———— CATCH UP.
[y/n] was exhausted. she really should've taken a nap after what happened, but she willed herself to get back to work. and so, the next morning, she could barely get out of bed. for the first time in almost three weeks, she actually found the cardboard bed to be wildly comfortable.
"dude, are you still asleep? you promised you'd come work out with me," eiko returned from the bathroom, half changed in leggings and a sports bra. "ugh, come on," she whined, shaking [y/n].
"i feel like a sad pile of half-melted jello," [y/n] muttered against the blanket.
"you shouldn't have went back to work after falling like that yesterday. imagine if you ended up breaking your ankle?" eiko shook her head, putting her hair up. "are you really not going to come with me?"
[y/n] groaned as she pushed herself upright, taking a breath, "give me, like, ten minutes," she muttered, rubbing her eyes as she stood up. her legs were still sore, but it was manageable. ten minutes later, they were off to the gym. "what're you doing? full body?"
"yeah. i've been slacking a bit with legs so i need to get my shit together," eiko sighed, scanning them into the gym. "the game isn't until later, right?"
"yeah, it's a late afternoon game," [y/n] set her things in the locker.
"i think asami and i will come today," eiko pulled her sweatshirt off.
"good, maybe you guys can entertain the boys so i can actually work."
"aw, it can't be that bad."
"no trust me, it is," [y/n] shook her head, starting her stretches. "if there's one thing i really don't get paid enough to do, it's babysit those idiots."
"i'm sure they're all just really excited about the game. we're on a really good streak right now, so you can't exactly blame them," eiko shrugged. "alright, so, an hour?"
"yeah, sounds good," [y/n] nodded.
the two worked out together for a bit before splitting up when they went to use different machines. after another half hour, they reconvened at the front to head back to their room. "i need a nap," eiko groaned.
"you're such a baby," [y/n] chuckled, patting her shoulder as they walked back to their room. upon entering, they heard asami crying in the bathroom. "asami? you okay?"
"yeah, i'm alright," she said from the other side of the door. they heard the toilet flush, both nodding as they understood.
"i swear, throwing up is, like, your second job now. i could not be pregnant," eiko shook her head, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.
"as hot as i'd look, maybe not right now," [y/n] chuckled. "let me make some more money first."
"make more money just to spend it all on the kid? couldn't be me. i'm too expensive for that shit," eiko snorted. "and some people be popping out, like, eight or nine of those suckers? hell no."
"okay, maybe not eight or nine, but one or two might be okay," [y/n] shrugged.
"one is about to be enough for me. i can barely breathe without wanting to throw up," asami groaned as she stepped out of the bathroom.
"just think about how cute that sucker will be when you finally give birth," [y/n] told her.
"babies are so ugly when they're first born, i don't know who the fuck could look at a newborn and think "that's a damn angel right there." uh-uh, not me," eiko grimaced.
"damn, you really hate kids," [y/n] laughed.
"i hate most kids. i won't hate your kid, asami. openly, at least," eiko grinned.
"gee, thanks," asami deadpanned. she glanced at the time. "when are we going to the game?"
"about an hour," [y/n] told her.
"then let's get a move on," eiko shoved [y/n] into their room to change.
an hour later, the three took the shuttle to the gym, catching up with iwaizumi. "oh great, because this is exactly what i needed," iwaizumi flatly stated upon seeing them together.
"aw, hi iwa, missed you too," eiko teased.
"don't give me that look, why am i out here doing all this damn work and the two of you are just playing cards at your games?" iwaizumi grumbled.
"that was at the beginning. we're quite busy nowadays," asami pointed out.
"yeah, i saw that girl from the swedish soccer team take a nasty fall. her damn leg looked like it was bent backwards," [y/n] shivered.
"the bone was sticking out and everything. it was kind of cool," eiko told them.
"i threw up at the smell of blood, so i stayed as far away as possible," asami scrunched her nose.
"damn, the most exciting thing here was suna falling, and he barely got hurt," iwaizumi shook his head.
"well, hinata did spike that ball into that one guys chest," [y/n] pointed out.
"oh, yeah," iwaizumi went back to setting up. "you guys watching or working?"
"watching," eiko replied.
"ugh," he whined.
"hey, you were the one that decided how to split the responsibilities," asami pointed out.
"even asami doesn't want to deal with your shit," eiko cackled, avoiding iwaizumi's hand when it came for her arm.
"i didn't realize iwa-chan was so popular," oikawa joked as he came in.
"how'd your game go earlier?" eiko asked.
"it was good. definitely a little more effort than i expected, but good results," oikawa nodded.
"congrats," [y/n] smiled.
"we're here!" hinata yelled, running up to them. "i feel like i haven't seen you guys in so long," he said to asami and eiko.
"we're usually working when you guys have games, but there wasn't anything today," asami shrugged.
"how kind of you all to take time out of your day to grace us with your presence," aran chuckled.
"not like i had anything better to do," eiko waved him off.
"by the way, nice win earlier, oikawa!" hinata turned to the taller male.
"thank you, i appreciate it."
"maybe we'll see each other in the finals," kageyama told him.
"i look forward to it," oikawa grinned.
"go get ready and start stretching! god, it's like no one knows how to do their job around here," eiko poked fun at iwaizumi, who glared at her.
"i'm not exactly a certified chaos wrangler," he told her.
"you could at least do better," eiko hummed.
"i swear-" he started, but [y/n] pinched his arm. "ow! what the hell?"
"calm your ass," she shook her head.
"go be a nuisance somewhere else," iwa grumbled, rubbing his arm.
"oh, [y/n], do you have a second?" kageyama asked. she nodded and followed him out into the hall. "not sure if anyone had told you, but we're trying to plan a birthday party for hinata and hakuba. and iwaizumi."
"and you need my help because you all have no sense of planning."
"... yeah."
"okay, i'll help. we can talk about it later," she nodded.
"thank you so much," he let out a breath of relief, patting her shoulder.
"okay, now go get your ass in the locker room. we've got a game to win."
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185k i could cry
things i should be doing : finishing this story
things i've been doing instead : starting three new books
i've decided that once the final contenders on the hit list have their own chapters i'll wrap this up and prob do multiple endings to call it a day
if you guys like the time skip fics lmk bc i'm not a minor so it's a bit more comfortable for me to write aged-up/time skip characters
k bye !