When you enrolled in Karasuno you had never thought that it would change your life so much. Sure, you had known that high school would change your life. It did so for almost everyone and up until then you had never been an exception to those kinds of things. This time though, your life had planned something huge, which you would only notice when it would be way too late to turn back.
It had started right on your first day of school. Your class had seemed perfectly normal until a certain boy had to introduce himself and had stated the reason he came to this school. The boy's name was Nishinoya Yuu and apparently he had decided to go to this school because he liked the school uniform. Oh, and because it was close to his home but that part was pretty understandable. The part with the uniform on the other hand was pretty weird in your opinion. Not that you didn't like it, in fact, you also thought it was cool but making that a main reason was something you wouldn't consider normal.
Anyway, you didn't mind the boy and so you started talking to him. If you were classmates anyway you might as well try making friends with him. You were surprised, when you first talked to him at how shy he could be. You couldn't quite say what you had expected but him being shy had certainly not been what you had expected. One of the reasons being the way he seemed to be perfectly fine while talking to other boys. Maybe he was that way only around girls. As time progressed he grew accustomed to talking to you and eventually started being his usual self around you.

When he told you he'd joined the volleyball club you were yet again surprised. You had always thought volleyball was a sport for tall people and Nishinoya wasn't exactly gifted with height. He told you a lot about volleyball when he saw the confused expression on your face. He admitted that he wasn't suited to be a wing-spiker or a middle-blocker and he wasn't a good setter either but he told you that he was a great libero and that having a good libero was also very important for the team. He even invited you to join their practice so he could show you what he meant and while you were there you'd also get to see how awesome volleyball is.
You hadn't planned anything for after school and you weren't in a club either, so you decided to take him up on that offer and what you saw did really amaze you. Even if it was just practice, you got caught up in it immediately and enjoyed watching the team. This leaded to you watching them more often and eventually you started coming to every practice, including the morning practices. The first time you had gotten up earlier to see their practice your mom had looked at you in disbelieve and asked you if you were sick or if you suddenly had a boyfriend she didn't know about. Honestly, you hadn't been a person to get up early only to watch some boys practice volleyball, so you could understand why your mom reacted the way she did. Still, you did do exactly that and you were fine with it and your mom eventually got away from the idea of you having a boyfriend after she had made you tell her about the practice of those boys once. The way your eyes sparkled in excitement just from remembering everything was different from the way the eyes of a person who fell in love sparkled.

During your second year you noticed something changing. And it wasn't the atmosphere created from the new first years that had joined the club, even though you had to admit that thanks to them, the team had become somewhat livelier. There was a change in the way you felt. You sometimes found yourself missing the libero of the team and wishing he'd come back. He wouldn't come back as long as the Ace, Asahi, wouldn't come back, you knew that but you still wished he would. Without the lively boy around something was missing. Tanaka no longer had a partner in fawning over Shimizu, you no longer had someone who'd walk to practice with you and the team no longer had a libero that would have everyone's backs and would occasionally scream 'Rolling Thunder!!!' while doing a normal receive.

You didn't know how they had managed it but thanks to Hinata and Kageyama, probably more Hinata though, Asahi came back after a while. Consequently, Noya also returned not long after. Things would go back to the way they always were, you thought. It was little time later that you had to accept that they wouldn't. At least not completely.


One day after practice you had talked to Suga about everything that came to your mind. You liked talking to him, especially when you had something on your mind. Of course, you also told him about the changes you had noticed within yourself. That you suddenly enjoyed watching the team more again, after Noya had returned and that you felt somehow weird and left out, every time the little boy was fawning over Shimizu. He had been doing this for what felt like ages and it had never bothered you, so why would that change now?
"Maybe you're jealous?" Suga told you. Not expecting this at all, you stopped walking and stared at him in disbelieve. He questioningly looked back at you before he awkwardly laughed and said "It doesn't have to be jealousy but from how you described it, it just sounded a lot like it."
Shortly after, you parted ways and aside from the 'see you tomorrow's no one had said anything after that. All that time, you had been busy trying to figure out why you would be jealous of Shimizu. The gray-haired setter was usually right with those kinds of things and you knew he had been a hundred percent serious when he had suggested you being jealous. The rest of the day you were caught up in trying to figure out what was going on inside of you.


Surprisingly, it took you a whole three weeks before you understood it and thinking back on it afterwards, you wondered how you had taken so long to realize it, even though you had thought about it every day. You had fallen for the libero. It seemed so obvious to you, know that you had realized it.
Also, after your realization you had decided to support Noya in everything. Even, if it meant helping him to get a girlfriend. It was way easier said than done, you knew that but you had set your mind on doing so. No matter if you loved him or not, he still was your best friend and you figured out seeing him smile, even if his smile wasn't directed at you, was enough to make up for nearly everything. His smile alone was like a magic spell that would make you smile along with him no matter what happened.
"Nee, Suga. I think you were right about what you told me last time" you told the gray-haired after practice had ended for the day. He looked confused at first but quickly understood what you were talking about and smiled at you.

Soon enough, Suga and you weren't the only ones, that knew about your crush on the team's libero. You didn't mind the third years, including Shimizu, knowing about it, since they hardly ever talked to you about it. Only the gray-haired boy would sometimes ask you how things were going and if you were sure, you didn't want to tell Noya. What could get annoying though was Tanaka trying to hook you up with his best friend but you were working on making him stop that. You even managed to stop Tsukishima from trying to annoy you with it and you hadn't even got the slightest clue on why he and Yamaguchi knew your secret. Then again, Tsukishima was a smart asshole and Yamaguchi was probably more aware of what was going on around him than anyone else on the team was.
Technically, your secret wasn't even a secret anymore. Tsukishima had once told you he might tell Nishinoya that you loved him. After you had told him you didn't mind because you knew Noya wouldn't believe him anyway, he had told him. And your prediction was proven true, Noya hadn't believed him. Truth be told, the small boy had indeed asked you if, by any chance and he knew how tiny that chance was, Tsukishima had not been lying. You simply smiled at him and denied it, saying that you were and would always stay best friends. He had seemed relieved after hearing that, which had made your heart hurt a little.

Lying to the boy had ended up with Suga somewhat scolding you for it though. You had told him countless times that you didn't plan on ever telling your classmate the truth about this but the setter just wouldn't be okay with that, especially if you would lie to Noya like that. "Oh, come on Suga. You know it's better for him if he doesn't know. And I'm fine with it as long as he is happy. You know, I'd play any part I need to. Be it his best friend, a classmate or even a stranger. As long as I can see his happy smile, I'll stick to the part in his life that he has given me."
Like that you went through high school. Always being right beside the boy you had fallen for. Always being his best friend.


After you had graduated from high school, you went to a different university than him and consequently didn't see him as often anymore. Back in high school you had always said that you'd miss everyone when you all would go separate ways. Never had you expected to feel so lonely though. It felt as if you were all alone suddenly when you entered university on the first day and the whole first week, you had literally cried yourself to sleep. You hadn't noticed just how much time you had always spent with Noya until he wasn't there to eat lunch with you anymore. Until you couldn't talk to him about stupid stuff before or after classes anymore.


One night, after you had been in university for some weeks already, you were woken up by your phone. Looking on the alarm clock you noticed it was 2am and you knew, whoever was calling you better had a good reason for it. The screen said Tanaka was calling you, which confused you even more because as far as you knew, he went to the same university as Noya and was dorm mates with said boy so if he had any problems, he could just ask him. You picked up but were cut off, when you tried to greet Tanaka and ask why he called at such a time. "(y/n)! You've finally picked up! Noya was just taken to hospital! He fell down stairs, I don't know why!" the boy shouted at you. One didn't need to ask, to know you were wide awake now. Not even because of the shouting, which would have woken you up for sure but more because of the meaning behind Tanaka's words. "Which hospital?" you asked while jumping out of your bed, grabbing your keys and putting on some shoes. At the moment you didn't care about your dorm mate waking up from the noise you were making. You had to get to Noya, nothing else mattered. After you had been told in which hospital the boy was, you thanked Tanaka and ran there as fast as you could.


When you arrived at the hospital you were stared at by a more than surprised nurse. It didn't occur every day, that a girl stood in the hospital in the middle of night, still wearing her pajamas. You asked her for Noya's room, which she didn't want to tell you at first because visiting hours were long over. "Listen, I don't give a damn about visiting hours right now. My best friend was hospitalized just now and I can't simply go to sleep now. He means more than the whole world to me and I need to see him now. I need to see that he's okay otherwise I'll go crazy" you told her. She seemed to understand how you felt and decided to make an exception if you would stay quiet as to not wake up other patients.
She walked you to his room and let you enter before she closed the door behind you. When Noya noticed you, he immediately told you he had only broken his leg and was fine other than that. You simply went up to him and hugged him while starting to cry. He was surprised but as long as you held him, he didn't notice you were crying. Instead he asked how you had gotten them to let you in and why you were in your pajamas. It was winter, so he figured you'd have to freeze to death if you went out with only a pajama on. "Do you know how scared I was when Ryuu called me to tell me you were taken to hospital? Who cares if it's freezing cold outside, do you really think I could stay at the dorm, knowing you are here?" you asked him, letting go of him and looking him in the eyes. That was when he noticed you were crying. "(y-y/n), why are you crying?" The poor boy was utterly confused. He had never seen you cry before. Maybe a few tears at the graduation of Suga, Sawamura, Asahi and Shimizu and a few tears at your own graduation. Now it weren't just a few tears though, you were crying a river. "I was so scared. I was so scared I could lose you" you said before once again pulling him into a hug.

Slowly starting to understand why you were crying, he lifted his arms, returning your hug and softly caressing your head to calm you down. You didn't know about it but he too had talked to Suga about the relationship between the two of you. His senpai had given him some advice on how to behave when a girl wasn't feeling well or when a girl was crying. The libero had feared someday you might end up hurting and he had wanted to know what he could do to support you when that time came. Never had he thought that it would be his fault for making you cry. He made you cry because he had apparently tried to go out while he was still sleeping. Anyway, he was glad he knew how to comfort you. That way he could at least calm you down now.
After you had calmed down, you took a chair and sat next to the bed. You talked a lot with the boy until you ultimately fell asleep with your head placed on the side of the bed.

When you woke up the next morning, the first thing you noticed was that you were holding Noya's hand and had a blanket around you. After Noya woke up some time later, he told you the nurse that had let you in had put it around you when she came to check on the both of you shortly after you had fallen asleep. He also mentioned that she told him he had a really nice girlfriend and should treasure her. When he said that both of you blushed. "O-Of course I told her we're not like that but she didn't listen and told me you had said that I was the most important person in the world to you." Cue you cursing the nurse inwardly for telling him this. Would it really be alright to let him know? Others had always told you it would be perfectly fine but was it really?
You didn't really have the chance to think about it for long because Noya decided to break the awkward silence. "(y-y/n)! After I'm out of here again, I want to tell you something!" he half shouted at you. "A-And also, you can call me Yuu if you want to." Looking at his bright red blushing face, you couldn't help but smile at him. "Okay, I'll wait Yuu."

After that you talked a lot, totally ignoring the fact that you should be in university right now. By the time you had noticed it was already too late to go there anyway. Later on you called Tanaka and told him to come by and bring you some proper clothes, so you could get home without freezing to death. The boy sure was shocked when you told him you were still wearing your pajama. When he arrived, he was simply grinning at you and Noya without saying anything. You knew exactly what the wing spiker was thinking, even without having to ask him. You just took the clothes he had brought for you, went to the bathroom and changed into them. Your pajama was put back into the bag Tanaka had brought your clothes in. Yes, in fact they were your clothes. Seeing them again now reminded you of how you had forgotten them at the dorm of those two boys, when you had slept over on the weekend 2 weeks ago. Given the circumstances now it was very fortunate that you had forgotten them. So much that you had to laugh when you came out of the bathroom.
The day quickly neared its end and Tanaka and you had to go to back your dorms again. Especially you, since you had to explain to your dorm mate why you hadn't been there this morning. Before you left, you promised Noya that you'd visit him every day until he could leave the hospital again.

The time until he was finally allowed to go back to his dorm went by faster than you had expected it to. And you really looked forward to what it was that the boy had wanted to tell you. Of course, you hoped for one specific sentence.
You were waiting for him in excitement, as you finally saw him appear in your field of vision. He stopped right in front of you and you were sure you would never forget the words he said to you then.
"(l/n) (y/n)!, I like you, a-a lot! Would you please go out with me?"
No words could describe how happy you were at that moment. You smiled at him, tears of joy in your eyes and nodded. "I'd love to!"