Chapter Text
I'm such an idiot! Nishinoya thought. Why would I sent that?! It's four-thirty in the morning! How the hell do I get out of this?! It's too late to delete it now! I can't let him see me, if he sees me he's going to confront me and then he's going to say he doesn't like me back and I'll look like a fool!" He had started pacing around in his room, desperately trying to find a way out of this. He sighed and decided it would be best to just get ready for school, since he definitely wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep.
"Dude, you realize how much noise you're making right?" Nini said with a yawn as she came out of her room.
"I woke up early, so I'm getting ready for school."
"Out of all the days to get up early, you chose the day you would be allowed to stay home and sleep in like an hour later."
"Yes."
"I hate you."
"Too bad, you're stuck with me until Wednesday!"
"You should really respond to mom's texts." Nini said hopping up onto the counter.
"You know how much Grandpa hates it when you sit up there, right?"
"He's asleep, I'll be fine."
"I should leave."
"It's kind of early, you sure?"
"Very."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing, got to go." Nishinoya said grabbing his stuff and heading for the door.
"Don't do anything stupid!" Nini called.
"I won't!"
"Kinda seems like you already did."
"Shut up!" He said rushing out of the door. He looked in the direction Asahi usually wakes and saw nothing. He sprinted down the sidewalk towards the school, until he ran into something.
"Damn it!" Sugawara yelled, catching himself on a nearby pole before he could fall.
"Son of a bitch!" Nishinoya cursed as he slammed into the ground, dropping his things.
"Oh shit! Noya are you okay?!" Sugawara said quickly.
"Well you just crashed into me and now I'm in the ground " He responded, picking up his stuff
"More like you crashed into me! Why are you running to school again? Are you seriously still avoiding Daichi?!" Sugawara said as he reached out his hand to help Nishinoya up.
"No! I'm avoiding Asahi." Nishinoya said, grabbing Sugawara's hand and letting himself get pulled up.
"Before I ask what the hell you did, you sure you're ok?"
"Dude."
"Alright, what did you do?"
"Can we walk while I tell you?"
"I mean yeah, but seriously what did you do?!"
"I asked Asahi if he liked me, over text...at four-thirty in the morning."
"What?!"
"I know it was stupid, but it's too late to delete it now!"
"What are you going to do at practice when he shows up, y'know of all the times to skip practice you choose not to on a day you fucked up and have a valid excuse to?!"
"How am I supposed to face him?! What if he walks up to me?! I'll be stuck sitting on the bench because Ukai won't let me do anything and-"
"Hey, calm down! He'll probably want to say something to you in private, so I'll just stay as close as possible to you!"
"Thanks, Suga." Nishinoya said. The duo walked silently the rest of the way to the gym. As Nishinoya walked towards the clubroom with Sugawara a loud whistle blew.
"You ain't practicing, so get your butt in the gym!" Ukai shouted, leaning out of the gym doors.
"I left something in here yesterday!" Nishinoya quickly called back. I can't believe how fast I've been able to make shit up lately!
"Hurry up! I better see you on that bench before the others get here!"
"Alright!" Nishinoya followed Sugawara into the club room and stared at the floor, waiting for his friend to finish getting ready.
"You should leave a minute before me, since coach wants you back before everyone else." Sugawara said.
"I'll be fine, it's only one person I'm walking in with."
"Whatever you say." Sugawara finished changing and walked out of the club room with Nishinoya following closely behind.
"Hey guys!" Daichi called as he walked up the stairs towards the clubroom. "I thought you would've stopped avoiding us after we found out."
"Me too. Where's Asahi?" Sugawara asked.
"He texted me and said he was running late, slept through his alarm or something." Nishinoya started to get even more nervous.
"I need to get to the gym before you guys, Ukai didn't even want me to go in the clubroom." Nishinoya said before jogging down the steps and walking towards the gym. Slept through his alarm? That's such a lie, he sets like ten alarms. I bet he's avoiding me too. Nishinoya walked into the gym and sat on the bench, making sure to avoid eye contact with his coach.
"What's up with you?" Ukai asked.
"Nothing." His voice was shaky as he responded.
"Are you hung up on yesterday or somethin'?"
"No." Ukai stopped trying to talk to Nishinoya. Once Sugawara and Daichi entered the gym Nishinoya got up and followed Sugawara to the closet.
"What's up, Noya?"
"He's avoiding me! Clearly him 'sleeping through alarms' is just an excuse. And-" Nishinoya's phone buzzed in his pocket. He hadn't bothered putting it away with the rest of his stuff considering he wouldn't be doing anything at practice.
"Hey, what happened?!" Sugawara said. He was visibly concerned that his friend had stopped talking mid-sentence. Nishinoya ignored Sugawara and slowly check his phone.
"He just responded!" Nishinoya said. He was starting to panic now.
"We'll see what it says." Sugawara had given up on trying to find whatever he was getting from the closet and turned to face Nishinoya. Once he saw the look on his face he grabbed his friends shoulder and squeezed tight.
"I can't! What if he's so weirded out he hates me and then-"
"Listen to me, Noya. He's not going to hate you, infact I'm pretty sure he likes you back. Now, I have to go join the rest of the team and get through practice. If you absolutely need to you can stay in here, but don't tell Coach I said that, he will kill me." Sugawara gave a small, lighthearted smile to Nishinoya who simply nodded and walked into the corner of the closet. He then leaned against the wall and slide down until he was sitting. After he was left alone in the small, dark closet he began to feel the pit in his stomach forming again, but this time worse. His breathing began to get shallow and his eyes started watering.
"Nishinoya!" Ukai yelled. His footsteps began to get louder as he walked over to the closet.
"Why is Noya hiding in the closet?" Daichi as Sugawara as he approached.
"Long story, I'll tell you during lunch." Sugawara said with a sigh. They watched as Ukai walked into the closet, expecting to hear a lot of yelling. Instead, Ukai stayed inside for a minute without screaming, and then walked back out.
"Suga!" He called. Once Sugawara looked over Ukai pointed towards the closet. Sugawara's heart dropped and he ran towards the closet.
"Noya?!" He said once he was inside. He found Nishinoya curled in a ball where he had say down earlier.
"Sorry..." He said weakly. He sounded out of breath. Sugawara sat down next to him.
"Hey! Look at me!" Nishinoya looked up. He was on the verge of tears and grabbing at his chest. "Noya, I need you to breathe." Eventually, he had calmed Noya down.
"I'm sorry." He said a again.
"No, don't be sorry. I'm sorry that I left you in here alone."
"You're missing out on practice to stay in here with me!" His breathing was back to normal, but tears had started streaming down his face.
"That doesn't matter right now." Sugawara said, grabbing Nishinoya and pulling him close. "I'm not one of the starters, so I can miss a practice or two." They sat in silence for a moment before Nishinoya pulled away.
"Asahi! Hurry and get warmed up, and you better not be late again." The two heard Daichi yell from the gym.
"Now I really can't get out!" Nishinoya said, starting to panic again.
"Calm down!" Sugawara said. "You don't have to come out, although it's fairly obvious that you're gay."
"I hate you, Suga." Nishinoya said, although a small smile was forming on his face.
"You love my jokes!"
"Maybe, but a lot of people still don't know."
"That's like saying a lot of people don't know about Tsukkishima and Yamaguchi."
"What?!"
"Do you not see them when they're around each other?"
"I mean I do, but I didn't think they were actually together."
"I caught Tsukkishima giving Yamaguchi a kiss on the forehead before a game. They never noticed me though."
"Now I feel bad."
"Why?"
"Tanaka's my best friend, hell he's basically a brother to me, and he has no idea about any of this."
"Why haven't you told him?"
"Well I never exactly told you or Daichi, you just kinda figured it out."
"Fair enough."
"And then I kept talking to you about it because you already knew."
"Why don't you tell him?"
"Can you call him in here?"
"Now?!"
"Yes now!" Nishinoya said loudly. Sugawara stood up and called out to Tanaka. Once Tanaka walked in, he took a look a Nishinoya.
"Woah dude! What happened?!"
"Suga?" Nishinoya asked. Sugawara took the hint and started explaining the situation.
"He just had a panic attack because he's had this crush on Asahi for awhile and really early this morning he texted him asking if he really liked him."
"What?!" Tanaka asked excitedly "Does this mean Kiyoko is all mine?!"
"If me and Asahi actually end up together, and if she actually likes you!" Nishinoya said laughing.
"Do you know if he saw your text?"
"Yeah, he responded earlier."
"Have you read it?!"
"No, he's too scared." Sugawara said for him.
"Well come on, read it!" Tanaka said.
"I can't!" Nishinoya said.
"Why don't I read it for you?"
"No!"
"Uh, guys." Sugawara said. "Practice is over, everyone's coming over here."
"Don't let them see me!" Nishinoya cried. Sugawara didn't respond, instead he pushed Noya behind him and backed up a little towards the wall. "Don't let Asahi inside." Nishinoya whispered from behind Sugawara.
"Hey Daichi!" Sugawara said once he came in the closet with a handful of stuff.
"Yeah?" Daichi replied.
"Don't let Asahi come in, I'll explain later." Daichi nodded and walked outside to see Asahi carrying a bunch of stuff.
"Let me get that for you, Asahi!" He said.
"Uh, sure. Thank you Daichi. By the way, do you know why Suga was in the closet the whole time? I mean I didn't even know he was here at all until he called Tanaka in." Asahi said.
"Oh, uh, he had a headache so he went to go sit in the dark. He's fine now though, you should go and get ready for class."
"Okay, thanks Daichi." Daichi walked back into the closet and gave Sugawara a thumbs up. Once everyone had left the closet Sugawara looked outside.
"Coast is clear, Noya." He said. "Let's go." Nishinoya followed Sugawara to the club room and got his stuff. I'm going to have to take a different route to class. Nishinoya thought. Usually I walk past Asahi's first period class, but that's not an option today. He walked down multiple hallways until he heard the bell ring. He was late. He started walking faster until he finally made it to his class. I hate taking the long way, now I'm going to get lectured.
"What's your excuse this time?" His teacher asked as he walked in.
"I- I was at the nurse." Nishinoya said quietly while raising up his arm, making sure the wrist brace was showing.
"What happened?!" A few of his classmates asked.
"I hurt it in my practice match yesterday."
"Go take a seat. I'll let it slide this time, but I want a note next time." His teacher said. Nishinoya thanked her and sat down, not excited for the long day he had ahead of him.