❝ 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙮, 𝙩𝙧𝙮, 𝙩𝙧𝙮
𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙚𝙯𝙚
𝙄'𝙢 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜
𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚 . . . ❞
「 𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 - 𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒕 」
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↷ ·˚ ༘ 💌 : 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 || 𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐲𝐚 𝐲𝐮𝐮 𝐱 𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 : ꒱
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[Name] was in a slump. Of course he was. He had been suspended from the club for a month after he humiliated the Vice-Principal by knocking him down and his toupee off. Truly, not his best moment. And these were supposed to be the best years of his life? It was an understatement to say he was disheartened since all he basically did was practice at the club. It was a long month of hanging around the convenience store too long and going to bed much earlier than he should. Lingering and toeing at the ground while walking past the gym on his way home from school, feeling pathetically envious of the squeaking sneakers and resounding sounds of the ball hitting the floor. In conclusion, [Name] wasn't peaking.
But Lady Luck was in his favour when it was calculated that his suspension would still allow him to participate in the match against Aoba Johsai, ending just before then, thought the problem was he wouldn't have had much time to practice with the team. And from experience, that didn't end well, despite [Name] practicing obsessively by himself in the backyard until his mom got angry and had to virtually drag him inside.
[Name]'s spirits went up and down like a bumpy hill because there was Times When Noya Wasn't With Him and Times When Noya Was With him, like an on and off switch. The short libero tracked him down like a bloodhound after every class and during every free period, greeting him with immense energy to make up for the burnt-out feelings burning up in [Name]'s mind like fuzzy static. He usually had to be at practice but if he could he'd be at [Name]'s house, doing anything and everything to take his mind off the suspension until it was over.
"Okay, let's get pumped up! What do you wanna do?"
"... (Mumbling)... Volleyball..."
"No, we're not doing that for now! Is there anything else?"
"..."
"..."
"V─ Volleyball─"
"NO!"
And while all this was happening, [Name] was also keeping up the lie that he had a cold because the heat would never leave his face. He'd go to cover his mouth while laughing because of something silly Nishinoya did, and then his heart dropped to his stomach realizing it was incredibly warm. So many nights looking up ways to stop blushing, but he just couldn't. Less for Noya seeing it, more for his pride and attempts to keep himself composed and less flustered. By every little thing.
It was just how hard Nishinoya tried to cheer him up and keep his mind off it, it hit hard. [Name] really felt like he didn't deserve it, but alas, nothing would stop that bundle of energy.
If only he could man up and just tell him.
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⋆ · * . · . · * · · ───── ˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ ───── · + · * ✫ * ⊹
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The practice match when [Name] was back was made to be a big fuss, because all his friends were dedicated to getting him to be as hyped up as possible to get some good practice in with everyone before the real match. Nishinoya walked in with him. And joined in when Tanaka jumped on him as a method of spreading spirit in a rather physically chaotic manner. But that was just them.
However, things didn't go exactly as planned when [Name] was finally starting to get over how disappointed he had been in himself over his suspension, something went wrong. He and Nishinoya, both being liberos, both went to receive the ball, colliding quite harshly with each other and sending the rest of the team into a bit of a frenzy. Groaning and trying to recover from the dizziness while too many voices shouted around the two of them, slowly rising to a sitting position and trying to decipher what exactly happened.
Ten minutes of confusion later and [Name] was sitting in one of the corridors with an ice pack against his head, and Nishinoya was currently at the bathroom while he sat there. Messing up again along with the crushing weight of disappointment his hiatus had given him wasn't making [Name] feel very good, in fact, his spirits were sinking lower as the pain throbbed in his head and eyelids began drooping. He was losing sleep over this and... other this. He couldn't fail now. He really just couldn't. [Name] needed to prove himself.
"Hey!"
[Name] hurriedly blinked his eyes open again and they immediately focused on a Nishinoya sitting cross-legged on the straight-up floor, in front of him, wearing a cutely determined expression while holding his own ice pack and it's just so Nishinoya of him. It made a weak, but genuine smile quirk at his lips. "What's up, Noya?"
"You're getting yourself down again!" [Name] looked at him like he wasn't aware of the huge waves of melancholy that radiated off him that Nishinoya was very aware of, and the shorter libero gave him a look of equal puzzlement, nose scrunched up and eyebrows furrowed together. "This is nothing! You'll be back to normal with the rest of the team in no time, [N/n]!" [Name]'s expression drooped like a sad puppy's, eyes starting to shimmer very slightly as he stared back at Nishinoya in defeat. "How do you know?" And suddenly, his face was grabbed with Noya's hands, letting the ice pack fall to the floor as he abruptly rose to his knees with the speed of light, expression scrunched up in irritation at how he knew [Name] viewed himself.
He roughly rubbed away the beginnings of tears while the [H/c]-haired boy's face heated up beyond all means, eyes blown wide from the sudden actions as he was forced to look in Nishinoya's bright, convincing eyes. "Well, because you're always amazing! And... and you, specifically, yknow." It was the other libero's turn to blush now, avoiding [Name]'s eyes bashfully despite gripping his face between his smaller hands. "You're just amazing!" He blurted again, the temperature of both faces increasing to the point of overheating though neither made a move to jolt away out of shyness.
But just when someone was about to debate moving forward to do something unprecedented and the other was still processing everything happening, they were interrupted by none other than their teammates. Who, of course, knew what was up aeons before either of them did. Decades ago. Inwardly, they were thanking the gods above for some, excruciating progress, finally.
"Nishinoya, [Name], do you think you can─
"I'm just motivating him!"
"Yeah, but not for Volleyball, it seems."
"Oh my god, let us have our moment without ruining it! I'm getting [Name] back on his feet!"
"I think that's what you should be doing right now, Noya."
"Screw you guys! C'mon, [Name]!"
And with a new smile, softly hoping, and eyes looking only at Nishinoya, [Name] took his hand.
