Burned ⇀ Koshi Sugawara

Chapter 2: The Three on Three

Tony pulled into the same parking spot he did the day before as he took his helmet off and yawned, not used to waking up so early on a Saturday. The boy checked his phone, reading the time as six in the morning, he had arrived earlier so he could at least practice his serve since it had been so long.

The boy twirled his keys on his finger as he walked to the gym, slightly stretching as he walked. His body froze as he got to the gym, his mind repeating 'this is a practice game' over and over again.

"Woah! Who are you?!" A young excited voice asked from behind the boy causing Tony to look behind him, finding an orange-haired boy with a perplexed look on his face.

"I'm Tony, are you one of the first years?" Tony asked causing the small boy to nod, a boy with black hair running at the gym full speed until he spotted the two others in front of it.

"Are you the boy Tanaka told us about!? The one who's gonna play in the practice game with us?" The tangerine boy excitably asked causing Tony to slightly smile and nod.

"Oh wow! What position do you play?! My name is Shoyo Hinata and one day I will be ace of Karasuno one day!" Hinata said causing Tony to chuckle at the confidence of the boy.

"Tony Mustang, I'm a wing spiker and I'm sure you will be one day," Tony said causing the boy to gasp at the words.

"You really mean that?! You're not going to say anything about my height?!" Hinata asked causing Tony to furrow his eyebrows and shake his head.

"No of course not, while tall people have advantages in volleyball it doesn't mean volleyball is all about height! Hell, I've seen players who can jump higher than four eyes can block!" Tony said causing Hinata to gasp again and start ranting about how he wanted to be the best player ever while Tony looked up to the black-haired boy who was scowling at the pair.

"You two ready to practice a bit? I haven't played in a while so I might rely on you two to do the more extreme stuff... I can receive and spike though!" Tony said causing the black-haired boy to nod and Hinata to throw his hands into the air.

"I won't let you down, Tony!" Hinata yelled causing Tony's heart to hitch and his breath to slightly speed up. The boy shut his eyes before taking a few deep breaths.

"Oh did I say something?!" Hinata worriedly asked causing the black-haired boy to scoff and smack the back of the Orange-haired boy's head.

"Oh great going Hinata! You upset the new member!" The boy shouted causing Tony's eyes to open slightly.

"KAGEYAMA! Don't hit me!" Hinata yelled before a loud laugh erupted from behind them.    Tanaka walked past them as he gave the American a bright smile to greet him.

"G'mornin two-toned, I see you've met our other two first years... Good thing too since you three will be playing together today, now come on. I wanna get a peek at what you can do!" Tanaka said out as he unlocked the gym and turned the lights on, Tony following behind him before stopping and looking at the boys who were fighting to be the first one in the gym.

"Hey!" Tony said causing the two heads to snap up in his direction, seeing Tony giving the two a look they could only describe as inspiring.

"We're gonna win," Tony said as his old self came out, feeling the leadership that used to flow through him when he had a team of his own, his failure last time he played leaving his body fully, he didn't fear it at that moment. At that moment, for the first time in over a year, he felt like he was in his paradise once more.

The two first years nodded and smiled before they began to practice Hinata's receives once again. Tony separated from the group and went into the equipment room and changed quickly before pulling on his old kneepads. He pushed an extra cart of volleyball to the other side of the court as he placed it against the back wall, pulling out a volleyball, and walked to the left side of the court.

The boy took a deep breath as he bounced the ball up and down against the ground before tossing it up, not towards the court but towards to the right, flying above the backline. The boy quickly ran towards where he had planned on the ball landing, quickly jumping into the air and twisting his body to face the ball just as he planned. He channeled all of his momenta into his hand and smashed it into the ball, sending it to across the court in the back corner, exactly where he wanted it to go.

He could still do it... He could still play.

"Holy shit! Was that you two-toned?" Tanaka asked, his eyes snapping to the American who was standing on the other side of the court trying to watch Hinata's receives. Tony looked down to his hand once again feeling the sting of the volleyball on it.

The rest of the team began to pour in as Tony began to practice his jumps to get ready to spike, he wasn't able to jump as high as he used too but he could still get the job done, that's what he gets for leaving for a year.

"Oh wow, you can jump pretty high, Tony!" Suga said as he walked up to the boy, stuffing his hands in his volleyball club jacket. Tony gave him a smile as he wiped his face off with his shirt.

"Thanks, I used to be able to jump higher, but I stopped playing for a year." Tony said causing Suga to nod.

"Why did you stop playing? If you don't mind me asking." Suga asked as Tony bent down to his shoes and began to tighten the laces.

"I got injured and couldn't win the only game that mattered," Tony replied before Daichi yelled that the game was about to start. The boy looked to the captain of Karasuno and walked over to the boy who was stretching.

"Oh, Tony. What's up?" Daichi asked with a smile, his voice seemingly caring. Tony had picked up on how much the team respected him, Tanaka and Suga especially.

"Uh, just so you know, this doesn't mean I'm joining the team, I'm just playing to help you guys out." Tony said causing Daichi to nod.

"Well, I'm not going to lie, I'm hoping this will change your mind but I'm not going to force you. Let's just have some fun yeah? This is mostly for me to see where the first years stand." Daichi explained causing Tony to nod and look over to the tall blonde boy who was trying to anger the two other first years. Tony walked closer to his teammates for the day.

"Who to destroy first? The king or the burned third year?" Tsukishima asked Yamaguchi who tried to get the boy to be nice. Tony rolled his eyes before walking past his two teammates.

"Kageyama, Hinata, come on. I'm serving." Tony said causing the two to nod as the reached the other side of the court. Tanaka tossed a ball at his new American friend with a wink.

"Show Four-Eyes that serve!" Tanaka shouted as Tony nodded, going to the same position he had served from minutes earlier.

"Hey! You're supposed to serve from over here!" Suga said from the regular server position before Tanaka grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the side of the court.

Tony looked across the net, spotting Yamaguchi in the corner, while Tony liked the boy he was a weak spot in the defense as he had seen from the day before. Tony bounced the volleyball a few times against the ground before tossing it up into the air.

Tony quickly followed underneath the ball before jumping and twisting his body, bringing every bit of power he had in his body to his hand as he smashed the volleyball through the air, it going flying directly at the green haired boy who tried to receive it. The ball ricocheted against his arms and into the bleachers.

"Hell yeah! I told you guys he could serve! Who's the burned one now Tsukishima!? Wooooo! That's my American friend right there!" Tanaka cheered as the rest of the gym fell stunned.

Tony looked across the net at the stunned blonde boy and gave him the ever so slightest smirk before letting the feeling of getting a service ace fall over his body, it was a feeling that he hadn't felt in such a long time.

"WOAAAAA Holy cow!! I didn't know you were that good!! Teach it to me please Tony! I really wanna learn!" Hinata shouted out as he ran to the boy in the back of the court, tearing his eye contact away from Tsukishima.

"Yeah sure, I'll teach you sometime." Tony said causing Hinata to smile widely before Kageyama came back and looked to Tony.

"You think you can do that again?" Kageyama asked causing Tony to nod and catch the ball that was tossed back to them, this was going to be one hell of a three on three.