Chapter Text
For being a first-year, Hinata Shouyou was ridiculously well known.
That wasn't to say that Karasuno was a super unwelcoming school or anything, because it was. As far as high school went, there wasn't much animosity between the different grade levels. Moreover, since students from various middle schools around the country came to Karasuno to pursue their education further, it was unusual for any upperclassmen to have preconceptions about the incoming first-years and vice versa.
It was a friendly community. In a sign of good faith and friendship, the upperclassmen would help the first-years find their way around the building and introduce them to the different clubs and such. From then on, relationships could be built upon that foundation. Usually, those relationships consisted of underclassmen coming to their seniors for advice, grabbing a bite to eat together after school, and having an occasional study date during exam season when the two happened to share a class.
That being said, that was usually the extent to which first-years and third-years hung out together. It was rare for upperclassmen and underclassmen to hang out casually together at Karasuno, meaning that no one ever dropped the honorifics with the older kids and that sleepovers and informal weekend get-togethers were pretty much nonexistent.
Of course, it wasn't like the upperclassmen actively shunned the first-years or anything like that. It was just that Karasuno was a huge school, and people often connected more closely with people in their own year that they saw every day rather than people in others that they only saw during sports practices or extracurriculars.
Hinata, however, as anyone could've guessed upon first meeting him, was a special case.
Immediately after Karasuno's entrance ceremony at the beginning of the year, there had been whispers throughout the halls about a kid with orange hair, a smile that could rival the sun, and puppy dog eyes that were stock full of sparkles and wonder.
Needless to say, it took less than a week for everyone to confirm that, yes, whoever had come up with that description had not been exaggerating, and Hinata's popularity had only skyrocketed from there. It hadn't been gradual, either. One day, Hinata had arrived at the school for the first time along with all the other first-years, fresh-eyed and bushy-tailed. The next, he was getting birthday party invites from kids who he'd barely known for more than 48 hours (many of which he'd had to turn down for volleyball, much to his chagrin, but more than a few kids offered to reschedule their parties just so he could come, which was a whole other level of ridiculousness that isn't worth getting into).
The thing was, for being a hyperactive teenager who couldn't focus on anything other than a volleyball for more than five minutes, Hinata was wicked observant. Whether he be in the hallways, the cafeteria, the library, or some other random hang-out spot on campus, during that first week or so of classes, there would always be someone admiring him from afar and trying to determine if the rumors about him being a fallen angel were true or not. Hinata would notice this (for someone so oblivious to his own charm, he was very perceptive) and immediately walk up to whoever was staring at him, give them a big old smile, and start chattering away about...well, no one really knew what about, because by that point they'd be too busy trying not to melt into a puddle on the floor from Hinata's grin to listen to what he had to say.
It was a process. Hinata was likable, had a cute face, and had literally no social anxiety whatsoever. All these attributes stuffed into one person made for the ultimate social butterfly. And worse, while Hinata obviously looked up to his upperclassmen and held them in very high regard, he wasn't afraid to make the first move and invite literal third-years, whom he'd never talked to for more than 20 minutes, as a newbie first-year, to go to his house or watch a movie or something.
And, obviously, the third-years would accept because who in their right mind would refuse Hinata's big brown eyes asking if they could hang out? Then, of course, that would set off a whole other chain of events that started with the third-year showing up to Hinata's proposed outing and then leaving a few hours later with their insides full of goo and their heart so full of love for this adorable little underclassman whose personality had won them over effortlessly in the afternoon they'd spent together.
By the time a month of school had rolled by, it wasn't far-fetched to say that Hinata had nearly the entire student body wrapped around his little finger. Of course, his admirers were endless, ranging from girls to boys to everything in between, but his list of friends was far more expansive than the number of lovesick individuals crushing on him.
Hinata spent the afternoons after his lunch period getting tutored by the top kids of each class free of charge.
He dragged the usually introverted kids to the convenience store with him, bought them meat buns, and then invited them to walk through the cherry blossoms and exchange stories.
He had separate handshakes with all the kids that the teachers had dubbed 'delinquents' and would receive hair ruffles and noogies from them every time they passed each other in the hall.
He would help the cheerleaders with their stunts when needed (for being as small and fast as he was, there was no surprise that he was flexible too).
He was the only first-year that had full access to the third-year common area (since he was already in there so often striking up conversations with upperclassmen anyway).
And, to top it all off, he'd unintentionally stolen all of the teachers' hearts by leaving them homemade chocolates on their desks every holiday or exam week.
The point was, Hinata's social battery pretty much never ran out, which meant that when he wasn't playing volleyball or talking to Kageyama, he was talking to everyone else. This, understandably, led to the formation of many unconventional friendships and bonds between the ginger and all those around them. Everyone had pretty much accepted this fact at this point because it was Hinata they were talking about. People flocked to him like bees flock to honey.
This is why it really shouldn't have been that surprising to find Hinata Shouyou, during his free period, lounging in Asahi Azumane's chair with his feet propped up on his desk.
And that was the thing. It shouldn't have been surprising, but...it was. Very. For many people.
"What the hell is he doing?"
There were scattered whispers around the classroom, each pair of eyes trained carefully on Hinata, who was just twiddling his thumbs and staring out of the window aimlessly. If he'd noticed the several pairs of eyes boring holes into his head, he didn't show it. Instead, Hinata seemed utterly unaware of his surroundings and, more importantly, of the imminent danger he was putting himself in.
"He knows that's Asahi's desk, right?"
"He has to. I heard that punk carved his initials into the wood himself with a pocket knife. Right in the corner, see?"
"Are they friends? I've never seen them talk."
"I know they're on the volleyball team, but there's no way that Hinata Shouyou is friends with Asahi Azumane. I heard he's over 20 years old and got held back for beating a kid up so bad he ended up in the emergency room."
"This has to be a mistake."
"Um." Suga knocked on the doorframe leading into the classroom, startling all those who'd been too deep in conversation or staring intently at Hinata to notice him enter. His eyes trailed over the guilty faces of his classmates with equal parts intrigued and skeptical, his gaze flitting to his teammate and back to his peers. "What's all the whispering about?"
"Oh, Suga. Thank god." One of the third-years who had been murmuring to the others practically jumped out of his seat, running over to Suga and grabbing his hands. Suga, completely confused and not at all well acquainted enough with the kid to be locking fingers with him, shot him a perplexed smile and gently shook off his grip before folding his palms together in a gesture to continue. "You're on the volleyball team, right?" The third-year didn't even give him time to answer. "So are Asahi and Hinata, yeah?"
"Uh, yeah." Suga blinked, furrowing his eyebrows. "They're both in our starting lineup. Why?"
"Okay, um." The classmate leaned in closer, eyes wide and concerned. "Have they had any...conflicts with each other? Like, do they get along? Obviously, it's Hinata, right, but he and Asahi coexist well together in practice, right?"
"Uh. Yeah? Why does that matter...?" Suga's distressed classmate was so close that he could barely catch a glimpse of his underclassman's fiery orange hair over his shoulder. Secretly, he hoped that Hinata would notice he'd walked into the room and come over to save him from this absolute lunatic getting all up in his face, but alas, he seemed too busy patiently waiting at Asahi's desk and staring out the window to notice anything amiss. "Of course they get along with each other? They're teammates...? Which means they have to so they can build team chemistry...?"
Suga purposely made all of these statements sound like questions in order to make them seem as condescending as possible, but this random kid wasn't giving up so easily. None of their other classmates were doing anything about his weird behavior either, which Suga thought was strange as well. Per ordinary human decency, someone should've butted in by now after seeing how uncomfortable and random this entire exchange was for the setter. But, if anything, although his other classmates weren't all up in his face like this guy was, they seemed just as eager to hear what Suga had to say as he was.
"Okay." The guy started nodding vigorously, turning his head to look over his shoulder and shoot a thumbs up to their peers observing the exchange. "Okay. That's good. That's really good."
"Um. Thanks." Suga took a step to the side. The guy copied him, blocking his path into the classroom. Suga tried again. The same result. Frowning, the setter crossed his arms. "Look. I don't know why you're asking me all these questions about Asahi and my underclassman, but I don't appreciate you hounding me for information and then not letting me go talk to Hinata to see if everyone's all right."
"Oh, everything's fine right now. " The third-year said, though his voice was still laced with urgency. "It's something that could happen in the future that I'm worried about."
Suga blinked. His patience was officially wearing thin. "Dude. Just tell me what the fuck you're talking about."
His classmate gasped, thoroughly scandalized. He whipped his head around to see if Hinata had noticed Suga's particular choice of language, and upon seeing the ginger still staring out the window without a care in the world, he shoved a finger in the setter's face and glared. "SHHH. Don't say that so loud! He might hear!"
Suga made a face. "He's in high school."
"Still! He's-" The guy gestured helplessly in Hinata's direction. "You know. He looks and acts like that."
Really, the lengths some people would go to try and shelter a literal teenager from some of the most basic unpleasantries in life were insane. But, of course, Suga couldn't talk because he knew the feeling all too well. Hell, he'd spent the first two months of knowing Hinata consciously trying not to swear around him (obviously, he knew his teammate wasn't a child, but it felt wrong for some reason) before Kageyama had shocked him to his core by telling him that the ginger could curse like a sailor if he wanted to, mainly if video games were involved.
"Anyway. Whatever. That's not important." Suga's classmate shook his head, seemingly clearing his thoughts (as if there were any thoughts to be cleared; this guy seemed nuts) and regaining his composure. "I was going to say that if you want to preserve that team chemistry you guys have, you need to tell Hinata to get out of Asahi's seat."
Suga's eyebrows shot up. Out of everyone he'd been expecting this guy to say, that certainly wasn't one of them.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You know." The student cocked his head in the ginger's direction. "He'll be here soon."
"Okay?" Suga spoke slowly. "And?"
"What do you mean and? It's Asahi!" His classmate shuddered, which was a little too dramatic of a reaction for Suga's taste because the setter frowned and narrowed his eyes. "I bet that guy eats people like Hinata for breakfast. Worse, Hinata would probably let him! The kid's too nice! He's probably just waiting in Asahi's seat to get a chance to talk to him and make friends, but before he will even get a chance to, that punk will have thrown him out the third-story window!"
Suga couldn't even form the right words to tell this kid how stupid he was. Seriously, was he dumb? Did it never cross his mind that Hinata, the kid whose charisma had no limitations, and Asahi, someone the ginger had been practicing with every day after school since the beginning of the school year, could actually be friends?
Then again, although Suga didn't appreciate this random guy badmouthing Asahi, his teammate did look relatively homicidal on occasion.
Also, were all his classmates scared to go up to Hinata or something? Granted, they probably had already asked him what he was doing at a third-year's desk. Hinata had most likely responded by saying that he was waiting for a friend, and they probably hadn't believed him because, in their eyes, how could someone as bright as Hinata be friends with someone like Asahi?
In all of the months Suga had known Hinata, he'd witnessed firsthand what his teammate's smile and cheery personality could do. However, he'd also seen that due to his cute face and optimistic outlook, Hinata wasn't always taken seriously when he should be. Occasionally, Hinata would make a completely true statement such as, "I'm one of the most athletic middle blockers in the league right now," and people wouldn't believe him because there was absolutely no way precious little Hinata could dominate the court so easily.
It seemed that this was one of those situations.
And, frankly, Suga was a little pissed he had to deal with it.
Thankfully, before the setter could stalk over there and ask Hinata himself to verify the details about his and Asahi's relationship, the man himself slid open the classroom door and stepped inside.
Immediately, the classmate that had been so persistently getting all up in Suga's face for the past five minutes went silent, slinking slowly towards his friends and away from Asahi's giant frame.
And Asahi, who was no stranger to people being utterly terrified of him for no reason, didn't so much as bat an eye as he walked over to his occupied desk.
The whole room seemed to hold their breath. Suga just rolled his eyes. Idiots. You think they'd learn by now.
"Hi, Asahi!" Hinata either didn't notice or didn't care about the icy atmosphere that had settled over the room. He just smiled, ignoring all of the frantic third-years mouthing silent warnings from where they were huddled at the front of the room, and waved cheerfully to his teammate.
The entire room braced for impact (except the resident members of the volleyball team, two of whom had no idea what was going on, and the other one so blown away by his classmates' stupidity that he didn't even have the energy to fight them on it anymore), observing the scene through painful grimaces as they awaited Asahi's inevitable anger...
Only for their mouths to drop when Asahi grinned and returned the greeting.
"Hi, Hinata." Asahi walked over to his desk and dropped his bag to the side, uncaring of his shocked classmates. Hinata, in all his kind glory, got out of Asahi's chair, opting to sit on top of his desk instead so he wouldn't force the much bigger (and much heavier) man to prop himself up on a piece of wood that would definitely crack under his body weight. "What're you doing here? Don't you have class?"
"Nah. The first-year English teacher is sick, and they couldn't find a replacement in time, so I have this period off." He made a face, freckles distorting as he wrinkled his nose. "I have nothing to do because Kageyama is stupid and had to retake a test during our free period, so I decided I might as well visit you!" Hinata smiled, teeth and all, which Asahi returned with no effort.
"I hope you weren't waiting too long."
"Nope! Not long at all! Plus, your classroom is really nice. You guys have such an amazing view from the top floor!"
"Eh." Asahi shrugged. "It's not that cool. It's hard to focus on the scenery when you get yelled at for looking at anything other than your notes or test paper."
"Still! I bet I can see the mountain where I live from up here!"
Asahi grinned despite himself. "Yeah, probably."
The two dissolved into their usual chatter, uncaring of the people around them. This consisted of Hinata making enthusiastic, slightly over-zealous remarks while Asahi nodded, smiled kindly, and then exchanged a few words of his own. They cycled through the motions, speaking to each other cooly and unconcernedly and paying no mind to anyone else in the room.
Speaking of everyone else in the room, (with the exception of a bored-looking Suga), they were absolutely dumbfounded.
Whispers worked their way around the class as the scene unfolded. Hinata, the five-foot four-inch ball of joy and hyperactivity, was conversing casually with Asahi? The school's local thirty-year-old and definite gang leader? Sure, it wasn't that far-fetched given that they were on the same volleyball team, spent their weekends together at tournaments, and Hinata's charisma levels were off the charts, but still. Out of everyone at Karasuno, the third-years had all mutually concluded that if there was anyone who was most likely to dislike Hinata, it was Asahi.
And now here he was, chatting away with the ginger like a regular teenager and not some undercover mafia boss.
"I'd suggest you pick your jaw off the floor." Suga deadpanned, interrupting the silence that had overtaken his annoying classmate. Although this entire situation was stupid, he had to admit that proving he was right to the guy who'd been pestering him for so long did ignite a spark of satisfaction within him. "You don't want any bugs to fly in."
Suga's classmate did as he was told, closing his gaping mouth and swallowing hard. "Wha- but I don't understand." He stammered. The setter rolled his eyes. Was it so hard to believe that Asahi wasn't actually a bad person? And more than that, was it so shocking that Hinata had managed to befriend someone he spent literally seventy-five percent of his time with? "Doesn't Asahi Azumane vandalize street posts and beat up kids for fun or something? I thought he was a total criminal! So why would Hinata Shouyou be hanging around with someone like that?"
Suga raised an eyebrow. "Asahi fosters kittens in his spare time. I don't think he even knows where to get access to spray paint" The setter strode over to his seat and plopped his bag down next to his desk. Hinata, seemingly noticing him for the first time, paused mid-conversation to send his upperclassman a smile and a wave. Suga returned it with equal warmth before turning away, his gaze turning icy as it landed back on his questioning classmate. "And I wouldn't make such rude assumptions if I were you. I don't think Hinata would appreciate you talking bad about his friend."
He made sure to put extra emphasis on that last word.
"Who knows? I haven't seen him mad very often, but it definitely happens. I wonder how he'd react if I told him everything you said about Asahi? I don't think he'd take very kindly to that."
It was a cruel move, but at the moment, Suga didn't particularly care. If scaring this kid into submission was what it was gonna take to get him off his, Asahi's, and Hinata's backs, then scare him he shall.
The thing about Hinata being universally adored throughout their school district meant that he had connections with pretty much everyone. Plus, the ginger was generally regarded as the nicest person in the universe, so if he were to get mad at this particular third-year for making rude remarks about Asahi, that would pretty much mean social suicide for him. Most people wouldn't even care enough to learn what this kid had done to Hinata to make him angry in the first place. They would just shun him without question because everyone knew that to get Hinata genuinely mad at someone, they had to have done something terrible.
And, frankly, Suga viewed talking behind Asahi's back and perpetuating rumors as a pretty terrible offense.
So in that way, it really was a valid threat. Not that Suga would ever follow through on it (He wasn't that mean, and the entire volleyball team had vowed that they'd only use Hinata's ridiculous charm for good, not evil. That rule had been put in place specifically for Tsukishima since he'd been insistent on making Hinata smile at their opponents during every match, which would almost definitely result in an automatic win since the other team would be too distracted to do anything).
The third-year's eyes went wide, pupils darting from Hinata to Asahi and back to Suga before stammering out apologies and scampering back to his circle of friends, clearly recognizing the seriousness of the threat. Suga just sighed and retrieved his pencil case from his backpack. This whole situation was stupid and could've easily been solved if his classmates had more than three combined brain cells.
And really, even if Asahi was some unruly, disobedient, and borderline violent delinquent like everyone thought, when were they going to learn? Like, it was practically common knowledge at this point. Hell, Suga wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the principles of the universe or something.
Everyone liked Hinata. Everyone.