𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝖜𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖒𝖘~closed

Hinata really, really didn’t want to go to the principal’s office. He knew he was stalling, wandering around the halls by the receptionist and doing everything he could to avoid being seen by her. It wasn’t his fault he had fallen asleep in math. Three times. In the same week. Okay, maybe it was his fault, but he didn’t see what the principal could do about it. He could yell at him… yeah, that was probably what he would do. Hinata gave a quiet sigh, crossing his arms over his chest. As long as they didn’t tell him that he couldn’t play volleyball anymore… maybe he was stalling because he knew that if he kept getting in trouble academically, he’d be kicked off the team. He was fortunate enough to have actual friends at the school that he wouldn’t lose even if he couldn’t play, but volleyball was practically his life. He didn’t want to lose it just because he got easily bored in math.
He wasn’t alone in the hallway, now. Hinata perked up, lips pushing into a friendly smile as he realized he didn’t know the girl emerging from the office. If he ran for it, would he escape the receptionist’s gaze? The door was already closed, which meant she hadn’t seen him. Yet.
“Hi!” Hinata said, keeping his tone cheerful as he looked at Touka. He didn’t know everyone in the school by name, but he was pretty good at faces. He was pretty sure he’d never seen Touka’s before. “You knew here or are ya someone’s sister?”

Hinata tilted his head, taking a small step back as the girl turned on him. He hadn’t really expected that (and she was pretty intimidating – why was it that girls were capable of being intimidating in spite of being short, but Hinata never quite managed it?), but it seemed like it was probably just a misunderstanding. Probably. Hinata awkwardly ran a hand through his hair, doing his best to smile through the thick tension that already lay between the two of them. He knew some people would probably have yelled at Touka in return, but… he did see where she was coming from. People weren’t exactly the nicest if they had figured out you were different from them, especially if you were new. Which answered his first question. The girl was a student here.
“Nope!” he replied after a moment, shrugging it off and bouncing up and down on his heels. “’s alright, though. People make fun of the accent sometimes. You weren’t. I’m Hinata, by the way,” he added glancing at the receptionist’s door for just a moment before deciding he had time to stay and talk to Touka (if she wanted him to. She seemed a little on edge). In fact… helping out a new kid was probably the best excuse he could have for missing his appointment with the principal.

“You’re not wrong,” Hinata laughed lightly, meeting Touka’s eyes for a moment, never losing his cheery expression. “Kinda works for me, I guess. Means nobody calls me Shōyō unless I actually want them to, y’know? But if you really want them to call you Touka instead of Miss Kirishima, you can just tell them they mixed up the order of your names on the sheet. They’ll practically be tripping over themselves to fix it.”
He quickly pulled his gaze back entirely towards Touka, his head shaking so fast it might have been almost comical. “Nope, you’re definitely not holding me up! Tell ya the truth, I don’t really wanna talk to the principal right now. Can I… help you with anything?”

“Well… not trouble, exactly. Actually, yeah trouble, but…” Hinata blushed, glancing back at the office. “Not as big of trouble as when I hit the vice-principal in the head with a volleyball and knocked his toupee off,” he laughed, gaze shifting to Touka. “I just fell asleep in class. A few times, no biggie.” He gave a small shrug, then stuffed his hands back in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels once more. “Anyway, I’m not really in a hurry to get scolded, so happy to help if you need it. Or just… show you around or something.”

Hinata’s eyes widened and he almost stumbled back, but he recovered quickly, eyes shining as he looked back up at Touka. He liked her. She seemed a lot like the other people he was friends with, both on the team and off. He rubbed his shoulder, though he clearly wasn’t actually hurt by it. His grin returned not a second later, matching Touka’s for just a moment before she moved on from the hair thing. It felt good to have made her laugh, even though that hadn’t exactly been his intent.
“I mean, not all of us,” he replied after a moment, swinging his arms as he talked. “I do, yeah, but my friend Kenma is like… a super genius or something! He doesn’t really care that much about school, and he doesn’t really care that much about volleyball, but he still gets good grades and stuff, and as far as I know he’s never fallen asleep in class. I dunno… I think some of the stuff they teach is cool, but it’s boring when I don’t get it, and I gotta get up real early to get here in time for practice in the morning, so sometimes it just… happens. I’ve never heard that mints could help! I’ll have to try that. Uh… do you play sports at all?” Was he talking about himself too much? He knew he could be overwhelming, but it was hard to tell if he was too much for Touka.
“The dorms are over there,” he added, waving his hand in a direction that was too vague to be helpful in the slightest. “You go out this building, past the squiggly tree, turn right and then when there’s the statue that looks like it got hit by a tornado, turn left. The dorms are the building that looks like they grew up from the ground or something. All ivy covered, like schools on TV!”

“No way!” Hinata replied, practically bouncing up and down. He was easily excitable, but even moreso when he found someone with similar interests. Or maybe just when he found someone who also liked volleyball. Frankly, he couldn’t see how some people didn’t like it. It was like… well, who wouldn’t like the ability to fly, if only for a second? But not everyone got to be a spiker. Once, he had thought that spiking was really the only cool position on the team. He had since learned that liberos and setters had cool positions too, they just… weren’t for him. He wouldn’t be a good setter, and he was terrible at receives, but… spiking, he could do.
“Sometimes before actual games our team has practice matches against the girls’ volleyball team. Maybe if you join then I’ll get to win against you!” Hinata informed Touka, then cast a hurried look at the office. His voice was getting a little bit too loud. Eventually, someone might realize he was out here instead of meeting with the principal.
“Hm? Oh, yeah sure! I’d love to. I can show you around campus a little, too, if you want.”

“You wish!” Hinata returned, his grin fiercer than before. “We’re pretty good, you’ve got your work cut out for you if you wanna come close to beating us.” Hinata had already decided that he liked Touka, but knowing that not only did she play volleyball, but she was also competitive about it… well, it confirmed that liking her had been a solid decision. He ran a hand through his hair, then bounced towards the door, making sure to hold it open for Touka.
“How much of campus have you seen yet?” He asked after a moment, tilting his head. “Cause I don’t wanna bore you by showing you stuff you already know about.”

Hinata looked back, a smile passing across his lips as soon as he realized she was making a joke. He gave an amused laugh, glancing in the direction of the parking lot.
“You just missed it, actually. Giant tour and everything. Pretty sure the parking lot’s gonna be on the news today for breaking tourism records.” He couldn’t quite get through that with a straight face, but he made sure to direct his smile at Touka as he practically skipped forward (and then reigned himself back in so he didn’t leave his new potential friend behind. That wouldn’t be the best first impression. Although… given her first reaction to him, he had a feeling he’d have to do a lot to really mess up the impression).
“I have a friend who actually thinks the parking lot is the most exciting place on campus, though. Maybe that’s just cause it’s where he can get in his car and drive away without school permission sometimes.”

“Yep!” Hinata replied, swinging his arms as he walked. Well… walk was a generous term for it It was more of a skip. “To him owning a car, I mean. He’s like… the only gay I know who can drive. Guess the jokes are true,” he grinned, looking over at Touka. “Well… I would probably have my driver’s permit, but my parents think that fifteen is too young to start driving, and it’s eighteen in Japan, so I can’t get my license until I’m eighteen. So I don’t know if I can or can’t drive.” He frowned a little, then seemed to realize that Touka had asked more than that.
“Ronan’s in trouble like… all the time. But I don’t know if he’s ever actually been caught. He’s super speedy so if they did they’d have to street race him, and I don’t think any of the teachers are brave enough for that.”

“Right,” Hinata replied after a moment, tilting his head. “Self-explanatory.” He wasn’t entirely sure he believed that. If it was self-explanatory, then there wouldn’t be so many rules, and there wouldn’t be so many accidents. And maybe his parents would actually let him get a license before he became a legal adult. He shrugged the thought off, instead turning back towards Touka.
“Ronan is absolutely insufferable, he’s great!” Hinata grinned, his stride getting just a little bit bouncier. “I think you’d like him. I dunno… he’s really good at picking fights, though, so you gotta be careful around him. He can be super intimidating, but you’re pretty intimidating too, and he tends to like that kind of thing. Maybe when you’re all set up in your room you can meet my friends! Don’t worry, they’re mostly introverts so they’re not as in-your-face as I am.” The last sentence, though relatively self-aware, was said just as cheerily as the rest.

Hinata’s eyes widened just a little, clearly surprised (and a little bit disappointed) that Touka didn’t actually seem interested in meeting his friends. Had he come on to strong? Had he overwhelmed her? That seemed the most likely. He blushed, his pace slowing just a little as he looked at her, doing his best not to seem put out.
“Right, uh… if you’re sure. You can sorta see the dorm building from here. The one with the weird roof…? It’s kinda spiky. I live on the third floor, and my room is just me and Kenma – he’s on the volleyball team too – so if you ever wanna… I dunno, hang out or practice volleyball or something you can… well, you know where to find me.” He grinned, hoping it didn’t look forced.
“Um… I dunno if your RA has class right now, but the RAs tend to live in the room closest to the stairs, so… uh… whoever it is can make sure the room is all set up for you and stuff.”

Ronan wasn’t entirely sure whether he was skipping class at the moment.
He tossed his keys, then snatched them from the air, the way someone being threatened might casually inspect a knife. There was no one to see his display of power over his own fate, but then, it never hurt to remain in practice, and if a teacher happened to see him, so much the better.
He could always drive away. But if he wasn’t meant to be in class, it would be less satisfying, so he settled with merely studying the direction he knew his claim to freedom was parked and staying where he was.
Voices. Ronan didn’t tense, but he did allow himself a glance in the direction they'd come from. A couple people were approaching - Hinata, obvious by his hair and aura, and a short girl Ronan didn’t recognize - seemed to be caught in some sort of conversation. Ronan, naturally, began to eavesdrop as soon as they came close enough for him to do it without moving.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Well. She sounded like a joy to be around.
He pushed off from the wall and strolled towards the two of them, relishing the fact that he was slightly taller than either one. His uniform, though present, looked like it had only become so after dragging itself out of bed and crawling to class, nursing a microwaved cup of coffee and a headache that wasn’t quite bad enough to call in sick for, but bad enough to stop it from remembering anything that would happen in the next four hours or so.
It also mostly covered his shoulders. Barely visible around his neck were the hooks of a tattoo.
“And who the f(oops) are you?” He asked conversationally, making it to the spot that technically made him a part of the discussion and not going a step further.

It really didn't take Touka very long to realize she'd made a mistake. She was getting whiplash - it had seemed so clear she was being bullied a minute ago, and now she was starting to think she'd ruined a good thing before it even had a chance to get started.

Well, this was f(oops)ing awkward.

"You weren't - ?" she began, blinking at Hinata, and she'd been just opening her mouth to apologize when a harsher voice from behind made her turn around instead to see who had spoken.

"Ronan?" she questioned out loud, fitting the name together with the face in front of her. She glanced back and forth between him and Hinata. "Car Ronan?"

Hinata didn’t stop to think about the fact that it may have been weird that Touka knew about Ronan without having actually met him. He had come up in casual conversation, and Hinata hadn’t seen anything wrong with mentioning him. Touka had liked the sound of him, hadn’t she? Which meant that they might actually get along, though Ronan wasn’t exactly famous for getting along with anyone. Especially not strangers.
“Yep!” he replied, nodding enthusiastically before glancing at Ronan. He felt a little bit more certain with backup here to prove that if he was being a bully, it was unintentional. Ronan knew that Hinata wouldn’t bully anyone, so… so that was good. Even if Ronan definitely would bully someone if they deserved it. And maybe even if they didn’t. “This is car Ronan! He’s super cool, isn’t he?” Not that there was much to go off of besides the way he chose to present and the way he was speaking. It always gave Hinata the impression of cool, like all the upperclassmen he wanted to be but would never be quite good enough to manage.