Swing That Way

Chapter 2

It hadn't even been thirty minutes and Aaron had fallen asleep. His large hood was pulled over his eyes and he told the boys to wake him up before seven. He was there more for moral support and mediation than helping with practice.

The clock covered by a cage on the wall showed a quarter to seven and Tanaka jumped up while yelling something along the lines of "Come and get it!" to hit kageyama's toss. Aaron, who they forgot was lying on the floor, jolted awake and stared around the gym, disoriented. His gaze found Hinata in time to see him get hit in the head because he wasn't paying attention to cute boy's receive.

"I want to hit the ball, too. Send me a toss, too."

Kageyama turned abruptly to face them, his malice not being caught by either of the short boys. Aaron smiled at his friend's enthusiasm.

"Tossing's your favorite, right? Send me a toss, too. Just one. Just try me out once, okay?"

Was Suga his name? He didn't see any good coming from the steel eyed boy and tried to get back to what they were doing.

"Hey, Hinata..."

"I refuse."

Aaron heard him loud and clear, making him frown. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as Hinata called him out with agreement from Tanaka.

When he opened his eyes again he saw Kageyama send the ball straight towards Hinata, who received it in a way that made it fly in the wrong direction.

"That came straight at you from the front. Tossing and attacking can only happen if there's reception. Which you're too slow to even do, so don't talk cocky."

The part about reception was wise, but the last needed comment woke Aaron fully from his stupor.

"You're one to talk, Kageyama!"

He muttered 'Filthy hypocrite' under his breath when he wasn't acknowledged. His enemy kept talking as he retrieved a ball.

"For the three-on-three match on Saturday I'll be making every effort to Tanaka-san all the tosses. Let Tanaka-san do the attacking. You do your best not to get in the way."

He was walking back onto the court with the ball in hand. Hinata's head bowed in frustration and defeat, but he looked to him and asked "When I can receive satisfactorily, you'll send me tosses?"

He held the ball in both hands and replied to him.

"I'll toss to anyone that's essential to winning. Right now, I don't see you essential to winning."

At this point, Aaron was filthy mad and headed straight over to Kageyama. He wasn't noticed until he had smacked the volleyball out of Kageyama's hands and it bounced across the floor. When the taller boy turned to look down at him, he saw every freckle standing out against Aaron's red face, his hands clenched at his hips.

"Don't be such a goddamn prick."

He turned on his heel and stormed out the doors. He could feel tears brimming in his eyes and he furiously wiped them away. He was ashamed that he got so worked up over a trivial matter. Sitting down were he was standing, a couple yards from the gym, he shoved his shaking hands into his hoodie pockets. His anger towards this event made him even more upset and frustrated that he let his past experiences flare his emotions. He didn't want to be seen right now and was thankful that he wasn't followed by Hinata or the third-years. He'll explain himself later.

***

The day was passing quickly and Aaron was thankful for that, but the lingering feeling from this morning made his skin itch in the most uncomfortable way. It was lunch time now, and art was his next class. Even though he hadn't eaten breakfast like usual, he felt sick to his stomach and couldn't eat. Maybe he would spend his next class in the nurse's office. There was only about two hours left of school anyway.