Kageyama didn't notice he'd fallen asleep until he woke up to Hinata shaking him. "Get up, get up~." He sang. "It's volleyball day!"
"What the fuck?"
Nishinoya walked over to the curtains and threw them open, momentarily blinding Kageyama.
Everyone still asleep, which was over half the team, all groaned and rolled over.
"Come on, everybody up!" Hinata said.
Tobio hated morning people. He didn't dislike waking up early but he did dislike being awoken by morning people and Hinata being one made too much sense this early.
"Uppy, up!" Hinata repeated in Kageyama's ear. He scrambled back when Tobio violently turned to hit him with his pillow.
"I'm up! Go yell at someone else now!"
"The only one not up yet is Tsukishima, and Noya is working on him."
Nishinoya didn't seem to be doing a good job. Tsukishima still looked very asleep somehow. "According to Yamaguchi, sometimes all it takes to wake up Tsukishima is breathing wrong, and sometimes it takes an army. No in between."
"You always know everything before me."
Hinata grinned, "I make it my personal objective to know a bunch of things about everyone."
Kageyama didn't comment on how that made Hinata sound like a stalker because it would probably descend into an argument that Kageyama didn't want to have so early.
"Let's go get breakfast!"
"Okay." Kageyama followed Hinata out of the room so only Noya, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima were left.
Hinata was bouncing in his seat all through breakfast and still bothered to tell Kageyama how excited he was. "Anyone in the same room as you would be able to tell."
"Really?"
Kageyama shrugged and continued eating.
After breakfast the team finally headed out to play their first match a little while later. A few even looked as excited as Hinata, namely Tanaka and Nishinoya.
When they arrived Kageyama could see Nekoma was already there. They had red uniforms, and Kageyama could tell they were a good team. Although, for some reason, one member looked suspiciously like Tanaka.
"Oh my gosh, Kenma-san!" Hinata exclaimed next to him, causing Kageyama to jump. "Why didn't you tell me you played for Nekoma?"
"I just didn't feel like it."
Before Hinata could say anything else the one that looked like Tanaka was in front of Hinata causing the shorter boy to scream and grab on to Kageyama.
"Why're you talking to our setter, huh punk?"
Suddenly Tanaka was in front of them both, "Don't talk to the little dude like that you punk!"
Kageyama had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at their antics.
Sugawara managed to pull Tanaka away and told him he was being ridiculous while someone else from Nekoma said something similar to the Tanaka look-alike.
"So, how do you know Kenma-san?" Kageyama asked Hinata. They both ignored the two troublemakers in the background now becoming best friends and talking about how pretty Kiyoko was.
"Oh, I ran into him on the run yesterday when I got lost." Hinata laughed off the mistake. "He's a setter."
"Really?" Kageyama was interested to play him now. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in playing Nekoma before, but he was more interested in Kenma's playing than anyone else's now that he knew the other boy was a setter.
"Come on everyone, time to go in!" Daichi interrupted Kageyama's thoughts, motioning them to enter the gym.
The match went differently than Kageyama expected. Not to seem like he was overly confident they would win, but Kageyama thought he would've at least won once in all the games they played with Nekoma. Of course, out of everyone, Tobio was most interested in the setter. At first he didn't seem like much. But it quickly became clear that he had good game sense and was incredibly observant. So much so that he was able use Tsukishima's own observational skills against him.
Kageyama wanted to ask him about how he practiced, but he wasn't sure how.
He watched the setter from across the court. The other seemed to notice his staring and quickly ran over to Hinata, who was talking animatedly with the red-headed blocker from Nekoma.
Tobio still wanted to go over and talk too, but he wasn't sure if he should. It kind of looked like he made the other setter nervous.
"You wanna talk to Kenma, hm?" Sugawara asked, coming up behind him. The older setter had a grin similar to Hinata's whenever he was about to make Kageyama do something he didn't want to do.
"Uh… that's the setter from Nekoma?"
"Yeah. You wanna talk to him."
Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows. "Kind of."
"Alright, let's go then." Sugawara pushed Kageyama forward and grabbed the back of his shirt while they went over as if to ensure Tobio couldn't run away.
"Hey Tobio, Suga-san." Hinata greeted when they arrived at Hinata's group.
"Hey."
"Hi, Hinata-kun! And… oh, I'm so sorry, what are your guys' names again?"
"I'm Inuoka, and this is Kenma." Inuoka introduced himself and his setter teammate.
Sugawara said a few other things Kageyama didn't hear because he was too busy stealing glances at Kenma and tried to think of a good way to start a conversation with him. He didn't seem to interested in what Sugawara and Inuoka were saying to each other either.
Kageyama did perk up however when Sugawara announced Daichi needed him for something. One look at Daichi told Kageyama that he absolutely didn't need Sugawara and the older boy was just making an excuse to leave so Kageyama had to fend for himself.
"Nice talking to you guys!"
"You too, Sugawara-san." Inuoka said before addressing Kageyama and Hinata, "So, I've been wondering, how do you guys do that insane quick attack you kept doing. Especially with your eyes closed!"
"It's mostly Tobio." Hinata said, looking irritated about admitting that.
"I wouldn't be able to do it if you couldn't keep up." Kageyama countered.
"I said most of it, not all of it." Hinata defended himself. "I know my jumping is pretty cool."
"Yeah! How are you able to jump so damn high!"
"I don't know. My legs are just really cool."
"You were probably bit by a radioactive jumping spider or something." Kageyama commented, causing Hinata to start adamantly denying it. Inuoka laughed and Kageyama could even see a small smile on Kenma's face.
"What about you guys? How'd you know what to do so quickly?" It wasn't quite the question Kageyama wanted to know, but it was close enough.
"Kenma has a really big brain." Inuoka said.
"Not really." Kenma softly denied. "It was just some observations. You guys are pretty amazing."
"Pffft, no," Hinata denied, but Kageyama could see him reveling in the compliment.
Kageyama would be lying if he said their special attack wasn't amazing, but he was surprised to hear it from as good a setter as Kenma.
"I don't think your team would be as good with another setter." Kenma continued after another beat of silence.
Kageyama froze.
He didn't know what to say to that. By agreeing was he calling the rest of his team incapable? Was he calling Sugawara incapable? But would it be false to disagree?
Kageyama wasn't sure, and not knowing which was right scared him a little. By not knowing, did that mean he hadn't changed at all? Did it mean he still thought he could do it all himself.
And what if what Kenma said was objectively true? Would Sugawara eventually hate him for it? Even if not now, wouldn't he someday?
Didn't everyone get tired of always being second best?
Hinata didn't seem that bothered by the question. He just took it as an opportunity to say how cool Kageyama was.
"He's a genius." Kenma said bluntly.
Hinata seemed confused. "Actually, Tobio is pretty dumb."
"I meant at volleyball."
"Oh—."
"Um, I need to go. I have something to take care of." Kageyama said stiffly and excused himself.
"Did I say something?" he heard Kenma ask and Hinata adamantly deny it.
Kenma didn't say anything wrong but it made Kageyama worry how he was being perceived by his teammates. He didn't want them to think that he thought he could do everything himself. He didn't think he was better than Sugawara. At least, that was what he thought he felt. In many ways, Kageyama admired Sugawara even.
Tobio left the gym, feeling relieved that everything outside was quiet, the only sound was the whistle of the wind. The cool breeze on his face helped calm his thoughts too.
He decided to walk for a little while and then wait outside until the rest of his team was ready to go.
Kageyama waited for about an hour outside the gym before the team was ready to leave.
Sugawara was startled when he stepped outside first and saw Tobio standing there. "Oh, Kageyama. Why are you waiting outside?"
"I like the quiet." Kageyama said bluntly.
Sugawara paused for a minute before nodding. "Alright, well, we're all packed up the rest should be out in a minute."
Kageyama nodded in response and he and Sugawara waited for the others to come out a few minutes later.
When arriving back at the dorm, most of his teammates just decided to relax for a while. Not that Kageyama blamed them. He was tired too.
He opened his phone to see a few notifications, mostly from apps he had. But there was a text from Iwaizumi too.
My Favorite Senpai: Hey, I know ur probably busy, but if ur free sometime can we call u?
Kageyama tried not to freak out. They probably just wanted to talk, but Kageyama could only think that there might be something horribly wrong.
Kageyama: k. can call now
He wasn't expecting his phone to ring immediately and found himself running out of the room as to not be discovered.
He ran all the way outside before hesitantly accepting the call.
"Hello, Tobio-chan!" Oikawa screeched into the phone.
"Uh, hi."
Kageyama heard muffled yelling in the background.
"I said you could text him Iwa-chan, not talk to him first."
"It's called fucking sharing!" He heard Iwaizumi's muffled voice shouting.
"Shh, you're upsetting Tobio-chan."
"No he's not." Kageyama said.
"Shhh!"
"Shittykawa, it's called speaker phone."
"Oh yeah."
"Can you hear us?" Iwaizumi asked.
"Yeah. What did you guys want to call about?"
"Nothing really, we just wanted to talk to you. How's the training camp going?"
Kageyama considered Iwaizumi's question. Things were going well. They didn't win any games, but it had been a learning experience. The only thing he might label as not going the best was the conversation he had with some of the team members from Nekoma. "It's been good. We played a lot of games today. But we're heading back tomorrow."
"Cool. You wanna go out with us after you get back?" Oikawa asked before quickly adding, "if you're too tired that's cool too."
Kageyama felt his face heating up, "No, I won't be. That's fine. I'll just check with my parents."
Oh right… his parents. Kageyama had forgotten he didn't tell them about Oikawa and Iwaizumi yet.
"Okay. If you can't make it just let us know." Iwaizumi said.
"Okay I will."
There was silence for a few moments and a bit of rustling until Kageyama heard only Iwaizumi's voice on the other end of the phone. "Uh, Kageyama?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I," Iwaizumi paused like he was still unsure of saying what he wanted to say. "Can I call you Tobio?"
"Uh," Kageyama had never thought to even discuss that. No one who used his first name had ever asked if they could, they just started doing it. Although, only his parents, Oikawa, and Hinata really ever used his first name. "Sure." Kageyama didn't mind other people using his first name, he could only imagine not liking it if it was used by someone he hated.
"Okay. And you can call me Hajime, if you want."
"Alright." Tobio said, feeling his throat tighten at the thought. "Um, I'll see you soon."
"See ya!" Iwaizumi hung up and Kageyama slowly took the phone away from his ear. Sometimes, he still felt the flutter of doubt slip into his mind that any of this was even real. There were times when he still thought that he was only dreaming about dating Oikawa and Iwaizumi. But the feelings that welled up inside him every time he was reminded couldn't be fake.
Kageyama took a deep breath, trying to get ahold of his emotions before going back inside. As excited as he was, he didn't want any questions about his mood.
When Kageyama reentered, the room was louder than before and more rowdy than before since Kageyama could hear the noises from all the way down the hall. Kageyama slid the door open and closed it quietly, hoping to slip in unnoticed.
He didn't succeed. "Hey, what were you doing out there?" Noya asked.
"Just taking a call." Kageyama said as if it didn't really matter.
An evil grin spread over Hinata's face, "Oh really, from who?"
"None of your business." Kageyama growled.
Hinata's expression didn't change and he kept going after waiting a minute. "Say, wasn't there something you wanted to tell everyone today, Tobio? Something you wanted to tell us after the Nekoma match?"
Kageyama's brain lagged for a moment and after he remembered what Hinata was talking about he wished he hadn't processed anything. "Uh…"
"Oh right! You were gonna tell us who your soulmates are!" Tanaka exclaimed, his face lighting up. He said it loudly enough that it carried over the rest of the noise and all heads turned to look at them.
"Oh yeah, that's right! Everything went so fast I totally forgot! So, who are they?" Nishinoya rushed over next to Kageyama. Even Tsukishima looked slightly interested in the answer even if he tried to hide it.
"Well," Kageyama wasn't really sure how to put the news or if he should put it in any special way at all. "They're from Seijoh." He admitted.
"It's going to be that one bastard, isn't it? The one who 'has an attitude to put mine to shame'." Tsukishima had.
Kageyama couldn't tell if he was disgusted or amused but glared at him anyway. "Yes, he's one of them." Kageyama grumbled. "My other soulmate is Iwaizumi-san. He was number four."
"Wow, it's really them?"
Kageyama nodded and then furrowed his eyebrows, "Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Well," Tanaka started, seeming hesitant to say what was on his mind, "I don't know. Things just seemed really… tense between you guys."
Kageyama supposed it might come off like that to someone else. Things were tense, but for different reasons than he was probably thinking. "I guess it was tense. But when you met them there was a lot happening so it might've seemed more serious than it was."
"Oh, okay. You like them?"
Kageyama slowly nodded. He did like them, a lot. He'd wanted to be acknowledged by them for years, wanted them to know for years, and he wasn't sure whether this could only happen because of the timing. Or if he'd really been worrying about nothing for the past three years and should've told them as soon as he found out.
If he'd done that, maybe they would've had more time together. Kageyama wasn't unhappy with the way things turned out, but he was starting to learn that taking action and regretting it was better than not doing so and still regretting it.
"Well, as long as you're happy, we're all happy for you." Daichi said.
There was no protesting from anyone on the team, even though he half expected Tsukishima to grumble about how he would never be happy for Kageyama since that was just his way of being a jerk.
"Thanks." Kageyama murmured. He was glad that was out of the way and now he really only had his parents to explain things to. A conversation he predicted would be much more unpleasant than this one. Good thing he'd given himself extra time to prepare.
"It's called procrastination." Tsukishima grumbled from beside him.
Had he been thinking aloud? Before Kageyama had time to refute the claim, Daichi opened the door and announced it was time to eat. Kageyama hadn't noticed he'd left. "We need to rest and replenish. It's almost Interhigh. And Coach Ukai's decided to coach us full time."
Having a full time coach would be great for Karasuno. Kageyama didn't want to say that they needed the extra help, but they did. A lot of the third and second years that played on the team were reliable, and good at their positions. Though Kageyama didn't consider anyone but Nishinoya extraordinary, they were all good players. Hinata and Tsukishima, on the other hand, while okay at what they specialized at, were terrible at receiving. Hinata was the least reliable hitter in starting line up, and Tsukishima's lack of motivation hurt his abilities and pissed Kageyama off.
But regardless, a coach would be a step in the right direction, especially to help with the lack of defense they had. Nishinoya could close the gap more, but not even he could make up for just how terrible Hinata was.
Everyone started getting more excited at the announcement of interhigh and that Ukai would be joining them full time, making Kageyama feel almost shaky with excitement.
"Alright everyone, settle down and let's go eat."
Kageyama got up with everyone else and followed Daichi out to the dining hall.
That night, Kageyama laid in bed, just as excited for tomorrow as he had been last night. Nervous too, but mostly excited. He hoped he could convince his parents to let him go out, even though he'd been gone for the past few days.
Maybe when he got home from the date he could talk to them, since waiting much longer would just make things worse.
The next morning, Kageyama woke up with everyone else and left to get on the bus. Hinata decided to sit more with the second years and Kageyama felt comfortable enough to join them this time. Although he didn't say much.
He pulled his phone out of his bag to check it. He only had a text from his mother.
Mama: Get home safe.
Kageyama responded, saying he would and put his phone back in his bag.
"See that," Nishinoya said, "is the face someone makes when talking to their mom."
Kageyama glared at him and wished they were in a position for Nishinoya to see it better. Nishinoya was on the outside of the seat so he could easily peer around the corner whereas Kageyama was in the window seat next to Ennoshita so he had to crane his neck to see Noya.
'Luckily' for him, Hinata was across from him on the other side and happily reported that Kageyama was making a scary face which made everyone laugh.
"Fuck you." Kageyama said to Hinata.
He just giggled, "I didn't even do anything, dumbass."
"Yes you did! You said how I was looking even though Noya-san could see it fine."
"I actually couldn't see it that well. You're too tall."
Hinata smirked triumphantly.
"Or you're too short." Kageyama shot back, eyes burning through Hinata's face.
Tanaka snorted. "Wanna say that again you punk!" Noya cried, messing with Kageyama's hair.
Tobio didn't say anything and just huffed, turning to look out the window.
"That's what I thought." Noya bragged from behind him. Tobio let it go because he wasn't as interested in arguing with his senior as he was with that little brat Hinata.
Hinata who was currently smirking at him. Kageyama ignored him and turned his head to look out the window for the rest of the ride.
It would feel good to be home.
Sort of like a calm before the storm.
A/N Ugh this chapter took so fucking long. Buuut it's done now so next chapter we get Kageyama, Oikawa, and Iwa's first date AND maybe a sneak peak into Kageyama telling his parents. Don't think I'm gonna be able to fit it all in one chapter tho, so next two will for sure be about that. I've already started writing it cus of some inspo at 1 am last night.
Things have been so busy lately, a lot of shit going on, however, school is almost out so I should be updating more frequently soon. I wanna say we're about 3/4 done? I wanna get through Kageyama's first year at karasuno. I had an ending planned even. But reading back through the story I'm starting to formulate another ending cus I'm really fucking into symbolism. So damn satisfying. Anyway, we gotta lotta problems to go. Fr the calm before the storm. Thanks so much for reading!
Also watching kuroko no basket. Kise supremecy.