This was the result of my 750 followers fic raffle on tumblr. The winner was tumblr user foofypants02. They requested KageHina as adults. ~Breeze
- - - Manga spoiler warning - - -
Also, warning for alcohol use mention.
"Well, that was a good game," the Black Jackals setter complimented two of the Schweiden Adlers' wing spikers.
"That was awesome!" interjected a bouncing Jackals outside to echo the point.
"Today, we concede," replied one of the Adlers, in an uncommon show of humility.
A sprightlier spiker beside him shot a finger in the face of another Jackals player. "Next time, we're gonna win!"
Wincing suspiciously, the target of the short player's taunt grimaced. "Ew. Get this short thing away from me."
"Who are you calling short?!" wailed the Adlers player, and the rest of the group became a gaggle of laughter.
Hinata enjoyed the scene from afar, feeling quite serene after his victory today—so placid he almost didn't sense the Adlers setter who sauntered up beside.
"So, what'd you think of that?" Shouyou bragged to his former setter.
Kageyama chuckled deviously. "You don't get it, do you? You're in the big leagues now. One loss, one win—means nothing now."
Shouyou sneered. "Then I'll show you up next time too."
Kageyama smirked at first, but a thought flashed across his mind, and suddenly his visage became wistful.
"Hey. You want to go somewhere?"
The tires squealed for help when the car skidded into a parking space, Kageyama's bumper almost kissing the car in front of it. The sudden deceleration nigh strangled Shouyou with the seatbelt. In a panic, Hinata leaped out the passenger side door and kissed the ground lovingly.
"Who taught you to drive?! Tanaka's sister?!" he finally protested.
Kageyama shrugged while he pushed the driver's side door closed. "What's wrong with Tanaka's sister? She got us to Tokyo, didn't she?"
"You only say that cos you slept the whole time!" Shouyou groused.
Where they were snapped Hinata out of his anger, a familiar building affronting the parking lot.
Almost familiar. At some point in the intervening years, their old high school went through a reconstruction. Another gymnasium had been built on the heels of Karasuno's wildly successful volleyball club. While none of Kageyama and Hinata's successor squads achieved the heights of the school's three-year "Golden Age," it'd earned enough acclaim to boost the institution.
"Why'd you come here?"
Tobio only shrugged. The reunion with the man who'd changed Kageyama's trajectory—on top of an impromptu gathering with many of their high school teammates in the arena halls post-match—dug out some buried nostalgia. In any event, Tobio had felt the call to walk down memory lane with his former teammate.
"Wanna peek inside?" Kageyama asked.
"It's Saturday. It's locked," Hinata frowned.
Tobio jolted, having forgotten what day it was.
"You seriously thought we could come here and just waltz right in?!"
"As if you had any bright ideas on where to go!" Tobio snapped back on reflex.
"You didn't ask, Bakayama!"
Tobio jumped back. He'd hadn't heard that phrase in a while.
But far from being upset, he found it eerily comforting, like coming home.
"I thought I recognized that shouting," a genteel voice announced.
Kageyama and Hinata curiously beheld the blissful image of the man they recognized instantly, who had emerged from the very gym they presumed empty:
Ittetsu Takeda.
At the gym doorway, several young faces keenly viewed their coach conversing with the pair in the parking lot.
"Would you like to come inside?" Takeda invited.
The students gave the two pros a dichotomy of expressions. Half gawked in awe at coming face-to-face with their coaches' oft-bragged former students, whom they had only just seen earlier that day on the team field trip to watch the game. The other half knitted their eyebrows with skepticism, resigned to believing the clueless-looking adults were paid imposters.
"Are you two really Takeda-sensei's pupils?" one tall kid with the air of a teenage Kei Tsukishima said right away.
Assistant Coach Keishin Ukai flinched at the rude accusation. Takeda kept up a firm grin. There were more than a few in the squad who privately doubted their coaches ever taught someone as famous as Tobio Kageyama, but Takeda wasn't concerned about defending his sincerity.
The two visitors could easily vouch for themselves.
"I don't know," Takeda said to the skeptic before his guests responded to the jab. "Hinata, Kageyama, why don't you show the boys a quick?"
Tobio and Shouyou didn't expect that. Kageyama shrank. Tired from the match and having not practiced together in years, certainly Shouyou would not be primed to revive their old trademark on a dime. He cast his glance down, when a voice seemed to echo in his head.
"You're not gonna do it?"
Kageyama peered quickly at his former partner, positive it was a trick of the mind.
But Hinata's eyes locked onto his, beckoning.
"All right. I'm ready if you're ready, runt."
Hinata shivered eagerly.
They warmed up quickly, their hearts beating with excitement. Shouyou skipped onto the court, before the net.
He glanced sideways at Tobio, standing beside him in front of the net, not on opposite sides of it.
Kageyama set the ball up high. Shouyou dashed and leaped. The subsequent boom placated the naysayers.
Hinata gazed at the red imprint left by the impact on his hand.
He took a peek at Kageyama.
"Welcome home, runt," Tobio said. "Took you long enough."
Later, after the kids had all left, Kageyama and Hinata found themselves on the doorstep with their former coaches.
"I'm so very proud of you two," Takeda said, his words still as assuring as they always were. Then Ittetsu looked opportunistically at a somewhat withdrawn Keishin. "And Ukai wants to say a few words as well."
The cue took Keishin so much by surprise he choked.
"You continued coaching," said Kageyama, noting that Ukai had considered quitting after the freak duo's retirement.
"Well, yeah," Keishin coyly evaded, "I couldn't just leave this school behind when we were on such a roll. And, I guess, when I saw so much how you boys overcame, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride that I had something to do with it…."
"You both did, and we're grateful that," Kageyama interrupted, surprising Hinata who quickly nodded his agreement.
And then the pair bowed in unison: "Thank you!"
The four adults chatted until Takeda and Ukai bid their farewells. (It was Ukai's automobile that Tobio almost slammed into.) When Kageyama's was the last car in the lot, Hinata caught Tobio staring into the sky.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked, though clearly not ready himself.
Shouyou shook his head. "Let's walk."
The stroll took the pair through the streets they traversed as teens. Things had changed, some remained the same. New stores replaced old stores. A restaurant now stood on a once weedy lot. The supermarket was doing more business. The slow trudge of growth left its footprint on the landscape.
They saw children in a playground, a spot they remember from high school days but never paid much mind to. One of the kids wore a Schweiden Adlers jersey.
"They'll be wearing your jersey soon too," Kageyama said. "The kids in Takeda-sensei's team really liked you…."
The longtime pro in Japan, Kageyama received the greater attention from the high school club. His young fans blessed him with awe and deference.
But not unnoticed by Tobio, several gravitated to Hinata. They found the relative newcomer warm and accepting. Tobio didn't much like the spotlight; Hinata would blossom in it.
"They're still going to appreciate you," Shouyou. "Setters are really cool."
Tobio couldn't believe those words came out of the shorter man's mouth.
But not one to declare a total truce, Hinata smirked devilishly. "Of course, they're going to love me more, because I don't look like an oni."
Shouyou skipped ahead, cackling.
"You take that back!" Kageyama yelled and took off after him.
At first it was a pursuit, but Kageyama's strides gradually gained on the shorter male. Soon they were side-by-side, glaring at each other competitively. They forgot the reason for their sprint, and it soon became a race. With no idea where they were headed or how far, they ran on…
…like old times.
The sun set behind the mountains, and then the pair had a jolt of reality in their brains and froze in place.
They were on a street somewhere, unsure of the path back to the school and Kageyama's car.
"Where are we?" Hinata asked. Kageyama read the sign above the street: "Wakono 3-chome."
They recognized the neighborhood name. Here was the spot they encountered Wakatoshi Ushijima in their first year.
"This is where we met Ushiwaka!" Shouyou cried.
"Are you looking for me?" a familiar voice questioned. As stiff as they had been all those years ago, the pair nervously ticked their heads to view the ominous speaker.
But not just Ushijima stood there. A blackout drunk Sakusa had his arm slung over Atsumu Miya's shoulder to be held upright. Bokuto's cheeks flushed red, but he marched vigorously, whistling a tune in his own world. Ushijima appeared as stone-faced as when he was sober, but carried piggyback-style was Hoshiumi, so drunk he was snoring. Evidently the post-match celebrating had gotten intense.
"Yo! Shou and Kage-chan!" Bokuto squealed raucously.
"Thank goodness!" Atsumu screeched. "We need your car to transport these idiots." The zombielike form of Sakusa groaned and nearly dragged the setter down to the ground.
Kageyama and Hinata looked at each other.
"Do you know where the car is?" Tobio asked.
After a moment of silence, they both began to chuckle until they were holding their bellies in laughter.
Miya snarled. "Ushijima, I'm calling a taxi. I spent all my money. Got cash?"
"I only brought enough cash for the drinks to ensure I would remain in shape for practice tomorrow," Wakatoshi said matter-of-factly. Bokuto yelled hello to some crows flying overhead. Sakusa moaned grouchily at the ruckus giving him a headache.
"Useless!" Atsumu screamed. "You're all useless!"
Shouyou and Tobio continued laughing without a care.
For everything that had changed, the pair felt remarkably at ease.
Anyone who reads, hope you enjoyed. Leave a review if you liked it! ~Breeze