atsumu and y/n were the first to arrive at the ramen place and while they were waiting on the rest of the group to arrive, the two sat in silence, eyes glued to their menus but atsumu occasionally sneaked a few glances at the woman in front of him.
this didn't go unnoticed by y/n of course, as she would see his head peek over his menu from the corner of her eye. she thought it was funny though, the way he would get startled before ducking behind the booklet in his hand whenever she'd catch him in the midst of his peering.
"y/n!" the h/c haired girl's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the all too familiar voice calling out her name.
"bokuto, hello." you gave him a smile as he and the other two, hinata and sakusa, took a seat at the booth.
sakusa gave you a nod while hinata patted your head.
"jeez, what's up with you and atsumu and ruining my hair." you smoothed down your locks as hinata laughed.
"it's free real estate!"
"atsumu and i are ready to order so you guys can take your time." you told the orange head before putting your menu in the middle of the table.
"hinata!" the blonde whispered in the shorter one's ear.
"what's up?" hinata replied back.
"i need you to teach me english!"
"huh? no way!" hinata put a hand over atsumu's ear and his mouth to prevent any potential eavesdroppers from hearing (the other 3 could care less though.) "i'm already helping y/n with japanese, i can't teach another person more or less have the time to do so."
"do they know we can see them whispering?" the foreigner thought as she looked at the two males beside her.
"so what do you propose i do? i could barely even talk to her without pulling google translate out every 5 seconds!" atsumu loudly whispered.
hinata thought about it for a moment before his eye lit up at the mind-blowing conclusion he came up with
he put both of his hands on the setter's shoulders. "why don't you two teach each other?!"
atsumu's jaw dropped, practically inviting a fly in as he looked at hinata as if he just said the most idiotic thing ever.
"wow that's such a great idea hinata! putting two people who can barely even communicate and having them teach other languages without even speaking the same language!" atsumu said mockingly.
"um, are you two ready to order?" sakusa interjected as the two men whipped their head towards the masked male.
"oh yeah, uh, i'll have shoyu ramen with a side of gyoza." atsumu told the waiter, while hinata ordered the same thing except without the side of gyoza.
"thank you, i'll be back with your orders shortly." the waiter said as she picked up all the menus and walked away.
"so what were you guys talking about?" you propped your head onto your hand as you looked over hinata's way.
"he wanted me to teach him english," hinata said as he went to reach out and pick up the plastic straw wrapper in front of him. "said he wanted to communicate with you better."
you looked over at the golden haired boy, who was currently invested in his own conversation with sakusa and bokuto, before turning your attention back onto your orange haired friend.
"aw, that's sweet of him." you gushed as your lips formed a smile.
"i think the whole team has that thought somewhere in the back of their heads," hinata said, still fiddling with the straw wrapper. "inunaki said, and i quote, you're our precious athletic trainer so we have to communicate with you better."
you giggled at his impression of the libero. "inunaki is quite the charmer isn't he?"
"eh, it's only cause there's a woman around." hinata grinned.
"what'cha talking about?" atsumu's voice startled you, causing you to jump in your seat.
"you get startled too easily, y/n." the two males laughed in unison.
"he said you get startled too easily." hinata translated causing you to pout.
"you're just loud, 'tsumu!" you retorted, laughing, but then covered your mouth immediately after realizing you had called him by his nickname accidentally. "i'm sorry! should i not have called you that?"
hinata nudged atsumu with his elbow. "she said sorry for calling you 'tsumu."
"it's okay, i don't mind." the blonde gave you a cheeky smile as he put two thumbs up.
it was funny, really. you thought he would've been uncomfortable being called a nickname that only his close friends called him by a person who he's barely known for 2 weeks, but it was the opposite actually. atsumu liked the way his nickname rolled off the tip of your tongue so naturally.
"you can call me 'tsumu if you want."
"oh really?!" your eyes lit up. "too bad i don't have a cool nickname like you do, hopefully plain old y/n is cool enough."
your melodious laugh rang throughout the entire restaurant, catching the attention of nearby diners, but only for a split second before they went back to doing their own thing.
"did you know him and his twin came up nicknames for each other when they were younger?" hinata asked as you shook your head. "osamu is 'samu and of course atsumu is 'tsumu."
you melted at the thought of a younger atsumu. "that's so cute!"
as you and hinata conversed about the miya brothers, atsumu stared at you with a glint of amusement in his eyes. he noticed the way you always listened so intently to the person you were speaking with, whether it be a casual conversation or directions from the coach, you just always seemed so invested in everything. if you were to ask atsumu what he disliked the most, the first thing that would pop up in his mind is "having his time wasted" and that also applied to people who seem to have everything go in one ear and out the other. talking to someone who's never 100% engaged in the conversation irritated the setter to the max, because at that point, he's just wasting his time talking to some who's not even interested in what he had to say. but it was nice to know there were some people like you out in the world.
"hey y/n?" he said with a hint of hesitation laced in his tone.
you turned around and faced the blonde. "hm?"
"do you... do you want to teach me english?" he managed to say without messing up. "i will... teach you japanese too."
you looked at him with wide eyes for a moment but then your expression softened.
"i'd like that."
EXTENDED ENDING:
as hinata drove home that night, a thought suddenly popped up in his head.
"wait, if those two are gonna teach each other... am i not needed anymore?"