-> synopsis : you didn't really want to be on seijoh girls volleyball team, let alone become captain. But as a good hearted and dedicated student, you accept the responsibilities that come with the role, especially when it comes to dealing with the boys’ team captain.
“They said what?” you said through gritted teeth feeling the anger rising up within you before you could even comprehend what on earth was being revealed to you.
“They uhh-” Mitsuah (seijoh girls’ official setter) paused for a moment, wringing her fingers in her hands and trying her best to not make eye contact with you, “they said that practice would prevent them from being able to watch oikawa at his practices, since you know, we have our practices at the same time...”
You closed your eyes to contain the indescribable fury you felt at that moment, What kind of fuckery is this?
Ever since you had joined aoba johsai, you always found that despite being a powerhouse school for volleyball, the girls team was extremely under looked.
Sure, you had quickly gotten over the fact that maybe the boys’ team got a bigger crowd since their matches seemed to be more intense and they had three times the amount of members than your club had and they seemed to be glorified way more than your team did but-
you didn’t need an overwhelming crowd of supporters to do well and you knew that.
This was your breaking point.
Not only did you have to hear about oikawa this, oikawa that amongst the girls in your school every other second, but now he was actually causing your already small ragtag team to decrease even more?
You hated him, and you hadn’t even had a proper conversation with the guy.
Stupid oikawa with his genius setter skills, tactical mind, amazing game intuition, killer serve, killer smile, pretty face, long sexy legs-
You couldn’t help it, he was the looker but you thought he abused his gorgeous powers to wrap around as many girls as he could around his finger.
“Well,” you said, surprising calm, shocking both your fellow third years, “we’ll be getting new recruits anyways. did you manage to get the forms from the first years?”
“Uhm-” your vice captain Ara faltered, taking out the papers she had hidden behind her back.
Her eyes glanced nervously towards them before handing them to you with a shaky hand, “here they are”
The two girls in front of you winced.
“hey, at least we have recruits-” Mitsuah tried, but you weren’t finished screaming yet.
“THAT’S BARELY ENOUGH FOR A TEAM”
“plus a libero” Ara offered but your screaming continued.
“I THOUGHT MORE FIRST YEARS SHOWED UP TO THE PEP RALLY, WHERE THE HELL ARE THEIR APPLICATIONS?”
You turned back to the girls who were eyeing each other wearily, there was something they didn’t want to tell you, and it was probably for the best unless they wanted you to go kill a man.
“Y/N, promise not to scream again?” Mitsuah asked and you gave a curt nod.
It was your first day of being captain, half your team quit and you only get two new members. There couldn’t possibly be anything else to worsen your mood, could there?
“They weren’t at sign up because they were all at the boy’s volleyball practice-”
It’s your last first day of high school and how do you spend it? pumping air into volleyballs all by yourself.
Of course your friends offered to help but you sent them home with the excuse that they would be the ones playing with the two new first years in the practice match tomorrow.
you sighed, your club didn’t even own a ball pump and you had to ask iwaizumi if you could borrow the boys’ one.
you looked at the clock, 7pm already?
You made your way to gym 1, expecting it to be locked since it had been 2 hours since people had gone home, but on approaching you saw that the lights were still on and the door was left open.
You peeked your head in just to see a ball fly across the court.
It travelled through the air with such wind breaking speed that you almost thought that you had imagined it, but your eyes soon landed on figure moving at the end of the court.
His head was focused on the net and even from where you stood you could see the sweat dripping from his chin. His curled hair stuck to the edges of his face as he reached into the trolley for another ball.
You could tell that he’d been here practicing non-stop, with the amount of balls that were scattered at the opposite end of the gym and the sheer amount of sweat he was drenched in, it was plainly obvious.
You had to give it to Oikawa, he was a hard worker.
As he lifted his hand to strike the ball again, his eyes landed on you.
your heart skipped a beat.
“Oh, well if it isn’t Y/N-chan” he commented, a cheerful smile sliding onto his face.
“Don’t call me that” You say almost reflexively, scared that you had sounded too harsh for someone who you barely knew and was just greeting you.
But it didn’t seem to affect him as he retained amused, his smile never faltering “Well can’t I be friendly with a fellow captain?” he joked, tucking the ball in his hand under his arm, “So what brings you here?”
You pointed to the ball pump in your hand.
“Ah, yes, i recall Iwa-chan mentioning you borrowing it, you can put it in there” he said, nodding at the store cupboard.
you gave him a small nod back and made your way to your destination, you couldn’t help but feel his eyes following you as you did and it made you uncomfortable.
After successfully entering the room and locating an empty space on the shelf to which you assumed the pump belonged to, you made your way back into the gym.
Oikawa stood at the edge of the court, right hand out, balancing the ball and his left hand supporting it gently. He began to run, his pace increasing each second and he jumped with such poise and grace that it almost looks like he was dancing. You watched as his back arched in mid air and his hand came up behind to slam the ball over the net and land with such force that it came back up from the ground and ricocheted off the wall.
you couldn’t help but stand and stare.
There was a reason why he was called one of the best players in the miyagi prefecture.
“Hm, impressed?” oikawa mused, placing his hands on his hips.
You nodded, “it was impressive” hating that you were actually increasing this guys ego even higher.
“Well, my personal motto is ‘if your going to hit it then hit it till it breaks’” he said taking another ball from the trolley and spinning it on his finger.
He must be joking right? i mean, who the hell has a personal motto?
then suddenly, in the midst of thinking whether this guy was a total wettie or incredibly egotistical, an idea popped into you head.
“Do you think i could try receiving one of your serves?” you asked, before you lost the nerve to.
You saw oikawa’s eyebrow quirk up as he caught the spinning ball on his finger and held it in both hands, “Are you sure?”
You nodded calmly but in you mind you were cursing him for under estimating you.
Oikawa shifted his weight to his right foot as he brought one of his hands up into a half shrug “you know I did say that my motto was “hit it till it-’”
“breaks- i know, and if my arm breaks, it breaks” you finished, leaving oikawa at a loss of words.
He narrowed his eyes at you and for a second he looked- confused? intrigued? you didn’t know but the sudden loss of his signature grin made you feel like you were being...judged.
“Well,” he began, composing himself, his cheerful smile returning again, “if you end up getting hurt, feel free to run into my arms and cry your heart out. i’ll make sure to kiss all your injuries away” and he finished off his comment by sending you a wink.
Was it possible to feel annoyed, shocked and flustered at the same time?
he began to walk back to the edge of the court and you took this as a signal that you too, should take your position in the centre of the other.
You realised how much taller the boys’ net was, but would that give you a problem? nope.
“Okay, ready?” Oikawa shouted and you took your stance.
Knees bent, arms stretched out and eyes on the ball.
You didn’t see him hit the ball but you heard the echoing collision of his hand on the ball and before you knew it, it was flying straight towards you.
Such accuracy, you thought as you dropped your torso and braced for impact.
you felt the ball slam into your arms, leaving a stinging pain, jesus what is he a? machine? you brought your whole body up, pushing with your legs as the ball returned into the air, a perfect receive straight to the setter position.
Across the court you caught the awe in oikawas face at the fact that you had actually managed to receive the ball. You couldn't help but feel smug.
But you had no time to dwell because by the time you had stood up straight the ball was already curving down towards the ground.
you began to sprint towards the net, trying to ignore the slight pain in your arms as you pushed yourself off the floor, your hand coming up to spike.
Your head barely passed the top of the net as you jumped but you were able to slam the ball down onto the other side of the court.
When your feet made contact with the ground you heard a soft, “huh” from your fellow captain.
“Well, colour me impress” Oikawa spoke, crossing his arms and looking you up and down with is tongue poking at the side of his mouth.
You broke eye contact and began walking back to other side of the court. The way he stared at you made you feel like prey, stupid predatorial pretty boy.
“Can you send another one? and this time can you try to block it?” you said over your shoulder trying to cut him back down to size.
“Sure thing, maybe this time i won't go easy on you” he chuckled.
You were thinking that. maybe he had perhaps been a bit kinder with his serve, but it still hurt like a bitch, might as well see what his full power could do.
You fought the urge to rub at your arms as you took your position at the end of the court.
You managed to actually receive the ball first try and not make a fool of yourself which you were incredibly thankful for. if not, you couldn’t imagine the amount of mocking and embarrassment you would have had to endure from oikawa. try not to fail again.
this time the ball wasn’t aimed straight at you, it curved slightly causing you to slide to the right ( cha cha now y’all ) and drop to the ground. this time your right arm got more of the blow and you physically had to resist shouting out an ‘ow’
‘hit it till it breaks’ huh? he wasn’t kidding.
immediately after the ball had went into the air, both you and oikawa had started your runs towards the net; you weren’t going to let this boy beat you.
Passing the line, you pushed your self up in the air again, eyes on the ball and ready to make impact. Due to the slight curve in the receive, it had less momentum which played to your advantage, now giving you time to think since there was now an obstacle in you way
oikawa had also pushed himself up, his arms stretched above his head, and his eyes strained on you with a smirk on his face.
He was much taller than you were, at full height of your jump, you only came up to his chin whilst he towered above the net. He stood slightly to the right, exactly in front of your right hand that was prepared to spike- he had you cornered.
Swiftly, your left hand came up as your right hand lowered and in that split second your saw oikawas smug face falter.
You slammed the ball to the left, its path completely unblocked, sending it to the left where it bounced off the floor only a millisecond later.
The two of you landed- silence.
Oikawas head had snapped behind him, watching the ball roll off to the side. His head then twisted towards you, a look of surprised astonishment painted across his face.
you raised your eyebrow at him and sent him a smile.
the brown haired boy swallowed then stood up straight, looked you up and down then placed his hands on his hips, “you’re not what i expected Y/N ” he said softly.
Because of the net between you, you hadn’t realised exactly how close the two of your were standing. It was only when you felt his breath brush your face did you decided to step back to save yourself from combusting.
Although you couldn’t help but think of how handsome he looked up close.
And how his eyes never left yours.
It was your turn to swallow, turning around and making your way towards the door- you needed to leave immediately before he could say another thing that would make your heart palpitate, “i should go now, and you should too it’s getting late” you rushed out.
You reached the door and turned around, giving him a small bow, “thank you for the ball pump and the serves...” you awkwardly finished, sending him one last cringing smile.
“It was my pleasure, Y/N-chan” he called out giving you a sending wave.
you rolled your eyes and began to head out but paused before you left.
“Oh and, Toru-kun?” you called, a grin spreading across your face as you caught the boy freezing in his spot and staring at you with surprised eyes, “don’t underestimate me next time, okay?” you finished sweetly, sending him your own wink over your shoulder.
When you were a good distance from the gym you allowed yourself to congratulate yourself on your boldness, that ought to put that egotistical maniac in his place.
“Y/N-chan!” you hear someone call out behind you.
But it doesn’t help that a group of girls had stopped right outside your classroom.
You almost break into a run.
“Hey,” oikawa said, coming up next to you. It seemed like he had jogged to catch up and was readjusting his bag strap on his shoulder.
You stop walking and he stands in front of you, “yes?”
“Well good morning to you too” he jokes, sending you a smile.
“good morning” you mumble out. You shifted your gaze to see behind him, the girls were definitely watching now.
“Was there something you needed?” you asked politely, eyes returning back to the tall boy in front of you, wanting him to just go away and save you the embarrassment and the future interrogation that you knew you were in for.
“Yes,” he said, looking down at you, “can i see your arms?”
“What?” you sputtered out.
His smile lessened a little and his tone lost some of his cheeriness, “your arms, show them to me”
You pursed your lips, you knew what he was asking for, but why?
You slowly brought up both of your sleeves and held your arms out to him, you watched as his eyes widened and his face contorted into slight distaste.
both of the insides of your forearms were painted a brilliant shade of blue, a little more darker on the right than the left but they were both equally an eye sore. They’d appeared that morning and you realised that Oikawa’s serves were no joke.
“Oh god, does it hurt?” he asked, taking your right wrist and pulling your arm closer to him.
“Not much” you said casually.
“I’m so sorry Y/N I should've-”
“don't say sorry” you interrupted, your arm going slack in his hand, “i asked you if i could receive your serve, it’s not your fault so you shouldn’t feel guilty-”
“But that doesn’t stop me from feeling bad, does it?” he said sternly, his face complete devoid of any playfulness and no longer baring his signature grin.
You stared at him in stubbornness, not choosing to back down and act like a helpless damsel, but you couldn’t help but be touched at the fact that he cared.
“i knew this would happen,” he let out, reaching in his bag and revealing a white pack of cooling pads.
Your heart began to warm at the thoughtfulness, maybe he wasn’t all that bad.
Or he had ulterior motives but he's innocent until proven guilty.
You felt him lift your arm up and you blushed at the fact that he was still holding on to it during your little staring contest. He took one of the gel pads from the packet and brought it up to his mouth with his left hand. He then proceeded to bite down on the edge and pull his hand away, ripping the pack open.
Oh, that was kind of hot.
He then carefully placed the edge of the pad on the tip of your bruise, and once it was securely in place, he gently pressed on the rest as to not hurt you.
You gulped, “I can do the next one by myself”
“Oh don’t be silly,” he chuckled and he continued to do your other arm.
As nurse oikawa tended your wounds you let your eyes rest on his face, gosh he looked so much more likeable without that god damn smirk (tbh he looks likeable with any face he makes) . This close, you could smell his perfume, with no doubt it smelt expensive, the scent lingering in your senses even if you turned away. You wish you could, you hoped terribly that you weren’t a messy shade of red and that oikawa couldn’t feel your racing pulse as he held your wrist.
Once he was done, he let your arm go, allowing you to pull down your sleeves.
“Thank you so much,” you started, “you really didn’t have to do that” you added again, can’t helping to let your eyes glance behind him where the group of girls where watching.
“It’s alright, i’m just looking out for a fellow captain, it’s what im meant to do right?” he smiled, the cheekiness creeping back into his voice.
you looked up to his eyes which were crinkled slightly due to his smile. You sent him your own one but felt your cheeks heating up so used the act of looking into you bag to turn away.
“So how much?” you questioned, taking your purse out of your bag.
“What? no- there’s no need to pay me” he rushed, waving his hands out in front of him.
“What? I can’t let you just spend money on me like that, I’ll feel bad. now how much was it?” you defended, unzipping your purse and shuffling for a note.
“Nope, I won’t accept your money” he stated, taking your purse from you, zipping it up and dropping it back in your bag, “but if you want to return the favour in some other way...”
You face scrunched up in disgust, “you absolute-”
“Calm down Y/N-chan, not like that. unless you wanted-”
“Fine, what is it?” you interrupted, already getting annoyed by the smirk that was appearing on his face.
“Practice with me some time” he said simply, his hands placing themselves on his hips as he leaned back.
you looked at his face, he wasn’t joking. although it sounded like such a plain request. Didn’t he have his own team mates to practice with?
you nodded, “okay”. In other circumstances you wouldn’t have agreed so quickly but if this was the only way you could repay him back, you were willing. And besides, practice with oikawa might be beneficial, the only question is how long are you going to be able to put up with his antics?
“Excellent, so we have a deal then?” he said, offering you his hand.
You looked down at it before taking it, “deal”
His hands were much bigger than your own but were holding yours with such gentleness that you couldn’t imagine that it was this hand that caused the bruises on your arms.
you retracted your arms as you began to walk pass him, “thanks again, I’ll uhm, see you later” your head still turned to him as you walked away.
“See you around Y/N-chan” he cheered and began to head in the other way.
You rolled your eyes at nickname and finally tore away from your eye contact as you heard him chuckle behind you.
“Since when were you and oikawa friends?”
“What did you talk about?”
“I didn’t know you two knew each other”
With much difficulty you had finally made it to your seat, the group of girls in your class who had watched pretty much the whole of your interaction with the volleyball captain had immediately surrounded you and bombarded you with questions as soon as you stepped foot in the classroom.
“He was just asking about volleyball things, we’re not friends” you lied, trying your best to set your things out, the girls still gathered around your table.
“You’re so lucky, you got to talk to him by yourself for a whole three minutes! I only get to talk to him with a bunch of other girls...” one of the girls whined, the others nodding eagerly in agreement.
Well they believed that easily.
“Maybe we should join the volleyball club so that we’ll be able to see more of oikawa” another girls said.
you couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed at this comment, now people wanted to join your club just for oikawa?
but on the other hand you did need more members.
“I mean, we’re always looking for new members” you let out, evaluating the girl in front of you, she was tall and you knew her to be a fast runner so maybe a wing spiker?
“but then again i hate moving so it wouldn’t work. Sorry Y/N” she concluded, sending you an awkward smile.
You waved it off, “it’s fine”
“So what was he like?” another girl questioned, looking at you with anticipation.
You considered to tell them how much of an arrogant narcissist he was but seeing as you were not really in the mood to crush these girls dreams, you let out a “he’s nice”.
From the side, you heard a scoff.
“Oh of course he is! he’s like, the perfect man” one of the girls stated and the others gave out a chorus of agreement as they made their ways back to their seats.
Your eyes snapped to Iwaizumi who was leaned back in his chair, arms cross and looking at you with an expression of disbelief mixed with amusement.
You couldn’t help but let out a laugh, “i didn’t want to break it to them”
He let out a chuckle, “so what did shittykawa want with you then?”
you sighed, ready to explain your story, “when i went to return the ball pump he was there practicing his serves-”
“That idiot, I told him to go home” Iwaizumi snarled.
“Yeah, well he was there” you continued, “and i asked to receive one of them”
This statement caused iwaizumi to sit up straight and look at your with surprise, “and did you?”
“Of course I did,” you said proudly, “on first try”
“Wow” iwaizumi said simply, “how’d he react to that?”
“shocked” you laughed, “then i asked if i could receive another one and if he could try blocking it when i spiked. He thought he had me cornered but i spiked it with my left hand and it went straight past him. You should've seen the look on his face” you smiled upon the memory. Extreme pride rising up in your chest at the fact you had outsmarted one of miyagi’s best players.
“yeah he must’ve gone home crying thinking such a small girl defeated him, did he?” Iwaizumi snickered and you shrugged.
“Anyways, this morning he came up to me and asked to see my arms”
“yeah, they were bruised like hell” you explained, lifting up your sleeves, “he knew that his serves would’ve done some damage so he bought me cooling pads”
at this point iwa’s face turned stunned and you couldn't help but blush at the memory of oikawa holding your wrist carefully, ripping open the cooling pad and even just thinking of buying the pack for you.
“are you sure that was oikawa?” he asked.
You nodded, “im pretty sure”
“hmm,” Iwaizumi pondered, “he’s a pain in the ass half the time but that was pretty nice of him”
“Yeah,” you responded, starting to think more on the sudden kindness “it was”
You looked over at the boy and you were shocked to find him staring at you with squinted eyes and his chin rested in his hand.
“Nothing” he stated, returning to leaning back in his chair as the teacher began to call the register.
You too tried to turned you attention to the front but all you could think about was iwaizumi’s surprise at oikawas actions towards you.
“Just looking out for a fellow captain”
you mentally slapped yourself, thinking about how ridiculous that conclusion would be.
besides, he's just a useless flirt right?
-is what you tried to tell yourself. but you just couldn’t stop gushing over how he stared at you, how close the two of you stood, how gently he held you.
so throughout the lesson you had the same words repeating over in your head to try to get yourself to snap out of it.
he's just a useless flirt he's just a useless flirt he's just a useless flirt he's just a useless flirt he's just a useless flirt he's just a useless flirt he's just a useless flirt...
