you were right // kageyama AU

02.

m.j.s

     After practice ended, Mya and I decided to go to the dining hall and eat our fill before bed. Since classes start tomorrow, everyone who will be attending class on campus this year has already arrived and are fully settled into their dorms. Given this, campus is absolutely buzzing.
          "Wanna sit in the quad?" I ask Mya as we weave through the multitude of students getting dinner at this time. My hand reaches out and pops open the nearest door leading to the grassed area outside the dining hall after she agrees. She trails behind me, making comments about things within our field of vision. It's hot, but the sun is setting so a calm wind sways between us, surrounding us with the perfect weather to eat outside.
          "You're kidding." Her eyes are looking over my shoulder as she speaks. My head spins around in interest, spotting my brother and a group of his friends surrounding the campus volleyball net getting ready to start a game. "Why they need to play volleyball in their every waking moment will forever be a mystery to me."
     My eyes flick to the disinterested setter I had the pleasure of meeting earlier standing on the outskirts of the makeshift huddle. For some reason, I find myself wanting to believe he's not always the character he presented to me prior. "Wanna sit and watch?" I ask. Her eyebrow quirks in suspicion but as soon as she spots Asahi within the group, she forgets to inquire about my interest. Her feet are the first to move towards the game. When we're at a close enough distance from the court, I set my tray and diet coke down on a picnic table.
     After a few minutes of watching the boys chat amongst themselves, I managed to catch Daichi's eyes. I wave him over, wanting to talk before they start playing. "Hey, Hua." He greets before his eyes flick to Mya. "Asahi misses you."
          "Do not feed my ego like that, Daichi." Mya puts her hand out dismissively although I can see her cheeks fluff pink at the comment.
          "Go talk to him." He ignores her. I watch her eyes flick to her romantic interest as she chews on her bottom lip. She doesn't take another second to argue and crosses the lawn. I shake my head at her but giddily smile at her brazen attitude to courting the tall boy.
          "Do you have practice tomorrow?" I ask my brother now that we're alone.
          "Yeah, 5-7," Daichi tells me. "You?"
          "Nope. We have tomorrow off because they're waxing the floor." My eyes roll back in annoyance at the thought of missing a practice so early in the season. This reminds me that we have our first real game this week and I feel more nerves sprouting. I look down absentmindedly at my sushi and sigh softly.
     This prompts him to ask "Wanna come to ours?" My attention perks up at that, eyes glancing behind him at the boys who had started peppering with each other at the loss of their captain.
          "Would they let me?" I ask, hopefulness clear in my voice. My interest is piqued, and immediately I start thinking about the extra practice I'd get, not to mention I could ask Nishinoya about his passing techniques.
          "Of course. Suga loves you and I'm captain anyway. I'll text coach about it right now but there's no doubt he'll say yes to his favorite player." He whips out his phone and I can see his fingers typing hurriedly across the screen.
          "Right, of course." I say sarcastically. "But yeah, that would be cool." My mind lingers on the thought of a more difficult practice, but it prompts me to remember one of my original reasons for calling out to him. "Also, what are you planning on doing Labor Day weekend?"
          "The team and I are planning on going to Lakoya Lake and camping. They have sand courts there and we have practice off the whole weekend." He explains. "Why?"
          "I was planning on going home to visit Terushima and wanted to drive the car so Mom didn't have to come pick me up."
     He pauses for a moment, scratching the back of his neck as he thinks. "Well, the Juniors were planning on driving the younger guys so I think I need the car. I can talk to the guys and see if someone else could drive but I was hoping to use it."
          "No, that's okay, if you already planned on it then it wouldn't be fair for me to intrude."
          "Why don't you have Teru come pick you up?" He asks. I ponder the suggestion for a second before smiling.
          "I could ask. That's a good idea." I speak out loud, indirectly thanking him. "Okay well, I'll let you go. I'm sure the boys don't know what to do without you and it looks like Mya is wrapping up her conversation." I jut my thumb out in her direction as she's giving Asahi one of her silly handshakes.
          "Okay, I'll see you at practice tomorrow. Love you, Hua."
          "Love you too, Chi." He spins on his heel and heads back toward the net. At the same time, I notice Mya walking over to some girl who immediately starts a conversation with her. I pull my phone out as my chopsticks pick up a california roll covered in soy sauce. I pop it into my mouth before noticing a figure that has taken up Daichi's absence.
          "Nishinoya told me I should come apologize to you for earlier. According to him, I was being 'curt' and 'rude' when I met you earlier." The tall setter looms over me as I stop chewing. His face sports his signature unwavering scowl but for some reason, I feel like he's being very vulnerable with me in an attempt to follow Nishinoya's advice. He doesn't continue any further so I assume that was his definition of an apology. I can't help but let a smirk crawl onto my lips at his lack of any actual regret.
          "Really? I didn't notice." I say untruthfully. For some reason, I feel myself wanting to continue this conversation with him. "I'm not sure you actually said you were sorry just now. Did I miss that part?" I tease.
     His tongue runs over his teeth inside his mouth at my instigating. "Well, that's as close as you're going to get to one so don't hold your breath." I can see the scowl on his lips transforming into somewhat of an amused smirk.
     Suddenly, I take a deep breath, filling my cheeks to show him that I am, in fact, going to hold my breath. I lace my fingers together and pull them underneath my chin obnoxiously as I wait.
          "Okay, fine. How about instead of an apology, I introduce myself and then we can be even because I really don't think I was being mean." He rolls his dark blue eyes as he speaks but continues after I continue holding my breath. "I'm Kageyama. I'm the starting freshman setter." He holds his hand out hesitantly. I watch his short hair shake across his brooding forehead as he slightly shifts his head while he waits for me to accept his lame introduction.
     The air I was holding comes out but only so I can speak. "I already knew that stuff so it doesn't count. What else?" I go back to holding air in my mouth. His arms cross over his chest in annoyance but I can feel my actions working to break down his stubborn, intimidating aura.
          "My birthday is December 22nd, I don't have any siblings, and I want to be a professional volleyball player." He spits quickly. "That's all you're getting right now so stop holding your breath." My eyes roll but I oblige and let the air flow back out between my lips. I take another bite of my sushi and pretend to ponder a reaction before answering just to annoy him ever so slightly.
          "That's definitely still not enough, but you can tell Nishinoya that I accepted your not-so-apology." I smile goofily. "But from now on I expect you to be nicer to me."
     His eyes roll again and his face turns back to its typical stoic nature. "No promises." His dark eyes flick to Mya who had just resumed her spot at my side, causing him to wrap up the conversation. "See you around." I wave sarcastically, wiggling each one of my fingers at his departure. I can see him shaking his head as he trots back towards the court.
          "Who was that?" Mya questions, immediately digging into her pasta. "He's cute."
     A small chuckle escapes my lips as a weird feeling rumbles through my chest. "That would be my new friend, Kageyama."

...

     I attempted to call Terushima after getting back from dinner, but his call went straight to voicemail. Later, I received a text saying he's got late practice and won't be home until after I go to bed. This unfortunately prompted me to have to wait on the Labor Day conversation till our next available talking time.
I know that Teru is a busy guy given that this is his third year of college and he's got his own life at his school, but I never figured it would be this hard to talk to him. Volleyball takes up the majority of his time and when he's not practicing or playing games, he's out with his friend group.
     Luckily, we've only been dating a short time and it's not THAT serious yet but the strain of long-distance relationships in college is certainly a real thing.
     Since then, I've been distracting myself by re-reading my class syllabi for the week ahead.
     Annoyedly, I reach over to plug my phone into the charger. My fingers reach towards my desk, feeling the rubbery green case of my AirPods before sticking them into my ears, shuffling my playlist titled 'work in progress.'
     I'm honestly not sure what I would do without Spotify. Over the past few years, I've been working on carefully crafting a number of playlists; each one pertaining to the different moods that shuffle through my complex brain. This particular set of songs is meant for moments like this: homework and moments I need to concentrate on the task at hand. It is free from distracting songs and instead is filled with a mixture of soft low-fi beats and stimulating instrumental compositions.
     My other playlists have similar patterns, each one fitting perfectly with whatever I'm faced with at the moment. Over the past four years, my list of playlists has only gotten longer, each year becoming more fine-tuned as my hours of listening increases. I have about thirty playlists that, if I do say so myself, are crafted to near perfection.
     Before I get too far off in my head, I force my attention to the page in front of me, attempting to concentrate on the statistics class expectations and outline. Still, every now and then, even the music meant to hold my concentration fails at keeping it. My excitement distracts me with the opportunities of tomorrow.
And the opportunities for new friendships.