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Suga selects a table in the back and sits down to wait. He’s a few minutes early, but Kageyama should be here any moment. Kageyama had seemed surprised but pleased when Suga invited him to meet for coffee – or, rather, hot chocolate – and talk, and Kageyama isn’t the type to be late anyway.
Daichi was skeptical when Suga told him about his planned outing with Kageyama today. It isn’t that Daichi doesn’t think that Suga should reach out to Kageyama, but he doesn’t think that Suga will get anywhere outside of a strictly volleyball setting. Kageyama has a bit of a one-track mind. Precedent is largely on Daichi's side.
Suga absolutely agrees that volleyball is one of the only ways – perhaps the only sure way – to get Kageyama to engage initially, but Suga has actually had some success in getting Kageyama to open up to him about other things as long as he seizes Kageyama's attention right off by starting with volleyball talk and then switching the topic of conversation. Today, he is hoping to take that a step further and have a conversation that is not about volleyball at all, even if it’s just a short conversation. Suga usually tries to give Kageyama space, but he wants to push a little today. It will be good for Kageyama – broadening his horizons.
And Suga does have an advantage in getting through to Kageyama that Daichi lacks: Suga is a setter, like Kageyama is, and Daichi is not. Well, Suga isn’t a setter exactly like Kageyama is. Suga doesn’t think that anyone is a setter exactly like Kageyama. But Suga is a setter, and he knows that Kageyama respects him a great deal. Kageyama listens when Suga offers advice and guidance, usually, and Suga is hoping that he can use his position as a role model for Kageyama to help Kageyama get over some of the awkwardness that he has and have less difficulty relating to people by the end of the school year.
It’s worth a try, at least.
Suga glances at his watch. As he does, the door to the coffee shop opens and Kageyama steps inside. Right on time.
Suga waves Kageyama over with a grin. Kageyama does not smile back, but Suga didn’t expect him to. Kageyama doesn’t smile much. He does on occasion, but not without good reason. Suga doesn’t think he’s ever seen Kageyama smile – forced or genuine – for a non-volleyball-related reason.
Kageyama sits in the chair across from Suga.
Suga folds his hands on top of the table and leans forward, still smiling.
“Hello, Kageyama,” Suga says brightly.
“Hello, Suga-san,” Kageyama says back, much less brightly. He doesn’t hold Suga's eyes; his gaze moves to the window almost immediately. He looks tense, but he always looks tense, so Suga can’t tell if that’s a sign of how Kageyama is feeling right now or not.
“You said you like hot chocolate, so I went ahead and got you one,” Suga says, nodding at the cup in the center of the table. His own cup is sitting off to his right.
“Thank you, Suga-san,” Kageyama says. He grabs the cup and takes a sip. Suga watches him. Kageyama doesn’t react to taste of the hot chocolate or to Suga's scrutiny.
Kageyama is a difficult one to read – and that’s saying something because Suga is very, very excellent at reading people. He thinks he has a pretty good handle on Kageyama, but he only rarely gets any kind of confirmation in the moment that anything he does or says sticks with Kageyama. Ultimately, Kageyama tends to follow Suga's advice, but his responsiveness lies mostly in his application of the advice Suga gives him and not in his actual interactions with Suga. Most of the time, Suga feels like he’s talking into space when he talks to Kageyama, and he doesn’t know until later – or never – if Kageyama was listening at all.
“How are your classes, Kageyama?” Suga asks as an opener. It isn’t volleyball-related, but Kageyama can use some practice with small talk. Suga engages Kageyama on his own terms frequently, but he also tries to give Kageyama opportunities to practice more … typical social skills.
“Fine,” Kageyama says. “My grades won’t affect my ability to play again.”
So much for talking about non-volleyball things.
“That isn’t why I was asking,” Suga says. He’ll talk to Kageyama about volleyball soon, but first he is going to see if he can engage Kageyama without it. They are already outside of a volleyball context, after all. Suga is willing to push a bit for his non-volleyball conversation. He takes a sip of his drink, continuing to watch Kageyama.
Kageyama's neutral expression tightens and scrunches into a frown. He clearly doesn’t get it.
“I just want to know how you are,” Suga explains. Kageyama's frown deepens; he looks more confused now than he did a moment ago. “I’m not just your setter senpai, you know,” Suga continues. “I’m happy to help with other things, too. I want to know how you’re doing.”
“I’ve been working on my receives,” Kageyama says, shifting in his seat, clearly gearing up to dive into talking about volleyball in earnest.
Suga shakes his head, cutting Kageyama off before he can get going.
“Outside of volleyball,” Suga says, patiently. This is not going as well as he would like, but he isn’t ready to capitulate. Suga wants to draw Kageyama out of his volleyball-dominated head, at least for a few minutes. He is prepared to be persevering and patient.
He also has a point to prove to Daichi, but that is, of course, not the important thing here.
Now Kageyama is very nearly scowling. He shifts again and looks out the window. Suga glances towards the window as well and sees his own face and Kageyama’s deep frown reflected back at him. He hides his smile behind his hot chocolate cup, sipping at it again.
Kageyama does not seem inclined to answer Suga's question – or, maybe more likely, he doesn’t know how to answer it since Suga has made it clear that he doesn’t want to hear about how Kageyama is doing with volleyball right now – so Suga changes tack.
“What’s your favorite class?” Suga asks.
“Math is okay,” Kageyama says, after a moment. “There isn’t much reading.”
“That’s true,” Suga says. He leans forward again, nodding encouragingly, holding his hot chocolate between his hands. “Has Yachi been helping you any more?” he asks.
“Sometimes,” Kageyama says. He takes a gulp from his hot chocolate.
“That’s great,” Suga tells him. “I’m glad you’re working with her when you need to instead of trying to do it all on your own. You’ve come a long way from when you started at the club, Kageyama.”
Kageyama takes another large swallow from his hot chocolate, avoiding Suga's eyes. His cheeks look a bit pink, though that could be from the hot drink.
“Tanaka said that he’s spent some time with you outside of school and practice, too,” Suga says, moving on. He was very pleased to hear that. Tanaka is not the first person that Suga would have thought could find a way to connect with Kageyama outside of playing together, but he seems to have done it, as much as anyone has been able to so far. He has more than matched Suga's own success rate.
Kageyama nods.
Suga nods as well, letting the silence hold for a moment. He sips at his drink and looks out the window again. Beyond his own and Kageyama's reflections, the street is pretty busy. Kageyama fidgets, drawing Suga's eye in the reflection on the glass. He waits to see if Kageyama has something to say.
“Tanaka-san is very easy to talk to,” Kageyama says, abruptly, after a minute or so.
Suga turns and stares at him in surprise. Kageyama doesn’t seem to notice; he gulps his drink and looks around the coffee shop, not looking at Suga.
According to Tanaka, he and Kageyama don’t do much talking when they spend time together. Kageyama isn’t much of a talker if he isn’t talking about volleyball, and even then he tends towards actions over words.
“What do you talk about?” Suga asks, curious. Kageyama looks at him, his expression confused. “With Tanaka,” Suga clarifies.
“He talks about girls and school a lot,” Kageyama says. “And we talk about volleyball. And birds.”
“Birds?” Suga repeats, to be sure he heard right.
Kageyama nods. “Tanaka likes hearing about birds,” he says. “How to tell them apart based on appearance and calls, where different types migrate to, things like that.”
“So you tell him about birds,” Suga says, checking. Kageyama nods again. Huh. Suga is glad to hear that Kageyama has interests – or at least one interest – outside of volleyball. He wouldn’t have guessed that Kageyama would be interested in birds. “So,” Suga says, rearranging his cup of hot chocolate in his hands and then looking up at Kageyama, giving him his full attention, “what kinds of birds live in Miyagi?”
Suga has never seen Kageyama light up for anything other than volleyball before.
And, just like that, Suga gets his non-volleyball conversation.
He also gains a much greater knowledge of birds local to the Miyagi Prefecture than he ever thought he would have.
All in all, it’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon.