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Atsumu blinked at his friend.
“Whatd’ya mean yer leaving?!” His voice pitching in its childish whine.
Hinata’s brows furrowed together, the middle creasing. Atsumu felt the urge to soothe it like his mother did to him and Osamu when they scrunched up their faces at each other.
“We’re only here for the summer. Me and mom and dad live in Miyagi, on a mountain,” Hinata explained.
“No! You were moving in!” Atsumu demanded as if in his childish logic he could change reality.
“Tsumu-kun…”
“No! No! No! You were moving in! That’s what Osamu said when yer car pulled in!”
Hinata’s eyes turned wet and his lip trembled, “I’m sorry… I don’t want to leave!”
And then he was crying and Atsumu froze before rushing to pull him into a hug.
“Wait ‘m sorry! Don’t cry Shou-chan!”
Hinata sniffled, “Are we *hic* not friends *hic* anymore?!”
“Of course we’re friends! We’re best friends!” Atsumu crowed, “So stop yer cryin’!”
Hinata nodded, wiping at his face with the back of his hands, “I promise I’ll come visit every break! Spring, Winter, and Summer!”
“Ya better!”
Atsumu played volleyball. Atsumu played a lot of volleyball. Atsumu loved volleyball.
Osamu watched his brother throw a ball up to try a jump serve. He almost missed, his hand barely dinking the ball at his fingers. It tilted the ball's momentum backwards and whacked him in the head.
“Ah!” Atsumu yelled, crouching on the floor, hugging his head.
Osamu grabbed the ball and tried. He hit it, but it wasn’t a good hit and the ball weakly spiked to the floor.
“Hah! Ya can’t do it either!”
“At least ah can hit it!”
Atsumu stuck his tongue out and Osamu copied the gesture. In Osamu’s opinion, he won because he was standing at full height and Atsumu was still crouched on the ground. Osamu had the high ground.
“I’m gonna get it right, then yer gonna film it and I’ll send it tah Shou-chan!”
Osamu tilted his head.
“Ya sure you should do that?”
“Whad’ya mean?! Shou-chan will think I’m super cool!”
“Tch. I jus’ mean ah don’t want ya pushing Shou-chan away with ‘volleyball this’ and ‘volleyball that’. Ah actually like him.”
Atsumu blinked, “Push him away?”
Osamu huffed, “Why do’ya think we got no friends at school?”
“We don’t need those scrubs fer friends!”
“It’s cause ya only talk about volleyball dumbass!”
Atsumu pulled his lips back into a sneer. His frustrated mien told Osamu that he thought Osamu was right.
Hinata, when he first saw the Little Giant was so dazzled that he forgot to text Tsumu-kun back. Instead, he biked home, thinking about the overwhelming presence at the zenith of his jump, the way the bottom of the Little Giant’s sneakers looked as he hung in the air, and then the absolution of his impact back to earth.
Hinata decided to keep that moment to himself. Didn’t mention it when his mom asked him what had him so distracted that he dropped some of his yolky, sunny-side-up eggs on himself.
“Haha, guess Shouyou’s at that age. A boy has to have secrets!” His dad said with his sunny smile.
Hinata beamed back and his mother gave one of her more reserved smiles, a hand resting on her distended stomach.
“Oh! Ah, Otou-san, Okaa-san. Could we go to the sports store this weekend?”
That wasn’t an unusual request from Hinata, but he’s sure his unusually bashful manner had his parents eyeing curiously.
“Sure!”
Hinata grinned into his eggs, stuffing his face with a renewed vigor. His dad was the best!
The next time Atsumu saw Hinata after he swore himself to volleyball secrecy, Hinata had an orange-haired little creature in his arms as he stood at the threshold of the Miya household.
“What the ‘ell is that?” He asked, peering down at the big-eyed mini-Hinata, “Looks like you, Shou-chan.”
Hinata grinned at him, Atsumu’s heart clenching and un unclenching at the sight of his white teeth.
“This is Natsu! She’s my little sister.”
The newly dubbed Natsu cried out happily it as if resonating with her brother.
“Heh! Now we’re both older brothers!” Atsumu said, ruffling Hinata’s hair.
The fact he had another thing over Osamu to share with Hinata had him buzzing with a kind of pride.
“Can we play inside? I just need to watch her for a little while, while my parents unpack.”
Atsumu nodded and led him up to his room.
“Oh! Is that a volleyball?” Hinata asked.
Atsumu’s mouth dropped and in a snap decision said, “Yeah but, I play a lot of sports. Ya like baseball right?”
Hinata’s face went a weird blank, eyes wide and intense, “Yeah…”
“I’ve been kinda into it too. Maybe ah’ll try out for tha school team.”
Hinata nodded slowly and Atsumu started panicking, wondering what was wrong before Hinata broke out in one of his legendary smiles, “We should go practice together then!”
Atsumu grinned back, a pang in his heart as he wished those words were for volleyball.
The more Hinata practiced volleyball the more into it he got. Throwing the ball up over and over and over Hinata pondered telling Atsumu and Osamu. The ball landed in his hands and he held onto it. The image of the Little Giant was burned into his mind, changing his very fate. Volleyball. Karasuno. Those were now all things he accepted as being his future.
He wanted to share that with Atsumu, someone who was a part of his past, present and hopefully his future as well. He fantasized for a brief moment: Atsumu setting for him, that look he got when he hit a baseball particularly hard and Hinata crowed his praises, Atsumu’s genuine excitement over his usual cocky attitude.
Hinata gripped the ball harder, thinking of his middle school friends running when they saw him.
Too much, Hinata thought, staring at the yellow and blue of the ball, I’m too much.
Hinata’s door slid open, startling him. His mother leaned against the doorway, eyes wide. She looked like she wasn’t entirely there.
“Shouyou,” she whispered quietly, “Something’s happened to your father.”
I won’t be coming this winter break.
Atsumu stared at the message. Osamu peered over his shoulder.
“Ah don’t understand.”
“Boys!” Atsumu’s head snapped up at their mom’s call, “Can I talk to ya guys fer a second?”
Atsumu reluctantly peeled away from his phone and followed Osamu down.
“… Mom what’s wrong?” Osamu asked.
This caught his attention and he focused in on their mother.
Her lips were pursed together and she was staring them down with hard eyes.
“Ma?” Atsumu asked, a curl of fear roiling in his gut.
She sighed, “I don’t know how to tell ya boys this but the Hinata-san has passed away.”
Atsumu dropped his phone.
“Shou-chan?!” Osamu burst out.
“No. His father.”
Atusmu breathed out a sigh and met eyes with his brother whose face must have been a mirror of his own relieved expression.
“Is Shou-chan okay?” Atsumu asked.
Their mother made a face, “He’s not hurt but… This is going to be hard on him. We’re going to take the train up to pay our respects but you guys need to know that Shouyou-kun might not be the same. And… He probably won’t be able to come down to visit anymore.”
“Why?” Atsumu demanded.
She sighed, “I don’t think they’ll be able to afford it. Look I don’t know that’s up to the Hinata’s. Just… go pack a bag. We’ll be staying for three nights.”
When Hinata saw Atsumu and Osamu he thought for a moment he was hallucinating, making things up he wanted to be true. Because he wanted Atsumu here. Wanted Atsumu to hold his hand like he did before he started middle school.
Natsu’s little hand was gripping his and he held back like she was the last lifeboat in an awful, dark, and stormy ocean.
“Shou-chan…” Atsumu called.
It struck like lightning.
They’re real! He realized.
Dropping Natsu’s hand he ran and hugged Atsumu.
“Tsumu-kun!”
He buried his face in the taller boy’s chest. He couldn’t help it. He started sobbing, biting his lip to keep the cries from spilling out. Everything felt right in Atsumu’s arms. For one brief moment, Hinata could let everything go. And he did as silently as he could to keep Natsu from hearing, pressing his face into Atsumu’s chest even more to muffle the sounds he couldn’t keep from slipping out.
Natsu, who was too young to understand why everyone was crying; who was too young to understand how their lives will change; who was too young, wouldn’t remember their father and his smiles and how sometimes he felt like the sun bearing down.
“Shou-chan?!”
“Nii-chan?”
Atsumu was gently gripping his shoulders. Has hands – broader then Hianta’s – made him feel safe.
“Shou-chan?! Ya okay?”
Hinata pulled in a deep breath to steady himself and peeled off of his friend to go face the world again.
When he looked up at his friend, Atsumu looked scared.
Hinata took another deep breath and quickly wiped his face. He turned, smiling brightly at Natsu.
“Ah! Sorry Natsu! I was just so excited to see Tsumu-kun!”
Natsu smiled back, her wide brown eyes squinting.
“Tsumu-kun!” She parroted.
Looking back Osamu and Atsumu looked confused and worried. Everyone looked at him in worry now.
His smile turned somber. It felt like it hurt. Hinata wondered vaguely if it looked like it hurt.
All the things about volleyball he had dreamt of telling Atsumu about drifted away.
I can’t lose anyone else. Please. Not Atsumu.
“I’m sorry, what? I thought I heard you say Miya Atsumu.”
“I did.”
“From Hyogo prefecture.”
“Yes.”
“The best setter… in the country…”
“Yeah.”
“But -!” Hinata’s mouth hung open frozen, his brain trying to process that Miya Atsumu played volleyball.
Then his face scrunched up. He aggressively scrambled his hair.
“Aaaaaah!” He screamed out in frustration, “I cannot believe -!”
“… Do you know him?” Kageyama asked, taking a step back.
Hinata groaned, “No! All I know is we’re going to beat him and Osamu at nationals!”
Atsumu saw Kageyama and wandered over. He couldn’t help it, the guy pissed him off. Nothing wrong with a little friendly jeering.
“Hey Tobio-chan! How’ve ya been?”
“I -.”
“Oh, he’s been fiiiine. What about you Tsumu-kun? How’s baseball?”
Atsumu froze.
No way.
“Sh-shou-chan?! What?!”
Atsumu turned only to be faced with Hinata. His eyes were blank but he had a creepy smile stretched over his face.
“Oh! Remind me again what your pitching speed is? Hm… Was it 102kph? Oh no you broke it recently right? What is it now? 105kph?!”
“H-hey Shou-chan wait I can – Wait what are you doing here?!”
“I’m here. To beat you.”
Atsumu stood there. Like an idiot, his mouth gaping open.
Then he realized. Little shit challenged me!
“Ha! I’d like to see you try!”
Hinata’s nose scrunched and he turned with a ‘hmph!’ and stomped away.
Later Atsumu dragged Osamu to see Hinata on the court.
“Look! Look!”
Osamu leaned forward with an ‘oh!’.
“Wow look at that. Yer right he is here.”
“I wasn’ lyin’!”
“Thought maybe ya were hallucinating.”
Atsumu sneered at him, “Imagine if ah had talked him about volleyball! This is yer fault he’s mad at me!”
“Tch. He’s probably mad at me too, ya scrub.”
The two brothers faced off before Atsumu whipped his head back around to watch Hinata.
“Grrr! I can’t believe that goody two-shoes gets tah be Shou-chan’s setter! Ah coulda taught him. Remember how athletic he was as a kid? I always thought he’d be good at volleyball if he practiced.”
“He’s not very tall. They put ‘im on the front? Shouldn’t he be a libero?”
Atsumu listened as they announced their friend, “164cm?! A middle blocker?!”
Osamu pulled his phone out, “Hey, we gotta go.”
“What? But I wanna watch Shou-chan!”
“We can watch him later!”
“What if he loses?!”
“Then we find the tape! It’s nationals!”
It turned out that they didn’t need the tape. Karasuno wins. Inarizaki wins. They play against each other and the stare Hinata gave him sent a thrilling tingle down his spine.
Atsumu returned it with his haughtiest grin.
Then Inarizaki lost.
Inarizaki lost to Karasuno.
Atsumu lost to Shouyou.
“Shou-chan,” he called out, when Hinata started turning away from the net. He lifted a hand and pointed, “I’m gonna be setting to ya one day. But before that happens,” Atsumu turned to walk away, “I’m gonna beat ya at Inter-High so ya’d better be ready.”
Hinata… Collapsed.
An amazing jump, amazing game momentum and he collapsed.
He doesn’t get back up by himself.
Atsumu and Osamu made their way to the clinic he was staying at, Hinata texting them the location without prompting. When they come in, Nekoma’s setter was sitting with him.
The boy squinted at them, giving them a distrustful look that said he thought they were trash.
“Shouyou –,” why is he so familiar with him “- this is Tsumu-kun and Samu-kun?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Tch,” and then in a gentler voice he said to Hinata, “I’ll be outside.”
“Okay, Kenma. Thanks.”
“Of course.”
The trio stared at each other.
“Oi. Shou-chan,” Hinata turned his eyes to Osamu, “Listen… Don’t be too mad at Tsumu. I told him it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell ya we played volleyball.”
Hinata tilted his head, eyes squinting, “… Why?”
“Because I didn’t want to lose ya!” Atsumu confessed in an outburst, “I didn’t want ya to stop talking to me because I only talked about volleyball!”
Hinata’s eyes went wide. He looked at Atsumu and then over at Osamu.
“We didn’t have friends in middle school cause this scrub wouldn’t shuddup about it.”
Hinata blinked, then laughed, “Haha! No way! That’s the same reason I didn’t tell you guys!”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Hinata wiped a tear from his eye, “Yeah. People would run from me because I begged them to play volleyball with me! It was tough to pull together my first team!”
“Beg?” Atsumu echoed.
Osamu sighed, “S’fucking serendipity. You two deserve each other.”
He stood and stalked out the room.
“Deserve…?” Hinata asked, eyes following Osamu’s retreating back.
Atsumu stalked forward. The rollercoaster of emotions had his judgment clouded and his heart racing, the last dredges of adrenaline on his tongue and in his veins, making him bold. He leaned over the bed so that Hinata was looking at him and only him.
Just how Atsumu wanted it.
“Shouyou,” Hinata blinked at the use of his first name.
Atsumu cupped his cheek. Tracing down to Hinata’s chin he tilted it up.
Leaning down he hovered over Hinata’s lips, hesitating.
Hinata leaned forward to kiss him first, a soft press of lips. Hinata brought both hands up to rest on Atsumu’s shoulders and that more than the kiss, was electric.
Both of them pulled away. Atsumu watched as Hinata licked his lips.
“That…” Hinata said, intense eyes zeroed in on Atsumu’s, locking him in Hinata’s stare, “Felt right.”
“Yeah,” Atsumu said breathlessly, “It did.”