Chapter Text
Deep in the night you can still hear the rapid clicking on the laptop’s keyboard and muffled sound coming out of Oikawa's earphones. It is late. Way to late.
But he has to come up with a good strategy against the opponents they have to face on the weekend. And it is Tuesday!
Not enough time to even practice anything special, but it is not like he and his coaches have any clue about what exactly they fight against. And there is still the test on Friday. Just perfect!
He pauses the video, rubbing on his tired dry eyes, realizing that he still is wearing his contactless. His room is pitch dark. He didn’t even notice the sun setting.
Oikawa frowned. It is just a practice game, no big deal but it’s the first time this semester he can start as the game’s official setter, and not as back up or service ace. And he wants to make that a permanent thing! So, this is his best chance to shine.
He frowns at the frozen game on his laptop screen. Just how?
It’s not like their opponents do anything miraculous. Their spikers are all strong sort of like shiratorizawa. Blocking and receiving is also more than decent. The team is pretty okay. So what is the thing that makes them earn points? Stigma? Speed?
He is to tired for this… maybe a teammate can help. Hinto is decent with suggestion but his upperclassman is likely catching up the lack of sleep he got last week. Jinsokuna likes to listen a lot but never gives any reasonable help at the end. He is just a spiker. Happy to smash a ball down the court.
Oikawa sighs, and grabs for his phone. Tasuke should be free, and likely still be awake at this hour. The actual main setter of the team. Oikawa really does not want to call him. Calling him would mean that he is not ready for the position as the official setter. Tasuke will laugh at him and help him anyways but it is just humiliating. Damn it!
Oikawa closed his eyes and not wanting to see how he physically taps the name on his phone. Looking at it would admit his defeat. but It is okay, just asking his upperclassman what he could do, that’s what senpais are good for, right?
Thinking that he felt a pang of guilt. Remembering his time back at his time during middle school. Yeha… it is not an easy task to be a nice upperclassman…
The phone is beeping for a while. A long while which makes Oikawa wonder if Tasuke already went to sleep, but right before he could hang up the line got picked up and a raspy voice speaks a soft and very sleepy “Hello?”
Oikawa felt to anxious for any kind of proper greeting or to feel sorry waking up his Tasuke. Going straight to the point.
“Tasuke kun! Good evening Oikawa here!” he answered quickly adding.
“ I am going through the video material of the daigaku akatori Tec university. And… I… well where to start. The team is basic and mediocre. They are good in attacking they are good in blocking they are good in receiving. A perfectly balanced team without any flaws. And it is making me sick! This can’t be. I don’t believe it every team has a weak point but I just can’t find it I have gone through lots of their data and I know… I know that it is not said that they will play with the same team set up on Saturday. But… “
And with this Oikawa enters a long rant about the team’s tactics he discovers until now. About possible strategies and also why they are just options not actually solutions. Here and there note sing gestures something while retelling it and writing down or erasing other ideas. It went one for a while. Not hearing anything from his upperclassman. He probably fell asleep but the hums here let Oikawa assume that Tatsuke, after over one hour, is still listening. When the clock on his laptop hit 2:52 am, he thought it would be the best to stop.
“I am sorry to disappoint Tasuke kun. I just… it is late and I can’t come up with anything decent that works 100%. The upcoming game on Saturday is really important and… “
Oikawa can’t finish the sentence.
The answer is simple. He just does not want to lose. He wants to play and continue to play actively on the court. Not on the sideline and watch his upperclassman do most of the work (which he could do better excuse you!)
But alone talking to his upperclassman helped. Maybe next time he should just rant to his pillow or the movie posters on his wall in stand of calling and annoy someone else. He was just about to politely apologize for the time and take a bit of sleep before his classes would start, when he suddenly got an answer from the other side. An answer with a rather familiar voice.
“Uhm… Oikawa-san… how should I put it I am not the person you planned to call. Uhm… its Kageyama speaking!”
Oikawa’s blood runs cold. Scrambling to check his phone if it is just Tobio at Tasuke’s place. Which is a stupid idea because what should Tobio do there? Not that it is any of Oikawa’s business but still… just no for whatever reason he can’t accept Tobio staying over anywhere for a night. To Oikawa’s horror he noticed that he accidently called Tobio. He didn’t even notice… A yhea… he closed his eyes. And Tobio and Tasuke’s phone numbers are saved right after each other in his phone. Damn it… he should have called Iwa chan.
"Oikawa san? Oikawa san are you still there? Hello?”
Asked Tobio’s voice rather soft out of his phone. This whole situation is bizarre and just strange. Oikawa likely fell asleep while watching the videos there is no way he called Tobio in the middle of the night. But the voice coming out of his phone tells him otherwise.
“Tobio-chan shouldn’t you be asleep?”
He asked. And he could already imagine Tobio frowning and scrunching his nose.
“Oikawa san you called me?”
Relaxing against his bed Oikawa sighs
“Yhea yhea. It was an accident my bad but you should have interrupted me and told me right away.”
“ But wouldn’t that been rude?”
“Tobio chan! After midnight social rules do not count anymore! Oh geez, you should have just hung up. Seriously is there something in your brain besides volleyball? “
“Says the one that calls his teammate in the middle of the night because you can’t come up with a strategy.”
“GHE!?”
This stupid useless brat . Oikawa thought to just brush it off, make some sneaky remark, say ‘bye bye Tobio chan~ I am going to crush you once you manage to go to a good university team!’ hanging up and then finally going to sleep. His eyes where already slowly shutting close.
“You should do the “manipulative” strategy.”
Oikawa got up. Got up really fast. So fast that everything was spinning and he had to sit down on his bad again. What? It was short, and bold and just simply honest. And all of Oikawa manage to do after this short shock is to express ad long whiny “ WHY?!”
There was again silence on the other line but not for long.
“Uhm… I don’t really know the team-”
“No you don’t Tobio chan!”
“I SAID I KNOW THAT! But… when they just don’t make any mistakes then let them make some. “
Oikawa sighs
“This is not how this strategy works. They are just so stable with everything there is no way. Shure targeting one and make them all crumble later, sounds like a great plan to me too but no this won’t work!”
“But why?”
Tobio asks and Oikawa just wanted to shout ‘ because’ but he also wouldn’t be happy with that kind of answer. But like hell he would ever admit that he has no response. A short pause and Oikawa picked up the conversation again.
“They would notice way to quick what our plan is. So if I use that strategy I need a second one running and maybe even a third.”
“You are playing it to save Oikawa san”
“NO. I AM NOT!! Useless brat. It maybe a practice match but it is still important to win most of the sets.”
“I know that but the difficult part in playing against you was always that you come up with rather risky things in the middle of the game.”
“Well it is not like I have an Iwa chan on this team… I could only pull of these things because I was playing with him since our childhood. And most of my spikers here are just happy to spike a ball and slam it down. Not that my players are dump or anything. Their mind air game is strong so prepare yourself in the future Tobio chan! Also it is not like…”
“Oikawa san!”
Right than Oikawa noticed that he was rambling. Him rambling. On the phone in the middle of the night. Ranting in a conversation with his junior and rival since middle school. What was wrong with him. Was it because of the test on Friday? He still has 6 semesters left in order to become a regular. Right? No wait that’s the wrong way of thinking Tooru.
You have only six semesters in order to be a regular there is no reason to slack of he has to …
a yawn on the other end of the line pulls Oikawa out of his thoughts. Why can’t things be so simple like they were in middle school. When he finally played as starting member in game back then he didn’t put so much thought in it like he is doing now. Oh right… that’s because if he does not watch out someone like Tobio chan here could appear out of nowhere and he will be switched out.
Oikawa feels now less bad for calling his junior in the middle of the night. Maybe this lack of sleep will make Tobio mess up his sets or receive a ball with his face. Yeha, why should Tobio chan have the right to sleep while he has to pull all-nighters in Tokyo?
“Um… Oikawa san you still awake?”
Well… now yes! Oikawa didn’t notice his eyelids getting heavier and that he is comfortably lying down in his bed. He would have fallen if Tobio didn’t speak up. But Oikawa didn’t really want to answer so, a whiny grunt was all the response he gave Tobio. It was quiet after a bit, sighing Oikawa was about to hang up but right than Tobio spoke up again.
It is not necessarily the same situation as yours but... our current captain got really nervous last practice match. Enoshita san. He wore the number six. And was not a regular. But his abilities are good he is a stable player…”
Oikawa let go a tiny chuckle. As much as a trouble Tobio for him is, he can’t believe how cute he sometimes acts. Always sticking to volleyball things because they make sense to him. Believing in his teammates. How clumsy he is off the court and with social interaction. And it is sweet how much effort he puts in things that are important for him. Tobio could turn into a brute, be 3 meters tall cupboard, but he would still be his adorable underclassman. Nothing could change this for him.
“Well… I don’t know in Enoshita senpais case it is likely because he is not used to play as starter and also because being a captain brings lots of responsibilities. Oh um… I am not good at this...”
Putting a hand over his mouth Oikawa suppressed a laugh this time. He can practically hear Tobio frowning now. Eyebrow pulled down scrunched up nose and looking concentrated in some direction in the room. it looks scary on his face. The dark bangs making the effect worse. But it is a sign that he is thinking about it and putting an effort in doing the right thing and not upsetting the person he speaks to.
Usually Oikawa is not patient enough for this but this time… why not? It is late he is sleepy. And he continues to listen.
“Well! Well you seem stressed because you are afraid that it won’t go well just like him. But… after the second or third play he didn’t had the time to think about it and just played normally. I mean… Oikawa san it is volleyball!”
And Tobio yawns. Some rustling can be heard maybe a sign that Tobio is lying down and sleepiness is taking over him. His voice sound softer after this quieter. Already half asleep.
“It is pretty watching you play because it looks so natural like you belong there as a setter. You already have many possible tactics it is just important now for you to see the game and play it isn’t it? That’s what I have learned by watching you.”
Oikawa hates it. Oikawa hates it, how Tobio is right about it. It is annoying that this phone call with Tobio managed to calm him down. Things should not be like this but here they are, 3:46 in the morning on the phone.
Maybe he was just dreaming. At least he hopes this because he can’t imagine Tobio to be this smart. And for him to still have his underclassmen phone number.
Some second passed in silence, then minutest. There is some soft breathing on the other line.
“Tobio chan you still there?”
Oikawa waits but there is no answer on the phone. He must have fallen asleep so he cuts of the line. He likely just needed to hear that his rival is still observing him. That he is good in volleyball. Of course, he is! Volleyball is like breathing to him. Which means it will go well on Saturday. He is prepared. He knows how opponents play what tactics they use and he has enough experience to handle difficult or risky situation. He just has to train a bit more with his spikers.
He is maybe also homesick? Or like… missing his best friend and spiker from his childhood. It takes time to completely understand his teammates like he understood his best friends on the court. It is 4:00 in the morning right now. 2 hours before Oikawa has to get up and go to morning practice. Would sleeping still make sense.
opening his messenger app, he checked if he could find Tobio in there. But this brat likely still uses one of these stupid old flip-phones so he has to write a good old-fashioned SMS.
He types in the letters but deletes one after the other. This is stupid he things and puts his phone away. Turns around welcoming his sleep.
“Good damn it this stupid brat!!”
Oikawa shots up not even two seconds later. Typing on his phone and hitting with more force than necessary on send.
And finally letting himself fall face down to bed groaning for some necessary sleep.