chapter 5

“How do you know one of those guys?” Kageyama questioned to Hinata as they were about to have their practice game with Nekoma and apparently his soulmate has already met one of their opponents somehow.

“Yeah I came across him went I got lost in our one of our runs, remember that?”

“Okay, so you just happen to come upon him and nothing else?”

“Right! But I had no idea he was from Nekoma and I guess he already knew I was from Karasuno…” he scratched his cheek sheepishly, “and oh, he’s also his team’s setter.”

“Setter…?” Tobio emphasized, getting fired up as they entered the building.

The coaches of both teams met up just as their young students were getting acquainted.

“It’s been eight years hasn’t it?” Assistant Coach Manabu Naoi greeted, “I see you totally changed your hairstyle.”

“Well you should try a different style once and awhile, Naoi.” Ukai retorted before the two exchanged good-hearted chuckles and added, “It’s good to see you too.”

“Stayed single too I assume? No soulmate yet?”

“Ah…” the blonde rubbed his neck and side-eyed Takeda whom was flushing from the inquiry and shyly looking away, “That might have changed too…”

Naoi caught their glances and voiced in understanding, “Ohhh.” then beamed, “Well congratulations!” roughly patting Ukai on the back.

Keishin blushed but didn’t protest.

Then Coach Nekomata made himself known and made his remarks to challenge Karasuno making the crow coaches straighten up in seriousness, their pinkies nearly touching.

The elder commented, “Also let me also congratulate you in finding each other, soulmates can be fairly rare around your age let alone some of the students I have witnessed over the years finding theirs at such a young age.”

“We know the feeling.” both Ittetsu and Keishin voiced.

“Oh?” Nekomata raised his brow.

“We got at least five soulmate pairs on this team alone.” Ukai stated.

Naoi slack-jawed, exclaiming, “Are you for real?!”

Nekomata was taken aback as well, releasing a disbelieving laugh, “Well… I’ll be damn…”

...----------------...

Throughout all the practice matches they did with Nekoma that afternoon, Kageyama was starting to feel peeved at how casual Hinata was being addressed by Nekoma’s setter and their number seven, calling him Shouyou when that should only be reserved for those closest to him like Nishinoya. That said Tobio certainly has no qualms of their teammates calling his soulmate by his given name but this was far more personal! These people were strangers for gods’ sake! How dare they use Hinata’s name when he himself haven’t had the chance yet to call him that out loud! And he wasn’t going to do it without permission either.

After their final practice match, the teams began cleaning up the gym and Nekoma and Karasuno ended up interacting along the way.

“Her name means ‘clear spring water’?! That’s perfect!” Nekoma’s number four exclaimed.

“I know right?! It suits her so beautifully!” Tanaka proclaimed.

“Man, whoever her soulmate will be one lucky person.” he sighed wistfully.

“They are.”

“Huh?”

“Ah- I mean yeah they will be! And they will no doubt treat her like a queen everyday! Because no one is idiot enough to mess up around her!”

“Exactly!”

The two exchanged light-hearted chuckles and shook hands.

“Yamamoto Taketora.”

“Tanaka Ryuunosuke. Nice to meet ya, brother.”

“Same here, brother.”

Kenma was keeping his head down from the dark aura that Kageyama was giving off while making questions on his setter abilities then he remembered Shouyou mentioning there was an intense setter on Karasuno’s team.

“So that’s who he meant.” he muttered and tried to get some distance away from the scary player.

“Hey come back here!” Tobio called out before feeling a wack on his shoulder.

“Yama, you’re scaring him! Quit it!”

“Damn it, Hinata I just wanted to ask him some questions!”

“That’s what it was?! You looked like you were about to commit murder!”

“I- I wasn’t!”

Inuoka bounced over, “Shouyou! That was amazi-“ stopping his tracks once he saw the dark look on Karasuno’s setter and yelped, running back.

“See?! That’s what I mean!” the ginger shouted, “You’re really moody today! What did Kenma and Inuoka ever do to you?!”

“Call you by your name!”

“Huh?!”

“You let them use your given name even though they just met you today!” Tobio’s face flushed.

Shouyou was gobsmacked hearing that, uttering, “You… you…” his own face started turning bright red, letting out a yell and began running off to where Kenma went, “We’ll talk about this later!”

Tsukishima had been nearby hearing and witnessing all of that, pinching his nose in exasperation, “Of all the…”

“Aw, sounds like someone was jealous…” someone beside him said and Kei saw it was Nekoma’s captain.

“The idiot, he needs to be more discreet in displaying his feelings toward short-stuff like that and shorty isn’t any better.”

“Sounds like someone doesn’t know how love works.” Kuroo winked at him.

“Ew, gross. Don’t hit on someone that’s already taken.” showing off his shooting star soulmark.

“Whoops, my bad.”

Kei scoffed, “No you’re not.” moving away from him.

The coaches were meeting up in the hallway with Takeda giving his thanks once more then Nekomata ended up provoking Keishin making the latter power-walk away and fuming.

Takeda was trailing right behind him, “But I thought you would only stay on for this match?!”

“There’s no way I can take that lying down! That old geezer, I’ll show him and get revenge in a big venue with a large crowd!” being all fired-up until he started calming down and took his soulmate’s hand, “Besides… I’m too invested now. I got you and the kids to worry about.”

“Keishin…” Ittetsu breathed out with tainted cheeks.

They stared at each other for a good few minutes until the taller lifted the other’s chin up and landed his lips on top of his. They could feel their bond sealing up and a warm tingling came from their backs.

Once they let go, Takeda turned around to lift the back of his shirt up, inquiring, “What does it look like?”

Keishin looked and smacked his face in laughter.

Ittetsu gulped, “Is it bad?”

The blonde wiped his tears away, “No, no,” he turned around to lift his own shirt, “See for yourself.”

Sensei looked and gasped.

“Fitting ain’t it? We have our mascot for a reason after all.”

Takeda released a bright smile, “Yes!”

...----------------...

Hinata faced Kageyama from his bed, cross-legged just the latter was sitting cross-legged on the futon.

“Were you really that upset they were using my name?”

Tobio looked to the side feeling flustered before admitting, “Yeah… I was.”

Hinata’s breath hitched, “Why?”

“I…” he clenched his fists, “It wasn’t fair, I’ve known you longer than them! So why do they get to call you by name when I haven’t yet and we’re supposed to be soulmates!”

“You can you know!”

Tobio froze, “What?”

“You can say my name, Bakagyama.”

“I- You-“ he bear-clawed him, “I’ve been waiting for that the whole time!”

“Ow-ow-ow! Well it’s not like you gave permission either you know!” getting the hand off of him.

“Then I will!”

“Okay then Tobio!”

“Okay then Shouyou!”

The both of them halted on the spot and went silent realizing this was the time they said each other’s names out loud and went bright red, turning around to cover their faces.

It was going to be a very long night.

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