"No, stop it! Get off me, you jerk!" The shout drew Kageyama's attention.
He slid his shirt the rest of the way on and peered around the corner of the banks of lockers that stood in the center of the changing room. There was a group of guys, football players and complete assholes, crouched around a thrashing figure in one corner of the room. The only thing Kageyama could see of the kid in the middle was a wild, spiky mop of orange hair. They were fighting the jocks' grip almost desperately. Kageyama realized why when, between two of the football players' bodies, he caught a glimpse if a hand a little too far up the kid's leg to be accidental.
"Be quiet, kid. You won't be complaining on a few minutes." One of the jocks growled threateningly and Kageyama saw the hand creep a little further up the kid's leg.
He realized exactly what was going on and instantly felt sick to his stomach. Kageyama stepped out from behind the lockers and cleared his throat, getting the attention of the others in the room.
One of the jocks turned toward him and smirked. "Wanna join in, kid?"
The very thought nearly made Kageyama vomit. "No. Not now, not ever. I am saying that you need to get your hands off of whoever you have there and get the fuck out."
The same guy snarled and stood, looming threateningly over Kageyama. "What did you say, you little prick?"
"I said to back the fuck off." Kageyama was surprised that his voice didn't betray how nervous he was.
"You little jackass! Didn't anyone teach you to respect your elders?" The football player growled and reached for Kageyama, who did the first thing that came to mind and slammed his fist into the bigger student's stomach.
The jock bent over and wheezed; apparently Kageyama was a hell of a lot stronger than he looked.
"Who's next?" Kageyama sounded a lot more confident than he felt, despite the big, burly guy kneeling in front of him and clutching his stomach.
The assholes dispersed, hauling their still-out-of-breath friend out of the locker room. The kid they had tried to molest was still sitting on the floor, shell-shocked and staring at Kageyama.
Kageyama knelt in front of them, taking care not to touch them. He didn't know exactly how affected they were by what had just happened, but he wasn't about to take any chances.
"Hey, you alright?" They nodded, scrubbing a hand tiredly over their face.
"What's your name?" It seemed a harmless enough question to Kageyama, but the kid flinched slightly.
"...Hinata. My name's Hinata Shouyou."
Shouyou. A boy, then. Kageyama did his best to make a habit of avoiding assigning a gender to someone at least until he heard their name.
"Alright. Are you sure you're okay, Hinata?"
"Yeah… a little shaken up, but I think I'll be okay." He stood up and sighed briefly before helping Kageyama up. "And who are you?"
"Kageyama Tobio. You're really fucking short."
It was true; Hinata was shorter than Kageyama by a long shot. Of course, Hinata didn't like that at all and delivered a sharp kick to Kageyama's shin.
"Asshole! You don't call a lady short! Didn't your mother ever teach you that?"
Just as Kageyama was beginning to process what Hinata said, the smaller of the two went pale as he realized the same thing.
"Shit—I—I mean—" Hinata frantically tried to backtrack, to take back the slip of her tongue.
"Oi, calm down. You'll give yourself a migraine if you keep that up." Kageyama poked Hinata's cheek reprimandingly. He felt bad about misgendering her, but he was glad he had found out that Hinata identified as a girl before he fucked anything up too badly.
"But I—"
"Shut up. You think I care? It doesn't matter, you know. Just tell me, damn it. Don't leave me in the dark."
Hinata looked shocked, then smiled shyly. She had obviously been expecting some form of anger or disappointment or otherwise derogatory behavior and was pleasantly surprised by Kageyama's acceptance.
"Oh… really? You don't mind?"
When Kageyama shook his head, Hinata smiled wider and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his middle. Kageyama fell over, accidentally slamming his head into the side of a bench. Hinata was instantly apologizing, trying to help, and generally freaking out.
Kageyama couldn't help but laugh.
Once Hinata calmed down and Kageyama assured her that he was fine, he offered to walk her home and make sure the other guys didn't come back and start harassing her again. She agreed shyly and smiled at him.
They chatted idly as they walked. Kageyama found out that Hinata was excitable and—to his annoyance—older than himself and that she had a little sister named Natsu. Im turn, Kageyama told her that he lived with his mother. She found the fact that she was older incredibly entertaining so he pointed out her height again, which earned him another kick to the shins.
Hinata somehow convinced Kageyama to go to the mall with her, so he watched in confusion as she fawned over clothing. He didn't really care what he wore, so her obsession was lost on him.
"Kenma! Hey, Kenma, c'mere!" Hinata screamed out randomly, scaring the crap out of Kageyama. Two heads turned, one blonde—sort of, since it was an obvious dye job, what with the black roots half grown in—and one with annoyingly spiky black hair.
Apparently, at least one of them was "Kenma," because the two turned and made their wat to Hinata through racks of clothing. Hinata was jumping up and down excitedly and flailing her arms while Kageyama stood awkwardly in the background.
"Hey, Hinata." The one with the dyed hair had an almost hollow monotone voice and never once looked from the video game they were obviously playing on their phone.
"Kenma," Hinata whined, tugging on their hands in an attempt to get their attention, "look up."
The one with the spiked hair grabbed the phone from Kenma's hands and slid it into their back pocket. Kenma glared at them before turning to Hinata. Their eyes—oddly cat-like, Kageyama noticed—widened when they caught sight of him.
"Hinata… Who's this?"
"This is Kageyama Tobio. He's from my school, and he's really nice!" Some sort of unspoken conversation occurred with a couple glances and nods between Kenma and Hinata.
"Really?" Hinata nodded enthusiastically and Kenma smiled slightly. "That's great, Hinata."
Hinata turned back to Kageyama and waved her arms toward the other two excitedly. "Kageyama, this is Kenma. He and I have been friends for a long time! Oh, and Mr. Spiky Hair is Kuroo. He's known Kenma for longer than I have." She stressed the pronouns slightly, which Kageyama appreciated. If she hadn't, he probably would've missed the hints she was giving him or completely forgotten about them.
Kenma waved, emotionless as ever, and Kuroo narrowed his eyes slightly at Kageyama.
"Oh, oh, Kenma! I found this really cute dress and I want you to tell me how you think I'd look in it!"
Kageyama felt vaguely distressed as Hinata dragged a slightly violated-looking Kenma over to a rack of too much cloth for Kageyama's poor brain to comprehend. Of course, that also left him alone with Kuroo, who was kind of terrifying.
"So. You're alright with Hinata being trans?" Kuroo was anything but subtle, Kageyama noticed.
"Um… yeah? Why would that be a problem?" Kageyama was cautious with his words; Kuroo gave off a sort of intimidating air that was most likely unintentional.
"It's not an issue, for decent human beings. Some people aren't, though. Some people are complete assholes." Kuroo's voice was almost sad, his eyes gentle as they followed Kenma.
"Yeah, but I'm not one of them." Objected Kageyama.
"That's good to hear. I just want to watch out for those two. They've… been through a lot. Hinata's dad disowned her when she came out, and Kenma's parents…" Kuroo's face darkened. "Well, they don't have a child anymore. A son or a daughter."
Kageyama's eyes widened at the implications. "Oh. Oh. Does he need a place to stay, or—?"
Kuroo laughed, startling Kageyama. "And that right there convinced me that you're a good person. And no, he doesn't; he's staying with me. But thanks. It's good to know that Hinata's found someone she can trust."