Rating:

General

Category:

M/M

Fandom:

Haikyuu!!

Relationship:

Oikawa/Hinata

Tags:

drunkfic

Stats:

Posted on:

2016-01-01

Words:

3,577

In a lot of circumstances, Tooru would think that he was better at this, encountering people who admired him.

Shorty – Hinata – would never cease to surprise him.

“Can I practice with you?” was what Hinata was asking right now. Tooru found it ridiculous, honestly.

“Don’t you have your own setter?” Tooru sneered.

Hinata pouted, and then frowned. Tooru did his best to try not to find it adorable. “Yeah, but Kageyama’s mad at me right now,” he mumbled, shuffling his foot on the ground. “We got into a fight.”

Tooru thought back to just a couple of days ago, when Tobio had asked him for setting advice. Maybe it was trouble in paradise, or maybe they just had terrible communication skills. Tooru wouldn’t put it past them, though Hinata was definitely headstrong enough to say what he was thinking – it was likely Tobio’s fault. Tooru snorted inwardly to himself.

“I suppose this had something to do with him asking me about setting according to you the other day,” he said to Hinata.

Hinata’s eyes went wide. “What? Kageyama went to you for help?”

“Tobio likes to think he’s in control.” Tooru waved a hand. “But setting isn’t just about conducting, it’s about aiming for your spikers’ needs, as well.”

“Exactly!” Hinata exclaimed, though he didn’t really look like he knew what he was talking about. He seemed like he just wanted to agree with Tooru.

Still, it wasn’t an unpersuasive argument. “What exactly do you need, Shorty?” Tooru asked, peering down at him.

Hinata tried to meet his eyes, though he cowered a bit. He adjusted his backpack over his shoulder. “I just want a setter to practice with,” he mumbled. “I can’t practice with Kageyama, and I’m afraid if I practice with Suga-san he’ll say something to Kageyama, and.” Hinata shivered. “Kageyama’s scary when he’s mad.”

“He probably wouldn’t be mad at you,” Tooru said reasonably. “But we’re on different teams. Are you sure?”

Hinata nodded. “Definitely!”

—

So somehow, Tooru found himself setting for the tiny Karasuno spiker (and soon-to-be ace) that afternoon, before Hinata had mentioned off-hand how terrible his receives were, and Tooru demanded for him to practice those with him, too. Hinata’s receives were truly terrible and Tooru cringed half the time. The other half was spent laughing at Hinata and trying not to find him too adorable.

Hinata was loud and Tooru knew these types of people, knew the kind of person Hinata was. Hinata didn’t fail to surprise him, though, when he accidentally spiked a ball into a tree and shouted, “I’ll get it!” or desperately attempted to meet Tooru’s serves ball by ball, even though he missed every single one.

“If you don’t try improving your technique, you’ll never get it,” Tooru told him.

“I’ll get it,” Hinata told him, determinedly.

And then when they were done, they walked back together, Hinata clutching onto his volleyball and breathless, Tooru panting a bit too and trying not to be in too much awe of Hinata’s bullheadedness. He was from Karasuno; they were going to be their ultimate rivals in the spring highs, after Shiratorizawa. And Hinata, after Kageyama, was going to be their biggest threat.

Tooru couldn’t stop himself from noticing the fierce determination in Hinata’s eyes as they walked back.

“You’re really good, grand king,” Hinata managed between his breathes.

Tooru chuckled. “Call me Oikawa-san,” he told him.

“Oikawa-san,” Hinata said instead.

It sent a weird tingle down Tooru’s spine.

“Shorty,” Tooru said. “Hasn’t anyone told you about rivals? Not playing with the enemy?”

Hinata met his eyes and shrugged. “But rivals should play against each other, shouldn’t they?” he said. “So they know what they’re up against, and how much they should improve.”

Hinata was right, Tooru knew, and he shouldn’t have been surprised as he found himself being. They’d played against Shiratorizawa for years and lost, but Tooru had never once felt discouraged from trying to beat them, from trying to reach a goal past them.

“That is true,” he admitted.

Hinata looked up at him, and smiled. “You know, grand – Oikawa-san,” he said. “I don’t think you’re as bad as they say you are.”

“And how bad do they say I am?”

Hinata turned away and blushed. “I dunno,” he said. “I’m not – You’re just nice, that’s all!” His cheeks went even redder. “Well, nicer than they say.”

“Who is they?” Tooru teased.

Hinata paused for a second, before, “No one, really.” He was mumbling. “I thought you would be – ”

“Meaner?” Tooru offered.

Hinata shrugged, not meeting his eyes.

“Well, I’ll tell you what, Hinata-kun,” said Tooru. The use of Hinata’s name must’ve shocked him, because Hinata’s head shot up. “I will set for you if you ever ask me to. I know we’re not teammates, but I can recognize talent when I see it.” He tilted his head to the side. “And it’s hard not to see talent, when it comes to you.”

It took Hinata a full minute to react: his hands froze at the handles of his bikes, and he bowed down almost ninety degrees exactly. “Thank you!” he said to Tooru, a bit too loud.

Tooru laughed. “I think you’re going on the right path, if what Tobio told me is correct,” he said. “That you want to spike on your own accord. I think you can do it.”

Hinata reddened. “I think you can – um – beat Shiratorizawa, too!”

“Not if we don’t beat you first,” Tooru said fondly. His chest did a strange squeezing thing at Hinata’s words. “I had fun practicing with you, today.”

“I look forward to next time,” Hinata said, before they parted their ways.

*

It was strange; Tooru didn’t usually practice with other teams on his own, much less individual opponents he was bound to face off. Maybe if he’d practiced with Ushiwaka he would’ve gotten used to his spikes, though in all fairness he highly doubted Ushiwaka would’ve wanted to practice with him. In fact, he couldn’t really think of any sane rival who’d want to practice with him and him alone, one-on-one.

Hinata was unlike any other – he was small, but he was like a thunderclap on the court, always surprising, nearly never failing to succeed. It was the natural talent, Tooru couldn’t help thinking bitterly – but he was a spiker, which made it even more fascinating. Tooru had always seen the court from a setter’s perspective, sending direction to the other players more than anything. Hinata’s overwhelming trust of his setters was what made him formidable – that he wanted the setters to trust him, too, was even more intimidating.

Tooru spent the next week and a half (or so) rewatching Karasuno games, watching how Hinata played. He could see the dependency that Hinata put in Tobio; he wondered vaguely what it would be like to have that turned on himself. To have Hinata expect, demand the best from himself.

Tooru could provide it.

Hinata didn’t come to him anymore after that first day, presumably because of his own team’s training camp. Tooru managed to ask around enough though to find the site of Karasuno’s camp, which was in Tokyo, along with several other formidable opponents, Nekoma and Fukurodani. Tooru didn’t go, though on the weekend he waited outside Karasuno high school where they bussed to and from.

Everyone looked surprised to see him there. Tooru didn’t blame them, though he merely greeted, “Hello Karasuno!” glancing at them from face to face, trying to find Hinata.

Hinata trickled out from the back, too long from behind Kageyama – Tooru assumed they were still fighting – with a small, blonde haired girl Tooru had never seen before. Hinata’s eyes went comically wide.

“Shorty!” Tooru said.

Hinata’s eyes got even wider.

“Oikawa-san,” Hinata said. “Um. Were you looking for me?”

Tooru decided to be honest. “You didn’t follow up with our practice last week,” he said, tutting. “I was hoping we’d have another.”

Hinata eyed him carefully. “You were hoping?”

“I want to see if I can do that freak quick with you,” Tooru said. “After all, I am more experienced than Tobio, aren’t I?”

He winked at Tobio, who was gawking at them, and Sawamura, whose fixated glare on Tooru grew even harder.

“Leave him alone,” he told Tooru.

“No, Daichi-san, it’s.” Hinata chewed on his bottom lip. “It’s okay,” he decided. “I’m okay. I trust Oikawa-san.”

Sawamura looked hesitant. “Are you sure?”

Hinata met Tooru’s eyes, who returned a large smile. “I’m sure,” Hinata said.

Sawamura nodded, before moving everyone else along. The other Karasuno team members were passing them warily, though Tooru didn’t particularly care as long as Hinata didn’t.

“I didn’t think you would actually, um,” said Hinata, once they were alone. “Care.”

Tooru raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah, I – ”

Hinata shook his head, then lifted his chin up again. “We should practice,” he said to Tooru. “If that’s what we’re going to do.”

Tooru grinned, tightening his grip on his volleyball against his waist. “Of course,” he said.

*

Playing with Hinata was surprisingly – unsurprising. Hinata shrieked whenever he did something wrong, but was absolutely ecstatic when he did something right – it took him ages to receive Tooru’s serve properly, and even when he did for the first time, he knew that Tooru had flubbed it and called him out on it. Tooru supposed he only deserved that; he didn’t know why he had gone easy on Hinata in the first place that time, anyway. It was just Hinata.

But it wasn’t, when Hinata came back to one of their one-on-one matches again and said, “Kageyama and I did our perfect quick attack today!” and Tooru felt something hot twist in his gut, something that he didn’t want to address.

He didn’t say anything about it, though. Instead he replied, “Congratulations,” and smiled, trying to make it feel genuine.

Hinata nodded, bouncing his volleyball. “It was really cool,” he said. “I think we can get it, too.”

That made Tooru’s chest flip. He didn’t address that, either.

The funny thing about Hinata was that his energy was contagious, sending Tooru home in better moods, or at least louder moods, when Iwaizumi dragged him to his house for summer homework and Tooru found himself thinking aloud more often than he would, usually. Tooru enjoyed his presence more than he would like to admit. Tooru didn’t often admit that he enjoyed anyone’s presence outside of his team’s, so it was weird to think about.

When the school year started again, Tooru fully expected for them to depart and continue on with their team practices, amid their actual schoolwork. So Tooru said, “Give me your number – we can email each other whenever we’re free.”

“Oh.” Hinata looked embarrassed. “I – I’m usually not free, I’m either at volleyball or I’m studying.”

“I am, too,” said Tooru, raising his eyebrows. “What, don’t tell me you’re an idiot.”

“I’m not an idiot!” Hinata said indignantly. And then, “Well, maybe I’m not good at schoolwork, but Kageyama’s the one who calls me an idiot all the time! Which I’m not.”

Despite himself, Tooru laughed. “Alright, Hinata,” he said. “But give me your number, anyway. Maybe if you need it you can email me and we can clear up your non-idiocy together.”

Hinata blushed, but he gave Tooru his email anyway.

And it wasn’t like Aoba Johsai was too far away from Karasuno anyway, so sometimes Tooru would take the long way around, maybe thinking of a particular ball of sunshine he could pass on his way back home. He started to find himself spending entirely too much time thinking of Hinata, even though their only interactions were on the court against each other, or the handful of times over the summer when Hinata practiced with Tooru’s sets and Tooru practiced with Hinata’s spikes and it had been more about them gaining something from each other, more than anything.

Tooru tried to remember what he gained from the experience. From Hinata’s consistent, “Toss to me!”s, failures and successes and heavy breathing of, “One more!” But all he got instead was Hinata’s bright presence and the way he couldn’t quite meet his eyes whenever they walked home to the fork in the road.

Tooru wondered what it would be like if Hinata could meet his eyes.

*

Hinata texted him about a week into the next semester, saying, i got a lot of studying to do tonight…!!

It was one of their first texts (aside from Tooru’s Hello Shorty he’d sent after the first time Hinata had given him his number.) Tooru was surprised as he flipped his phone open, eyeing Hinata’s name in his phone.

Good luck, he sent back, withholding it as a question. It wasn’t everyday he was getting emails from him out of the blue.

Hinata replied, i’m not very good at it ><.

Tooru paused then. Oh.

Do you need any help?

maybe…! TT.TT

Tooru decided to call him then, because messages weren’t going to be an effective method for pseudo tutoring. Hinata answered on the second ring.

“Good evening, Shorty,” Tooru said, flicking his pencil over his own homework. “What help did you need?”

“It’s just science stuff,” Hinata said quickly. “I’m not – I’m not that bad at it, but there’s this part I don’t get – ”

“I offered my services to you, didn’t I?” Tooru pointed out. “Tell me what you need help with, let’s see if I can actually be of any use to you.”

*

Hinata was as stupid as he’d said and maybe worse at his homework than he’d admitted. It was charming, though; Tooru found himself enjoying it a bit too much when he was trying to push Hinata toward the right answer, or waited as Hinata approached the solution on his own.

It became as habitual as their practices used to be, since now that most of their time was occupied with schoolwork, there was a lot less time to meet up in person. Tooru didn’t miss so much as the technical aspect of practicing with Hinata than his actual physical presence. It had been a while, and even hearing his voice over the phone made Tooru’s chest twitch with something embarrassing.

There was a time when they’d finished their phone call tutoring sessions and Hinata was humming something senseless to himself when Tooru asked, “What’s your favorite part of volleyball?” It was something he liked asking his teammates, understanding their psyche below just their technique, figuring out who they were as a person and a player.

Hinata wasn’t a teammate, and it was never going to be something Tooru could experience from the other side of the court – but it was still something he wanted to know.

Hinata hummed a bit, before replying. “I like the challenges the most,” he said. “Being new and trying to make my own team. Only playing volleyball for one year and still wanting to be the best. I know I’m a far way from it, but I know that if I don’t lose sight of my goal, I’ll reach it eventually.”

Tooru’s chest twitched, with something like envy and affection. “That’s an optimistic outlook you have there,” he said.

“I guess it is, isn’t it?” Hinata admitted. “But I think if I doubt myself, then that’ll slow me down.”

“Have you doubted yourself before?”

“Oh, a lot!” said Hinata. “Of course I do, Oikawa-san! But then I remind myself that while I’m spending my time feeling sorry for myself, other teams are making it ahead of me by pursuing their own goals. So I stop.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d heard it, nor was it particularly new. But hearing the words from Hinata’s mouth made Tooru feel more secure in Karasuno as an opponent – as Hinata as an opponent. Tooru now knew what was coming, and it was going to be menacing.

He was excited.

“I’m looking forward to facing you on the court again,” he said into the phone.

There was a pause. Then: “I’m looking forward to it too, Oikawa-san!”

“I hope you see me as a challenge, too,” said Tooru.

*

Their Spring High matches were intense; Tooru watched Karasuno’s game against Johzenji and Wakunan, though he didn’t say anything about it to Hinata (or any of his teammates, for that matter.) It was fascinating, still, to watch the rapid pace that Hinata grew at, not letting his physical limits fail him more than twice.

When Aoba Johsai played Datekou, Tooru could feel Hinata’s gaze burning on him from the bleachers, tracking his every move, reading his serves and blocks. Under normal circumstances Tooru would’ve felt threatened, but this was – different. Adrenaline thrummed through Tooru’s veins at the thought of Hinata watching him. Of learning to defeat him.

And then when their penultimate match came to, Tooru found himself so focused on Hinata that his other team members kept giving him new surprises – that was the thing with crows though, Tooru figured. They adapt while in-flight, mid-attack – there was only so much Tooru and his team could do to prolong their growth.

Once the game was over, when the ball had dropped and the game had been won, there was Tobio to deal with, Ushiwaka to deal with. But after that, it was Hinata who found him outside the entrance, who stared at Tooru for half a second before stretching out his hand.

Tooru blinked at it, before quirking a smile at him. “Didn’t we already cover this?” he asked Hinata.

Hinata ducked his head down. “I just wanted to say good game to you,” he said. “Since you helped me and all.”

Tooru tutted, adjusting his bag over his shoulder. “I might’ve, but your own growth was all you,” he told Hinata. “I can’t take any credit for that. It was you, and Tobio, and the rest of your team.”

Hinata waited another second, before he let his hand drop down. His cheeks were still colored, though Tooru thought that might’ve been from the sunlight. “We’re playing against Shiratorizawa, next,” he said.

“And you better defeat them,” Tooru told him. Hinata’s head jerked up, surprised, but Tooru nodded. “You’re a strong team, stronger than us this season, it seems.” His lips quirked. “Show Ushiwaka that, too. That you’re a tough opponent for the both of us.”

“We will,” Hinata promised.

Tooru smiled. “You better,” he said, heart turning over. “I’ll be watching.”

*

And he did, at Hinata’s winning point, at the last sound of the ball dropping onto the court. He’d been telling himself that he wanted both teams to lose, for defeating him – but the secret part of him that he wouldn’t even share with Iwaizumi grew warm with pride at Karasuno’s – Hinata’s victory.

Tooru watched the celebrations and decided not to intrude. He knew, after all, what it was like to celebrate and mourn with your team. Instead he texted Hinata, I’ll be by the entrance whenever you’re ready, and excused himself from Iwaizumi, who seemed to be under the impression that he would try to shittalk random other roaming teams.

Hinata met him earlier than expected, hanging by the entrance of the school. He was still in his jersey and sweating, gleaming in the sunlight.

“I kept my promise,” he declared as soon as he stopped by Tooru.

Tooru smiled at him. “You did,” he said, folding his glasses away and hanging them at the front of his shirt. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect you to.”

“I didn’t expect you to want us to defeat them,” Hinata mumbled. “You’re – We’re all rivals.”

“That’s what makes volleyball fun,” Tooru said. He elbowed Hinata. “Isn’t that what you said, once?”

Hinata blushed, fumbling with his hands by his side. Tooru was reminded of all the times Hinata had tried to look at him but couldn’t, like Tooru was the intimidating one when it was Hinata who was bigger than the sunlight.

And then Hinata looked up and blurted, “Can I kiss you, Oikawa-san?”

Tooru stared. And then he laughed, throwing his head back, warm bubbles rising to his throat.

“You never cease to surprise me,” he said, leaning down.

Hinata closed the gap from the other side, lips meeting Tooru’s. They were kind of chapped and dry, and Hinata broke apart to lick at them again, eyes still closed. Tooru watched this all, watched was Hinata kissed him again, wetter and better movements. This was what practicing with him felt like, talking to him on the phone felt like – bursts of energy dulled into something sweeter. Tooru closed his eyes and kissed back.

“Iwa-chan is going to kill me,” Tooru murmured, what felt like hours later. Hinata had propped himself up on his tiptoes enough, and Tooru hooked his chin over Hinata’s neck.

Hinata looked at him oddly. “Yeah?”

“For consorting with a Karasuno,” said Tooru.

Hinata giggled. “It’s not like it’s anything new,” he said. “And I like it.”

He was right; Tooru should’ve seen this coming since he’d first seen Hinata’s quick spike all those months ago. Since Hinata had asked him for help. It was a challenge, one that both he and Hinata would overcome together.

“Yeah,” Tooru said into Hinata’s neck, making him squirm and laugh. “Me too.”