The (Aspiring) Little Giant's Plight

Passionate Play

Hi, mates. I know I mainly write Saitatsu stuff, but I had been writing this for a while just as a short story if I get some sort of writer's block or feel a sort of monotony in writing Saitatsu. That being said, it's still probably my favorite ship.

However, that doesn't mean I can't have other ships that I love! So this is a sort of short story here that's only going to be 4 chapters, maybe I'll write an epilogue eventually, but right now, I'm satisfied with this and just wanted to share it!

It may not be as high-quality, though, since I just wrote what I felt and didn't decide to make extra drafts. It was just sort of letting my ideas out.

That being said, I hope you enjoy!

~~~

"Kageyama, have you seen Hinata today? I came here a bit early and I didn't notice him come here at all," Nishinoya asked as he received a spike from Asahi, who had been practicing for a bit before Nishinoya had arrived. It was early in the morning, and considering the winter season, practically pitch-black outside. It was only when the first-year had opened the door had the other two noticed he had even arrived.

The genius setter sighed before scratching his head, "No, I didn't, Nishinoya-san."

"Oh, but don't you two race all the time before morning practice?" Asahi observed, picking up the ball that Nishinoya had received. "It's unlike Hinata to turn you down for a competition."

"Yeah, I know," Kageyama responded a bit harshly before turning down his tone. "It's annoying too, since I waited a few minutes outside in the snow until I realized the lights in his home weren't even on." As he took off his winter coat, he shook a bit of snow off of his head.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Tanaka's enthusiastic voice came through the bars of the gym. "Y'all are already here before me?! What is this?!"

"Tanaka, you're almost always the latest one to practice," Kageyama deadpanned under his breath, finding himself lucky that his elder hadn't noticed. "We just decided to come here early. You already know that I come here early."

"Yeah, but where's that little ball of energy?" The bald man questioned as he entered the door. "It's way too quiet for him to be here."

He was right. Without Hinata's presence and generally determined and positive presence, it felt a bit duller and quieter. The gym, other than the quiet grunts of effort let out by the players and the sound of the ball being smacked around bouncing off the walls, was practically silent. Asahi and Nishinoya had realized that they had barely said a word to each other rather than asking each other if they could work on what they needed to.

Kageyama scoffed indignantly, "He didn't race me, and I didn't even see him before coming here. I texted him but he didn't respond either."

"That...is really weird," Nishinoya remarked, putting a hand on his chin. "Don't we have a practice game against Nekoma later today?"

"Exactly," Kageyama nodded. "I don't think he'd miss a practice game against them for the world. He even started studying a bit more when he learned that we'd have a practice game when you guys brought it up a week back."

Tanaka raised his eyebrow, "Bullshit."

"I know."

Asahi stuttered, trying to come up with a reason, "Maybe he slept in? It has to happen to someone even like Hinata, right?" Even he knew that there was doubt in his voice, and it was pretty obvious to everyone else.

"Asahi," Nishinoya seemed extremely skeptical and put a hand on his hip. "You're talking about the little ball of sunshine that literally woke us up every single day at the training camp half an hour before our alarms. Even earlier than me sometimes."