Ship: Hinata/Small Giant Fandom: Haikyuu Major Tags: tags omitted Other Tags: tags omitted Word Count: 877 words
Thank you for prompting this for me!
***
The first fan letter Hinata ever writes is to the Little Giant. He doesn’t know the teenager’s name but he knows his number and he knows his school. That’s enough.
Dear #10,
I saw you on TV and I think you are really cool with how you go whoosh! I want to play volleyball like you.
I am very small. Do you have any ideas on how I can be good like you are, please?
Most sincerest respect,
Hinata Shouyou
He hands the letter to his mother and asks her if she can mail it to the school. On the envelope, he’s written carefully:
#10 volleyball team Karasuno High School
That should be enough information for the school to know whom to give it to, right? His mother adds the rest of the address, writes their address on the back of the envelope and promises Hinata she’ll post it.
Hinata never receives a reply but he doesn’t blame the Little Giant for it. Clearly the letter got lost in the mail somehow.
He asks his mother if they can go to the Karasuno High School and hand deliver a second letter but his mother says no, she has no time to take him there.
Hinata’s pouting fails to convince her.
*
The first official letter Hinata ever writes is to the Little Giant. The class has been told to write a letter to someone influential in their lives and most of the other students have chosen to write to their parents. A few students, aiming to impress, write to politicians or idols.
Hinata chews on his pencil furiously and composes what he think is a much better letter than his earlier effort.
Dear #10,
I am Hinata Shouyou and I am your biggest fan. I already wrote to you once but I think it must have been lost. My teacher has promised to post all these letters though so I hope this one will reach you.
I joined our school’s volleyball club after seeing you on TV. My dream is to be like you. There aren’t any other members in the club but I spend all the time practicing by myself anyway. That way, when other players join, I won’t be too far behind them.
I’m only in my second year. Maybe next year, some of the new first years will like volleyball and we can finally play in a tournament! Sometimes my friends are good enough to throw balls to me so I can practice spiking but there aren’t enough of us to make a team.
When I graduate, I’m going to Karasuno so I can be the ace like you were. I’ll lead the school to victory.
Most genuine admiration,
Hinata Shouyou
A week later, the teacher hands him the letter back and quietly confesses that unfortunately, the Little Giant has graduated from Karasuno and the school doesn’t have a forwarding address for him. Hinata tries to pump her for information but that’s all she knows.
*
The first love letter Hinata ever writes is to the Little Giant.
I think about you all the time. The others are talking about girls and passing around magazines and I don’t care. They want me to talk about the girls I like, or gravure idols, or what I think is pretty but I can’t. There’s nothing like that. Some of the girls are pretty but they don’t make me feel anything. Not like you do.
I got recordings of your championship games. When you jump, you look like you’re flying. My stomach drops away. It’s like you’re a roller coaster. You take me all the way up and then make everything fall away. Everything’s pulled out of me and I feel hollow. Weightless.
Girls are pretty. You’re not pretty. But I can’t stop looking at you. When I close my eyes, I think about you. If you touched me, I’d feel like I’m flying.
The team’s going well. They gave me #10, like you. I’m going to make it proud. I’m going to make you proud. I think about you coming back for a reunion and meeting me at school. I think about a lot of things.
I think about you more than anything.
This isn’t how my friends talk about girls but it’s how books talk about love.
I want to fly with you.
He doesn’t try sending it this time. He carries it in his pocket. The kanji are scrawled and uneven, holes in the paper where Hinata’s pen has stabbed through. It’s barely legible, the paper cloth-soft from too many months of being folded and unfolded.
*
Before he graduates from Karasuno, he vows, he will find some way to open the trophy case and place his letter inside the trophy. The Little Giant must have touched it when it was awarded. It’s the closest to him Hinata can get.
Hinata never signed that letter. He’s not afraid of being caught if someone else finds it.
He just knows he can’t carry it with him any longer. He has to set himself free.
(Unburdened, he will fly faster and catch up to the Little Giant more quickly.
In person, he can explain himself better than his letters ever did.)
FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, T
Fandom: Haikyuu
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 877 words
Thank you for prompting this for me!
***
The first fan letter Hinata ever writes is to the Little Giant. He doesn’t know the teenager’s name but he knows his number and he knows his school. That’s enough.
Dear #10,
I saw you on TV and I think you are really cool with how you go whoosh! I want to play volleyball like you.
I am very small. Do you have any ideas on how I can be good like you are, please?
Most sincerest respect,
Hinata Shouyou
He hands the letter to his mother and asks her if she can mail it to the school. On the envelope, he’s written carefully:
#10 volleyball team
Karasuno High School
That should be enough information for the school to know whom to give it to, right? His mother adds the rest of the address, writes their address on the back of the envelope and promises Hinata she’ll post it.
Hinata never receives a reply but he doesn’t blame the Little Giant for it. Clearly the letter got lost in the mail somehow.
He asks his mother if they can go to the Karasuno High School and hand deliver a second letter but his mother says no, she has no time to take him there.
Hinata’s pouting fails to convince her.
*
The first official letter Hinata ever writes is to the Little Giant. The class has been told to write a letter to someone influential in their lives and most of the other students have chosen to write to their parents. A few students, aiming to impress, write to politicians or idols.
Hinata chews on his pencil furiously and composes what he think is a much better letter than his earlier effort.
Dear #10,
I am Hinata Shouyou and I am your biggest fan. I already wrote to you once but I think it must have been lost. My teacher has promised to post all these letters though so I hope this one will reach you.
I joined our school’s volleyball club after seeing you on TV. My dream is to be like you. There aren’t any other members in the club but I spend all the time practicing by myself anyway. That way, when other players join, I won’t be too far behind them.
I’m only in my second year. Maybe next year, some of the new first years will like volleyball and we can finally play in a tournament! Sometimes my friends are good enough to throw balls to me so I can practice spiking but there aren’t enough of us to make a team.
When I graduate, I’m going to Karasuno so I can be the ace like you were. I’ll lead the school to victory.
Most genuine admiration,
Hinata Shouyou
A week later, the teacher hands him the letter back and quietly confesses that unfortunately, the Little Giant has graduated from Karasuno and the school doesn’t have a forwarding address for him. Hinata tries to pump her for information but that’s all she knows.
*
The first love letter Hinata ever writes is to the Little Giant.
I think about you all the time. The others are talking about girls and passing around magazines and I don’t care. They want me to talk about the girls I like, or gravure idols, or what I think is pretty but I can’t. There’s nothing like that. Some of the girls are pretty but they don’t make me feel anything. Not like you do.
I got recordings of your championship games. When you jump, you look like you’re flying. My stomach drops away. It’s like you’re a roller coaster. You take me all the way up and then make everything fall away. Everything’s pulled out of me and I feel hollow. Weightless.
Girls are pretty. You’re not pretty. But I can’t stop looking at you. When I close my eyes, I think about you. If you touched me, I’d feel like I’m flying.
The team’s going well. They gave me #10, like you. I’m going to make it proud. I’m going to make you proud. I think about you coming back for a reunion and meeting me at school. I think about a lot of things.
I think about you more than anything.
This isn’t how my friends talk about girls but it’s how books talk about love.
I want to fly with you.
He doesn’t try sending it this time. He carries it in his pocket. The kanji are scrawled and uneven, holes in the paper where Hinata’s pen has stabbed through. It’s barely legible, the paper cloth-soft from too many months of being folded and unfolded.
*
Before he graduates from Karasuno, he vows, he will find some way to open the trophy case and place his letter inside the trophy. The Little Giant must have touched it when it was awarded. It’s the closest to him Hinata can get.
Hinata never signed that letter. He’s not afraid of being caught if someone else finds it.
He just knows he can’t carry it with him any longer. He has to set himself free.
(Unburdened, he will fly faster and catch up to the Little Giant more quickly.
In person, he can explain himself better than his letters ever did.)