Set after Volleyball Freaks, my first HQ fanfic geared toward Kagehina~

So I really do like this pairing. Apparently it's DaiSuga. I love Daichi. He's the bestest, shrewdest, warmest senpai ever! There's just so much to love about him!
And Sugawara-senpai too! If I had upperclassmen like them during church volleyball, hoooly cow we would've made it to the Orange Bowl alright (haha)

No smut in this chapter, but there will be in the next (most likely).

So this is for them. I'll try to keep them in character as much as possible c:

"Suga. Time for spiking."

The silver haired teen perked up at the sound of his friend's voice, looking over toward the captain in question. He held a tricolored ball in his hands, his pale face extracting a careful smile. "Ah, Yeah."

Daichi approached him with a lasting look while the other members scurried into a line, one by one approaching the net to spike Kageyama's tosses. Even though Daichi played neutral, Sugawara could tell that he was being thoroughly scrutinized, and that he'd picked up on Sugawara's spacing out. "You okay? Getting enough sleep? If you're not feeling well, you should-"

"Daichi." When Sugawara said his name, it felt like a reassuring, feather light breeze, and Daichi's concerns were calmed. "I'm fine... 'm just letting myself get preoccupied. I'll get my butt in gear, so don't you fret!" His eyes squinted closed when he showed his refreshingly wide smile, though the brown orbs quickly opened and landed on his new source of 'preoccupation'.

'Kageyama and Hinata haven't really changed... am I thinking too much about what I saw? Why should it be such a big deal?' Sugawara thought to himself, positioning his figure by the net to pitch tosses of his own for the newly second line, calling out a "Nice kill!" with each successful slam of the ball over the net. From then on he tried to get in the gear of things, awkwardly helping Kageyama adjust in working together with Tsukishima, as well as encouraging Hinata when Kageyama called him out on his shitty receives and serves.

"Kageyama-kun, shouldn't you be nicer to Hinata? After all, you're-..." The older male froze, his hand ghosting over his face as he caught himself before uttering something that wasn't his to tell. Kageyama looked as ruthless as ever, even to his upperclassman, muttering a, "What? A dumbass is a dumbass. If he wasn't so worried about tosses all the time, he'd work more seriously with receives."

"I am workin' on it seriously! Don't be so stingy with your tosses, baka-yama!" With frustrated tears in his eyes that wouldn't amount to anything serious, Hinata kicked the dethroned King in the shin, and was immediately grappled by the King into one of the net's poles. Daichi immediately broke up the fight, yanking them by the gym shirts and separating them with his inordinate amount of strength. "You guys..." Daichi's more threatening demeanor was seeping out, and both Kageyama and Hinata stunned into silence, listening as he thoroughly lectured them. Sugawara watched with an afflicted sigh, before Yamaguchi approached him with a question, and that busied him enough throughout the rest of morning practice.

"Wanna eat lunch together?" Daichi's voice pulled him away yet again, the more gracefully built teen looking up, the side of his face resting in his palm. Daichi was holding up his bento in a manner that had Sugawara smiling again, and he nodded as he shifted in his seat. "Yeah! It's lunch already, huh?" He pretended that he hadn't just admitted to being out of focus even during class as he pulled his own lunch from beneath his desk, unwrapping it with forced fervor. Daichi sighed, eyes tracing every movement and facade before finally cutting to the chase. "Suga, what's bothering you? You've been out of focus ever since Sunday. I thought you were supposed to tutor Hinata and Kageyama that day. Whatever happened with that?"

Sugawara froze, and that anxious smile zipped right onto his expression. "A-Ah. Right. I was supposed to." He held his chopsticks with either hand, before clapping them together and sighing, his nervous smile twitching. "I did go over on Sunday... but when Kageyama's mother let me in and sent me upstairs..." His fingers fiddled with the length of the thin, wooden sticks, and Daichi watched the features of Sugawara's face as he relieved every embarrassingly mortified moment of what he'd heard, and unavoidably seen through the crack in the door.

The setter's cheeks were subtly pink, and at the sight of it, Daichi's knuckles were white with how hard he clenched his fists.

"What? Was it that bad?"

Sugawara's eyes left the desk in front of him and timidly looked up, a sight unused to Daichi since they were so close and upfront with each other. To see Sugawara so obviously dismayed and flustered... it stirred something inside of Daichi. Nonetheless, the dark haired senior tried to be patient and wait for his friend's explanation. He breathed out a sigh, knowing he shouldn't be so uncomfortable, especially with his most trusted person. "They were having sex."

Daichi's eyes widened, his lips parting slightly in astonishment as he leaned over, shoulders hunched. "Seriously? You walked in on them?"

The other teen shook his head vehemently, "No! No... I heard plenty, and if that wasn't enough, I accidentally saw some. The door was a little open." This large burden of a secret was rolling from the tension in Sugawara's shoulders, and he felt that he could start eating now, which he did. Daichi was still processing this, having no idea that any change occurred between the two passionate freshmen. He rubbed his face in an exasperated manner, sighing way too much for his age. "But I'm guessing... they don't know you saw them?"

Sugawara shrugged his shoulders, the skittish smile gone and replaced with a small but charming one. "I headed back out and shot them a text, told them I couldn't make it. Hinata didn't text me until Monday, said he'd fallen asleep for the rest of the day..." He took a bite, his expression thoughtful and warm with involvement for his teammates. "They're the same during practice though, aren't they? It feels like I'm the only one... well... phased by it." Sugawara didn't want to say it, but he could probably guess why they were so nonchalant and separated their newfound relationship from volleyball.

"They're both pretty single-minded... it's not affecting practice, from what I've seen. I do think someone should talk to them." Daichi scratched the back of his head in contemplation while Sugawara watched his expression, wondering just who was going to give this talk. "They've already done it, but they're still just teenagers. Guidance and reassurance goes a long way." Satisfied with this, Daichi unraveled the napkin around his bento and opened it, taking his first bite when Sugawara's face lit up in a his trademark, gentle smile. "We've got such a dependable captain, don't we...? Ah, but who's going to talk to them?" Suga swiped a thumb over his own cheek to pick up a stray grain of rice, slipping it into his mouth when Daichi delivered the news. "We will."

So there they were after practice, the four of them sitting in the practice room. Hinata looked all sparkly eyed, as if the two freshmen were getting some sort of secret initiation. Kageyama was secretly wondering if he was being promoted to Captain. The two looked so excited that Sugawara's nerves calmed, if only a little.

"So... you two... are a couple?"

Daichi's words hurriedly crumbled the two boy's hopeful expressions, and with it Sugawara's nerves. "D-Daichi!" He was about to scold, but this type of blunt interrogation was perfect for Kageyama, who was easily able to answer. "Yeah... but, how did you...?"

"C-Captain's intuition. This kind of thing happens often on sports teams." Such a lie! Sugawara's wide eyes gazed hopelessly at Daichi, who looked more like a concerned father than a high school team captain. Still, the two freshmen gazed at him in awe and reverie for this supposed intuition he possessed.

"... You're going easy on Hinata? You won't do anything to render him injured or unable to play, right?" Daichi asked easily, to which Kageyama firmly (and loudly) declared, "Yessir! I put a lot of research into sex, as well as after care, because I didn't want to hurt him. I'd never jeopardize a game." Hinata was red in the face now and squirming, his hands tightly clenching his jersey's pants.

"Good. There's the matter of protection too, if you're with other partners-"

"Impossible!" Interjected Kageyama, before the two younger teens looked at each other. Hinata's eyes were wide, and Kageyama's lips skewed into an uneven line, his face overbearing with the affection he held. "There's no one else."

"K-Kageyama..." murmured Hinata with a starry eyed gaze, the two forgetting themselves and crawling closer to each other, before Daichi could interrupt with a rather loud clearing of his throat. They both paused to look at the brawny captain, as he demanded their attention. "Besides all this, you have your studies and volleyball. If you let this get in the way of either, there will be consequences. Deal?" Sugawara nodded firmly, feeling the confidence bloom in his chest. "I'm sure..." he spoke, a little nervous what with how surprised Daichi looked to hear him speak. "I'm sure you can make each other plenty happy. But, if you ever need advice, or you're having troubles... you can come to us for help. Volleyball related or not." He gave an uncertain look back to Daichi before regarding them, to see the two of them so ultimately relieved that their senpai weren't discouraging them, or intent on breaking them apart.

There was a little bit more talk before they were headed home, the younger and older teens separated into their respective twos. "Honestly, hearing you talk about going easy on Hinata and protection... Never thought I'd hear talk like that coming from you. How do you even know about these kinds of things?" Sugawara felt mightily relieved to have this secret out, and Daichi definitely lessened whatever anxiety Sugawara might've originally felt, only because sex was always a touchy subject. It was awkward, and weird, and not nearly as desirable as Hinata and Kageyama made it out to be... right?

Daichi's hands stuffed his pockets as he kicked a pebble, stopping slowly in his footsteps. "I've done my research, too. Like Kageyama said, you don't want to hurt the other person..." Sugawara stopped beside him, a little perplexed, before that same nervous smile showed and he started walking again.

"Oi, aren't you going to ask who that person is?"

The silver haired setter kept walking with that same smile, slowing his pace as he could hear Daichi pick up walking once more, so that they could shift together. "I-It's not like you've ever told me before, so you don't have to tell me now if you're feeling pressured." Did Sugawara even want to know? He felt some sick tightening of his chest at the thought of Daichi thinking about sex and researching it on his own. Truthfully, Sugawara felt a little left out. Ever since they'd initially met their first year of high school, they stuck together. It was more than a club thing, as their personalities were very compatible, and they were able to keep each other in check.

Daichi seemed put off enough not to press it any further, and Sugawara felt his pulse throb wildly from within his chest.

Who... who did Daichi want this with...? Asahi? Was Daichi into the muscly, beardy type? Or was he just talking about anal in particular, regardless of gender?

The dark haired male relaxed then, scratching the back of his head with a rare, unsure smile. "Honestly... I was really nervous talking about it with them. They seemed okay... but should I've gone to Take-sensei or Coach?" Daichi only showed this weakness in front of Sugawara, and even then it was seldom done. After all, Daichi felt he had to be strongly unwavering for the rest of his team. Sugawara's smile relaxed, and he found his eyes squinting as he laughed, patting his more toned friend on the back. "Don't worry, don't worry~ You made sure they knew what they were doing... helped them get comfortable enough to talk about it... haha, really comfortable. It was kinda gross hearing how sex with Kageyama was like Guwaaah! and stuff." The two of them laughed, but Sugawara warmly bumped his shoulder against Daichi's, holding his gaze with kind eyes. "I'm not sure what Coach would think of it anyway... or Sensei, for that matter. Can you imagine how embarrassing it'd be to be told on? I think this was the right thing to do. They know they can trust us," Sugawara supplied, keeping eye contact until Daichi broke it to look ahead of them. "Yeah... poor Sensei'd probably faint, to boot." They shared a laugh and continued home, while the slightly shorter of the two held a heavier weight on his heart than he had earlier. Sure, keeping such an incredibly vexing secret had been taxing... but to think that there was someone Daichi was interested in, so much that he was preparing for sex...

It was unbearable.

That being said, it was even harder to keep it from Daichi. The captain was always assessing the state of each player and seemed to divert extra attention Sugawara's way. Sugawara had taken it for granted, the way Daichi checked up on him and looked after him. If you saw the way they spoke and interacted with each other, you'd think the two were childhood friends, inseparable since birth. Normally Sugawara basked in this comfort of having a best friend to rely on, but with this matter, there wasn't anything he could really do. He couldn't even begin to explain the matter to himself, much less to his friend. Daichi would be totally creeped out to learn that Sugawara thought this much about the matter. After all, Daichi hadn't brought it up since, and it'd been about a week.

They were in Daichi's room, and they'd long finished studying. Sugawara was lying on the others bed, flat on his stomach as he read through a sport's manga pilfed from Daichi's shelf. He'd burrowed his chin into the pillow, which flooded Sugawara's nostrils with the owner's scent, and he felt himself sighing and relaxing into it. The other third year'd just come in with a few snacks, inspecting the teen on his bed with a raised brow. "You moved to the bed, huh?" he chuckled and placed the items onto the portable table they'd been using to study, plopping down onto a mat to open up the bag of rice crackers, when Sugawara snuggled carelessly into the pillow. "It feels really good, and studying makes me tired... would you let me take a quick nap before I leave?" Sugawara stretched his arms out in front of him, easing the borrowed book onto the nearby desk before retracting his arms to cling to the pillow, turning his head to watch Daichi tiredly. The boy on the floor had been watching his friend cuddle and sniff at his bed, and with an inaudible gulp couldn't really bring himself to reject the other. "Okay. I'll wake you in an hour."

Sugawara smiled brightly and nuzzled further into the pillow, shaking his head as his body curled on the bed. "Thanks," he murmured, kicking his way under the comforter, letting it cover the top of his head, heating up his ears and the sides of his face, leaving only the center of his face exposed. He could hear Daichi's hand rustling through the snack bag, and the occasional crunch as he ate. The quiet, steady rhythm of eating soon fell upon deaf ears as Sugawara quickly fell asleep, exhausted with the nonstop practicing and studying. He wanted to get into the college of his choice, but he didn't want to regret anything with volleyball, so he had to work hard. And it wasn't just him; Daichi, Asahi, and all the other teammates were giving it their all. This was going to be an amazing year of volleyball, and these weird feelings he had concerning Daichi weren't going to change that.

There was an added weight on the bed. Sugawara was still asleep, but he rolled slightly forward toward the depressed area of the bed. There was something nudging at his lips, and in his sleep he tried to brush off the pressure with his hand, stolen from underneath the covers. His gesture ignored, Sugawara's hand was taken hold of, and that warm something moved over his lips. He made a soft sound of protest, flinching when warmth brushed over his cheeks and nose. Awareness was returning to him, guided by the way Daichi squeezed his hand and softly kissed his face, and through the tender kiss he initiated over and over again.

Sugawara's nose wrinkled as he felt hot breath tickle his face. He blinked his eyes open unhurriedly, staring from the collective closeness between their faces. His eyelids lowered, brown eyes peering at their joined hand. Daichi looked anxious, but Sugawara was half asleep and he wasn't entirely sure what was going on. He gave a slight nod, and it was enough to earn another kiss out of Daichi. Suga's eyes closed again, but he was slowly becoming alert enough to recognize what was happening. It took a few lingering moments of Daichi's lips against his, as well as the thumb rubbing circles into his palm for the boy to entirely wake. Sugawara surged onto his elbows then, pulling his hand from Daichi's to marvel at the situation. He quickly tore his gaze from Daichi's incredibly guilty looking expression, trying to find his answers elsewhere as his eyes searched the pillow. "Daichi? What were you doing?" His heart was pounding hard, his cheeks quickly found color, and he couldn't bring himself to look his best friend in the eye.

The fully aware teen veered on the bed, clearing his throat as he did when he wanted to snap himself out of it. "You... called my name in your sleep. And so I was watching you... and you looked really cute sleeping all bundled up like that." Daichi's voice cracked, and Sugiwara looked up to see the normally reserved captain hiding his blush with a hand, hearing him clear his throat for the second time. "I just thought... once will be enough. I won't do anything else, just a little kiss, and it'll get me through... but your lips were really soft. I couldn't stop." By this point in Daichi's unfiltered speech, Sugawara was trembling from the core, his mind completely rattled, left on tenterhooks by the silly sweetness his classmate portrayed. "Then you woke up, and I thought, 'God, it's over. I fucked up, he'll hate me'... but just like that, you nodded. And it may've not been a big deal to you, but when you let me kiss you... it made me really happy."

Is this really happening? Sugawara's brain was on overload, there was a pricklish feeling of loss on his lips from where the contact had been disrupted. Sugawara wanted to continually make Daichi look this stupidly happy. He wanted to be on the receiving end of that broad, blissful grin millions of times, always watch him nervously scratch the back of his head, wincing one eye apologetically. Sugawara could last in this moment forever, but he was so confused, as he'd never had any indication of this previous.

And then, it hit him. Daichi watched as Sugawara processed all this, emitting a soft, "Oh," when Sugawara's ears and cheeks remarkably flushed. "So that person you were referring to..." Sugawara's voice was soft, in a hoarse whisper, as it usually happened when he was filled to the brim with emotion. "The one you... 've been researching sex for. Is it me?"

Daichi's expression softened in deliberation, but his head bobbed in a nod. "You finally get it now? I... wanna do those kinds of things with you."

"I get it already!" spat Sugawara, shrouding himself in the comforter and laying down once more, turning his back from Daichi. The latter held his hand out, about to touch the other, but he thought better of it and kept his hand on his lap.

"I get it... but it's too fast for me. Give me some time to think about it?" Sugawara murmured weakly, but considerately. He was happy, and weirded out, and mostly embarrassed, but somewhat apprehensive. It was a lot for him to process, and he didn't want to make a sudden move that could potentially hurt his friend.

Daichi'd been waiting long enough, but with a sidelong glance toward his bedroom door, he knew it was well worth the wait. "I'll give you all the time you need... but in return, I want you to know exactly what you're dealing with." Sugawara's blanket burrito was tugged by strong hands, and Sugawara found Daichi's face hovering over his once more. A little afraid of the intensity in Daichi's eyes, Sugawara shrank back into the bed, but there were no more kisses.

"... It's not just sex. I want all of you." Now that Sugawara looked closely, he could see the way Daichi's lips remained slightly parted, how each word that came out of him seemed breathless and quietly bold. Daichi's eyes buzzed as he identified the familiar features below him, seeing the curiously flustered eyes and the beauty mark that always caught Daichi's eye. "I like you, Suga. Not just as a friend, or a classmate. I want to be with you."

Their eyes locked, and for a brief moment Sugawara was so close to being swept away by it... but he was steadfast. "I'll seriously consider it, D-Daichi."

The captain blinked a few times, before pushing himself off the bed, and sitting straight up once more, apparently satisfied with Sugawara's decision. There was still uncertainty, but Daichi would have to remain patient so that he didn't upset things between them even further, or pressure Sugawara. He'd hate to be accepted only out of pity or obligation... however, he was curious.

"Was the kiss gross?" he asked after a few seconds of silence, tugging at his shirt now, trying to distract himself. Sugawara's eyes floated up to see the nervous man's face, and a little smile worked its way onto the beauty marked teen as he replied sheepishly, "Nah. It wasn't gross. I didn't think a guy's lips would be that soft. It felt good."

Daichi was getting excited; it was painfully obvious in the way his shoulders tensed, and Sugawara would've laughed at how serious he looked, if he hadn't wanted to spare Daichi's feelings. "Good enough to do it again? I promise I won't do anything else."

The boy in the blankets sat up again, his body now partly revealed as he sat up, hands stuffed in the comforter. "Isn't that... tough on you? I mean, you don't know where my feelings lie, exactly," Sugawara gave an unsure reply, concerned for Daichi above all else. He didn't want to instill hope in his friend and make promises he couldn't keep. This could all very well just be sexual attraction without the real heart behind it, or vice versa. What if he didn't share those mutual feelings?

Shrugging, Daichi crept onto the bed. Sugawara scooted to make room, his back hitting the wall, and his face tilting upward as Daichi neared him. "Right now... you letting me do this is more than enough. I just want to be close to you right now." Sugawara couldn't help the warmth that flooded through his system and intoxicated him, causing Sugawara to be naturally swayed by the tilt of Daichi's head, his lips slowly easing the distance between them. It was fairly new, but the kiss wasn't strange to him. It wasn't gross. It felt extremely good to have something so soft become pliantly firm against his lips. In turn, Daichi slowly took kiss after kiss from Sugawara, keeping his tongue out of it so that he could fully treasure the simple, closed mouth kisses. It was incredibly chaste, and Daichi had repeatedly gone over scenarios in his mind where he pushed Sugawara into compromising positions. But as it were, he'd given his promise, and Sugawara was being an awfully good sport. Daichi's lips brushed teasingly against Sugawara's, breaking the kiss only to look into glazed over eyes, Daichi taking two, fair skinned hands into his own. "I love you. I love you." He murmured into Sugawara's lips, keeping his fingers intertwined with Sugawara's, managing to elicit happy smiles out of the setter that he probably wasn't even aware of making.

So, thus begins their love story. It's long but hey, these guys are complex, super cute creatures.

Hope you enjoyed! Ima write a second chapter at least, and make good on this M-rating. c;