@guardianofcrows;; here
What could be better stress relief than playing volleyball? Asahi is really kind to indulge him like this – though it isn’t as if he doesn’t get anything out of it. He can practice his serves, and Noya can practice receiving; it really is a win-win situation for both of them.
Except for the fact that it’s 8 in the evening, and everyone else has gone home, leaving the pair of them to clean up and close the gym when they were done. And perhaps that Noya is yelling a little more than usual with each receive he manages, and more with the ones he misses, letting his frustration pour into it like the perfect outlet it is. And really, he knows, somewhere, that he’s asking for a little too much here, except he didn’t really ask, and Asahi didn’t really complain at all. He’s waiting for the other to say he’s tired, suggest they call it a day, but Asahi keeps looking at him through the net, and each and every time, he just serves again (not going easy on Noya either; his power is in it still), until the basket is empty, and they have to gather up all the balls from around the gym floor.
It’s just a stupid test. Just a stupid, irrelevant mark. He really shouldn’t even be this upset about it. At least that’s what he keeps telling himself, but he knows it’s useless to try to lie to himself. (He’s never been able to.) The truth is that his mother is going to be angry and disappointed, and the latter is so much worse, and Noya is really, really tired of feeling like a failure.
He wonders if Asahi has guessed any of this, and keeps serving to him because he knows this is the only place where Noya never feels that way.
There wasn’t even a moment where he questioned Noya’s request, didn’t hesitate in any of the serves he shot back over the net because he knows. He doesn’t need words to recognize that something’s bothering him, a swift deduction in the change in his demeanor from before school when they’d met up briefly. And if this is what he needed, if this was what would get him to wind down enough to open up about it, or at least get out all the nervous energy.
Of course his legs were starting to burn a little, the intensity of their recent practices on top of the extra serves was a bit much but...well, Noya’s movements are starting to get a bit more loose, and he’d gladly go through the bin a dozen times if it meant that he would feel even the slightest bit more at ease. As they collect the balls for the second time, however, he finally makes a point of reaching for the last one just as Noya does, letting his hand rest on top of it gently, almost laughable compared to the force he’d been hitting the ball with a few moments before.
“We can keep going if you want, but they are going to make us lock up eventually.” He murmurs, although that doesn’t stop him from scooping the ball into his hand, heading over to drop it into the bin with an almost surprising calm despite the obvious worry in his voice. “Otherwise the shop down the road should still be open, it might be a good idea to get something to eat.”
