Misconception and Other Tragedies | Kagehina

"An Off Day"

Hinata's POV

~~~

Once Hinata had gotten to practice that morning, his normal routine proceeded to ensue. He stretched, ran a few laps around the court, and now had a volleyball hurtling straight for his face.

Ah, yes, a normal day.

"I got it! I got it!"

WHAM!

Hinata scrambled to his feet, forearms stinging from the jump serve he'd just received. The satisfying sound echoed across the court, making him smile. Receiving would never get old for him, not since his first "nice receive" comment he'd gotten from Kageyama.

"Hinata! Left!"

The tiny spiker sparked to life, zooming across the court to heed his teammate's call.

Approaching the net, he eyed his right, seeing someone lift their hands to give him the ball.

He jumped.

BAM! Contact.

THUD! The ball hit the floor. If they were playing a real game, the point would've been theirs. Hinata landed and turned to see who had set for him. When he saw who it was, he was surprised.

"Nice toss, Bokuto-kun! I never knew you could set."

The energetic wing spiker grinned.

"Heh, you bet I can! I didn't spend all of that time around Akaashi just to annoy him, you know."

"Learned from some of the best, I see." Hinata walked over to the volleyball he'd just spiked and picked it up. "How is Akaashi? I haven't heard from him since he graduated."

Bokuto beamed. "He's doing great! He works on editing manga for a publisher. It's volleyball related, actually."

"Woah! Really? What's it called?"

"I don't really know. I think he said it's something like 'haiku'...?"

"I'll have to look into it."

"Shoyo!"

Hinata jumped and did a one-eighty, meeting Atsumu's eyes. The setter was brooding in a corner. For what reason, Hinata didn't know. Probably a silly one.

"Miya-kun, I told you not to–"

"Come here."

The redhead blinked, looking from Bokuto to Atsumu and back again. What was Atsumu so angry about? Slowly, hesitantly, he made his way over to the blond.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Why did you spike that ball?"

Hinata smiled nervously. Atsumu's aura was getting more murderous by the second, but this was nothing new. Atsumu had a tendency to get angry easily. Hinata just cranked up his positivity, hoping some of it would rub off on the other.

"Because Bokuto-kun set it for me. It would be silly not to spike it, right? I mean, in the end, who cares who did what! It only matters that we win."

Atsumu stepped forward, looming over Hinata like impending storm clouds. It was the angriest he'd ever been at Hinata. It was the angriest Hinata had ever seen him, period. He shrunk back, suddenly frightened.

"I'm the one who's supposed to set for you."

Atsumu's tone sent chills down Hinata's spine. His instincts were screaming at him to run. To find someone to protect him. His head reeled. Sure, there'd been plenty of times where Hinata had upset Atsumu, but this was different. Hinata was actually afraid that Atsumu was going to do something to him.

"You shouldn't be spiking anyone's sets but mine. I earned this. You're my spiker."

Atsumu's hands grabbed onto Hinata's shoulders, squeezing them hard.

"Do you understand?"

Hinata couldn't bring himself to speak, so he nodded. The eyes he was staring into were wide, a crazed look overtaking their normal indifferent one.

"Apologize."

"I...Miya-kun, I'm...sorry."

The grip on Hinata's shoulders tightened. "For what?"

"F-For spiking Bokuto-kun's set!" Hinata was in panic mode, spewing out words and hoping they'd save him. "And making you upset. I promise I'll only ever spike your sets from now on! For forever!"

Atsumu continued to stare at him for a few moments, then he lifted his hand and pulled it back. Hinata watched, horrified, as the wind up for a slap seemed to move in slow motion. He closed his eyes, praying it wouldn't hurt too much.

But the impact never came. At least to his face. Hinata felt something rest on his head and squinted his eyes open to see what it was. Atsumu stood there He had completely changed moods.

It was so confusing.

He felt Atsumu's hand move, and glanced up to see that the blond had started ruffling his hair, his normal smile back on his face, remarks like "good" and "I knew you'd understand" left his now smiling mouth.

That hurt worse than a slap. Because according to Hinata, only one other person was allowed to get angry at him, only to playfully ruffle his hair in the end. And he hadn't had a real conversation with him in a long time.

"How about spiking some of my sets now?"

Deep breath, big smile, Hinata told himself. He's probably just having an off day.

"Sure thing, Miya-kun!"

***

Hinata spiked Atsumu's sets until the end of practice, fighting to keep the vibe normal. Now, he was tired and sore, and really regretting spiking all of those sets instead of practicing blocks or serves.

Oh, well, he thought, There's always tomorrow.

Then, as they were getting ready to go change in the locker rooms, Bokuto called out to him.

"Hinataaaa, spike!"

Atsumu was halfway across the gym, looking right at him, but, in that moment, Hinata wasn't thinking. He nodded at Bokuto, then started running towards the net, keeping his eyes on the ball.

The ball went up. Hinata jumped.

WHAM!

The ball slammed into the ground. Hinata landed, beaming until a chill went down his spine. He felt cold, brown eyes on the back of his head, and knew immediately he'd messed up.

~~~