"Oh, really?!"
"Yes!"
"Are you fucking sure of this?!"
"Why are you staring to get mad now?!"
The amused sigh he lets out is now lost in the air in the apparence of a thick haze of heat, because of the cold that surrounds them.
Steps are hitting the concrete, and jerky respirations are the only sounds they made for some seconds. The cold is making his nose pink, but it doesn't really matter, because his attention is fully on the small and energic ball of sun at his left, who walks at the same speed as him, the two of them heading to the school they studied at.
He adjusts his black scarf, before putting his hands in his pockets, without letting the orange haired boy out of his vison.
The smaller being had a big, luminous smile, and turned to face his companion, who frowned sightly.
"You don't believe me?! I'm the one who won yesterday! It's 53-50 for me!"
The proud smile of Shouyou annoys his mate, as he hits the smallest with a pinch on one of his arms, making him giggle. Kageyama grunts, and Hinata raises his hand as a peace demonstration, calming the taller teenager in an instant.
But he frowns when he sees the impassible face of the other, who stares at him, before asking :
"Anyway. You still aren't goin' to tell me who was the weirdo of the other day?"
Wind was then the only sound to reach Tobio's ears, for a moment.
A remarkable changement went through Shoyou's body. He tensed, and his expression froze, before leaving a dark light into his eyes. Kageyama recognizes the signs of stress when it comes to Shouyou, so he directly knows that he is not really comfortable talking about it, the moment he twiddles his bag's strap.
He sighs in his head, a little annoyed of the other's reticence, as he silently waits for the answer.
"I've told you already. It's one of my middle-school's teammate."
"I'm not dumb. What's making no senses, is your reaction."
The stern tone of the dark-haired boy doesn't even make Hinata flinch.
Tobio clicks his tongue, and takes his companion's arms to stick their body together, to take in one hand the other's jaw, so there is no escape possible.
He ignore Hinata's mortified eyes, and go on.
"What did he do for you to make such a face?"
The oldest blinks, watching his cadet curiosly. Then, a glint of sadness went into his eyes, and his lips started to tremble.
"L-Let me go-"
Kageyama tightened his grip.
He lets a shaky breath out of his small mouth, and hesitates one second, before letting out a sentence.
"I moved."
Tobio's eyes narrow.
"Hah?"
"When I met you for the first time. The game. I was already installed at Tokyo because of my father, but I really wanted to play one last time with my friends."
He continues, under the troubled gaze of the number nine.
"Dad had a reward, and a new post. We moved to Tokyo. So I had to go to Teiko, the nearest school."
Slowly but surely, the setter lets his grasp soften, allowing the smallest his precedent wish, excluding his hand which remains firmly gripped on the other's jaw, so that Hinata looks at him.
"I directly went to the volley-ball club.."
The setter snorts.
Obliviously.
What he doesn't understand, is the frustrated face of Hinata, his frown, and his lost look, who could kill someone now, with the hatred he had inside his eyes.
"But they said I wasn't tall enough."
Kageyama tensed, and took time to assimilates the other's speech.
An angel passes above them.
Hinata? Forbidden to play?
"I trained at the end of classes, with the rare permissions teachers gave me." A bitter laugh comes out. "Haha, can you believe this? I was all alone."
Kageyama can't. He doesn't even try to imagine his own reaction if it was him, in Hinata's place.. He would have certainly take out his anger on everybody.
"But one day, Captain found me."
Captain?
It was a whisper, like a little secret, and Kageyama had to bend down to listen the following sentences.
"I played basket-ball for the first time, this night."
He understands, with the sparkling eyes of Hinata, and his delighted smile, that basket-ball wasn't an uninteresting experience for the small boy.
He even had calmed at the mention of this sport, a little pink shade on his cheeks, and a timid look, as if talking about a confidence.
They pause some seconds.
"Basket-ball?" Grumbles Tobio.
The orange-haired gets out of his thoughts, and blinks a several times, before taking avantage of his partner's confusion, and flee free, running as if his life was in danger, towards the gymnasium's doors.
Tobio stays still some seconds, before realizing all of this. The vein on his forehead twitches sightly.
He starts running.
"You.. Fucking dumbass!"
But Hinata, with his cheating, was already by the doors, and was entering, a big smile on his face, as if nothing had happened outside the building.
He could hear the screeching of his teammates' shoes against the flooring.
"Late again, you two?!"
Sugawara's scolding make them flinch, and they bow deeply, screaming at unison an apology. They go change, not without throwing some hateful glare at Tsukishima, who was snickering at them.
Tobio wasn't enough of a fool to try and ask about his mate's past, because it would affect his game's statistics, so he let it slip away for the moment. Once they put on their black jerseys, they went in, and didn't speak a word.
The court.
Their hunting's territory.
Soon, the duo took place at a game against the second years, while the third year commented.
Today was a special day. The coach was giving them this training's day as a reward to do whatever they wanted, because they won against the great and almighty Aoba Jousai academy.
"One more time, Tobio!"
Hinata gave him a huge grin, and the setter almost believed that the flowers who bloomed behind the orange-haired male were real for a second, blinding his sight.
Ugh.
Annoying.
He doesn't think he could ever understand this human. Actually, can this orange thing really be compared to a human being?
Why would Hinata call him by his first name, to begin with?
Outside of the court, he just called him Kageyama, with respect and a little more distance.
Strangely, it seemed that Nishinoya had the same privilege. Even if the second year was just delighted to find out Hinata thought of him as a close friend.
Nobody knew why. And when he was asked about this, Hinata would just tilt his head, while shrugging, with the simple, but scary smile he loved to make when happy.
"Just because."
Tsukishima blocked one more time Tanaka's attack, under the desperate yells of the other team.
"Yay, Tsukishimaaaa!" Kei snorts at Shoyou's burst of joy.
"Next time is your chance, Ryo!"
"Pfft."
"TSUKISHIMA, YOU LITTL-"
"Tanaka-sempai! No swearing!"
"What are you? Five?"
"Just to make it clear, I'm the oldest of the first year here, so-"
"Not in every senses..."
"Tsukki! Stop provoking him.."
"TSUKISHIMA, BEND DOWN SO I CAN HIT YOUR DAMN-"
"It wouldn't be enough with your tiny body."
"WHA-"
"SILENCE."
The Captain's agressive voice made everyone silent, and Suga sighed tiredly.
"Tsukishima, Tanaka, the bench is waiting for you."
The two players obeyed, under Hinata's satisfied and smug look, ignoring fully the way Tsukishima tried to kill him with a death glare.
The number ten turns toward his favorite setter, and meet a face full of pity, and revulsion toward the smaller boy.
"You're a brat."
But before Hinata could defend himself, screams resonated, making him jump.
Karasuno's players stopped their activities, to look curiously at each other, before turning their attention to the half-opened door.
Girl's yells.
Fans..?
They stiffen.
They knew only one person who could assemble such amount of girls with just his presence.
Kageyama crushes the ball in his hands, making it deflate, because of the pression he exerces, and his eyes becomes darker, behind his black hair. Even though they won against him, he was still an enemy.
But the team realizes that it isn't the perfect brown hue of Oikawa's hair thats floats with elegance.
It's not his irritating smile, his superior attitude, or his entire being who always seemed to be ready at any moment for a picture, that they saw.
Nishinoya et Tanaka stopped their intimidation, when they understood that it was a complete stranger.
Tobio observes the man, attentive, and watching every movements made by the newcomer, as he closes the door behind him, ignoring the complains and the whines of the female crowd.
He could see him locking the door, and finally, the newcomer turned toward them.
A blond.
Not like Tsukishima or Hitoka.
This blond.. Was particularly shining. And brightly so.
He was huge, too, Kageyama opens his eyes widely, realizing his height.
About one hundred and eighty centimeters.
Like Wakatoshi.
The aura he let out wasn't to be mixed with some beginners, and the toned muscles who could be seen if Kakegama looked well, were definitley not to be underestimated.
This guy was an athlete.
He wore a jersey, under his jacket, with a long short, without forgetting leggings below it, and surely a tee-shirt as well, because of the cold.
His skin was slightly tanned, and his ears were pierced. Wearing a smile a little too arrogant in Tobio's opinion, and his hands were inside his pockets, as he continued to walk toward them without care, as if he was owning the entire place.
His golden eyes watched them all, before he froze.
All his body stopped, and he went still.
Daichi was one of the first to get out of the trance, and asked nicely :
"Uhm...Can we help you?"
The blond opened a little his eyes, and the golden glint of his eyes shone with more intensity, highlighted by the shadow his hair made on his perfect face.
Tobio felt chills on his arms, and held back a snarl.
This one isn't good news.
These eyes..
It reminded him of someone.
The smile he did made the number nine tense, with everybody else, without knowing why.
A joyful and delighted grin.
"Found you, Sho-cchi."
His voice suited his looks. Clair, confident, but in the same time, intense, and oppressive.
The setter looked for Hinata, and casted aside the fact that everyone was staring at the newcomer, before finally landing his deep blue eyes on his middle blocker.
The number ten held a ball between his arm and his hip, his body straight and his head high.
His mate wasn't excepting the face he made.
He was doing 𝒊𝒕.
The thing he did when he was angry, or extremely concentred. Like when Ushiwaka talked shit about Oikawa's team.
Oh, Kageyama understood. He quickly glanced at the blond guy, and confirmed it right away.
The blond had this thing too.
He too, had 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.
The orange-haired boy was just responding.
But never had he seen Hinata this calm before. No, more.. Irritated? Maybe he was holding back his anger? Why was he angry?
Ah, Tobio states calmly, not even surprised, Shoyou was furious. But he kinda expected this to happen.
He had gotten used to the red-haired's bipolarity, after all. And it's been a while Shouyou hasn't lashed out his frustrations, huh.