishima has his bitch grin on.
“U-uhm.. Uh.. well. He..” Hinata stammered. He really didn’t know what to say. Yes, he knew the guy. But Guthrei was supposed to stay behind the empire and look over palace things in his absence. Yes, he knew the guy. But how was he supposed to say that normally? Guthrei isn’t really the normal type, per se. Even his overly dramatic butler outfit screamed freakishly eerie.
“Your Highness.” Guthrei said, half bowing while walking over to Hinata’s side and spreading a white picnic blanket on the floor, took out the contents of his bento, spreading the small boxes individually and finally placing his chopsticks on a holder. He then brought out the big water bottle that was apparently orange juice and poured it on a big glass that he pulled out of nowhere. He then got up and bowed.
“We brought you your lunch.”
Zephyrus and Eurus’ Ooooo’s and claps can be heard all the way from the gym entrance where they stayed with Noya.
Daichi and Suga were dumbfounded. Tsukishima’s face was unreadable. Yamaguchi’s eyes were wide as saucers. Tanaka’s face looked like it was about to burst into laughter, but he was trying to hold it in.
and Kageyama was..
10x stiffer.
“K-Kageyama..?” Hinata tried looking over Kageyama’s face, which was blank. But his body language screamed 'I-do-not-like-this-one-bit'.
“H-hey..-” the red-head tried again.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Kageyama said in a clipped tone.
“Uh.. Let me explain?” Hinata offered, his hand closing in on Kageyama’s own, which was cold. That wasn’t good.
“What’s this ‘Your Highness’ thing?” Kageyama asked hurriedly. Looking swiftly at Hinata’s direction, then over Guthrei’s still-bowed stance.
Hinata sighed, albeit tiredly. He scratched the back of his head. He sighed again, but stood up straighter. He looked over at Kageyama, pleading with his eyes to ‘please listen’, over Daichi and Suga who were just as perplexed as Kageyama was. His gaze landed on Tsukishima’s ‘you’re-in-trouble-now-shrimp’ smirk, he decided to ignore it. Yamaguchi was darting his eyes back and forth to Hinata then Guthrei, waiting for answers. Tanaka was silently laughing his ass off, but was apparently intrigued.
“I’m actually.. the uh..” Hinata started. Really, how should he start? That’s he’s not actually from here, from Miyagi? Not from the entirety of Japan? Well, yeah, he grew up here but his roots were not from his Japanese mother.
It went as far as his father’s fore-fathers’ father before him. Or even longer than that.
“He is Hinata Shouyou, the next in line as the Crow Emperor of our Stygian Kingdom.” Guthrei provided for them all, since Hinata doesn’t actually know when and where to start. Straightening his form, he looked over at Hinata’s ‘im-so-done’ expression and Guthrei bristled.
“I-I’m so sorry, your highness! It was the quickest way to explain-“ He started, but was silenced when Hinata raised his hand.
“It’s okay, you did nothing wrong, Guthrei.” Hinata sighed. He faced his awestruck teammates. He willed his bright smile to show, hoping his teammates won’t treat him differently. It scared him, really. The thought of them having to be polite towards him just because he’s of Royal blood.
“What Guthrei said is true, and I hope you guys don’t mind--“
“WHAAAT?!?!” came his teammates delayed outburst.
Yeah, this was going downhill for Hinata Shouyou.
*****