Chapter Text
Keishin desperately needed some sleep, he could feel it in the heaviness of his limbs; the dull ache behind his eyes. It wasn’t the first time he found himself heaping the consequences of his piss poor sleep schedule, far from it. But, between his shifts at the store, the farm work and volleyball coaching, he felt like it was a matter of time something gave in - his health, more likely than not.
That brought him to his current predicament: trying and failing to keep his swaying to a minimum under Takeda’s worried scrutiny. He couldn’t help but wonder why he accepted taking one more responsibility, when he knew damn well time was a precious resource he had very little of. And then he heard the obnoxious racket that signaled the presence of the hooligans he had the nerve of calling a team and found himself smiling towards the teacher in front of him.
“Don’t worry about me sensei, I’ll look after the brats just fine.”
The teacher couldn’t help but allow himself a fond smile too, it seemed, although the worried frown crept back over his face once the words registered.
“You’re sure about that Ukai-kun? I could stay so you can rest a bit, it wouldn’t be a big deal.”
Keishin wanted to reach out a hand, smooth the furrow between those eyebrows with the pads of his fingers. He settled for huffing a chuckle instead.
“While I appreciate the sentiment, we both know you can’t miss a school meeting just so I can get some z’s. I’ll just have to wait to catch up on the missed sleep during the weekend like everyone else.”
Takeda made one of those faces he did whenever he was on the edge of weaponizing that stubborn streak of his – which had Keishin scrambling to appease the older man.
“Listen is not like you haven’t been missing sleep as well, don’t think I haven’t noticed how your eyebags have been growing darker these days! This time of the year is rough on everyone, just trust me on this, please."
"I suppose you do have a point, I'll let it go, for now." The teacher said in a huff, a touch of a warning coloring his voice, although the effect was somewhat ruined by the way he softened his face at the plea in Keishin’s tone.
“Now go on already before you’re late, I promise the kids will be in one piece when you’re back.” As if on cue a loud bang came from inside the building, followed by frenzied voices and the scrambling of teenagers trying to cover up a mess before a responsible adult came across it.
The two men shared a long look, a tired amusement that came from trying to rein in their gaggle of volley obsessed teens. Keishin allowed himself one more moment to bask into the relative quiet, headache already pulsing in time with whatever argument he could hear through the gym’s open doors.
“If I come inside to find you terrors have managed to damage club equipment, I’ll make you bunch run laps until your legs fall out!”
“Make sure I’ll find you in one piece when I come back.” Takeda teased with a crooked smile.
If Keishin’s answering scoff was more fond than annoyed, well that was just the lack of sleep.
Takeda’s worried fussing proved to pale in comparison to the sheer unstoppable pestering from the team: First came Sawamura asking if he was feeling well, before he could even pass the threshold; then came Sugawara remarking how he would always tell them to take a break when feeling unwell, in that cheeky way of his that had Keishin torn between scolding him or laughing at the sheer audacity.
Tanaka yelled from somewhere deeper in the building that he looked like shit, promptly joined by Nishinoya; which rapidly devolved into the first-years shouting, in varying degrees of loudness, their own questions over his well-being.
"All right, I'm not about to kneel over so you better stop gawking and start warming up."
To give the kids credit, they did start warming up – after a couple more glares and a well placed threat of working on their flexibility: universally loathed by them, with the notable exception of Nishinoya. The tiny libero seemed to take pride in being able to contort himself while the rest of the team groaned their way through their stretches.
Their compliance didn't mean the issue was forgotten though. Keishin kept fighting off yawns while the boys threw none too subtle glances his way.
After Hinata took yet another spike to the face and a teary eyed Azumane looked like he would make his way towards him after being calloused by his teammates, Keishin decided to call it quits.
"All right, brats ten minutes break!"
The familiar scuffle of rubber soles against concrete filled the air. Keishin allowed himself to close his eyes for just a few seconds; the excited chattering he once found annoying, now soothing in it’s familiarity – his brats happy and accounted for.
Ittetsu sighed in relief at the sight of the gym. Those meetings never seemed to solve anything: hours upon hours of swallowing bitter retorts to dumb suggestions and smiling through gritted teeth, as people who barely ever stepped into a classroom thought they knew better than the actual teachers.
The gym was way too quiet, suspiciously so. No sounds of running; of balls hitting wooden floors; none of the familiar bickering; not even Ukai-kun’s voice berating the teens for their latest mishap.
Ittetsu found himself speed-walking towards the familiar building, sure he would find some sort of tragedy once he made it to the threshold – those kids didn’t get quiet, not willingly at least.
“Ukai-kun? Anyone here?” he pitched his voice louder, hoping it would carry inside the gym.
“Take-chan shush!” Tanaka came bounding from inside, a stern and somewhat panicked expression on his face.
Takeda had half a second to make a face at the blatant disrespect before the student dragged him inside; there the team was going through a series of stretching exercises silently, with barely any complaints.
Before Ittetsu could ask what on Earth was happening, he found the second year beaming at him with pride, gesturing towards a spot in the bleachers where a small mountain of coats rested.
“Coach ended up falling asleep during break, we didn’t want to wake him.”
Sure enough, once he looked closer he could see a bit of bleached hair poking from under the club jackets. Although he doubted Ukai would allow himself to lay down during practice even during the breaks.
“He fell asleep sitting propped against the wall, we made Asahi move him.” Sugawara grinned towards them from where he was helping a guilty looking Azumane through side splits.
“And the jackets?” he asked with a smile
“He looked cold.” Shimizu-san said from where she was crouched explaining something to a somewhat attentive Hinata.
“Well practice time is almost over, I’ll help you kids close up and give Ukai-kun a lift home. I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting him walk home alone in this condition… That said, good job on taking care of your coach.”
Ittetsu watched as the students grinned at him, pride evident on their faces.
A couple minutes later found himself inside his car, smiling dumbly to himself while Ukai-kun snored softly from the back seat, knocked out cold even after being carried there by a very nervous (well more than normal) Azumane-kun.
The younger man was still bundled up in all the team’s jackets, the kids insisting they were keeping their coach warm as they took turns placing them over and around the man almost reverently.
Ittetsu allowed himself a private smile before turning the ignition on. He knew how much Ukai-kun was sacrificing to watch over the team with him, he couldn’t ask for a better colleague.
Still it warmed his heart to see how much the kids cared for their coach in turn; they were good ones, those little crows of theirs.