Oikawa spun the ball between his two hands, watching the other side of the court in full concentration before letting out a quick breath. With a high toss to the sky, he began running before jumping and slamming the ball with his palm all the way to the other side of the net, a large thud echoing.
"Wowww~!" the kids exclaimed, eyes glistening in awe as they watched Oikawa's infamously intense serve.
"Now the point is if you're going to hit it, hit it till it breaks," Oikawa said, making an 'OK' sign with his fingers.
"Oikawa-san, you're so cool!"
"Oikawa-san, please teach me to serve!"
"Me too! Me too!"
Oikawa loved the attention.
Iwaizumi on the other hand helped another group with the basics of their receives. He was far more interactive with the kids, helping them regain the perfect form, straightening their arms if needed.
"Iwaizumi-san, w-what if I'm scared of the ball?" one of the kids asked.
"It's completely normal," he said softly, "I was once afraid of it too. But with practice, you start to get over that fear and once you get better, you'll get the power over the ball. And when that happens, it's those balls that should be scared of you."
"Wow! Power over the ball? That's so cool!" another kid replied.
"But what if the ball kills me?" the earlier one asked, pouting in fear.
Iwaizumi grinned, "The ball won't do that, I promise you. Want me to prove it?"
The two boys cocked their heads in confusion. Before they could ask further, Iwaizumi took one of the volleyballs and threw it with all his force straight to the back of Oikawa's head.
"Now, if you kids would like my autograph before I get famous, now would be a good time to– OWWW!"
Iwaizumi explained, "See? The ball could've killed him but it didn't."
The kids that surrounded Oikawa had their eyes widened by the sight.
"Iwaizumi-san is so cool!"
"I want his autograph!"
"Let's learn how to hit Oikawa-san in the head too!"
Oikawa yelled, rubbing the back of his head in pain as he felt tears swelling up his eyes, "IWA-CHAN!!"
You couldn't help but laugh at the two, grinning by the side.
"(Y/n)-neesan, you're not going to play with us?" a small boy asked as he approached you.
You waved your hands, "No, you kids play."
"Come on neesan! We can learn together!" another boy said.
"No, really I-"
Each boy grabbed one of your hands and immediately, they began to drag you onto the court where Iwaizumi was. He looked somewhat confused at the sight of you being pulled by much younger kids.
"(Y/n)?" he asked.
"Iwaizumi-san, please teach (y/n)-neesan to play too!" one of the boys said.
"Yea, pleaseee!" the other one begged.
You sighed but finally gave into the kids wants. You shrugged, smiling to Iwaizumi as you asked, "Mind teaching me too?"
Iwaizumi grinned at you, his heart racing. The way you asked him, rather shyly made him think you were just absolutely adorable.
"I'd love to," he replied.
"Oh, (l/n)-chan, why don't you try receiving my serve?" Oikawa asked from the other side of the net.
"If you're going to send one of your demon serves over then piss off!" Iwaizumi scolded.
"Ah, I wouldn't dare hurt (l/n)-chan!"
You grinned, "Bring it, Trashykawa!"
"(L/n)-chan! Not in front of the kids!" Oikawa scolded, panicking as he heard your nickname for him.
"Trashykawa?"
"Like trash and Oikawa-san combined!"
"That suits you Oikawa-san!"
"Trashykawa-san~!"
The kids laughed upon hearing the ridiculous name, which made Oikawa extremely annoyed, whining, "See what you did!"
You laughed, as did Iwaizumi. His laugh sent butterflies in your stomach – it was so precious and pure.
Iwaizumi stood beside you and began to demonstrate the basic stance you should have when anticipating a good serve. He began explaining the technical aspects of it, sounding a little too excited at times. His inner volleyball geek was showing. You couldn't help but admire him for it, thinking he was absolutely adorable.
"Like this?" you asked, copying him.
He got up and came closer to you, first straightening your arms. You held in your breath, trying to focus on what the boy was saying rather than what he was doing – his touch sending shivers down your skin.
He circled you and finally settled behind you. You felt his warm presence, but you were too afraid to turn back. He was so close to you, a little too close, and you could hear your heartbeat racing. He poked his head above your right shoulder just inches from your cheek and you couldn't help but blush.
How the hell was he able to keep his cool?
The answer: he was too focused on volleyball.
"Look right ahead, (y/n)," he told you.
You gulped, nodding slightly.
"Relax (y/n), you seem so tense. It's just Trashykawa," he assured you.
He had little to no idea that he was the one causing you to be like that, but you didn't feel like correcting him either. You replied, "Right."
"Ready, (l/n)-chan~?" Oikawa asked from the other side.
You bit your lip before giving a confident smirk, allowing yourself to breathe as Iwaizumi stepped back.
"Ready!"
Oikawa served the ball high and strong, although even you could tell he didn't put all his energy into the serve – he wasn't lying about not wanting to hurt you.
You focused on just the ball in the air, predicting its movements before shifting accordingly and letting your arms retrieve the ball, transferring its momentum to you as you squatted a little to regain balance.
With that, the ball flew right to where the setter should be. You had done it. A perfect serve-receive.
"Oh my god! I did it!" you exclaimed in happiness.
You were so excited that you ran to Iwaizumi and jumped onto him, wrapping your arms around his neck. He was excited too, so proud of you that he gladly accepted your embrace, carrying you up and spinning you around.
"Did you see that?" you asked.
"You were amazing!" he replied.
"Awwww~" the crowd of young boys watched the two of you.
And that was when it registered to the both of you upon just how close you were to each other.
You both forgot how to breathe.
Iwaizumi let you go, staggering back before apologizing, "I-I'm sorry, I got carried away." Technically, I carried you away.
"No! I'm sorry. I started it!"
The two of you were a blushing mess when Oikawa suddenly barged in, grabbing the both of you in each of his arms, "Look at you two, growing up so fast!"
"Back off, Trashykawa!" the two of you replied in unison.
To be honest, you were both glad Oikawa interrupted when he did. Despite his love to tease you both, he often defused awkward situations like the one you had just experienced.
But for you, in the moment, it didn't feel awkward at all.
And you couldn't seem to get that moment out of your head. If anything, you wanted to relive it – a moment where you were safely protected in Iwaizumi's arms.
~X•X•X~
Time flew by so fast and the day soon ended, the sun going down, painting orange hues in the sky as you walked back home with your younger brother and Iwaizumi.
"Who knew you'd be really good with kids," you told Iwaizumi.
He shrugged, "I had a lot of practice. I mean, Oikawa is practically a child."
You laughed. "Thanks again, Hajime. I would have never expected to enjoy babysitting my idiot brother," you told him.
"I'm going to grow up dumb if you keep cursing me like that!" Takashi raged.
You retorted, "You're on your way there."
"So rude!" he said, pouting.
"Enough. Now go inside. I need to speak to Hajime privately," you told him.
Takashi wiggled his brows, "Sureee." He eventually went inside your house, leaving the two of you to talk.
"So annoying," you murmured under your breath, causing Iwaizumi to chuckle.
He smiled, "I enjoyed today too."
You grinned, "Maybe we can do this again sometime?"
"I'd like that."
"Maybe next time we don't have to bring Takashi," you shyly remarked, hinting at him.
But he didn't quite get it. He narrowed his brows, "Well there wouldn't be a reason to go to the kids' volleyball court then."
You shook your head, "No. Maybe we can go somewhere else. Just us."
Iwaizumi blushed a little, finally understanding. He knew what you meant, that you wanted a date, but his panicked self blurted out, "Like a hangout! Sure!"
You sighed, slightly disappointed in him. But you smiled anyway, "Exactly. A hangout."
He pursed his lips, slightly upset you didn't correct him.
"I'm going to head in. I'll see you at school," you informed.
He nodded, "Yea, yea. See you."
You both cursed yourselves, wishing you were just a little bit more confident to ask the other person out. But it seemed for now you were going to stay as friends just a little bit longer.
______________________________
a/n
just wanted to thank you guys for reading this again hehe
i know it's less dramatic than my other book LOL but sometimes, i just need good vibes ~
i already have enough stress in life
also lol this book is probably going to end earlier than my ushi book
love u all!!