Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cirque du Soleil is magic. Not just magical or stunning, Cirque du Soleil is actual magic and Hinata had fallen under its spell when he was in junior high. He’d seen the posters and the big top and begged his parents to take him; he saved up his allowance for weeks to help pay for the tickets and when they went, Hinata was captivated. Spellbound and enraptured, he knew he was going to become an aerialist—just like the Little Giant of the Big Top.

But it wasn’t easy. Hinata spent hours upon hours trying to teach himself, and he was relatively successful, but he never received any formal training. His technique was abysmal and the only help he got was when he joined the high school gymnastic club—a school which he had to cross a literal mountain every day to reach. He learned a few proper forms on rings and even placed pretty well in the tournaments the team qualified for, but everyone just laughed at him when he said he wanted to be a professional acrobat. Oddly enough though, the teasing and mocking never once bothered him. If anything, it was just fuel on the fire of his determination, so when he graduated high school and was faced with a choice, he didn’t hesitate.

The first troupe he got to perform in was a traveling circus that had stopped in Japan, and when they returned to their home country of Brazil, Hinata went with them. His parents and sister saw the passion he had and wished him well, but there were dark, lonely nights that Hinata would remember the disappointed look in his father’s eyes when he waved goodbye at the airport.

But the glory of performing always outshone that gloomy memory. The bliss of freedom Hinata felt when he was soaring through the air, held back only by the silks wrapped around him, was something he would never give up for anything. For five years, Hinata traveled all around Central and South America, performing in every troupe that would have him. He picked up Portuguese, Spanish, and eventually English, although that one had been a real pain in the ass. By the age of twenty-two, he’d built a bit of a reputation—most people liked to call him the “Little Shrimp” because of his height, but he refused to acknowledge that nickname, he wasn’t that short! He’d gained twenty centimeters since high school! He was just shy of 5’ 8” and, although he would never ever admit it out loud, his smaller stature made it easier to maneuver in the air, especially the few times he’d worked with a partner.

Physically, he was in the best shape he’d ever been—intense Olympic-level workouts for almost a decade will give a person one hell of a toned body—so when Natsu called him late one night (she could never remember the time differences) and told him that Cirque du Soleil was hosting a once-in-a-lifetime audition in Tokyo, he packed his bags and rushed back home faster than a crow taking flight.

On the morning of the audition, he packed his gear and took the bullet train to Tokyo. He got distracted by the Skytree and lost in Shibuya crossing, so by the time he finally reached the audition center, he was so nervous he felt like vomiting. His stage fright had never been as bad as when he walked into the auditorium Cirque was using to host their auditions. All the experience and composure he’d built up over the years left him entirely when he checked in with reception and was given his timeslot. He nervously bowed too deeply and stumbled over his words so much that the pretty girl at the desk asked him if Japanese was his second language. He groaned as he stretched out and checked his rigging for the billionth time.

He’d always had to take care of his own gear for acts, so a lot of his performances were static—he had only been in one troupe that had enough personnel to control his silks for him, so he was pretty comfortable doing all his own maintenance, and all of his routines were choreographed for fixed silks. His eyes darted around the area filled with everything from clowns to tumblers and even other acrobats, each one flashier than the last. The simple black costume he had saved up to have made for him seemed so plain compared to everyone else’s and his nerves skyrocketed again.

This was Cirque du Soleil—the number one traveling circus in the world! The only circus to have become famous enough to be considered a household name! Hinata was running to the bathroom before he’d even processed the realization that he would soon be partaking in the single most important audition of his life. He’d always had a weak stomach and was prone to pre-performance stage fright, but it had never been quite this bad. He didn’t know if he wanted to vomit or cry—maybe a bit of both as he rapidly searched around for the bathroom.

He was so consumed with his own nerves that he didn’t notice that he’d wandered into a secluded part of the auditorium until he heard the tell-tale swish of silks being twisted and pulled—he knew that sound better than he knew his own heartbeat. When he turned a corner and saw where the sound was coming from, his breath left his body and his heart stopped beating for a moment.

Weaving around a pair of exquisite black silks was the most stunning aerialist Hinata had ever seen. The man was even more toned than Hinata, and he was long and lithe—so very graceful. For once, Hinata didn’t focus on the technique of the aerialist before him; he didn’t think through the tricks the dark-haired man performed on a technical level—he simply watched and lost himself in the story the man was weaving with nothing but his body and two aerial silks.

Beautiful.

The thought spun around and around Hinata’s head as his eyes were glued to the aerialist. So, when the performer opened his mouth and started shouting, Hinata was snapped out of his stupor with such force that he flinched back.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!? This is a closed practice!” His voice was low and deep, and as he shouted at Hinata whilst mid-split and upside-down, Hinata forgot how words worked.

“Well? Do you need me to repeat it in English?” He asked as he rapidly descended from the silks with a fluid ease that drew Hinata’s eyes to the man’s toned abs—he just had to be shirtless, didn’t he?

“No! I’m Japanese!” Hinata shouted back as he ripped his gaze away from the aerialists’ torso—it was absurd how defined the dips in the other man’s hips were; even Hinata’s weren’t that well defined!

“Really? Then why is your hair brighter than a tangerine?” The man raised a ridiculously perfect brow and crossed his arms, his dark eyes piercing into Hinata’s with a vengeance.

“I’m a natural red-head, thank you very much! And I was just looking for the bathroom—I didn’t know anyone was practicing in here!” As the other man approached him, Hinata realized just how incredibly tall he was—he dwarfed Hinata by a good twenty centimeters and was well over six-foot, but Hinata had never let his height bother him before and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let it bother him now. Even if he was forced to tilt his head back as the jerk stared down at him.

“So? Why exactly are you interrupting my practice?” The way those dark eyes roamed over him lit a fire under Hinata’s skin and he felt his face reddening, but he couldn’t tell if it was from anger or…something else.

“I told you. I was just looking for the bathroom before my audition!”

“Oh right, they’re hosting that today…what’s your act?” Those dark eyes that Hinata couldn’t stop looking at narrowed with skepticism, and the fire that had been lit earlier exploded as Hinata lost his temper.

“I’m an aerialist, you jerk! And my name is Hinata Shouyou,” Hinata rolled his eyes and huffed, “your manners are absolutely horrendous.”

“You’re the one who interrupted my practice. If anyone lacks manners here, it’s you. What are you even doing here? Making memories? The audition process for Cirque is intensive, so why are you wasting your time bothering real aerialists?” Hinata had been wrong, this bastard wasn’t beautiful, he was awful!

“Real aerialist?! I am a real aerialist, you jerk! I’m not just here to ‘make memories’—I’m going to nail this audition and join Cirque du Soleil!”

The jerk narrowed his eyes and shook his head, “Don’t make it sound so easy.” He turned back to his silks and started tying up the fabric in a complicated knot Hinata hadn’t seen before. When he looked over his shoulder and raised a brow, Hinata tensed, “Well? Are you going to spend all day just staring at me or are you going to go get ready for your audition?” He snorted and turned back to his silks, “You’re not going to nail anything by ogling me.”

Hinata released a wordless scream and stomped out of the room, heading back to his gear. He didn’t even feel nervous anymore—he just wanted to prove that jerk wrong. He was still grumbling angrily as he made a few more adjustments to his rig, which is why he almost missed the conversation next to him.

“Oh man, did you hear? They said that aerialist will be sitting in on the auditions today.” Hinata’s ears perked when he heard “aerialist”, and although he knew it was rude, he started eavesdropping.

“Who are you talking about?”

“You know, the infamous Cirque aerialist—Kageyama Tobio. They call him the ‘Tyrant of the Big Top’ because he’s such a pain in the ass to work with. He’s the one who was in that acc—”

“Hinata Shouyou?” Hinata jumped and answered the man who called his name.

“Ah, I’m Ittetsu Takeda. It’s nice to finally meet you. We’re ready for your audition now,” the soft smile on the older man’s face made Hinata smile in return and he took another deep breath as he followed Takeda.

He made quick work of setting up his rigging onto the smaller stage and bowed politely to Takeda and the man sitting next to him who had introduced himself as Keishin Ukai.

“I’m Hinata and I’ll be performing an aerialist routine I choreographed myself.” He nodded at the sound technician and when the music started, he lost himself in the performance. It was a routine he had started choreographing when he’d first started out; over the years, as he learned new tricks and new techniques, he incorporated them into the act until it became a culmination of everything he had experienced.

As he spun and danced around the silks, his body flowed with the motions, moving as if it was his nature to fly. Each wrap, climb, and drop swirled into the next movement and he’d never felt so free. He stopped thinking about the audition or the nerves that had almost overtaken him and simply focused on the slide of silk, the rush of air, and the twist of his body as he wove the story of who he was—who he had started as and who he became. And maybe, just maybe, who he could become. Hinata knew this was one of the best performances he’d ever put on, and he couldn’t help but grin at the thought of that aerialist from before eating his words. He wanted to make those dark, dark blue eyes wide with astonishment.

Kageyama could not understand why Ukai had insisted that he sit in on the aerialist auditions today. He would much rather spend his time practicing, especially now that his injury had fully healed, which was why he snapped when he saw a head of bright orange hair interrupting his closed practice. Kageyama couldn’t get the remarkably small aerialist out of his head and he kept trying to figure out exactly where he’d heard the name Hinata Shouyou.

The mystery was solved when he slipped into the small auditorium being used for auditions and saw Hinata performing. As the tiny redhead twisted and turned in the air, Kageyama remembered exactly where he’d seen him before—in the gymnastic tournament he’d participated in during high school.

Watching the way Hinata moved around the silks and flew through the air, Kageyama remembered the thoughts he’d had about that same redhead all those years ago.

Overwhelming. Hinata Shouyou was even more overwhelming now than when he was in high school and Kageyama couldn’t take his eyes off him. High-level physical agility and reflexes, finely tuned bodily control, and a fierce determination that lit those bright amber eyes of his on fire. It was amazing and watching Hinata’s toned body twist around the silks was heating Kageyama up from the inside out. But, when the tiny aerialist made stupidly easy mistakes that illustrated his lack of traditional training, Kageyama couldn’t help but wonder what the hell he’d been doing all this time.

Hinata has it all, everything an aerialist needs to make it in this profession, so why the hell hasn’t he reached the same technical level as Kageyama? As Kageyama stared, he lost himself in the story the acrobat was weaving—the story of someone who had retained every shred of experience he’d been given and sewed it into the fabric of his skillset. For a brief moment, Kageyama wondered how much more amazing Hinata would be if he was just given the chance. The look on his face must have shown his thoughts because Takeda laughed softly and handed him a packet—it took Kageyama a second to pull his gaze away from Hinata and look down at the pieces of paper that he belatedly realized were Hinata’s profile and audition application.

Zero. Nil. None. Hinata Shouyou had absolutely no formal training; he’d performed in a remarkable number of troupes, but aside from his gymnastics club in high school, he’d never received any coaching. And yet Kageyama couldn’t stop his eyes from drifting back to the tiny aerialist.

Self-taught. If he had to name the performance, that’s what he’d name it. It was captivating, seeing the way Hinata emulated what he’d seen and imitated what he loved with all the fiery passion in his heart.

“Well, I think that’s that,” Takeda murmured and Ukai snorted out a laugh.

“Wait, what?” Kageyama still had his eyes on Hinata as the aerialist finished his routine, his toned chest panting slightly from the exertion. The simple black ensemble was skin-tight and under the stage lights, it gleamed like the soft reflection of jet-black wings under a bright sunny day.

A crow. A redheaded, fiery black crow was flying through the stage and when Hinata let himself fall into the last drop, Kageyama gasped. The free fall was reckless—unbridled and undisciplined, and yet completely and utterly mesmerizing because of it. When Hinata pulled on the silks and stopped his descent, he flowed to the ground and lay there for a moment, his bright amber eyes wide and his soft pink lips lifted into a brazen smirk.

The little dumbass was practically high from the endorphins and the look in those dilated eyes resonated within Kageyama’s heart—he knew that feeling, knew that sensation. It was the one he chased after every time he climbed those silks. The feeling of being enraptured.

Takeda and Ukai applauded and Kageyama was snapped out of his trance. Hinata jolted a little and jumped to his feet before bowing politely. When those big amber eyes stopped on Kageyama, they actually managed to widen even further and the lips that had been grinning before popped open into a surprised little circle. Kageyama turned away from that surprised gaze and busied himself by looking through Hinata’s profile—not that he understood all of it. Kageyama knew a lot of languages, but he had no freaking clue what was written on some of the pages—was that Spanish? The only thing Kageyama could read on the page was “Ninja Shouyou” and he really hoped that had been translated wrong…

“Thank you, Hinata. That was wonderful! This technically isn’t how the hiring process works, but the truth is that we were already considering how best to use you in the show we’re currently building. The audition was more of a formality—after Ukai and I watched your audition reels and saw how well you did on the strength tests we started thinking about a specific role for you.” Takeda was smiling at Hinata, who looked like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.

“You realize that we almost never do this, right? Most auditions end with the applicant being put into our database and then called back later for a casting call if they fit into a role for one of our shows.” Ukai said as he drummed his fingers quietly on the desk as he looked over Hinata and when he glanced at Kageyama, understanding dawned on him with such force that he almost swayed.

They didn’t…they couldn’t be thinking…

“Hinata, we’d like to formally offer you a probationary contract with Cirque du Soleil for our show ‘Spellbound’,” there were literal stars in Hinata’s bright eyes and Kageyama swore he saw tears forming, “under the condition that you partner with our lead aerialist Kageyama Tobio.” The stars fizzled out and the tears that had been forming morphed into heat so intense it was a wonder Hinata didn’t set anyone on fire with his eyes.

Shit.

“Wait, what?”

“Huh?” Their voices mixed together as they both stared at Takeda, who simply smiled in return as he adjusted his glasses.

Kageyama met Ukai’s gaze and knew with absolute certainty that he officially had no more say in this matter. The showrunner and writer just smiled at him as Kageyama groaned.

So much for getting back to how everything had been before his accident.

Hinata didn’t understand exactly what was happening. The roar of his heart was deafening, and the rush of adrenaline had left his mind a bit fogged.

Did he just get offered a contract with the Cirque du Soleil?

He swayed on his feet as Ukai and Takeda started talking about the specifics of the contract and Hinata knew he should have been paying very, very close attention, but his eyes kept returning to the dark blue ones that had taken his breath away while he’d been performing. He’d been so caught up with the routine that when he saw the aerialist from before, he thought he might have been hallucinating.

Hinata wondered if he was still hallucinating when he realized that the aerialist from before—the jerk who had made him so angry he forgot his nervousness—was the infamous Kageyama Tobio. The young aerialist who had made a reputation for himself.

Kageyama Tobio…his new partner…

Hinata almost laughed—or maybe that was hysteria setting in. There was no way. It wasn’t possible. There was no way he had finally made it one step closer to his dream just to be forced two steps back by his new partner, the “Tyrant of the Big Top”.

Chapter Text

Hinata’s lungs were burning, but his thoughts were in far greater disarray than his body.

Another mile; his thighs were starting to burn as he climbed up the next hill, but he hardly noticed. It hadn’t been a dream. He woke up the day after the audition and stared at the probationary contract for hours trying to convince himself that he hadn’t been hallucinating. He read the words over and over again until they didn’t even look like words anymore. And then he signed it, because there was nothing that could have stopped him from putting his name on that dotted line. Even if he had to face down the infamous Kageyama Tobio.

All he could picture were dark blue eyes wide with disbelief—at least Hinata had gotten what he wanted; the only problem was that his own eyes had probably been even wider when Takeda had explained his and Kageyama’s new partnership.

As he slowed to a jog and stopped in front of the enormous gym Cirque had rented out and retrofitted for their new temporary training center in Tokyo, Hinata felt the thrill of excitement overtake him again. He’d really done it—he’d become an aerialist for Cirque du Soleil! In less than two weeks, he’d be going on tour with the biggest circus in the world as they worked on building their new show—a show Hinata would perform in. He couldn’t believe it.

“Oi, you’re early.” Hinata jumped a solid three feet into the air—he had always been freakishly good at jumping—and screamed in surprise when he heard Kageyama’s voice behind him.

“You scared the crap out of me!”

“How far did you run?” Kageyama was panting lightly and tugging headphones out of his ears as he pulled one of his long legs into a simple stretch. Apparently, Hinata wasn’t the only one who had decided to start the morning with a run. There was a mischievous glint in those dark eyes and Hinata felt the incessant need to show off.

“Four miles,” Hinata grinned as he stretched out his thighs but the smirk on Kageyama’s face wiped away his conceit.

“I ran six. Guess I won this round.” Hinata followed Kageyama into the gym and tried to keep his mouth from popping open in shock—he was stepping into Cirque’s professional training center! Even if it was the impromptu one built in Tokyo for their auditions and rehearsals, it was still a Cirque gym!

“It’s not a competition! And I can run a lot further! I just didn’t want to push it since today is our first practice…” Hinata failed. He knew his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn’t help it. He had been in a lot of arenas filled with gear and equipment for gymnastics, but this blew all of those experiences out of the water. On every surface was padding and every square inch had a different contraption used for practicing stunts—some of which Hinata had used before and others (most of them) he had never even seen.

“Hinata, Kageyama! I’m glad you two came in early. I wanted to talk to you a bit,” Takeda pulled them aside as more and more cast members walked through the doors. Hinata had to force himself to keep his eyes on Takeda instead of staring at all the amazing artists who were now his castmates.

“I know this is all a bit strange, especially for you Kageyama, but Keishin and I have been entrusted to rebuild ‘Spellbound’ into the traveling show it once was and I think that with the two of you, we can achieve that goal,” Takeda’s smile as he adjusted his glasses was so earnest that it took a moment for his words to sink in.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘rebuild’?” Hinata asked—he was starting to regret not looking over that contract a little more thoroughly. Maybe he’d somehow missed the part that Takeda was talking about?

“Oh, well you see, ‘Spellbound’ used to be one of the popular traveling shows—one of Cirque’s most anticipated tours, but it fell out of renown many years ago. You’re new to Cirque so none of this seems odd to you but this isn’t at all what the creative process is like. Normally, all our new artists are sent to our headquarters in Montreal for training and then added to a show’s cast, but Keishin and I have been given special permission to try something new with this project.” Takeda sighed a little and rubbed the back of his head, “Honestly there are a lot of eyes on us right now—many are hoping we succeed but I’m sure there’s just as much doubt…we’re counting on artists like you to help us accomplish our goal.”

Hinata flinched—he’d built up a lot of confidence over the years, but this was something else entirely. An entire show was hinging on him working with Kageyama to build an amazing performance! His hands started shaking at the thought of being kicked out of Cirque du Soleil before he’d even signed a proper contract; if he didn’t get this partnership right, he could kiss a long-term career with Cirque goodbye.

“I’ll do my best!” His voice jumped an octave and his teeth may or may not have been chattering together. He heard Kageyama sigh next to him and his hopes dashed even further—how the hell was he supposed to make a partnership with someone like Kageyama work!?

“Ah, yes, well it’s not all on you…” Ukai called Takeda over and he wished them a good practice.

“Come on, there’s a lot we need to cover today,” Kageyama muttered as he led him to one of the heavily padded areas, “especially since your technique is practically nonexistent…”

Hinata bit back a retort. He knew his technique wasn’t great, but he wouldn’t call it nonexistent. He’d worked hard to learn what he could, but he also knew he’d probably picked up a few (more than a few) bad habits.

“Wait, aren’t we going to meet the rest of the cast?” Hinata couldn’t stop from staring at the tiny, spiky-haired tumbler who was laughing loudly and cartwheeling as he yelled “Rolling Thunder!”

“Why?” Kageyama deadpanned, his expression completely blank.

“What do you mean ‘why’? They’re going to be our castmates! We’re going to have to work together!” Hinata had become friends with every last person he’d worked with in every troupe he’d ever been in. Their troupes had been more like giant families than anything else. Heitor and Pedro from the troupe he’d been a part of in Brazil had even sent him cachaça when he’d told them about the Cirque audition.

“You’re exactly right. Which is why I thought I’d come and introduce myself before you two got started.” Hinata turned to see who had spoken, but before he could reply to the light-haired man with a mole under his eye, Kageyama opened his mouth.

“You don’t have time to spare trying to become popular. If you goof around, you’ll just waste another five years.” Hinata froze. He never had much of a temper and didn’t let things get to him, but he wasn’t about to ignore that.

“What did you just say?” He whirled around and stepped into Kageyama’s space.

“Uh—guys…” Hinata ignored the light-haired man who was telling them to calm down.

“You can say whatever you want about my technique or skills, but don’t you dare say everything I’ve done has been a waste!”

“Look, you two realize you’re partners now, right?” A second, dark-haired man ran a hand through his hair and frowned at them, but Hinata continued to ignore him. He wasn’t used to getting so riled up, but the way Kageyama was glaring at him set him on fire with fury.

“You might have impressed Ukai and Takeda with your audition but don’t get cocky. Your shitty technique is going to lead to accidents that might harm more than just you. There’s a reason we have strict rules and training regimes for our acts—our performances are dangerous but if you think it’s more important to socialize, then don’t let me stop you.” Kageyama sneered down at him and rolled his eyes, “But if you think I’m letting you anywhere near those silks without proper training, then you’re even dumber than I thought you were.” He turned on his heel and stomped away before Hinata could reply.

Hinata huffed as he ran his hand through his already-messy hair. Of course he knew how dangerous their acts could be! He’d never put himself or someone else at risk by trying to do something beyond his capabilities! But the longer he thought about it, the more his anger fizzled out. He couldn’t blame Kageyama for worrying about safety, especially since Hinata had so little experience with a partner. Without proper training, there was a high probability of one or both of them getting hurt.

“Well, that was…intense. Don’t let it get to you. I’m Sugawara Koushi,” Hinata finally turned his full attention to the two from earlier and nodded politely to Sugawara. “I’m one of the choreographers for the show—I’ll actually be helping you learn the choreography for your act. I’ve also been with Cirque the longest, so I try to help Daichi manage all the new members.”

“Daichi Sawamura. I’m the stage director for the show.” Hinata shook the dark-haired man’s hand, but Daichi was staring at where Kageyama had stormed off to, a worried glint in his dark brown eyes.

“Sorry about ignoring you earlier…” Hinata blushed and scratched his cheek; now that he’d calmed down a bit, he realized how unprofessional it was to ignore the stage director.

“It’s fine. If it had been in front of one of our investors, I would be upset. But no harm, no foul.” Daichi smiled and shrugged but Sugawara laughed softly and covered his mouth conspiratorially.

“Daichi has nightmares about the investor’s toupee flying off because of one of our rambunctious new members.” Sugawara stage whispered and the color in Daichi’s face drained away in response.

“I’ve told you that’s not funny, Suga!” Sugawara laughed again and winked at Daichi as he linked his arm with Hinata’s and pulled him towards where some of the other cast members were gathered around.

“Don’t let it bother you so much. Kageyama can be…difficult to work with, but he has his reasons and he’s a really amazing aerialist. Just give him some time to cool off.” Suga patted his shoulder and Hinata smiled at him; Sugawara had one of those personalities that just brought out the positivity in people and his big, bright smile was contagious as he introduced the others.

“This is Nishinoya Yuu, he’s part of the tumbling act for this show,” the spiky-haired tumbler who had been yelling about thunder was still yelling as he jumped into the pit full of cushy padding and moved his arms and legs like he was making a snow angel, “whatever you do, don’t mention how short he is.” Suga whispered before hauling Nishinoya out of the pit.

Hinata did a double take when he realized Nishinoya was even shorter than him, and he had to bite his tongue to keep from asking just how tall the tumbler was.

“Oh! I know you! You’re Ninja Shouyou, aren’t you!?” Hinata’s heart stuttered—he hadn’t expected anyone to know about that nickname! “I saw you perform while I was traveling through Brazil!”

“You traveled through Brazil?” Hinata couldn’t help but smile fondly; there had been times when he’d gotten homesick and lonely, but Brazil—especially Rio—held a special place in his heart. He had so many fond memories from his time in Rio and being able to talk to someone else who understood what it was like there was refreshing in a way that made Hinata’s earlier worries about Kageyama and their performance melt away.

“Yeah! I’ve traveled all over the place! Fishing for marlins in Italy, climbing Machu Picchu in Peru, trekking through the Atacama Desert in Chile, but Carnaval in Rio is definitely one of my favorite memories.” Nishinoya’s bright eyes softened when they landed on a tall man with long, brown hair who was speaking with Sugawara.

“So, are you doing a solo act for the show?” Nishinoya asked. For all of Nishinoya’s tiny stature, he had a way of standing out that drew the eye—or maybe that was just his hair.

“No, I’m actually partnered with Kageyama but he kind of…walked off…” Hinata glanced back at where Kageyama had gone but the lithe aerialist had disappeared into another section of the gym.

“What? That’s awesome! I’m glad he’s finally recov—”

“Noya-san! You’re never gonna’ believe it, but Kiyoko let me carry her bag today!” A taller man with an extreme buzzcut and a wolfish grin barreled into Nishinoya. Their collective laughter was contagious and Hinata found his lips lifting into a smile despite having absolutely no idea who the two were talking about.

“No way! Congrats!” Nishinoya yelled as he jumped onto the other man’s shoulders, balancing there as if it was second nature. “Oh! Tanaka you have to meet Ninja Shouyou! I saw him perform an aerial routine in Rio that blew my mind!”

The bald guy—Tanaka—finally noticed Hinata and his gaze went from ecstatic to feral so quickly Hinata’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help but remember every last punk hoodlum he’d read about in manga when Tanaka smirked at him, hunched his shoulders, and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Hey, hey! You’re the new aerialist, aren’t you? The one partnered with Kageyama?” Hinata gulped as Tanaka closed in on him. “Are you ready for your initiation?”

“And that’s enough of that. Tanaka we’re a circus, not a cult—we don’t do initiations.” Daichi lifted Tanaka up by the back of his collar as Sugawara poked Tanaka’s cheek.

“Stop making that face. You look like an idiot.” Daichi reprimanded.

“Hinata, this is Tanaka Ryuunosuke. Him, Noya, Narita, Kinoshita, and Ennoshita make up our tumbling act—the Flightless Crows.” Suga continued to poke Tanaka’s cheek as Daichi pointed out the other members who waved in response.

“Why are you all lazing about? I sent you our updated schedule last night! Move it, we have new choreography to learn!” The one Daichi had pointed out as Ennoshita was huffing a sigh as he dragged Tanaka and Nishinoya towards another padded area.

“Come on, Hinata. Let’s leave the crows to their squawking. We need to introduce you to some other people anyway.” Suga patted his shoulders and guided him away but Hinata couldn’t help but stare over his shoulder. For all their “squawking”, when the tumblers started their act, they moved in complete synchronicity. It was stunning, and Hinata was reminded that the level of talent and expertise for a Cirque du Soleil performance was higher and more rigorous than anything he’d done up until now. It wasn’t nerves that had him biting his lip, though—it was excitement. The thrill of pushing the boundaries of what was possible had his mind buzzing, especially as he walked into a new area, one filled with a seemingly endless row of trampolines.

“This is our tramp act for the show. We’ve been calling them the High-Jumpers. The pretty one is Terushima.” Suga pointed to a—ridiculously attractive—taller guy with an undercut who pulled off the coolest flip Hinata had ever seen. Hinata was cheering and clapping along with the rest of the tramp artists as Terushima raised his hands and stuck out his tongue. The piercing there made Hinata snort out a laugh. He’d thought about getting one once, back when he was traveling through South America, but he’d chickened out seconds before the needle had pierced his tongue.

“Stop yapping and get back to the actual choreography!” A woman with short brown hair sighed and shook her head.

“That’s Hana. She’s the only one the tramp terrorists actually listen to. She’s usually quiet and soft-spoken but when the guys get out of control, she turns into a demon.” Suga was laughing as the jumpers immediately fell back in line and proceeded with their choreography.

“And this,” Suga pulled him into one last area and the breath left his lungs at the scene before him, “is our aerialist practice area. Since we’re constantly traveling around, we try to keep everything the same wherever we go, so memorize the layout the best you can.” Nets, padding, rings, trapeze, silks—there wasn’t a single aerial apparatus missing and Hinata’s mouth dropped open again as his eyes snapped to an already familiar figure flying through the air. Kageyama moved like the wind, twisting around those exquisite black silks Hinata had envied since the day of the audition.

“Oh, are you Kageyama’s new partner?” Hinata struggled to tear his eyes off Kageyama and nodded at the freckled man smiling sheepishly at him. He had a small build and shoulder-length hair that was an odd mix of light brown and almost green.

“I’m Yamaguchi. I’m the makeup designer for the show. Asahi and I were hoping to catch you before you started practicing. Since we don’t have a whole lot of time before we need to have the costumes ready, we need to get started on the designs as soon as possible.” Yamaguchi pulled out a sketchpad and rapidly started drawing as the very tall and buff man with long hair that Hinata had noticed earlier smiled and introduced himself.

“I’m Asahi. Do you mind if I take some measurements?”

“Of course not! Do whatever you have to. I can’t believe I’m getting a costume from Cirque…” Asahi chuckled as Hinata lifted his arms, his tone and demeanor surprisingly gentle despite his large build and somewhat intimidating stature.

“Every costume is hand stitched, so it takes some time to get them all done, and we don’t have long before we’ll be traveling…” Asahi bit his lip and pulled out his own sketchpad and rapidly drew out an image, “Maybe something like this? They’re based on the designs from the previous ‘Spellbound’ tour. I’ve been playing with the fabrics…”

“That could work. With such intricate costumes the makeup can be really light. We should go give these designs to Takeda.” Yamaguchi wrote down some more notes and smiled at him, but Hinata’s eyes were glued to the sketch Asahi had drawn. He couldn’t believe how quickly Asahi had drawn both him and Kageyama in matching costumes, and the detail on the fabric was stunning. The flowy sleeves on his costume complemented the tight leather on Kageyama’s and everything else just fit together so well that he was starstruck by Asahi’s talent.

“Yamaguchi, are you done yet?” Hinata stopped gaping and turned to look at yet another new face, except this one was a lot less inviting than anyone else he’d seen so far. The guy was ridiculously tall and the way he glared down at him through his glasses had Hinata on edge.

“Sorry, Tsukki. He’s all yours. Try not to be too hard on him—it’s his first day.” Yamaguchi didn’t sound the least bit apologetic as he smiled at the tall blond.

“Good luck,” Asahi patted his shoulder and left with Yamaguchi as the blond—Tsukki—continued to glare at him.

“Have you ever performed on a moving stage?” The condescending smirk on the tall blonde’s face was starting to irritate Hinata, especially since the guy hadn’t even introduced himself yet.

“Uh, well not really—”

“How’s your proprioception?” Tsukki’s tone was rude as hell and Hinata bit his tongue to stop himself from retorting.

“My…what?” He’d never heard that word before and the way Tsukki’s lip curled up into a look of disgust almost snapped the hold Hinata had on his temper.

“It means a performer’s personal sense of movement in and through space.”

“Isn’t that just spatial awareness?” Hinata scoffed—he’d always found it particularly annoying when people tried to sound smarter with fancy words, and the blonde’s attitude wasn’t helping in the least. “I’m an aerialist, of course I have good spatial awareness!”

Tsukki scoffed, “We’ll see about that.”

“Alright, Tsukishima, knock it off. Man, your personality really sucks.” Suga crossed his arms and sighed, “What Yamaguchi sees in you is beyond my abilities to understand. How did you ever manage to bag a boyfriend as nice as him? Or maybe…” the way Suga’s eyes wandered over Tsukishima’s lithe body had Hinata choking on his own tongue and he couldn’t contain his snicker when Tsukishima’s face turned bright red.

“Don’t you have some choreography you should be teaching him? If he’s really as new as his profile suggested, you and the ‘Tyrant’ have your work cut out for you.” Tsukishima huffed as he readjusted his glasses, tossing yet another glare at Kageyama as the aerialist slipped down from the silks and joined their small group. Hinata’s gaze continued to drift back over his new partner so he caught the subtle tension in his shoulders at the nickname ‘Tyrant’.

“And who exactly are you?” Kageyama’s tone was as harsh as Tsukki’s glare and the animosity between the two was so thick Hinata wondered if he could cut it with a knife.

“Kageyama, this is Tsukishima Kei. He’s our new set engineer.” Daichi’s phone started ringing and he stepped away after making the introductions.

“I can’t believe I finally get to see the infamous ‘Tyrant of the Big Top’ perform live. I’ve been busy with set designs in Montreal, so I didn’t get to see your last performance.” The smile that Tsukishima sent Kageyama was downright demonic and Hinata was suddenly quite grateful to not have the jerk’s attention on him. But Kageyama hands clenched so tightly that Hinata began to worry he’d hurt himself if someone didn’t intervene soon.

“Don’t call me that.” Kageyama’s tone was as vicious as his glare.

Tsukishima just smiled and continued, “Well, with your new…partner, I guess I should talk to Takeda about keeping the stage effects simple.” Kageyama looked like he wanted to punch Tsukishima, but when those dark blue eyes swept over Hinata, he bit his lip and looked like he was about to stomp away again.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Hinata’s patience finally ran out, and his voice was rising with his bubbling anger. “Enough of this ‘Tyrant’ crap! I’m here too, you know! He’s my partner and we’re going to put on an amazing performance! So just make sure your stupid stage crap doesn’t hold us back!” Hinata turned his furious glare to Kageyama, who was looking at him like he was some kind of maniac. “And you! Where do you think you’re going? We haven’t even gotten started yet so stop looking like someone shoved a boot up your butt!”

Sugawara’s laugh snapped Hinata out of his tantrum but Kageyama was still looking at him like a deer in the headlights. “Well said, Hinata. Let’s get you two warmed up and start with the floor choreography. Tsukki, Daichi will probably want to go over some ideas Takeda ran by him this morning, so why don’t you go work on that?”

“Hmm. Well, good luck, Shrimpy.” Tsukishima smiled and turned away before Hinata could tackle him for the insult.

“Wow. He’s even more of a jerk than you are.” Hinata muttered as he dropped his gym bag into the corner and started taking off the layers he’d kept on for his run. He was already settling himself into the mental routine he did before every one of his practices—taking stock of his body and his physical condition. He wasn’t a young, inexperienced novice anymore—there were a lot of tough lessons he’d had to learn on his own, and those experiences settled his nerves and calmed his heartbeat. He’d almost fallen into a meditative calm by the time Kageyama finally responded.

“Who do you think you’re calling a jerk!?” Kageyama finally snapped out of his daze and glared at the annoying little redhead who was suddenly stripping. He was still reeling from the blond bastard’s insults, which was why he gaped at Hinata’s toned chest as the tiny aerialist began to stretch. His throat suddenly felt dry as Hinata settled into a complicated contortion and his eyes were drawn to the thin trail of fiery red hair that peaked out from where his shirt rode up.

Well, I guess that answers the question of the drapes matching the carpets. Hinata had mentioned being a natural redhead when they met, so he was just verifying the tiny aerialist’s statement. He was not ogling his new partner, especially not when said new partner moved into another stretch and met his gaze whilst upside down with his head basically through his own legs. Kageyama turned away and ignored the way his mind kept reminding him that Hinata was incredibly flexible, despite having such toned thighs and…glutes.

“You’ve literally done nothing but insult me since we met. You never even properly introduced yourself!” Kageyama’s traitorous eyes were roaming back to Hinata as the redhead huffed.

“Hmm? Oh uh…I’m Kageyama Tobio, your new…partner…” His voice trailed off as those bright amber eyes met his and Hinata smiled brightly at him.

“Hinata Shouyou. Let’s make that blond bastard eat his words.” Hinata’s grin was infectious as he held a hand out to him and Kageyama felt his palm sliding against Hinata’s before he’d even consciously made the decision to. He almost laughed at the absurd difference in their size but Hinata’s grip was firm, and behind that bright, sunny smile was an unbreakable will the likes of which Kageyama had never seen before.