Chapter Four
We won. It's a slow reaction, the whistle had gone off a while ago and they were leaving the court. We get to come back. We're strong. He's not sure he thinks that, that game had been the easiest one since he had joined Karasuno, not to say it wasn't intense but- We won. He liked the feeling, was scared at how it made his entire body shake, Hinata had never realized how good victory could taste. That an accomplishment could even produce a flavor, let alone one that mad his mouth water.
The banner draws his eyes, which land on Grand King, who he thought had left but the older man was just standing there, staring at them. At me, he realizes when Grand King's jaw twitches and then there's a smile full of straight teeth. Bright. Grand King's teeth are bright, he's pretty sure it's the lighting from the gym, but the scientific explanation doesn't interest him as much as his most recent discovery does. Grand King is perfect, as close to a deity as humanly possible under the bright gym lights, he finds it odd how much one person's hair can glow.
Awe doesn't contort his face like it's attempting to do, because Grand King was his enemy, but the smile interests him for no reason other than the fact that it exists and it's directed at him. He thinks he sees Grand King wink, or maybe it's a blink, he hadn't been watching both of Grand King's oddly brown eyes. At some point, when they're back in the hall, he realizes that he's still thinking about it. There's so many questions running through his head but they all stem from one, Why had Grand King smiled at me?
His answer comes to him much later, when Tanaka-senpai smiles at the term flightless crows. Grand King had been taunting him, or teasing him, or a sick combination of both; Grand King was dangerous and smart, perfectly so, hidden behind a mask of cheerfulness. Hinata isn't sure why he cares, he's probably not even right about it, Grand King was a mystery he didn't want to solve. He only had one issue that he needed to focus on, The Iron Wall, the name sent shivers up his spine. An unwritten rule crosses his mind, all teams should have twice as many eyebrows as players. But one of them, a huge mountain of a person who probably at people for breakfast had none. No eyebrows. He's certain there's a reason for their absence. Maybe they fell out, the guy had old man hair. He's not sure he's ever seen someone with hair that white.
It's as close as a confirmation for his theory as he felt comfortable drawing on his own, That guy is actually an old man that kills volleyball players. His idea makes his lungs and throat convulse, somehow he just knows he's next, if he looks or breathes funny -like he is right now- the man while duck under the net and kidnap him, sell his organs like vegetables. These came from a middle blocker, he imagines the giant's voice as gravelly and thick and echoing ominously, he had orange hair. Hinata finds himself petting at his fringe, wondering if his job as decoy would actually get him killed. His stomach interjects its opinion and now he really has to go to the bathroom.
He doesn't remember eating anything, so he's not sure why he has to go, just that he really, really has to. "Bathroom?" He questions, tugging at Daichi's sleeve gently until his captain is staring at him. The older boy looks amused, clearly not as worried about his organs being sold as Hinata is. Why would Daichi worry the giant probably wouldn't even notice him. Daichi's arm raises his, as he lifts his arm, pointing down a crowded hallway. What if he murders me before we're on the court. Pausing in contemplation, or fear, he's not sure which, he looks down at Kageyama, almost asks the boy to come with him. I'm not a kid, I can defend myself.
Turns out the giant with no eyebrows wasn't going to murder him as soon as he stepped into the bathroom, but that didn't stop him from colliding into another tall person, flashes of white and bright blue. Hinata almost falls to his knees and begs not to be murdered, but his shoulder is caught before he can plea for his life. "I'm so sorry-!" He cuts off when he notices the person in teal and white is not Grand King, but one of his teammates. Tanned skin like Daichi but with spiky hair and a frown.
"Hinyou Shouta, right?" A voice calls, similar to the one he imagined that the giant would have but clearer and more human. He blinks at the almost calling of his name, then frowns, he has no idea who the guy is, the Aoba Johsai jacket is his only clue. "Hinata Shouyou." He releases quietly, the only thing that can come out of his mouth; the giant man nods, and the frown lessens significantly, like the weight of remembering his name had been abducted from his features. "Hinata Shouyou." The giant echoes, they both nod. "Karasuno's middle blocker." He's nodding alone this time, not sure why the taller boy knows who he is but not the other way around. "Iwaizumi." The man offers, along with a giant hand, he swallows hard as he remembers the guy's spike. Like a bomb had gone off in his ear as the ball collided with the ground. A name to go with the spike doesn't reassure him as much as he'd like, especially since Iwaizumi didn't offer a given name.
He backs up and bows deeply, fairly certain this guy is the same year as Grand King, the frown is harder when he looks up. "Iwaizumi-san." He tests out the title, not sure if he should add something more polite to appease the giant. There's color in the guy's cheeks, making him almost worry if his track jacket is zipped up too high, but the older boy bows, shallowly so their heads don't collide. "Your spike is very impressive." Hinata is absolutely positive that this is small talk, a statement that the older boy doesn't even mean, because has he seen his own spike? The sound claps like thunder in his ears as he recalls their practice match with Aoba Johsai, he flinches when it repeats without his permission.
"I- You too!" He squeaks out, humiliated at how high his voice sounds to the giant before him, the tilting of the guy's frowning lips don't help any with the shame weighing his gut down. "I look forward to playing with you." It comes out with more feeling than the previous compliment, Hinata is briefly frozen that that's what Iwaizumi's words were. Compliments. Someone from Aoba Johsai was complimenting him! He offers the tanned male a non-guarded grin, ignoring the way his teeth feel dirty after remembering Grand King's too bright smile. Iwaizumi nods again, he returns the gesture, and the older boy leaves the room without another sound.
He tries not to think about the exchange when he's alone in the stall, tries not to think about anything when he's alone in the stall and his body is making revolting noises. Hinata finishes quickly, flushing evidence away and he's washing in between his fingernails when he notices another giant in the room. Thankfully with eyebrows, right above oddly brown eyes. "Grand King!" He chirps, as excited as he is frightened, Grand King was his enemy, he reminded himself twice as hot water dripped off the edges of his hand.
The setter half jumps at his name is called, then oddly brown eyes are focused on him. Like a snake's, he realizes after studying the taller boy, almost ignorant to the way the taller boy studies him in return. "Chibi-chan!" Grand King says eventually, when he's wiping his hands into a paper towel, it's white and thin compared to the one's at Karasuno. "What are you doing here?" He asks the taller boy, half forgetting where they are, because you can't play volleyball in the bathroom. Hinata had tried once and it didn't go well.
"Just... Going to the bathroom." His head tilts at the information, unsure why it perplexes him. Grand King goes to the bathroom. It's odd thinking Grand King as a human, who has bodily functions, which he can hear right now. Hinata glances over at the taller boy, who is now posed in front of a urinal, there's splashing and sloshing and it makes his face heat up. I'm listening to someone peeing like some kind of pervert! A voice calls out to him as he tries to fly out of the public space, "Oy, shrimpy, where are you going?" He's not sure how we feels about being talked to so casually when one of them has their pants down, but it makes his feet freeze before he can continue running away from this embarrassing situation.
"You're- I should-" Not be here. His team had come looking for him the last time he ended up in the bathroom too long in an oddly similar event, something he could trace back to middle school now that he thought about it. Hinata vowed never to use a public restroom ever again. "Stay a sec, I want to talk to you about something." He's not sure how Grand King can talk so evenly and formally when Hinata can hear him urinating, but his feet abide by the elder's command and he's leaning against the sink he had just ran away from.
Grand King finishes after a long moment of just splashing and sloshing, then a resonating flush ends half of the awkwardness, and the older boy is walking towards the sink he's occupying. He tries not to shake under the older boy's gaze, but his knees are trembling in ways he'd rather not notice. "Grand King!" He calls out loudly when the older boy stares at him for too long, Grand King just smirks creepily, exposing straight teeth and little gums. "I have a real name." He's not sure if he can remember Grand King's entire name, but Kegayama's voice echoes in his head, Oikawa-san, Oikawa-senpai, stupid Oikawa. "Sorry, Grand King!" He squeaks before he can help it, then buries his face into his damp hands when he hears himself not use Grand King's actual name.
The setter just laughs at him, and his face starts to burn in shame. "Sorry." He stammers out, adding on the formal ending in case Grand King was actually a murderer turned organ seller; his throat convulses at that thought of Grand King selling his organs at an unmarked stall in Miyagi. Shrimpy middle blocker's liver. Hinata isn't sure what a liver looks like, and he would much rather keep it that way. Grabbing at his jersey, around where he thinks his liver might be, he takes in Grand King's oddly brown eyes again. "What did you want to talk about?" He half demands, the squeaking is back and his hands clench into his jersey at the sound of his own voice, the way it echoed around the empty bathroom. "Just wanted to chat about stuff." Grand King is smiling as he lathers nasty smelling soap into his giant hands, Hinata watches the way the water makes suds across his skin.
"Like what?" He asks before he can help it, but doesn't look up at Grand King's gaze, even when he can feel it on his hair. "Stuff. We could talk about your spike, or Tobio-chan, or even the bathroom soap if you really wanted to." Hinata realizes all at once how much he would rather just not talk, and his throat closes up with his thoughts. A choking sounds is half pulled from his throat that has Grand King's gaze shifting over his body again. "How is Tobio-chan?" The tone almost makes it sound like a legitimate question, like Grand King cared about his old teammate. His shoulders are shrugging noncommittally, he has no idea what to compare Kageyama to before they had been introduced on the same team.
"Well, not exactly the answer I was looking for." Grand King chuckles, followed by a wink he knows he didn't imagine. "Sorry!" He squawks without meaning to, but Grand King just nods slowly at his outburst. "It's not like I actually care about that kid." The setter says, dark and almost like a hiss that makes Hinata's spine tingle uncomfortably. "You know-" Grand King starts, but his eyes dart off to the bathroom's entrance as someone's shoes squeak on the ground. Hinata is almost relieved to see Tsukishima, something he never thought he would think let alone admit, and practically begs with his eyes to be taken away from the situation. The blond haired boy looks almost shocked that Grand King is standing in the same room as him, his eyes bulge behind his glasses before a glare covers them, "Hinata." Tsukishima calls, and Hinata jumps up at the tone. "Yes?" He calls back once his feet are flat on the ground.
"Our game is starting." Hinata darts out of the bathroom without another word, almost catches what Grand King calls behind him but doesn't, too busy ignoring the giant he had just left behind. A sigh of relief escapes him once he's in the flock of black he recognizes as his team. He wants to tell them how he was almost murdered by not one, but two players from Aoba Johsai. There's no time for talking as he's manhandled into a line, and they're practicing receiving before the game starts, Noya-senpai is in front of him shooting him a cocky smirk as they make it to the front of the line. The libero almost growling out the title of his signature move that drains all thoughts of Aoba Johsai from his head, the splatter onto the floor at the same time as his idol does, the black-blond hair squishing as it slides over the waxed gym floor. Whoops and cheers are out of his mouth before he can help it, along with pleas for the move to be taught to him. He's not sure what Rolling Thunder means, and it must show on his face, the older boy just winks at him, rubs at his hair and tells him that he's not ready.
His ball deflection is awkward, he can't quite predict the path of the ball and has a hard time making his forearms appear where the ball will fly. The problem happens a lot during their next game, but there's as many accomplishments as there is failure. They beat The Iron Wall in two sets, and the whistle blowing has him flinching like it had hit him. Loud and telling and ringing in his ears. We won. They had beat The Iron Wall, the best blockers ever according to Volleyball Monthly, surely Karasuno would no longer be considered flightless after beating such an infamous team.
The no eyebrows having giant stops him with his giant hand, glaring at him from the other side of the net, or at least Hinata thinks the guy is glaring, it's very difficult to tell when the other guy doesn't have eyebrows. He doesn't think much when he accepts the hand, only slightly disgruntled in the way that it swallows his. His heart starts to race when the giant doesn't release him after a second of holding his hand. Breathing gets even harder when the whistle blows too close to his ears, but the giant doesn't release and he falls to his knees. Victory tasted bitter as his sense started to become too much.
Too much. His brain told him, as he could see every color in front of him start to blur, his knees buckled underneath him and he noticed that both of his hands were no under his control. There was a slight uproar from behind him, and too many eyes on his back, he curled further into himself, trying to block out everything so he could breathe again. The giant had knelt with him, was staring at him with wide eyes, mouth set grim in a way that had Hinata clenching his eyes shut. Too much, his brain repeated and he tried, really tried to turn everything off but the lack of air in his lungs only made his brain work more quickly.
"Hinata!" Called from too far away, but also too close, he could feel a hot breeze spreading across his ear along with hands that weren't his own gripping at his shoulders. The whistle blew again and his blackened vision started to swim, miasma swimming uncomfortably in his nostrils like chopper. "Hinata?" Softer but still too far to be normal, too loud to take comfort in. Another whistle and his legs are whisked out from under him, carried, he realizes dully until he's settled somewhere soft and spongy. Unfamiliarity has eyes opening along with his throat. "What?" He gasps into nothing, he's met with glass as his head leans forward, flinches away from it because now his head is pulsing twice as much.
"Are you okay?" The voice from earlier called, he looks up and Suga-san is there, eyes wide like the giant's had been. He's nodding but lying. Hinata does't feel okay, his head is throbbing and he's pretty sure he just relearned how to breathe. "What happened?" He asks, because has no idea. The silver haired boy raises his eyebrows, half a smile churning at his lips, "You collapsed when Aone shook your hand, felt like you weren't breathing." He realizes two things from that one statement from his vice-captain. He had stopped breathing because of a whistle, something that sounds incredibly dangerous, and that the giant had been named Aone. He thinks about the latter for a while, all the way until the bus starts rumbling under them.
"Shouyou?" Noya asks, smile friendly but his voice is shaking like Noya-senpai could ever fear for something. The libero's hair is messy, the black-blond that Hinata thinks is awesome is now skewed at a weird angle, like gravity had finally taken a toll on the perfection. "Yes?" He stammers, loudly and his throat feels requires scratching as he speaks, clears it with a cough as his senpai speaks to him. "You okay?" The tone is still off, Noya had only used one tone with him, excited and happy and smiles. Hinata is nodding before he finds his words, "Not sure what happened." He half-lies, because he's not sure of why he reacted the way he did to what transpired. Maybe Aone was trying to kill him, the possibility is dismissed when Noya-senpai's smile brightens, "You played awesome today! You'll be ready for my secret technique in no time!" There's a wink that tugs at his lips, the older boy's excitement forcing him to feel the similarly.
Ignoring the way that Tsukishima gripes for calling a secret technique, Hinata looks out the window, letting a non-bitter victory settle on his tongue now that it's safe. Kageyema is too close to him, their legs are touching and he's pretty sure he can feel the other boy's chest ghosting over his when Kageyama draws in a breathe. He doesn't say anything, because the heat is relaxing in ways it shouldn't be. He falls asleep to the scent of strawberry milk, a scent that always lingers on his setter. He's not sure how he feels about having it breathed into his ear, though.