18

"Don't you get soaked, everytime it rains?"

"Huh?" Kageyama looked up.

"Well you refuse to use umbrellas," Iwaizumi chuckled, as he handed his friend a bubble tea. They had gone to a bubble tea store after Kageyama said he had never tried it. "I understand why... I don't want to come off as ignorant. I was just curious, you don't have to answer."

"Well I try not to go out," Kageyama replied, thoughtfully. "But yeah I do. I get soaked, and my mom use to ask me about it. But I never told her why."

Iwaizumi took a seat across from him. "Did you talk to her about it... after the incident?"

"She was devastated when it happened, but she doesn't have any idea about my PTSD."

"No clue? You've never been with your mom in the rain?"

"Well actually... I'm never really with my mom in any kind of circumstance. We grew apart after the incident. It's not like we hate each other and it's awkward, but we don't really talk unless it's important or necessary."

"I'm sorry... I didn't know."

"It's okay, not many people do." Kageyama took a sip of the bubble tea. It surprised him when tapioca was sucked up in the straw as well, and he almost choked on it.

"Careful!" Iwaizumi chuckled. "I still can't believe you've never tried it before."

"It's good. What flavor is this?"

"Original Milk Tea," the older boy said. "Thought I would treat you to do original one first. We could have a mango slushie the next time we come."

Next time?

Iwaizumi intended to hang out more with Kageyama?

"Iwaizumi-san... do you pity me?"

"Pity?"

"Well I kinda thought, maybe you only... hang out with me cuz you feel sorry-"

Iwaizumi shook his head. "Listen kid, you're obviously very insecure. When I first met you, I thought you were confident and thought you were the best at everything, but I was wrong."

"T-that doesn't answer my question."

"Do you really think that? The answer is obviously, I do feel sorry and I hope you feel better slowly, and I want to help. But there's no doubt you're a cool kid. Wow, it's weird how different you are from Oikawa."

At the mention of the older setter's name, they both seemed to cringe a bit and an awkward silence fell upon them. Kageyama drank his bubble tea contently though. It was definitely delicious, and he looked forward to coming to the store more often to drink.

"So how was practice?"

"It was good, I think Hinata coming back was really uncomfortable at first. But he helped us get back into shape."

"How's Hinata and you?" Iwaizumi smirked, obviously very interested.

"Uh, what do you mean?"

"C'mon you know what I mean."

"He's okay, I'm not sure about his health condition too be honest, but he looks fine."

"Glad to hear that he's healthy, but I'm curious on his relationship with you at the moment."

"I have no clue what your saying."

"Yeah, cut the BS," Iwaizumi said, rolling his eyes. "I know you guys are both head over heels over each other."

"He rejected me." Kageyama tried to sound as casual as possible, sipping his bubble tea. But deep down he felt empty and heartbroken.

"I... what?"

"He just didn't feel it I guess. Probably wouldn't have worked out anyways."

Iwaizumi frowned. "Hey, don't say that."

"It's like you said right? A wall between you and..."

"We're both losers who don't know how to break past that wall then."

"Yeah... so, do you guys still have practice?"

"For fun, but without the motivation its hard to stay focused," Iwaizumi said, half-heartedly. "We're training the youngsters but there's not much we can do until we graduate, and new players from different schools come."

"What about Oikawa?" Kageyam said, cautiously.

"Oikawa?"

"Yeah?"

They turned to see the Seijoh captain, in line and looking to the both of them.

"Gah!" Oikawa yelped in surprise "You guys were here too?"

"Holy shit!" Kageyama exclaimed. "Where did you come from?"

"Watch your language, Tobio-chan."

"Hi Shittykawa," Iwaizumi said.

"How've you been , Iwa-chan?" To Kageyama, the conversation seemed normal and casual, like any other one they would usually have.

"You don't come to practice anymore, why's that?" Iwaizumi said, with slight accusation in his tone.

"Oh well," Oikawa shrugged. "You know, there's no point."

"No point?"

"No more games," Oikawa claimed, with a bored expression. "I mean, what are we practicing for?"

"That's not-"

"Well uh, sorry for interrupting your date I guess-"

"We aren't..." Kageyama tried to say.

"See you guys later," Oikawa said cheerfully, waving as he walked away. Iwaizumi watched in disbelief, as he got out of their sight.

"Oikawa, losing interest in volleyball?" Iwaizumi said, as if the sentence was some sort of taboo. "I'm sorry Kageyama, I'm gonna have to talk to him. I'll be back-"

"I know, but wait... y'know the wall? I thought of something."

"What about the wall?" Iwaizumi said glancing at the walls surrounding them. "Oh, there's a spider-"

"No, I meant the wall between you and him!"

"Oh, right! Yeah I knew that," he said sheepishly.

"I just think, maybe you don't really know him?"

They had known each other as children, so Iwaizumi was utterly confused with that statement. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe you're just misunderstanding him you know?"

"I have no idea-"

"What if it's not volleyball that's making him not want to go you know? Maybe your vision and belief about Oikawa is different from who he actually is

Iwaizumi didn't say anything. He looked at Kageyama and turned to chase after his friend again.

Kageyama leaned back in his chair and sighed. Maybe this was true for him as well. Maybe that's why Hinata wasn't interested.  Maybe it was his fault, and not the middle blocker's.

△△△

Hinata sat anxiously, fidgeting with anything he could get his hands on. His eyes searched the room for some distraction as he waited, but found nothing of interest. He felt as if his life was on the line. Perhaps it was.

"Everything looks good so far."

"Thanks," Hinata sighed in relief. "I thought something might happen."

"It's normal to be scared, but I just want you to know, that you shouldn't be."

Hinata shrugged. "I'm just worried about volleyball."

"Oh that reminds me, how's practices?" Dr. Sukodu said as he looked through his paperwork.

"I think my stamina did lessen a bit, but I'll be better in no time!"

"No pain?" the doctor asked, looking up at him.

"No," Hinata lied, hoping the doctor would not notice his obvious fib.

"See you in a few days," Dr. Sukodu smiled. Hinata waved and left the room.

He closed the door and bent over. The pain was excruciating at the moment and he could barely keep his balance. He held on the wall for  support, and almost didn't notice a little figure rush past by him.

"Ow!" A young boy, around four or five years old fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Hinata asked kneeling carefully next to him. "How did you fall?"

Hinata felt the pain in his leg as he went down to help the boy. He cringed but managed to get into a more comfortable position quickly.

The boy sobbed uncontrollably. "I t-tripped..."

"Your knee," Hinata gestured to the boy's bandaged knee. "What happened?"

"I got tendinitis, but I am a soccer player!" he exclaimed. "So now my mom won't let me play anymore."

"Soccer?" Hinata said. "So you're an athlete too. My name is Hinata, what's yours?"

"Satou," he smiled a bit as Hinata pulled him to his feet. "Fukui Satou."

"Satou?"

"Yeah, thanks Hinata!"

Where had he heard this surname? His face soon seemed to resemble someone he knew.

"Yeah no problem..."

He looked up at Hinata curiously. "Are you an athlete too? Are you sick? Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I got this weird type of thing..." Hinata realized he didn't even know what to call the situation.

"Do you play soccer too?"

Hinata chuckled. "Nah, I play volleyball."

"Volleyball?" Fukui said enthusiastically. "Wow! I know a lot of people who play."

The soccer player no longer seemed to care about how he tripped and was explaining with detail on how most of his friends only like volleyball and very little enjoyed playing soccer.

"But soccer is so cool!" Fukui ranted on. "Do you know how hard footwork can be? Some people have fancy footwork! My brother sucks at footwork. He usually helps me as goalie, because he has quick reflexes."

"That's cool!" Hinata exclaimed. "I think you need quick reflexes as a volleyball player. There's someone called Nishinoya on my team who has amazing reflexes! He can do footwork too! When the ball comes to a place his hands can't reach, he uses his feet! He's so flexible! He goes like pow pow, bam and reaches like woosh!"

"Woah!!" the younger boy said. "But aren't you short for a volleyball player?"

Hinata felt immediately degraded again. Especially since it came from a positive boy who was also shorter than him.

"So that means you must be amazing!" Fukui concluded, pushing his brown hair away from his face.

Hinata was almost shocked for a second, realizing how amazingly optimistic and kind this boy was.

"I..."

"It must be hard for you! I know it must be. Are you a libero?"

"I'm a middle blocker!" Hinata claimed with pride.

"A middle blocker!?" he gasped in surprise. "How high can you jump!"

Hinata grinned and proceeded to get into position to jump, but realized his legs were in pain. The adrenaline from talking to the adorable boy made him forget.

"333cm," Hinata said weakly.

"Are you hurt?"

"It's just side effects," he lied, not wanting the boy to worry. "I can show you some other time... if I ever meet you again."

"Oh that's sad. I remembered we can't really meet each other."

"Oh?"

"I live really far from here! My family wanted to come to this hospital because it was considered a famed and well-known one compared to the one near us."

"It must be inconvenient for you, especially since your knee is swelling."

"But I'm strong! I can get through this!" Fukui grinned, imitating a silly flexing pose. The grin seemed alike someone Hinata knew. It was a cute smile, making Hinata's heart melt.

Hinata laughed, and for once he felt mature, as he talked to someone younger. He usually was the younger one, and was treated like a child."

"Fu-chan! What are you doing?"

"Ni-chan!" Fukui rushed towards the tall figure. "Ni-chan, I tripped!"

"Did you hurt yourself again? After all of this? Your my little bro, I can't just let you keep hurting yourself! I think it was a good decision for hyou to stop playing soccer..."

"No!" Fukui yelled, at his older brother. "I can't! I love soccer!"

"Let's talk about this another time, who's this?"

"Hinata, defend me!" Fukui called out, tears starting to form in his eyes. "My brother is trying to stop me from playing soccer!"

"I..." Hinata had heard that voice before. The soothing deep voice.

"You love volleyball, ni-chan!" Fukui's voice started to crack. "You'll never stop playing! Hinata's the same. Hinata loves volleyball, maybe even more than you."

"Hinata..?" his brother paused for a moment and looked carefully at the orange-haired boy.

It felt like both a nightmare and a dream come true.

"Oh, Shouyou!" Satou Noboru said, walking towards him. "The world really is such a small place."

A/N: slowly and eventually, everyone stopped reading this story :^) maybe ill stop updating

just a friendly reminder