Chapter Text
He didn’t even need to take this class. He wasn’t majoring in anything to do with English studies, but yet he’d woken up super early when classes had gone up to ensure he got a spot in English 2.
And it was all because of the man standing at the front of the classroom, looking way too good to be legal.
Hinata pulled his hoodie down and hid his blush with his sleeves.
It had only been a little more than a month since Hinata had last seen Sugawara-sensei, the English teacher at the college he attended, but he’d instantly been struck by the man’s beauty, by his voice, by the way he could so easily make difficult subjects easy to understand. Hinata had gotten a B+ in a class for the first time in his life, and he knew it was because of the teacher.
Because Sugawara-sensei was magic.
At the end of the lesson, a clear voice called Hinata’s name, and he stumbled down the steps to the front of the lecture hall, the straps of his book bag clutched in his hands.
“Hinata-kun,” the silver-haired teacher greeted him. “I’m surprised to see you again. Aren’t you majoring in something sports related? Why are you taking another English class?”
“Ah, well,” Hinata said, looking away and scratching nervously at his scalp. “I just really enjoyed it and I thought it might be an easy A to keep my average up. I’m here on a scholarship after all, so...” He felt so bad lying, but his teacher just smiled kindly.
“Don’t assume English 2 is as easy as English 1,” he said with a grin that startled Hinata, made his heart flutter. “I’ll be working you hard. Let me know if you have any questions.”
“Y-yes, sensei!”
Sugawara chuckled and waved him goodbye. Hinata pulled his hood back up to hide his wild blush and stumbled out into the hallway, desperate to get back to his dorm room and hide. He had an hour to cool his head before volleyball practice.
x
The sounds of sneakers met Hinata’s ears, and he grinned, excited. No matter what anyone said, he’d always love the sport.
What he didn’t need to see was Oikawa hanging all over Ushijima on the bench as they sat and watched the team warm up. Hinata sat down next to the old ace and pulled his sneakers on.
“Why are you two here?” he asked, glancing to the side.
“We came to cheer you on, Hinata! Don’t you have new recruits starting today?”
“Ah, yeah, you’re right...” Hinata said absentmindedly, looking around the gym at the new faces.
“Gosh, is volleyball all you seriously think about? The least you could do is notice your teammates!”
Hinata frowned and looked at Ushijima with a helpless expression. But the senpai just shrugged and said, “He’s right, Hinata.”
Hinata groaned and stood, running over to where Kageyama was stretching. “Need help?” he asked as he squatted next to the setter. The two had become some kind of legend around campus and in their local district. Hinata still didn’t fully understand it, but the playing style they had adopted together had come out of nowhere, with no prompting, and yet felt so natural. They seemed unstoppable together, and Hinata had never felt that before.
Practice was hard and sweaty, the new captain trying to impress his senpai and the old ace of the team. Ushijima had only graduated a few months ago, but his legend still loomed over them all. Their first game was in a month, and the whole team carried the burden and the pride of being victors for four years straight; no one wanted to break that streak now.
“You worked hard,” Ushijima noted when Hinata came back to the bench to switch out his shoes. “I can tell you’ve been practicing.”
Hinata went red at the praise, and Oikawa peeked his head around his boyfriend’s broad shoulders and flashed a peace sign. “You got praised by Toshi! I’ll treat you to lunch to celebrate!”
Hinata knew what Oikawa was really after, but as a broke college student, he wasn’t about to turn down free lunch. Oikawa dragged him and Ushijima out by the arm as soon as he had his shoes on and belongings stuffed back in his gym bag. He had to pull on his jacket as he ran after Oikawa.
Hinata had heard horror stories from Iwaizumi about Oikawa, but Hinata liked the man just fine. In fact, they were pretty close friends, and Hinata had been told he had Ushijima to thank for that friendship. It was hard to believe, but before Ushijima, it seemed that Oikawa was more interested in getting someone in bed then into his phone as a text buddy. But Oikawa was fairly tame now. Maybe Hinata wasn’t even his type, but Oikawa had never been anything but friendly to the small redhead. And he really looked up to Oikawa.
The brunet draped an arm over Hinata’s shoulders now, Ushijima walking nonplussed behind the two.
“So~?” Oikawa prompted.
Hinata knew what he was fishing for, but he still said, “So what?”
Oikawa grinned, loving the game just as much as the reward. “You got into English 2, right?”
Hinata nodded.
“How’s the sensei treating you? Should I have a word with him?”
Hinata blinked. “Wait, how well do you know Sugawara-sensei?”
Oikawa glanced back at his boyfriend for a moment and then turned back to lean down and whisper into Hinata’s ear, “Enough to have some sway for you.”
Hinata’s cheeks burned. “I don’t need your help, senpai,” he finally managed to choke out.
“Sure, sure, chibi-chan, just know the offer’s always on the table for you.” And he winked, pulling Hinata’s head in for a hug.
Ushijima strolled up then to take Oikawa’s hand, and the brunet released Hinata to walk beside them normally. Hinata wondered if he could have something like what they had one day. He waved his hand in the air as a picture of Sugawara popped up in his head. He quickened his steps and followed after his two senpais.
x
A few weeks passed and it became very obvious that Sugawara hadn’t been joking when he’d said English 2 was much harder than 1. Hinata was struggling; he had never been good at school, especially math and foreign languages. And he was having a real hard time.
Sugawara, the good teacher he was, noticed. He called Hinata forward after class one day and smiled kindly at him.
“I told you you could come to me if you had questions.”
Hinata gripped his hands together and frowned. The problem was that he didn’t even know how to phrase what he didn’t understand. And talking to Sugawara gave him heart palpitations. Standing so close to him now was already dangerous; he couldn’t hold eye contact for more than a few seconds. Sugawara was way too attractive to be good for Hinata’s health to behold.
“Why don’t you come down to my office with me and we can figure out what’s tripping you up.”
It was a kind invitation, but Hinata’s mind went on a rampage at the thought of being in a small room alone with his teacher, his crush. But he bit his lip and nodded, because there was no way he’d be able to take English 3 so he had to make his impact this semester.
Sugawara led him down hallways, Hinata already confused and lost because he could only stare at Sugawara’s back. Students and other teachers greeted him and he smiled back, and Hinata thought he must be one of the kindest people he’d ever known.
“Have a seat,” Sugawara said, but Hinata could only hear the loud click of the door closing behind them echoing in his ears. Sugawara came up behind him and pressed a hand to his back, Hinata startling out of his trance. When his head turned up, Sugawara was so close and smiling so brightly, and he froze and stuttered out a, “H-huh?”
“You can sit,” Sugawara said again, but Hinata remained frozen, staring up at Sugawara and unaware he was even doing it. “Do I make you nervous?” the teacher joked.
“More than you know.” Shit, had he said that aloud? Hinata stumbled back and into a chair, hid behind his book as Sugawara chuckled good-naturedly.
“You can relax. I swear I’m pretty normal for a teacher. I won’t bite your head off.”
Hinata swallowed and nodded. Sugawara pulled up a table on wheels between their two chairs and patted it for Hinata to put his English book down. Hinata was having a heart attack and Sugawara was calmly flipping through his tests and notes, unaware that Hinata was melting in his seat from sitting too close to the sun.
“It seems that your grades and note-taking took a small dive around lesson 5. Can you tell me what you found difficult to understand in this lesson?” Sugawara’s light brown eyes looked up at Hinata, and his heart stopped. Hinata forgot how to breathe. “Hinata-kun?”
Hinata finally let out a dry chuckle and tried to joke, “I guess this won’t be an easy A after all.”
“Well, I can help you understand and you can still make it a good grade,” Sugawara said, his smile faltering a little to confusion.
“I’m sorry, I just- I’ve always been really dumb when it comes to school.” Hinata turned his eyes down to his fidgeting fingers.
“No, I think you’re very bright, you just require a different style of teaching than others.” Sugawara’s kind voice and words made Hinata’s eyes fly up and go wide. “Would it help you to do more one on one lessons like this?” Sugawara tapped his finger on Hinata’s book and smiled.
“Ah-“ Hinata choked out. Sure, it could help, not just with his grade but with his motivations for taking the class, but could he handle it? Could spending more time with Sugawara make him less nervous? Or would he just be a bother and make a fool of himself? He debated it so long that Sugawara grew very worried.
“If there’s something else I can do-“
“No! You’re fine! Let’s do it - the one on one.” Then Hinata shot up and clumsily gathered his things, yelped an apology as he ran out of the office, almost barreling into Oikawa. He didn’t look up or register who it was, just whispered an apology and rushed past.
A soft knock sounded on Sugawara’s door and he glanced up, still shocked from Hinata’s exit, to find Oikawa smiling at him.
“Hey, sensei, long time no see.”
“Ah, yeah-“
“What’s wrong? You look shaken.” Oikawa stepped forward with a raised eyebrow. “Was it chibi-chan?”
“Ah, you mean, Hinata-kun?”
“Yup, the cute shortie.” Oikawa took a seat and beamed at Sugawara as the other moved behind his desk to straighten up his papers, his nervousness so obvious. Oikawa wondered what Hinata had done to rattle the teacher so much.
Sugawara gave a complicated smile and finally sat, hands folded as he locked eyes with Oikawa. “He’s been struggling in my class, and he’s so nervous when I talk to him. He doesn’t even need to take the class, but he opted to anyways.”
Oikawa just tilted his head and grinned knowingly.
“Is he normally so jittery?”
Oikawa blanked his expression and shook his head. “No, he’s actually pretty confident and loud.” He let that sink in for a moment, finally saying, “Maybe it’s just you...”
Sugawara blinked and scrubbed at his head, Oikawa’s words not having the effect he wanted them to.
Oikawa leaned forward. “Don’t think about it in a bad way, sensei. Ask yourself why chibi-chan would be so nervous around you and not others, and why he would take another class with you if he didn’t need to. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that he doesn’t really like school.” Oikawa winked and turned away. “I don’t want to have to spell it out for you and tell on my tiny friend.”
And then he was gone, hopefully leaving Sugawara a little more enlightened than before.