No POV:
For the past few days, you've been contemplating your feelings for Oikawa. You can't seem to understand why you feel the way you do about the boy. And why you see him differently from the others.
You've been getting easily flustered when the boy teases you. For some reason, you can't tear your gaze away from him either. It was a strange and foreign feeling for you.
The sound of squeaking shoes and volleyballs hitting the floor pulled you out of your thoughts.
You look up from your journal to see Oikawa jump up to set the ball. The blockers were too busy watching Iwaizumi to notice Oikawa's form. Oikawa tipped the ball over the net like it was nothing. The ball landed on team two's court, meaning team one wins.
Team one celebrates as team two collapses to the floor due to exhaustion. This was the third set they've played today.
You and Kimiko handed them their water bottles and gave them some praises.
You hand Oikawa his water and the boy gratefully takes it from your grasp. Though when he goes to grab it, his hand grazes over yours. Your heart flutters at the contact as your cheeks turn a faint shade of red.
What the hell's wrong with me? You ask yourself, trying to calm your racing heart.
"Hey, Shorty, did you see that last setter dump!?" Oikawa asks you with a smile.
You turn away from the boy. "I have no idea what you talking about," You state, refusing to make eye contact with him.
"Lier! I saw you smile when I got that point!" Oikawa yells, exposing you.
The red on your face gets more intense. "S-Shut up!" You exclaim defensively.
"Awww did you just stutter L/n-chan~?"
Oikawa got even closer to you, wanting to tease you even more. Though that wasn't great judgment on his part.
Without thinking, you turn around and punch the brown-haired boy in the stomach.
He immediately hunches over, gasping for air. You start to feel guilty almost immediately.
"S-Sorry, I-I'll stop," The boy says while struggling to inhale. You laugh nervously at the situation and then walk over to help Oikawa.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team watched as the two of you interacted with each other.
"They should just get together already," Makki states with tired eyes. It was stressful for him to watch the two of you. Actually, it was stressful for all of them. They all know that you like each other, so it was exhausting for them to see you like this.
"When do you think they'll see it?" Iwaizumi asks.
"10,000 yen says it won't be until after Spring-Highs," Matsukawa says, making a bet on your relationship with Oikawa.
"Nah, it'll definitely be before then," Makki states with confidence.
"I think you forgetting how oblivious L/n is. I mean she's got all the underclassmen after her and she's got no idea," Matsukawa reminds Makki.
"Right... I forgot about that," Makki says.
After that, the third-years tune back into you and Oikawa's conversation.
"No, milk bread is superior," Oikawa states with confidence and pride.
"Are you delusional? Strawberry pokies are better. You just have no taste," You shoot back with a disgusted expression.
"How the hell did their conversation go from volleyball to this," Matsukawa asked.
"No idea," Iwaizumi responded with a bit of concern.
The boys tune back into your conversation.
"Next time I'll beat Ushiwaka and he'll watch as we go to nationals," Oikawa stated with determination.
"HOW!? IT'S BEEN LIKE 5 SECONDS!" Matsukawa exclaimed, completely baffled by your and Oikawa's ability to change subjects so quickly.
He looked back over to the two of you to see that Kimiko had joined the conversation. At this point, Matsukawa was done. He couldn't with you two anymore.
"But you being able to beat Ushijima-san is highly unlikely," Kimiko comments in her monotone way. You stifle a laugh. Things always get fun when little Kimi-chan joins a conversation.
"It's not impossible!" Oikawa says, getting defensive.
"That's true, but because you've never been able to beat him before it's highly unlikely," Kimiko says elaborating on her previous comment. At this point, you're trying so hard not to laugh, it's painful.
Oikawa began to get annoyed. "I can still do it!"
"You're kinda slow Oikawa-sempai."
You couldn't hold in your laughter anymore. You fall to the ground and begin to laugh hysterically.
"This isn't funny Shorty!" Oikawa yells.
You ignore him and continue to roll on the floor laughing. "Kimi-chan I'm adopting you," You state in between laughs.
The others watched with uncomfortable expressions. They can't believe that you and Oikawa are third-years.
Once you finally calm down you hear footsteps approaching the gym. Then the door swings open. A boy appeared in your line of vision. He has short-cropped blond hair with two black stripes running across the sides of his head, just above the ears. He gave off an edgy vibe.
Oikawa as well as the rest of the team approached him. The first years seemed confused as to who the guy is, as well as you and Kimiko.
Once the team surrounded the boy he spoke.
"Tch, damn third-years are still here," The boy said in an angry and aggressive tone.
"What did he just say?" One of the third-years asked. All of them took a defensive stance.
"Aww come now mad dog, you should be happy that you get to play with me," Oikawa said in his childish tone.
'Mad dog' glared at the brown-haired boy.
"You'll come to realize it soon enough," Oikawa finished. He went from childish to threatening in the matter of a few seconds.
Mad dog jumped back, like a child trying not to get bitten. All of a sudden he was on his guard. The boy really was cautious around Oikawa.
Kimiko tugged on your sleeve to get your attention. "L/n-sempai, who is that?" She asked with a curious look.
"I'm not sure."
"His name is Kentaro Kyotani, he's a second year. Quit the team because he hated the third-years. I guess he's back now though," Yahaba explained while he forced his way into your and Kimiko's conversation. Based on Yahaba's facial expression, he didn't like the guy.
Just as Yahaba finishes, Kyotani looks over at you and Kimiko. His gaze was indeed intimidating. Though it didn't affect you at all.
"Who are the two girls," He asked to no one in particular.
"They're the club managers," Iwaizumi informed the boy.
Seeing an opportunity to introduce yourself, you walk over to Kyotani. Oikawa got somewhat nervous when he saw this. If Kyotani was to try you, things wouldn't end well. And Oikawa knew that.
"Hey, my name's F/n L/n. It's nice to meet you Kentaro Kyotani," You say with a close eyed smile.
"Tch."
The boy pushes past you and gets ready to play. You stay frozen in place for a moment but then smile and skip over to him. He was someone that would be fun to annoy.
"That was rude Kyotani. You should have more respect for your upped classmen," You say with a playful grin. Getting under this guy's skin will be a piece of cake for you.
As you got close to the boy Oikawa wrapped his arms around you from behind, preventing you from getting closer to the hothead.
"Now now, that's enough Shorty," Oikawa spoke as he picked you up and walked away with you.
The rest of the team laughed at this.
"Fine..." You mumble with disappointment.
~~~~
Once Kyotani was all warmed up, the boys played one more set.
From what you can tell he was a good player, but he let people get to him way too easily. That's bad for any athlete. He lost his temper often and it seemed like the only person that could keep him under control is Iwaizumi.
Though you do have to say, his playing style made you... nervous. Like he's not afraid to push down one of his teammates if it means he gets the ball. He's the kind of player you dislike the most.
~~~~
It's currently the next day and class just ended. Oikawa wanted to pick up his boyfriend (Iwa-chan~) from class. So you walked towards his classroom.
While the two of you made your way there you looked up at Oikawa.
"Hey, Oikawa, about Kyotani...," You say in a curious tone.
"Mm," He hummed in response, signaling for you to continue.
"Why doesn't he like you guys? You know the third-years?"
Oikawa looks down at you and puts his hand on his chin. "I'm not entirely sure, but I know that he doesn't like being told what to do. Since we're his upperclassmen, we hold a form of authority over him," The brown-eyed boy explains.
You think for a moment before responding. "I guess that makes sense."
Oikawa smiles at you and pats your head. "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you Shorty," Oikawa responds.
The boy's fangirls send cold glares in your direction. You ignore them though.
"That's not very comforting Flattykawa," You state bluntly.
"Hey! Have some faith in me Shorty! I'm the team's captain for a reason you know!" Oikawa yells defensively.
"Clearly not a good reason," You mumble.
"I heard that!"
"That was kind of the point."
"So mean Shorty."
You and Oikawa continue to go back and forth for a while until the two of you arrived at Iwazumi's classroom.
When you walk in you find an unexpected scene in front of you. Iwaizumi and Kyotani are arm wrestling and Makki and Matsukawa are watching them.
"W-What are you two doing?" You ask in a tired and confused tone. You expected something like this out of Kyotani but Iwaizumi?
Makki and Matsukawa look in the direction your voice came from to find you and Oikawa walking into the classroom.
"Oh, hey L/n," Makki greets you with a wave.
"Hey," You respond.
"I'm here too you know!" Oikawa pouts.
"Did you hear something L/n?" Makki asks, ignoring Oikawa.
"Nah, you must be imagining it," You respond, catching on to what Hanamaki's doing.
"SO MEAN!"
As soon as Oikawa yells you hear a loud bang and look back. Iwaizumi had won the arm wrestle and slammed Kyotani's hand on the table.
"Tch, damn it," Kyotani mumbles as he rubs his hand.
Iwaizumi lets out a sigh and gets up from his desk. "We should head to practice now," Iwa says as he picks up his bag and walks out the door.
You look back at Kyotani before following the others. He looked defeated. This clearly wasn't the first time he lost to Iwaizumi. At least this meant the boy had some level of respect for one of his upperclassmen.
~~~~
Practice was going by smoothly. Well minus Kyotani. He was being way too irrational and letting his emotions get in the way of his plays again. The guy's got an even bigger ego than Oikawa. It almost made you sick.
The boys were playing a practice game against each other. You watched as Kyotani continued to be reckless. He was clearly getting worked up. You had a gut feeling that things weren't going to end well.
"Yo, Coach Irihata, Coach Mizoguchi, don't you think you should take him out? He's getting dangerous out there," You say looking up at the coaches. They turn their gaze towards you. As Irihata is about to speak Kimiko interrupts him.
"I agree with L/n-sempai. Someone could get hurt," Kimiko states with some concern laced in her voice. It wasn't often that she showed emotion.
As she said that Kyotani messes up one of his cut shots, which only riles him up even more.
Irihata sighs. "Have some faith in our captain. I'm sure he can handle it," Irihata says.
"Oikawa is a good captain and all. His ability to pull a team together is impeccable, but his tricks won't work on someone that doesn't respect him," You state, worried that someone will get hurt.
Kyotani's playing style reminded you of hers. You don't want what happened to you to happen to one of the boys.
"You may very well be right, but it's important to give him a chance," Irihata says, putting his foot down.
"Yes sir...," You sigh, disagreeing with the man's call.
After a while, Oikawa thought Kyotani was getting too dangerous and stopped setting to him. Though that just riled the boy up even more.
Watari received Makki's spike and sent the ball to Oikawa. Oikawa jumped up and set the ball with perfect accuracy to Kunimi. As Kunimi jumped up to spike the ball down, Kyotani shoved him down and stole the ball from him. In the end, he made the spike, but Kunimi was on the ground, rubbing his elbow. It looked like he landed on it.
Flashbacks to when you blew out your knee started playing. You, Kimiko, Mizoguich, and Irihata all run onto the court.
You quickly kneel to the boy's side. "Where does it hurt?" You ask immediately. Kunimi pointed to his elbow and you gently took it in your hands and examined it.
You looked at it for a solid 30 seconds and then took a breath of relief.
"It looks fine, just some bruising. We probably should Ice it though. Or else it will be a pain in the ass to move tomorrow," You say looking the boy in the eyes.
"Ok."
You nod at Kimiko and she runs to get some ice.
As Oikawa and Iwaizumi go to scold Kyotani, you beat them to the punch.
"What were you thinking?" You ask with a shadow falling over your eyes. You get up from the floor and grab Mad dog by his shirt and pull him down to your level. "You lucky he wasn't badly hurt. What you did could have caused Kunimi serious damage." Everyone got silent.
Oikawa's eyes widened once he realized what you were talking about. The same thing happened to you. The only difference was, you got seriously injured and could never play again.
Kyotani didn't say anything. He just stared at you with a blank expression.
"What? Is your poor ego bruised because you didn't get a set? Oikawa sent that ball to Kunimi because he believed he had a better chance at scoring than you. Show some damn respect for your teammates. And if you can't keep your emotions in check then team sports aren't for you. May as well quit volleyball and join the wrestling club," You preach with a bone-chilling glare. Once you're done you let go of the boy and help Kunimi up. You sit him on the bench and give him the ice pack Kimiko found.
The rest of the team is frozen in place. Iwaizumi and Oikawa are the only ones that really understand why you acted like that.
Coach Irihata sighed and quickly noted that he should listen to you more often. "Kyotani, your out. Cool off your head," He ordered and then walked over to you along with Mizoguchi.
When they arrived Irihata apologized to you, Kimiko, and Kunimi. "I'm sorry. I should have pulled him out sooner."
"It's fine," Kunimi responded.
~~~~
For the rest of practice, Kyotani was well behaved. He didn't apologize, but at least it looked like he took your words to heart.
Currently, you're walking home with Oikawa. You're still a bit riled up by the situation.
"Hey, Shorty," Oikawa says, getting your attention.
"Yeah?" You respond looking up at him.
"When you blew out your knee, it was similar to when Mad dog pushed Kunimi today, correct?"
You look up at the boy with wide eyes. He really does pay close attention to you. "Yeah, it was pretty much the same thing, why?"
The boy looks down at you with a fake smile. "Just wondering."
You slap him on the back as hard as you can. Oikawa winces in pain.
"HEY WHAT WAS THAT FOR SHORTY," Oikawa yelled.
"I thought I told you to quit that fake shit around me. The fake you is an ignorant little shit with a superiority complex. I like the person you really are," You state with a small glare.
The boy looks at you with wide eyes. Most girls love that facade, but you're different. You like the real Oikawa and not the perfect one.
Oikawa lets a real smile cover his face. "You really are something else Shorty."
You look up at him with a confused expression.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Nevermind, it's not important, but thank you?"
"Your welcome?"
You don't have a clue as to what he meant, but by the way, he looked at you, it was a good thing. His gaze on you made your heart flutter and your cheeks turn a dark red.
Why does he make me feel this way? You ask yourself. Still unable to see the truth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. We're almost as 300 reads and I can't thank you enough.
Also, I've made a TikTok account where I'll be posting character designs for my Oc's and art for this fanfiction. I don't know how often I'll be able to post on it but if you're interested then my account is oikawa.kinnie.help So go check that out if you want.
Thank you guys so much for reading and I'll see you in the next one.