Chapter Text
"Starting from tomorrow you're going to be Shouyo's bodyguard."
Atsumu blinked. Then he blinked once more.
Trying so hard to school his expression to be as calm as possible—because no, Atsumu wasn’t confused at all, nope—he let his brain catch up with the order he just received from the crown prince, Kita Shinsuke, sitting on his study desk five feet away from where Atsumu, the royal chief bodyguard, stood with his hands linked behind his back.
Did the crown prince just say… a name? Shouyo? Wait, who was that again?
Atsumu gulped. Suddenly his suit and tie felt a bit too tight.
He was one of the most trusted royal bodyguards—along with Osamu and the others, of course, but Atsumu would never admit that. He earned the chief bodyguard title through his own sweat and blood, and he took absolute pride on it. The moment he was assigned to become the bodyguard of the Kita Shinsuke, the country's very own crown prince, was the proudest moment of his life, no competition.
It was to be expected from him to know everything about the royal family. So really, he felt like he should know the person whose name the prince just uttered, but for the life of him, he really, really couldn't recall it at all.
Was it one of the royal family? Distant cousin? No, no. He was pretty sure that none of the royals was a Shouyo. The name sounded like a first name, maybe if Atsumu could know the family name, he would be able to recall it, but it would be so embarrassing for him to ask about that to the prince.
Atsumu might not go to college and was a high school drop-out, but he was clever and intelligent. He could name all the royals and their relatives, even the most distant ones. But this Shouyo guy certainly didn’t ring a bell.
And, Atsumu was assigned to be this unknown guy’s bodyguard? Did he just lose his position as the crown prince's bodyguard? The position that he had earned and kept so hard all this time?
He knew that Kita would soon become a king, moreover with his approaching wedding with his new fiance, Sawamura Daichi, a commoner that the public loved as soon as it was announced that the crown prince was in a serious relationship with the police officer. Their unique story of a prince and a commoner falling in love seemed to pull the public’s favor toward them.
But did that mean that Atsumu wasn’t suitable as Kita’s bodyguard anymore, because now he was a-soon-to-be king? What about Osamu then?
Atsumu took an unnoticeable deep breath before he spoke up. After all, he couldn't let the crown prince's order left unanswered for more than three seconds.
"With my utmost respect, Your Highness—"
"Oh, come on, Atsumu, we're alone here. You can just call me Shinsuke." The crown prince stated with merry tone as he rested his chin on his palm, looking at Atsumu in amusement.
The pure prince that Atsumu adored so much… After Shinsuke dated that handsome, kind officer, he really smiled so easily now. Living as the only son—more like the only grandson—of the admirable Queen Yumie, Shinsuke had grown up to be someone who put others before himself, a caring and obedient prince in front of his grandma, yet a capable and discipline prince in front of the public. But meeting Daichi really brought out his playful side, him realizing that he deserved to have fun too in his young age. The prince was only 23 years old, after all, a year older than Atsumu.
Atsumu dropped his stance. His muscles relaxed and his hard stare fell. He let out a chuckle as he shook his head.
"Okay, Shinsuke-sama, with my utmost respect--"
Shinsuke snorted. As much as Atsumu wanted to be casual with the prince, he couldn’t just be totally casual with him. At least he was better at doing this than Osamu. His twin was the absolute worst in being casual with the prince.
"Can I know who Shouyo is? And what do you mean by me being his bodyguard?"
“Shouyo is Daichi’s little brother. Well, step-brother, but that’s not important. What’s important is now that Daichi is my fiance, he’ll lead this country with me someday. So, of course, as Shouyo is the only family member that Daichi has, obviously I want someone capable to protect him.”
Atsumu raised his brows. “If you trusted me so much, why don’t you assign me as your fiance’s bodyguard. Why…” As realization dawned on him, Atsumu’s jaws slacked. “You assigned Osamu for Daichi-sama, didn't you?”
“Yeah, that’s the thing. Daichi is… normal compare to your boy, for the lack of a better word.” The crown prince of Japan smiled at him, like he was half-laughing and half-pitying him. “Shouyo is a whole nother different species than Daichi. So I don’t think Osamu would be able to handle him. That’s why I assigned you to take care of Shouyo. How is it, Atsumu? Interested?”
Did Atsumu even have any right to object?
“So you’re going to be part of the royal family, too?”
Hinata flicked his gaze from the ‘How to Make A Professional Team Scout You’ article he was currently reading. He lowered the magazine until he could see the face of his best friend slash partner who had been playing volleyball with him since high school. Kageyama and his stupid face stuffed with onigiri were what welcomed him. The setter was sitting in front of him in the team's locker room.
“I told you, Kageyama, I’m just gonna become the little brother in-law of a soon-to-be the king of Japan.” Hinata pointed at the black haired twenty years old with his index finger. “Stop saying that I’m a royalty. Also, coach will be mad at you for eating inside the locker room, you know?”
The raven head hummed as he took another big bite on his tuna onigiri. It took some times for him to start talk again. “You said it as if being a royalty is bad.”
“Well,” Hinata shrugged. The jacket of his university volleyball team slightly fell from his shoulder. “I’m not saying that it’s bad. But can you imagine what it would be like, living as a royalty?”
His friend didn’t answer. He just kept chewing with his uninterested eyes practically saying why. Hinata could only decipher the meaning of that look just because they had been partners for six years already.
Hinata took a deep breath. As if he was about to give a long pep-talk. “First, you have to live in that big, and I mean, big palace. Second, I would have to watch all what I’m doing, every little thing will be watched by not only royalties, but also the public. Third, I still want to play volleyball, and I don’t think a royalty can be an athlete at the same time.”
Kageyama hummed again. This time it was followed by nods that meant he was practically saying something like well, I guess that’s true. But it was soon accompanied by muffled words from his full mouth. “Maybe you can ask them for some exception for you. You can tell them you want to play volleyball.”
This was why Kageyama was his best friend and his eternal partner. They had the same passion, the same concern, the same interest and goal in life. His setter would never disregard his desire to keep playing volleyball for the rest of his life just for the royalty title.
That was what Hinata had been trying to tell Daichi since day one that his step older brother said something about Hinata would soon move to the palace. But Daichi didn't get him. It wasn’t that Daichi was trying invalidate Hinata’s passion—if anything, his brother was always supportive when it came to Hinata’s dream, but this time, Daichi asked Hinata to think about it.
As if Hinata would be willing to trade volleyball with anything else.
Besides, Kageyama was making a good point there. Why couldn’t they make exceptions for him? Maybe he can still play and be a royalty? Surely that was doable, right?
Atsumu didn’t know if he should take the prince’s words as a compliment or be offended.
The fact that Kita thought that Atsumu was someone who could handle someone abnormal was shaking his confidence a little bit, what with Osamu was chosen to be the bodyguard for the prince’s fiance instead of him.
But it wasn’t Atsumu if he backed down from the challenge. So here he was, inside the car, on his way to meet the so-called Shouyo for the first time in his campus, after a quick research of his profile.
As Atsumu rested his back on the leather seat of the royal car, a black sedan with heavily tinted glass, he read the document filled with Shouyo’s information that Shinsuke’s secretary, Sakusa, made and printed for him.
“Read this carefully,” Sakusa said to him when he handed the papers earlier before Atsumu took off to pick up the boy. “Good luck with him.”
Atsumu sneered at the memory of Sakusa’s smug smirk at him. That guy must be really happy now that Atsumu was no longer the prince’s direct bodyguard. Koutaro was now Shinsuke’s chief bodyguard. With this new arrangement, the two of them wouldn’t meet too often. Good riddance, honestly, but Atsumu still couldn’t accept the fact that he was just practically demoted to the lesser position, although Kita never said it like that.
Atsumu put his focus once again to the document in his hold, trying his best to concentrate so he could understand what made this Shouyo so special that he acquired a special security from a high-level bodyguard like Atsumu. When he heard Osamu was assigned to guard Daichi, Atsumu could understand. And granted, Shouyo was certainly someone who would become the prince's—and future king—brother in-law. But Atsumu felt like a mid-tier bodyguard was enough to guard this boy.
The first page of the document showed a big picture of who Atsumu assumed to be the boy in question. At first glance, Atsumu could see that he was still young, in his teenage year maybe. His boyish features really stood out, like his big, wide eyes, chubby, round cheeks, and his long, curly orange hair. From the way he smiled so brightly in the picture, Atsumu could tell that he was one hell of a bright kid.
Atsumu was aware of the uninvited little pull in the corner of his lips. Okay, so this kid didn’t look so bad, after all. He looked... adorable.
Atsumu had to force himself to tear his gaze away from the picture to read the information that mattered. The name was Hinata Shouyo, he was adopted by the Sawamuras when he was six years old, right before he entered elementary school, though he never changed his family name. His parents and the Sawamuras were best friend. When Shouyo's mother died because of an illness, his father left him because of heartbreak, leaving him alone, and the Sawamuras volunteered to take him in. It was tragic that only a few years later in his last year of high school, his new adopted parents passed away too due to traffic accident, leaving Daichi as his only family member.
But then again, Daichi was also lucky to have Shouyo by his side as the only one he had left after his parents were gone.
Atsumu gulped. It was his job to check every background information related to the royal family, so really, this was supposed to be nothing new for him. But why did it feel like he was intruding the kid’s privacy? The boy had gone through a lot.
Just like me. Atsumu immediately dismissed the thought.
He moved to other detail information. Shouyo attended Waseda University, known for their good sports clubs and programs. He was part of the volleyball team, a regular, and played opposite—whatever that meant, Atsumu didn’t understand. He guessed Shouyo was a good player since the team was said to be one of the top 3 in Japan, and he played as a starting player.
Atsumu’s eyes narrowed at this piece of information. The royal family would surely move him into a new elite university where almost all the royalties attended. He wondered if Shouyo would agree to it. But somehow, Atsumu expected he wouldn’t. Even before meeting the kid, just from seeing his picture, Shouyo seemed to be difficult to handle.
Okay, so maybe Atsumu now could more or less understand why Shinsuke assigned him to be this kid’s bodyguard.
Speaking of this kid, Atsumu guessed he needed to stop calling him by ‘kid’ because when he finally read the basic details of the boy, he realized that Shouyo was only 21, one year younger than him.
Well, this was certainly interesting.
It was dread, or more like a creeping feeling at the pit of his stomach, that made Hinata stopped his movement when he was in the middle of doing a receiving stance, readying himself to receive any blockout from the opponent’s wipe.
After that, his other senses started to catch up. He could hear the chaos from outside the gym. People’s murmurs and hushes, and there was also some shouted orders. And then, his sight caught the scene at the entrance door of his gym, because apparently it wasn’t happening outside anymore. The first thing Hinata see was black. Lots of black, because those people were wearing black suits, black ties, black shoes. Their hair slick, and they also wore earpieces.
Hinata’s first thought was, wow, they looked like they were in a movie, before his eyes landed on the one who really stood out among them. While everyone was all black, this one particular person had a distinct hair color among the rest. As if the ash blond hair and brown undercut was not enough to make him stand out, his piercing eyes directed at Hinata was what sealed the deal in Hinata's mind. That this must be the royal guards, ready to take him.
Before his mind could even catch up with what was going on, his body moved first, as usual, like when he played volleyball. Hinata turned around and bolted out.
Only to be hold back by Kageyama.
Hinata screeched. He almost fell as the force of him running was abruptly stopped by a hand holding him. "Stupidyama, what are you doing? Let me go!"
"Idiot, they're obviously looking for you." Kageyama was half-yelling.
"Which was why I'm running away!" At this point, Hinata was freaking out. He must've looked terrified and pitiful because Kageyama now looked genuinely concern and the hold on Hinata's forearm began to loosen.
"Hinata," Hinata heard his captain, who was now standing beside him. "It's okay. Coach will talk to them."
Hinata's eyes followed where the coach walked to the group of men wearing black suits. There were only three of them, including the blond guy—who now Hinata realized his gaze never really left him for more than two seconds, as if he was making sure that Hinata was still there—but Hinata was still itching to bolt out from the scene.
Hinata racked his brain, trying to remember if his big brother had said something about the royalty picking him up today during their phone call this morning, but he was pretty sure that Daichi didn’t say anything about it. It had been more than a week since Daichi told him that he was engaged with the prince of the country, and his big brother had warned him that he soon would meet the royal family with Hinata, but he didn’t say when.
As Hinata was lost in his panic-induced thought, he didn’t realize that the group of guards and his coach had finished talking, and they were approaching to where Hinata and the team huddled together in the corner of their gym court. Kageyama’s tensed grip on him was what brought Hinata back to reality, and his fear came back in full force.
“Kageyama, let me go,” he pleaded.
“Where are you gonna go anyway?” Kageyama whispered, hissing loudly. It was apparent that his best friend was also nervous. He didn’t know what to do either.
Hinata’s only hope to escape this situation was thrown out of the window as soon as his coach with the royal guards in his tail were finally in front of them. He knew he was fast, Kageyama said that it was his only talent, that jerk. But even then Hinata wasn’t sure if his agility was enough for him to outrun this pack of black suited men.
“What’s the matter, coach?” his captain spoke for him. “What business do they have to be here?”
His coach threw Hinata a brief look before his eyes pointed at the team in general, and just like that, Hinata knew that this was it. He would be taken away. Right here, right now.
“As all of you already knew, Hinata would soon become a part of the royal family following the engagement of his older brother with the crown prince. I really appreciate that you have been keeping it quiet all this time. I’m sure Hinata do too. And these gentlemen here are picking our spiker up for his first meeting with the royal family, since tomorrow they will officially announce the engagement to the public. So…”
Hinata’s breath hitched as the coach scurried away, giving way to the guards. His captain also absentmindedly made way for them. And now between Hinata and the blond, handsome guard, the one that Hinata guessed was the head guard, was only Kageyama, who was still hiding Hinata—not because he was still holding onto Hinata, but it was because Hinata still had his iron grip on his setter.
The blond bodyguard took a second eyeing Kageyama, as if trying to asses him, and as soon as he saw that Kageyama wasn’t a threat here, his eyes were back to Hinata again. Just like Hinata thought initially, this guard’s eyes really never left Hinata for more than two seconds. Which meant trying to do something questionably stupid in front of him would be a futile attempt.
“Good afternoon, Hinata-san,” the blond guard finally opened his mouth. His honeyed voice almost made Hinata's knees buckle. His polite smile sent a shiver. “We’re here to take you to meet the royal family.”