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“I. Am going. To scream,” Kenji whispered to Shigeru, glaring up at the three uninvited people in the gymnasium.
Shigeru snickered and waved to them.
Kenji smacked his boyfriend’s hand back down. “Don’t acknowledge them!” he hissed through clenched teeth. The day Moniwa, Kamasaki, and Sasaya stopped infringing on his practices, he was going to truly ascend into the heavens.
“They’re just watching, Kenji, let them be. They’re not doing anyone any harm.”
Kenji rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t get it. They only yell taunts at me when you’re not paying attention. It’s also very distracting to glance up while you’re playing volleyball and see the peanut gallery over there whispering things to each other.”
“They’re not talking about you.”
“You don’t know that...”
Shigeru smiled warmly and slid his arm around Kenji’s waist, slipping fingers underneath his gray t-shirt. He didn’t mind the sheen of sweat over his boyfriend’s skin since he knew he was probably just as disgusting.
Kenji grabbed his water bottle from the windowsill in the gym and took a swig before offering it over to his boyfriend.
Shigeru took it gratefully, drinking more than Kenji wanted to share, but that was okay. It was Shigeru so he’d give everything he had and more. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t give. He opened his mouth to say something along those lines when—
“Yahaba-senpai!!!”
Shigeru replaced the water bottle on the shelf and separated from Kenji.
Damn it. Wait, "senpai???"
“Hey, Kogane. What’s up?” Shigeru ran a hand through his hair and took a step toward the tall first-year.
“What did you think of the last couple plays? Were you watching me?”
Shigeru patted the younger’s back. “I’m always watching. What about them?”
“Well, I tried to set kinda like you do—I’ve been watching you too!—and I think it was amazing! Did you see?”
Shigeru smiled serenely. “Is that why it’s been so hard to defend this morning? Looking good, bud.”
Koganegawa beamed. “Really!?”
“Of course! You’re doing great. Just know that I’ll be stepping up my game as well so don’t get complacent.”
Kenji smirked, finding two new people on either side of him. He looked to Aone first. “Can we swap setters? Is that too much to ask for? What do you think, Kyoutani, can we make that happen?”
The teenager on Kenji’s other side crossed his arms and watched his captain dote on the opposing team’s setter. “Keep him. It’d be quieter.”
Watari joined the group as if he could sense the bargain in progress. “You guys better not be trying to kidnap Yahaba again.” He eyed the Datekou players and Yahaba, who was now working with Koganegawa individually and tossing up against a wall.
“Kidnap?” Kenji awarded Watari with a charming smile. “When have we ever tried to kidnap him?”
The libero rolled his eyes. “Very funny. You can have him all you want when we’re done here tonight, but for right now we should get into some more regular practice please.”
Kenji clapped his hands loudly getting the attention of everyone in the gym. “Okay guys, grab a last drink, let’s get back to this. We’ve got rivals’ asses to kick here.”
Shigeru came over to high-five Kenji on his way back over to the other side of the court. “When’d you get so authoritative?”
“Funny how things work when I don’t let you control every aspect of my life.”
Shigeru patted Kenji’s cheek. “Keep telling yourself that, darling.”
Kenji would’ve countered, but he didn’t have any winning arguments against that claim.
“Alright, guys,” Shigeru gathered his team together, “this isn’t a formal practice match so no pressure. If Kenji or I point something out to you, just fix it. This is about getting better so we’ll probably pause after plays and run drills if we need to. Stay focused, keep on your toes. You guys know how to win so let’s do it.”
Kenji tore his eyes away from Shigeru to find the members of his team watching him intently and waiting for an inspiring pep talk from him. They’d probably been sitting there since Shigeru had started talking, but Kenji had been too distracted.
“U-um. Yeah. This is just to keep working on individual’s skills and specific plays so just...”
“They know what’s up. They were listening to Yahaba like you were, idiot!” came a voice from behind.
Kenji turned to see Kamasaki shaking a fist at him from the sidelines where he was watching with the other two graduates.
“Don’t you people have anything better to do right now than ridicule me!?” Kenji yelled back.
“You gonna be okay or do you want me to go take care of your bullies for you?”
Kenji turned again to see Shigeru just on the other side of the net, smirking at him. Kenji smiled and approached. “Please don’t join their cause. I can’t take that.”
“Someone’s a little sensitive.”
Kenji couldn’t help but admire a little bit. Shigeru could be incredibly relaxed and almost submissive at times and wouldn’t argue if Kenji tried to take him somewhere, but on the court, his presence was intense. He stood straighter with his hands on his hips, totally confident in his abilities and in his team. This was the fire Kenji had fallen in love with.
“Sensitive, yeah right. I’m just fired up. So let’s do this.”
“Guys? This isn’t a match. It’s just practice. You don’t need to get so competitive.”
“Don’t lecture me, Sakunami!” Kenji flung over his shoulder.
Shigeru laughed. “We have to get hyped somehow. Anyway, let’s do this!”
The two teams split to their sides of the court and the practice practice match began.
Shigeru served first, immediately scoring a point.
“Focus, guys!” Kenji yelled to the back line players.
Shigeru’s next serve was intercepted and real play began. It wasn’t more than a few seconds before Kunimi hit a quick off Shigeru and the ball smacked down on Datekou’s side.
Kenji glared. He wasn’t going to let Shigeru get anymore serves in. This was where he was drawing the line.
The serve went over, a solid receive.
“Right here!” Kenji called out, running up to the net, analyzing everything going on around him. Kyoutani was running to meet Kindaichi who was already preparing to jump. The ball floated into Koganegawa’s hands perfectly. Kenji jumped, his eye on the ball rather than the blockers. He knew where they’d be. Blockers were predictable. His setter was usually less so.
The ball flew exactly where Kenji sent it, right in between the two blockers.
Kenji grinned. Time to turn the tides.
“Pause!” Shigeru called, jogging over to the net. “Nice spike, Kenji.”
“Thank you,” Kenji replied proudly.
“If you’re 80.” Shigeru finished. “Guys, what was that block? Are you trying to make it easy for them?”
“Hey, it was... decent...” Kenji inserted. “If you’re 80.”
Kindaichi looked determined. Kyoutani was just glaring.
Kenji slipped underneath the net. “The issue was the gap, okay? When you’re blocking, you have to completely cut off the spaces where a spiker can shoot through you. Even if you’re sprinting across the court, position your hands to cover the most area while leaving just barely not enough room in between for the ball. Shi, do you want to drill that a bit?”
Shigeru shrugged. “Just once or twice. Jumping at an angle to block isn’t Kyoutani’s strong suit so it’d probably help out.”
Kyoutani looked slightly more pissed than normal.
Kenji backed up. “Koganegawa, I need consistent tosses. Nothing flashy.”
The setter nodded eagerly and they started replicating the play.
The first time was closer, though Kenji still managed a successful spike.
The second toss went not where Kenji needed it. He still hit it over, but it ended up a completely different maneuver.
“Consistency, Koganegawa,” Kenji chided. “It sounds dumb to practice tossing exactly the same, I know, but the better accuracy you can get during practice, the better off you’ll be in a real match.”
“Here, let me show you something real quick,” Shigeru said, sliding under the net and taking Koganegawa’s place. “Just watch for a second. Kenji, you good?”
Kenji nodded, lining up to spike again. The toss came precisely where he needed it to be and he focused all his effort on finding a gap in the block. It was solid. He ended up smacking the ball up and over the block, sacrificing a bit of power. It hit the opposite side satisfyingly anyway.
Kindaichi looked slightly enraged.
“That was good!” Kenji reassured. “See? I had to go over you because I couldn’t get through you. Had that happened during the actual play, Watari was back there anyway and would’ve picked it up no problem. There’s a lot of power and options that come from blocking. Even if you can’t touch the ball, you can still give yourself a huge advantage if you know where to be.”
Kyoutani gave an almost-imperceptible nod, but it was one of the biggest reactions Kenji had ever gotten out of him when giving volleyball advice, so he was satisfied.
“Hey, a couple more times?” Shigeru asked. “I want to finish teaching Koganegawa something and you can keep fangirling over how great blocking is.”
Kenji glared and turned to Aone. “Remember that time when you told me it’d be a great idea to date this loser.”
Shigeru laughed. “I hardly think he told you anything of the sort.”
“Well, he didn’t hold me back. So I blame him for my misery.”
“You’re not going to blame me?”
“You’re too cute to be mad at...” Kenji turned away to get ready to play again.
Shigeru whispered something to Koganegawa who immediately slapped his hands over his mouth, eyes widening.
Kenji prepared to spike and they ran the drill a couple times, switching setters every couple shots. Even without looking, Kenji could tell the tosses apart. There was something about Shigeru’s toss, maybe it was just because he’d learned a lot from Oikawa, one of the best setters in the country, but every ball that came off his hands just felt perfect. Kenji wondered if people thought the two teams had so many joint practice sessions just because they were rivals. The real reasoning was a lot more selfish. Kenji couldn’t get enough of these tosses. They felt so right. Everything about Shigeru did.
Kenji’s spike ricocheted off the block.
“Resume play!” Shigeru yelled.
Instantly, everyone snapped to attention. Sakunami dove forward to send the shot-down spike back into the air.
Koganegawa backed off the court and Aoba Jousai’s first-year reserve setter stepped in.
Yes. Yes.
Shigeru tossed the save easily to Onagawa who spiked successfully with little resistance since Seijou was a little disoriented still with the quick player change.
“Nice kill,” Shigeru commented, ready for the next play.
Kenji served the next ball and it was picked up with a bit of difficulty. Kyoutani’s powerful spike wasn’t a match for Aone and Fukiage’s block though.
When the next ball floated back over to Datekou’s half of the court, Kenji was ready for it. “Shi, right here!”
Shigeru’s action was automatic, tossing with just enough power at just the right trajectory. Getting past the block was no problem with the perfect toss.
“Nice spike, Kenji!”
Kenji looked at his boyfriend. “Nice toss!’
Datekou racked up several points before Kenji called another pause. He ducked underneath the net and gathered Seijou’s players. “How do you guys feel about blocking now that we’ve done some more intensive stuff?”
There was an assortment of nods and agreements.
Shigeru stayed by his side. “You guys did well. I’m pretty sure if I went to Datekou, you guys would be fine without me.”
“Obviously,” Kunimi muttered, crossing his arms.
Shigeru glared at him. “What do you mean, ‘obviously’!? Don’t act all independent; you still need me!”
Kenji laughed. “Looks like they don’t love you anymore. Can you transfer schools now?”
Shigeru pouted. “No. Now I have to show off a little more. I need to be indispensable.”
“Aw. Babe. Don’t lose your confidence, it’s the only thing you’ve still got going for you.”
Shigeru punched Kenji’s chest, just making him laugh. Kenji ran his hands down Shigeru’s sides. The others looked unamused.
Watari raised a hand. “Can we get back to playing? You guys can cuddle outside of practice.”
“Whatever,” Kenji waved him off. “So do you guys want us to come support you and take back all the points Date scored?”
“No thanks,” Kindaichi said boredly. “None of us are actually playing for points anymore. We get it, whoever has the both of you on their team is going to win. It’s not that exciting.”
“What are you saying!” Kenji cracked his knuckles. “Doesn’t it fill you with determination to try and defeat the undefeatable?”
“Not really...” Kunimi sighed.
“What is wrong with your second-years, Shi?”
“They’re like that, it’s fine. We could play some two-on-twos.”
“I want to!” came a shout from behind.
They turned around to see Koganegawa bouncing on his toes, his hand in the air.
“You think you can take us on?” Kenji smirked.
“If Aone plays with me!”
Kenji grinned at his friend’s neutral expression. “Looks like you got yourself signed up for some pain. You ready to go?”
“Hey, let’s do this in brackets!” Shigeru suggested. “We’ll find out who the most powerful two people here are! The winners get exempt from running laps for a month.”
“What if no one beats us?” Kenji pointed out.
“Well, then obviously we get to assign as many laps as we want and we don’t have to run.”
“I’m liking this.” Kenji grinned. “Your lives are at stake here, people. Someone has to beat us.”
The others elected to play along and pretend anyone else had a shot at winning.
Aone and Koganegawa got pretty close, only losing by five points. The combination of Watari and Kyoutani lost by four. No one else got that close.
“Hey, let us play!” came a shout.
The three loitering Datekou graduates stepped onto the court. “If you guys are so invincible, you should have no trouble taking on the three of us.”
“Three-on-two?” Kenji raised an eyebrow.
Shigeru punched his arm. “Yes! Let’s do it! We will dominate!”
“They know my weak spots...”
Shigeru kissed his cheek firmly. “What weak spots?”
The fire had been lit inside Kenji. “You’re right. No one can beat us. Square up, let’s play us some volleyball.”
The win was only by two points and the game lasted longer than anyone had anticipated, but it was a win nonetheless.
Kenji bent over, breathing hard, dripping sweat onto the polished wooden floor.
Shigeru straightened him up, pulling him into a hug and pressing both their damp foreheads together. For someone always so worried about cleanliness, Shigeru was okay with some disgusting things on the court.
“See? Nobody beats us,” Shigeru panted.
“Obviously,” Kenji agreed.
“I call cheating!” Kamasaki picked himself up off the floor. “You guys clearly play together and were prepared for this!”
Kenji was ready to yell, but Shigeru kept his head a little cooler. “So? Nobody ever told you that you couldn’t practice two-on-twos or three-on-twos or whatever. That’s like telling someone who got an A on a test that they cheated because they studied the night before.”
Kenji smirked. He wondered when the day would come when Shigeru lost an argument. He hoped for never.
“You guys do play together though?” Moniwa asked with interest.
Kenji looked over at Shigeru. “Uh, I mean, when we get together with the other team captains we almost always end up playing volleyball in some form or another so two-on-twos happen from time to time.”
“And you win a lot?”
“Almost always. Ennoshita and Akaashi are really cohesive but they don’t pack the same kind of power as we do.”
“Isn’t Shiratorizawa’s captain good?” Sasaya pointed out.
Kenji laughed. “Shirabu’s amazing. So is Terushima. But they can’t be in the same room together for five minutes without getting in an argument.”
“We could beat them anyway,” Shigeru inserted.
“Most definitely,” Kenji agreed, sliding his hand into Shigeru’s.
“Is practice over now?” a first year asked loudly. “I feel like we aren’t going to be able to get you guys apart anymore today...”
Shigeru glared. Kenji just laughed. “He’s got a point... It’s getting late anyway and we got some good stuff done today.”
“We’re going to nationals this year though!” Shigeru attempted to pull away.
Kenji laughed and pulled his boyfriend against his chest. “National champions need to eat too. Come on, you’re coming to my house for dinner tonight. Practice dismissed, let’s get this gym cleaned up, guys!”
Shigeru nuzzled Kenji’s chin affectionately. “Thank you.”
“‘Course. Can you spend the night?”
“Why not. Whoever helps pick up the most balls gets to pick what’s for breakfast and the other has to make it?”
Kenji smirked. “You’re on.”
“Great!” Shigeru hooked his foot around the back of Kenji’s knee and sent him sprawling to the floor, immediately sprinting away to help clean up.
Kenji couldn’t even bring himself to glare. Especially since he knew he’d be the first one up in the morning and would make whatever Shigeru wanted for breakfast no matter who won this little challenge.
Kenji hauled himself back to his feet and helped put equipment away.
Shigeru stood against the wall, surveying the quickly cleaned gymnasium. “Hey, Seijou people, we’re guests here, I want Datekou’s gym spotless by the time we leave! Find some trash to throw away, then go outside!”
Kenji took this opportunity to swoop in and grab Shigeru’s legs and shove him into a ball bin.
“Kenji!” Shigeru shrieked, flailing and trying to escape. “What was that for!?”
“You said to pick up trash,” Kenji snickered, pushing the ball bin toward the supply closet.
“Hey, Yahaba?” Watari walked over. “We’re ready. See you tomorrow, I’ll make sure your team gets safely back to our school.”
Shigeru laid back in the bin. “Thanks, dude! See ya! You’ll understand some day when you finally get a date!”
Kenji grabbed a ball to throw at Shigeru’s stomach. “Don’t be rude. You’re the one shirking your duties.”
Shigeru shrugged, taking Kenji’s offered hand and climbing out of the ball bin. “It’s fine. I asked him if he was okay with it beforehand.”
“You’re still the worst captain Aoba Johsai has ever seen. Oikawa was more responsible than you are.”
“That’s a lie!”
“It’s really not...”
“Alright, but if Iwaizumi had gone to a different school, we all know he would’ve been worse than I am.”
“Does your team even listen to you?”
“Does yours?”
“Of course they do; what’s that supposed to mean?”
They stepped out of the closet into the silent gymnasium.
“Hey!” Kenji put a hand on his hip. “I didn’t dismiss them! Who the hell do they all think they are?”
Shigeru laughed. “See what I’m saying?”
“Whatever,” Kenji tossed his head habitually, flicking hair out of his eyes. “They can do what they want. I certainly don’t care.”
“Alright, Captain Apathy. Let’s get a move on.”
Kenji finished locking up the gym for the night and began walking toward his house, Shigeru’s hand never leaving his.