Chapter Text
Kageyama had not presented yet.
Which in his opinion was completely fine. Secondary genders came with extra rules and regulations. Heats, ruts, pills, just a lot of extra effort and time, time he could be dedicating towards volleyball.
So during middle school one by one, his teammates went into puberty. They began talking more about their newly presented genders. How their scents smell, how others smell. Nesting, scenting. And even bitting. Which Kageyama found incredibly worrying.
But even in the face of his teammates weird and cornering talks. With them being so ecstatic about their new traits, Kageyama still held firm about them being a waste of time and energy. And let it be known.
They often just laughed it off telling him “You're gonna be just as happy once you present!” and “Just wait your turn. You'll see.”
Soon enough everyone on his team had finally come into themselves except Kageyama. And had slowly started to form a sort of pack. It wasn't a real one as they were just middle schoolers but people, even Kageyama, with his stubborn attitude to this whole thing, could see all of their relationships with one another shift into something deeper. More meaningful.
And weirdly was happy with it.
He’d had little trouble with making friends so having people who genuinely liked and wanted to be around him (excluding Oikawa) was a feeling he'd wanted to hold on to.
That was all before his grandfather died and it was like a switch in his personality.
He was now cold, angry, mean; pushing away from the newly found ‘pack’. His teammates, the ones he was growing to trust now, felt like annoying pests getting in the way of him reaching his one goal; reaching the peak of his abilities, and becoming the best volleyball player ever.
Kageyama became laser-focused, spending hour after hour, day after day practicing hard, and he improved greatly.
But the same couldn't be said for his teammates he grew crueler and colder to them. As he continued to grow his skills at a rapid pace, seeing his teammates falling behind him pissed him off even more.
He couldn't understand why they weren't keeping up with him? Why weren't they training as hard as he was?
It all ended during his last championship with his middle school team he set the ball, but no one hit it or even tired too.
Their faces were cold and uncaring as the ball crashed to the floor. And even with Kageyama being slightly dense when came he understood what it meant.
He was pulled out of that game and made to sit on the bench for a reminder of it. They went on to lose to some schools. But it truly didn't matter.
Finally, once it was all over, Kageyama graduated from Kitagawa Daiichi. Leaving, and hoping to never see his old team again.
Closing that chapter of his life forever.
As the summer rolled around secondary genders became more apparent. His high school enrollment form now had a section of it dedicated to them. It was more normal to ask for someone’s gender before their name and it frustrated Kageyama to no end.
He just couldn’t understand why people were just so obsessed with them. They didn't change people all that much. And besides the fact that you could now smell people’s scents doesn't affect everyday life. It just didn’t sense.
What furthered his annoyance towards the subject was a few weeks before school started his parents who hadn't visited, nor contacted him in however long, informed him in a text message that due to his ‘stunted growth’ (their words not his) the school had made it mandatory for him to go to some specialist to make sure everything was okay.
Kageyama insisted that he didn’t need to go. Because he was fine. Again people are just making a big deal about nothing.
But he did go. Begrudgingly, spurred on by the school telling him he wouldn’t be allowed to go to any after-school activities because he’d be too ‘unpredictable’. And no after-school activities meant no volleyball. And Kageyama would rather die than not be able to play volleyball.
And just like he thought the doctors had said everything was fine. He was just a ‘late bloomer’. They'd offered, or more realistically urged for him to get on some pill that was supposed to help his presentation come faster.
He refused obviously them. Insighting that he was fine with being genderless. They pushed some more but ultimately gave up once they understood how strong Kageyama’s resolve was. He submitted the doctor's note officially recognizing him as ‘Gender-less’. He was now able to attend school. Or more importantly volleyball.
Meeting the Kuranso volleyball club was... A journey. He first met Hinata Shouyou. A boy he’d meant the previous year in middle school. He was just as energetic as he remembered. And maybe even more so. Red curly-ish hair and very scrawny.
The next people he met were Daichi. The team captain. Suga, the co-captain as well as the official setter. And Tanka.
The first few days of his attempt to join the Club were hectic. He had to fight his way into the club via a match with the other first years besides himself and Hinata.
Tsukihima. Tall and lean and a personality more comparable to a saltine cracker than a decent human being.
And Yamaguchi. who's hair kinda reminded him of weeds, he stuck to Tsukishima’s side like a tick and even with his much nicer personality he was still mildly irritating when he wanted to be.
As time passed from the early days of the club, he also met the rest of the second and third years, as well as the managers Kiyoko, and Yachi. But they were normal... Enough
A few weeks before they were set to go to their first game with Aoba Johsai. When right after practice Daichi sat them all down to have an Important Conversation.
He asked them to be a pack.
Having had no prior experience except the short time he was in middle school. It surprised him.
I mean they weren't even halfway through the season and they wanted to talk about this pack stuff already?
Now Kageyama wasn't completely blind when it came to packs and stuff; he knew that being a pack, especially in sports, mattered. Maybe not to the extent Dachi was trying to convey at that moment. But he still had an idea.
Packs were bonds that often never broke. You usually only have two or three your entire life. One with your immediate family. And one with your close friends or club in this case. And even if the people in the pack had not seen each other for years that bond remained. It was a big deal.
But coming with the closeness of a pack also came with the fluidity. You could tell almost like night and day in sports which teams were packs and which teams were not. The pack teams moved together almost like a singular organism. While the latter still moved as one but not with the same feel as the other.
Kageyama still disliked everything that had to do with secondary genders. But he had never felt closer to a singular team than he did with them.
Although Coming to realization he felt embarrassed. Not willing to think about it anymore he told himself that he was just doing this so they could all work better as a team. And agreed. As well as everybody else
Dachi seemed to be prepared as the next day they were all handed forms to fill out to recognize them all as a pack.
He filled his out with Hinata during lunch but as he got to the part in the form where you put down your second gender there were only three boxes.
‘Omega, Beta, Alpha’
No other, No ‘not presented’ or anything like that.
He stared over at Hinata who was just rambling excitedly about being in an official pack.
He was sort of hoping that he would’ve maybe pointed out how there are only three boxes. And it was government paperwork he couldn’t just write down in another box? Could he?
It was wishful thinking on his part because as Hinata noticed he was staring at him he just tilted his head and asked what was wrong.
Kageyama shook his head and just filled in the box closest to ‘Beta’
They aren’t anything special, are they? I mean he’s pretty close to one going off the experiences of betas he’s met.
As the days continued, Kageyama slowly got more anxious. Surely someone would find out he lied on his paperwork?
He almost thought he got caught when he was called into the nurse’s office in the middle of class. While walking there he debated on just running out of the school all the way home but decided against it realizing he wouldn't have been able to go to evening volleyball practice.
He shuffled into the nurse's office, the woman in there dressed in all white waved him over pointing to the chair right in front of her desk. Reluctantly he sat down on the chair, sitting straight up, bouncing his knee; the fear rising in him.
What is she going to do?
Does she know?
Will he get in trouble?
What if he couldn’t play volleyball?!
Thoughts swirled his head before the nurse finally spoke up. Not even looking at him. Rather, at a clipboard she was holding out right in front of her. “Your Pack Alpha submitted your forms. It says here that you’re a Beta?”
Kageyama stumbled over his words. She sounded so relaxed?! Did she not know he was genderless?
“Yes…”
“Oh.” She said looking down at the chart in her lap “Good news then. Well, I’m just going to need you to go to the doctor soon and get your second gender changed.”
She quickly scribbled something down the clipboard setting it down.
An uncomfortable silence dragged on for a couple of seconds. As Kageyama didn’t know what to do next. In awe at the fact that that’s all she seemingly wanted to ask him about.
No asking him how he presented or anything.
“Alright, you free to go.”
Kageyma wanted to ask ‘Is that it?’ but he didn’t want to push his luck. He thanked her and ran out of there as fast as he could.
The whole rest of the day Kageyama was thinking. Is it truly that easy to fake your gender? I mean he lied on government paperwork! Shouldn't anyone be the least bit suspicious? But by the time practice rolled around all of those thoughts had disappeared.
He went to the doctor to get his dynamic officially changed. And it went just as smoothly as the nurse's office. With not even so much as a blood test and some slightly probing questions about his presentation (which he lied about) he was now officially a beta.
But at least he didn't have to deal with people asking him why ‘he didn’t have a scent’ he could just say he was beta! It was fool proof
Now all that matters is he can now play volleyball with his newly formed pack, without any worries.