Love for Two

Not An Object

[Volleyball AU]

Thursday

"I-I'm so confused about you. You're my rival! Enemy even. You can't ask me out! You hate my best friend." A flustered Russian boy stuttered, eyes wide with shock.

"Um, please, Ivan, I don't hate Alfred. I just really don't like him. But, I really like you." The alleged rival said.

Ivan watched the Chinese boy wearily. "If you insist, Yao." 

Yao perked up excitedly at that, "Really?" 

Ivan pretended to be excited but grimaced. "Yep." 

If Yao noticed Ivan's reluctance he didn't care. 

This is where Ivan's problems began.

The volleyball team met after school that day, they had a guys and a girls team but the two teams practiced together. 

"I-I've got to go. I'll see you later Yao, I have practice." 

Yao smirked, "Alright, my volleyball bitch." Yao called as Ivan walked off towards the gym. His steps slowed slightly at the words his date called after him. 

Upon entering the gym he walked toward the locker room and was met with Alfred, who was excited. 

"Ivan!" He called eagerly. "Ivan! We have a game tomorrow!" 

He was clearly on edge and wasn't trying to hide it. "I'm aware, ангел." Ivan said smiling softly. 

He had smoothly added in a Russian word which caused Alfred to glance away shyly. 

"D-did I offend you?" Alfred stuttered, Ivan stared at Alfred for a few minutes before it hit him. Alfred didn't know what ангел meant (of course he wouldn't, he doesn't speak Russian). 

"Oh ангел is a good thing in Russian, it's not mean." Ivan tried to fix his mistake.

"Did Yao ask you out?" The American asked switching topics.

How would Alfred know Yao asked him out?

"Yeah..." Ivan replied, shy suddenly.

 "I don't know how I should feel about him. He's hurtful, he's probably verbally abusive." Alfred muttered in contempt.

Ivan blinked stupidly at his friend.

As the two boys left the locker room still discussing Yao when low and behold they saw Yao. 

He was unathletic and he stood out in the crowd of volleyball players. 

"Hi. I'm here for Ivan." He announced, all eyes turned to Ivan. 

"Yao?" He probably sounded stupid but that's all he could muster at the moment.  

Alfred stepped in, "Yao! Have you come to watch the team's practice? I didn't think we allowed guests. I thought it was clear we didn't want guests." 

Alfred's glared hardened. 

"I'm just here to take Ivan."

A long pause ensued making Alfred angry. "No, he's our best setter."

 A few murmured agreements came, but everyone was still in shock that he'd even come to the practice. 

"He's my date." Yao countered. 

"Date?! He isn't even your boyfriend." Alfred sneered.

Alfred turned to Ivan for confirmation.

"Yao, I need to stay for practice. I'm not leaving." Ivan finally said.

Yao scoffed watching Ivan, "fine. But I won't pick you up later."

Ivan glanced down, "I-I didn't ask you to." 

Alfred watched as Yao beat down Ivan's self esteem.

"I'll give you a ride Ivan!" Alfred butted in aggressively.

Ivan smiled turning to Alfred. 

Yao left in anger.

Everyone seemed to uneasy as the two teams began stretching. Alfred hummed as he played, his mind was wondering absently, he was worried that Yao would drag Ivan into a relationship that would be doomed. He was going to worry for a long time but his attention was grabbed by a ball flying past his head. He started to focus as they began some drills.

Friday

The second the set started and Ivan saw Yao, he felt himself tense up. They hadn't talked since the day before at practice.

Alfred glanced at him and they both could feel the tension that the other team, and Yao, had created. 

Yao had been relentless in his quest to gain Ivan's affection and it was clearly taking a toll on him. Alfred was the only one who could get Yao away from the weary Ivan, as Ivan served the first serve, everything felt like it was in slow motion for him. 

"I GOT IT!" Screamed a boy.

"DON'T MIND DON'T MIND." Came the next voice.

"Ivan?" Was that Alfred's voice? 

"JUMP FOR IT." 

"MOVE YOUR FEET BOY."

 "CHANCE BALL!" 

Everyone was yelling various things making Ivan cringe. Yao made Ivan cringe. "Ivan, come on man, you okay?" Alfred asked gently, Ivan whispered some sort of answer and was promptly hit in the head with a ball.

Alfred yelled in horror as his friend went down and passed out. It must've been a freak serve. Alfred didn't know but he cared a lot about Ivan.

Sunday

The worse thing about waking up in a hospital, is seeing the person who got you into the hospital first thing. That made it sound abusive when it was actually stress (and a volleyball to the face). As Ivan awoke he saw Yao and he flinched.

Yao looked calm and like Ivan wasn't even there. Alfred he saw next, he looked frantic and scared, which made Ivan feel that at least Alfred cared. 

"Aнгел....." He mumbled to Alfred.

"Ivan!" Tears shone in his blue eyes.

It wasn't the Saturday after the game, was it?

"Wh-what day is it?" Ivan asked.

 Alfred sighed, he looked tired and broken with sadness. "Sunday, the 17th."

Ivan nodded, deep in thought. "I passed out Saturday?"

 "Friday."

Alfred corrected, Yao hadn't spoken until now, "Ivan! You're okay?" He sounded distant. 

"I'm fine." Ivan didn't sound fine.

 "Good. I was just about to head out." Yao kissed Ivan's forehead and left.

 Ivan looked disgusted, "I have a question. I wanna know how did I end up here?"

 "Two things. Your body got overly stressed and stopped working for a while. And, you got hit in the face with a volleyball. It must've been a freaky fast serve." Alfred explained tiredly. 

"I hate him." Ivan said abruptly. 

"Yao? He's awful." Alfred muttered. 

"I'm done with him." 

Alfred nodded in agreement before kissing Ivan on the forehead, it was gentle and made Ivan melt. He smiled up at Alfred. They watched each other for a long moment. 

"Leaving Yao so soon?" Alfred teased.

"Anytime." 

"For me?"

 Ivan smiled, "Of course. You're the one I care about the most anyways."

-

ангел - angel