Forgotten Passion (Haikyuu x male reader)

Chapter 3 - The Next Tiny Giant?

Thanks for bearing with me  you guys. 😅 This time it'll be a longer chapter.

A/N's house is a 20 minute walk from Karasuno High, so Y/N decided to walk so his aunt doesn't have to rush to work after dropping him off.

After turning the corner, he saw orange coming directly towards him and just managed to dodge whatever it was that almost killed him. Unfortunately, he was the only one who wasn't hurt in this little accident because once he realized what it was, the kid had already fallen off his bike.

"Are you okay?" Y/N said as he rushed over to help the kid up. But as it turns out he didn't need to because the kid popped up like nothing happened.

"I'm so sorry!" he yells while bowing his head.
Taking a closer look at his accidental attacker, he was surprised to see there wasn't even so much as a red mark on his skin.
He was a short kid with orange hair, looking to be about 12 or so. He looked down to see the kid was wearing volleyball shoes.
"Nice shoes," he says. "You play volleyball?"
"Yeah! It's my favorite thing in the whole world!" He exclaimed.
"What are you, a libero?" Y/N asked.
"No, I'm a spiker," he replies, which surprises    Y/N because this kid couldn't be more than 5'4. "I'm gonna be the next Tiny Giant!"

Y/N thought for a moment, trying to remember where he heard that before.
"Oh wasn't he that short kid that played for Karasuno a few years back at nationals?"
"Yeah, that's the one," he said excitedly. "I'm Hinata Shoyou by the way."
"Y/N L/N, nice to meet you kid."
"Nice to meet you too. So are you going to Karasuno?" Asked Hinata.
"Yeah," he replied. "What about you? Where do you go?"
"I'm at Karasuno too," he said, shocking Y/N. He could've sworn he was a lot younger. "I came here because the Tiny Giant went here, too."
"Yeah I kind of pieced that together,"
Y/N said, scratching the back of his head with a close eyed smile.

"Do you wanna walk together?" Hinata asked.
"Sure thing," Y/N replied.
I like this kid's energy and demeanor.     Y/N thought to himself.

While they walked to school, Hinata talked about volleyball the entire way. 15 minutes and he still had the same fire in his eyes. It started to stir a feeling in Y/N that felt foreign but familiar at the same time. To be fair, it wasn't a completely one-sided conversation. Y/N would intergect with thoughts of his own.

"You seem to know a lot about volleyball," Hinata commented. "Do you play?"
"I used to," Y/N replied. "Not anymore."

Hinata noticed the sadness in Y/N's voice. He couldn't imagine he would ever stop playing volleyball. This baffled him.
"Why did you stop playing?"
This hit Y/N in his heart. He never talked to anyone about his experiences with volleyball. It's not that he didn't trust anyone. It was just something that no longer brought him joy, only sorrow.
But he felt like he could open up to his new friend.

"My dad coached me ever since I was little," Y/N started. "He used to play for the Japan national team, you see." This shocked Hinata, but he didn't say anything about it as he didn't want to interrupt Y/N.
"I fell in love with the game almost immediately. I'm sure you know what thats like." To this, Hinata nodded. "He pushed me to be better and better. At first it motivated me and I loved how I kept improving and how close my dad and I were. But as the years went by, he became more and more obsessive about it, and it eventually became too much for me. I lost my love for the game and couldn't step foot onto another court without feeling bad."

Hinata thought this over, still wondering how someone could ever stop loving volleyball.
"I'm sorry about what happened," he said. "But I still don't understand."
"What do you mean?" Y/N questioned.
"I know pressure can get to you and you might have troubles off the court, but as soon you start playing, your worries and problems fade into the background and the only thing left is the game. It's an amazing feeling and I can't imagine what I would do without it."

This sent Y/N's mind reeling. He heard the passion in Hinata's voice and remembered the same feeling he described.

Y/N didn't understand how, but all of a sudden, his love for volleyball suddenly hit him like a tidal wave and he remembered all the good memories of volleyball. It made him realize he was only fixating on the bad memories, forgetting all the fun he had.
He stood there, amazed and in tears at the revelation brought on by a few words.

With a quiver in his voice and tears in his eyes, Y/N said to Hinata,
"Thank you. You reminded me of something I lost a long time ago." As he pulls Hinata into a hug, he says, "Let's sign up for the volleyball club together, huh?"

With his eyes shining and a big smile on his face, Hinata jumped and yelled, "Yeah! Let's do it!"

What do you guys think? Good? Bad? If you have any suggestions on things I should improve on let me know.