Archive of Our Own ^beta

There was celebration in the air, and Kei couldn’t help but enjoy it. Just a little bit.

After his teams victory earlier that day, he had been dragged out to celebrate with the friends who had come to support him. Part of him wanted to decline, he’d played full sets today and he was exhausted , but Tadashi wasn’t gonna let him get away that easy. So, less than two hours after the game, he found himself sat between Tadashi and Sugawara, as Ennoshita told them about how work had been recently. Neither Kei nor Hinata were drinking tonight, both being in the middle of their seasons, but the others certainly made up for it. Even Yachi was drinking, giggling with Kiyoko at the end of the table. Tanaka was only other person sober, designated driver for his wife and friends for the night, but his energy wasn’t any worse off because of that. Rounding the group off Dachi sat sipping his beer, laughing quietly at the others. Kei was oddly touched they’d all shown up today. It wasn’t like he was in the highest league, and it wasn’t like it was any special game. But they’d all wanted to come anyways. 

“So, do you get hit on often at work, Chikara?” Tanaka teased, and Ennoshita rolled his eyes as the rest of the group laughed. He’d just told them a story of how a woman who was a bit too old for him had flirted with him at work, and Kei wished he couldn’t relate.

“No, I don’t,” he said, fixing Tanaka with a stare that transported Kei right back to their second year. But then Ennoshita paused, thinking for a few moments. “There was another girl though, a while back––”

Sugawara snorted loudly. “Now you’re just bragging!” Kei’s lips tugged upwards as Ennoshita spluttered. 

“No! It’s just, it was funny! Because she hadn’t seemed interested in me at all, then she asked how I got into this work and I told her I used to play volleyball, and suddenly I was super interesting.” At this, the whole table burst into tipsy laughter. Kei was keenly aware that some of the other tables had thrown them some looks, but that didn’t matter. When Tadashi was laughing so hard he could barley breathe, clutching Kei’s arm, people could think whatever and he wouldn’t care. Instead he just glared at them until they looked away, leaving their bubble alone. 

“Oh man, please tell me you told her you were captain!” Tanaka exclaimed.

“Well, she asked what I played so–”

“Of course you did!” 

Everyone kept teasing Ennoshita for more details for a while, until Kei felt Sugawara’s eyes on him. Which never boded well. 

“I’m sure you and Hinata know all about that, huh? It’s hard being popular, huh?”

Next to him, Tadashi let out a barley restrained laugh. “Once a girl flirted with Tsukki, and stopped the second she found out he was a middle blocker.” This elicited more laughs from the group, and Kei considered sharing the fact that Tadashi had not been this easy going when the flirtation in question happens. But Hinata beat him to it.

“What, like you being a middle blocker would decide your personality? That makes no sense.”
And in reality, Kei agreed with him. He’d met enough volleyball players over the years to realize there was no rhyme or reason to who picked what position, so it was funny that this girl had very specific opinions on middle blockers. So he should just nod and laugh along. However,

“Says the guy who’s slept with like, five setters,” Kei says. 

There was a pause.

“Five?!” Suga exclaimed, mouth dropping open to look at Hinata, who was quick to defend himself.

“I haven’t slept with five!” There was another pause, as Hinata did a quick count on his fingers. “Only four!”

“Four?!” 

“Who?” Tanaka exclaimed, almost standing up with the excitement. Kei couldn’t hold back his smirk. After Tanaka’s question, Ennoshita turned to Suga, eyebrow raised.

“Nope, nope, nope. I mean– Hinata, you’re very sweet and handsome, but never. No offense.”

“None taken!” Hinata replied, all too cheery.

“So, wait. Kageyama is one––” Tanaka paused, looking up. “Kageyama is one, right?”

Hinata groaned. “Yes, of course he is.”

“So these other three– Do we know who they are?”

Kei couldn’t help himself. “Mhm. All of us have played against them.” 

At this, chaos broke loose.

“You slept with our competitors?” Tanaka was clutching his forehead, and Suga was laughing so loudly that Kei saw multiple people turn their heads.

“Guys,” Tadashi said, barley getting the words out as he laughed, “we should keep it down.”  

“Not during high school, so they weren’t our competitors anymore!” 

“Okay, enough,” Daichi said, sitting up straight. “No more shouting, just put forwards your guesses if you have any.” 

“Guys, I’ll just––” Hinata’s plead went ignored, as the others turned to Kei.

“So, we played all of them during your first year then?” Suga said, and Kei nodded. “Do you two know who?” This was directed at Tadashi and Yachi, who both nodded.

There was a moment of silence, as the members around the table racked their brain to remember what setters they’d played.

“Not Date Techs tall guy? The guy on your team,–” Tanaka said with a nod to Kei, “Koga–– something?”

“Koganegawa? No, no,” Hinata said, shaking his head and laughing. “We still keep in touch though!”

“Yeah, that was a bad guess,” Ennoshita said, and Tanaka clutched his chest.

“Well, do you have any other ideas?”

“I do, in fact.” Ennoshita leaned back in his chair, before turning his gaze towards Hinata. “Kozume is one, right?”

Everyone looked at Hinata, who nodded after a moments hesitation .

“Of course!” Suga exclaimed. “You two were always so close. And... a bit weird.”

“Weird how?” Hinata asked, tilting his head. Kei didn’t really know how to explain that whatever went down between the two of them in their first game against each other had been, at the very best, extremely weird to everyone around them.

“When did this happen?” Daichi asked, mostly sitting back and enjoying the ride.

“Oh, after I both graduated, but before I went to Brazil. I spent a lot of time with Kenma that year, and well,” Hinata said, shrugging. But his cheeks were red.

“Okay, one down, two left,” Daichi said. He had apparently become some form of moderator, but Kei supposed it made sense. They’d all changed a lot since high school, they were all older and a bit calmer, but in moments like this they tended to fall back into their old ways. Kei had felt awkward about it a while back, newly graduated and eager to to be an adult, but he’d come to realize there were some things he could bring along from his teenage years. Grinning at Hinata as he scowled at him, Tadashi giggling at his side, was definitely one of them.

“Can I have a guess?” Shimizu said, and the others nodded. Tanaka stared at her like every word she would utter was gonna change his life. “The Miya twin setter? The one on that’s on your team right now,” she said, and Kei saw Yachi attempting to hide her laughter behind her hands.

“Really, Hinata? After they beat us at nationals?” Kei couldn’t really decipher if this was a joke or not, as Tanaka genuinely looked a bit hurt. 

“Well, we had already beat them once, right? So we were even!” The others shook their head, but everyone was still smiling big.

“When did that happened?” Ennoshita said, clearly doing some mental math.

“Just after I joined MSBY!”

“Weren’t you and Kageyama together then?” Daichi asked, joining in on the mental math.

“Nope, we only got together after our first match against each other!” Even though Kei had been subjected to retellings of every major event in their relationship, he understood why it seemed a bit confusing for everyone else. Sure, everyone had known on some level that they would be together, but it also felt a bit unreal that it actually happened. Kageyama wasn’t the most affectionate of people, and Kei vivdly remembers the first time he saw them kiss. It had only been a moment, as Kei had wrinkled his nose and turned away, but it had been strange to see the realness of it all. Suddenly, they weren’t teenagers pushing each other around as an excuse to hold hands anymore. 

“Okay, final one!” 

“You’re in high spirits for not having guessed a single one, Suga,” Tanaka teased smiling. 

Sugawara glared at him. “You had one guess, and that was wrong.” Tanaka stopped smiling. 

Imagining the rest of the groups reaction the the last setter, Kei couldn’t help but laugh a bit, and by the look on Hinata’s face, he was thinking the same.

“Oi, what’s with the laughs? Who’s this final guy?” At this point, Tadashi and Yachi joined in with the laughing, until Suga’s gasp cut through the noise.

“No way! Hinata, you did not!” 

“What? Who?” Tanaka asked, once again standing up from his seat.

“I’m not gonna say it, you say it!” Suga said, choking on his laughter. Hinata shook his head.

“Come on Shouyou,” Tadashi said. “Time to confess!”

“Okay, okay! Just promise not to be mean!” There was a final pause, as the table stared at Hinata intently. “So, when I was in Brazil right, me and Oikawa—”

“Oikawa?!”

“No way, absolutely no way.”

“How did Kageyama take that?” Shimizu asked, and the others stopped their chaos to listen. 

“He was fine with it! Like I said, we weren’t even dating yet! Sure, maybe he was a bit annoyed––” And so the chaos started again.

When the group had managed to calm down, half of them laughing hard enough to bring tears to their eyes, they were catching their breath.

“Damn, Hinata,” Tanaka said, respect evident on his face. “I’m impressed. That’s a lot of setters.”

“Are we gonna have to fight them off at you guys’ wedding, then?” Dachi joked.

Hinata laughed. “They’re all my friends, you guys! It was all very casual, and everyone knew that."

Kei and Tadashi shared a look. “I’m not sure everyone knew that,” Kei muttered, and Tadashi giggled. 

Suga gasped. “I need to hear more about this!” 

“I’m just still not over Oikawa,” Ennoshita said. 

Maybe they were being a bit too loud, and a bit too annoying. Maybe it would bother Kei as he tried to sleep some nights. But it was alright. There were worse things, he supposed, than a group of old friends being a bit too loud together. Kei couldn’t help but enjoy it. Just a little bit.