Practice Makes Perfect (Haikyuu!!)
Primary Universe
Summary: Kinoshita is practicing so he can help Noya with his overhanded receives, but his own serves are mediocre at best, and it bothers him. Yamaguchi offers words of encouragement...and a little something extra.
A/N: This was an interesting character combo to write for! I'd never have though to do this if it weren't requested. Thanks for helping me stretch my creative muscles! Enjoy! ^^
Word Count: 844
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The volleyball hit the net and bounced down to the floor on the same side from which it had been served. Kinoshita fisted a hand into his hair, groaning in frustration.
From the other side where he’d had been waiting to receive the serve, Yamaguchi straightened and jogged forward, ducking under the net, retrieving the ball, and handing it back to his upperclassman. “It’s okay,” he said, offering an encouraging smile. “You’ll get the next one. They can’t all be perfect.”
“I know,” Kinoshita muttered, sighing. “But half of them either hit the net or bounce off the top of it. I’m lucky if fifty percent actually land where I want them to.”
“I wasn’t able to perfect jump floaters overnight,” Tadashi said. “It just takes practice. That’s all.”
“But Noya needs me.” Kinoshita glanced to the other end of the court, where Noya had been paired with Asahi to practice their serves and receives together. Of course, the ace of Karasuno was able to nail his jump serves every time, and Noya was able to receive them all perfectly. “He’s been having trouble with his overhand receives, and he asked me to help him with them since I can kind of receive overhanded if I need to. But when it’s just the two of us I can’t serve well enough to get any kind of momentum going. It’s really frustrating.”
Yamaguchi watched their libero for a moment, then looked back to Kinoshita. He didn’t know his upperclassman very well all things considered, but the two of them were often paired up for serving practices like these, so over time they’d begun to become friendly with each other. Still, the first-year hesitated for a moment before speaking up again.
“Like I said, you can’t learn something overnight. And if you’ve not been in many games, you’ll need to work even harder at everything. That’s kind of how it goes when you’re not in the starting lineup. That’s why I had to practice my jump floaters all the time, even when I wasn’t in this gym. If you love the game, you do what you have to do.” Yamaguchi offered another smile. “And you love the game, don’t you?”
Kinoshita blinked at him. “Of course. I haven’t been in the starting lineup before, but that doesn’t matter to me. As long as I get to play sometimes, that’s all I really want.”
“Exactly.” Tadashi handed him the ball, and Kinoshita took it. “You’ll get there. You’ll be able to help Noya if you just put your mind to it and practice a lot. Don’t worry.”
Kinoshita was silent for a moment. Then he smirked. “Shouldn’t I be the one encouraging you? I’m your upperclassman, after all.”
Tadashi offered a smirk of his own. “Then maybe you should stop being so down on yourself so you don’t need encouragement, senpai.” He poked Kinoshita’s side playfully, pleasantly surprised when the second-year squeaked and dropped the ball. Yamaguchi grinned, reaching forward to fully dig into his sides. “Ticklish, huh?”
Kinoshita giggled, grabbing his wrists, trying to push him away. “N-Nohoho, stohohohop it!”
“My friends do this to me sometimes when I need encouragement, or just to help me loosen up,” Tadashi teased, keeping up easily with Kinoshita as he squirmed against his tickly fingers. “And right now you need both. This is perfect.”
“Tahahahadashi,” Kinoshita whined, curling in on himself when his attempts to get away failed. He was vaguely aware that a couple of their teammates were watching now, but he didn’t really care. “Plehehehehease, tahahahahake it easy!”
“You think I’m not taking it easy right now?” Yamaguchi shoved his hands upward and drilled into the second-year’s ribs harshly, smirking at the loud screech of laughter that flew past his friend’s lips. “This isn’t taking it easy.”
“OKAY, OKAHAHAHAHAHAY!!” Kinoshita laughed, twisting and writhing but going nowhere fast. He felt something solid against his back and realized Yamaguchi had gradually pushed him up against the stage so he had nowhere left to run. He shrieked. “STAHAHAHAHAHAP, I GEHEHEHEHET IT!!”
“Are you going to stop being so hard on yourself now?” Yamaguchi asked, smoothly keeping up with his victim’s squirming and laughing, smirking all the while. “You’re going to practice hard so you can help Noya, right? No more beating yourself up if you can’t do it right every time.”
“YEHEHEHES, OKAY, FIHIHIHIHIHINE!! JUST STAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!!” Kinoshita squealed, head thrown back in uncontrollable hysterics, and the first-year could tell he was way more relaxed now than he’d been a minute ago. “TAHAHAHAHAHADASHI, PLEHEHEHEHEASE!!”
“All right,” Yamaguchi relented, finally slowing his tickly attack to a stop, smiling as Kinoshita leaned against him as he caught his breath. “Feeling better?”
“Y-Yeah,” Kinoshita admitted, tapping his fist against Tadashi’s shoulder in what was probably supposed to be a playful punch. “Jerk.”
“Do you need another lesson?”
“No!” Kinoshita finally pushed him away, laughing on his own as he went to pick up his fallen volleyball. He made a shooing motion at Yamaguchi. “Get back over there, first-year. We’ve got work to do.”
