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Blurred noises and occasional bursts of sounds, that was Tanaka's world. Not counting, of course, the encouraging and, most of the time, silly hand signs that came from his teammates. His fun, rude, and very gifted teammates, or, in other words, his friends. His friends that supported him when he thought he couldn't play volleyball due to his loss of hearing.
On the court, they'd say, there was no such thing as a 'disability' that causes a team to lose. Teamwork, Daichi would say, was the key to winning, and as long as they had some, a disability turned into an advantage. Grinning, Suga would sign some words of encouragement and toss Tanaka a volleyball, as if saying it was there for him to spike. Noya and Asahi would get into position on the court and wave for Tanaka to join them, supporting him when he'd miss a call and, in turn, miss the receives.
Pushing through thick and thin together, their teamwork, skills, and signs improved rapidly, especially when the new first years joined. As soon as they joined, Tanaka really got hyped up to teach them how to sign. He even went as far as to give everyone nicknames to help them learn faster. He'd sign Dad at Daichi, Mom at Suga, Guardian or, in the halls, Bro at Noya, and Ace at Asahi. As Tanaka got closer to the first years, they eventually got nicknames as well. Hinata got the Little Giant, Kageyama got Milk, Yamaguchi got Freckles, and Tsukishima got Asshole. Well, he did run out of good names when he got to Kageyama and Yamaguchi's, but Tsukishima's was obvious. And Tsukishima even signed Asshole back after the second time Tanaka signed it, and, not surprisingly, Tanaka was so proud he was on the verge of tears.
Eventually, signing became a natural occurrence on the court and in school, and Tanaka and Noya had ~very~ fun experiences with it. In class, they'd sign answers and complaints at each other, often getting heavy sighs from the teachers in response. During matches, they'd sign 'good jobs' and 'nice receives' at each other, and often strategies between the team. When they played against Fukurodani, however, their strategies were easily seen though.
About midway through the practice match at the joint practice, Tanaka noticed their ace signing to his teammates instead of talking, and Tanaka quickly signed it to Daichi. By the end of the match, Tanaka was brimming with excitement.
Tapping on the ace's shoulders, he excitedly started signing his name and position. When the ace turned around and saw Tanaka signing, he replied just as excitedly, practically jumping up and down.
After everyone's practice matches ended and the ace's-Bokuto's-friends came over to ask about his matches, Kuroo, his best friend, started sighing.
"Kenmaaa," Kuroo whined, looking back and forth between the excited Bokuto and Tanaka and the very tired Kenma, "I've been replaced."
"At least Bokuto has a sane friend who isn’t a mom now."
"Hey! Rude! No pie for dessert today!"
Kenma sighed, "See what I mean?"
"Oh. Maybe…." Kuroo trailed off, changing the topic and heading away from Bokuto and Tanaka.
When it was finally time for dinner, the duo split up and sat with their corresponding teams to talk about one another. Tanaka enthusiastically signed about how fun it was to talk to Bokuto while Noya grinned the entire time, happy Tanaka found a good friend to talk to. Bokuto did almost the same thing, signing happily about how nice of a friend Tanaka was while Akaashi signed a 'good for you, Bokuto-san' while he talked.
All in all, it was a very successful joint practice.