Chapter Text
"Hey Hey HEY!"
Applause and cheers roared through the gym as Yaku's shoulders slumped, heavy sighs and groans coming from the rest of his teammates. He watched with frustration as the opposing team, Fukurodani, celebrated on the other side of the net, letting out cheers and laughter as they hugged or patted each other on the back. Yaku had been on the losing side plenty of times, but it never got any easier. He could feel the frustration building up in his chest as he thought about some plays he could’ve done better.
He was snapped out of his jealous trance when Kuroo slapped him on the back. "Don't mind, don't mind." He showed off his signature grin. "We'll win the next one, and then we'll beat them at the Spring Nationals."
"Well duh," Yaku said, crossing his arms. "What else would we do?" It didn't take much to get Yaku back into the competitive spirit, but for that matter, he knew it didn't take much to make Kuroo competitive either.
Kuroo smiled wider. "That's the spirit," he said, patronizingly.
Yaku rolled his eyes, before elbowing Kuroo in the side, prompting what could only be described as a squawk from him. "Shut up."
Kuroo tilted his head. "Mm, never." Yaku laughed, rolling his eyes.
"Man," groaned Lev from behind, catching Kuroo and Yaku's attention. "I really thought we had Bokuto-san for a minute there."
Kuroo shrugged as he and Yaku turned around. "Bokuto's unpredictable. Not even his teammates can predict how well he’ll do sometimes."
"That might be true," Yaku started, before pointing a finger at Lev. "But you still need to work on your receives. We might’ve gotten a few more points if you weren't always avoiding receiving practice."
Lev groaned, hanging his head.
Kuroo slapped Yaku on the back once again, causing him to stumble a little. "And that may be true too, but-" he chuckled. "You can lecture him once we’re done for the day. Channel that angry energy into winning us the next game, yeah?"
Yaku rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'll have to if Lev doesn't get better at receiving."
Lev pouted. "Hey!"
Yaku sighed. "Anyways, Hurry up, we need to get going. I'm sure the other team is getting ready and will be here any minute," he scolded, lightly pushing Lev and Kuroo.
Lev let out a few sounds of protest, before looking behind Yaku with a bewildered look on his face. "Hey, it's Bokuto-san!"
Kuroo shifted his gaze to where Lev was looking before waving. "Hey, man!"
Yaku turned just as the aforementioned captain was right in front of him, causing him to jump slightly. "Hey, Kuroo!" Bokuto greeted cheerily, before turning back to Yaku. "You're Nekoma's libero, right?"
Yaku's eyebrows furrowed, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I am."
He didn’t really like being face to face with the person he lost to less than a few minutes ago. Well, face to chest at least.
Bokuto beamed and then leaned down to be properly face-to-face with Yaku, which Yaku wasn't sure if he preferred or disliked even more.
"You sure are a lot shorter up close."
Never mind, he definitely hated it. A choked noise came from Lev, and Kuroo began to snicker. Yaku narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows. "Excuse-"
"Anyways!" Bokuto changed the conversation topic swiftly, completely unaware of the danger he just put himself in. "I wanted to say uh, great job!" He leaned forwards more, prompting Yaku to lean backward. "Oh! And, your receives and digs were awesome! I mean- are! They always are! I haven’t met very many who can dig my spikes as uh… Skillfully as you do!"
Yaku furrowed his brows. He was currently experiencing at least three different emotions, none of which could be put into words. "Uh, thanks-?"
"Mhm! So I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime! Maybe practice or get like- Food or somethin’, I dunno!" Bokuto said, offering a hopeful grin.
Yaku, head spinning, in a moment of pure confusion (and due to his blunt nature), blurted out whatever came to mind first.
"No."
A sort of stunned silence hung around the four boys as Yaku silently hoped nobody else heard the ordeal. God, if the rest of the team knew, he’d definitely get made fun of for being so blunt about it. The silence was broken by a cackle from Kuroo, followed by an almost patronizing, "Ooh, cold." Scratch that, it was totally patronizing.
Bokuto's enthusiastic grin dropped, switching to a pout, and he seemed to almost deflate.
"Uh, come on, we need to go." Yaku swiftly turned and started walking off, following some of their other teammates who were already on their way out. Lev followed suit, and Yaku looked back at them as Kuroo stayed behind and patted Bokuto on the back.
"Don't take it too personally, I'll talk to him. I think you just overwhelmed the poor guy," Yaku heard Kuroo explain, before walking off with them as well.
This didn't seem to do much for Bokuto's mood, who stood there like a sad, lost puppy for a while before returning to his teammates. Yaku then turned back around, face flushed slightly in embarrassment.
The referee blew the whistle. It was out.
Cheers came from Nohebi's side of the net as Yamamoto turned around. "I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed, a distraught look on his face.
Kuroo waved his hands dismissively. "Don't worry about it! We'll get the next one!"
Yaku furrowed his brows, steadying his stance. He looked away from his teammates and to the Nohebi player preparing to serve on the other side of the net. We have to get this next one, he thought to himself, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. I'll make sure of it.
It was only moments later that the opponent served the ball, and it was received and sent to the other side of the court. It was soon coming back in the form of a spike from the opposing team's captain.
"One touch!" Lev shouted as the ball bounced off his hand and went high in the air. Yaku watched as Yamamoto dived to the floor to receive the ball, sending it back up. And Yaku watched as the ball started to fall towards the audience, and ran forwards after it. It wouldn't be an easy dig, but he had to try. He was only vaguely aware of his surroundings as he leapt over the boundary separating the audience and the rest of the court. He raised his arms to receive the ball, successfully made contact with it, and sent it flying back towards the court.
However, he realized he should have been paying more attention when a jolt of pain suddenly shot up his leg. He made a pained noise as his ankle rolled, stepping on the foot of one of the audience members and consequently tumbling to the floor. He laid there for a few moments, gritting his teeth until he felt someone reach down to help him, and Yaku was only slightly aware of the shouts of triumph from his team as he was helped up by Yamamoto. He tried to ignore the pain in his leg, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw as his teammate helped him walk past the now knocked-over boundary. He took a deep breath, turned around, and apologized to the stranger he had stepped on. Luckily, he got an "It's totally fine, don't worry." in response, so at least he hadn’t hurt anyone else in the process of doing that dig.
It's totally fine. Yaku took another deep breath and turned around and started to walk forward. "I'm fine-" he cut himself off with a hiss of pain, doubling over. He leaned into Yamamoto as Inuoka and their assistant coach came to his aid. Yaku looked up apologetically at Kuroo, who had walked over when Yaku was doubled over. "I'm sorry."
Kuroo smiled reassuringly. "We're always causing you trouble, Yakkun," he tilted his head to the side casually. "So it wouldn't hurt for you to watch us win from the bench every now and then."
Nobuyuki walked up beside Kuroo, smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry, it's just a small break before nationals."
He knew Nobuyuki and Kuroo were trying to reassure him, and he appreciated the gesture, but he couldn't help but grow more and more frustrated as he was guided to the bench. He had avoided getting sick or hurt for so long, and today had to be the day he slipped up. In the middle of their first set. The first set. He grit his teeth as he was set down on the bench. This was really turning out to be a shitty day.
Thankfully, they won anyway just as Kuroo said they would. But still, Yaku was, to put it simply, frustrated. Yeah sure, he was happy they won the game- and he was very proud of Shibayama- but he was definitely not happy about being benched and his hurting leg. Of course, he would likely be fine by the time they were at the Spring Nationals, as Nobuyuki said, and he would have plenty of time to play there, but he couldn't help but be a little upset. He was finding that he was upset a lot today.
He leaned forward off the wall he had been propped up against. Kuroo and Nobuyuki had left not too long ago to get a new ice pack for him. So, while he sat there, he thought about what Kuroo had asked of him before they left. Right as Nobuyuki walked off, Kuroo told Yaku, almost word for word, "Hey, I know you're probably busy thinking about the last game but… I think you were too harsh on Bokuto earlier. Give him a chance alright?" And before Yaku could question it, Kuroo had already started walking away.
Yaku thought for a moment. He got what Kuroo was implying, and honestly, he sort of agreed. He hadn't thought about his answer before saying no. But at the same time, he was stupidly stubborn and didn't plan on trying to find Bokuto himself to apologize. He wasn't in a good mood, after all, so he wasn't going to go out of his way. Well, he wasn't really in a purely bad mood either. It was confusing. It didn't matter, he couldn't go find him anyway. The only way he was going to talk to Bokuto again was if he ran into him again, and that definitely wasn’t going to happen.
"Hey, you, are you alright?"
Aaand he spoke too soon. Yaku looked up to see, speak of the devil, Bokuto standing a few steps away from him, which was a nice change to the total lack of personal space Yaku was subjected to earlier. This helped his mood, just a little bit.
"I saw your, uh, fall earlier," Bokuto explained awkwardly, fiddling with the sleeve of his Fukurodani jacket. “And I wanted to see if you were doing okay.”
Yaku sighed and nodded, trying not to make his bad mood too obvious. "I'm... Fine." He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. He thought about what Kuroo had said for a moment and started to talk again. "And uh…." He paused, debating whether or not to go through with it. "...Sorry, for earlier," he said awkwardly. "I can hang out, actually. Y’know, whenever my… Leg is better."
Yaku shifted uncomfortably as Bokuto stared at him, looking away to avoid his wide owl-like gaze. It almost felt as though his soul was being weighed with those eyes staring at him.
"Really?" Bokuto asked, and Yaku could practically feel the excitement radiating off of him.
Yaku shrugged, smiling softly. "Yeah, sure."
Bokuto made a sort of strangled, excited sound, before coughing. "Great! That’s awesome! Uh…" he gestured vaguely in Yaku's direction and it took a moment for Yaku to understand what it meant. Honestly, he didn’t realize Bokuto hadn’t caught his name yet.
"Ah. Yaku Morisuke."
"Nice to meet you, Yaku," Bokuto said cheerfully. "I'm Bokuto Koutarou."
Yaku blinked, then chuckled lightly. "I know."
Bokuto's grin widened at that and he gave a thumbs up. "Alright! Just uh… Tell me whenever you're available!" With that, Bokuto waved (which he did as he did most things; with an unnecessary amount of enthusiasm), before running off.
It wasn't until Bokuto was out of sight that Yaku realized he hadn't been given a way to contact Bokuto. Oh well, he'd figure it out. Or it just wouldn't happen. Whichever came first worked just fine. He didn't care to think about it at the moment, and instead tried to focus on something other than his lingering disappointment about the game and the pain in his leg.