Chapter Text
Kitagawa Daichi was the school of dreams it seemed like. The academics were nearly flawless on almost all levels, and the sports teams were some of the best in the middle school circuit. Especially the volleyball team, what with it's many rising stars and powerhouses sprinkled throughout the class groups. Among the first years were a small group of friends never left each other's sides, on or off the court, a colorful group of young stars determined to make it to the top together. Kindaichi, Kunimi, Kageyama, and yourself. A tiny powerhouse group that grabbed the attention of the upperclassmen that they so willfully set out to beat. Especially Oikawa-senpai, who seemed to be the strongest competition, especially with the young setter, Kageyama. You looked up to all of them, bound determined to become the best teammate to them that you could possibly be! Practices were hard, and only got harder as the years went on. Soon, your group's senpais had gone off to high school, but you managed to remain resilient. Even as the tyrant rose amongst you, you remained steady.
Your final year of middle school was one you swore you'd never forget, even if the reason you wouldn't was one that would weigh you down. Kitagawa Daichi was against one of their toughest opponents, everyone was beyond exhausted, the opposing team hardly looked fazed. Some kids even asked to be benched, trying to regain some of their hard-pressed energy. But no one wanted to lose this game, it was a defining moment for the oldest kids, old members of the team were scattered throughout the bleachers. They all had something to prove. You gave your friends a few determined glances and steeled yourself for the final set. As the match went on, things started to change for the worst. Kageyama was barking at everyone's mistakes. Kindaichi often sneered at him and began to step to him before you would throw yourself between them, interjecting with 'don't mind's or some joking insult of your own to placate the spiky haired boy. Kunimi was slowing down on his receives, to which he eventually gave up on going to get. Kageyama wasn't stopping either, and soon he was screaming at the team enough to have the ref at the net upset. Whatever you did to try and calm him down usually ended in a bitter insult thrown your way. You'd laugh them off as best you could, no matter how much they bit into you.
Kindaichi and Kunimi eventually tried to convince you to walk off the court with them, so that Kageyama would understand what he was doing, but you told them with your same vigor that he would stop soon enough. You were determined to do them, the school even, proud. To do Kageyama proud. They watched as you bounded onto the court once more, taking your spot behind Kageyama in the rotation, scowls setting into their features at your resolve, but they didn't want to hurt you anymore than Kageyama had, so they stayed quiet and walked onto the court. As soon as the toss started to be setup, though, you watched with a strangled gasp as the whole team turned away from the King. Your friends looked like they were going to cry as they stepped silently away from the court. A sob tore through your chest, heart lurching as Kageyama set to no one before he could even see that no one was there. 'How could they?' Your heart was thrumming in your ears now, Kindaichi turned back to give you a broken look, chewing on his lip at the tears you hardly felt running against your cheeks. 'How could they just give up?' Kageyama had called for one of the wing spikers that weren't there. You were a mid blocker, setup behind him for the rotation, you could never hit that toss. You were useless, but you couldn't let the ball hit the floor, this wasn't over! 'How could they give up on what we worked so hard for?!'
The tears that had been streaming down your cheeks danced in the air, your legs carrying you faster than should have been possible. This wasn't over, you hadn't given up this chance. Even if Kageyama had told you you were useless, not worth the time. Even if you weren't a spiker, never attacked in your whole career. This wasn't over yet. The squeaking of sneakers desperately moving forward resounded in the offending silence that caused heads to turn from all directions. Legs moving, burning with effort, trying to take you to where you should be, standing next to the King as his foolish servant, body soon flung into the air at too extreme an angle, a sharp crack of a hard plastic volleyball smacking into skin resounding. Your eyes, hazy with tears, barely saw the ball smack onto the gymnasium floor on the other side of the net. Not that it mattered as the ref eyed it for a solid second before calling the shot.
Out.
Your feet hadn't landed properly with the angle of your body and you nearly crashed into the ref posted beside the net, the ground rushing up to met you and your fatigue weakened legs that stumbled under the sudden weight of your body. Familiar voices called from afar, surrounded you quickly, okaying if you were alright, if you were hurt anywhere. The only that hurt was your pride as you crumpled further against the floor, sobs ripping out of your throat causing your body to tremble under the hands trying to lift you up. There was a sense of unbearable silence, though. He wasn't speaking. He was saying anything, it was like he wasn't even there. The silence strangled the sobs trying to escape, garbled profanities barely whispering passed your lips. Kindaichi was quick to scold you for being so reckless, he was on your right, trying to pull you up from the cold gym floor, his voice sounding so distant in the silence. Kunimi was on your left struggling to help Kindaichi steady you. None of that mattered. The King had yet to speak, the servant couldn't leave. The world was crumbling down as they managed to stand with you, your gaze falling onto the sullen looking King. You had been so good to him, you hadn't left him, you had stayed! Why wasn't he saying anything to you?! Why wasn't he even looking at you?! Another sob managed to crack through your ragged, drying throat. The last thing you managed to hear before you were taken into the locker room to tend to whatever injuries you may have had was the coach, benching Kageyama for the way he recklessly tossed and treated his teammates. The only sound you heard from Kageyama was a quiet sob, and something that was certainly not about you.
---
The sound of sneakers skidding across the floor was familiar and somewhat dulled to the ears with the routine of coming to the gymnasium everyday, practices at Aoba Seijou were always the same. Rigorous, full of pain, sweat, and a sense of fulfillment. The squeaks across the glistening floor, the cracking of the volleyballs bouncing against it, smacking against reddened and callused skin, even whacking a newbie ,or Kindaichi, upside the head whenever they were paying attention. There were always spectators for practice, whether they were there for the team, or for the overly obnoxious setter that was Oikawa Tooru, and they filled the otherwise empty space enough to give the room a settled atmosphere amongst the shouting and cheering. Kunimi was currently resting on one of the benches off to the side, scanning the room of moving bodies for one in particular.
"Hey!" Almost as if he'd called you by name, your head turned, hands raising to catch the oncoming ball that Kindaichi had wanted you to toss for him. You kindly hurled it right at the turnip headed teen's spiky dome, ignoring the persistent grumbling, before jogging over to the bench only to catch the airborne bottle of water Kunimi had tossed your direction with a quiet thank you. "How's it coming? That special move you and that annoying setter are working on?"
After a few seconds of gulping down the cooling water and relishing at the relief it brought to your scratchy throat, you frowning down at your childhood friend. "You shouldn't call Oikawa-senpai annoying..." The way you said it made Kunimi mentally raise an eyebrow, before he elected to not mention it aloud. "He's teaching me the best he can..."
Ah, that was it, the reason for the faint speech, he noted with a scowl. He figured you were remembering back to that day not so long ago, the day you held onto with your every spike, toss, and block. Ever since that match in middle school, you had beaten yourself up over screwing up the only toss you had ever bothered to try and hit. Kunimi and Kindaichi could never understand why you had been so hung up on "failing" that impossible toss, they had actually given up and refused to try and hit the damned thing, but there you had been launching into the air and whacking that ball like everything in life depended on that one moment. But it hung over you still, like a dark foreboding cloud threatening to burst. Luckily enough it had started to go as soon as the three of you had been accepted into Aoba Seijou, somehow or another. You three were still friends, still hung out of practice, still talked. Unlike Kageyama, who the others refused to tell you about. They wanted you to forget, heal, work with that annoying setter and the scary ace to be better than Kageyama had ever been. They didn't even tell you when they knew what school he had gone to. His name was practically forbidden, yet you held onto it with a reviere to rival any other, and they just couldn't understand why. Especially after the moment they decided to never let him speak to you again.
"I can't believe you even bothered to try and hit the damn ball, and had the gall to miss it! Worthless!"
Kindaichi had stepped in front of a much younger, still shaken you, Kunimi trying to keep you as calm as he could. "Look King, at least he gave a damn enough to try! Didn't even think to give up on you like we did! This just proves that you're nothing but a worthless tyrant!"
Kageyama had sent a glare up at Kindaichi before settling it onto you once more. When you opened your mouth to try and apologise, say anything at all to keep the enraged King from berating you more, he cut you off. "You've never been good enough, and I doubt any of you will ever be."
And that seemed to have stuck with you, even though Aoba Seijou was full of the utter most positivity, and your skills had been steadily improving with the help of your new friends and teammates. It was like those last few words were enough to spiral you into despair, shatter whatever confidence you actually had. Every small failure must have felt like Kageyama was right around the corner, saying the same things over and over again. Even Oikawa, the loud mouthed, always energetic and ever annoying senior was on your side. He gave you kind words, noticed little things you could easily fix, gave you the praise you had always hungered for. But it wasn't the same. Your idol barely held a candle in the pitch black storm of doubt. He even helped with your tosses, helped you with your spikes, his tosses so much easier to hit than the King's. Hell, he even designed an attack based on the match he had watched back then. It had piqued his interest, and he decidedly took you under his wing as soon as you arrived for tryouts.
"You know, we have that practice match soon. He'll be pushing you harder than ever, Iwaizumi, too. Can you handle all of that pressure?" Kunimi was giving you the most sincere expression of worry, to which you gave a simple smile. You set down your now half empty bottle on the bench next to him.
"I'll be okay. I'm tougher than I look, Kunimi-kun."
Kunimi sighed as you turned back toward the courts, shouting something nonsensical at Kindaichi as you went back to practice. "I sure hope so, because you won't be too strong the day Karasuno comes, I guarantee it..."