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By the time they were getting ready to meet the new first years, Shirabu and Kawanishi had had plenty of time to get used to captaincy. Ushijima had been generous (Tendou had quietly accused him of being fussy) with handing over the reigns. Ushijima had told them what to watch for, who to keep an eye on, what he himself would turn his focus to if he were staying.
Honestly, Shirabu had appreciated it, but not because he necessarily wanted that much help. He thought he was perfectly capable of reading this team on his own. That was part of his job as a setter, after all. He kept it to himself, and promised Ushijima he had everything under control after the graduation ceremony.
Shirabu reminded himself of that promise as he looked over the line of first years. Well, he was looking at them, but they were looking at Kawanishi, their expressions intense and nervous and very much expecting him to spout out something intelligent or inspiring. He looked at the blond, who looked right back at him with thinly veiled panic. Shirabu cleared his throat and the line of eyes moved to him. He thought he caught a few raised brows, and some tiny first year right at the end of the line fidgeted nervously. Oh, this would be a long year.
Kawanishi smirked as he pulled on his shirt. Shirabu wasn't even looking at him, glaring into his locker instead, but he could feel that stupid smirk. Shirabu gave up on trying to fold his uniform slacks and just stuffed them into his bag with one hand while he flicked his locker closed with the other.
“They thought you were the captain...” he growled to himself.
“They sure did,” Kawanishi tugged his shirt down and played with the zipper of his bag before closing it. “I don't know why. You clearly have more of your shit together.”
“Why,” Shirabu didn't respond to Kawanishi's comment because he thought it was a given. The taller blond straightened up and gave Shirabu a long, intense stare. Shirabu frowned deeply at him and met his eyes while he dug in his pocket for his keys.
“You have a vice captain vibe about you,” he finally said. His head bobbed a bit like he had managed to come up with something profound.
Something, Shirabu thought, Kawanishi had magnificently failed to do when faced with a handful of freshmen, one of whom couldn't even find the right gym until Goshiki had gone to rescue him. At least Shirabu could count on his new ace, if not his vice captain. Goshiki had barely looked put out when he reported that he'd found the first year in the midst of the very confused women's basketball team.
“That's bullshit.” Kawanishi laughed at the biting tone and set the strap of his bag on his shoulder. “You're talking about yourself. If I left you alone for one day everything would go to hell.”
“There's like seven new kids and they all looked at me like I knew what I was doing,” Kawanishi replied. Shirabu could hear the edge of apprehension in Kawanishi's joking tone.
“First of all, there's nine, so I can't even give you points for only being off by one. Second, that's not something new,” he sighed. Kawanishi shrugged and held the door open for him, then waited while Shirabu locked it behind them. “Goshiki still does that and he's a second year.”
“Yeah, if anyone, he should know that we barely have a better idea of what's going on than he does.” Kawanishi said as he watched Shirabu put his keys away and then followed him across campus towards the front gates.
“You're underestimating me,” Shirabu huffed. Kawanishi hummed, and Shirabu could feel him smirking again.
“Really? I thought you took notes when Ushijima rambled that huge to do list at us before he left.”
“I did not,” Shirabu pressed. Kawanishi slowed his gait to match Shirabu's shorter one and leaned down at the waist to the smaller blond's eye level.
“Mental notes count. I can see when you talk to yourself.” Shirabu reached out and pushed at Kawanishi's cheek.
“I don't talk to myself.”
“Maybe when you sleep. You're very chatty.” Shirabu rolled his eyes.
“I- whatever,” he huffed. There was a pause as they looked down the street before crossing. “Is it really noticeable?”
“Sometimes I make up a dub for it,” Kawanishi admitted. Shirabu's brow furrowed and he muttered something Kawanishi couldn't catch under his breath. Suddenly, he turned his head up and caught Kawanishi smirking at him again.
“If I find any of those first years dubbing me I'm coming after you,” he warned. Kawanishi tried to act like he didn't think Shirabu was serious.
“Me? Not them?” Shirabu's stare hardened.
“They don't know better.”
“I'll say. They don't even know you're the captain.” For a couple seconds he really thought Shirabu would hit him and shuffled away a few steps just to be safe. Still, he laughed at the memory of the entire line of first years snapping their attention from him to Shirabu with poorly hidden surprise.
“They'll figure that out soon enough,” Shirabu said, mostly to himself and picked up his pace a little to catch up with Kawanishi.
“That sounds like a threat. You shouldn't threaten little first years. You'll make them run away,” he teased.
“They'll know I'm the captain then, won't they? Then what's wrong with it?” Shirabu settled into step, walking with his shoulders straight. Kawanishi recognized it as something Shirabu did when he was feeling short but still wanted to be intimidating. The first years had no idea what was coming for them.