Chapter Text
Nishinoya flew across the court, along with the volleyball. He dove forwards, just barely hitting the ball. He tried his best to land properly, but he was too focused on hitting the ball so instead he slammed into the court. He sat up and watched as the ball flew to Kageyama, and then to Asahi, and again to the floor on the other side of the net. Yes! He thought.
"Nice landing!" Tanaka said, laughing as he reached out an arm to Nishinoya.
"Shut up!" Nishinoya laughed. He grabbed Tanaka's arm and visibly became uncomfortable.
"You okay?!"
"Yeah, why?" Nishinoya said, trying his best to sound confident.
"Never mind."
"Guys come on! We gotta shake hands!" Daichi yelled. The duo ran over and lined up opposite of Seijoh. The teams shook hands and afterwards went off to talk to each other before Karasuno had to leave.
"Hey Noya!" Asahi called, waving him over. "You did really good today!" He jogged over to his friend and they started talking about the match until Ukai yelled at everyone to go to the locker room.
"You ok Noya? You look kinda...uncomfortable?" Sugawara said while examining his teammate.
"What's wrong with him?" Daichi asked from across the room.
"I don't know, he just looks, off." Daichi walked to the front of the room and stared Nishinoya down, making him even more nervous.
"What's wrong? And don't lie."
"Daichi what-" Nishinoya tried saying.
"Noya don't try this on me. I know somethings up, I can see it in your face."
"Nothing's wrong Daichi!" Nishinoya pulled his bag out of his locker, only to drop it a moment later.
"What's wrong with your arm?!"
"Nothing!"
"Nishinoya you have five seconds to tell me before I bring Ukai and Takeda in here."
"Nothing's wrong Daichi!"
"Why are you so worried about him?" Hinata called from across the room.
"They're all paranoid because last year he hid a broken finger from 'em" Tanaka yelled.
"I wouldn't call it paranoid." Sugawara said. "More like looking out for a teammate."
"Is that why all you third-years try to secretly examine him after matches?" Tanaka replied while laughing.
"Is that why you laugh at your own remarks?" Tanaka went silent after that.
"Are you guys gonna keep arguing or do you wanna go out to eat!" Ukai yelled opening the door.
"Go out!" The team yelled in unison.
"Only if you put on deodorant! God it smells in here!" Ukai said covering his nose and closing the door. The team laughed and continued changing.
"I'm gonna use the bathroom before we leave." Nishinoya said.
"Hurry up, I wanna eat!" Sugawara called as Nishinoya left the locker room. As soon as he was in the bathroom he dropped his bag on the counter and went into a stall. Fuck! He thought. He rolled up his sleeve and could already see a bruise forming on his wrist. Please don't be sprained! I can't be benched now, especially because we have a match against Nekoma in a few days! Y'know what, stop worrying, it's probably just like a jammed finger. Wait can you even jam your wrist? Whatever. Suddenly, his phone buzzed and when he went to check he saw it was the volleyball group chat, with lots of messages for him to hurry up. He quickly responded with an apology and ran through the school until he made it outside and onto the bus. He looked around and saw that his usual seats were taken and the only seat left open was next to Sugawara.
"What took so long?" He asked.
"Nothing." Nishinoya responded quickly as he sat down.
"You sure you're okay? You seem off."
"Suga."
"Noya."
"I already said I'm fine."
"You're not a good lier."
"I'm not lying."
"Let your teammates look out for you once in awhile. And next time don't spend forever in the bathroom, we had to wait even longer for food because of you."
"Why's Daichi with Tanaka?" Nishinoya asked, avoiding the previous topic.
"He tried to punch Tsukkishima."
"Of course he did." Nishinoya laughed. The bus was silent the rest of the way to the restaurant, except for when Hinata and Kageyama started arguing over who lost the team a point during the second set. The second they entered the restaurant they could see the staff's expressions go from tired to exhausted just at the sight of the large group. They were taken to a big round table in the back corner of the restaurant and all wrote their orders on a piece of paper so Takeda could read it to the waiter instead of everyone shouting what they wanted.
"How long is this gonna take? I'm hungry!" Hinata whined.
"There's sixteen of us Hinata, it's gonna take awhile and we probably won't all get our food at the same time." Sugawara said sleepily. Hinata groaned and leaned against the back of the booth. Most of the team scrolled on their phones, too tired to talk to anyone until their food came. After the meal Ukai kept complaining about how much everything cost.
"That might have been my life's savings." Ukai said. Everyone laughed as he complained more about the bill on the walk back to the bus. On the bus Daichi, Sugawara, Asahi, Nishinoya and Tanaka sat together on the long seat at the back of the bus.
"Based on today do you think we'll win against Nekoma?" Asahi asked Nishinoya.
"Probably, as long as we can outsmart Kenma." Noya responded. Hopefully I can receive the spikes he everyone sends. He thought. "What about you? You think we'll win?"
"I mean they're pretty tough."
"We're also tough!" Have some confidence!" Tanaka shouted.
"Quiet down, we're all tired Tanaka!" Ukai yelled. Nishinoya and Asahi continued talking for awhile but eventually fell silent, and at some point Nishinoya had fallen asleep leaning on Asahi.
"Didn't know you had it in you Asahi." Sugawara said smirking.
"What?" Asahi asked. Suga pointed to his shoulder and leaned back against the seat. "Really Suga?!" He whispered.
"Yep. Y'know you probably have a good shot with him."
"No I don't."
"You'll see." The bus ride was silent until they made it back, when Nishinoya started complaining about being woken up. He and the third years walked together as usual, Sugawara leaving first, and then Nishinoya. He waved goodbye to his friends and went straight to the shower once he was home. Did it get worse already?! He thought examining his wrist. He tried his best to ignore it as he showered. When he was done he quietly went to the freezer and filled a small plastic bag with ice. He made his way back to his room as quietly as possible so he wouldn't wake up his grandpa. Once he was inside his room, he didn't put the ice on his wrist right away, instead he tested its range of motion and seeing how far he could bend it or how much pressure he could put on it before it hurt. He made a face each time the pain shot up his arm, unsatisfied with how more serious it seemed after each test he did. I'll be fine. He thought. I just need to sleep it off, I'll be fine by tomorrow morning. He sat down in bed and put the ice on his wrist. Using his other hand, he scrolled through his phone until the ice was mostly melted, and then he went to bed.