“ 𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒔.”
.
𝟏
“
Hello !”
Kotei greeted the volleyball team cheerfully as soon as she entered the gym. Kageyama rubbed his temple and sighed. Then giving the whole team an apologetic look said,“ I’m sorry for the trouble.”
“ It's no big deal, Kageyama !” Tanaka grinned swinging an arm around his shoulder.“ We're glad to have our little cheerleader back.”
“ But about the training camp--”
“ It's alright,” Daichi said dismissing the latter.“ She can come with us. Takeda-san has talked it all over.”
“ Look ! Kotei brought her drawing book!” Kotei showed them a small sketchpad. It's always been her hobby to paint whatever she sees around her.
“ Will you draw us? That'd be so cool!” Nishinoya yelled.
“ Once upon a time when I used to be young, I drew a lot too,” Daichi stated with his eyes shut.
“ How old are you again ?” Suga asked, sarcastically.
“ Drawing ? Ah, Yachi’s good at it,” Hinata pointed at the girl in the far corner who froze on becoming the centre of attention.
“ Please pose good so Kotei can draw good pictures,” the girl said, opening the first page.
“ Leave it to us !” Nishinoya and Tanaka got right into it and Daichi had to drag them off.
Soon Coach Ukai arrived and started their practice. Kyoko jotted down her observations while Kotei quietly sat beside her, on the benches, and scribbled down on her sketchpad.
“ Okay ! Take five,” Ukai called for a break.
Kotei smiled when her brother approached her. Kageyama noticed this and asked,“ what are you smiling for ? You look stupid, you know.”
“ Look, nii-chan, Kotei drew you !”
Kotei showed him her not-so-perfect creation. But considering her age and experience, she did pretty well for a beginner. Although she was sad she couldn't draw him spiking the ball, she was happy with drawing him tossing the ball.
Kageyama took the pad and inspected the drawing closely. He could recognise himself very well in it. It's not like he had any experience in it but he felt all tingly inside. Thus lifting the sketchpad a little up to his face he tried to cover the smile that was slowly creeping on its way to his lips.
“ How is it ?”
The little girl asked enthusiastically.
“ Good.” Kageyama soon changed back to a poker face and handed it back to her. But stopped when she was looking at him with those pure innocent eyes, asking for praise.“Uh, keep it up...I guess,” he said hesitantly, not sure how to praise someone.
“ You're doing it wrong,” Kinoshita intervened. Then taking Kageyama’s hand he put it on the girl's head. He drew back his own hands and showed a thumbs up.“ Now that's how you praise your sister.”
Tobio slowly ruffled her hair as Kotei grinned, feeling all giddy. This was the first time her brother was showing affection. She wanted to hug him but held back knowing he'd not like that.
“ Kotei loves nii-chan !” She yelled instead holding his hand with her small palms. Kageyama flinched and looked away, embarrassed.
“ I hate you......idiot.”
“ Awe~look at you two,” Hinata cried.“Now you're reminding me of Natsu.”
“ Kageyama's blushing !” Tanaka smirked and Nishinoya sneakily took a picture of the brother sister duo.“That's new.”
“ All right ! Now get back to practice!” Ukai clapped his hands to catch their attention.
“ Haiiii !”
𝟐
Evening came as Kotei finished her fifteenth sketch. She decided it wouldn't be fair if she only drew her brother. So she tried to draw the other players too, as many as possible. Eager to see their reactions, she packed up, fast.
“ That's it for today ! Let's end it here.”
Everybody dropped to the floor. Yes, even Nishinoya who was always so energetic. But the pain they felt in their muscles was pleasing; it's the sort of pleasure that you get when you work really hard for something you like.
“ Would you help me distributing the bottles ?” Yachi asked Kotei who nodded, eagerly. So the little one took two bottles at a time with some towels. She was intent on helping them.
“ Thanks !” Nishinoya yelled making the little ravenette flinch. Nevertheless, she smiled as she handed them the bottles and towels.
After seeing them all settled down she decided to give them the sketches that she had made.
“ You draw so well, Kotei ! Thank you! I'll take this, thanks,” Yamaguchi said smiling at his drawing. He chuckled to see the little freckles she made to identify him.
“ It's okay.” Tsukishima mumbled out a low praise, examining his picture. Honestly, he didn't like how she drew him like a tall tree.
“Look Ryu !” Nishinoya grinned showing his partner-in-crime his drawing.“ I look cool. Definitely better than you !”
“ What the hell do you mean, hah ! I look way cooler !”
“ This drawing makes me look so much younger,” Daichi said, shedding some imaginery tears.
“ Why are you talking like an eighty-year-old ?” Asahi smiled nervously.“ But this definitely makes me look a lot less scarier.”
“ You're a good artist, Kotei ! Big brother likes it !” Hinata smiled ruffling her hair. Kotei leaned in to his touch, liking the praise.
“ Is this supposed to be me ?” Coach Ukai narrowed his eyes at his drawing.“ So I smoke...?”
“ She did you bad there,” Kinoshita and Ennoshita tried to contain their laughter as Narita commented.
“ It's a lollipop ! Kotei thought it'd make Ukai-san look cute !” Kotei said jumping up and down.“ What’s ‘smoke’?”
“ Forget I said that,” Ukai quickly said.“ You're good either way. I thought that was a cigare--”
“ Coach !” The entire room shouted.
“ S-sorry. But isn't it time she should know that ?”
“ Why would she need to know about something like that ! It's not like she'll smoke--”
“ Can you guys please stop ? I don't wanna hear ‘sister' and ‘smoke' in the same sentence !”
“ The king is overprotective—”
“ Shut up, Saltyshima. Don't ruin my ideal bro-sis duo !”
“ What did you say, shrimp ?”
“ Calm down, Tsukki.”
“ Did you hear what he said ?”
In between the chaos Kotei showed Sugawara her drawing of him tossing. He smiled at the picture and held her little hands together in his fist.“ Is drawing your hobby ?”
“ It is. And Kotei wants to be better at it,” she said nodding, a twinkle in her eyes.
“ Would you show me your other drawings ?” He asked genuinely interested. That's it ! She couldn't control her happiness and threw her hands up in the air in joy.
“ Of course !”
The next Asahi saw them, Kotei was sitting in Sugawara’s lap, happily showing him her sketchpad. The latter held her with one arm and the sketchbook with his other one. He leaned over her head and listened intently as she explained her each and every art.
“ Sugawara is a real good father figure,” Asahi said, smiling at the two.
“ You mean mother ?” Hinata butted in.
“ Huh ?” Asahi gave him an awkward gaze. Daichi was confused. And the others too stared at him like he grew two heads.
“ Huh ?”
“ Eh ?”
“ What ?”
“ Uh..”
Nobody said anything more on the topic and their discussion was cut short when Yachi and Kiyoko urged them to pack up for it was pretty late.
Kotei was already dozing off by the time they finished and Sugawara, once again volunteered to carry her so that she wouldn't be tired from walking.
Kotei yawned loudly, leaning her head onto his shoulder and clutching his shirt, tightly in a fist.
“ She's so cute when she sleeps,” Nishinoya and Tanaka cooed quietly, careful not to wake her up.
“ She's been pretty productive today. It's better she gets rest,” said Narita.
Sugawara was gently patting her on the back. It helped her to sleep fast. Kageyama observed everything, carefully. He wanted to be an ideal big brother like Hinata too. So it's important to take notes. He can't lose to that idiot !
𝟑
“ Thank you so much for today,” Kageyama gave Sugawara a perfect ninety degrees bow, who felt a bit embarrassed and scratched his cheek awkwardly. He then turned towards the rest of the team and said the same.
Kotei had taken her nap. And now she was back on her feet. Kageyama kept a hand on her small back and pushed her, forcing her to bow too.
“ Oi ! You ought to say something too!" He said in a scolding manner.
“ Kotei says thank you," Kotei expressed her gratitude too, bowing towards the team.
“ Stop it, Kageyama. You're embarrassing us,” Daichi took the initiative to put an end to the awkwardness.“ We're more than happy to look after both you and her.”
“ Yes. We're a family here, okay ? It's awkward if you say thank you to your family for every little thing,” Sugawara continued.
“ You kids are still here ? It's too late. Go back home, you lot,” Ukai suddenly intervened, pulling down the shutter of his shop.
“ That's right. I promised Natsu I'd come home early. So bye guys,” Hinata said quickly riding his bike and taking off.
Kotei waved at the boys who left one by one until she and Kageyama were the only ones left standing on the pavement. He gave her a look.“ Let's go ?” He offered his hand and she happily took it.
“ Yes !”
And swinging their arms together with a light skip in her steps, with Kageyama following quietly, an apathetic look on his face, their silhouettes disappeared on the dark canvas of the night.
...
🆂🅷🅾🆁🆃🆂
“ So ? Anything good happened ?” Tobio asked taking another bowl of rice.
Kotei was in a pretty good mood as she munched on the delicious tori katsu. The rice added to the flavour. She loved rice. She was currently on her third bowl.
“ Eat slow, Ko-chan,” Miwa said with concern and wiped a rice grain from her face. She then turned towards Kageyama and said,“ why do you ask?”
“ You look happy,” he said, nonchalantly.
“ Actually....,” she giggled like a child and slowly stretched her right hand towards him. Kageyama looked confused, staring at it.
“ What ?”
“ You're so dumb. Look,” Miwa pointed out.
And now Tobio could see the difference. There sat a small, pretty looking, stars and moon bracelet on her wrist. She smiled again and examined it herself.“ Kazuma gifted me this.”
“ Who's Kazuma ?”
“ He's my boyfriend,you jerk ! You've met him like a million times !”
“ I see.”
“ That's it ?”
“ What ? I don't like him. All he does is give you gifts,” Tobio said, a flicker in his eyes.
“ You're just jealous that you don't have one.” Miwa stuck her tongue out.
“ I don't need a boyfriend.”
“ Girlfriend,” Miwa cleared her throat.“ I meant girlfriend.”
“ Oh.” Tobio stopped and they both stared at each other, unspoken words passing between them, through their gazes alone.“ Right.”
“ What's a boyfriend and girlfriend, nee-san ?”
They sat in silence. Kotei looked between the two of them, confused. Both looked beyond serious. They ate their rice aggressively and almost slammed their bowls on the table.
“ Tobio ? Do you like boys ?”
Kageyama stared at his empty bowl. Different things went on in his head but he said,“ it was a slip of tongue.”
“ I see, I see.” A smirk appeared on her face as she tried her best to suppress it. All the while Kotei looked between them with a dumbfounded gaze.“ Do you like that ginger haired boy from your volleyball club ?”
“ Hell no !”
“ Then what about the tall, blonde glasses guy ?”
“ I said it was a slip of tongue !”
“ Maybe the freckled--”
“ Can you stop that ! I don't even think about those things ! Volleyball is all that I have on my mind !”
“ Right.”
“ Yeah. Thanks.” Kageyama stood up grumbling about things in his mind. His sister can be so pushy at times. Volleyball is everything that he cares about, it's his life and it wouldn't surprise him if he ends up all alone on his deathbed. Yes, that's how single he felt.
“ Just don't talk trash about Kazuma.” Miwa got up and dejectedly took off the bracelet, keeping it on the kitchen slab.
“ You're gonna dump him anyway. So whatever.”
Miwa pouted at his brother. And went to her room.
“ Adults are so confusing. Adults use big words Kotei doesn't know.” Kotei commented in a scared tone and quickly finished up her food.“ Kotei is naive. Kotei would like to be naive all her life.”
...
I'm in a good mood so I'm gonna update a lot these few days so enjoy !!