At the start, it was funny. Really funny. The new manager who was so clumsy she couldn’t spend a day without dropping and breaking something or falling herself. She would trip on the small step that took to the gym. She always dropped the water bottles. The third years were worried, but most of the team just thought it was hilarious. Tsukishima, Tanaka and Nishinoya were mean with their jokes, mostly Tsukishima. He always had snarky comments ready if anything she did went wrong.
Like the time she dropped all the water bottles and some of them actually broke. Or when she slipped and ended up knocking down all the benches with her. Or when she fell while sweeping the court and snapped the broom in half. Or when she was getting out of the bus when they arrived for a match and she went straight to the floor.
Normally, Daichi and Sugawara were the first ones to help her and she would be so embarrassed. She could hear laughs in the background and it made her even shyer. But every time she tried to do better, everything would go even more wrong. Like when she was tripping again on the small step at the gym and when she tried not to fall, her shoe ended up coming out of her foot and appeared 3 meters away. She remembered how embarrassed she was when all the team watched her walk (with shoes on only one foot) until she finally found the sneaker, their laughs engraved on her memory.
At the very beginning, she was clumsy but she was okay with it, she joked around about it too, and it didn’t feel suffocating. It was a characteristic and it was okay. But now, everytime she tries to do right only to do wrong, she gets mocked by it. Even when nothing happened yet. She realised that was not what she wanted, and it left her incredibly frustrated with herself and her clumsiness.
Then, she lost her brightness. She tried not to stand out. She would trip and be silent about it. She didn’t respond to the jokes. Y/n wanted to be normal. As normal as possible. She didn’t volunteer in carrying the volleyballs bag anymore, she would always fall down with it. She filled their water bottles as if they were made of glass. But most of all, she stopped talking about herself, about anything she had done that day or on the weekend, because it could turn into a joke about her, and she hated it.
“She thinks she’s silly but it’s so pathetic” — Tsukishima Kei
“We need a manager that is more professional” — Ryuunosuke Tanaka
“If she thinks we are liking whatever bullshit this is, we are not” — Yuu Nishinoya
“It’s distracting, really” — Kageyama Tobio
“You know, I’m getting a bit tired of intervening” — Azumane Asahi
“I don’t know if I can stand her much longer” — Sawamura Daichi
—
That type of negative feeling just grew stronger on the team, to the point none of them could really stand seeing her and her antics (that’s what they called it). So they would send her to fill their water bottles more than 3 times per practice.
On one of those days, she was outside filling the water bottles and the boys heard a sharp noise coming from outside. Y/n had dropped it all again, everyone assumed.
That was until she didn't show up when they took a break. They went straight to get water but she wasn’t there. Daichi took a deep breath, already expecting to go after her and fix whatever bullshit she did. Sugawara patted him on the back like saying “I’ll deal with this”. He went outside the gym, where she filled their bottles.
She was sitting curled up next to the water dispenser. Koushi let out a sigh. Still, he has always been the patient one. He crouched down next to her.
“Manager, what happened?”
She looked up, it was Sugawara. She trusted him. She looked at him and he saw her tear streaked face.
“I feel down”
“That’s not something new, manager. Why are you crying?”
“I think I hurt my arm”
He scoffed, that was no reason to be outside crying like a baby. But he knew he had to treat her well.
“Can I see it then?”
And when she extended her hurt arm, Sugawara held his breath. It was clearly broken, with a huge swollen spot near the wrist. All he managed in that moment was calling Daichi to come help.
Daichi had the same conclusion that her arm was probably broken and they took her inside the gymnasium. She couldn’t handle the looks, the clear smirk on Tsukishima's face. Her hands were trembling and she held all her emotions not to cry in front of them.
15 minutes later her parents came and took her to the hospital. That night, she did not receive any messages from the team. She cried herself to sleep when she came back from the hospital and wished the volleyball manager bullshit never happened.
—
The next day she went to school with a cast on her arm. She felt so embarrassed about it, about everything. She looked for Daichi and informed him that, if he and Takeda sensei agreed, she would leave the team as soon as possible. The excuse? It was very honest: I do more harm than good.
Still, that day Y/n was present in practice. At least that was what she planned. But as she approached the gym, she noticed it was locked. Doors closed. No sign of anyone.
After 5 minutes of waiting outside, Asahi came running with the gym keys at hand.
“Sorry, manager. I think they are all late. I’ll open the gym so you can enter and wait.”
She doesn’t focus on him opening the door. All she looked at was the small step leading to the gym. She couldn’t trip up again, not today. When she entered, head still down, she heard a loud noise.
“MANAGER, WE ARE SORRY!”
There, all the boys stood, saying sorry to her. They felt bad about her insecurities after everything they said. No, they wouldn’t let her slip.
“Guys… what’s all this?”
“Y/n, we are sorry about everything. You are a capable manager and we can’t keep this team going without you. We are sorry for the jokes and mean comments. Please, stay” — Daichi said as the voice of the team.
“I don’t know. I’m clumsy and my arm is broken. And I’m not a good addition to the team, if you want I can help get another manager.”.
“Look, we are sorry. You're clumsy but that’s your way. We are the ones wrong, because we should be helping you” — Tsukishima was introverted, but he knew he should take responsibility.
“Yes, we are sorry!” — Hinata was taking this very seriously, very different from how he behaves normally.
“Well, I can try but… you already know how I am”
“And we like it like that!” — Sugawara smiles softly, almost ashamed
—
After that day, there was always someone around helping. Kageyama makes sure you don’t drop the bottles. Nishinoya holds you when you almost trip. Hinata ties your shoe laces (because of the cast). Tsukishima helps you gather the volleyballs. Tanaka worships you. You are now more than welcome to walk with them home and Daichi will include you when buying food.
When you got the cast off, they did a small celebration before practice and you played a short game with them!
—
Notes: this is so bad I’m sorry guys. I’m a bit unmotivated and my B1 ass can’t write anything.
