Descending |Haikyuu!! Reader x Various|

.10.

Tsukishima was being weird.

I was the only one in the gym when he arrived, warming up as he entered silently. I didn't realize he'd came in until he was beside me, head tilted slightly.

"You're scarily flexible." He muttered, sounding a little distasteful, as he generally did.

"I'm a libero." I scoffed, laughing at his slightly crinkled nose.

"Tch, right. I forgot that gave you special, slightly gross powers." He muttered, slumping onto the floor a few feet away from me.

That was the first sign that something was up. Usually, Tsukishima would avoid any chance of social interaction before it could become an annoyance to him.

"How many people can block you?" He asked suddenly, and I was confused for a moment at the change of subject.

"Well, uh, Ukai sometimes can. And I had a friend who was lucky a few times. And you did it that one time." I counted off on my fingers, and his eyes shot towards me.

"Are you losing it? I haven't blocked you." He looked slightly concerned, in a condescending way.

"Oh, right, that was Hinata." I said, smirking to myself. I could practically hear him fuming from my spot on the floor.

"That was luck and you know it. He wouldn't be able to do it again if his life depended on it." He sneered, and I laughed placatingly.

"No, because now I can factor in his speedy reflexes. You haven't caught me off guard yet, Kei." I reminded him, using his given name purposefully to provoke a response from him.

"Why hello, mother. When did you get here?" He scoffed, rolling his eyes. Was that a blush I saw? "I could surprise you." He muttered.

There was the second sign that the Tsukishima I knew had been abducted by aliens overnight. Since when did he sound so... Unsure? Angsty?

"Let me know when you decide the time is right for my surprise. I'll be waiting." I answered, and stood up to take a lap around the court.

The rest of the team made it there before Ukai, who had gone back home to get something he'd forgotten. We were all doing pepper drills when he returned, holding his notebook tightly.

"Alright, guys, good news." He panted as if he had ran across the parking lot on his way in. "The neighborhood association team wants revenge for last year. They're coming tomorrow." Everyone had generally excited reactions, me alongside them.

Quite a few times, I'd gone to his practices and learned a few things. I hadn't expected to play them, but I knew a lot of their habits by now.

"Now, I won't be sitting out this time. This time, I get to teach you guys a lesson myself." His grin was pretty disconcerting, apparently, as Hinata shuddered and danced into a safe position behind Tanaka. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Please, you think we can't show you a thing or two?" I challenged, met with many 'oohs' from my teammates.

"I taught you all the tricks you know." He warned, smirking.

"Right, except what I learned since I was fourteen." I said, mostly bluffing. There wasn't really anything Ukai didn't know about my playing style.

"Alright, you can show me tomorrow." He taunted, not at all intimidated. "For now, we have a mock game to play."

My team consisted of Kageyama, Tanaka, Tsukishima, Kokowa, and Kinoshita. It was weird not to have Hinata on my side, and even worse that I had to try and account for his unpredictability. Not to mention the fact that Tsukishima was not past the snarky comments to people even on his team.

"Careful where you aim, (Boy Name). I think Nishinoya's pretty accustomed to your serve by now." Tsukishima said smugly so that everyone could hear as he covered his head dramatically. Of course I would have the first serve of the game.

"Fight me, Tsukishima." I answered distractedly, remembering one thing I had been practicing on my own. Something Ukai had no knowledge of. I took more than a few steps behind the line.

"What do you think you're doing? Did you learn to jump serve overnight?" Ukai bellowed incredulously, and I smirked.

Not exactly.

I tossed the ball skywards, and it left my finger tips satisfactorily. I ran and jumped with a little more force than necessary, and therefore the spin on the ball was a little more drastic than usual.

It darted downwards when it crossed the net, directly to Noya.

Damn.

And he fumbled it. The receive went awry, shooting off after making contact. The luck of the situation was unbelievable. There was a silent second.

"(Boy Name)!" Hinata whined from the other side of the court. "You said it took months to learn that!"

Then, everyone was laughing. At Hinata, at Noya's now shocked demeanor, and mostly at Ukai's open mouth.

"When did you learn that?" Ukai grumbled. "Have you been holding out on me?"

"Nah, I've been making it usable over the past few months. I told you I know lots of tricks." I stuck my tongue out jokingly.

By the end of the first set, I was pretty warmed up. We had to work for every point, and it wasn't any help that their attack was pretty strong as well. We barely managed the set.

"Um, Hinata, I think (Boy Name) used up all the luck for serving this match." Ennoshita said, an awkward chuckle on his lips as Hinata stepped back for a obvious jump serve.

Hinata didn't answer, just threw the ball up, and ran for the hit. I knew as soon as he reached the apex of his jump, and the ball met his palm, that it was coming to me. I knew it.

"Out!" I called, much to Tsukishima's surprise. He gave me a confused side glance as the ball shot directly to my face.

The ball suddenly spun out of my view, hooking just outside the bounds of the court. From my point of view, there was no way it would have made it in. Apparently, none of the others could see that.

"Nice guess, (Boy Name)." Tsukishima smirked at me. "I don't think you should count on Hinata's incompetency next time he serves."

I looked around, waiting to see how impressed everyone would be with the wicked curve on his serve. No one was in awe. Everyone was getting ready to continue the game.

"Amazing." I muttered.

"What?" Kageyama asked as the ball was tossed to him for his serve.

"Do you not see that hook? It completely switched directions." I murmured in answer.

"Are you sure? It just looked sort of... Crooked." He tilted his head.

"Absolutely." I nodded, excitement bubbling up in my chest. I could only imagine what he could do with it. "Hinata has a serious weapon."

"Well, that is the only near successful serve I've seen him do." Kageyama shrugged. "Maybe it was a fluke."

"Maybe." I was more than doubtful.