to greater things beyond the unknown||RK96000||

Chapter 3: Potential

ao3 - RK96000

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Shouyou isn't scared about volleyball tryouts- just... a little apprehensive. He'd been excited all week, chattering his friends' ears off about volleyball even more than he usually did, but now, actually standing in the gymnasium on Friday, five minutes before tryouts begin and shaky in his sports gear, all he can do is keep his mouth clamped shut as he tries his hardest to not throw up.

It's hard not to be intimidated when surrounded by at least half a dozen people, all easily half a foot taller than him, if not more- Shouyou's only saving grace keeping him rooted is being able to hide behind Kunimi and Kindaichi, who are luckily (and unfairly) incredibly tall.

His stomach cramps right then, deciding that actually, he will go to the bathroom, and Shouyou slips out of the gym, stumbles a few steps backwards out into the hallway, only to bump into a wall.

No, Shouyou realizes as he turns around. Not a wall.

"Hinata, right?" The skyscraper of a person leans down, and then continues speaking but it's lost in a warble of white noise and static.

Shouyou backs up again, throat dry, only to find to his neverending horror, another wall-shaped person just as tall.

"Mattsun, you're scaring the poor tiny first year!"

The spark of frustration that wells up in Shouyou from being called tiny (he was not tiny) is much more comforting than the absolute, overwhelming dread and the deep seated worry of not being good enough for a powerhouse volleyball team.

"I'm not tiny!" Shouyou defends his (admittedly) short height. "I am 5'4.1!"

"Not going to lie, that... does not help your case at all," 'Mattsun' points out, raising one bushy eyebrow.

"Oh, fuck! You dumb bitch, you didn't introduce yourself!" says the person who also didn't introduce himself.

"I'm Matsukawa," he introduces while rolling his eyes, and jabs his friend, "and the dumber bitch over there is Hanamaki."

Hanamaki scoffs. "Who's the dumbest bitch then, huh?"

"Oikawa," Matsukawa says without skipping a beat.

Shouyou frowns when he hears this, startled out of simply listening to the two's easy banter, which went back and forth so quickly that Shouyou hadn't even thought to interrupt until then. "Oikawa-senpai isn't dumb! He's very nice," he argues instead, and blinks when the two of them stare at him for an uncomfortably long moment.

"Still can't believe Oikawa is going to date a first year," Matsukawa says instead and Hanamaki nods with a great sigh.

Shouyou splutters.

Were they implying Oikawa was going to date Shouyou? If they didn't, then were they implying some other first year, and if so, who-

"Hina-chan!" A voice calls out instead, interrupting Shouyou's racing thoughts, a saving grace with a voice smooth as silk and twice as soft.

Then, Oikawa drapes an arm around his shoulders and points a finger at Matsukawa and Hanamaki, wagging it disapprovingly. "Are you two being mean to my favorite kouhai?"

Favorite kouhai! Shouyou thinks and stands up a little taller, leaning into Oikawa.

"It's been like, two days since school started," Hanamaki snorts.

"Yeah," Matsukawa says with a smirk. "Oikawa sure moves fast."

Oikawa just rolls his eyes and steers Shouyou back to the gymnasium.