❝when he's on the court, it feels like neither side can breathe properly without his permission. he rules above all in the court. ❞
●
"fuck this." m/n had been avoiding the karasuno boys the whole day, and the last lesson of the day had just ended. it was time for afterschool practice. but if he went in earlier, he would seem strange, right?
so that's when he decided, he would go in fashionably late.
●
m/n had no idea if this was the worst idea ever, but he was doing it any ways.
so, five minutes late is fashionable to him.
he walked into the gym, a few people noticing. the few people being daichi, suga, hinata, kageyama and tsukishima.
"l/n-senpai!" hinata yelled, making everyone look at him. including hitoka, kiyoko and coach ukai.
"yo." m/n threw up a peace sign. indeed this was fashionably 'late'.
"l/n, why haven't you been here properly for the last couple of days?" coach ukai asked, making m/n give a side glance to daichi.
"you haven't shown THAT to anyone else, have you daichi-senpai?" m/n asked.
"i definitely didn't. besides to suga." daichi answered.
"okay thanks. also coach lemme show you something." m/n chuckled, pulling out his phone and going to find the screenshot of the u-19 message.
coach ukai walked over to m/n, m/n showing him the image. ukai's eyes widened as he blinked to make sure he was seeing correctly.
"y-y-yOU'RE APART OF THE U-19 TEAM?!?!?!?!?!" he yelled, now everyone knew the 'secret'.
"it'd be more surprising if i wasn't..." m/n laughed.
m/n heard yamaguchi mumbled a quiet, "true". he winked at yamaguchi who looked away immediately, blushing.
'tadashi's such a cutie.' m/n thought to himself.
"daichi-senpai, can i talk to you outside really quickly? everyone else can go back to doing their thing." m/n smiled in a princely manner, but daichi wasn't falling for it.
"yeah, sure." daichi responded, both of them stepping outside, closing the door after them.
"so? what do you want?" daichi asked, stern.
"well...," m/n paused, looking off the side, slightly embarrassed and unsure of how to apologise. he looked at daichi who seemed to have softened up after seeing him conflicted, "i, uh, wanted to, y'know... apologise about my... behaviour." at this point, daichi didn't know what to do. all this time he had thought m/n was the worst guy who didn't give a crap about anyone else and he randomly apologies for being an ass. m/n knew this would be a confusing situation for daichi.
daichi opened his mouth but m/n continued talking, "i've realised i've got really bad personality problems..." m/n laughed.
"we all know you have personality problems. we've seen the way you play, but we've also seen you at your kindest, helping and praising hinata. so, what i'm trying to say is, we know you, so things like yesterday, we get over them." daichi looked m/n in the eyes.
m/n thought about how he should reply, unable to think of any with words. so he threw his arms around daichi's back, pulling him tightly into the hug.
"thank you... that meant a lot to me, senpai." m/n was smiling. it could be heard through his words. it wasn't his usual smirk or half empty smile though, it was a smile he hadn't given to anyone in years.
karasuno really did achieve the highest and best. they were always going above and beyond. maybe that's why m/n fell in love with the volleyball team so quickly. the fallen crows, he would raise them back to the top so they could stand with him. that's where they belonged, and anyone who thought otherwise would be brought to the very bottom.
m/n let go off daichi, seeing that he was clearly flustered by his actions. m/n took the opportunity to tease his older.
"is my senpai blushing?" m/n teased.
"you're seeing things." daichi mumbled.
"sawamura~senpai, it's okay to like younger men. but i don't bottom!" m/n whispered, making daichi smack him on the head, "oww, senpai... i was just joking. not about the bottoming part though" m/n added the last part in quickly.
"shut up idiot, come on, let's go and practice." daichi sighed walking past m/n, m/n bouncing around behind him as he followed.
●
everyone inside could feel the positivity radiating off of m/n and daichi, so it automatically put everyone into a gleeful mood.
they played rounds and sets. every set m/n was in, he won. but it wasn't a boastful win, it was respectful. he didn't say his classic line after winning either. karasuno, especially daichi, could see he was trying his best to be kind and a part of the family.
while m/n was off and on court, he saw hitoka sneaking glances at him with a sour look. m/n internally sighed, knowing that he should talk to her. so on a set where he wasnt playing, he went up to her.
"senpai, do you reckon i could quickly steal hitoka?" m/n asked kiyoko, her nodding in response.
"u-uuu-uhhh... w- i- me- i'm-, a-ae-uhh...." m/n watched hitoka make wild noises.
"i overreacted yesterday. sorry about that." m/n scratched his nape.
"w-w-what?! that was my fault... i said something i promised i wouldn't even speak about and y-you're blaming yourself...?" hitoka seemed to be on the verge of crying.
"i mean... i'm over it, so i think it's alright. just... don't mention that again." m/n reassured hitoka. she seemed to stop sniffling and looked up at him in admiration.
without m/n even realising, hitoka had wrapped her arms around his waist, her face in buried in his chest. a couple of seconds after, she pulled away.
"you good?"
"definitely!"
m/n gave her a thumbs up and walked back to the team. that was just daichi yelled, "fall in!"
it seemed takeda-sensei had arrived, "so, this is rather sudden, but ouginishi high school requested a practice match tomorrow, and i accepted. they saw us at the inter-high prelims and insisted."
the team 'ooohed' m/n chuckled at that.
"don't forget the frustration and bitterness you felt losing to seijoh." coach ukai said.
'tooru, huh? tobio always said i acted like him... that's such an insult.' m/n sighed internally at the thought of being compared to tooru. the man was literal trash itself and m/n didn't want anything to do with him. luckily hajime actually turned out right.
"however, you don't need to hold onto the feeling of losing. hurry up and wipe that away!" coach ukai motivated the group.
"yeah!" the whole group yelled, including m/n.
maybe apologising to nice people was easier than it seemed.
and with that motivational speech, the team cleaned up and went to change.