17

"Shouyou!" Out of the corner he saw a tall figure approach him.

"Satou-san! It's been a long time since I last saw you!"

"Haha, I hope you've been well?" He said ruffling Hinata's messy orange hair. His smile was almost mesmerizing to Hinata.

Handsome. Hinata thought. The last time he saw him was many years ago and they were both young back then. Both had changed

"Satou-san, do you play volleyball?" Hinata asked curiously, staring with his eyes wide. Satou smiled.

"C'mon, I told you you could call me Noboru," He didn't like the formalities. "Why the sudden question?"

"I... wanna play volleyball,"

"But why so suddenly?"

"I was biking to school, and there was this big TV! There was this short player with dark hair and people called him the little giant?"

"Ah... him," Satou knew immediately.

"He was so cooool, and he jumped so high!" Hinata was as enthusiastic as ever and Satou's heart melted.

"I can teach you a bit of volleyball... if you want."

"You play!?" Hinata had no idea.

"Yeah, I'm not that good, but I was on my school team." Satou shrugged modestly.

"Please teach me Satou-san!" He almost said the senpai at the end of that.

"Of course." He motioned for Hinata to follow him. He brought him to an open field and took out his bag.

"You have a volleyball in there?"

"I was going to practice actually, so it was a coincidence that you asked about it."

"How do you even fit an entire ball inside a backpack?"

"I defy logic," Satou said winking. It wasn't intended to set Hinata's heart on fire, but as expected, it did. Satou was playful and it seemed normal to act this way around his friend but he had no idea that Hinata liked him.

He was so naive.

But so was Hinata.

"Think fast!" Satou chuckled as he threw the volleyball towards Hinata. For a second the ball flew towards him in slow motion. He had no idea what to do with his hands, but he remembered what he saw in the game.

He locked his arms together to form a recieve, as the ball came closer. Was he naturally talented at volleyball? Or was it just this easy?

He was dumbfounded as the ball bounced off his hands in the opposite direction. Hinata felt extremely discouraged at the moment as he looked up at Satou. But his friend was grinning good-naturally.

"It's okay, let's try again..."

Hinata's handsome family friend, Satou Noboru. It had been years since they last met. Satou's family had moved to another part of Japan, and the last time they visited they didn't even meet due to bad timing.

Did he miss him?

Not exactly.

Hinata wasn't sure what to do if he actually met him again. He wasn't really awkward, but naive to the world was for sure.

It was chilly today, as the sky was clouded up. The feeling of biking again was felt so nostalgic.  Everyone told him to take easy for a while, but there was no way he was going to do that.

He was late to arrive, unlike usual, where he was one of the first to arrive. He peeped into the window, to see his teammates working hard.

However, the atmosphere of the gym was tense, and everyone seemed nervous and unfocused.

Even Nishinoya's receives weren't as good as normal, Yamaguchi and Asahi's serves were inconsistent, and everyone was overall doing poorly.

They were so distracted that when Hinata first entered the gym nobody seemed to realize it was him. It took a few moments until Kiyoko suddenly pointed  out that Hinata was standing and watching.

"You're here!"

"Welcome back," Coach Ukai said with a warm smile. "How are you feeling?"

Before he had a chance to answer, the team showered him with hugs and friendly punches.

"Please pretend I'm just like you guys... and do well," Hinata begged. Watching his teammates not do well hurt him. It made his heart feel as if they literally broke in half despite being physically impossible.

"What do you mean?" they didn't seemed to notice that the team wasn't doing as well.

"Whatever..." Hinata said. The team would probably pull itself together.

But that didn't happen.

Spike misses, serves that hit the net, receives that went to who-knows-where.

Hinata wasn't the aggressive type but something about this triggered him.

"Listen up! Our next game is sooner than you think and if you all don't start working your asses off, all our hard work is gonna be for nothing! Look at me! I'm fine, okay? Please don't waste our potential, because you're worried about me!"

The team seemed completely oblivious until now. Hinata expected them all to be shocked at his tone. But slowly they grinned sheepishly.

"I-i'm s-sorry, I..."

Daichi smiled. "I never thought you had it in you to say that. You're really something... BUT DON'T SWEAR!"

"Alright alright," Hinata said grimacing at the captains change of tone. The cursing had slipped out in anger.

The tension seemed to lessen, and everyone loosened up. But they were still cautious and careful with Hinata, and he hated that.

He wanted to be treated seriously. Taken seriously. Coach Ukai told him not to do his laps today. Why? He wanted to do it.

When they spiked at him they seemed to be holding back. Hinata felt frustrated.

Finally- spiking practice. This is where he could finally unleash his abilities and let loose. It was the most satisfying and fun.

But would Kageyama do the quick with him?

Or would he avoid it, because he was scared too? He wouldn't back out of a challenge right? Kageyama never backed out of one.

But things were different now.

It was his turn to spike and he did his running approach, using 110% of his energy. As he jumped up heh turned towards Kageyama.

Time froze. He saw doubt and hesitation in his setters eyes. He tried pleading with him, using his eyes only. Could he tell how desperate he was?

The ball traveled in slow motion to his delicate hands and rocketed towards Hinata.

Perfection.

It was coming... and coming... and stopped, right where his hand was.

BAM.

The gym was silent for a moment, before erupting like a volcano.

He did it. They did it. He smiled and laughed with the team as they showered him with affection but as he looked up at Kageyama, his expression was stern and serious.

Immediately, Hinata felt the happiness sucked away from him.

As they continued practicing, he could feel them pulling themselves together again. This was their team. The team that he was part of, not the other one.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves- everyone but Kageyama. He looked troubled and worried. As the practice came to an end, his expression was the same all the way through.

Coach Ukai talked on about their strategies and gave a pep talk. Hinata wasn't really paying attention. He was thinking. Thinking about what went wrong. Did anything even go right?

"Kageyama-kun! Watch out!" the moment Kageyama turned around, Tanaka soaked him with a bucket of water.

"Where did that bucket come from?"

The bald second-year said, laughing. "Who cares?"

Eventually, everyone got their hands on some sort of container of water, and soaked Kageyama with it.

Kageyama was laughing though, and time slowed down once more. The water dripped from his hair down to his chin.

His eyes had pure joy in them.

His smile was bright and genuine.

His lips-

"Hinata are you okay?" Sugawara asked, worriedly.

"Hm?" he didn't even notice that he had been staring for too long.

"You're a bit..."

"Uh sorry," Hinata said, trying to hide his blush. "I'm... tired?"

"Already?" Wrong choice of words.

"I mean, I'm okay!"

"I knew we should't have worked so hard today-" the words he dreaded to hear.

"No, I'm fine!" Hinata insisted, trying to sound as believable as possible.

"You're hurt," Coach Ukai pointed out.

"I'm not!"

"Please just tell us if you're not feeling-"

"I said I'm not!" Hinata said almost too angrily. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay," Coach Ukai replied putting his hands up to stop him from continuing. "I understand. Well I guess we should wrap up for today. Everyone needs to contribute to cleaning up!"

"Excuse me."

"Oh... Iwaizumi-san, you're here," Kageyama said, his face softening.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," the third-year smiled warmly. "Could I borrow Kageyama-kun for a few moments?"

"Sure?" Takeda responded, unsure what to say.

The two walked further away from the rest of the team. As they talked, and laughed. They looked like two best friends, just having fun. The way that they looked at each other.

Hinata felt jealousy bubble up inside him.

"Would you trust me with your heart?"

Kageyama had said that once.

And it this moment Hinata would scream yes. He would yell it at the top of his lungs. If he could turn back time.

When Kageyama kissed him. When he broke Kageyama's heart. They all felt so long ago, but it was all recent.

He wanted to turn back time.

But as he watched Iwaizumi, he realized he couldn't.

A/N: I originally started writing this story to make myself feel better because I had hurt myself during volleyball practice, and I admired Hinata's determination. It inspired me to stay strong even if life was keeping me down. All the feelings come from personal experiences and feelings, so it was easy to write this story.

Someone asked me if I would post my story on Patreon or something to earn money and I'm like- who the heck would pay me to read this horrid story xD. But I'm literally fine with reading your amazing comments, it's like getting paid, but with love. <3