Chapter Text
Hitoka gasped. "We were kidnapped!"
Shoyo's eyes seemed to ready to jump out after hearing Hitoka's statement. "Yeah, i think we were kidnapped and they injected us with some scary serum to shrink our bodies."
Tobio snickered. "Reverse Captain America serum." Yamaguchi joined, "We're supposed to be spies then!" Shoyo laughed, his voice was really different with what Kei remembered the last time he heard. He became more obnoxiously loud like a teenager.
Kei just mentally facepalmed himself. Nothing reasonable will convince him that they were kidnapped, injected with some weird drug that make their bodies smaller, Shoyo not much, but if you see the other four, their bodies has reverted back to what seemed like their first-year body.
If they were kidnapped, why are they now in the old Karasuno gym? As far as he knew, Ukai told him that Karasuno built a new bigger gym only for the volleyball team that now their fame rise, and the team became one of the top teams in the perfecture, as Ukai proudly quoted. The old volleyball gym were reconstructed as a cafetaria, and now Kei saw nothing except some scattered volley balls and several familiar men—boys sleeping soundly under the blanket on the floor. Were his ex teammates kidnapped too? And injected with the weird drug like him and his friends too? They looked young, like, way too young. Daichi had no muscles! Well, high school Daichi had always been built, but adult Daichi and his strenuous practice regimen as a firefighter truly paid off, and Kei may guiltily admitted that he kind of stared at his arms during their last reunion.
Hitoka was now silently shaking, Kei was sure her anxiety was slowly getting into her nerves while Shoyo did a terrible job trying to calm her down when Shoyo was too physically anxious if it was real that they were kidnapped, Tobio— well, he was sitting on the dirty floor trying to fight off the yawn and Tadashi was still hungover. He had it real bad.
What exactly happened?
Tadashi opened the door of his apartement and welcomed the newly engaged couple, Shoyo and Tobio inside. Everyone woo-ed the two, and Shoyo became more physically shy and red, so unlike him, and Tobio was smiling ear to ear. Very unlike him too. But today, after Tobio successfully had proposed to Shoyo after years of mutual pinning, nothing really mattered anymore. "I'm engaged!!" Shoyo yelled and showed off the bedazzlingly bright ring, it was a normal gold ring with number 9 craved inside, and a small diamond with a dark blue hue. Very basic, Kei thought, but then it was just like them. Nothing grand nor glorious, but enough to spell the word love. It also fits Shoyo's beautiful tan skin.
Shoyo and Hitoka hugged so tightly, talking and chatting about how the proposal goes and Tadashi went back from the kitchen, bringing one bottle of vodka and another one, Kei wasn't sure himself, maybe sake? Shoyo liked sake, it tasted like home, he said. And Kei liked the vodka he got from the bar he went two weeks ago, and Tadashi had both of his hands full of those two. Kei smiled, his boyfriend always loved treat his friends the best and that was why this small engagement party Tobio asked him to arrange was well prepared. There's some milk and yoghurt, Tobio didn't like drinking that much and a bottle of banana flavored soju for Hitoka, she had strange taste but nobody minded.
Everyone had dinner already with Shoyo's special Japanese and Brazilian fusion that Kei didn't know the name of, but it satisfied everyone's hungry belly. Kei wasn't sure that Shoyo is supposed to cook at all, i mean, he's the man of the show! But Hitoka and Tadashi totally loved Shoyo's food and praised it to no end like it was the master chef. Tobio bragged that he had those almost everyday and Tadashi, almost drunk with only 2 glasses of Hitoka's soju whined a lot saying that the five of them had to start living together.
"Me and Hitoka and Tsukki welcome you to our relationship," Tadashi said, completely delirious. He swayed walking back to the kitchen and Hitoka had to make sure he didn't break anything on the way.
"We don't. Three is enough crowd. You two equal 6 person, that's a mob." Kei sighed.
When he came into Tadashi's and Hitoka's open relationship, Kei was definitely insecure. He wasn't sure how well would this go, he never dated anyone! Well, he just found out he was demiromantic 2 years after his high school graduation while Hitoka and Tadashi were already together.
Kuroo— that obnoxious ass he was, confronted Kei during college asking if he was single. He was, in fact, he did not look forward to any relationship at the moment and after Kuroo asked him if he was gay, he wanted to scream 'Duh, i am?' untill he froze. He never doubted for once that he was gay, he liked boys. Kuroo was handsome, and so does his boyfriends. Kenma-san was pretty, the little cat-like features really complimented his face. Akaashi-san and the beautiful calming smile he had, and Bokuto-san, he couldn't believe it himself but his golden eyes and great physique did some weird things to him.
Kei momentarily blinked while the trains of thoughts inside of him battling with his identity, until Kuroo nudged him. His eyes were blank and wide. "Did you just have a gay awakening?"
He wouldn't call it that. He liked boys, he also liked girls, but he thought it may be limited to certain people only. Hitoka was really pretty, the way her hair swayed when the wind passed by, her little smile when she overcame her fears, whenever she turned to her onomatopoeia dictionary with Shoyo, and her serious gaze whenever she did something she was really passionate at, it was endearing.
"I like girl." Kei blurted out after a few good minutes in silence.
"Alright, so you're straight?"
Kei was surprised. "What? No! I like boys too, and girl... singular."
Kuroo let out a chuckle next to him, he fiddled with Kei's strap bag— a gift from Hitoka he recieved a month ago, and smiled. Menacingly, but a bit less threatening. Kei did not like how it would go.
"C'mon, Tsukki, your gay dads will help."
Kei was dragged for a brunch with the rest, and talked about everything. It actually did solve some of his problems. He found out he might be bisexual? or aromantic? He was still unsure himself. But something Kenma-san said to him that day was still imprinted at the back of his head up till now. Discovering your own identity takes forever, and maybe, the answer you thought may be true might change in the future.
And now here he was, content with the love he received from the most important people in the world, and nothing will change that, unless Tadashi got something weird for them to try.
He returned to the living room with a small plain bottle that looked very suspicious with Hitoka tailing behind him looking very exhausted. It's not everyday that Tadashi drunk too much, Hitoka and Kei had been trying to suppress his alcohol consumption but well.
Shoyo looked up to where Tadashi came from as he placed this little bottle covered in weird brand sticker carefully. "Tadashi, i thought we're having cheesecake for dessert."
Tobio slowly inspected the small bottle and opened the cap, the strong sour smell from inside immediately fills his nose as he closed it again. "One drink is enough for me, and I'm driving home." His nose still scrunched.
Tadashi slowly poured the leftover sake to 5 different glass, and he took the bottle and with the bottle cap, he poured exactly one bottle cap worth of whatever was inside the bottle to each glass. He looked up at Tobio and smiled cheekily, "Let's all have sleepover! You're half drunk already, why not get very, very drunk!"
Hitoka was grimacing silently as she nudged her elbows on Kei, probably signalling him to talk some sense into their partner.
Well, like Tadashi, Kei was a bit too drunk.
Kei slinged his arm over Hitoka and offer some small pats. "Hitoka, I'm drunk. Don't use me to deal with Tadashi. Let's just get wasted for tonight, okay? I'll be useless either way." Kei smiled and put a peck on her small head.
Shoyo, being the only one left with full energy promised to take care of the mess they might do after this, bragging that he was not in the slightest, drunk. Brazil really did him some wonders.
So that night, everyone went to sleep with headaches and in a very drunken state, Tobio and Shoyo cuddling on the sofa while the other three were really tired and wasted on their bed, curled up together. But their hearts were content and full of warmth, and Kei was really glad.
That was some piece his mind remembered, he was sure his mind left out some important things but the hangover headache was starting to get to himself.
Kei saw his surroundings, they were really in Karasuno's old gym, and his mind couldn't process what was actually going on. He turned to see Shoyo and Hitoka sitting together on the floor trying to fight off their anxiety. "Shoyo, you were the last one to fell asleep, right?"
He nodded, telling Kei how he made sure to lock the door and the windows closed. "I've double checked everything, unless the house was broken in and we're kidnapped and injected with reverse super soldier serum like Tobio said and somehow ended up here."
Kei knew that Tadashi's neighborhood was located in a super safe apartement block, his neighbors were all salary man who got no days off so Tadashi never met them. It was in the middle of the city, not so far from Karasuno, so maybe they could find a way back home.
But their appearance were horrifyingly perplexing! Kei forgot how small he used to be and his own arms, ugh, they're all bones with no muscles. It was horrendous. He gained some muscle as he played for Sendai Frogs and he wanted to maintain a pefect shape like that.
Kei reached for his phone on the pocket, there better be his damned phone there or else. As he fished his hand inside, he touched a square metal thingy that might be his phone and as he took it out, it was indeed his phone, but it was his old highschool flip phone.
Hitoka took a glance of Kei and her eyes began to fill with worry again, "Kei, isn't that your old flip phone?"
Kei nodded worldlessly, he recalled that his old fip phone broke into two during his early second year. "Isn't your phone is a flip phone too?" Shoyo asked.
"It's a Samsung, and a touch screen flip phone, not this old tacky button flip phone." Kei opened the phone, it lighted up and functioned properly and he saw the date, 6th of October 2012.
2012.
2012??
Ten years from the present??
If one thing Kei didn't consider is that this may be somehow a phenomena beyond their imagination. Why the fuck a person body can regress in a night? Ukai wouldn't lie about the cafeteria thing, and where is it now? And his phone, his damned phone, why is it functioning properly after he accidentally sat down on it long and long time ago?
Kei immediately shoved his phone to Shoyo and Hitoka, letting them see what was on the screen. "Yeah, it's functioning well, maybe it wasn't broken, Kei." Shoyo said, completely oblivious to what Kei pointed out.
Hitoka, next to him, was perplexed. She squealed so loudly and tears welled up near her eyes, her stare moved from the phone to Kei who was as shocked as her. "K-kei, why is it- what is- wait, this year is- oh my god, hence our bodies..." She began whispering some small blabbering to herself.
Shoyo raised his eyebrows and quickly snatched the phone from Kei and his eyes suddenly got bigger, and thus the realisation hit. "October 2012? Means we switched bodies with our past selves?!" He yelled.
Hitoka was near to faint and Shoyo was fast enough to hold her back. "That... was not what i thought but it might be plausible." Kei mumbled.
"What did you think?" Shoyo tilted his head and waved his hand for Kei to sit down.
"We might time travelled."
"We time travelled? That's... WAIT."
But Shoyo's reason is much more reasonable. If they time travelled, their own body would travel with them with whatever clothes they wore. Instead, if they switch body with their past selves, it might make sense that they were in their old body.
Hitoka suddenly sit straight, "If we switched bodies, that means our younger selves are inside our older bodies?!"
Kei just hummed, since he didn't really think of it. "It makes sense,"
Hitoka was back to silently hollering. "Oh my God, my old self had so many responsibility, i have deadline in 3 weeks, i might not be able to finish it on time, let alone my younger self! What if anything happened to her, wait, what if anything happened to ME? It's my body, and i can't do anything right now and—
"Oi, first years, what are you doing here at dawn? and why are Yamaguchi and Kageyama sleeping on the floor?"
The three of them, like a slow motion, turned their head to the source of the familiar voice.
They saw Ukai and a cigarette on his mouth, he was wearing the same old red track jacket and his hair was strikingly blonde, different like the last time Kei saw him. And did he hear first years? Oh no.
Shoyo stuttered behind Kei. "M-morning run, sir."
Ukai wasn't convinced. "With Tsukishima and Yamaguchi? and why is miss manager here too?"
Kei was quick to respond. "Team bonding, sir. We all love to run."
That was a complete bullshit. Kei was tired.