#viktory-arts

[viktory-arts]

The Stars in the Early Morning Sky

Read here on Ao3

Read more of my works here

The wind was cold against Shouyou’s cheeks as he rode on his bike quickly down the mountain to Karasuno High School. It almost hurt as the chill forcefully brushed against his face, sharp and with the type of sting that only the cold could do. His sports bag and backpack was growing heavier on his back with the tiredness that was fluidly coursing through his body. He had been up into the early hours of the morning thinking. Thinking about hands that were usually rough and forceful that would turn soft and gentle against his face, trailing down to his neck and settling themselves on the gentle curves of his hips. Thinking of deep blue eyes that would go from angry to fond to filled with need and--

Shouyou’s cheeks flamed red for a reason other than the chill of the early morning and he shook his head rapidly, training his eyes directly ahead. He squeezed the handlebars of his bike, trying to ground himself before he flew into orbit out of embarrassment. He bit the inside of his cheek.

‘You’ve had this crush for months! You should have a better handle on it by now!’ He scolded himself in his head, stopping at the stop sign that signaled five more minutes till he arrived at the school. After checking both ways for cars and seeing none, he continued on his way. Shouyou knew that he was preaching to the choir when he said that to himself; he wasn’t going to just stop with the thoughts. Even worse, the longer Shouyou had the crush (he would not admit that it was probably more than just a crush at this point) the worse he got at holding the lovey-dovey thoughts at bay. Lovey-dovey thoughts about Kageyama no less. His rival and his best friend. Who, Shouyou admitted, was probably straight and had no qualms about dropping Shouyou as soon as he found out what a creep he was. 

Sighing, Shouyou watched the puff of steam that he exuded from his mouth dissipate into thin air as he tried to get a grip on himself. He tried not to pity himself or his… situation when it came to Kageyama. There were plenty of people who fell in love with their best friends and it was never reciprocated. And Shouyou knew that him and Kageyama would fall into that category point blank. No matter how much Shouyou wanted it to be true, Kageyama just wasn’t going to love Shouyou like he loved him. That was okay, the redhead tried to tell himself every time the thought came up, he would be satisfied with Kageyama just being his friend and loving him platonically. 

(He wouldn’t be satisfied.)

Rounding the final corner before he came upon Karasuno, Shouyou slowed down and hopped off his bike, putting it in the bike rack and shifting the bags on his shoulders to be more comfortable. His sneakers weren’t warding off the cold very well, so his feet and legs were cold.

‘Hopefully they’ll have the heat fixed in the gym today’, he mused as he looked up at the sky, watching the clouds grazing gently with the harsh wind. He jogged to the clubroom, trying to warm himself up before he got into the gym so his joints wouldn’t be stiff for practice. He was surprised to see Kageyama already there, obviously waiting for someone to unlock the door.

(Shouyou tried not to jump off the walls with the warmth that filled his heart at the prospect of Kageyama knowing that Shouyou would be the one who opened the door for him since he was the one entrusted with the key-- waiting on him.)

Shouyou sped up his jog pace, Kageyama hearing the light pounding of his feet and looking up. His expression didn’t change dramatically, like turning from his resting frown into a smile or anything, but Shouyou thought that his eyes may have softened. But it was hard to tell in the faint light of the early morning with the sun just barely peeking over the horizon, even from the top of the mountain when Shouyou had biked there. The redhead gave the other serious teen a bright smile and Kageyama grunted in response. 

“How long were you waiting here?” Shouyou asked as he hopped into Kageyama’s space to unlock the door to the clubroom. The taller teen shrugged, shifting his gym bag on his shoulder, his eyes averted. Shouyou bit the inside of his cheek, hands shaking from the cold.

“You could’ve texted me if you wanted to be here earlier, you know I’d respond!” The redhead scolded lightly as the door clicked open. “I don’t want m-- Karasuno’s-- setter to catch a cold for a stupid reason.” Shouyou internally begged that Kageyama didn’t notice the almost slip-up. Thankfully, Kageyama was as clueless as usual and he just shrugged again, which was infuriating in its own right. 

“Don’t just shrug at me,” Shouyou narrowed his eyes and Kageyama just shoved past the short redhead, just to start stripping off his layers-- which, wow. Shouyou was not strong enough for this. Heat rushed to his cheeks and he quickly slammed the door shut.

“I hadn’t even closed the door yet, Pervy-yama! What if someone saw you stripping?” Kageyama raised a singular dark brow and tilted his head towards the electronic clock hanging on the wall.

“At five-thirty in the morning?” His blunt voice asked with a hint of smugness and Shouyou just scowled in return. He went over to Kageyama and flicked his (thankfully clothed) chest. 

“Don’t be such an asshole,” the redhead chastised. “How you get so many girls confessing and talking to and about you is beyond me when you’re such a douche.” Shouyou rolled his eyes. ‘Yes I know I’m a hypocrite, universe. Don’t point it out.’ The first year shrugged off his sweatshirt and pulled out his practice t-shirt and jersey. As he put them on, Shouyou heard a muffled response due to his head being trapped in the confines of his shirt. He quickly pulled the shirt over his head and gave Kageyama a questioning look.

“What’d you say?” He questioned and Kageyama mumbled it so quietly that the short redhead couldn’t hear it. Shouyou narrowed his brown eyes at the taller teen.

“What? You’ve gotta say it louder--”

“I said, I don’t know why girls confess to me, either,” Kageyama growled and Shouyou’s shoulders went slack, as did his jaw slightly in disbelief. Kageyama seemed to take that as a sign to continue, and continue he did.

“Fuck. Look, I know I’m an asshole and that I’m selfish. That I don’t… read situations right and that I’m too intense--” Kageyama was forcefully stopped when Shouyou slapped his shoulder. His eyes were intense and Kageyama gulped, almost not enough to be noticeable but Shouyou saw it and powered on.

“Kageyama-kun,” he started, his voice careful but demanding, “what the hell are you on?” Kageyama blinked and opened his mouth to respond but Shouyou just shook his head. The redhead was now fired up and just teeny bit pissed off that his crush didn’t see how fucking attractive he was. He took a deep breath and looked up into deep blue eyes that were growing more and more pronounced as his cheeks turned a rosy red color. 

“You are an asshole. And an idiot.” Shouyou stated simply and Kageyama’s eyes narrowed, his frown taking over full-force.

“Are you trying to make me feel bad--”

“No, you dumbass. I’m saying that yes, you are an asshole. But you’re an attractive asshole!” Kageyama’s eyes widened, but Shouyou soldiered on.

“Wait--”

“You are the stupidest, dumbest, dorkiest, hottest boy I know! You’re so… tall and you’ve got that assholeish persona but you’re actually a freaking nerd! You garden.” Shouyou stressed, waving his arms around as he did so. Kageyama’s face was turning more and more red the longer the redhead went on. ‘What am I doing? This is…’ Shouyou ignored the thought, continuing his tirade without pause.

“Wait Hinata--”

“And! You are so…” Shouyou came up at a loss for words, so he just extended his arms out. “You are just so gwah! You make me feel so gwahh and--” Shouyou was silenced with a hand over his mouth. He looked up into the dark blue eyes of the other teen and realized what he had said. Shouyou did the only thing he could think of.

“The hell? Did you just lick me?” Kageyama lifted his hand off of the other’s mouth and Shouyou took the chance to make a break for it. 

“Oh no you don’t,” Kageyama grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping the teen from escaping with what little dignity he had left. Shouyou struggled in it uselessly. He couldn’t help thinking that his hands were warm against his skin, almost burning him where the other touched his arm. He hated the feeling. He wanted more. 

“Let me go, dumbass!” Shouyou shouted and Kageyama retaliated by strengthening his grip. He then grabbed the redhead’s other arm and made Shouyou turn towards him, which the shorter teen both loved and hated. 

“Please don’t kill me.” He begged when he saw just how pissed Kageyama was when he was forcefully faced toward him. He struggled against the grip for a minute, but stopped once he realized how useless it was.

‘Here lies Hinata Shouyou, killed by his crush after confessing.’ Shouyou thought morbidly. He was taken out of his thoughts by a low voice that he couldn’t crave enough of. 

“What do you mean I make you feel all ‘gwah’?” Kageyama asked carefully and Shouyou blinked. That wasn’t quite what he had been expecting. Shouyou pursed his lips, thinking about what he was going to say with trepidation. 

‘It’s not like he doesn’t already know… Here goes nothing.’

“It means I like you,” he said. “Dumbass.” He added for good measure. ‘Like’ wasn’t exactly the word Shouyou would use to describe how he felt, but he wasn’t ready to admit that to himself, never mind Kageyama. Shouyou licked his lips, nervousness filling every corner of his body. 

The other teen’s face went through a bunch of expressions that Shouyou couldn’t even begin to decipher. He looked constipated for most of them, but that didn’t mean much. He always looked like he was constipated when there were emotions involved. The thought brought some familiarity to the situation. 

“You…” Kageyama trailed off, his grip never slackening. “You… like me?” He sounded breathless. Shouyou nodded, not daring to open his mouth, not with how much he had let loose today. He waited for what Kageyama was going to say next. 

“You mean that I’ve been worrying about this for nothing?!” Kageyama suddenly roared and Shouyou had barely the wits to respond.

“What-- mmph!” 

Warm and chapped lips were suddenly against his own. They were rough but somehow tentative and caring as the kiss deepened. Shouyou's eyes finally slid shut and he wrapped his arms around Kageyama’s middle, drinking in the warmth of the boy next to him. The kiss wasn’t good in the traditional sense; their teeth clacked together sometimes and it was much wetter than it needed to be, but Kageyama tasted like milk and mint toothpaste and it was kind of grossly perfect. 

Eventually, they had to break the kiss up, both of them bereft of breath and gasping for air. Shouyou still felt the ghost of Kageyama’s passion on his lips.

After a few moments of silence besides their raspy breaths, Shouyou cleared his throat and slid his hands into Kageyama’s. 

“I’m assuming you like me too?” He asked and Kageyama scoffed, his cheeks flushed a bright cherry red. His hands were as clammy as Shouyou’s, which made the redhead feel better about all of the events that had happened.

“If you don’t get it, you’re the dumbass.” Kageyama rumbled out lowly and Shouyou just smiled sunnily. He stood on his tiptoes and kissed Kageyama’s blushing cheeks. 

“I think I get it.” Shouyou said softly and somehow, even in the ugly fluorescent lights, Kageyama was beautiful. With his cheeks colored red and his eyes fond, it was everything Shouyou had wanted and more. 

[viktory-arts]

A Bittersweet World- Chapter One

Read on Ao3 here

Check out more of my works here

Ghouls were slowly and painfully integrating with the rest of human society. No one thought it was actually going to come into fruition. There had been many official meetings (never, of course, with ghouls because what if they hurt someone?) in governmental settings about the topic. Usually the talks boiled down to “they look and act human, is that enough for them to be treated as humans?” to which the officials would then share personal accounts of their interactions with ghouls; from the pleasant to the life-altering horrific ones.

The CCG (Commission of Counter Ghoul) was obviously against all of the talks of allowing ghouls to integrate.

“What about our jobs? More than two-thirds of the workers will have to be cut!” 

“They’re man-eating monsters that can only sustain themselves on human meat!” 

“All ghouls are much stronger than us, and if we allow them societal power, where will ours go?” Were a few of the many, many arguments the CCG had against ghoul integration. Ghoul sympathizers, as they were called, argued as best they could. Telling the government officials that they looked and acted human, and therefore they were humans, that there were scientists out there looking for a substitute for human meat for the ghouls to eat. 

Germany had the first breakthrough regarding the diets for ghouls. They found that adding artificially made RC cells to cow meat was a nearly perfect substitute for human meat for ghouls. It tasted horrendous, most ghouls claimed, but they could digest it and it gave them nearly as much nutrients as the proper source. Soon, the United States, Canada, and England pushed for more research to be done about the meat substitute. Japan was reluctant about the whole ordeal, as they had the worst number of ghoul-related incidents from the Asia continent, even beating out places with a surplus amount of population like India and China, but eventually conceded and put forth money toward the experiment. South America and Africa were soon to follow suit, having their best and brightest on the project.

After about two years of testing, the meat substitute was given the all-clear and was on the market that the government controlled. They didn’t want to put the meat in stores as it could lead to human-ghoul violence. The CCG was slowly rebranding themselves as an institute. They were actually the ones to deliver the meat packages. They did this so that “untrained civilians” wouldn’t have to be put in the danger of going into a ghoul’s home. Very few ghouls actually did this, however. It meant that they had to give up their guise of being human and give their names and faces to the government. 

Then came the official greenlight for the Ghoul Integration Movement in the United States. Rallies and riots started to happen all around the world after this, demanding that now that ghouls were given an alternative from their original diets, that they should be seen as people in the eyes of the law. That they looked human because they were human. 

Then the Manchester March happened. In the early hours of the morning, starting from five in the morning till the same time the next day, ghouls marched silently all around Manchester. Many held signs and as far as the local police could tell, they brought no weapons. The march contained ten-thousand ghouls and three-thousand humans, all marching in solidarity with no violence. The orchestrator of the march was stopped by human news-casting stations and he said the same thing over and over.

“We die the same as you.”

That phrase became something of a mantra for the ghoul movement. It was written on signs and the sides of buildings and was often said at the end of interviews with ghouls. It was the final spark needed for ghoul society to unite to obtain human rights for themselves and not have to hide what they were anymore. 

With the unrest happening all around the world, surprisingly, Japan was the first country to allow ghouls rights. They extended some of the human’s lawful rights to them. They made it so that ghouls could not be hunted without reason-- although the human-ghoul violence was still very prominent in the beginning. 

But in contrast to all the good that Japan did for their ghoul population, they also made it nigh impossible for them to get jobs or go to school normally. If someone thought that you were a ghoul in hiding, you had to go in for testing to see if you actually were a ghoul. Ghouls who were in hiding were punished. Eventually, the Japanese government made ghouls wear a pin on all of their clothes; a singular sewn kakugan eye that made sure the humans around them knew that they were interacting with a ghoul for safety precautions. The ghouls were outraged and fought back, but were put in their place when police officers and CCG members started to enforce the Ghoul Recognition Act. Any ghoul found not wearing the badge would be seen as a threat and it would be determined by the courts if the ghoul was committing an act worthy of severe punishment.

Japan’s system soon became the norm for most countries. Ghoul sympathizers were quick to point out how the Ghoul Recognition Act was not dissimilar at all to how Nazi Germany ostrasized Jewish people. These claims fell on deaf ears and were shut down.

“It would be different if they were human.”

Many ghouls were more scared of the authorities finding out that they were ghouls and being caught rather than trying to blend in with human society and live life as normally and as unproblematically as possible. 

Ghouls were allowed to play sports, attend normal schools, get married (to other ghouls), and were allowed to get jobs (so long as the employers were willing and consenting to it, of course), which were laws allowed by the world powers as a peace offering for the Ghoul Recognition Act. Most peaceful ghouls settled with this, hoping that things would change with time and that someone stronger than them would fight against the oppression the government was causing for ghouls. Many were content with not being actively hunted by the CCG. 

Hinata Shouyou was one of those ghouls; born into a world where human-ghoul relations were shaky and unstable at best and downright violent at worst. Humans feared ghouls, so Shouyou pretended to be human to negate this. His mother always told him to hide his nature or he would be killed for not coming out sooner to the government.

And so he did.

***

Shouyou often found himself wishing he was just a human. Sure, his ghoulish nature made it so he had naturally better athletic abilities when it came to volleyball, such as speed and stamina (sadly not much in strength, something Shouyou totally wasn’t bitter about). But the pros of being human often weighed out the cons. He had an ongoing list in his head about the whole ordeal. He’d had his whole life to compile the list so it was extensive, but it could usually be narrowed down to three main points:

1.) He couldn’t eat human food.

Kind of a small and insignificant reason but Shouyou has had time to realize that he didn’t much care how petty the reason was. He always imagined what it’d be like to eat birthday cake or ice-cream without it tasting like boiled garbage and fish oil. His friends at his birthday parties were always so excited for cake and Shouyou was always so excited for them to leave so that they could give away the rest of the cake. It smelled good and the frosting always felt sticky but pleasant on his fingers, but he couldn’t enjoy it. He had to choke it down every year at his or his friend’s birthday parties-- otherwise he might be caught being suspicious. As Shouyou said, his friends were always ecstatic to eat cake, and a young energetic boy like Shouyou should be as well.

2.) His friends were never around for long.

Shouyou had to move a lot as a kid. His mother worked very hard as a nurse (how she kept her nature a secret was beyond Shouyou, but he was kind of an idiot like Kageyama likes to remind him, so maybe it wasn’t as hard as he thought it was). She worked so hard so that she could have the funds to move from place to place, never to settle otherwise the neighborhood could catch onto their secret. It made it hard for both Shouyou and his little sister Natsu to make and keep friends. Even with Shouyou’s cell phone that he got in his third year of middle school, it was still difficult to remain friendly with the people so far away. Izumi and Kouji were his closest friends in middle school, but now they barely interacted besides a few and far off texts trying to catch up with one another. 

3.) He could die at any moment.

If someone finds him suspicious of being a ghoul, it was certain death for him and his family. It had been eight years since the Ghoul Integration Act. Natsu had just been born after the start of it. Shouyou didn’t understand a lot, but he knew how important it was to stay hidden. To not have the kakugan eye pin on his chest as an alarm to the general public that he wasn’t human. That he was a danger to society for existing.

So, yeah. Those three points on his list (amongst numerous others) were why Shouyou wished he was human. It just would make life a thousand times easier and much more enjoyable.

‘Or an ghoul uprising could happen and all these stupid anti-ghoul laws could be lifted,’ Shouyou thought to himself as he flicked an eraser shaving off of his desk, boredom making his body feel heavy like lead. He was in English class, something that he sucked spectacularly at. But Kageyama sucked at it too, so it was okay. Yachi could help him study later, he surmised after he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t going to pay attention for the rest of the class.

He looked out the window to see a CCG-qualified police officer carrying a gun and a quinque with him. The quinque was a severed part of a dead ghoul’s kagune, which was disturbing on so many levels. Shouyou tried not to think about it too much as it made him feel sad whenever he did.

The police officer was there to protect the students from ghoul attacks. So if any of the student body or the one ghoul teacher went off the deep end, he could save the humans from harm. None of the ghouls around here would ever do that as they were far too afraid of death to do something like that. The ghoul student body was always under heavy scrutiny. Any step out of line and there would be repercussions. It was bittersweet, but Shouyou was thankful that he was hiding to an extent. He never had to deal with the scathing looks the other students would give the ghouls. He never had to feel in danger for the reason that people knew what he was. Shouyou felt sorry for the ghouls that were out.

There were a couple of ghouls on his volleyball team; all of them were much quieter and scarcely touched the human members of the team, even for a high-five after a good play. Coach Ukai was thankfully not a bigot in the sense that he hated the ghoul members of his team, but he certainly was wary of them and they all knew it. Sugawara, Nishinoya, Ennoshita, Yamaguchi, and Kiyoko were all the ghouls that were out on the team. Shouyou tried to be as nice as possible and give them high-fives and slap their backs when they did something good and give tips when they didn’t do so great. 

He hoped that his efforts were appreciated.

The bell rang, breaking Shouyou from his thoughts and signaling that the day was over. The redhead shot up from his seat and rushed out of the classroom like he did every day, his brown leather knapsack flapping wildly at his sides. He sped through the halls, knocking into more than a few of the other students in his endeavor to get outside the school so he could race Kageyama to the clubroom. 

He turned around to look behind him to make sure that Kageyama wasn’t on his tail when he suddenly ran into somebody.

“Ow, ow, ow…” Shouyou groaned, rubbing his head where it had collided with the person’s backpack full of hard-cover books. When he looked up, he was mortified to see it was Sugawara who he had ran into at full force. The other’s face was filled with concern and looking wildly around with his eyes to see if anyone had noticed their little run-in.

‘Probably checking to make sure everyone saw that it was my fault,’ thought Shouyou as he adjusted the strap on his knapsack. One could never be too careful as a ghoul supposedly “hurting” a human student.

They had been killed for less, after all.

“Are you okay, Hinata-san?” Sugawara asked quietly. Shouyou nodded and grinned from ear to ear to show that he was alright, ignoring the throbbing of his forehead. He didn’t want to worry Sugawara.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t hurt you when I ran into you, did I?” Shouyou asked worriedly. Sugawara shook his head and smiled warmly, now used to Shouyou’s antics. The short teen glanced at the clock behind Sugawara’s head and saw the time, eyes widening.

“Ah crap, Kageyama’s totally gonna beat me! Sorry, Sugawara-san. I’ll see you in a little bit!” As he said this, he started to backpedal. The ash-gray haired teen simply shook his head and gave a little wave. Shouyou didn’t hear if the other had said anything in response as he ran full-tilt to the back entrance of the school, which was three minutes faster than using the front of the building. His legs were burning because he hadn’t stretched before his sprint, but he ignored it in favor of bounding towards the doors that led outdoors.

Breaking free of the confines of the building, Shouyou smelled the spring air and grinned as he breathed heavily and continued his sprint. The sky was a bright blue with a few clouds and the sun was warm on his black-uniformed clothed skin. He broke out into a sweat as he rounded the corner of the building to see the clubroom and was disappointed to see Kageyama already standing there. 

“What took you so long, dumbass?” The angsty teen asked when Shouyou stopped at the entrance of the clubroom to stand beside the other. He was trying to catch his breath as he replied.

“I bumped into Sugawara-san on my way here.” Kageyama raised a single dark brow and reached into his pocket to get the key that Daichi had entrusted them with. He unlocked the door, opening it with a gentle click. 

“What’d he have to say?” Kageyama asked and Shouyou shrugged, shouldering past the other to make his way towards his sports bag. He unzipped it and pulled out his clothes before he responded.

“I just ran into him and knocked my head into his backpack. I was too busy trying to get here to beat you to the clubroom to stay and chat.” Shouyou responded and Kageyama did some sort of grunt. The redhead pulled his white practice t-shirt over his head and then his practice jersey. He was in the middle of pulling up his shorts when Kageyama spoke again.

“We should invite Sugawara-san to join us in our early practices,” he said carefully as he sprayed an aerosol can of pain reliever on his ankle. Shouyou stopped for a second, surprised. Kageyama was never outright mean to their ghoulish teammates, but he was never nice to them either. But of course, he wasn’t anything but cool and calculating when it came to volleyball (unless he was yelling at Shouyou). 

“Yeah, we should. I’ll ask him when he shows up today.” Shouyou replied with warmth filling his response. He was a little sad to think that their early practices that were just the two of them would expand to Sugawara-san, but he found that he didn’t mind quite so much when it was Kageyama who asked about adding him. They changed in silence after that, but it was a  comfortable one.

Once they were ready, they raced towards the gym. Shouyou thought that their little races were both the most frustrating and the highlights of his day. They were in their own little world when Shouyou suddenly stopped, sniffing the air. 

It smelled like copper.

Kageyama paused as well, shooting the other a dirty look, then a confused one when he saw the expression on the redhead’s face. He turned to see…

“Kageyama, go get someone.” Shouyou said slowly. Kageyama stood there, frozen with shock. Shouyou understood, but he knew that he would be more useful here rather than the angry teen behind him.

“Kageyama!” Shouyou barked and the other sprinted in the direction of the school. The redhead leaned down, placing a hand onto the dirt ground.

There, lying passed out, was Yachi. With a chunk of her shoulder bitten out.

[viktory-arts]

hi! here are some links where you can find me!

archive of our own: viktory_arts

instagram: viktoryyy_arts

twitter: viktoryyy_arts

carrd: viktoryyy_arts