Author's Notes: Chapter 3! This one took me a bit but I'm really liking the direction that it's going. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 2: Of Rivals and Bonds
Tobio stared at the closed gym doors with disbelief. He could not believe what just happened. Stupid Hinata just had to challenge him, and he just had to be so unbelievably awful at receiving that the ball not only hit his face but managed to hit the vice principal in the head, knocking off his toupee.
They were lucky that they got off with only a warning from him, but Daichi, who they now knew was the captain of the volleyball team, didn't let them off Scott free. Oh no, they were promptly kicked out and told to not come back until they figure out how to get along. Tobio glared at the gapping ginger next to him.
"Nice going dumbass. Because of you we can't join the team!" Tobio couldn't help but scold. Hinata practically growled at him.
"How is it my fault? You're the one that was serving the ball!" Tobio rolled his eyes.
"And you're the idiot that couldn't receive it." Hinata seemed to deflate a little at that.
"Still not my fault." He grumbled, pouting. Tobio sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to calm down. Truthfully the fault lied with both of them, both of them not being mature enough to handle the disagreement properly.
He probably wouldn't have challenged you if you hadn't been a jerk, his mind added, and Tobio reluctantly agreed. While he was purposefully egging Hinata on, his only intention was to inspire him to do better but as usually it came out as an insult and if he was being honest with himself could definitely have waited for another time.
Tobio took a deep breath, willing those inner thoughts away before looking back at Hinata. "I'm sorry."
Hinata reeled back at that, his eyes going impossibly wide. Evidently he didn't expect him to apologize so easily and with the rumors that Tobio knew were going around about him he honestly couldn't fault him for thinking that way. Especially after the shit show that was the last game he was in.
He put a halt to that thought as soon as it had come. Tobio swore to himself that he would never talk or even think about what happened. The only thing he would think about was bettering himself so that would never happen again. To do that, he knew he had to apologize first.
"I provoked you." He said, his eyes downcast. He didn't wait for a reply before lifting his head, locking eyes with Hinata. "I'm not gonna take back what I said though. If you want to be the big player that you want to be, you need to work on the basics, especially receiving."
Hinata seemed to be contemplating what he was saying, and Tobio felt relieved that at least this time he was able to clearly communicate this time. He looked at the ball in his hands before looking determinedly at Tobio.
"Teach me." Tobio was floored. Did this kid seriously want to work with him after everything that just went down?
"What?" Tobio grunted as Hinata shoved the volleyball into his stomach. He took it, but gave a weak glare for the surprise.
"Teach me." Hinata repeated. "You're right, I do want to be the best player I can be, but I don't know a lot, and I know that about myself at least." He said, casting his eyes down so that Tobio could no longer see his face. "In middle school, there was no volleyball club, so I had to make do with what I had around me. I played with the girls team when I could, I practiced against a wall by myself when I couldn't. That game we played against each other? That was me asking a bunch of my friends for a favor. I was the only actual 'member' on that team."
Tobio wasn't surprised to hear that his old team members didn't actually play volleyball, it was made clear by the way that they played during the match. He did however feel for Hinata. It's no wonder he never learned the basics and ran on almost pure instinct alone. He remembered what the girl's volleyball club was like at his old middle school so he can imagine that the times the team at Hinata's middle school were few and far between. He could say without a doubt that if he were in Hinata's position and there were no team he probably would have done just about anything to be able to play. He had to give it to Hinata for being able to bring a team together and dedicate himself the way he did, even when he had little to no resources.
"I…" Hinata hesitated, and Tobio swore he saw him blush "I know I have a lot to learn and you…. You know a lot about volleyball and stuff, so…" Now Tobio was sure that Hinata was blushing because despite not being able to see the majority of Hinata's face, he could clearly see his ears which were now red.
Tobio stared at him. He knew that Hinata had a ton of potential, if only given the proper guidance. The real question now was could Tobio be the one to provide that for him?
It was no secret that he was terrible with people, he often came off so dry and blunt it made him sound annoyed all the time. He'd tried in the past to change the way his voice came out but it apparently only made it worse and people had avoided him that entire day. He had never really successfully had a good conversation with someone other than his grandpa.
Tobio was about to tell him no but then Hinata lifted his head and looked at him. The blush was still in full force, and the look on his face made it obvious he was embarrassed, but looking into his eyes Tobio saw the determination and resolve in them, which made him pause.
Maybe… Maybe he could do this, if it was Hinata? He had already interacted with Tobio and had seen how lousy his social skills were and they had already gotten into a fight about it and in all honesty Tobio had fully expected him to walk away and never talk to him again. Yet, here he was, apparently having accepted his apology and was now asking him for help, Tobio, of all the people he could ask. If Hinata was willing to put himself out there like that, then maybe Tobio could reach out and meet him halfway.
"Okay." Tobio finally said. Hinata sighed in relief. Reluctantly, Tobio continued. "But, I'm not really… Good with people, so I might say things wrong, and I…" Tobio stopped, starting to feel more and more uncomfortable. He hated not knowing what to do. Hinata gave him a blinding smile and shoved his shoulder playfully.
"Yeah, you kinda suck at socializing, don't you Grumpyama?" Hinata snickered, evidently proud of the nickname that he had come up with. Tobio glared at him but that just made Hinata's smile grow wider into a full on grin. "But I mean it's not like you're a monster, you're just dumb." Hinata cackled at his joke before wincing when Tobio grabbed the top of his head roughly.
"You are the last person that gets to call me that dumbass." Tobio growled, but Hinata just laughed harder and stole the volleyball out of Tobio's other hand and bolted, turning back to him when he was a good 10 feet from him.
"Come on Grouchyama, teach me how to receive!" he hollered. Students that were still loitering on the grounds gawked at him, but Hinata paid no mind as he waved at Kageyama to follow him.
"Idiot, the park is the other way!" Tobio shouted back. Hinata scratched the back of his head sheepishly before zooming past Tobio again in the other direction. Or at least he tried but Tobio caught him by the collar of his shirt, effectively stopping him in his tracks. Hinata looked back at him curiously, Making Tobio sigh. This is gonna be a long night. "How about you follow me to the park since you don't know the way?"
Hinata pouted but nodded in agreement. Tobio let him go and began walking in the correct direction. Hinata followed, only leaving his side for a moment to grab his bike from the rack to take with them.
The entire way there Hinata chattered away to Tobio's left, talking about whatever came to his mind, which was mostly volleyball at first, which he could contribute to those subjects. Or rather, he tried. Hinata blazed through subjects faster than Tobio was used to. He was surprised to find that that didn't really bother him that much, and that he was honestly glad something was there to fill the silence. The quiet he had come accustomed to was, for the moment, overtaken by an overzealous, red-headed idiot. Tobio smirked at that last thought. As if reading his mind, Hinata suddenly stopped everything to glare at him.
"Why do I get the feeling that you were thinking something really rude just now?" Hinata inquired, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Tobio couldn't help but chuckle at that before walking past him, stuffing his hands casually in his pockets.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He couldn't help but tease, the smirk never leaving his face.
Hinata pointed an accusing finger at him. "I knew it!"
Tobio's smirk widened and he let slip a small chuckle. He missed the look that Hinata gave him at the sound, too busy guiding him over to the best spot in the park to practice in. He dropped his bag and pulled the volleyball back out before turning back to Hinata. "Ready to get down to work?"
Hinata had an unreadable expression on his face before he marched determinedly over to Tobio, stopping so that they were a good distance apart. He crouched into a ready position before nodding his head. "Bring it!"
Tobio nodded back, holding the ball in front of him to spike down before he took a good look at Hinata's form. He sighed and walked over to him. Hinata eyed him curiously before giving a surprise yelp as Tobio manhandled him until he was in the proper receiving stance. Tobio stood back and checked the form again before walking back into his spot to get ready to spike again. He paused when he saw the question clearly printed on his face.
"Uh…" He trailed off, waiting for Tobio to say something. It was then that Tobio remembered that he was there to teach, not order. Hinata wouldn't learn the right way if he didn't know why he was wrong.
"Your stance was weak. You had your legs too close together which makes your balance shaky. You need your legs wider and bent farther down to give you the stability to follow through with the receive correctly so you can guide the ball in the direction that you want it to go." Tobio said matter of factly. Hinata nodded in understanding before getting back into the position that Tobio had placed him. Tobio nodded in approval before tossing the ball up and spiking it, being sure to hit it with medium strength so Hinata had a better chance of catching it.
Hinata braced himself and shifted his arms forward to receive, but the ball bounced off of his arms and smacked him in the face, much like it had earlier in the gym. Tobio sighed and shook his head. He jogged over to the ball to grab it before approaching Hinata again.
"You keep breaking your form too soon." He said. At Hinata's blank look he hesitated, trying to come up with the words to explain it better. "When you put your arms out to receive, they need to be held out farther in front of you. When you first put them out you have a good position but instead of meeting the ball with the force of your body you're trying to follow it." Hinata nodded, waiting for him to continue, "Keep your eyes forward, get a feel for how the ball is rotating and use your whole body to guide it to the direction you need it to go."
"Um, can you show me how you do it first? I'm a little lost…" Hinata admitted. Tobio nodded and tossed Hinata the ball before walking back to his previous position, squatting slightly in his receiving stance. Hinata spiked the ball over to him, but the aim was a little off. Tobio saw that it was going to lilt to the right a bit so he leaned to his right, angling his shoulders so that the ball would fly back to Hinata. He felt the satisfying smack on his arms before the ball soared back to Hinata, right into his waiting arms. Hinata looked at the ball in wonder. Tobio walked over again so that he could walk through the steps again.
"You see how the ball went right?" Hinata nodded again. "Since it was fading in that direction, I had to reposition my arms to catch it, but you don't want your entire body to face that direction, otherwise it will just go out of bounds. You need to use the angle of your shoulders and hips to guide the ball in the right direction, and that's why you saw me drop my left shoulder."
"Ooohhh." Tobio nearly sighed in relief. To be completely honest he kinda pulled that explanation out of nowhere. He never really thought about how to explain things since he'd been playing for so long that these things were pretty much second nature to him, so he often forgot that people don't walk in already knowing this. Maybe that was his problem at Kitagawa. Granted, back then people didn't really want to be around him, let alone listen to him explain things, but it's not like he went out of his way to explain what he was trying to say thoroughly in the first place. But now that he had someone who was willing to be patient with him enough to let him understand said person enough to know how to guide him, he found that getting the right result was easy.
"Ouch!" Hinata winned, rubbing his abused cheek with his hand as the ball rolled off to the side.
Well, sort of.
Tobio tried not to laugh at Hinata for managing to injure himself again with the ball. "Dude, you gotta learn how to not receive the ball with your face."
Hinata glared weakly at him before stomping off to grab the ball again. He returned quickly and handed the ball over again with a pout before getting back into position. Tobio tossed it up again and spiked it, cursing in his head when the wind picked up and carried the ball further than intended.
"Go long Hinata, the wind caught it!" He warned. Hinata nodded, not looking away from the ball as he backed up about to turn back around to get the ball but he accidentally ran into someone, who easily caught the ball above his head. Hinata stared at the hand, startled before whipping around to see who had caught it. Tobio tilted his head curiously, wondering what this blonde kid was doing.
"Ah, so you're the two who caused so much trouble on the first day." The boy said with a smirk. Hinata gave him a startled look before backing up a few paces warily, eying the newcomer warily. Tobio narrowed his eyes, his gut telling him this guy was trouble.
"Who the heck are you?" Hinata said rudely, pointing a finger at him. The blonde's smirk only widened.
"Isn't it too late for school children to be out playing?" He inquired, his tone flat. Hinata's nose flared in annoyance before marching over to him and tried to get the ball back from him. But the guy was too tall and easily held the ball out of Hinata's reach. Hinata stomped his food in frustration. His honey colored eyes turned to Tobio then, the condescending look making him stiffen.
"I have to say, I was rather surprised to hear who had decided to grace us with his presence then proceed to immediately get kicked off the next day. Then again after hearing what happened at your last school, I shouldn't have been surprised at all, should I have been." He inquired haughtily. Tobio froze. "After all, you are the 'King of the Court'."
Tobio felt his hands start to shake subtly, the fear clawing its way into his stomach. He had barely even started at this school and he already had people who recognized him from middle school, but now there was someone who seemed to know all that went down? What if he was on the team too?
Tobio gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly, refusing to show this guy any form of weakness in front of anyone, especially someone who was intentionally trying to rile him up.
"I'm gonna really enjoy beating you two in the three on three. Still, it's a real shame that our team got stuck with such a dictator." Tobio felt his blood go cold. His hands shook harder, and his breathing became slightly labored, but he did everything he could to hold it back. If he had already ruined his chance at a fresh start then like hell was he going to let this asshole know how much he was really getting to him.
Before he could say anything though, Hinata was flying in the air, snatching the ball right out of the guy's hand. Both Tobio and the blond stared at him as he landed. Hinata stood tall then and glared at him. "Listen jerk, I don't know who you are but my name is Hinata Shoyo, and Kageyama and I are going to beat you."
The blond snorted at that "Sure you will shrimp. My name's Tsukishima Kei, and I look forward to seeing how this will turn out." Tsukishima said, going to walk away but paused, giving Tobio a sidelong look "See you around, King."
Tobio shot him a heated glare before walking away as well, bending down to pick up his bag. He didn't bother to listen to the rest of the conversation as a new person had approached Hinata, someone named Yamaguchi Tadashi, another first year apparently. Tobio threw his water bottle into his bag and zipped it up, having every intention of walking straight home when a hand grabbed him by the elbow.
Without thinking he swung around, about to lay into the person only to realize it was Hinata. The sudden move made him flinch, making Tobio feel immediately guilty for nearly taking out his frustration on him.
"Sorry." He muttered under his breath, not meeting Hinata's eyes. Hinata shook his head, giving Tobio a determined look.
"We're gonna crush them next week." He declared, handing the ball over to Tobio. Hesitantly Tobio took it, shoving it into his bag.
"Yeah." he grunted, not really knowing what to say, and frankly not having the energy to carry a conversation, let alone form a full sentence.
"I don't really get what Suckyshima was talking about," Hinata continued, and Tobio fought the smile that threatened to overtake his face at the nickname Hinata had already come up with, "But don't worry about what he thinks. Worry about what I think."
Tobio raised his eyebrow at that, wondering what Hinata was getting at. Hinata huffed and slung his backpack over his shoulder.
"We may not know each other really well, but what I do know is that you aren't a jerk, nor are you a dictator. You're blunt and demanding, but I think it's just cause you're so bad with people that you have no idea how to interact with them in a pleasant fluffy way like a lot of people do. Instead of beating around the bush, you, uh, beat through the bush? Whatever, the point is you may come off mean but you're actually nice, it's just hard to tell since you yell and accidentally say things that sound mean."
Tobio didn't know whether to throttle him or hug him. He was floored to say the least. How in the hell had Hinata picked up on that so quickly? How did he know what Tobio was getting at a lot of the time and seemed more than willing to try to understand him? He managed to see right through him and they had barely interacted in a day's worth of time. Tobio wouldn't say that he was nice, but he really did try his best to be friendly, he just…. Well… Sucked at it. As much as he hated to admit it.
Hinata was staring at him expectantly, and Tobio was at a loss for words, having no idea how to follow words that were so kind. He shuffled on his feet, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Uh, thanks, I guess."
Hinata sighed in what sounded like frustration. "Really Bakayama? I say all those nice things and all you can say is thanks? This is usually the part where you say how awesome I am. Feel free to throw in some compliments at my improving receiving skills." Hinata said, and it was then that Tobio saw the subtle smile that alluded to the fact that Hinata was, for the most part, kidding. Tobio couldn't help but return it with a smirk of his own.
"How is continuously receiving with your face improving?" He said, smirk widening at Hinata's indignant huff.
"Well excuse me for not being as gifted as you. Not all of us are blessed with voodoo volleyball powers." Tobio couldn't help but laugh at that.
"Or you know, I just practiced a lot and got better, but sure." He said through the chuckles. Hinata stuck his tongue out at him before laughing along with him.
Tobio suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his left wrist and he watched in fascination as a black band formed around his wrist, Hinata's initials embedded in the band. He turned to Hinata who was staring at his wrist in wonder. For a second Tobio panicked when he saw Hinata's matching platonic bondmark, remembering vividly how his true soulmates had felt when their mark formed, but that fear immediately went away when Hinata smiled brightly at him.
"Well, I guess this means we're gonna be friends." Hinata said with a happy giggle, waving his own left wrist to show off his own mark. Tobio felt a blush creeping up his neck but shoved it down in favor of a smirk.
"Ew." He said, laughing when Hinata growled at him and smacked his chest in punishment.
"Shut up, you're lucky I can put up with you, Grouchyama."
"I can't say the same for me." Tobio found himself saying. He had no idea where these comebacks were coming from, and apparently neither did Hinata because he let out a surprised snort.
"Did I say Grouchyama? I meant Snarkyama." Hinata said with a laugh. "Who knew you could be so sassy?"
Tobio shrugged. "I didn't know either."
Hinata laughed harder, having to stop walking in order to catch his breath between giggles. "You really are a dummy."
Tobio smacked him upside the head for that, getting a weak glare in return. Tobio merely smirked at him and continued on. They walked home as they walked to the park; talking the entire time - Well, Hinata talked the entire time, but this time Tobio tried to make more of an effort to contribute to the conversation.
As Tobio waved to Hinata as he went in the opposite direction to get home, he felt his heart grow a little lighter. He looked back down at the newly formed band on his left arm, feeling a soft smile form on his face.
Maybe Karasuno really is my second chance.