Work Text:
“Hey Yachi, is it true that you like girls?”
At Nishinoya’s words, Yachi drops the ball she’d been carrying. It bounces on the floor, sounding deafeningly loud in the now completely silent gym. She can feel everyone's eyes fixed on her. They are all waiting for her answer.
Oh god, what if they realize she only agreed to that first visit because Shimizu had invited her? What if they believe that spending time with her is the reason she joined? Will they trust her from now on? What if her carelessness causes the team dynamic to suffer? Prelims are not so far away!
Her breathing is coming funny and she doesn’t even know what her face is doing and how long has she stood there without answering? She should answer! What should she answer? She doesn’t want to lie to her friends but is this really a situation where she can just selfishly tell the truth?
Professor Takeda gets in front of her, blocking the rest of the team from her view, and gently and slowly puts his hands on her shoulders.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to answer. Nishinoya should not have asked. Much less in public,” he says the last part too loudly to be addressing Yachi.
“But I thought she was out!” Nishinoya defends himself. “Kirishima said she asked a girl out in the middle of the cafeteria!”
Right. Yachi should have known that would catch up with her even if she had gone to Karasuno High expressly because of how far away it was from her former middle school. It hadn’t been a confession, not really. Just some stupid thing her mouth had blurted out before her brain got a say in it. If it had actually been a confession then the situation wouldn’t have gone as far as it did. Sakura had been so nice when turning her down that Yachi is sure that if it had been private, she would have kept it to herself. But with half the school as witnesses, there was no stopping the rumors after that.
“Noya,” Ennoshita calls out, using his captain's voice. “Who’s Kirishima and what does he think he knows?”
“He’s that first year libero from the other week,” Nishinoya answers and he no longer looks confused, just really really sorry. “He came to me after the practice match, wanted some tips I guess. He told me he was from the same middle school as Yachi so we got to talking and he said he was really glad to see Yachi doing okay? That she had retreated back into herself after The Incident but he’d always thought she was brave to shoot her shot and-“
“That’s enough,” Ennoshita cuts him off. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to call that guy and make sure he isn’t going around spreading stories. Get a list of people who he’s told already. Tanaka and I will have a talk with them.”
“And Teach and I will talk with their coach too,” Coach Ukai promises. “Don’t worry kiddo. Whatever the case may be, no one will be talking about it since it’s none of their damn business, understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the whole team answers as one.
Yachi finally manages to gather enough courage to peek behind Takeda and she is met with Hinata’s thumbs up and Yamaguchi’s reassuring smile. At their respective sides, Kageyama is making a really weird face that Yachi is pretty sure is supposed to be a friendly smile and Tsukkishima just looks bored like always, though he does nod in her direction when he sees her watching.
The reaction from her fellow second years makes her brave enough to look at the rest of the team. The first years look awkward and half terrified but that’s not exactly new. No one looks disgusted so Yachi lets out a sigh of relief.
Most of the third years are glaring at Nishinoya who looks even madder at himself. The only exception is Tanaka who seems almost pensive. It’s not an expression Yachi is used to seeing on him so she stares for far too long, getting his attention. When their eyes meet, Tanaka smiles warmly at her and makes sure to spike the ball extra hard in Nishinoya’s direction.
“If you need a moment,-” Takeda starts, getting her attention.
“I don’t!” Yachi quickly tells him, seeing that the teacher is about to insist, she continues, “It’s fine, really. I don’t want to leave.”
And she doesn’t. As much as sometimes she feels like crawling into a hole and dying, Yachi loves this job. She loves this team. And she knows they love her too. She’s safe here. This won’t be like middle school.
The rest of the practice passes without any other incident (though Nishinoya does get a lot of receiving practice, courtesy of several pissed off spikers and one excellent pinch server that seems determined to get him to faceplant into the floor) and by the time it ends, Yachi has managed to get her heartbeat back to normal.
She is tidying up the brooms when Nishinoya approaches her, with Tanaka following at his heels.
“I’m sorry,” he says, vowing so deeply Yachi’s afraid he’ll hit his head on the ground.
“It’s fine!” she tells him, flailing around to try and get him upright again. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It is a big deal,” Nishinoya corrects her. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I just…”
“Really, it’s okay,” Yachi says. “I mean, everyone is okay with you and Asahi, aren’t they?”
All the team is well aware that the ace and libero had started dating after Asahi’s graduation and, as far as Yachi knows, no one has said anything mean about it.
“They better be,” mutters Tanaka, glaring like the mere idea of someone insulting his best friend’s relationship is offensive to him.
“Of course they are,” Nishinoya smiles. “I mean, considering most of them are-” he cuts himself off, looking guiltily around.
There’s a charged silence when Yachi swears they are all thinking about how not straight most of their teammates are but neither dares to say anything, for fear of causing another incident.
“Let’s just agree that none of us would be surprised if Hinata and Kageyama tell us they’ve started dating and leave it at that,” Tanaka diplomatically suggests in a low tone.
“Or Tsukishima and Yamaguchi,” Nishinoya agrees, gesturing towards the pair with his head.
“I would be surprised if Yamaguchi and Tsukishima tell us they’ve started dating,” Yachi corrects with a frown. “I think they’ve been together since middle school.” Then she realizes what she just said. “Not that people can’t be just good friends. And making assumptions about people’s sexualities is wrong. Oh god, I did not mean to-”
“It’s fine,” Nishinoya tells her reassuringly.
“Yeah, it stays between us,” Tanaka promises.
Yachi lets out a relieved sigh and an awkward silence falls over them all. It’s weird. Not the being in an awkward silence bit, Yachi is used to that. Awkward silences are basically a specialty of hers! But Nishinoya and Tanaka are not usually the kind of people that let silence stand for too long. And they definitely don’t bite their tongues when there’s something they want to talk about.
“You know, I’ve been talking to Kiyoko,” Tanaka, uncharacteristically hesitantly, says.
And by that he means that they’ve been on a couple of outings that he still doesn’t dare to call dates.
Yachi knows that, everyone knows that. Tanaka had not been quiet about his elation. Not that Yachi blames him, if she was “talking” with Kiyoko, she’d shout it from the rooftop of the school. Wait, is he saying this to get her to back off? Has Yachi inadvertently acted like she thought she was his rival?
“What Ryu means,” Nishinoya intervenes before she can keep spiraling. “Is that we are both dating people that are way out of our league.”
Ah, so they wanted to brag. Yachi can deal with that, she’s great at being a hype woman and agreeing that Asahi and Kiyoko are amazing is easy!
“And we are really happy about it,” Tanaka nods, for once not correcting Nishinoya’s use of the word ‘dating’. “We’d never do something to jeopardize those relationships. Or be disrespectful towards our partners by talking about other girls,” Nishinoya clears his throat, “or boys, unprompted.”
There’s another silence, in which Yachi doesn’t know what to respond.
“But, I mean,” Nishinoya continues when she doesn't catch up to what they want from her. “If some friend of ours wanted to talk to us about girls they like, we’d listen.”
“And give our two cents,” Tanaka nods. “Obviously always under the understanding that our partners are cooler than any girl being discussed and that we are lucky to have them.”
Oh!
“Do you want to talk about girls?” she asks, finally understanding what they are gunning for.
“I mean, only if you like want us to,” Tanaka quickly corrects.
“Yeah, if it’d make you happy,” Nishinoya agrees.
They both look at her expectantly, basically vibrating in their feet.
“Uhm…” Girls, she needs to talk about girls. It should be easy! She has a lot of practice thinking about girls after all. But now that they want her to, she cannot come up with anyone.
Tanaka clears his throat, “We have a practice match against Johzenji next week…”
“Oh!” Yachi says, snapping to attention. “Their manager last year was so cool!”
“Not as cool as our Kiyoko,” Tanaka says loyaly. “But you gotta appreciate an assertive woman.”
“I was so jealous when she started scolding the players,” Nishinoya agrees wishfully. “Too bad she’s graduated already.”
“Yeah, but they had a second manager from my year,” Yachi tells them. “Super cute too, she seemed more timid, but it is Johzenji, she can’t be too meek if she’s dealing with that team on a daily basis.”
“I remember her!” Nishinoya says excitedly. “She was on the stands right? Long, light hair and big eyes.”
“Exactly,” Yachi tells him. “She seemed sweet.”
“You should totally get her number then,” Tanaka tells her, elbowing her gently in the ribs.
Yachi shakes her head, completely flustered. “I couldn't! What if she thinks I’m weird?”
“You are super-cute, I’m sure she’ll be flattered,” Nishinoya answers.
“Just say it’s for manager duties or something,” Tanaka suggests. “You know, to trade tips about how to handle crazy players.”
Yachi shakes her head again.
“Speaking of managers,” she says, trying to change the subject. “There’s also Miyanoshita from Ubugawa.”
“A black haired beauty,” Tanaka nods in agreement. “You’ve got excellent taste.”
“Twintails are so cute,” Nishinoya agrees. “I mean, I do prefer buns, but there’s just something about a long haired hottie tying their hair up, isn’t there?”
Yachi finds herself nodding animatedly alongside Tanaka.
“So that’s your type then?” Nishinoya asks her. “Cute, bubbly girls?”
Yachi shakes her head. “No, I mean, I wouldn’t reject a cute, bubbly girl, of course,” (“Of course”, echo Tanaka and Nishinoya.) “but my type would be more… a cool, kind upperclassmen?”
She looks at Tanaka, afraid that he’d take offense since they all know who she is talking about but he just nods completely in agreement.
“The sophisticated allure of an older woman,” Nishinoya says sagely. “You are indeed a girl of good taste. Though I would argue that there’s something endearing about the awkward, cute type.”
“Of course you would,” Tanaka snorts. “But Yachi and I know the truth: cool beauties rule.”
“And glasses are hot,” Yachi adds.
“Glasses are so hot,” Nishinoya and Tanaka agree dreamily.
“Though if we are talking about older women…” Yachi starts. “I mean, like well, I was at the stands during most of the games, right? And Saeko was there sometimes-”
Tanaka cuts her out with a groan, “Not you too.”
“Ryu, I’m sorry, but your sister is objectively a goddess,” Nishinoya tells him. “I swear that when she appeared with the Taiko drums during the match with Inarizaki I felt blessed.”
“And you weren’t standing by her side,” Yachi adds, somewhat wishfully. “I was right there when she started playing! I’ve never met anyone as cool.”
“Look, if we are talking sisters, can we just talk about the beanpole from Nekoma’s? Tora told me she does modelling,” Tanaka begs, looking a bit green.
“Haiba is very beautiful,” Yachi agrees. “But Saeko is just better.”
“So much better,” Nishinoya backs her up.
Tanaka makes a gagging sound and Yachi can’t help but laugh. She’s so into the conversation that she doesn’t realize that Enoshita has approached them until he talks.
“Everything alright here?” The captain asks, looking suspiciously at Nishinoya.
“Everything is fine!” Yachi quickly tells him.
“I was apologizing,” Nishinoya explains defensively.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Tanaka reassures him.
Enoshita raises an eyebrow at Yachi, “Are you sure they weren’t bothering you?”
“I’m sure,” she tells him. “It was… it was nice, we were talking about girls. Because I like them, and so do they.”
She feels her face flush at what she’s just admitted but it wasn’t as if the team didn’t know. And she trusts them, she knows it will be fine.
“You know that if they bother you, you can just tell them to go eat grass, right?” Enoshita checks causing Nishinoya and Tanaka to splutter in indignation.
“I know,” Yachi says with a smile. “It really was nice, I’ve never had anyone to talk girls with. I had fun.”
“We can talk girls with you whenever you want!” Noya promises her, suddenly looking determined.
“Yeah,” Tanaka agrees, looking just as grim. “I’ll explain to Kiyoko that it’s for you, she’ll be okay with it, I’m sure.”
“Oh, good going, I’ll ask Asahi too,” Nishinoya nods, already pulling out his phone.
Enoshita lets out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, if everything’s okay then please, put those brooms away already. I’ve gotta close the gym.”
“I’m so sorry!” Yachi says, horrified to have caused him to wait. “I’ll get to it right away.”
“Noya can do it,” the captain tells her. “And Yachi, this goes without saying but if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable, you come to me, okay? I’ll sort them out.”
His smile is terrifying but Yachi answers it with one of her own and promises him that she will.
Outside the gym, her fellow second years are waiting for her, already in their uniforms. They walk home together, with Yachi in the middle of the group, and while no one brings up The Incident, Yachi knows that this is their way of telling her that everything is alright.
She opens the door to her home with a huge smile plastered on her face, much to the surprise of her mother.
“Good day?” she asks with amusement.
“Yeah,” Yachi answers, and runs to hug her. “I’m so happy I joined the team.”
“That’s great, sweetheart.” Her mom awkwardly pats her on the back but her smile softens with genuine fondness. “Make sure you support them as much as they support you.”
“I will,” she vows.
Karasuno is her team and while she doesn’t get to stand in the court, there are still plenty of ways in which Villager B can fight.