—002.

"I'll be at the court, so come by if you need anything okay?"

Y/N hummed, waving his sister goodbye before paying attention to his food and manga. He woke up just before his sister left for the three-on-three match but still felt sleepy— barely managing to make breakfast after falling face-first into his pancakes.

Not his brightest moment.

The boy yawned, pulling a pillow between his legs and placing the manga on his bedside table. Saturdays were boring when nothing interested him. He could go to the convenience store by the school to get food but didn't feel like getting up or doing much of anything.

He'd finished all his homework already and didn't feel like going on a run. With a soft groan, he got off his bed to shower— staying there longer than necessary with hopes an idea would pop into his head.

To his dismay, nothing did.

Then, he tried looking for something to eat, but nothing felt appetizing. Meat buns and lollipops did, but those weren't at the house.

With nothing to do, he fell on the couch with a defeated sigh. Most of the time lazy days like these didn't bother him but he was bored out of his mind. He thought back to what his sister said. Does being bored count as needing something?

"...'s too much thinking..." Y/N mumbled, rubbing his eyes under his glasses as he stood up and walked to the kitchen to make himself instant ramen. As his food was warming up, he went to his room to put on a pair of sweatpants and a shirt— grabbing his food out of the microwave to cool as he put his shoes on, waiting idly for a minute to pass.

Impatience got the best of him and he grabbed his food and a pair of chopsticks before leaving the house, remembering to lock the door on his way. By the time he got to the gym, he had finished his noodles, throwing away the container before he walked into the gym.

The second his foot hit the waxed hardwood floor, a ball slammed into his face, breaking his glasses and nose.

"Oh shit."

The ball rolled on the floor as Shimizu touched his nose hesitantly, a panicked expression on his face when all he saw was blood.

A soft hand cupped his cheek gently, wiping the blood that ran down his lip. His vision was blurry and he left his spare glasses and contacts at home. He panicked as different voices and bodies got closer— feeling the overstimulation creep into his veins.

His eyes start getting wet and his heart rate accelerates. He shouldn't be here, he shouldn't have come here, he shouldn't be—

"Shimizu, get him an ice pack and try to fix his nose. If it's a bad break we can go to the clinic. Everyone else, get back to the match!" Daichi instructed and the noises around him decreased.

Y/N felt a hand grab his, gently leading him outside the gym. "...kiyo?"

"Hm?"

He rested his forehead on his sister's shoulder, wincing in pain when he sniffled. "...hurts. Hurts bad."

She squeezed his hand hoping it'll ground him. "I know, I'm sorry. One of the first years served a ball and angled it weirdly. I'm sure he didn't mean to hit you." Kiyoko led him to the changing room she used, letting him get settled as she wiped the remaining blood off.

From what she could tell, his nose wasn't broken that bad, she could probably fix it herself with a bit of force. "I have to fix your nose, but it'll hurt."

The boy whined in discomfort, curling into himself and shaking his head. "If I don't fix it, it'll hurt more. Do you want to hold my—"

He grabbed her hand and tightly held it, taking a few deep breaths before nodding.

"Okay, can you tell me what twelve times forty-two is?"

"...five hundred and– ah!" Y/N's breath hitched as a sharp pain coursed through his veins, squeezing his sister's hand tighter as his eyes started to water. His pain tolerance was extremely low and times like these made him hate it more.

Kiyoko shushed him gently, pressing a kiss on top of his reddened nose. "The worst of it is over now, all that's left is the ice pack and then you're done," She grabbed an instant ice pack from the cooler and pressed it on his nose.

"...five hundred and four."

Even though he couldn't make out his features, he could tell there was a small smile on her face. Kiyoko took her glasses off and gave them to her brother. They wear the same prescription and she always kept a spare in her bag.

"Do you want to go back? I'll protect you from any balls coming."

Y/N nodded as he stood up. His sister tapped his cheek with a cherry-flavored lollipop. "For being brave."

"...m'not a little kid," He huffed but took the candy anyway, taking the wrapper off and placing it in his mouth with a smile. "You might not be a little kid, but you're still tinier than me."

Y/N blew raspberries at his sister, muttering something under his breath as the two walked into the gym. With people lying on the ground panting, Y/N assumed the match was over. That bummed him out slightly— he wanted to see what was so interesting about the sport that hooked his sister.

Suga came up to the siblings with a worried expression. "Everything okay? That bruise looked bad."

A loud yelp interrupted what he was about to say, shifting uncomfortably when a pair of brown eyes stared at him with a flushed face. The boy ran up to him with an apologetic expression. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you, I-I'm not good at serving so I flubbed it and—"

"Hinata, you can relax you know?" Suga said, patting the boy's shoulder apologetically.

Y/N gently patted Hinata's head, hoping it would suffice as forgiveness. Hinata stared at him again, and he stared back— cocking his head slightly as he wished he didn't do anything wrong.

Hinata's face became completely red before falling face-first. Another boy much taller than Hinata with dark blue hair starts yelling at him and Y/N takes that as his cue to leave.

The boy watches Hinata and the other first years officially join the Karasuno Volleyball Team and he can't help the smile that forms on his face when he notices how excited Hinata looks.

Daichi squats in front of him and pokes the bulge in his cheek. "Shimizu's glasses look nice on you, Y/N."

The boy flushes slightly, pushing his head into his knees. Genuine, one-off compliments always get him embarrassed and he hates it. His reaction makes Daichi laugh which makes him more flustered.

Then, Daichi removes his jacket, places it over his body, and leaves without a word.

Suga chops Daichi's side and yells at him about something Y/N can't make out.

"Oi... Who do you think you are wearin' Kiyoko-san's glasses, huh?!"

The voice makes him jump, accidentally crushing the candy in his mouth in the progress. Kiyoko has talked about him before— Tanaka Ryuunosuke and how he never misses an opportunity to admire and pine over her.

Y/N doesn't like confrontation. He'd rather talk things out before they escalate out of control, but Tanaka has him backed up in a corner. "You heard me, punk!"

"...um, I-I'm Kiyoko's younger brother." He mumbles, maintaining a tight grip on the jacket in his lap and averting his eyes in hopes someone would notice what was happening.

The scary aura surrounding Tanaka drops almost instantly as he takes on a confused expression. "Brother?? Like, blood-related?"

Y/N nods.

Tanaka bites his lip, putting his finger on his chin with a scrutinizing gaze. "Hm... Come here real quick."

Y/N follows him, his confusion growing when Tanaka tells him to stay next to Kiyoko, who's equally confused.

His grey eyes move between the two before he gasps. "You two are related!" He laughs heartily as his eyes move between the two a final time. "Wow, pretty genes must run in the family."

Kiyoko huffs but doesn't comment, rubbing Y/N's shoulder before leaving to talk to Daichi and Sugawara.

"So... Kiyoko-san's brother, gonna introduce yourself?"

Y/N slips Daichi's jacket on and puts his hands in the pockets. "...u-um, my name is Shimizu Y/N. I'm in class 2-5, it's nice to meet you, Tanaka-san." He bows, hoping he made a good first impression— though he's sure Tanaka won't forget about the ball incident.

"Hm! Well, little Shimizu, I am— wait, how'd you know my name?" The other points a finger in Y/N's direction with a skeptical tone.

"...o-oh, um, Kiyoko talks about you at home sometimes."

Tanaka's finger deflates like a balloon as he stares at Y/N blankly. "Kiyoko-san... talks about me?"

Y/N nods.

His cheeks turn red as he starts jumping frantically. "Kiyoko-san talks about me! I can die happy! Oh, little Shimizu you're my favorite on the team now!"

"...w-wait, I'm not on the team—"

Tanaka picks him up by his waist and spins him around with a smile, still laughing about how a 'Goddess' talks about him. "...gettin' d-dizzy, put me down, please," Y/N manages to say despite the uncomfortable feeling in his gut that slowly rose to his throat.

"Put him down, baldy!"

Shimizu isn't sure if the bald comment made Tanaka-san put him down, but he was glad he didn't have to throw up his breakfast and snack. He hasn't been in the gym for five minutes, broken his nose and glasses, made a first-year pass out, and became acquaintances (?) with his sister's admirer.

He wouldn't say it's been fun, but it kept him preoccupied so he could deal with it.

"A practice match! The opponent is one of the prefecture's best four! Aoba Johsai High School!"

Y/N hummed, situating himself in a corner so he wouldn't bother anyone and no one would bother him. Maybe it was the warmth of Daichi's jacket, or how tired being hurt made him, but he fell asleep without realizing it— the ice pack that was supposed to stay on his bruise slipping onto the floor.

-:-

Kageyama practiced setting against the wall as he thought about the practice match against Aoba Johsai.

Aoba Johsai. Where his 'teammates'—if he could even call them that— went after Kitagawa Daiichi, and where he went. That bone-chilling feeling of no one being there to support him, alone on the court despite having 'teammates' all around him.

"Kageyama! Are you trying to kill the ball or something?"

Hinata's voice broke him out of concentration, causing the ball to slip from his fingers and roll on the floor. "What do you want? Shouldn't you be– I don't know— practicing because you're shit?"

"I want you to toss to me!" Hinata pointed at him.

Kageyama turned around, looking for where the ball rolled off. "I'm busy."

"We were practicing before Takeda-sensei came in!"

The dark-haired boy tuned his whining out, intensely watching someone in the corner of the gym with a confused look. "Who's that?"

Hinata paused before peering beside his body to see who he was talking about. "Oh! That's Shimizu-senpai's brother!" He waves his hand, telling Kageyama to come closer. "I didn't say this, but he's super pretty! Like, goddess-type pretty!"

Kageyama looked at the sleeping figure with skepticism in his eyes. He couldn't agree with Hinata's statement because the boy had his face turned the other way, but Hinata wouldn't know pretty if it spiked him upside the head. "Pretty enough for you to serve a ball into his face?"

"It was one time!"

The setter rolled his eyes. "One time too much."

Hinata frowned. "I'll just show you then, come with me." Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed Kageyama's arm and led him to where the boy was sleeping.

Tsukishima watched with confusion and disgust. "What are those morons doing?"

"Hm?" Yamaguchi looked at Hinata dragging Kageyama to the corner of the gym with a flushed face. "Maybe they'll talk to that guy in the corner?"

"Why would they talk to someone that's obviously sleeping?"

Yamaguchi sighed. "Because they aren't very smart."

Tsukishima snickered and his friend giggled. It wouldn't be mean if it was true.

...

Unfortunately, Hinata wasn't lying. Shimizu-senpai was pretty, even when he was sleeping. He had soft freckles dusted over his body and a mole on the right side of his top lip. His eyelashes were long and covered the eyes he hoped to see.

Kageyaga swallowed. He was fucking ethereal. Hinata must've noticed the slight flush on his cheeks because he started laughing. "See? Told you Shimizu-senpai was pretty!"

Kageyama kicked him in the back. "Shut UP Hinata!"

The pain only made him laugh harder. "You're getting redder– pfft! — Kageyama has a crush on—!"

"I will MURDER you asshole!"

Without realizing how much noise they were making, Y/N slowly roused from his sleep, staring in confusion when he saw Hinata and another first-year wrestling on the floor.

Still a bit sleepy, he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "...i-is everything okay, Hinata?"

Hinata blushed, kicking Kageyama off and nodding. "Shoyou is fine, Shimizu-senpai!"

"...o-oh," Y/N muttered, rubbing his nose with the jacket sleeve. "...okay Shoyou, are you okay? I-I'm sorry, I don't know your—"

"Kageyama Tobio, but you can um, call me Tobio if you want Shimizu-senpai!"

How he was on a first-name basis with people he met that day was beyond him. "...a-are you okay, Tobio?"

"I'm great! We were just—"

"Wondering if you could come to our practice match with Aoba Johsai!" Shoyou interrupted, his face still flushed as he clasped his hands together.

Before Shimizu could answer, a barely audible sneeze wracked his body– yawning shortly after.

Hinata and Kageyama blushed harder. Even his damn sneeze was cute?!

"...d-do you know when it is? I might have club events on the same day..."

Shoyou and Tobio side-eyed each other as sweat dropped. "I'm pretty sure it's on Tuesday," Tobio said as Shoyou confirmed with a nod.

They had practice and regular meets every Friday, run-offs were on Monday, regular practice was on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursdays were light workouts. Missing one day of practice wouldn't be bad, but he wasn't sure if Coach Yonezu would let him work out because of his nose.

Track is a sport where you need constant and steady airflow. A broken nose wouldn't help with that.

Shoyou and Tobio looked down at him with pleading eyes and the people-pleaser inside him couldn't bring himself to say no. "...u-um, I don't think I have anything going on that day so I'll try to come if I'm not bothering."

Shoyou jumped. "Yes! You get to see me and Kageyama's attack! It's so cool Shimizu-senpai, the ball hits the ground like bwam!" He exclaimed, swinging his arm as he was talking.

"Oh, and Tanaka-senpai hits the ball like boom! Oh, oh, and Tsukishima— even though he's mean!— blocks the ball like–" Shoyou stops talking as he tries to find the correct sound effect.

"Da-dum?" Tobio suggests, raising his arms and angling his fingers down slightly.

"Yeah! I'm so excited now, I can't wait!"

Kiyoko and the other third-years stared at Hinata and Kageyama talking to Y/N, questioning their conversation when they had to use words like 'bwam' and 'da-dum'.

"Sure looks like he's having fun, right?" Suga chuckles as he takes a drink of water.

"Suga! You have your water bottle!"

"But yours was right here!"

Kiyoko watches her brother a weary smile on his face as he listens to Hinata and Kageyama, the noise of Suga and Daichi arguing becomes white as a smile forms on her face. "Yeah, he's having a lot of fun."