Title: A New Challenge
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Rating: G
Length: 1000 words
Notes: Hinata, despite his incessant claims, can’t swim. Oikawa finds out during their stay in Brazil.

“It’s not that I can’t swim,” Hinata had said with a flushed face, uselessly puffing out his chest, “Doggy paddling is swimming. Everything that keeps you afloat is swimming.

Tanaka had laughed and slapped his back so hard he’d almost toppled over.
 

Oikawa leaned over the dinner table, an amused crinkle forming between his brows. Hinata cringed and shrunk into his chair until he felt as short as back in high school, maybe shorter. “Hinata Shouyou, soon-to-be professional volleyball player, afraid of a little water.”

“Hmpf.” Little water, as if. This was the goddamn Atlantic Ocean.

“I’m not afraid.” Hinata frowned at his half-eaten pork stew. “I’m just-” He wrung his hands, tripping over his tongue. Why was this so difficult?

“I’m not the most confident swimmer.”

It wasn’t irrational to be cautious around large bodies of water if he could drown in them, right?

Yet, it felt silly. Before volleyball took over his life, he’d tried out various sports and got decent at a bunch of them: Soccer, baseball, basketball- if it involved a ball, he was in. Rollerskating wasn’t a problem either, even if his attempts had resulted in a few nosedives.

Swimming, however- Ugh. Thinking about that one camping trip made him recoil in horror.

“I could teach you if you let me.” Hinata looked up again, searching Oikawa’s face for a hint of sarcasm. There wasn’t one, just a casual smile. “You won’t get a better chance than here.”

Hinata groaned, hiding his face in his hands. This was mortifying. Having his rival teach him how to sw- pfblah! how to get better at swimming. Kageyama would laugh in his face if he had something akin to a sense of humor. Then again, wasn’t Oikawa basically challenging him?

Kageyama would laugh in his face even more if he backed down from a challenge.

“Don’t worry that I’ll blab to Tobio-chan. I don’t like him anyway.” He grinned at the last part.

“You can read minds?” As always, Hinata’s brain took some time to catch up with his mouth.

“Where do you think my great captain skills came from?” An awkward silence hung in the air until Oikawa spoke up again.

“Iwa-chan taught me how to swim back when we were kids.”

“I can swim!” Hinata said louder than he had to, making a few heads turn.

He raised his hand in an apologetic gesture and turned back to his rival, friend, whatever they were at this point.

“Tomorrow after practice?” Oikawa’s smile was sickeningly-sweet but genuine at least.

Hinata nodded. His stomach tightened at the idea but there was excitement too.

Excitement about a new challenge.
 

As he and Oikawa stood at the shore the following day, watching wave after wave crash against the wet sand, the cocktail of fear mixed with excitement had transformed into pure fear. He gulped, tugging at the hem of his swim trunks. Would Oikawa tell his family if he died?

“Oikawa-san, um-” As he turned to his “teacher”, he was shut up with a finger to his lisps.

“This is perfect practice. Trust me, if you can swim in wild waters, you can swim anywhere.”

A cold shiver ran down Hinata’s spine, despite the afternoon sun toasting his back and shoulders. He could barely swim in a small lake, how was he going to survive this?

“I won’t let you drown. Lots of people would kill me if I did.” Oikawa shot him a smirk before wading into the shallow water, beckoning Hinata to stop being a coward and follow.

I can swim, Hinata told himself what he’d told countless people as he took the first steps.

It was true. He could swim. He just needed to figure out how.
 

A couple of hours later, the two young men were back in the dry sand, watching the sunset. It would’ve been atmospheric if it weren’t for Hinata coughing up saltwater every few seconds.

“This was awful,” he complained in a croaky voice, too exhausted to move the strands of wet hair from his eyes. With few exceptions, he’d never felt that spent after a volleyball match.

“Sorry, but I didn’t know you were a complete noob.” Oikawa patted his back to help him breathe, sounding more guilty than amused. “It’s a shame. You’re so athletic otherwise.”

“Thanks.” More coughing. He couldn’t be angry at Oikawa. He’d promised to not let him drown and that hadn’t happened. Even if his throat burned like hellfire, he was very much alive.

“But hey, we did make some progress.” Hinata turned his head, Oikawa’s bright eyes meeting his.

He was right. When he’d started playing volleyball, actually playing volleyball, his skills had been abysmal as well. How many times had he failed to spike Kageyama’s serves or botched a receive, ending with countless headaches and bloody noses? None of that had been any-

“You know, swimming is fun,” Oikawa interrupted, “If you’re halfway decent at it, it’s fun.”

Fun. The word floated in his mind like a swirly, fluffy cloud, illuminated by flashes of light.

“Let’s try again tomorrow!”, he said, ignoring the impulse to say “right now”. Despite feeling re-energized enough for another round of flailing, clinging to Oikawa, and swallowing liters of saltwater, a certain incident in high school had taught him to not overexert himself.

“Same time as today?”, Oikawa asked as he got up and helped Hinata do the same.

Hinata nodded, holding onto Oikawa’s hand with two of his as his knees were still shaking.

“Sweet. I’ll grab a pool noodle from the nearby beach shop. They’re free for rent.”

“What? No!” Hinata’s face turned from frightened white back to an embarrassed red.

“They’re not just for kids. Do you want to learn how to swim, or not?”

“Ugh, yes.” He nodded again, determination flooding every cell of his body. “I do.”
 

He wasn’t doing this for Oikawa or Kageyama, but for himself.

For he was curious to find out what the heck was so fun about this sport.