Chapter Text
I finish my makeup off with a touch of matte lip gloss and back away to inspect my morning's work. Thick eyeliner, eyeshadow to emphasize the brightness of my eyes -
"Come on (Y/N), it's time to go," Shimizu opens the door and sighs. "You know how mom feels about all of those chains-"
"The school hasn't said anything more about them, right? Being a good student has its perks you know-"
Shimi just stares at me.
I roll my eyes. "Plus they're all jingly jangly so I make fun noises as I walk," I giggle as I see a smile spread across her lips. "Come on, I'm ready to go, let's leave!" I drag her through the house, grabbing my school bag on the way out.
As much as I adore my older sister, she is the definition of perfection. Loved by all, talented and smart, she has caught everyone's attention. I can't hate her as much as I want to. I want to hate her so bad, but she is too kind and wonderful. It's not exactly her fault that everyone compares me to her, but it is extremely annoying.
"Are you helping Nishinoya practice receives again? Volleyball practices start up again next week," Shimizu looks at me with that perfectly blank face.
Loved by all, including the boy I decided to have a big fat crush on. I've known him for years, we're in the same class and all, and damn it's hot to watch him play my favorite sport-
"Well someone has to let that dumbass into the gym. He's been suspended too many times to be allowed in there alone. The principal wouldn't give him a key. Stupid," I mumble with a huff.
"He does have a whole team-"
"I don't care! As a fellow player, I wanted some practice too. The girl's team needs to work hard if they wanna get anywhere in the next tournament, and that means having a reliable captain!"
"You'll certainly intimidate other teams with eyeliner like that-"
"Good! Let them fear me!"
Shimizu smiles and opens the door to the school. Little does she know, this was the only way for me to stand out and feel like myself. Sure, people may compare our skills, but dying my hair and hiking up my skirt certainly sets me apart from my sister. I'm like every girl - I just want to be noticed. I want to go without the pressure of living up to my sister - I want someone to see me as I am, set apart from Kiyoko.
"Yoko, there you are! I was worried you weren't gonna make it!" Nishinoya perks up from his spot by his locker, a wide smile on his face.
He said my nickname - our classmates can't call both of us Kiyoko after all, that's just too confusing - and his eyes shift between me and my sister.
I let out a huff and cross my arms. "I have good attendance, unlike you."
"That's exactly why I was worried, you're never late," he grins as he pokes my now warm cheeks.
Stupid, why would he worry? I'm sure he just wants to make sure we are still practicing today. "I'll text you next time," I huff, turning my gaze away from him. Why is he so close to me right now? "I always make sure to tell you ahead of time if I can't practice."
"Of course I like to know stuff like that, but I was just worried you or Kiyoko got hurt on the way here or something."
God stop. He's like a cute little puppy - I can't tell him we were nearly late because I was doing my makeup. Since we're practicing together today, I thought I'd make it look extra cute and cool- "Stupid, I would've messaged you-"
"What if you got jumped and someone stole your phone?"
"I'm going to class."
"What? It could happen!"
I roll my eyes and quickly turn around, not wanting him to see my cheeks flushing. He watches me walk away, and I glance back to notice his gaze on my other cheeks. "Stupid!" I squeak and suddenly I race off to our classroom.
Did I see and hear all that right?
That's not possible right? Not only was he worried, but he was checking me out too? I mean, I know I hike my skirt up because it's more flattering to my figure, legs especially, but he was looking? Should I like the thought of his gaze so much? Is it wrong that I desperately want him to find me physically attractive? I want him to find my personality attractive too - I hate love. This is so stupid. It's not that I'm trying to be sexualized by others, but it's not like I don't want anyone to look at all.
I was too embarrassed to look at him for the rest of the day, and I silently dreaded practice time. Yeah, I won't be able to focus at all like this - once our classes let out, I wait back at my desk. I lean my head on my hand, and I silently stare ahead and zone out.
"Hey (Y/N)!" Nishinoya pops up in front of my face, and I yelp and nearly jump out of my chair. "Whoa, with jumps like that you could become a spiker!" he teases with that adorably stupid grin.
I huff. "Well why would I do that when I can be a better libero than you?" I retort as I regain my composure.
Noya chuckles. "Is that so? Let's see who can get more receives then!" He grabs my arm and starts pulling me out towards the gym.
My cheeks burn, but I let him pull me for a bit. It's not like I enjoy his touch or anything-or maybe I do a bit. "I have to get the key first, silly," I eventually pipe up.
Noya stops in his path, and I nearly stumble straight into him. "To the keys!"
And the hyper boy drags me all the way to and from the office. I shake my head as I open the gym door, and Noya goes bounding off to turn on the lights. Together we set up the net and get a basket of balls out.
"So whaddya wanna work on this time?" I question. "Serve receives? I've been working on my jump serve you know-"
"I wanna practice receiving after a blocked spike," he murmurs. His face grows serious for a moment, but then he's back to all smiles. "If that's okay? I'd love to receive some serves later though," he ruffles my hair.
I purse my lips. "Sure, sounds like a plan. Getting ricochets off a block are harder anyway-ah, I'll be right back, I gotta change. You probably should too, I can't imagine playing in a button up is comfortable."
Noya suddenly eyes me up and down. "You gonna change into those cute short shorts?"
My cheeks flare. "You're so stupid!" I lightly shove his shoulder before basically stomping off into a different room, duffle bag in hand. I hear Noya chuckle behind me. Ugh, he's such a tease! But maybe it's even worse that I actually did bring my short shorts since… you know. I like them. I don't want to impress him or make him look or something stupid like that! Okay maybe I did like a tiny bit! Ugh!
When I came back into the gym, Noya had already changed and was setting the ball to himself. "Maybe we should warm up?" I suggest. Noya once again looks me over with a big smile on his face, and I roll my eyes. Stupid.
Once we finished running and stretching, I pushed over the big block. Essentially, coaches and other players can stand on it by the net and easily hit the ball over. I hop up on top with the basket of balls to my side, and I look at Noya. "You ready dork?"
He chuckles but gives me an affirming nod, so I drop a ball right by the net. Noya drives for it, hand just missing. He quickly gets up and gets ready to go again, so I drop another ball. And another. And another. And that goes on for a while. "Okay, let's try some regular spikes, I think you've done that long enough. Or I can go if you're too tired?" I'm trying to be caring, but my voice might have sounded challenging on accident.
"No, I want to keep going!"
He's clearly exhausted. I roll my eyes. "You're allowed to have a water break. We can always do this again tomorrow and any day of the week, I don't mind. Also I wanna practice some too," I retort with one arm holding a volleyball while my other hand plants itself on my hip.
"But I let my team down last time, I have to get this right-" he mumbles.
"Your team isn't the only one that got knocked out in the first round of tournaments, you know." I hop off the block to walk over to the shortie. "And you got a good majority of those, too. You're just being hard on yourself."
Noya looks away, but his lighter demeanor starts to come back. "That's weird to hear from a perfectionist."
"You are a perfectionist num nut," I gently push his shoulder again, but that's when I notice all the cuts and bruises on his arms and face. I let out a soft sigh. "Sit down."
Noya narrows his eyes but does as I say. I snort. "What?" he questions with big eyes.
"Nothing." He's just like a hyper dog. Cute-agh! No! It's not like that! "You're bleeding. Dumbass, why didn't you tell me? Stay right there, you got it?"
Noya's lips curl into a grin. "I like it when you boss me around-"
"Shut up!" I huff before marching off. I grab the first aid kit from the supplies closet and plop down next to Noya. "You shouldn't push yourself this far," I grumble.
Noya stays quiet. "But I failed him."
"Well you'll fail Asahi more if you hurt yourself. You'll fail your whole team if you do that." I go to wipe his blood cheek with an alcohol wipe, but he flinches. I sigh quietly. "If you stay still, I'll kiss it when I'm done," I offer with a sheepish smile.
And suddenly Noya is as still as a statue. I giggle quietly and gently start to wipe his cheek off. With reactions like that, maybe he really does like me? Or is he just teasing? I'm almost a hundred percent sure he likes Shimizu though. But if he likes me, if there's a chance, should I bother to try?
"Are you getting lost in my eyes?" Noya chuckles as I roll my eyes.
"Be quiet," I mumble.
"That was less aggressive than usual. Was I right?" he points out.
"You're a pain in the ass is what you are." He chuckles more and reaches his hand up. I focus on his wound, but then he tucks some of my loose hairs behind my ear. "You're pretty."
I pause, trying to not let my cheeks burn. Why does he always do this? I'm gonna flip my shit- "Just let me bandage this okay?" I pout a bit.
Noya smiles but goes quiet again, letting me fix up the wound. "Now can I get my kiss?" he questions right after I secure the bandaid.
I roll my eyes but kiss over the wound lightly. "There, happy?"
"With you, always."
My cheeks flare with warmth again. "You're a dork," I grumble. Lord that was so cute-why does he always catch me so off guard? I stare at him for a moment, "Noya, would you wanna like-hang out, but like just the two of us?"
Noya chuckles again. "What, like we are right now? Are you trying to ask me on another date?"
I go to deny his question, but I stop. Another date? Another? "Whaddya mean another date? We've never gone on a date before."
Noya's smile falls. "Huh? But we've been dating for like three months now."
I stare at him. What?! "What're you talking about? I've been building my courage to ask you out forever, we definitely haven't been dating!"
Noya puts a hand over his mouth. "Then these practices aren't dates? And all the times we went to the grocery store to eat popsicles weren't dates?"
"No! Well-no, they were just hang out times between two friends." My cheeks flare. He thought we were dating this whole time?! No wonder he checks me out so obviously-
"Is that why you never had presents for our monthly anniversaries?" He questions.
"I thought you were just giving me gifts to thank me for all the practicing!"
"Even though they said 'Happy Anniversary' on them?"
I pause. Okay, so maybe that was really stupid of me- "I thought it was like the anniversary of us practicing together or something! I wasn't sure!"
Noya lets out a groan, dramatically falling back against the ground. "So that's why you gave me something the day after. I was always sad you forgot our anniversary but I never said anything because I felt bad! And why wouldn't I consider these practices dates? You could've done them with anyone on your team! But you did them with me, alone!"
My cheeks flare, and I bury my head in my hands. "I wasn't aware that you thought they were dates!"
"Well duh! A pretty girl, asking me to do something alone with her, wearing shorts that show off her ass and low cut tight shirts-what am I supposed to think?" Noya sits up to chastise me some more.
"Okay yeah fine! I should've realized! But you could've asked too!"
"No wonder you acted so weird when I tried to kiss you-"
"AHHHH!" I flip on my back and kick my feet. I take in a deep breath before sighing. "We're really dumb," I confirm and look at the ceiling. My eyes flick over to his, and my cheeks heat up. He really thought we were dating this whole time-
Noya lets a smile break onto his lips. "Yeah, especially you," he pokes me on the side, and I yelp and smack his hand away.
"Whatever," I mumble. What do we do now though? Do we try to date? Do we just pick up where Noya left off? I sit up. "Can we start over?" I request quietly.
"What, you sad you missed all our anniversaries?" Noya teases and wraps an arm around my shoulders.
"That's a stupid question," I huff but let myself melt into his embrace. "Of course I'm sad. I can be a much better partner than that."
Noya chuckles. "We can start over," he murmurs before kissing my forehead. "But now I'm not gonna hold all my affection back! You have to take it all!" He suddenly squeezes me into a tight hug, laughing as I yelp again.
"Whatever, it's not like I care," I murmur while tightly gripping onto the boy. Okay, yeah, I love getting all of his attention, so what?
"Sure Honey Bun, I'll pretend to believe that," he chuckles and kisses my cheek this time, and I just huff.
Well, I'm happy that was cleared up at least. I really am blind though, huh?