Inspired by a needing to write a Christmas gift fic for Underdog Hero and the fact that I don't really celebrate Christmas. Number eleven is from a Drama CD that I felt obligated to mention.
1.
It started a week and a half before Christmas, when Yachi fell too deep in the holiday spirit and nearly drowned. She made cookies – first for her family, then her classmates, then the team, until Kiyoko told her to stop until the sleep-deprived, sugar coma induced bags under her eyes disappeared.
Although Kageyama was slightly disappointed upon learning he'd been cut off, he knew it was for the best.
2.
Now that the season had officially begun, Tanaka, Noya, and Asahi joined forces to produce an improve comedy play celebrating the holiday. This ordeal was important enough that it apparently mandated canceling practice, which put Kageyama in a sour mood at first. When nobody, including the captain or the coach, complained, Kageyama resorted to crossing his arms and glaring.
In the play, Asahi was Jesus and Tanaka was Buddha, and they were teaming up to save Christmas. Noya, as far as Kageyama could tell, existed solely to be an obstacle. The nonsense wasn't much different than usual, but after a while, Kageyama managed to forget about the sole volleyball net serving as a backdrop.
He also scowled twice as hard as anyone when Sugawara clapped his hands at the end and cheerily announced, "Great work, you three! But Buddha never celebrated Christmas, and Christmas was originally a pagan holiday, so neither did Jesus."
3.
Even though the play was surprisingly good, hearing Daichi say they had to work twice as hard at their next practice to make up for slacking off was a much better holiday gift.
4.
Kageyama was not accustomed to waking up to text messages in the morning. The rush of excitement quickly faded, however, once he opened it:
"Hey hey HEY" was written on the subject line so obnoxiously that somehow Kageyama, who struggled to remember faces no matter how hard he tried, read the words like they were being personally narrated by Bokuto in his room.
Because Kageyama is still unused to texting, it took him several minutes to tap out a reply – something along the lines of "how do you know my phone number", but with an obscene number of question marks and a few equally obscene words to match.
None of this mattered, because Akaashi only bothered replying to the parts Kageyama hadn't said. "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!"
It was nice, but even more confusing. Kageyama repeated his previous message in a slightly calmer manner.
5.
He never did learn how Akaashi got his phone number, and instead received a similar and equally perplexing message from Kuro the next day. This time, a photo of a cat in a Christmas hat was attached, leading Kageyama to suspect this might be a prank of some kind.
Kageyama sent a message back asking what cats had to do with Christmas, and never received a reply.
6.
When Hinata forgot his homework at school again, Kageyama was the first nominee for delivery duty. He usually was, for some reason.
Only a few minutes later, he was successfully goaded into the job by Coach Ukai and something about "Christmas spirit".
7.
Natsu answered the door instead of Hinata or their mom, all jitters and twitches after eating twice her weight in candy canes. Kageyama, who had know way of knowing this, was trying to remember if the symptoms of rabies were the same in humans as they were in dogs (those reddish pinks streaks on her face could have been blood, probably).
He was eventually rescued by Hinata, but not before admitting he'd never really celebrated Christmas before and was dragged inside to see the tree Natsu and her family had decorated. They spent half an hour watching Christmas specials before Hinata noticed he was there, collected his twice forgotten homework, and gently chided Natsu for making the setter watch "cartoons that were meant for babies".
Kageyama made his irritation very clear – if that movie was for babies, why was it so damn good?
8.
The team enjoyed the first batch of cookies so much, Yachi decided to make a second batch. This time, Kiyoko helped.
Sugawara deemed it a Christmas miracle when Tanaka and Noya managed to not die. A gift exchanged was promptly scheduled to celebrate, and they all drew names out of a hate before going home that evening.
9.
Later, on the way to the local department store to purchase a gift for the aforementioned exchange, Oikawa kidnapped his phone. Under normal circumstances, it absolutely would've remained in his pocket, but if his mom had suddenly decided she wanted cheese while he was out and Kageyama came home without cheese, there'd be trouble. He'd barely even glanced at his phone when Oikawa swooped in from behind, racing through a handful of button presses and into Kageyama's mostly unused camera app.
The next thing Kageyama knew, he was staring at a picture of his own dumbstruck face next to Oikawa's smug smile.
"Consider it an early Christmas gift." That irritating, tight-lipped grin was stuck on Oikawa's real face too. "That your kind, charitable upperclassman gave you his photo!"
Since Oikawa had never given him a Christmas gift before, he almost appreciated it.
10.
"I would delete that if I were you," Iwaizumi offered, a few steps behind his idiot captain as always. "In fact, I can delete it for you."
Iwaizumi had never given him a Christmas gift before either.
11.
At the gift exchange on Christmas Eve, Kageyama didn't say much. He received a pair of socks from Sugawara, gave Tanaka a new jockstrap, and sang a line from "Jingle Bells" when it was his turn to sing. Tanaka didn't too enthusiastic about his present, but Hinata thought it was an amazing gift - so obviously it wasn't the gift's fault. If Kiyoko had given it to him, he would've acted like it were the best Christmas gift ever.
Overall, the gift exchange wasn't a bad experience.
12.
During their first practice after Christmas break, Hinata took one look at Kageyama and suddenly paled.
"Guys, didn't Kageyama have a birthday around this time of year also?"
