Chapter Text
“Hey, you’re the new intern?”
Walking into the sports science office had been a bit of a shock seeing just how disorganized it was for being such a vital part of all the sports teams. “Yeah, Y/N L/N.”
“Awesome, good to have you.” The man held out a hand for you to shake, the other sitting on his left hip. “I’m Manabu, this is Ukai. We’re two of the coaches that help run this department.”
You shook both their hands. “Nice to meet you.”
“We read your application, seems like you’ve got a good eye for this stuff. What made you interested?”
“My sister got hurt during a track meet and I ran out to help her, the trainer there said I did a great job and asked if I wanted to help out once I got to high school as a club activity.”
Ukai nodded along with his arms crossed. “And I’m assuming you did?”
“No, actually, I played soccer. But, I did help out my own team and there were plenty of injuries there. Getting everyone sorted out after a game was easy with the two of us doing the work.”
Manabu led you to an office where he grabbed a polo shirt and a lanyard for you before taking you to get your photo taken for the badge you’d wear to games. Once that was done he had you meet the head of the department.
“I’m Nekomata.” He looked like a grandfather, someone you would sit next to on a park bench and ask about the weather. “I’m happy to have you join us, Miss L/N.”
“Thank you sir, I’m excited to be here.”
Your first day, those were the only three you saw. They had you filling out paperwork, going over rules and regulations, showing you where everything was located.
“It’s a little bit of a mess right now,” Ukai grumbled. “But it’s easy enough to find whatcha need. And all the equipment is always kept in boxes ready to grab.”
By the time everything was situated for the first day it was about time to head home and the coaches all wished you a good night knowing they would see you the next day.
The schedule was easy.
Every intern had to do so many hours of in office work as well as field time which meant going to games and being present for any emergencies. Once you were a third year you were allowed to travel with the teams and assist with any aftergame needs they might have.
But you weren’t expecting how many interns there actually were.
Walking in the next morning you found almost every desk had someone at it, some of the interns were leaning on other desks but it was easy to see that just about everyone was there.
“Listen up!” Ukai called once you set your bag down at the desk he’d showed you the day before. “We told you there would be some new interns starting, and we’d like to introduce Y/N L/N who starts today. She’s sitting with Tanaka, so introduce yourself when you can.”
He launched into the games for the upcoming week and who would be assigned to them before posting the paper to a board by the door for everyone to reference.
“So, we’re desk buddies now huh?” Turning, you found the man smiling but if he hadn’t been you would have thought he was going to ask for your lunch money. “Ryunosuke Tanaka, second year.”
“Y/N L/N, third year.”
His eyes widened. “You’re starting your internship late.”
“Well, I just transferred here last year so they didn’t want me to start an internship until I completed the classes needed first.”
As people walked up to the desk, Tanaka helped introduce you before he had to leave for class. Someone else dropped into the seat and started talking before the person sitting at the cube behind your computer stood over the partition. “Yahaba, shut up will you?”
“Geeze Iwa, I’m just introducing myself to her.”
“Yeah, well I know for a fact you have some reports to get to Nekomata by the end of the day.” The guy mumbled to himself as he walked back to his own desk. “Sorry about him, he does that with every girl that comes in here.”
You leaned back in the chair to see him better. “Does that happen often? It looked like I was one of two girls here.”
“Because he scares them all off!” You laughed, softening the guys face. “I’m Iwaizumi, by the way. Heard you tell Tanaka you’re a third year?”
.”Yeah, I have more hours to catch up on because of it but I also have less classes so it evens out I think.”
Nekomata walked over and smiled. “Glad to see you’re getting along well with everyone so far. Iwaizumi, would you mind partnering with Y/N for now? I know you’ll be at the basketball game later today and I think that would be a good start for her.”
“Yes, sir.” Once he’d walked away Iwaizumi came around the cubicle wall. “Here, give me your phone so I can give you my number. That way we can meet up before the game and I can show you everything.”
“Hey! You’re gonna yell at me for talking to her but you’re getting her number!?”
Iwa spun around and pointed at Yahaba, you realized this seemed to be a normal occurrence from how no one else was reacting. “I’m giving her my number, dumbass! That’s always how it should be done so the other person doesn’t feel pressured to answer you, the balls in their court to contact first!”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yeah, well, that’s why you can’t have two dates in a row dumbass.”
You took the device back from Iwa and sent him a message with your name so he had your info as well. “That’s actually a good way to do it,” Yahaba looked like he was about to deflate. “I never thought of it like that before.”
“See?” Iwa was still glaring at the guy before whispering over to you. “We went to high school together, he was always kind of a shallow prick.”
“I HEARD THAT!”
“I WANTED YOU TO HEAR IT!”
Ukai stepped out of his office and looked at the two, already exhausted. “Will you both, please, shut up?! ”
“Sorry, sir.” They both chorused.
“Mind if we sit?”
You were sitting at a table in the cafeteria eating lunch, not noticing a few of the other interns had walked in. “Sure.”
“We wanted to try and get to know you a little better since we didn’t get much of a chance this morning to talk.”
“I’m Yukie,” the girl waved at you from across the table. “I’m not actually in sports medicine but I am a nutritionist so I hang out with these guys a lot.”
It was nice to get to know more people you’d be spending time with, but it was also still a little overwhelming. “I didn’t realize how many interns there actually were.”
“Well we have a lot of sports teams, so we need to be prepared to help them.” Reon, another intern shrugged. “Besides, we only have three actual athletic trainers and two of them are coaches for some of the teams, Nekomata is the only one who doesn’t coach anymore.”
“So what happens at their games? Do they still need interns?”
Reon nodded. “They always want one there no matter what, but they can help with bad injuries. You’ll see once they start having people come in for assessments.”
“Oh, I love the assessments. Ukai always gets so grouchy.”
Since most of your classes were one after another it was easy to spend more time in the trainers office than the others. You were able to go in the morning, leave for class and lunch, and then go back and get your hours in while studying.
“What class is that for?” Tanaka peeked over your shoulder. “Oh, Ogawa’s class. I’m taking that one too, bastard has so many notes he wants us to take.”
“There’s not that many.”
Your deskmate melted into his chair. “My hand cramps just seeing what he puts on the board.”
“Type them up then, he lets your bring a laptop to class.”
Iwa had popped over the side of the cube again to watch. “You didn’t know that Tanaka?”
“No! And none of my so-called-friends here thought to tell me, either!”
“We’re not friends!” Someone shouted across the room.
“YES WE ARE YOU TAKE THAT BACK!”
Ukai was starting to get annoyed from his office and kicked the door closed loudly. “You’re gonna run laps one of these days, Ukai is sick of you.”
“Yeah? And what about you Iwaizumi? He can’t wait for you to graduate so you stop showing him up.”
Iwa shrugged and grabbed his book bag to leave but you had questions. Your phone buzzed and you saw it was a text from him.
Meet back here at 3pm.
The other interns filtered in and out of the office all day, but you stayed. Iwa stopped short when he saw you still there at 2. “Do you ever leave?”
“I have so many hours I need to catch up on, and honestly I don’t like my roommate so I don’t want to go back to my apartment.”
He nodded, dropping his bag at his desk. “Alright, well we can get started at least. It’ll give us more than enough time to go over the equipment.”
The sports medicine department had a couple of carts to get the trainers from the office to the games with all the equipment without needing to carry it. The coaches used their own cars most of the time to keep them open for the interns but there had been a couple of times someone had to be taken to the medical office on the cart so they tried to have one ready.
“Some of the basics: first aid tape, gauze rolled and squares, sports tape, slings, ace bandages of every kind, ice and heat packs, smelling salts, splints for almost every bone, and tourniquets.” The bag was filled with everything that could be needed in case multiples needed to be used. “Then, of course, we have specialty items. Defibrillator, blocks to immobilize necks, traction splints, and a bunch of other stuff I’ve never had to pull out. Any questions?”
You shook your head. Iwa motioned for you to get into the cart and drove off towards the basketball gym. You took the first aid bag while Iwa took the bigger bag and made your way to the sidelines where your university’s team would be set up. After a bit the stands started filling up and both teams came onto the court to warm up.
“I’m gonna tell you this now so you’re prepared, but these guys-”
“HEAD’S UP!” A ball came from above you and Iwa easily reached up to grab it before it could come near you. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s alright.”
The player jogged over to take the ball smiling broadly as he saw you. “You’re a sports trainer? Perfect, I always end up needing a rub down after a game.”
“Oh, perfect.” Iwa opened his mouth to speak but you kept going as you pointed towards him. “I hear this guy has some magical hands, you’ll get a perfect rubdown no problem.”
Your saccharine smile only made Iwaizumi want to laugh harder, but he was too busy watching the basketball player’s face fall. “Sorry, no...I meant…”
“Yes?”
“You really want me to say it?” You nodded excitedly. “I...nevermind.”
Pulling up the chair you sat watching the players movements. “That was devious.”
“What was?”
“The way you handled that.” Iwa watched your profile as he spoke. “I was about to tell you that these guys always come off really creepy so you should watch out but never mind.”
He told you about how basketball didn’t usually end up with too many injuries, but the ones that did happen ranged from a sprained finger or ankle to a broken bone so you could never really tell what to prepare for.
By the end of the game there had only been one jammed finger and no one needed anything afterwards so the two of you were free to leave.
“How’d it go?” Ukai found Iwa walking out of the office as he was smoking. “Anything happen?”
“I’ll have the report for you in the morning, nothing major happened though.”
The fake blonde nodded. “And what about the new intern?”
“She’s gonna fit in just fine.”