Authors Note: Standard disclaimers apply, still wish I owned these two.
So, it is summer vacation. I made it through my first year of grad school and almost 75 pages of academic writing… gah that was tough. I worked on this huge project that was a proposal to write my master's thesis on Japanese Omegaverse Doujinshi… not sure if my adviser will accept it but hey, I can try right? Anyways, without further ado, here is the next chapter. Thank you all for being so patient while I couldn't write.
After breakfast the next morning, Keizo was surprised to learn from Fumiya that Suda, as well as the rest of the basketball team, had been moved already. They'd been moved to another scholarship dorm a few buildings down and the top floor was then designated for the entire volleyball team instead of having the team split by class level on each floor. He vaguely wondered if the school board knew about Kageyama and Hinata being fate mates since they had moved so fast after the incident but he doubted it. They two boys had been very protective over their status as fate mates. Did the board even know they were mates? He didn't know. So the more likely explanation was that the school board was doing everything it could to avoid any type of lawsuit that might pop up if a second incident occurred after one had already been reported. Whatever the reason, it made things in the dorms much easier for everyone and Keizo was glad that he didn't have to deal with Suda for another year. With any luck, they'd never see the bastard again.
Hinata had also been happy that Suda was gone. He didn't ask any questions about it and didn't seem concerned about the situation at all. There was no lingering hatred either in him either. Keizo knew plenty of omegas who would have been more concerned in making sure Suda was punished accordingly for what he had done, but Hinata didn't even ask what the school board had done as punishment and it didn't seem like he cared at all. The more surprising bit was the Kageyama didn't even ask. So Keizo asked when he found a private moment with the alpha, he couldn't help it.
"Well," Tobio responded, "Shoyo doesn't want to know, so I am doing my best not to ask. I really really want to know that the school did something more than just move that arrogant bastard, he deserves to be suspended if you ask me." Tobio seethed. He still wanted to crush Suda with his own two hands. "But Hinata doesn't feel that way. He's let the issue go, just happy that he doesn't have to deal with him anymore."
"But," Keizo had been about to clarify but didn't get very far.
Tobio suddenly understood what it was that Keizo wasn't seeing. "Because we're fate mates, if I know something, so does he. We share feelings over our bond, we can also share thoughts when we want to, but we share our memories as well when we connect with each other."
Keizo discussed that quite a bit with Kageyama interested in how it all worked. He was going to have to call up that doctor again and have a chat about the more medical side of things between these two. It was utterly fascinating. The rest of the day proceeded smoothly as did most of the week. Keizo had kept the fate mate issue to himself assuring Kageyama he wouldn't need to redo that order anytime soon. He had no intention of letting the cat out of the bag, but he did encourage them to tell the rest of the team in the dorms that they were mated at the very least. The others already suspected it, knowing by their scents that the two were at least having sex. They said they'd think about it and ask the coach what he thought. When it was brought up with the coach he seemed to be all for the idea, less secrets the better, so Kageyama had told the rest of the upper classmen when they had gathered in the captain's room for pizza the night before practice and placement was supposed to start, Aone having joined the group as well.
"I figured as much." Fumiya responded around a rather large bite of pizza in his mouth.
"So how long have you two been mated?" the usually quiet Shiro twin, Seono, asked, curious as to how new the bond was.
"A little over two years." Shoyo responded openly as he grabbed his second slice of meat lover's pizza from the box.
"Two year?!" Tama-chan sputtered loudly in surprise as everyone looked at them in total shock.
"And your parents were okay with that?" Fumiya questioned.
Tobio didn't say anything, leaving it to Shoyo to respond while he gulped down his own piece of pizza. Shoyo frowned for a moment remembering their parents reaction to them mating, no they definitely hadn't been okay with it, but he didn't really want to say that nor did he want to lie either. So he settled for a half truth and decided to focus on how their parents felt about it now. "Yeah, I mean, it was a bit of a shock for them but they came around pretty quickly. Tobio's mom wasn't happy at first and it took her a while to come around. I think my mom was the happiest though. My mom is really supportive of us. She really likes Tobio. It also helped that my little sister Natsu loved him almost immediately."
"Wow, there's no way my parents would have been okay with something like that." Tama-chan replied. He thought about how his mom would react if his little brother were to mate at that age and he shuddered at the imagined anger.
"So why did you decide to mate?" Himero, asked. "Why not just have sex and call it good?" Seono nudge his twin in the ribs for that question.
Shoyo frowned. He didn't really have an answer for that question. He looked at Tobio for a bit of help but the alpha didn't know what to say either. That's when Keizo chimed it.
"Life isn't just about sex you stupid perv." Keizo teased, moving the topic away from that question to give Hinata and Kageyama a bit of breathing room.
Himero snorted. "Yeah it is." He responded seriously.
"Says the guy who only thinks with his dick." Seono responded to his own brother.
"It's not my fault I have a healthy libido."
"Well so do the rest of us, but we don't spend every waking hour thinking about how to get laid." Sena piped in around a mouth full of pizza. "Even Tama-chan's got more on his mind than that." Sena poked fun a bit more at Himero.
"Oi, don't be rude." Tama-chan griped at Sena's obvious jab at his intellect and character.
After that the rest of the conversation descended into chaos as Sena continued to pester Tama-chan and they all poked fun at each other. Shoyo smiled and enjoyed the atmosphere. He was glad that the upper classmen were pretty laid back. It was going to make volleyball so much fun. He felt excitement bubble up. Practice started in the morning and even though he couldn't play till the following day, he was really looking forward to it.
Early Monday morning they were all gathered in the gym and both Shoyo and Tobio were surprised at the number of students that had come for practice and placement. There had to be over 70 students in the gym. It was pretty loud as everyone conversed with each other but quieted down immediately when the coach walked in the room and called them to order. He sat everyone down as he began his usual start of year speech.
"Welcome to K University's Practice and Placement for the volleyball team. I am Coach Yunaiyama. This is First Assistant Taki and Second Assistant Nanamachi." The coach pointed to the two men beside him. "Through the rest of the week you will be evaluated for placement on the volleyball team. There are four strings, or levels, on the team. First string players are our starters for the season, second string are the players who function as backups. Third and fourth strings will play during practice but not during official matches. These levels are not static. Just because you make it on first string doesn't mean you will stay there. If your skills improve you will be able to move up through the strings. Practice is the time for improving your skills and you will work hard during that time. Any slacking off will but punished with laps and flying falls. Is that clear?" The coach bellowed.
"Yes!" The students hollered back in unison.
"There will be 8 players on first string, 8 players on second string, 16 players on third string, and everyone else will fall into fourth string. Now, today will mostly be administrative stuff. You'll fill out some forms and sign a few things before practice begins. Then we will do a brief introduction of all new students and review each position and the rules of the game. But first a few club rules to announce. Keizo, Minami, and Hinata, get up here." Shoyo gulped for a second not having expected to be called up front right away. He hopped up a little stiffly and shuffled to the front to stand next to Keizo. "Introduce yourselves" the coach instructed them.
"I'm Keizo Tsuchida. 4th year med student. Beta."
"I'm Minami Yuya. 2nd year Chemistry student. Beta."
"Hinata Shoyo, 1st year sports therapy. Omega." Shoyo said proudly. There was a small murmur in the room at the announcement of his status.
"With the introduction of these three students you should understand this is not an all Alpha team and there are probably a few new students as well who fall into this category. These members will be treated with respect and dignity. I have a no tolerance policy for bullying or harassment. Half of you are adults already and the other half of you are on your way to becoming adults. So ACT LIKE IT! Any claims of such incidents towards these individuals will be investigated fully and you will be suspended from play until the investigation is complete. NO EXCEPTIONS. Any harassment of a sexual nature will earn you an immediate dismissal from the team and a suspension from the university during the ensuing investigation. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" The coach bellowed again even louder this time.
"Yes Sir." Came the echo back.
"Alright, sit down you three." Shoyo moved back to sit next to Tobio ignoring the way most eyes followed him. He was going to be the first and only omega on the team. It was a little nerve racking, but all eyes swung forward when the coach began again.
"With omegas and betas on the team there is a strict no dating policy, that means keep it in your pants alphas, this also includes our beta manager who will be here later today to help out. So if you're here just to get close to her, you may as well get up and leave right now." At the mention of this 7 people stood and made their way out of the gym. Shoyo watched in surprise and wondered what the manager was like to attract so many people to the team. She had to be beautiful, that's for sure. The coach cleared his throat after the doors closed behind them. "Now, there should be some papers and pencils coming around. This is a standard release form for injuries sustained during practice. Read it then sign it. The second page making its way around is your registration form for the team. Fill it out, don't leave anything blank. If you don't know what position you play and are new to volleyball put N/A in that space. Also make sure your contact information for emergencies is correct before you turn it in. Once we've finished this we'll begin go over rules and positions, then we'll do a quick self-introduction for all new members and then warmup. Today we will be evaluating your serves and seeing who may function as pinch servers. Tomorrow we will work through setting and spiking. The following day will be blocking and receiving. On Thursday we will begin matches where you will rotate through each position to be evaluated. Now start filling those papers out." The coach said before walking off towards his office.
Shoyo and Tobio quickly filled out the paperwork. There wasn't much too it. As they finished up they heard the captain get up and make an announcement. "Alright listen up. I am the team captain Fumiya and this…" he motioned to Tama-chan, "is your vice-captain Tamamura. As we call out the positions bring your paperwork up. Hand your release forms to Tamamura and your registration forms to me. First up, anyone going for libero." Only four people made their way over, including Keizo to turn in their papers. There were a lot of whispers and eyes on the omega from upperclassman unfamiliar with Shoyo when he didn't move to turn in his papers. Even Keizo was surprised having expected him to try for the libero position. "Middle Blockers" the captain announced and Shoyo bounced up in excitement turning in his form. "Wing Spikers" were the next, then "Setters" and finally "Pinch Servers". There were still a few people left to turn in their papers. "Alright, now those of you who are new to volleyball and don't know what position you want to play, bring your papers up." Once all of the papers were collected they brought them over towards the table near the head coach's office and the first assistant, Coach Taki had some students grab a white board from the storage room and talked about the basic rules of volleyball and what each position on the court was. Since they were going to work on serves for the day he talked quite a bit about the different types of serves, regular, net in, jump serves, and the jump floater. There were other types of specialty serves but that was about it. By the time the Coach Taki had finished it was just past noon.
"Lunch is here." Coach Yunaiyama announced as he came out of his office. Everyone in the room became excited. "I need some volunteers to help the manager carry things in."
Shoyo raised his hand almost immediately, the sooner the food made it inside the sooner they could eat, but as he looked around almost everyone had their hand raised aside from Tobio and the rest of the scholarship students. He looked around curiously at the over excited faces, quite a few with blushes on them. Oh yeah, Shoyo thought over at Tobio, I forgot this girl is supposed to be really pretty. Tobio shrugged but didn't raise his hand, if Shoyo went then he'd also go so it didn't really matter to him either way, he'd still get food.
Coach Yunaiyama looked around the room, it was the same every year even with his opening speech about keeping their minds out of the gutter. He considered for a moment who wouldn't bother the girl too much when his eyes passed over Hinata. He smiled, if he sent the mated couple then he wouldn't have anything to worry about and he could put them on clean up duty while the rest of the team warmed up since Ryuugazaki-sensei had said they couldn't play till tomorrow. "Hinata, Kageyama, go help bring everything in. Keizo, show the first years the supply closet and have them set up two tables at the end of the court over there. Everyone else get washed up for lunch."
There was a flurry of movement at the coach's direction as Shoyo smiled and bounced along towards the door with Tobio following after at a moderate walking pace. Tobio noticed that there were a quite a few unhappy looks sent their way, especially from some of the upperclassmen that they hadn't really met yet. He filed the information away as he followed his mate out the door. Shoyo seemed oblivious, too excited about food. They walked out towards where the coach had said she'd be parked but as they reached the car they both stopped in shock at yet another familiar face they hadn't been expecting as she opened the trunk of the car to pull bags out.
"Shimizu-sempai?" Shoyo hollered in surprise. Who'd have thought she'd continue being a manager for volleyball after high school. The girl turned around in shock and Shoyo smiled even bigger. This year really was going to be great, first Aone and now Shimizu-sempai.
"Hinata-kun… Kageyama-kun?" Shimizu said looking at the two in surprise. She had no idea they'd be coming to K University, she'd thought for sure they would have been picked up by Toudai.
"We had no idea you'd be here Shimizu-sempai, this is awesome. Noya-sempai and Tanaka-sempai are never going to believe this. I am so messaging them tonight." Shoyo bounced over and gave Shimizu an excited hug. She was still too stunned to really return the gesture. Tobio simply nodded his usually greeting at her when Shoyo let go and moved towards the back of the car. Shimizu smiled, those two really hadn't changed at all. She was glad to see that. Shoyo continued to babble on about various things as he moved towards the trunk of the car to grab stuffs. He talked about their second year after the third years had graduated and how their practices went and how amazing Yachi-san was when she took over all of Shimizu-sempais duties when she left. He also talked about school and other things as he loaded up with bags and a large bowl of steaming white rice. Tobio also loaded up but as usual let his mate do all the talking. Between the two of them they had grabbed almost everything but the last bowl of rice which Shimizu carried into the gym.
"What's your major?" Shoyo asked as they entered the gym with the food and drinks for lunch, completely oblivious the many eyes that swung their way.
"I'm a double major in Physical and Sports Therapy." Shimizu responded.
"Sweet. We're both in Sports Therapy also." Shoyo commented as he put the bags on the table and began setting things up on the tables like they had during high school. They put the drinks on one end of the table with the cups and the plates and chopsticks on the other end next to the rice. He paused as the idea hit him. "Hey, since you've taken the classes before, do you think you could help us study?" Shoyo asked, yet again oblivious the many glares sent his way at his open request by a few alphas close enough to hear the conversation.
"I don't know if I'll have the time to help you two out, I am taking my own classes too remember?"
Shoyo frowned not too upset at the refusal. Per their scholarship contract they were supposed to have access to a tutor to help with studies, just would have been nice to spend some more time with Shimizu-sempai. "Well do you still have your notes?" He asked in a last-ditch effort to procure a bit of help before the semester started.
Shimizu chuckled. "Still not good at taking notes huh?"
Shoyo blushed. "We've gotten better…" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he put the last bit of food on the table for lunch. "Yat-chan taught us how to take notes and how to organize them and use colors, but… my notes still aren't as easy to understand as hers."
"Yeah, I think I still have my notes from first year, let me know what classes your taking and I'll look through my stuff." Shimizu offered.
"Great!" Shoyo exclaimed as he looked over at his mate. Tobio was putting out the other containers taking a peek inside, not really listening to Shoyo chat away. He smiled excitedly when he saw it was curry inside. He popped the lid fully off and showed it to Shoyo who smiled. This was going to be a really good lunch. Automatically they helped Shimizu serve as everyone came through the line. Shoyo chatted animatedly with everyone as they passed by. Once everyone had made it through the line, they both grabbed a plate for themselves and settled by Aone and Keizo to eat.
"You should cool it around the manager." Keizo remarked as Shoyo shoveled food into his mouth. Shoyo looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, don't talk so casually with her, people are starting to get jealous. They think your flirting with her."
Shoyo was shocked. "Flirting? But I wasn't flirting. I was just talking with her. And why shouldn't I talk casually with her? She's a good friend." Shoyo remarked still not seeing why anyone would be jealous. He was a male omega after all, aside from being mated which he understood not everyone knew about, he couldn't be with any females in that way, he had to have an alpha or beta male as a partner.
"What do you mean a good friend, you just met her." Keizo replied.
"Shimizu-sempai went to high school with us, she was the manager of our volleyball team our first year." Tobio stated. Keizo was surprised to say the least, but that still wasn't the point of what he was trying to say.
"Regardless, people don't see it that way. It's the perception of the whole thing." Shoyo pouted. He really did hate that. Until he'd presented as an omega he hadn't really dealt with 'perception' as an issue and he had always wondered why adults got so hung up about how they were perceived and how they perceived others. But the older he got the more of an issue it became. He still didn't like it, but at least he understood it a bit better. It was one of the reasons they dealt with crap like the Suda situation, all based on perception. Shoyo nodded in understanding even though he was still thinking about it all.
After lunch was over, warmups started but Shoyo and Tobio had been pulled and tasked with clean up duty since they weren't allowed to participate until tomorrow, doctor's orders. Once serving practice started Tobio paid rapt attention making mental notes about each player and how they moved. He was going to need the information later when it came time to set for each of them. If he could gage their height, jump and movement speed he'd be able to send them more accurate and better tosses.
Shoyo watched as well but his head was more focused on the whole 'perception' thing they had talked about earlier with Keizo. He knew that it was important that they be seen in a good way which meant they had to be careful. He thought on it for the rest of the practice before coming to a decision. When practice was over they helped clean up before heading back to the dorms with Keizo and the rest of the scholarship students.
Keizo was silent on the way back as well. He'd already heard a lot of snide comments and talk about Hinata and Kageyama. This was going to be one really long semester wasn't' it?
