Mask [Oikawa x Reader]

Chapter 7

This afternoon marked the tryouts for volleyball. You were extremely nervous and could not concentrate during all your classes. Oikawa noticed that you were not your usual self in class and poked you with his pen in attempt to get your attention. You ignored him, trying to focus on what you would do during the tryouts. 

'Hey [L/N]-chan... [L/N]-chan... [L/N]-chan...' Oikawa whispered.

Knowing that this boy would not give in until you gave him your attention, you turned and threw him a what-do-you-want look. 

'Wow, when you give me this look, I can really tell how you and Iwa-chan are good friends,' Oikawa laughed. You groaned and turned back to face the blackboard. 'Wait no, that's not what I wanted to say. You need to relax, [L/n]-chan.. I know you are nervous for your tryouts later, but I'm confident you'd do great!! Besides, you have been learning from Seijoh's best setter, number one server and best looking player. Oh, and Iwa-chan helped too.' Oikawa continued.

You rolled your eyes but unknowingly let out a smile which did not slip Oikawa's eyes. He was glad that he managed to calm you down. 

Well, only for a little while, that is. His words made you think about how much time Oikawa and Iwaizumi sacrificed to coach you. You didn't want their efforts to go to waste which made you even more stressed out. Even after Oikawa sprained his ankle, he still gave you some theory lessons and was always there to give you moral support. You didn't want to disappoint them and to do that, the only way was to make it into the team. 

'I am so NOT nervous,' you lied. 

'Okay, okay, whatever you say [L/N]-chan,' Oikawa laughed which irked you even more. You turned around to give him a death glare. He gave you a cheeky smiled and put his arms up, showing that he surrendered. You turned back and realised that you were less nervous now. Oikawa's smile never failed to put you at ease.

'Hey, all the best! You got this okay?,' Oikawa reassured you while gently placing a something on your palm. There laid a nicely wrapped up milk bread with a small post-it stuck to it which said 'I believe in you', followed by a little sketch of what you guessed was suppose to be Oikawa doing his victory sign. It was a small geusture but it was enough to make your heart flutter a little. But of course, you couldn't let him know that.

'Thanks, Oikawa, I really appreciate it. But I bet you didn't plan this beforehand and just decided to give me whatever you had in your bag on the spot,' you remarked.

'HEYYY! That's not true!! I really thought this through and decided to get one extra for you this morning okay! I have one more here right here as proof', Oikawa showed you the other milkbread in his bag.

'I won't be surprised if you carry about 10 of those everyday to school', you laughed.

'So mean, [L/N]-chan. I carry 3 at max.. but that's not the point!! That was really meant for you! Eating milkbread always manages to calm me down before games so I thought it might help you too,' Oikawa whined.

You looked back at the milkbread on your palm and felt your heart grow warm.

--Time skip to tryouts--

'Good afternoon, I'm [L/N] and I don't exactly have any experience with competitive volleyball but I'm willing to learn. Thank you for having me!' You greeted the volleyball coach and players who greeted you back with a smile. Seems like a very welcoming and friendly environment, you thought, which started to make you excited to play volleyball with this team.

The coach was pretty impressed with your skills, considering the fact you had no prior experience. You were able to receive the ball fairly well and had no troubles doing a normal overhand serve. The only time when the lack of experience surfaced was when the coach put you in a scrimmage game. Although you were familiar with the rules, applying them in a game was a different story. There were so much more information to process compared to when Iwaizumi and Oikawa were practicing receiving and spiking with you one-to-one. Instead of simply getting prepared to receive the ball (which you realised Iwaizumi and Oikawa had always kindly spiked the ball to a location that was within your reach), you had to think about where your blockers are and what kind of course the opposing spiker might use. While it was obvious that you lacked these experiences, the coach could tell that you were constantly thinking about how to improve yourself. There was a lot of untapped potential in you and accepted you into the team in no time. You were so relieved and could not wait to break the good news to Oikawa and Iwaizumi. 

'Hey! [L/N], was it?' an orange brunette waved. 

'Yes,' You replied. If you recalled correctly, this girl's name was Emma and she was the captain of the girl's volleyball team. From your observation throughout the tryouts, this girl was really athletic. You wouldn't have been able to tell that she injured her leg before until the other girls told you so. She's also really smart as seen from her strategic positioning on court - the ball somehow always appear to go directly towards her when she's receiving. 

'Welcome to the team! I'm Emma, the captain of the volleyball team, in case you didn't hear it just now,' Emma exclaimed. 'I heard that you just transferred into Seijoh, so if you ever feel lost or need some help, you can always come over to me! We are really glad to have you in the team!'

'Thank you,' you smiled. She went on asking you about how you felt about the tryouts and how you were coping in Seijoh in general. She made sure that you were comfortable and did not feel left out in the team, introducing them to you one by one personally. You were glad to have met someone like Emma and had a good feeling about joining this team. 

'So, from what I heard, you are really close to both Oikawa and Iwaizumi, eh? Do you happen to be interested in any of them?' Emma winked. You were caught off guard completely and immediately blushed. You wanted to tell her that Iwaizumi was your childhood friend and it is highly unlikely that the two of you would ever develop any romatic feelings for each other. You wanted to dodge the question about Oikawa, but if you answered her question on Iwaizumi, she might imply that you were interested in Oikawa - which you weren't, were you?

'I... uhh... Iwa... noo...' you stammered.

'Haha! It's fine, I was only kidding. I don't know them personally but if you really are interested in any of them, I can assure you they are really great guys. Just not my type,' Emma laughed.

You smiled back, not knowing how to respond. Thankfully, break was over and the two of you had to resume spiking practice, sparing you from all the awkwardness.

Why couldn't you just tell Emma that you weren't interested in Oikawa? You reprimanded yourself as you jogged back onto the court.

Author's note: Promise Neverland fans, where you at? :D