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"I get to be Joseph? Hell yeah!" Tanaka's voice is loud enough to be heard from outside the gym, and the following double high-five with Nishinoya is too. For a moment, Ennoshita wonders if he's made the wrong choice, but all the roles have already been decided.
"Mary will be Kiyoko." Tanaka's eyes widen as he turns to the stoic manager, unbelieving that she even wanted to be a part of their silly play. Even more so that she wanted to act as his wife. She didn't meet his eyes, but if anyone looked closely enough, they could see the very light flush that had taken over high on her cheeks.
Their team had decided that they wanted to participate in their school's winter festival. Well, Sugawara had dropped it one day casually, saying that it could be fun. Then it had turned into an hour-long conversation in the gym about if they really needed to do all of that. Later that night, after three hours of pleading in their team group chat (first the one without their coaches, then the one with their coaches just to have adults as witnesses), everyone was coerced into the idea.
Things had been dreary with their loss at Inter High and they wanted something fun to look forward to.
Hence, the nativity play. That part had been a shy suggestion from Ennoshita. He'd already shown his proficiency as a hopeful director (read: the second years teased him relentlessly in the group chat about how many times they'd been made to act out his own little scripts for them) and said that nothing was more winter/Christmas than a nativity play.
It had come as a surprise to the group that he was Christian, but it changed nothing in the end. They agreed to the play one by one.
They would still play volleyball after school most days, but Coach Ukai and Takeda had both agreed it'd be a nice change of pace to let them do this.
The only rules were that they could only take two practice days a week for the next month for their rehearsals, and do whatever they wanted on Sundays. It was fair enough that they'd questioned if it was really Coach Ukai who decided on it.
Ennoshita continues on through his list. Kinoshita, Narita and Yamaguchi will be the three wise men (this gets a barely-covered snort from Tsukishima who's able to revert to his poker face when his best friend looks at him in betrayal). Yachi, Hinata and Kageyama are to be the angels (Tsukishima doesn't even try not to laugh at this one).
Things come to a head when Tsukishima gets cast as the king's messenger. Now it's Hinata and Kageyama's turn to laugh back at him. He lets out a snarky comment about "having to translate for the king" which gets Kageyama to scowl at him, but Ennoshita tears them apart before they can start arguing.
The rest of the third-years were the shepherds. "Asahi kinda looks like a shepherd, doesn't he?" comes Nishinoya's teasing tone, and to the cowardly third-year's credit, he only slightly deflates before sighing and accepting the comparison.
"So, what are you doing?" Hinata turns to Ennoshita, curious about how he casted himself in their play. "You didn't tell us what part you're playing."
Ennoshita waves off the question easily, clutching the rolled-up script tighter in his hands. "I'm mainly focusing on the directing and narrating. I can do a few small parts, like Herod, or one of the animals. Those with smaller parts can also try their hands at multiple roles. I need people for the children, the other animals and the innkeeper. Is everyone okay with their roles?"
He scans the group, who had already been talking and joking amongst themselves when they'd gotten their roles and was relieved that no one objected. Ennoshita claps his hands loudly and they turn to him. "Perfect! Our first practice together will be on Thursday. I'll send the script with all the directions in the group chat and we can meet in the auditorium at 3:30. Since it's just the first practice, three hours should be long enough."
"Ooh! I have a question!" Nishinoya's hand shoots up in the air and he waves it around to catch Ennoshita's attention like he would a teacher. Ennoshita can't surpress his smile and uses the end of his script to point at the middle blocker. "Are we gonna have costumes? I watched the drama club practice last week and they had them."
"That's a dress rehearsal. We're not… quite at that level yet. Costumes and props take a while to make, so those are usually reserved for the last few rehearsals. So yes, we're gonna have costumes. Just not until the last week. Hopefully." He hopes no one sees the way his fingers tighten around the script further. "Any more questions?"
No one says anything else. Ennoshita smiles. "Okay, great. Thursday, 3:30pm, in the auditorium. Don't be late." With that, he turns and leaves the gym.
He wonders if these first-years thought "Don't be late" was a suggestion. Would they have been late to a volleyball practice? Definitely not. So why were they late to rehearsal?
Not that he feels any way about it. Not at all. It's just their first rehearsal. Only where they set the ground for how the rest of the play is going to go. But it's all fine. It's only been five minutes anyway.
Rehearsal is already going with the first scene. He's had to step in as the narrator and first angel, and he's seriously considering outsourcing some of the work. He hopes the stress isn't as visible on his face as it feels through his bones.
The first scene goes by quickly since he knows all the words by heart, but Tsukishima's dull tone as the messenger needs correcting more than once. It's only their first rehearsal and he already wants to go home.
Before he can spiral, he hears Hinata yelp from outside and his entire demeanor relaxes. The ginger pushes open the door shortly after, still arguing with a smirking Kageyama. Frankly, Ennoshita doesn't care about whatever their arguing about right now. They have a rehearsal to get to.
"Sorry about being late! My teacher caught me while we were on the way and had to take me away to talk about my grades." Hinata shudders as he says it. Everyone can guess how that conversation went, which likely explains the smirk on Kageyama's face.
(Ennoshita doesn't know what he's smiling about. Last he checked, both of their grades were disasters.)
Tanaka cuts in before he can say anything. "Nothing you can do. Good thing you two got here. I thought Enno was going to burst a blood vessel."
Ennoshita's eye twitches, but he doesn't cuff Tanaka. It's a great show of strength on his part, so Tanaka should count his blessings. Instead, he does a quick breathing exercise. "Get settled in, we've just been going over the first scene. You haven't been necessary for it, which is the main reason I'm not mad that you're late."
They look grateful (or at least, however grateful Kageyama can look when his expression hasn't changed much) and sit around on the ground to watch the others practice. Ennoshita gently chides them, "Please don't sit around and do nothing. If you're going to be in the audience, ensure you're practicing your lines so when I call you up, you don't flounder."
This gets through to them, and they pull out their phones to find the amended script he'd sent them. Thankfully, he hadn't had much to change in terms of the content, but it had hurt his heart having to cut out the songs and the chorus from his version. He'd download them to his iPod a week before the performance so they could play when needed, but it'd be way too much time to have his teammates learn their lines, and the songs.
One of the first things he'd promised was that this wouldn't take up too much of his teammates' free time, and he was determined to stick to that.
"Okay, let's start scene two from Mary and Joseph walking in with the donkey." He claps his hands and Tanaka jolts in place, walking robotically to the stage once he sees Kiyoko standing up. Distantly, he wonders if he made the right choice.
Pressing his dull nails into his palms to ground himself, he exhales and continues as if everything is okay. He relaxed and projected his voice, "Mary rode to Bethlehem on a donkey, with Joseph walking by her side."
Rehearsals get worse before they get better. Some tones are impossible to fix. He'd expected it from people like Kageyama and Tsukishima who seem monotonous on a good day, but Narita completely freezes up whenever he's on stage and chokes out his lines.
It makes rehearsal harder than it needs to be, but Ennoshita understands stage fright. In fact, he'd expected it from Hinata, for all his nervousness with their earlier games.
Ironically enough, Hinata is one of the most eager to perform. He acts with enough vigor to be the main character. It's refreshing, but can sometimes be too much on their tiny stage.
Ennoshita had also had to switch roles with Daichi and make him the narrator while he acted as one of the shepherds due to general consensus (a club vote) that their current captain would fit better. Which totally didn't hurt his feelings. Not one bit.
Ennoshita was able to pawn off a few unused props from the drama club, a feat he was very proud of accomplishing until Asahi had gotten too energetic and accidentally broke one of the canes. Their director had seen his life — and bank account — flash before his eyes.
When he'd returned the props later that day, insistent on doing it himself so he could take the blame, the drama teacher had chewed him out for 10 minutes and banned him from going near the theater room for "as long as we both live!"
So, there goes that plan. But that's fine! He'll just make the props himself.
His eye twitches when he recounts this — except telling them about the teacher yelling at him, knowing his insane teammates, they'll likely get suspended in an attempt to "defend his name". He definitely doesn't smile about this — and his teammates care enough about him to interject and insist they'll help.
Asahi even goes as far as to say he can get the costumes himself to make up for ruining that for him. Ennoshita wants to decline but the third-year's guilt outweighs his humility.
"You don't have to do everything by yourself, you know?" Narita had nudged him in the side when he'd said it, as if he could read his friend's mind. "Director doesn't mean dictator. Everyone wants to help out and do their own parts well."
"I know, I just- It was my idea so I feel like I should take the most responsibility for it. It's not that I don't trust you guys with your roles, but even Coach Ukai and Takeda-san trust me with this and I just don't want to disappoint them. It feels like practice, in a way, for being captain next year. If I can't even run rehearsals properly, how am I supposed to run the team?"
"Obviously not by yourself." Tanaka scoffs, conking him on the side of his head with a can of cold soda. He withdraws a little when Ennoshita glares daggers into him, but soldiers on when he relaxes and takes the can. "That's why you'll have a vice-captain. And all of us are gonna be helping you. Even Daichi doesn't take up all the stress for the volleyball team by himself. He trusts Suga, and Take-chan, and Coach to lead us too. So you shouldn't be afraid to depend on other people. It's completely natural. And we're all gonna be here for you, whether it's for something as huge as getting to nationals, or as small as a winter stage play."
After Tanaka's impassioned speech, Ennoshita couldn't help but digest the words seriously. Nishinoya takes advantage of the silence to slap him in the back, "Yeah, Chikara! We're your friends and we're here for you. It's a volleyball team, not a volleyball solo."
"That was so corny, I think we should kick you off the team for that." Kinoshita doesn't waste a second to tease. Ennoshita knows they're just trying to get him to laugh and take his mind off his stress, and he can't help smiling. "I hate to agree with him, but he's right. We're a team."
It looks like it physically pains him to say the last part. "Aww, I knew you guys loved me."
"Of course we do." Narita scoffs, even though he's the furthest away from the other four, and refuses to turn back. A mischievous look forms on Nishinoya's face and the thought transfers to Tanaka instantly.
Within seconds, they dog-pile on a protesting Narita. Kinoshita shrugs and adds himself to the pile, loudly cooing when he almost gets thrown off.
Nishinoya screeches a "You love us!" when Ennoshita gets dragged into the pile against his will, and for a second it feels like it'll be okay.
The play goes outstanding for their group. Suga somehow lost a shoe into the crowd, Tanaka had started sweating when Kiyoko held his hand despite and Kageyama nearly forgot his line as the donkey, but the audience seemed to love it. It's the first nativity play a lot of them have seen, and the lore draws them in.
Three four-hour rehearsal weeks was surprisingly perfect for their group. The practice sessions had been long and chaotic (Asahi had run out of fabric in the middle of the angel costumes and couldn't find any good substitutes so half of Hinata's wings were just wings covered in toilet paper), but ended up being totally worth it in the end.
They get a standing ovation and a laughing cheer of "Encore" as they close the curtains on their little operation, but all their smiles are bright enough to light up a small city. Even Kageyama sports a little grin, and Tsukishima, for his posturing, smirks as they all take their final bow.
Under the yellow lights of the gym, Ennoshita feels sweaty and gross and totally elated. Tanaka and Narita clap him on the back while yelling things that he can't hear over the buzzing in his ears. Nishinoya and Hinata crowd and shake him from both sides, but even that doesn't stop the grin from splitting across his face.
He'd done it.
No. They'd done it.