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One - Flirting
“Back to position one!” Ukai yells, and Kageyama makes his way back to the serving position, everyone else readying for the serve. He serves it, spurring the players into action.
“So why do we start with Kageyama in the back?” Takeda whispers, leaning a little closer to Ukai.
“We want to start strong,” Ukai explains. “When Kageyama is in the back, we have three strong hitters in the front row, which gives us a good start to the game, as well as more chances for this formation in the future of the game. We’ll have more chances to run the decoy play this way.”
“Oh, okay,” Takeda says. “So why--”
“Tanaka! That was yours!” Ukai yells, admonishing the boy.
“Sorry Coach!” He responds quickly, earning an encouraging back slap from Daichi.
“Sorry, what was that?” Ukai turns back to Takeda, who looks unsurprised by the sudden outburst.
“I was just wondering why Nishinoya-kun doesn’t serve,” he says, watching said player receive a serve from Yamaguchi, whose jumping float serve had been improving.
“He’s a shit serve,” Ukai says matter-of-factly, so nonchalantly that Takeda unattractively snorts his laugh.
“So liberos can serve? I was reading about that this morning at work.”
“Sensei, shouldn’t you be workin’ during work?” Ukai asks with a teasing smile, eyes on the court.
Takeda rises to the challenge. “Figured you could use some help with your own job. I’m just reading up,” he teases back, and Ukai’s back gets a little stiffer. Takeda basks in the feeling of achievement.
“Oi! Stop flirting and tell me what I did wrong!” Tsukishima shouts to them, causing the rest of the team to snicker, minus Asahi, who looks mortified, and Hinata, who just looks confused.
Ukai isn’t shaken, and neither is Takeda, which is a surprise to the team. They had at least expected their mild-mannered advisor to flush pink at the insinuation. Instead, the two adults just zero their attention on Tsukki, who now looks a bit embarrassed at his accidental outburst.
“You’re under the ball,” Ukai says reasonably. “Try running it again. Ennoshita, serve.”
The rest of practice continues, but now the boys are curious. If Ukai-san and Sensei didn’t react badly to being accused of flirting...did that mean that their feelings ran deeper than the normal colleague relationship?
“We have to get them together,” Tanaka is saying in the locker room after practice, toweling off.
“It’s not right to meddle,” Asahi says, in vain.
“No, as much as I hate to say it, Tanaka is right,” Daichi looks at them all seriously. “Too much longer and this unresolved sexual tension is going to drive me to insanity.”
Two - Story
The team is on the bus on their way to a practice match, all of them clustered around Sugawara’s seat, giggling and whispering and shoving each other.
“Do we want to know?” Ukai whispers to Takeda.
The long-suffering teacher just sighs, long and loud. “Probably not.”
They watch as someone shoves Tanaka so hard that he falls in the aisle of the bus, but he just rocks on his back like a turtle might on its shell, jumping back up.
“Ah, to have that resilience,” Takeda says wistfully.
“You’re only twenty-nine, Sensei,” Ukai scoffs.
“Twenty-nine years is a long time to put up with the bullshit I have,” Takeda responds smoothly, and Ukai bursts out a short bark of a laugh.
All of the boys look up, and Ukai suddenly feels like he’s being analyzed, or like every piece of him was being calculated for its worth on the black market. He doesn’t like it. He likes it even less when suddenly all of the boys start whispering loudly over one another, fighting to get closer to Suga. If he squints, he can see Suga holding a notebook and pen in his hands, and he’s scribbling furiously onto the paper.
“Oi! What’s that you’re writing?” He calls out, and the players all get suspiciously silent. Hinata’s face is turning increasingly red, as if he’s trying to hold something in and is about to burst. Kageyama hits his arm.
“A love story,” Suga answers easily.
“A love story?” Takeda perks up. “Who about?” He wonders if it’s an assignment for the third year japanese students, thinking that he might be able to adapt a lesson like that into his haiku lessons.
“About you and Ukai-san,” Sugawara says, trying to keep a straight face. Actually, Takeda can’t really tell what the setter’s face is doing.
Takeda makes a face, then returns his uninterrupted attention to the road again. “You were right, Sensei,” Ukai says after shaking his head in disappointment at his players. “We didn’t want to know.”
Three - Couple
Kageyama slams the volleyball down onto the court, grabbing Hinata by his shirt collar. “How many times do I have to tell you!? It’s a simple arrangement!” He yells, effectively pausing practice. “I don’t even need to be here if this is how you’re going to play!” He storms off of the court, eyes dark and shadow looming.
Ukai stops him before he gets to the gym doors. “And where do you think you’re going?” He asks, raising an amused eyebrow at Kageyama’s boldness.
“If the team isn’t going to work with me, I’m not going to work with them,” he says, staring at his shoes as he seethes.
Ukai looks a bit confused on how to proceed, but he feels a hand on his shoulder and he turns to see Takeda, who has a fire in his eyes Ukai has only seen once before. Oh, shit. He steps back, letting the advisor take it.
“Kageyama-kun. If I don’t see you on that court in the next ten seconds, there will be a problem that wasn’t present before.” Takeda says too calmly. Kageyama is still acquainting himself with his shoes.
“I can’t,” he spits.
“You can’t?” Takeda asks. “And why is that?”
“You wouldn’t understand. You’ve never played volleyball before in your life,” Kageyama complains. Takeda’s shoulders stiffen considerably, his small frame seeming to grow by feet, and Ukai braces himself.
“You’re right. I’ve never played volleyball before,” Takeda begins, his voice raising slightly with every word. “I am inexperienced and pathetically inadequate when it comes to this sport. However, I am not one to stand by and watch as you abandon your teammates. If you are to be a leader among your peers one day, you must learn to take the good with the bad. And you cannot abandon your team when it’s convenient for you. I am astounded by your lack of spine, and if you’re willing to leave you teammates behind without a setter, then I’m willing to leave you behind without a ride to our practice and actual matches. Do I make myself clear?”
Kageyama is cowering under the weight of Takeda’s words. He nods meekly, and Takeda immediately transforms back into his usual self, straightening his tie and stepping back. “Good. Now please return to practice, I believe we’ve disrupted it enough.”
Everyone watches in absolute silence as Kageyama resumes his place on the court, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Ukai blows his whistle, and it takes everyone a moment before they spur back into action, running the play again.
“Impressive,” he murmurs to the advisor, coming up beside him.
“Was I too poetic?” He frets, wringing his tie in his hands.
“You were great. The perfect advisor,” Ukai responds, placing a hand over Takeda’s worried ones, trying to get him to stop from strangling himself.
“Aww, you two are such a cute couple!” Hinata yells out. The team starts snickering again.
“Couple?” Takeda looks up, a little fire still left in his eyes. Immediately, the team silences, returning back to their drills. “That’s what I thought,” Takeda mumbles, straightening his glasses.
“Damn, Sensei. You’re gonna have to teach me that.”
“Teach you what?”
Ukai waves his finger at Takeda’s glasses. “The fire eyes thingie. That comes in handy.”
Four - Date
“Hey Sensei!” Narita approaches Takeda and Ukai after practice, interrupting their game planning.
“Yes, Narita-kun?” Takeda smiles at him gently, loving it when he could converse with the players.
“Are you free on Friday? Like, 8pm this Friday?” He asks. The question startles Takeda, but Narita’s face betrays nothing, and he’s struck with a sudden feeling of concern for the second-year.
“Ah, yes, I believe so,” he says, wanting to be available in case his student wanted to talk about his troubles.
“What about you, Coach?” Narita asks Ukai.
Ukai looks suspicious, but also a little concerned as well. “Yeah, I’m free. Narita--”
“Great! Because I’m not,! You two go on without me. Enjoy your date!”
And just like that he’s gone, only the banging of the gym doors to signify it even happening. Ukai turns to Takeda, feeling a bit whiplashed. “Did he just…?”
“I believe so.”
Five - Propose
“Yes yes yes!” Takeda squeals, eyes shining as Karasuno wins another match. Him and Ukai share a significant look, prompting the team to take notice.
“We have to do something really drastic,” Daichi whispers to Suga, who nods. Asahi just rubs his face with his hands, seeing the look Nishinoya is giving the coach and advisor.
“Yeesh, can one of y’all propose already?” The libero shouts at the adults, and they immediately turn twin looks of annoyance on the second year. Asahi, who didn’t manage to move far enough away from Nishinoya’s comment to escape the punishing eyes of his teachers, feels his entire face burn in embarrassment for his teammate.
But it doesn’t slip his attention that the coach and advisor sit a little further apart for the rest of the games.
Plus one - Narration
Tanaka is being more of a shit than usual, so honestly, Ukai is just waiting for it. Except it happens when he forgets to wait for it.
He was standing on the sidelines with Takeda, conversing with the teacher about rotations, when a stray ball came flying in from the court. Ukai’s reflexes are a quarter of a second too slow, and the ball smacks Takeda in the face, sending his glasses skittering across the gym floor and landing the advisor hard on his tailbone, holding his face.
“Oh my god,” Ukai says involuntarily, dropping next to Takeda. “Are you okay?”
Takeda moves his hands from his face. “How bad is it?” There’s blood trickling from his nose and a rather deep cut over his eye, where Ukai is sure his own glasses caught his skin. The team is gathered around them, a strange silence of guilt hanging above them.
“Asahi, get the first aid kit,” he instructs, but realizes that Daichi’s already grabbed it, and he hands it over. Ukai grabs some disinfectant wipes and thin gauze pads from the kit. Then he hands Takeda the travel kleenex pouch he keeps in his pocket. “Here, wipe up your nose,” he says. While Takeda busies himself with that, Ukai starts cleaning his cut.
“It’s my fault for not watching for balls,” Takeda is saying, his bloody nose making his voice odd and nasally.
“He leans in closer, inspecting the wound. But as he does, he gets distracted by the other man’s soft lips. How easy it would be, he thinks to himself, to just lean in and--”
Ukai whips his head up, giving Tanaka a murderous glance. Tanaka acts like he doesn’t see it. “You’ll be fine, as long as I can get this to stop bleeding,” Ukai tells the advisor.
“The teacher notices the first man’s hesitation, looking at him with adoration in his eyes. This is his hero, his savior, and he can’t be more grate--”
“Tanaka, if you do not shut up this instant I swear to god. I am up to HERE with your bullshit,” Ukai seethes, causing Takeda to chuckle.
“What is it with you kids anyway?” The advisor asks, thanking Hinata as he returns his glasses. “For the past few weeks, you’ve been making some interesting comments about Ukai-kun and I.”
The players start blushing and shuffling their feet, mumbling unintelligible excuses.
“No, something is definitely up,” Ukai surveys them with his hands on his hips, managing to look intimidating despite his usual laid-backness. “Spit it out.”
Daichi, unsurprisingly, steps up as the rest of the team looks to him for guidance. “We noticed a while back that, well, respectfully,” he says quickly, eyes darting between the two men, “you both seemed to be quite fond of each other. And we thought that you might need some, ah, encouraging. Respectfully,” he says again.
Ukai raises a single eyebrow, then sighs and gets to his feet. He holds out a hand to Takeda, who takes it gratefully with the hand that isn’t catching blood with a kleenex. “I think we’ve been made, Sensei.”
The team watches in confusion as Takeda grins, shoving the bloody kleenex in the pocket of his green sports jacket. “I told you they were more perceptive than they let on.”
“Wait, what?” Asahi blurts, then looks surprised that he said anything.
“Sensei and I...well,” Ukai glances at the advisor bashfully.
“Keishin and I have been together for a few months,” Takeda takes over helpfully, his voice still affected by his nose. The team looks and realizes that they haven’t let go of each others’ hands.
“We didn’t want to say anythin’, didn’t want you kids feelin’ uncomfortable,” Ukai scratches the back of his neck. “It’s a little unprofessional for your coach and your advisor to be seein’ each other.”
The players are looking between the two men, mouths agape and disbelieving.
“Anyways,” Ukai says, obviously embarrassed now, “I’m gonna end practice early today. Rest. We’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Ukai and Takeda leave the gym together after packing up, noticing the glances the players keep stealing at them.
“Do you think we broke them, Ittetsu?” Ukai asks softly as they walk back to Takeda’s place hand-in-hand.
“After the initial shock wears off, I’m sure they’ll be happy for us,” Takeda grins, remembering the shock in their eyes. If someone had told him that he and Ukai would spark up a relationship between post-game drinks and shared rooms, he would’ve had the same expression on his face.
Ukai shrugs. “I guess we’ll see tomorrow.”