"You're an idiot."
"I'm sorry!" Nishinoya backed up against the bleachers, hands held high above his head. "It was an accident, I swear!"
"Oh, right." Daichi rolled his eyes, arms folding across his chest. "So you accidentally gave Hinata not even just a sip of your coffee, but the whole damn thing." He glared. The libero shrunk back, smiling sheepishly, eyes darting back and forth for an escape route. "What the hell were you thinking!? The last thing this kid needs is any more energy in his system!"
"Look, it's not even my fault!" Nishinoya protested weakly, but he was only met by the unimpressed gazes of his surrounding teammates. "Okay, I mean it kind of was, but he asked for a sip, and when I gave it to him, his eyes literally lit up, and he asked for more. What was I supposed to say? No?"
"Uhm, yes?" Kageyama rubbed his temples, suddenly looking much older than a mere first year. Granted, that might be due to the fact that Hinata had practically been sprinting laps around the gym for the past hour and a half, and as the ginger's best friend, he'd naturally been expected to take care of him. It had been fun at first, taking advantage of Nishinoya's fuck up to get some serving practice in and make the hyperactive Hinata run all the way across the court to retrieve his stray balls, but that had been hours ago. He was, for lack of a better word, spent, and that little orange fucker was still practically vibrating on the spot, too hyper on caffeine to join the rest in the team circling around Nishinoya and instead opting to pass the ball to himself repeatedly, bouncing on the ball of his feet.
It was pure torture. Practice had ended hours ago, and they still had yet to figure out how to deal with that little situation. For all they knew, if they let Hinata bike home in this state, he'd end up getting himself in a car accident all over again with his carelessness, and none of them wished to experience that terror a second time.
So, here they were. After school hours in a still open gym and scolding their libero for being such an absolute dumbass that he'd thought it would be a good idea to give the most energetic person on the planet coffee.
"You didn't see the way he was looking at me, man." Nishinoya defended weakly, trying and failing to slip out of the middle of the circle. "He was giving me puppy eyes, bro. Believe me, I wanted that coffee, but my hand was literally moving on its own, I swear."
Suga frowned. "Nishi-"
"Puppy eyes, bro." He stared meaningfully at the co-captain, eyebrows raised and hands spread in disbelief. "Do you think I have the willpower to resist those? No! I'm a victim in this situation, guys. You have to believe me!"
"You. Gave Hinata. Caffeine." Daichi spoke slowly, carefully enunciating each word, staring daggers at his libero. It probably came across a little more passive-aggressive than intended, but it was well deserved nonetheless. Hinata's stamina levels were already insane as they were. He could play volleyball for hours after the rest of them had passed out on the floor in exhaustion. Adding even more extra energy to the mix could keep the kid up for nights, no exaggeration necessary. "Do you understand how stupid that is! We can't even get him home now! If he had to go to that small house of his with this much pent-up energy, I'm pretty sure he would just destroy it."
"I mean, to be fair, we could probably make him run there and back a few times until..." Nishinoya trailed off, wilting a bit under the stern gazes of his teammates. "Right. Sorry. Bad joke."
"Daichi, can't we just go home?" Tanaka groaned. His shoulders slouched pathetically, face crinkling. "Practice was over hours ago. I'm tired as hell, man."
"For once, I agree," Tsukishima grumbled. As expected, he, out of everyone, was the least pleased with their present situation. He had homework to do, and he wasn't willing to ruin his perfect record because his dumbass teammate had decided to chug an entire coffee and was currently on the brink of exploding with pent-up energy. Fair, although Tsukishima may act like he hated the little brat, he would not hesitate to verbally abuse someone to the verge of tears for him (though don't tell anyone that, he was supposed to dislike him), but that didn't mean he liked the idea of failing school. "I don't even think he's human. His body can already handle an instant amount of energy and stamina at one time. I'm sure a little more won't hurt anything." He paused. "Of it could send him into a catatonic state or something, but I'd take that risk."
"Hey-" Kageyama opened his mouth to respond, but the words were stolen from his lungs as a volleyball crashed full force into his back, sending him stumbling.
Hinata. Fucking Hinata.
"You dumbass." Kageyama whirled around, one hand clutching the spot the ball had hit that would surely bruise, and the other pointing accusingly at the ginger, who was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, smiling brightly and looking like the most damn innocent creature on the planet. "What the hell was that for?"
"I wanted your attention." Hinata shrugged, cocking his head to the side, albeit a little condescendingly. Kageyama's eyebrow twitched. "Come set for me, stupid. Unless you're too scared."
"Why would I be scared to set for a little shrimp like you." Kageyama ground out behind gritted teeth. The rest of the team had simply gone back to discussing behind him, all too used to the bickering between the two first years to pay any more attention than they needed to. "You're so small one of my sets at full power could bowl you over, dumbass."
"Oh yeah?" Hinata raised a challenging eyebrow, smile turning to more of the competitive smirk he wore every time he and Kageyama went up against each other in their little games. "Come show me then."
"You little-" Kageyama took the bait, immediately leaping at the ginger, arms outstretched. Hinata sidestepped easily, face practically giddy as he hopped away from his setter's advances, easily outrunning him and then stopping just a few feet ahead to taunt him before taking off again. "You wanna play, let's play, you coward! Stop running away!"
"You gotta catch me first~" Hinata singsonged, waggling his fingers in his ears and sticking his tongue out. He leaped away from Kageyama's outstretched hands once again, setting his friend crashing to the floor behind him. "You gotta prove you're worth my time first, Bakayama!"
Kageyama didn't know how the entire world found this little devil adorable. He was a pain in the freakin' ass.
He got to his feet, and the chase continued. Though, one could hardly call it a chase. It was more like Kageyama trying (and failing) to catch up to Hinata, every so often getting close enough to reach out and touch the ginger but having to stop before he could and kneel over so his legs didn't give out.
On the flip side, Hinata was enjoying their little game of cat and mouse. He pranced away every time Kageyama got too close, always making sure to toss in a comment here and there to add some fuel to the fire. He didn't show even the slightest signs of exertion. He wasn't even breathing heavily, which Kageyama noted begrudgingly as they made their fifth lap around the gym. His best friend may be annoying as fuck, but his stamina was no joke.
Unfortunately, his was, so he raised his hands in a time-out before Hinata could open his stupid little mouth again and egg him on even more.
"If you don't quit it, I'm not setting to you."
"What!" Hinata slid to a halt a few feet in front of Kageyama, still bouncing up and down on the tips of his toes, but the setter couldn't really complain since he was sure it was taking the middle blocker an insane amount of willpower already to stay in one spot with all that caffeine and extra energy running through his system. "So you're giving up?"
"I'm not giving up," Kageyama said a matter-of-factly, choosing to ignore how defensive he sounded. As if he would ever give up to Hinata. "I'm just tired of this. This isn't even related to volleyball. If you want me to set, then I'll set to your dumbass, but I don't want to set to you so bad that I have to chase you around the gym for another twenty minutes."
Hinata pulled a face. "Rude."
"It's the truth. You're not that special."
"Even ruder. I can't believe you're insulting me just because you can't keep up with me."
"Wha-" Although Hinata was obviously baiting him, he couldn't resist biting. "I can obviously keep up with you, you idiot! I just want to conserve my energy for... volleyball-related things. Like actually practicing."
Yeah. That was a fucking lie. When it came to racing and just pure stamina in general, no one could beat Hinata normally, much less when he had about 110% more energy than usual.
Unfortunately, Hinata knew it too. He may be oblivious about his charm, but when it came to his talents, he was about as self-aware as they came.
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You literally are. I've seen you double over a total of like five times since you started chasing me."
"Those were tricks."
"Tricks?"
"Yeah. Tricks. Like Halloween."
"You're making no sense."
Ironic, Hinata saying that to Kageyama instead of the other way around.
"Tricking you. Like getting your self-esteem up and making you think that you're better than me when in reality I can kick your ass in a race anytime I want."
Hinata snorted. "Liar."
"Am not."
"Am too. I could beat you in a race any day."
By now, the shouting had escalated enough that the circle of their teammates had turned from their conversation about their predicament to stare at the two bickering first years, mixtures of confusion and concern written across their faces.
"Okay, dudes, let's maybe, like, chill out?" Tanaka threw his hands up in surrender when his underclassmen both whirled around to glare at him before going back to their screaming match.
"Fine! You wanna prove it so bad, let's have a proper race! Around the gym fifteen times. Whoever wins gets another point."
Ah, yes. The infamous point system. The two had implemented it by practically their first week of meeting. Basically, every time they competed in something, the winner would add a point to his tally. The two had been pretty much neck and neck ever since they'd started keeping track of 'who was better,' neither willing to let the other get too far ahead and gloat about it for too long.
Unfortunately, betting a point on it meant Hinata was serious, and in his high-energy state, that meant in his haste to win, he'd probably be catapulting himself off the walls to get ahead, not that he would need to in the first place because Kageyama was neither an endurance runner nor in the right shape to get back up and start another race after already chasing Hinata around the gym for the past who knows how many minutes.
Unfortunately, despite Suga's subtle shake of his head, Kageyama was a stubborn little shit.
"Fine." Kageyama ground his teeth together, gesturing to the sidelines. "Start over there. I don't want any complaints about your short little legs when you lose."
"Are they serious?" Ennoshita asked disbelievingly as the team watched the two get into position. "Literally the worst thing we could do right now is encourage Hinata to move around even more."
"I don't even know why Kage accepted," Nishinoya muttered, thankful that his teammates' attention (and wrath) were off of him in favor of staring at their dumbass duo. "The kid's spent. He knows he's gonna lose. Hinata could probably run five miles right now before he even finished one."
"Stubborn little shit," Daichi muttered under his breath. He sighed and held up a hand, calling for attention. "Guys, I really don't think you should-"
"GO!"
Hinata's cry cut the captain off mid-sentence, and before he could even blink, the two first years were gone and racing around the sidelines, past the bleachers, past the stage, and past them, sending a woosh of air that made the papers on the corkboard by the door flutter.
"Are you kidding me," Daichi muttered under his breath. His face was stormy as he lowered his hand, and if it had been anyone else besides Hinata, Suga was pretty sure he would've grabbed them both by the ear and given them a rather lengthy piece of his mind. "They don't know when to quit."
"Too slow!" Yamaguchi singsonged, moving to sit criss-cross on the ground. He'd been silent pretty much the whole conversation, and Daichi nearly cuffed him. Of course the only time he would contribute to a discussion would be to egg his fellow first-years on. Of fucking course. "Might as well let it happen now. I wanna see who wins."
"We don't even need to watch. It's obviously Shrimpy." Tsukishima sniffed haughtily, face a picture of disgust at his classmate's immaturity as he reluctantly moved to sit down beside Yamaguchi. "The King's spent. He's already falling behind."
Sure enough, it had barely been a full lap around the gym, and Kageyama was already a good three strides behind Hinata, and that gap was slowly widening. The ginger didn't even look like he was putting much effort into his sprints, but he pulled further and further ahead of his counterpart with every step he took.
"C'mon, Daichi." Tanaka pulled the captain's arm, pouting like a pleading child and voice mockingly sweet. "It's already begun. Just let us watch."
"This team is full of children," Daichi muttered under his breath, but he relented regardless, leaning back against the bleachers with arms crossed and lips pursed together. "Whatever."
Predictably, it wasn't a long race.
Kageyama, already worn out from chasing Hinata around before, had barely even made it two laps before he'd doubled over, panting and holding his probably cramping stomach. Even an idiot could tell that he was clearly spent, and Hinata was no idiot. Any average person would've stopped by now after seeing their opponent so helpless and immediately declared themselves the victor. It would've been humiliating, sure, for the setter, but at the end of the day, it was no harm, no foul.
Unfortunately, Hinata was not an average person. Someone that competitive mixed with a heightened case of hyperactivity and an unbelievable strive to win was basically a recipe for stubbornness, and even more unfortunately, that meant that Hinata was determined to do all fifteen laps.
Kageyama's back was pressed up against the wall, breathing heavily and carefully massaging his calves.
It had been five minutes since he'd stopped, and Hinata was now on round number eight.
He hadn't even so much as slowed down. Either his stamina really was godlike, or that caffeine in his system was working overtime because it didn't even look like that boy was breaking a sweat. If anything, he was bouncing off the walls even more than he'd been before.
Daichi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, moving to stand up straight once again. "Asahi."
"What do you want me to do!?" Asahi threw his hands up in the air, eyes wide and betrayed. There was a moment of silence as Daichi scrutinized him. "Why're you looking at me like that?!"
"You're the biggest on the team, right?"
"I don't like it when you phrase it like that, but I guess-"
"Okay, well, just-" He ran an exasperated hand down his face, leg jittering. "Figure out a way to stop him, please, before he goes crashing through a door or something. That kid is getting way too close to running face-first into a corner for my liking."
That was true, actually, and they'd all noticed it. The longer Hinata ran, the more sloppy he was with his movements. Asahi suspected it wasn't even really about the race now, just the fact that his limbs were moving and he had a ton of excess energy to burn off thanks to Nishinoya's stupidity.
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Asahi's eyes widened the slightest margin. "Ohmygod, if you're suggesting I knock him out or something, that is completely out of the question-"
"Don't knock him out, stupid." Nishinoya slapped Asahi's elbow, glaring up at him as the elder shrunk back. "Just grab him. You're the most likely to withstand his force." He puffed out his chest. "I would do it, obviously, because I'm such a manly and amazing upperclassman to my precious Shou, but he'd probably bowl me over if I tried to stop him at the speed he's going."
"Can't we just let the energy in his system run its course until he tires out?" Asahi protested weakly. The last thing he wanted to do was cause any sort of harm, however minuscule, to the precious, fluffy ball of sunshine he'd come to absolutely adore over the months they'd known each other. He was big, Hinata was small, and he didn't want to do anything to accidentally crush him or send him sprawling. If he did, he was pretty sure he'd burst into tears on the spot. "If he keeps this pace up for much longer, he's bound to slow down."
"He'll have killed himself by then." Tsukishima deadpanned, eyes glued on the ginger still flying around the gym. He was going so fast it didn't even look like his feet were touching the ground anymore. "Look at that. I doubt he can maneuver his body well enough at that speed with all that caffeine-" He glared pointedly at Nishinoya. The libero offered a sheepish smile in return. "-in his system. He'll literally die."
"Fine." Asahi murmured after a moment of silence. He carefully stepped out of the huddle, watching anxiously as Hinata rounded the corner that would lead onto the straight by the bleachers. To be fair, they did have a point. He'd nearly gotten a heart attack on the fifth lap when Hinata had almost tripped over his own two feet and went skidding across the gym floor. Thankfully, the ginger had rightened himself before anything drastic could happen, but Asahi's heart had been beating wildly for nearly a minute after.
"Lemme just-"
Right as Hinata sprinted by the bleachers, directly in front of him, Asahi reached out and scooped the middle blocker up. One massive arm curled around his shoulders and the other around his middle. In one swift movement, Hinata, who had been practically bouncing off the walls and vibrating with energy, was unwittingly curled against Asahi's broad chest.
Immediately, Asahi braced himself for swinging limbs and kicking feet, anything that might come as a result after, literally, sweeping Hinata off his feet mid-sprint.
But none came.
"Ohmygod," Yamaguchi whispered, clearly horrified as he and the others crowded around them. "Did you kill him?"
Honestly, if Hinata's eyes hadn't been open, that might've been a sound conclusion to come to. The boy had gone completely lax in his hold, practically putty against the older man's chest despite the way he'd been vibrating out of his skin earlier. His eyes were lazy, his mouth was slightly open in a picture of surprise, but his feet had stopped moving, and his arms were tucked up against each other across his middle.
"Holy shit." Kageyama staggered up behind him, still clutching his middle where cramps were undoubtedly forming after all that needless exercise. His voice was hushed. "He has an off switch."
"Hinata?" Tanaka waved a hand in the ginger's face. "Shortstack? You okay?"
"Mmhm," Hinata mumbled. It sounded like all his previous exuberance had been sapped out of his voice, leaving only fatigue behind. "I'm fine."
He yawned a little and snuggled further into the third year's chest.
Asahi nearly spontaneously combusted right then and there. If he were to die right then, he would die a happy, happy man.
"Little shit," Kageyama muttered under his breath, but no one could miss the way he flicked a curl out of Hinata's face. The kid truly was too adorable for his own good, and seeing him curled up against their ace's chest like a tabby kitten who'd just had a bowl of warm milk was doing no favors for their health. If anything, it would probably give them all premature heart attacks. "I can't believe we waited here for like three hours just for you to pick him up."
"Ohmygod, he's so precious I wanna die." Suga ignored Kageyama entirely in favor of rushing over to the two spikers, practically squealing like a six-year-old. "He's adorable, ohmygosh."
"I can't believe we can turn the dumbass off." Tsukishima mused quietly, expertly blocking out whatever lovey-dovey gushing was going on around him. After being around Hinata so often, it was a skill he'd come to perfect. "I'm gonna utilize the hell out of this."
Yamaguchi elbowed him in the side. "You're telling me that you, Tsukishima Kei, are going to pick Hinata Shouyou up and carry him around like a baby whenever you want a little peace and quiet."
It was a statement, not a question.
"Yeah, obviously. If it can get him to stop rambling for two seconds." Tsukishima grunted. He wrinkled his nose. "I'm willing to take that sacrifice.
Speaking of rambling...
"Agh, my baby-"
"Suga, please calm down, or I swear-"
Yeah. It was safe to say that many people, not just Tsukishima, would utilize the hell out of this.
Realistically, it probably wouldn't even be to get Hinata to stop talking. If anything, most people would just want an excuse to cuddle him.
Adorable things tended to have that effect, you know. It was only a matter of what the entirety of the volleyball community would do when the rest of them found out about it.
