Work Text:
Ennoshita groaned when he looked down at the thermometer that he managed to sneak into the clubroom. The numbers left nothing up to interpretation, 37.8 degrees Celsius was undeniably a fever and certainly reason enough to sit someone out of practice. Knowing when to sit out shouldn’t be a problem for him, he was ‘the responsible one’ out of the second years after all, the one who was apparently fated to be the team’s next captain.
But he didn’t want to sit on the bench at practice while Takeda-sensei fretted over him, and he certainly didn’t want to be sent home. Coach Ukai said the team would be having a scrimmage today, which meant that Ennoshita would actually get some time on the court. Daichi even promised to have Takeda film some of his receives, that way they could go over adjustments that he could make. If he was going to be the captain next year, he wanted to earn his spot in the starting line-up. That wouldn’t happen if he was constantly left to wait in the wings, he had to power through this stupid cold and get better.
With his head in the locker, face probably flushed more than looked normal, he resolved to persevere through this. Chikara remembered seeing the determination in each of his senpais’ eyes last year. They had carried with them the taunting whispers about their team amounting to nothing, they shouldered being ‘the wingless crows’, and yet they were able to keep pushing until the team qualified for the National Tournament. They were still pushing, wanting to stay on the court as long as they could. Who was Ennoshita not to follow suit? He would never spit in the face of their hard work, not when they fought with every fiber of their being to restore the reputation of Karasuno’s volleyball team.
Ennoshita planned on continuing that legacy, and a silly head cold wouldn’t stop him.
“You coming Ennoshita?”
A shudder ran through Chikara’s body at the sudden voice coming from directly behind him, culminating in his brown head shooting up and connecting with the top of his locker. “Shit!” He cursed, pulling his head out and bringing his hands to try and rub away the sore feeling.
“Oh my god!”
Ennoshita turned to see Sugawara’s shocked face, hands extended to him and mouth agape. “Ennoshita, I’m so sorry I scared you. I thought you heard me close the door, if I knew that you didn’t know I was here I would never have come up behind you like that! Are you okay?”
The brunette felt hands encapsulating his face, forcing his gaze to look at his ashen blonde senpai. There was clear worry behind Suga’s amber eyes, and Ennoshita felt guilty at the sight of it. “I’m fine senpai, it’s just a bump at the most.” There were murmurs about ice and a possible concussion coming from the seasoned setter and Ennoshita felt his stomach drop. He had literally just told himself that he wasn’t going to be sitting out because he was sick, there was no way he would flub that by sitting out anyway because of a stupid sore spot on his head. “Seriously senpai, I’m fine. There is no need to worry.”
“You are going to learn that the secret to being a senpai is that you are always worried.” Suga shot his kouhai a soft smile, though his hands had yet to release the younger boy’s face. Now that his fears of accidentally causing their future captain to fall into a coma, Suga noticed that the cheeks he was holding were abnormally warm. He knew that some people run a little hotter than others, Daichi always felt like a furnace, but in all the times that Suga had ruffled Chikara’s hair or grabbed his face to shake him back in forth due to excitement or annoyance, the boy had never seemed to be a space heater like his mentor.
Which meant that Ennoshita was feverish...
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Suga asked, his tone illustrating that he was not going to tolerate lying of any sort. “You feel a little warm.”
Chikara’s eyes widened at his senpai’s question and he attempted to move out of Suga’s grasp. He couldn’t tell Suga about his cold, his Vice-Captain would certainly pull rank and force Ennoshita to sit out of today’s scrimmage. He needed that play experience, so there was only one thing left for him to do. “That’s the adrenaline, you know from when you scared me. I was shocked and a bit embarrassed, so my cheeks are warm.” The answer was quick and he hoped against all hope that it didn’t feel or sound forced. There were certain consequences for lying while on this team, and he had no intention of paying them.
Suga squinted his eyes as he studied his kouhai. The second that Ennoshita slipped from his grasp, he knew the boy was coming up with a lie. He would never tell the team because that would be rather inconvenient for him as a senpai, but each of the underclassmen had a tell for when they were lying. Tobio flared his nostrils, Yamaguchi twiddled with his pointer fingers specifically, Noya would only look to the far left corner of a room, and Ennoshita always tried to maintain as much distance as possible. Kiyoko was the one to spot most of these, acting as the eyes and ears of the third years, and had reported each tell to her friends. The four third years had come to an agreement after their conversation that once they graduated, they would tell Takeda-sensei and Coach Ukai about these important signs for future reference.
“Alright, I’m going to pretend you didn’t just lie to me because I know you are smarter than to think I am going to be fooled into believing a slight jump was enough to trigger a flight or fight adrenaline response from you. Instead, I’m going to give you a chance to tell me the truth, young man.” Suga leveled his kouhai with a steel stare. “Are you sick?”
The brunette fought back a gulp, knowing that would be as good as signing his own death warrant. “I said I was fine, senpai,” Ennoshita took a step back and rested his body on the lockers. He did not want to be within arm's length of the third year. “Just head down to the gym, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Sugawara crossed his arms and shook his head in disappointment. He had given Ennoshita more leeway than most, offering him a chance, to tell the truth whenever he was blatantly caught in a lie, and yet the boy was digging his heels in. “You aren’t going anywhere, at least not until I say you can.”
For the most part, Suga was the more laid-back captain. Daichi was pretty high-strung, running a pretty tight ship with the team. When it came to the forgoing discipline he subscribed to the ‘give them an inch and they will take a mile’ belief. Suga on the other hand frequently saw the fun the boys were having as rather harmless and were more likely to wink and tell them to knock it off before the ’no fun parent’ showed up. But if there was something that would trigger a near-automatic response from him, it was lying about health issues.
“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance Chikara,” Suga said as he reached for the boy’s arm, pulling the younger boy across the room and depositing Ennoshita across his lap after sitting on a metal fold-out chair. “You are a very smart boy, and very smart boys know better than to continue lying once they’ve been caught.” Much to the protest of his kouhai, he started working down Ennoshita’s gym shorts and underwear. “In fact, very smart boys know not to lie in the first place.”
“No! Senpai don’t do this!” Ennoshita tried to push himself up, but his actions were met with a solid hand on the small of his back pushing him right back down. “I’m sorry for lying! I won’t do it again!”
The first of a series of smacks came down on the crest of Ennoshita’s pale bottom, dusting it with rosy pink. “You certainly won’t!” Suga agreed as he continued to bring his hand down. “Because if you do, then you can expect to be right back here. Every. Single. Time.” Each of the last three words was punctuated with a particularly stinging swat to the tips of Ennoshita’s thighs, causing the boy to cry out in pain and kick his feet. “Stay still little boy,” Suga commanded.
“It hurts!” Chikara whined in response. He hated being told to stay still, he was in pain and the only thing that made him feel like he was being proactive with the problem was to wiggle about.
That didn’t fly as an excuse with his senpai though.
“Spankings aren’t meant to feel good, otherwise it wouldn’t be a punishment. I will move spots when you stop struggling.” Suga said, cutting off any more wiggling with another bout of spanks to his kouhai’s sit spots. Ennoshita was fighting off tears by now, this position never seemed to let him leave without those. The spanking continued in silence for a few moments longer, the only sound in the clubroom being Ennoshita’s own grunts of pain and the echoes of the smacks ricocheting off the walls. Finally, Suga decided to distract him from the humiliating pain with words again. “Why are you over my knee, Chikara?”
The urge to answer ‘because you dragged me here’ was only just narrowly defeated. “Because I lied to you,” he said instead, the words strained as a few ows slipped in.
“What did you lie to me about?” Suga asked as the spanks accompanying the question came down in the rapid fire. “And make sure, to tell the truth, this time, or I might find a stray hairbrush around here.”
Ennoshita furiously shook his head as he voiced his dissent to that hypothetical. “No no no!” He cried. “You don’t need to do that senpai, I’ll tell the truth! I lied about my health! I have a fever and not from adrenaline, and I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to sit out from today’s scrimmage! I want to play Sugawara-senpai! I want to play so I can be a good captain and be useful on the court!”
Before he could fully finish his explanation, Ennoshita felt himself being lifted from the lap that was holding him and being pulled into an embrace. He didn’t care much that at this moment his ass was still bare or that he was crying into the shoulder of his senpai like a small child, the only thing he cared about was that the pain was finally over. Well sort of, his butt was still throbbing, but at least this was as hot as the fire was going to get. The two of them stayed like that, Suga holding Ennoshita close and rocking slightly to calm the boy until Ennoshita seemed to finally cry himself out.
“Alright baby,” Suga cooed as he pulled the two apart. Ennoshita continued to sniffle, but at least the tears had stopped. It gave Suga the strength to push his kouhai into sitting on the metal chair, though he did feel an ounce of sympathy whenever the boy squeaked at his hot backside making contact with the unforgivingly hard surface.
“First of all, you are useful on the court,” Suga’s eyes became a glare whenever Chikara moved to interrupt him, lucky the boy had the common sense to shut his mouth after that. “Missing a scrimmage isn’t going to change that, and if this is about Daichi working with you on your receives then I will talk to him and set up a private practice for just the two of you.” There was a flash of satisfaction and hope behind Ennoshita’s eyes, which made Suga’s stomach settle slightly. It seemed they had moved past the pushing himself unnecessarily stage. “Secondly, I need to know how sick you are.”
“I had a fever of 37.8 degrees senpai.” Chikara sighed as his eyes fell to the floor.
Suga raised an eyebrow at that, curious how his junior knew the exact temperature. “Do you have a thermometer here Chikara?”
The boy nodded his head, though he did not look up. “It’s in my locker…that’s what I was doing when you came in.”
Understanding washed over the third year, and he made his way over to the locker. Grabbing the device, Suga walked over to the tiny sink that was located in the corner of the room so he could quickly wash it off. Once it was clean, the setter made his way back to his kouhai. “Open up,” Suga said. When confused brown eyes shot up to look at him, Suga just shrugged. “You lied to me before, so I’m making sure you didn’t make the fever sound less than it is.”
“I’m not senpai,” Ennoshita promised, but he saw that Suga wasn’t moving on this one. Opening his mouth, he accepted the thermometer without a fuss.
Suga walked behind the wing spiker, pulling the boy’s hands to rest on his brown hair. “Stay like this until I tell you otherwise.”
Chikara's cheeks blushed red and this time, the color on his face was actually from embarrassment rather than his fever. He was sitting, bare-assed on the chair with a thermometer in his mouth, clearly in a position that screamed naughty boy in timeout. He considered himself lucky that Suga had at least taken the time to adjust his underwear so it was at least covering his top half and preserving at least the very last ounce of his dignity. “Senp—“
“Hush,” Sugawara commanded. He took Ennoshita’s chin in his hand and inclined the boy’s face upward towards him. “Moving the thermometer could cause an inaccurate read and then you will be in this position for longer.” That was something that Ennoshita was not interested in, in the slightest, so he nodded and remained still until the thermometer finally beeped. When Suga reached for the stick, Ennoshita parted his lips slightly so it could be easily removed but wouldn’t fall out until it was taken under his senpai’s control. Suga’s honey-colored eyes scrutinized the digital reader until he leveled Ennoshita with an unimpressed stare.
For a moment, the second year was actually afraid he had accidentally lied and would once again find himself crying across his Vice Captain’s lap.
“37.8,” Suga reported and Ennoshita couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “Okay, here’s what’s going to happen—“ the older boy’s eyes sharpened whenever he saw Chikara’s arms starting to relax. “Excuse me, young man, but did I tell you that you could lower your arms?”
“No, senpai,” Ennoshita answered.
“Then keep in position.” The second year was quick to follow the command and raised his arms to look like chicken wings next to his head. “Good,” Suga smiled gently. “As I was saying, here is what’s going to happen. We are going to go to the gym together and tell Takeda-sensei that you have a fever and cannot participate in practice today. I’m going to ask Kiyoko to walk you home and you are going to be on your best behavior for her. If I find out you gave her any trouble or weren’t honest about how you were feeling and then somehow pass out, I promise what you just got is gonna be a walk in the park. Got it?”
Following the foreboding words, a chill ran down Ennoshia’s spine. He had a sense of what that could mean for him, considering that Sugawara had only used his hand to light a fire under his backside, and he was in no hurry to see if his fearful premonition of hairbrushes or slippers came true. There was also the potential that it wouldn’t just be Sugawara that would be participating in that particular conversation. If anyone on the team gave Kiyoko-senpai trouble, all three of the other third years got particularly protective, including the resident gentle giant of the bunch. Ennoshita remembered a few weeks ago when a group of boys from the baseball team had dared to wolf-whistle at Kiyoko while she was walking to the gym with Asahi-senpai. The normally kind and emotionally fragile ace hadn’t even hesitated to make his way over, channeling every bit of intimidation that his natural looks gave him, and told them to stop their inappropriate behavior before he took care of it himself.
The idea of any of his other senpais being called in to witness or participate in a punishment had Chikara’s stomach plummeting into his left calf muscle as its new place of residence. He would like to avoid that outcome at all costs.
“Yes, senpai.” He nodded his head, hands still firmly planted in place and position unbroken. “I’ll be good, I swear.”
“Glad to hear it.” Suga smiled wide. His fair hand reached out to ruffle the bit of hair that Ennoshita’s own hands weren’t already covering. “Alrighty, then you can get up from there and pull your shorts back up.” The second he was granted permission, Ennoshita sprung up from his seat and readjusted his underwear and shorts, glad to have some modesty back in his life. His bottom stung when the fabric brushed against it but he was happy to have the feeling if it meant that his butt was no longer exposed to the elements and potentially on display.
After he had repacked his bag, the two of them made their way down to the gym. Suga instructed him to stay at the threshold while he went over to speak with Takeda-sensei, who just so happen to already be meeting with both Coach Ukai and Daichi. The four of them chatted for a bit before Daichi called Kiyoko over and presumably told her the plan for the afternoon. The entire time, Ennoshita stood in place and didn’t move an inch. He had already toed the line enough for one afternoon and didn’t want to incur another scolding from any of his other seniors.
“Ennoshita,” Daichi made his way over with Kiyoko at his side. “Sugawara told us you weren’t feeling well.”
“Yes, Captain.” The second year nodded. “I have a fever.”
Ennoshita had heard stories of the four younger siblings that lived in the Sawamura household, so it was rather unsurprising when Daichi’s palm immediately rested across the younger wing-spiker’s forehead. “Yeah, it feels like it. I’m sorry, I know you were wanting to work on your receives, but it’s good you told Suga you were sick and are sitting out. How about you text me your schedule when you get home and we can set aside some time to work together? I’m sure Kiyoko wouldn’t mind coming by and filming if Takeda-sensei isn’t available.”
“It wouldn’t be any trouble,” Kiyoko affirmed. “It might even be good for Yachi to come and help. That will be in line with her duties as manager for next year but I think doing a film session with a smaller group would help ease her into it.”
Ennoshita stood and looked between his two senpais completely dumbfounded. Both of them were so gracious with their time, which was especially kind given exam season was right around the corner. Both of them should be held up in study rooms but they were each fine to carve out some time from their busy schedules just for him. It also hadn’t gone unnoticed that they were also under the impression that he had willingly offered up his health status to Sugawara, rather than having it spanked out of him.
Suga truly was merciful.
“That would–” Ennoshita stopped himself before he hastily agreed to getting some extra practice in. “I would be very grateful for that Captain but you should know that I didn’t tell Sugawara-senpai I was sick. He asked me and I lied at first.”
Daichi stood there for a moment, his brown eyes studying Chikara’s face like it was a deceptively simple math problem. “Are you going to lie again?” He asked. Ennoshita immediately shook his head, declaring that he absolutely had no intentions of lying to anyone about his health again. “Alright, alright,” Daichi placed a hand on the younger boy’s shoulders, “don’t get yourself dizzy. I trust you, Chikara. Just make sure that trust isn’t unfounded and then everything is good.”
“You aren’t mad?” Ennoshita asked, surprise dripping from his voice.
“You made a mistake, Sugawara corrected it.” Daichi shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like there’s anything to be mad about. Now, go with Kiyoko and get some rest. If you still aren’t feeling well when you wake up, text me and stay home. I’ll make sure you get your schoolwork, alright?”
“Yes, Captain.” Ennoshita went to turn around and leave before hesitating. “Wait, is it okay if I speak with Sugawara-senpai first?”
Daichi nodded and turned to the gym. “Suga! Stop being feral and get over here!”
The ashen blonde in question popped his head up from the stretch he had been doing, his face looking every bit as offended as a cat being bathed by its owner. “I haven’t even done anything yet!” He hollered back as he ran across the gym. “What is it?” He asked when he looked between the two of them.
“Ennoshita wanted to say something to you,” Daichi said. “Probably warning you that he told me the truth about his lie from earlier which outed you for lying just now.” Suga’s face dusted a slight pink at his best friend’s words. “Don’t worry, it worked out and I trust your judgment. I’m gonna go make sure the first years don’t kill each other, so I’ll see you later Ennoshita. I hope you feel better.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Ennoshita bowed slightly, his head aching in response to the motion. “Ugh.” He grunted. Before he could even look up, two sets of hands were on him and ready to fuss if need be. “I’m okay, I just don’t think bowing is something I should do for a little bit.”
“Then don’t do it, dummy.” Suga chuckled. “So you told Daichi the truth huh? That was brave.”
Ennoshita smiled back at his senpai, happy to see that he was still in Sugawara’s good graces. “I promised you that I wasn’t going to lie anymore. It felt weird to let him make an assumption that I knew wasn’t true.” His honesty had earned him another head pat from Suga and this time he actually allowed himself to melt into it.
“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble.” Ennoshita apologized.
“Oh hush,” Suga waved him off. “It’s my job as a senpai and as a captain of the team. Don’t worry about it. Just focus on feeling better and we’ll call it even, okay?”
“Okay.” Ennoshita agreed.
Thankfully, his walk home with Kiyoko-senpai ended up being rather uneventful. She had made sure to take it slow and even bought him a sports drink to sip on for the journey back to his house. She had forced them to take a couple of breaks at random park benches but he had still made it home in a relatively quick amount of time. It was a little embarrassing to hear her and his mother speak about his fever and the reported temperature, but Ennoshita didn’t dare try to interrupt for fear of being perceived as disrespectful. He was under no false pretenses, he knew that Daichi and Suga would be asking her later how he had behaved on the trip home and that she would not lie for him.
“Thank you again, senpai.” Ennoshita waved down at her from his spot on the stairs.
“Feel better,” Kiyoko called back. “And don’t forget to text Daichi about your schedule, so we can get an extra session set up.”
“I will,” Ennoshita promised. “Thank you again.”
When he finally slipped into bed to take a short nap before dinner, Ennoshita’s bottom was still tender. It hadn’t been the worst punishment he had endured at the hands of one of his senpai but it had definitely left an impression. Still, despite the fact he was about to fall asleep on his stomach, Ennoshita was happy to have some amazing senpai that were willing to prioritize him and his health.
He truly was one lucky crow.